In Germany a 128-bit version of a GeForce 8800 GT was spotted in e-tail yesterday. The product appears to come from NVIDIA's Dutch AIB partner Point of View. First off, POV makes excellent products, and is a long time review partner from Guru3D. They decided to intro a low cost GeForce 8800 GT for OEM purposes. Here's the deal, according to reference specifications the GeForce 8800 GT is supposed to have it's memory locked at a nice 256-bit memory bus.

The particular G92 based product that POV released is however a 128-bit version. This effective cuts memory bandwidth down in half, and for the 8800 GT that's a lot to coop with. If I run some theoretical numbers you could likely expect the performance drop by 40% overall. It would literally mean say GeForce 8600 GTS / 9600 GSP performance, though you'd think you'd have some more shader processor power and thus would benefit from that here and there. But it doesn't stop there though, the GeForce 8800 GT supposedly should have 112 Stream processors activated, this model has 96 (which the old 8800 GTS had).

Screenshot courtesy of computerbase.de

I asked POV for their take on this product:

"With the introduction of the GeForce 9800 GT we (POV) decided to make a low cost version of the 8800 GT with 32x32 memory which indeed runs at a 128-bit bus. The product was intended for an OEM client of POV, yet made it's way though to e-tail right now. As far as the 96SP's go .. POV right now is checking to see what went wrong in the fabric, as they claim .. it should indeed be 112 SPs.

POV also states that only a handful of these products actually made it into e-tail somehow, they are looking into the fact how the product ended up in e-tail/retail. The one person that actually received and complained about this card, already got it replaced by POV for a proper version."

• SKU code 128-Bit Interface: R-VGA150868
• SKU code 256-Bit Interface: R-VGA150858

It all sounds like a big booboo somewhere down the line of communication. My advice -- if you spot the product, and you get hooked into buying this product completely hypnotized by the price ... check the memory, please make sure it says 256-bit GDDR3 on the box. This product by reference specifications doesn't even come close to a real GeForce 8800 GT in terms of performance.

Warning - GeForce 8800 GT 128-bit | 96 SP spotted !

Ggmania reported via Shacknews reports that id Software's upcoming shooter, Rage (PC, PS3, 360, Mac) will suffer from asset compression on the Xbox 360 version due to Microsoft's high licensing fee's for each DVD.

According to Carmack, the royalty fees to include a third disc in the Xbox 360 version would be so high that it simply isn't a feasible solution, with the programmer hoping for Microsoft to make a concession. He stressed that the issue is merely a storage problem and has nothing to do with the power of the Xbox 360 hardware, while adding that the PlayStation 3's Blu-ray format is Sony's one leg up on the competition. Carmack also noted his belief that neither Doom 4 or Rage will be digitally distributed online, as id isn't looking into that sort of distribution for its major titles at this point.

id Software's John Carmack also announced that work on the technology behind the company's upcoming shooter Rage is almost finished. Carmack said that a change to the animation system is coming soon, and that a few tweaks need to be made to the MegaTexture system, but that the heavy lifting is mostly over. The programming wizard reflected on the long development period for the id Tech 5 engine, which first began some three years ago. Carmack mentioned that the Rage code will mostly be carried over to Doom 4, where the focus will then be mainly on level design and creative aspects.

Doom 4 and Rage Not Likely for Digital Distribution

This processor model popped up the radar a couple of times now. Yet it's confirmed that the Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 is to be released by Intel on August 10th.

The processor is a 45nm-based Core 2 Duo chip with 2.66GHz frequency 1066FSB support and 3MB cache. This is a faster version of the recently launched E7200 with 2.53GHz frequency 1066FSB support and 3MB cache.

The E7300 is expected to be selling for $133 at launch, while E7200 will drop to $113 on the same date. These are very decent processors and it's good to see the pricing now match complketely to mainstream.

It really is quite an achievement .. Corsair announced today that its Dominator DDR3 memory modules shattered the record for frequency. The record was set using the Asus ROG Rampage Extreme motherboard (Intel X48 chipset) and Corsair Dominator memory, utilizing Corsair

Corsair Dominator DDR3 Memory Sets Record

NVidia publisher POV decided to modify the stock 8800GT with an 128Bit memory interface. NVidia said, it wouldn

8800GT with 128Bit

CPUCalc is an overclocking-calculator able to "simulate" overclocking with many Intel and AMD processors.

You just need to set your wished clock and it calculates all other settings, for example. It automatically sets the correct CPU-RAM-ratio and Referenceclock:HTT-Ratio.

It

Download: CPUCalc 1.7

In roughly three weeks from now a big NVIDIA event will take place in San Jose California, it's called NVISION and definitely is going to be huge.

The big NVIDIA visual event is looking pretty impressive as some big names are showing up at this event. A large selection of conference attendees will be there like Buzz Aldrin who will debut a 3D Film "Fly Me to the Moon". There are more names for keynote speeches though. Shuttle Commander Eileen Collins, first women ever piloting the Space Shuttle, is going to speak likely about the fast evolution of technology within that cockpit.

Actress Tricia Helfer (yes the gorgeous blonde) from Battlestar Galactica is to Speak at NVISION 08 as well together with NVIDIA's CEO in likely the opening speech. In the lineup the MythBusters just have been added as well as Jamie Hyneman and Adam Savage now been announced as special guests at NVISION 08 and rumor is .. there's some sort of world record to be broken at NVISION.

The Guinness attempt is quickly shaping up to be a flagship event at NVISION with a separate area for LAN Game record attempters.  The will play continuous for 36 hours with an allotted 10 minute break per 60 minutes played. Oy .. i can smell the energy drinks and coffee already.

Also the World's top professional gamers land in downtown San Jose to compete in ESWC grand final at NVISION 08. Next to all this there will be several workshops in several segments, from gamers, 3D professional, press, channel members and investors.

The NVISION 08 event goes from August 25 to the 27th, more info can be found here. There is lots of exciting stuff going on there.

Tricia Helfer and MythBusters to attend NVISION 08

The graphics card we will test today is based on the immensely popular Radeon HD 4850. Probably the best value card one can buy. These cards at default come with 512 MB gDDR3 memory. Now, I can see a manufacturer double up that memory to 1 GB. The effect would be small but measurable when you would like to game in very high resolutions. Then there is an incremental step to that as well. And that's what we'll test today. PowerColor released a Radeon HD 4850 graphics card with, get this ... 2 GB memory. That certainly brings a smile to my face, as if anything, I like innovation.

But even yours truly is going .. "Hmmm, that's not gonna work, is it?".

You can read the review right here:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-4850-2-gb-gddr3-review/

PowerColor Radeon HD 4850 with 2 GB memory review [Guru3D]

Samsung America, announced the launch of the new Series 9 LED LCD HDTV. The 2008 flagship Series 9, Samsung's 2nd generation LCD HDTV to use LED SmartLighting technology, offers consumers the powerful combination of LED and 120Hz technologies, resulting in a 1,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio for a crisp, full HD 1080p picture.

The Series 9 is also distinguished by Samsung's new addition to the art-inspired ToC (Touch of Color) design

The folks at Hitachi launched a pair of CinemaStar drives for users of DVRs and any other computer or device that needs to run for long periods of time. The 1TB 7K1000.B relies on the same basic design as its normal DeskStar counterpart but is tuned to run all day and in harsher conditions. The new version is both more resilient against high temperatures as well as modified to run more quietly while it seeks data on the drive. The disk further borrows power optimization tricks from Hitachi's notebook drives to cut down on its energy draw.

The capacity is twice as much as for the previous best CinemaStar and is enough to hold 247 hours of HD video in MPEG-4, Hitachi says, also noting that it can handle as many as ten data streams at once. The 7K1000.B should be ready in August at an unlisted price.

For smaller devices, the company is also launching the 5K320. The slower, 5,400RPM disk holds 320GB and shares much of the same heat and power behavior as its larger-capacity sibling. It appears slightly later and ships in September.

MSI confirmed that it would raise the official price of its Wind mini notebook by an average of $50. A base model with a three-cell battery pack now costs $499 while a longer-lasting six-cell version costs $549.

The company has had "no choice" but to increase the price as the raw manufacturing costs for the battery and other notebook materials have increased significantly, according to an MSI official. Retailers such as Buy.com are being asked to cancel orders at the original prices to avoid facing sanctions from the PC builder.

The Wind was set to be one of the least expensive mini notebooks available and undercut multiple Eee PCs and similar models despite its 1.6GHz Atom processor, 80GB drive and 10-inch screen, which put it at the top end of the system category. These increases reduce the gap between the Wind and same-size opponents like the $649 Eee PC 1000H and are compounded further by unofficial increases by resellers hoping to expand their own profits. A six-cell Wind now sells for $599 at some retailers.

It's unknown whether the cost increase will spread to other mini notebook designers that may share similar parts.

Check this mod out. The final version of The Delta Sector modification for FarCry has been released. This mod features three singleplayer missions, a multiplayer mode and has dramatically improved graphics. More info and link to downloads over here.

You are a member of a special forces team. It's your job to check what's happen in eastern europe, because many military forces accumulate in one area. In the later game, you find out that the others examine an old alien space ship from earlier space invaders which is bury in the deep earth.

But something go wrong...

FarCry Delta Sector mod has greatly improved graphics

Chaintech released new Apogee GT Blazer DDR3 1800MHz 4GB memory kits with 8-8-8-24 latencies and a voltage of 1.8V.

What makes this memory module a true DDR3 masterpiece? It performs not only high data rate but also is of low voltage as 1.8v to achieve a beautiful balance between higher system performance and reliability. Dual modules packaged in 4GB kit, APOGEE GT DDR3 1800 of CL latency of 8-8-8-24 can be easily utilized for increasing the operation efficiency for power users.

APOGEE GT Blazer DDR3 1800 4GB kit has earned a performance over 28.8GB/sec on the EVEREST Memory bandwidth read and write test, providing the excellent level professional memory product quality. In addition, in accordance to the high speed of 1800MHz, the cooling performance is particularly enhanced by its famous bridge-alike, patent-pending Cool It Smart

Chaintech intros 4GB 1800MHz LV DDR3 memory

We're slowly moving to that moment where AIBs have had long enough time to develop & customize the new Radeon HD 4000 products. Force3D just announced that both their radeon HD 4850 and 4870 will be available soon in a Accelero Twin Turbo - Black Editon cooling fan. And I have to admit, that's looking pretty dandy with it's four heatpipes.

The cooler was recently announced by Arctic Cooling. Here's the card pixelated:

Force3D to offer Accelero cooled Radeon 4850 4870

Asus has announced a new board for AMD processors utilising the much awaited SB750 southbridge.

The SB750 is somewhat of a white light of hope for overclockers wanting to push AMD Phenom CPU's to the limit. In preliminary tests it appears that the SB750 can enable even original B2 based Phenoms like the 9600 BE to overclock far more readily than has previously been possible while using lower voltages.

This is Asus's first board based on the new chipset, combining the 790FX Northbridge and SB750 Southbridge.

M3A79-T DELUXE

CPU -

AMD AM2+ / AM2 CPU Support

Chipset -

AMD 790FX + SB750

Memory -

DDR2 1066* / 800 / 667 / 533
* DDR2 1066 is supported by AM2+ CPU only

System Bus -

Up to 5200 MT/s HT3 interface

Expansion Slots -

4 * PCIe 2.0 x 16
2 * PCI

Storage -

6 x SATA 3Gb/s ports with RAID 0, 1, 5, and 10 support
1 x Ultra DMA 133 / 100 / 66
1 x eSATA 3Gb/s port (SATA On-the-Go)

LAN -

Gb LAN

Audio -

8-channel HD

Form factor -

ATX, 12

Asus launch SB750 equipped M3A79-T Deluxe

A new search engine to be known as 'Cuil' was launched over night. The creators have tried to set it apart from your average search engines by claiming they have a largest index of sites available.

Claiming an index of 120 billion websites, which they suggest is three times more than Google currently does.

There are some visual differences, mainly to do with layouts displaying results in columns.


Ex-Googlers launch new search engine