Right at Eyefinity6 launch day the ASUS Republic of Gamers MATRIX 5870 arrives.  First spotted in the wild last month, the ROG MATRIX 5870 takes ATI

With the pending launch of AMDs six-core processors next month motherboard manufacturers everywhere leak pictures and show BIOS support for the upcoming Thuban based processors. Gigabyte in this case, have been preparing motherboards to receive the CPU with. Known as the GA-890FXA-UD7, Gigabyte's motherboard just popped up in a photo.
 
 The GA-890FXA-UD7 isn't based on the 890GX chipset, Gigabyte's mainboard uses the 890FX and SB850 chips, which lack integrated graphics. The GA-890FXA-UD7 has a 2oz copper PCB, naturally colored in Gigabyte's signature blue color, and uses the ultra Durable 3 design that provides added reliability and system stability.
 
 The platform itself will support AM3 central processing units, has eight SATA 6.0Gbps ports, two eSATA ports, two USB 3.0 connectors and six PCI Express x16 slots. The device is also outfitted with a set of four DDR3 1866+ memory slots.
 
 The product also has a rather unusual but capable cooling mechanism, made up of a Silent-Pipe passive heatsink and a removable waterblock for the Northbridge. Other specifications include the dual Gigabit Ethernet connectivity, a debug LED, FireWire, DualBIOS, integrated 7.1 channel audio and power/reset buttons.

Intel has announced what they call the largest performance leap in Intel Xeon processor history. This leap comes in the form of the company's latest and strongest server CPUs, the Xeon 7500 Series, which are based on the Nehalem architecture and promise a performance increase of three times compared to Xeon 7400 chips.

The new CPUs have up to eight processing cores and Hyper Threading (16 threads), which means they can scale up to 32 cores and 64 threads in four-chip platforms or even 64 cores and 128 threads on eight-chip platforms. The most capable of the lot is the Xeon 7560, which has a clock frequency of 2.66GHz and 24MB of Intel Smart Cache memory, as well as Turbo Boost technology and four Intel QPI links. This chip is intended for super node high-performance computing applications in financial services and science. The thermal design power (TDP) of all processors can range between 95W and 130W.

In addition to their basic specs, all CPUs are built with over 20 reliability features, such as the Machine Check Architecture (MCA) Recovery, which enables a configuration to recover from system errors that would otherwise be fatal. This feature set makes Intel's new line capable of better protecting data integrity and minimizing planned downtime.

Galaxy introduced its GeForce GTX 480 and GeForce GTX 470 graphics cards. Both models are based on NVIDIA's reference models.

Galaxy is proud to launch the fermi-based graphics card named GALAXY Geforce GTX480. next-generation gaming has arrived. GeForce

Now check that out, for the uber geek. Here's a t-shirt that displays how much unread e-mail you have!

Battlefield Bad Company 2 (an amazing game btw) is launching today its second Map Pack, you can read all about it at the EA Battlefield blogs

The map pack is available with the VIP code which is included in every new copy of Battlefield: Bad Company 2. Players that do not have a code can purchase one via the in-game store, PC players will get the content as a game update. VIP status is also available to those on consoles without a VIP code through Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network.

Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity6 - gaming on six monitors

We test the Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity6 edition card, in CrossfireX actually combined with six .. yes SIX monitors. We'll build a nice frame that can hold the six Dell monitors we are using in this review and then will get our groove on. Now we'll also show some performance numbers as we'll not only use one, but two Radeon HD 5870 Eyefinity6 cards, which we'll setup in CrossfireX, but more overly I like this article to be a show case.

As such we'll record some high-definition footage and show you videos of a gaming in a MASSIVE monitor resolution of 5040x2100 pixels.

Read the review here.

BattleField 1943 was released for XBOX360 and PS3 some time ago but PC users were left in the dark. Well now is the time for you to preorder the game, because BF1943 for PC is nearly finished and will come out as a Direct Download pretty soon according to DICE on the BF1943 Website.

This is what the game is all about:

Whether you are flying your Zero fighter for the glorious Japanese Imperial Navy over Wake Island or rushing the shores on Iwo Jima with other battle-hardened US Marines, you're in for an intense battle. Use the built in squad features to team up with up to 4 other soldiers and make your way across the Pacific Theatre together.

Thrash an enemy bunker, setup camp and snipe across the map, steal a tank in the enemy's stronghold while your comrades launch an all out bomber attack; the choices are endless! We're depending on you to turn the tide of the battle and war, soldier! 

HWiNFO32 is a professional hardware information and diagnostic tools supporting latest components, industry technologies and standards. Both tools are targeted to recognize and extract the most possible amount of information about computer's hardware which makes them suitable for users searching for driver updates, computer manufactures, system integrators and technical experts too.

Retrieved information's are presented in a logical and easily understandable form and can be exported into various types of reports.

• Comprehensive hardware information
• System health monitoring
• Basic benchmarks
• Text, CSV and XML report formats
• Periodical updates
• For Windows NT/2000/XP/Vista/Server 2003; Windows 9X/Me (limited)

The new version of the HWiNFO32 hardware information and diagnostic tool and it features:

Changes

• Enhanced support of Sandy Bridge family.
• Added IT87xx fan divisors setup if not configured properly by default.
• Added nVidia GeForce GTX 470 and GeForce GTX 480 (GF100 / Fermi).
• Fixed reading from AMB.
• Improved USB scan.
• Added possibility to automatically minimalize either the Main or Sensors Window. Can be used to display only Sensor data.
• Added possibility to report sensor values in Vista Sidebar.
• Added possibility to disable particular sensor scanning.
• Added possibility to autorun HWiNFO32 during Windows start.
• Improved reporting of CPU Power for IbexPeak-based platforms.
• Several other minor updates and bugfixes

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The Corsair Nova V128 SSD tested

Today we'll have a good look at the all new V series solid state disks from Corsair, the V128GB Nova to be precise.

The Nova is a 2.5-inch SATA 3Gbps SATA2 model with either 64GB or 128GB MLC NAND flash memory, is comes with a 64MB memory and is based on an Indilinx controller with a 64MB cache tied to it. These puppies show 270MB/s read speeds.

Write performance as advertised is 130MB/s for the V64 model and 195MB/s for the V128 model. The SSD will be competitive in pricing, let find out if there's legitimacy in the claims shall we ?

Check out the review here.

Samsung Electronics announced today that it has begun shipping samples of the industry's highest-density memory module for server systems. The 32 gigabyte (GB) module has been designed for use in advanced servers, which require high-density and high-performance features at low-power consumption levels.

Samsung is using the industries highest-density monolithic DDR3 device - a 40-nanometer (nm) class, four gigabit (Gb) DDR3 chip - as the building block for the new 32GB module. This comes just one year after the company announced its 50nm-class 2Gb based, 16GB registered dual inline memory module (RDIMM) last March.

The highly-efficient 32GB RDIMM consists of 36 dual-die 40nm-class 4Gb DDR3 chips that can perform at equal or greater levels to a 40nm-based 16GB RDIMM with no increase in power consumption. By equipping a dual CPU, two-way server with 32GB modules, a server system can have up to 384GB of memory. This allows for doubling the previously largest density of 192GBs per server with a power increase of less than five percent over that needed for a 16GB module-based system.

In addition, replacing 12 DRAM modules of 16GB density with just six 32GB modules would achieve a 192GB total density, while allowing the DRAM operating speed in a two-way server system to rise by 33 percent from 800 megabit per second (Mbps) to 1,066 Mbps, as power is cut by 40 percent.

In high-performance, four-way servers using 16GB modules, one terabyte of DRAM would be commonplace.By using 32GB RDIMMs, Samsung is moving toward providing four-way servers with 2TB of DRAM each, a migration that it believes will spur introduction of diverse software and a broader scale of server applications.

Mass production of the 32GB RDIMM is slated to begin next month.

According to a report, Advanced Micro Devices is ready to introduce a new batch of Athlon II X2 CPUs with a TDP of 45W. One of them is the Athlon II X2 250e, which has a frequency of 3GHz, whereas the other one is the 245e, at 2.9 GHz.

It is possible for these chips to use the C3 stepping, the chips will add to the existing pair of Regor-based central processors, namely the 2.8GHz 240e and the 2.7GHz 135e. Both have the same thermal design power (TDP) of 45W.

In addition to these two dual-core processors, AMD is also supposedly preparing to reveal a pair of chips for the Sempron family, based on the Sargas core. These chips will also consume 45W and are known as the Sempron 180 and Sempron 145. The former's clock is still unknown, though it shouldn't stay so for much longer, as for the latter, its frequency is of 2.7GHz.

The chassis measures 532 (H) x 220 (W) x 537 (D) mm, weighs about 14.13 kilograms and is meant to be used in high-end gaming configurations powered by NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 470 or GTX 480 controllers. As such, it uses the full tower form factor, so that it can house even the largest motherboards, and has a graphics card 'air duct.' This duct was designed in collaboration with NVIDIA and is meant to improve the cooling of three-way or Quad-SLI configurations.

In addition, the PC casing features support for 3.5-inch and 2.5-inch drive bays, five 5.25-inch bays and a top I/O panel, with audio, eSATA and four USB connectors.

In order to make the Element V NVIDIA Edition truly part of the green team, Thermaltake outfitted it with a number of green LED fans. There is a 230mm Colorshift fan on the side, for intake, a 200mm Colorshift on top and a pair of 120mm spinners on the front. There is also a 120mm fan at the back.

The chassis is set to start selling in April, which means it will become available around the same time as the cards themselves.

"Nvidia shares Thermaltake's commitment to ensure the enthusiast community receives the best possible products that solidify the PC as the best gaming platform, period," said Tom Petersen, technical director at Nvidia. "Through collaboration with Thermaltake's leading engineers, we are excited that the Thermaltake Element V Nvidia Edition is capable of providing an awesome gaming environment for our next generation of enthusiast graphic cards, including GeForce GTX 480 and GTX 470, running in 2-way, 3-way, or even Quad SLI. Put simply, it rocks!"

AMD officially released its new Opteron 6000 "Magny Cours" processor series, which features world's first 8- and 12-core x86 processors for the high-volume 2P and value 4P server market. Pricing of the new Opteron chips can be found at AMD. The introduction of the much-anticipated platform has put AMD in the position to provide its costumers with a choice for 8 core and 12-core CPUs, designed to increase performance in both memory and compute intensive workloads. 

The AMD Opteron

A recent leak, supposedly from an Activision 'insider', has revealed new details about the next Call of Duty. Although, Call of Duty 7 is yet to be formally announced by Activision, logic suggests that the new instalment will be handled by the 'other' CoD team, Treyarch, formerly responsible for Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War.

• Call of Duty: Black Ops is what the latest Treyarch (not Infinity Ward!) creation is reportedly titled.
• Hitting stores in November 2010.
• Set between World War II and modern times, it
  

We're happy to announce that we start Afterburner 1.6.0 Beta process, in this version we have early support of NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470/480 along with other many exciting features.

A few important notes on initial GTX 400 series support.

• It is no longer possible to adjust core and shader clocks independently on GTX 400 series. Shader clock is the primary and the only controlable GPU clock for this NVIDIA GPU architecture, the rest parts of core are clocked @ half of shader clock (1/2 ratio is hardwired). So you will have only shader clock slider unlocked on GF100 GPUs, core clock slider is no longer available on these cards. That is by design and must be so.
• It is no longer possible to downclock memory for 3D mode. So the minimum limit for memory clock matches with default 3D clock. It is also by design and must be so.
• Currently available public GF100 drivers have open issue with fixed fan control mode on GTX 400 series: once you enable fixed fan control mode, it is impossible to switch fan control back to default automatic fan speed mode. Reboot is required to restore automatic fan control mode. NVIDA are aware about issue and the fix is already available in new drivers (not available to public yet). So keep it in mind and in meanwhile don't forget to reboot the system to resotre automatic fan control mode if you play with fixed fan control mode in any tool. Alternately, just enable Afterburner's software automatic fan speed mode. It will do the job instead of NV driver until the fix is available.
• Voltage control for GTX 400 series in not implemented yet.

[Changelog] Afterburner 1.6.0 Beta 1

• Added initial NVIDIA GeForce GTX 400 series graphics cards support
• Added basic screen capture support by means of built-in screen capture engine of MSI On-Screen Display server. Now it is possible to assign the hotkey for capturing screenshots in BMP, PNG or JPG formats in DirectX applications and in BMP format on desktop or in OpenGL applications
• Added hardware monitoring history logging support. Now MSI Afterburner is able to save history in native RivaTuner Hardware Monitoring Log file format. The log files captured with MSI Afterburner can be viewed in any text editor like Notepad or in graphics form in RivaTuner's HML file viewer (RivaTuner must be installed for viewing log files in graphics form)
• Added new safety option allowing forcring constant voltage on some cards with voltage regulators supporting programmable dynamic voltage management (e.g. VT1165 or uP6266). New safety option may improve stability on some systems as well as provide power state independent voltage control on the systems with non-standard voltage control implementation
• MSI On-Screen Display server has been upgraded to version 3.7.0. New server gives you a lot of improvements including:
• Stealth mode automatic disabling feature. Now the server is able to disable
  stealth mode automatically if incompatible application like FRAPS is active.
  You no longer need to disable stealth mode manually if you need to run the
  server simultaneously with FRAPS, but keep in mind that stealth technologies will not be active in this case
• DirectX11 On-Screen Display and screen capture support
• Screen capture support for DirectX10 and DirectX11 applications using
  multisampled antialiasing or non-standard frame buffer formats (e.g. sRGB)
• Optional On-Screen Display 3D rendering mode. New mode uses 3D accelerated DirectX functions to emulate previously used 2D framebuffer access function and render 2D text. New rendering mode provides On-Screen Display support in DirectX10 and DirectX11 applications using multisampled antialiasing and can also drastically reduce OSD related performance hit on the systems with badly optimized 2D acceleration in display drivers
• Now screenshot file extension is forcibly set to BMP if JPG or PNG screen capture is requested on desktop or in OpenGL application
• Simplified On-Screen Display coordinate space settings. Rarely used desktop and window coordinate space modes have been merged into single framebuffer coordinate space mode
• Now the server automatically selects framebuffer coordinate space instead
  of viewport coordinate space when viewport is not accessible (e.g. if pure Direct3D8 device is in use) 
• Improved application notification scheme during runtime profiles adjustment. Now runtime changes in OSD application profiles (e.g. OSD zoom ratio change on the fly) are reflected in affedted application almost immedaitely instead of approximately 1 second delay in the previos versions 
• Reduced runtime skin engine memory footprint due to dynamic skin storage
  unloading
• Updated profiles list
• Now MSI Afterburner distributive includes original 128x128 PNG application
  logo (stored in .\Graphics folder) for dockbar applications like RocketDock
  or ObjectDock.
• It is no longer necessary to close the application to save monitoring window
  attachment state

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Phenom II X4 Overclocking Masterclass - Poor some LN2 on it

The professional overclocker's scene, and it's a demographic that Guru3D will be following more closely. It's the extreme side of overclocking, yes the guys that use extravagant cooling methods to lift the core frequency to way higher levels. And today we'll be doing exactly that.

We'll have our tame race driver 'OldScarface', a Dutch overclocker, tryout the latest revision of the Phenom II 965BE -- the latest stepping with a lower TDP. The objective is to pass 5 or maybe even 6 GHz on this processor. To do so, all he'll need is a couple of litres of Liquid Nitrogen, the right equipment and time... lots of time.

Check out this Guru3D article right here.

Germany based ilverStone is preparing a new chassis targeted at the mainstream market. It's called the Precision series PS05. This mid-tower ATX case measures 190 x 456.5 x 501.2 mm, with extensive use of plastic and SECC steel.

Given the price the specs and features will be a little sober. are basic but includes four 5.25" and two external 3.5" drive bays, a drive cage room for another four 3.5" drives, partly tool-free design, all-black interiors, motherboard with hole to manage certain kinds of CPU coolers, and a ventilation system which includes fans and fan-slots for the front, rear, and top.

The PS05 is expected to go for 41.50

Gigabyte's GV-N470D5-13I-B (GTX 470) and GV-N480D5-15I-B (GTX 480) support the DirectX 11, CUDA, PhysX, 3-way SLI and 3D Vision Surround, PureVideo HD and GigaThread technologies. Furthermore, they are mostly identical to the GPU maker's original products, with the only difference being that the cooling modules are designed with a blue theme, for aesthetic and branding purposes.  
The GTX 480 has a the GF100 graphics processing unit (GPU) running at a frequency of 700MHz, the 1,536MB GDDR5 clocked at 3,696MHz and a shader clock of 1401. The device also features a 384-bit memory interface, 480 CUDA cores, 60 texture units and a thermal design power (TDP) of 250W.

As for video-output capabilities, the video board is built with dual-DVI and a mini HDMI port. The second card, the GTX 470, has 448 cores, 56 texture units, a 320-bit memory interface, 1,280MB of GDDR5 VRAM and GPU/shader/memory clocks of 607/1,215/3,348MHz. This card consumes 215W and its output options are identical to those of its sibling.

Tell me someone who don't know, played or at least heared about Sonic the Hedgehog, a game that was like the father of all games on the classic Sega Genesis Console. Well, SEGA made a fortune with that game and so, Sonic character became legend for SEGA.

Well, it seems, SEGA wants to really go back to it's roots, after trying miserably to port Sonic character into full 3D in all kinds of ways, it seems now, Sonic wants to go back to it's beginings.

So, SEGA is launching Sonic The Hedgehog 4 in an Episodic way,  Episode 1 will be out soon and you can take a look at their website. Sonic is back in Full HD but with all the little details that made Sonic the Hedgehog so popular. For now, the game will be available on XBOX Live, PS Network and WiiWare but a big "???" is put out on the botton and top right of the website meaning, surely, a PC version comming out also.

GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU.

New Revision updates:

• Added support for NVIDIA GeForce GTX 470 and GTX 480
• Added voltage monitoring for HD 5750, 5830, 5870 Lightning
• Added support for Intel Pineview
• Fixed double memory clock reading on NVIDIA w/ GDDR5 (real clock is now displayed)
• Fixed rounding errors in RV7xx and Evergreen fan monitoring code
• Added tooltip translations for Albanian and Chinese Traditional
• Memory bandwidth calculation uses GB now instead of GiB
• Added new hardware giveaway tab in cooperation with ASUS

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