Antec announces the Three Hundred Two enclosure, the latest addition to their Gaming Series. This sleek, black chassis is designed to handle today's and tomorrow's high-performance systems that are custom built for gamers from the inside-out.
The Three Hundred Two enclosure is perfect for gamers, system integrators and casual builders alike because of its extensive cooling advantages and expandability.
High Performance Cooling Advantages - The Three Hundred Two is built for maximum cooling thanks to its perforated front bezel, included dual TwoCool fans, and four optional fans, including a 120 mm CPU exhaust fan behind the motherboard, to ensure gamers can play beyond the long hours of the night.
Extensive Compatibility and Expandability - The Three Hundred Two utilizes eight expansion slots for up to three 12.5" (318 mm) graphics cards for compatibility with the largest GPUs.
Intelligent Design
We look at entry level hardware, for a great deal you get some processor power and actually quite some decent GPU power all harbored inside that processor. We'll go even weirder though, as today we'll be testing a triple core APU, yes that is an APU with three physical CPU cores activated, instead of the four you expected. This three CPU cores product was actually announced back in August already but now finally seems to be available in good volume in the stores, at the nice price of only 70 EUR here in the Netherlands.
LucidLogix' Hydra system-on-chip devices may have just made the difference clear between a revolutionary breakthrough and something that is 'just' a breakthrough. The Hydra 200 SoC, first used in the MSI Hydra 200 Big Bang Fuzion motherboard, seemed to fit the bill of a revolutionary technology perfectly when it emerged for the first time.
With the ability to allow AMD and NVIDIA graphics cards to work in tandem, regardless of model, it seemed to be just what everyone was waiting for. Unfortunately, the great idea turned out not to be so well received, even though initial appreciations were high.
In the end, the performance of Hydra-enabled multi-card setups was inferior to that of 'pure' AMD CrossFire or NVIDIA SLI configurations.
Now, there are genuine concerns that nothing more will come of the idea. Looking back, it seems as though the way the whole idea was approached wrong. Only some high-end motherboards actually got landed with Hydra, but the price premium made CrossFireX and SLI models all the more appealing. After all, if people could afford a high-end platform, they could just as easily afford a pair of AMD or NVIDIA cards as well.
It doesn't help the technology's situation that MSI announced it had decided not to include Hydra SoCs on future products. All in all, cross compatibility for video cards was one of those dreams that proved not to be all they were cracked up to be when they finally came true.
On the bright side, Lucid, as a company, doesn't have to worry about its wellbeing, since the Virtu and XLR8 technologies have been fueling its finances quite readily. At this point, it is almost a certainty that LucidLogix will just go ahead and abandon the whole hardware side as obsolete. If nothing else, NVIDIA and AMD can sit back and breathe a sigh of relief.
German company Compucase, the guys behind Cougar is about to release a new chassis called the Evolution BO. This 'Super Midi-Tower' is a variation of the already-available Evolution model and features a black/orange color scheme, a steel structure, support for micro ATX and ATX motherboards, and a top-mounted 3.5-inch/2.5-inch SATA drive dock.
The Evolution BO measures 223 (W) x 523 (D) x 514 (H) mm, and has an I/O panel with two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports, a built-in fan controller, six external 5.25-inch bays (with tool-free mounting systems), four internal 3.5-inch trays, eight PCI slots, one 120 mm Vortex HDB fan installed at the rear (up to six more fans can be installed), and two pre-drilled holes for watercooling tubing (found at the back). The Evolution BO will hit stores priced at 99 Euro.
Japanese PC manufacturer StormST releases their Still Tower Gamer Edition desktop PC, which is configured to offer decent features and performance at a value price point. It's more of a "pre-integrated PC", since even its chassis is sourced from other brands. The chassis is an NZXT H2 (white or black) silent case.
Innards include Intel Core i7-2600K processor cooled by SCYTHE APSALUS2 120 closed-loop water cooler, ASRock Z68 Pro3 motherboard, 8 GB (4 GB x2) DDR3-1333 MHz memory, ELSA Gladiac GeForce GTX 560 Ti 1 GB graphics, Intel SSD 320 Series 80 GB holding the OS and Program Files, 2 TB storage HDD holding Users and Documents folders, Pioneer DVD writer, Antec Earthwatts Green 650W PSU, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit OS. All this, for 129,780 JPY or US $1,685.
EK Waterblocks uploaded a clip to YouTube to demonstrate how easy it is to install its new EK-FC7970 waterblock on a Radeon HD 7970:
Sales of Intel's Atom processor have hit an all-time low in Q4 2011. The chip giant pulled in $167 million of Atom sales, a far cry from the $438 million peak achieved two years ago as X-bit Labs reports.
While Intel Corp. is facing great demand towards its advanced Core i-series "Sandy Bridge" microprocessors, the firm of witnessing rapidly dropping demand towards its low-cost/low-power Atom chip line. In Q4 2011 sales of Intel Atom hit all-time low, which is another evidence of dropping popularity of netbooks and ultra low-cost PCs powered by Intel in general.
Based on Intel's financial report, the Atom micro-architecture revenue, including microprocessors and associated chipsets, was $167 million, down 38% from the third quarter and down 57% from the fourth quarter of 2010. Apparently, even despite of the beginning of revenue shipments of Atom 2000-series "Cedarview" chip, overall sales of the product family fell significantly. According to the world's largest chipmaker, Intel Atom micro-architecture revenue is down as a result of lower demand for netbooks, inexpensive small form-factor mobile computers with limited performance and capabilities.
In Canada several webshops started listing the upcoming Radeon HD 7950, Prices range from $479.0 to $493.0 Canadian.
Interstingly enough they show specs as well, so that confirms 1792 Shader processors with a core clock frequency of 900 MHz and an effective data-rate on the memory of 5500 MHz. :
Key Specifications:
GPU : HD 7970
Core Clock (MHz) : 900MHz
Stream Processor : 1792
Mem Clock (MHz) : 5500MHz
Mem Size (MB) : 3072MB
Mem Bus (bit) : 384 bit
Mem Type : GDDR5
Card Interface : PCI Express 3.0
Board Form : ATX
D-SUB : N/A
DVI : 1x DVI-I
HDMI : 1 x HDMI
Display Port : 2x Mini Display Port
Companies listing the cards are:
http://www.ncix.com/products/index.p...cture=Gigabyte
http://www.pccanada.com/viewitem.asp?id=37646
http://www.ecsrv.com/ShopSearchPage....GV-R795WF3-3GD
If we take 490 CAN USD and convert that, in EUR it would be 375 EUR and for the USA roughly 485 USD.
The next graphics card in the Radeon HD 7000-series, the Radeon HD 7950, was just benchmarked by a Chinese website (MyDrivers) who found out that AMD
OCZ Technology Group, Inc. (Nasdaq:OCZ), a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today announced the release of new enhanced IOPS firmware (v1.13) for the Octane SATA 3.0 Series SSDs. The random write performance has been significantly improved, in some capacities over double that of the previous specifications, for users looking to push their SSD performance to new heights.
For all Octane SATA 6Gb/s models, the improved IOPS made possible by this new firmware allow for greater transactional performance, especially during small file and random access speeds in everyday computing applications. When compared to the previous revision, random write IOPS performance doubles across nearly all capacities when tested in IOmeter 2008:
OCZ strives to offer the fastest, highest performing solutions on the market and continues to support customers by offering firmware innovations to their storage investments. The new enhanced IOPS firmware will begin shipping in the next batch of drives to resellers, and the upgrade file will be made available to existing customers via the company's website.
ADATA today introduced new industry-leading, single piece 8GB DDR3-1600 high-density memory modules. Known for industry-high standards of quality control and meticulous device engineering, the new modules will meet and exceed expectations of customers who seek performance and quality in DRAM products.
With this launch ADATA is continuing its tradition as an industry leader in DRAM product line-up. These 8GB Premier Series DDR3-1600 single piece memory modules allow users to boost system performance over the limitations of memory slot availability.
The Premier Series 1600Mbps DDR3 240-Pin (Unbuffered DIMM) are standard pin design modules operating at 1.5 volts, with bandwidth up to 12.8 Gb/second (PC3 12800). The memory modules are made of cutting edge high density 4Gb DRAM, so they operate faster, consume less power, and hence operate at cooler temperatures. All the modules are in accordance with JEDEC (Joint Electron Device Engineering Council, JEDEC Solid State Technology Association) and RoHS design and production standards, simultaneously ensuring compatibility with all computer systems adopting the same standard, and are ecologically sound products. ADATA Series memory modules come with lifetime warranty and service1, providing consumers the best protection.
Product Features
The new series of DDR3 quad channel overclocking module from KINGMAX is designed for optimizing the maximum performance on X79 related motherboard. The main clock rate of this series is set as 1333 MHz, but it is also available in 1600MHz, 2000MHz and 2200MHz. Intel X79 is an upgrade from the previous X58 series, thus building on the X79 platform means KINGMAX
We just remembered there was one last curiosity we saw at AMD's suite at CES 2012: this AMD Fusion tablet, running Android 4.0. Before you get too excited, AMD was quick to point out that this MSI WindPad 110W didn't get Ice Cream Sandwich through any effort of its own. What you're looking at is actually the work of the Android-x86 project, which very recently released a test Android 4.0 ISO for AMD Brazos-based tablets like the one above.
The good news is that if you've got such a tablet lying around the house, you can download the ROM yourself. The bad news is that AMD tells us it doesn't officially support the community's efforts here, and you shouldn't necessarily expect AMD devices to run Android in the future. The intriguing news is that if you go to the Android-x86 project's website, you can plainly see that AMD is interested in where this road might go: the company donated some development boards to the project last April, and as of October the AMD "Persimmon" platform of embedded processors
ASUS recently released its new compact HD media player, it's called the O!Play Mini and this is the Plus edition.
The O!Play Mini Plus TV Media Player allows you to play digital films, music and photos directly on your TV with High Definition quality (1080p) and does a thing or two more.
Read the full article right here.
Microsoft apparently ordered the production of the chip that will go inside the company
Haier recently showcased a 3DTV with a diagonal of 55 inches and featuring the Wireless Home Digital Interface (WHDI) technology. The company did not focus too much on spelling out each and every specification, according to a TechOn report.
Instead, it has focused on the WHDI technology and the implications it has in the long run. The WHDI technology does two things, one of which is the streaming of video content.
The other role is to power the TV wirelessly, meaning that the newcomer does not need to be plugged into anything to work. In fact, it totally lacks any and all sorts of cables, relying completely on magnetic resonance generated by a power-receiving coil.
The stand below the TV holds the power-transmitting device, though the power-receiving coil needs to rest very close to the bottom of the TV as well.
While the magnetic resonance works well enough, it needs the device to be within 8 inches of the display's bottom. This rather defeats the purpose of the wireless design, since a cable still needs to connect the power transmitter to an outlet on the wall.
Then again, even though Haier demoed the 55-inch 3D panel at CES, it did it more as proof of concept. The company has every intention of selling such TVs eventually, but not soon. Unfortunately, no sort of price was specified for it, and the availability date was withheld as well.
Remedy Games' critically-acclaimed title, Alan Wake, which was initially developed and demonstrated for both consoles and PCs, with the PC version being shelved, is coming to PC in February, 2012.
It is announced that the game will use Valve Steamworks as its DRM and content-distribution platform, will be available through Steam store as digital-download, and its likely hard copies will also use Steamworks.
Minimum specs:
Seems that Corsair is working on some coolness, individually sleeved PSU cables. These cables will be released as upgrade kits for the Gold AX120, AX850/AX750/AX650, Professional Series HX, and Enthusiast Series TXM power supplies. Available in black, blue, red and white, these kits will have a MSRP of $79.99 to $99.99 as Legit review reports today:
Corsair usually makes a ton of noise when they launch new products, but for some reason the company silently launched a new product line on Facebook yesterday that went unnoticed by most tech sites. Corsair has announced individually sleeved modular cables.
When you break down the overall cost of each cable the pricing isn't out of line. NZXT offers a line of premium cables and most range from $7.99 to $9.99 each, so if you pieced together your own kit you would end up spending between $130 to $160. Corsair acknowledged that you can't buy individual cables from them right now, but that may change down the road. For example the Corsair 600T case that they had on display was running three AMD Radeon HD 7970 video cards in CrossFireX, but if you wanted to run a fourth you'd be out of cables!
Legacy VGA and DVI display ports will likely no longer be used in PCs over the next five years as newer interfaces gain in popularity, NPD In-Stat said in a study released on Thursday.
New laptops today come with the thinner HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) and DisplayPort to connect high-definition TVs, monitors or projectors. Those interfaces have made significant inroads in recent years, with growing support for them from PC makers and consumer electronics companies, said Brian O'Rourke, research director at NPD In-Stat. Intel and Advanced Micro Devices are phasing out chipset support for VGA by 2015, which could discourage PC makers from adding VGA ports. PC makers would need to add a separate chipset on the motherboard for VGA connectors, which could add to the cost of making a PC, O'Rourke said. Advanced Micro Devices has announced it would phase out chipset support for DVI by 2015.
The investigation by law enforcement officials on the Megaupload file sharing site went into another part of the world today. Hong Kong customs officials have announced that, working with the US Department of Justice and the FBI, they have seized assets from Megaupload in the city that are worth about $42 million.
Customs officers had also made inquiries with target individuals, including company directors, and detected about HK$330 million worth of crime proceeds of bank savings and security investment. The assets have been frozen in accordance with related ordinances. The operation is on-going.
During the investigation, it was found that the hotel rooms rented by the syndicate for office use and rest area were luxury suite rooms, which cost HK$100,000 odd per day. Besides, the room was equipped with a number of large-scale high-speed servers and large-model TV screens, which are suspected to be in connection with the case.
A fan-made remake of Space Quest 2 is available thanks to Indie developer Infamous Adventures. They have remade Space Quest II: Vohaul's Revenge from scratch, adding improvements along the way.
PC-purists need not panic, this remake is still displayed in 320x200 and boasts 16 whopping bits of color. Let's not forget about the over 4,000 lines of dialogue also included. Since then the free game has been downloaded around 20,000 times, and a new patch is now available to update it to version 1.1.
