Ever since the first Android tablets arrived a year or two ago things have been developing fast. ODMs and chip designers jumped onto the bandwagon fast as PC sales are declining, and much like the initial netbook market, the tablet market is on the rise.
We test the The quad-core Tegra 3 based Eee Pad Transformer Prime, an unbelievable product. Fast, thin and huge in specs, but sure... very expensive.
Read the article right here.
Earlier last year we reported that Intel had plans to release a trio of Sandy Bridge processors that would come with their built-in GPUs disabled. Now, almost a month after this initial report, Gigabyte has confirmed the existence of these chips.
The three chips are the Core i5-2380P, Core i5-2450P and a somewhat older acquaintance of ours, the Core i5-2550K.
With a base clock of 3.1GHz and a maximum Turbo Speed of 3.4GHz, the Core i5-2380P greatly resembles the Core i5-2400, sans the integrated GPU of course. The Core i5-2450P on the other hand is a bit odd as both of its 3.2GHz base and 3.5GHz Turbo frequencies are 100MHz lower than those of the Core i5-2500.
Last but certainly not least, is the Core i5-2550K which, as we speculated at the beginning of December, has 100MHz higher base and Turbo frequencies than the current i5-2500K, which means that this will run at 3.4/3.8GHz.
All three models have 6MB cache, but none of them has VT-d or TXT support, a feature all previous non-K SKUs in the Core i5 family supported. Hyper-Threading won
Ultrasone introduced Signature PRO, the first model in a select range of "made in Germany" headphones for discerning music lovers and professional users. The handcrafted headphones are based on the company's more than 20 years development expertise and, with patented technologies such as S-Logic Plus, offer an impressively detailed sound experience. Designed as a closed system, the first model in the Signature range will appeal to musicians, sound engineers and hi-fi lovers in equal measure. With its classical design and high-quality materials, the Signature PRO boasts and excellent sound experience combined with a stylish look, inspired from their Edition 9 headphones.
The Signature PRO uses a 40-millimetre titanium-plated sound transducer developed in-house. With a frequency range of 8 Hz to 42 kHz, it reproduces more than the entire range of human hearing. Clear audio sound, a detailed midrange and precise low-range frequency reproduction ensure rarely heard audio excellence. The decentralized arrangement of the sound transducers within the ear cup creates a pleasant spatial sound. Thanks to a 'broader' stereo platform, all signals in the panorama can be particularly well located. The S-Logic Plus technology that has been patented all over the world also ensures an outstanding depth of sound: this gives musicians and sound engineers a perfect feeling for their mix, and music lovers experience their favourite tracks exactly as intended by the respective artists. The closed design principle supports S-Logic Plus with a precise and present low frequency range.
The Signature glass nameplates on both ear cups are a visual highlight that blends harmoniously into the form of the headphones. The high-quality black leather and the special soft-touch coating ensure a pleasant, firm grip and are what give the Signature PRO its visual appeal.
"With the new Signature range, we are closing the gap between our high-quality PRO headphones and the exclusive models in the Edition range", explains Michael Zirkel, COO of Ultrasone AG. "The Signature range is aimed at a quality-conscious consumer group comprising of both professional users and music lovers. As with our Edition models, it is extremely important to us that Signature is "made in Germany" and the headphones are manufactured here in Tutzing."
Ultrasone has developed a new headband system that ensures comfortable listening even after long periods of use. In addition to special upholstery that follows the shape of the head, the ear-cup pads and head pad are covered with Ethiopian sheep's leather. The advantage of this extremely high-quality material is its tremendous robustness, as well as the fact that it does not perish, even after years of heavy use. Weighing in at 300 grams, despite its more complex construction, the Signature PRO is no heavier than conventional headphones.
Ultrasone has paid particular attention to the headphone cabling: thanks to a bayonet fastening on the left ear cup, the cable can be exchanged in a flash. The headphones come with two high-quality Neutrik connectors: a 1.5m cable with a 3.5 mm gold-plated jack and a 3.0m cable with a gold-plated 6.3 mm stereo jack. By including a cable with a 3.5 mm connector, Ultrasone is taking account of the fact that more and more professional users are working directly with a notebook without an external sound solution.
Specifications
- S-Logic Plus technology
- Dynamic principle, closed
- Frequency range 8 - 42,000 Hz
- Impedance 32 Ohm
- Sound pressure level 98 dB
- ULE technology, MU Metal bufferboard, field emission in accordance with ULE standard
- 40 mm titanium-plated driver
- Magnet: NdFeB
- Weight: 300 g
- Includes transportation case
- 2 detachable cords with B-lock connection:
3.0 m straight cable with gold-plated 6.3 mm Neutrik plug
1.5 m straight cable with gold-plated 3.5 mm Neutrik plug/angled
The Ultrasone Signature PRO headphones are available now for $1,299 with a specially built case for transport and storage. Further Signature models are planned for 2012.
Matrox Graphics Inc. today announced that the Matrox Mura MPX video wall controller boards are HDCP (High-bandwidth Digital Content Protection) compliant, simplifying the work for AV Integrators seeking to enable copy protected content across Mura-driven video walls. Mura input/output boards facilitate HDCP interoperability by capturing high definition video signals from up to four HDCP sources and displaying the content on up to four HDCP-enabled displays. A video wall controller with up to six boards can support up to twenty-four inputs that are scaled, positioned and manipulated across twenty-four outputs. Designed for high-performance video walls, Mura MPX Series is suitable for a wide range of applications including corporate boardrooms, auditoriums, large venue events, digital signage, and mission-critical environments.
HDCP is an encrypted protocol used between video sources and video receivers to prevent unauthorized access to protected content. The world's first HDCP-compliant input/output video wall controller board, Mura MPX Series captures protected video content coming from digital cable or satellite set-top boxes, video streamers and Blu-ray Disc
Kotaku heard several rumors about Microsoft's next-gen console. The first one is that the new console will adopt Blu-ray, and the second one is that Microsoft is devising a plan to incorporate some sort of anti-used game system. Additionally, Kotaku also reports that the next Xbox will offer a new version of Kinect with an onboard processor.
It's not clear if that means that the system wouldn't play used games or how such a set-up would work. Obvious approaches
Xilence is now shipping the Black Hornet, a new mid-tower case that will retail for 89.90EUR. It has an all-black design with some red accents and offers most of the features you'd expect from a modern mid-tower for gamers.
Described as the 'little brother' of the Interceptor model, the Black Hornet measures 200 x 493 x 490 mm, is painted black both inside and out, and features a steel structure, a front I/O panel with USB 3.0 (x 2), eSATA (x 1) and HD Audio ports, a built-in SATA drive dock (it supports both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives), and seven PCI slots.
Xilence's case has four exposed 5.25-inch bays, two 2.5-inch and four 3.5-inch internal drive bays, two hot-swap drive trays accessible through the front, and two built-in fans - one 120 mm spinner at the back and one 140 mm model with red LEDs in front.
Ever since the first Android tablets arrived a year or two ago things have been developing fast. ODMs and chip designers jumped onto the bandwagon fast as PC sales are declining, and much like the initial netbook market, the tablet market is on the rise. We test the The quad-core Tegra 3 based Eee Pad Transformer Prime, an unbelievable product. Fast, thin and huge in specs, but sure... very expensive.
More and more rumors surface regarding NVIDIA's pending GeForce graphics processor release under codename kepler.
The GK104 GPU will be priced at $299 (about 230 EUR) as sources now claim, the sources being various Nvidia AIB partners.
From what we can tell this is only a preliminary price so Nvidia could change it a slightly until the final GK104 parts are shipped depending on chip volume and yields.
GK104 indicates the mid-range product (expected to perorm at current high-end level). Last week a Chinese publication claimed that the upcoming GK104 core would feature a 256-bit wide memory bus, which would be connected to 2GB of video buffer. While the shader count and operating clocks were not provided, the Thermal Design Power (TDP) of GK1104 cards seems to be set at 225W, which is quite close to the GTX 570 (219W).
Nvidia
Intel Corp.'s so-called "tick-tock" model of transitioning to new manufacturing processes and micro-architectures has proved to be very efficient in making Intel the maker of the highest-performance microprocessors. Apparently, its smaller rival Advanced Micro Devices is also plotting something similar, but a bit differently as Xbit is reporting today:
As it appears from AMD's documents observed by an X-bit labs reader (in the comments for this news-story), starting from Piledriver micro-architecture and going forward, AMD's Fusion accelerated processing units (chips that integrate both x86 and stream processing cores) will feature "reduced", or "early" micro-architectural feature-set, whereas central processing units (CPUs) based on new designs will feature "full" or "late" feature-set. As a result, x86 performance of the former will be lower than x86 performance of the latter.
AMD wants APUs to be released earlier than fully-fledged CPUs since they are aimed at broader segment of the market. Therefore, x86 cores of Fusion chips will sport "reduced" next-generation micro-architecture (and will fully support previous-gen features and capabilities) in order to cut their development time and reduce their die size. CPUs will come to market several months after APUs and will feature more advanced x86 cores that will support more new instructions and therefore will offer better x86 performance.
For example, only fully-fledged "late" Piledriver inside Viperfish (code-name of next-gen server/desktop die design, the successor of Orochi that powers FX and Opteron chips) will be able to execute numerous new instructions as well as will receive instructions per clock (IPC) increase. Even though reduced "early" Piledriver inside code-named Trinity APUs will be more advanced than the original Bulldozer, the x86 cores are projected to be slightly less efficient than those of the full Piledriver.
The "tick-tock"-like approach is expected to allow AMD to reduce time-to-market of its new products and ensure that innovations do not negatively affect yields. On the other hand, it will create difficulties for software makers who will have to take into account that x86 cores within one generation of APUs and CPUs are slightly different.
AMD did not comment on the news-story, but the company is projected to reveal more about its future plans at the forthcoming financial analyst day on the 2nd of February, 2012.
I-O Data released a new home and small business NAS server, the LANDisk HDL-Z2WSLP.
Measuring 102 x D216 x 150 mm (WxDxH) the device is powered by Intel Atom D510 (1.66 GHz), and is driven by Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2 operating system pre-configured to run headless. The OS can also be loaded with anti-virus software so you could free up system resources on other machines that pool user data on this device.
It also doubles up as a small network and print server, as it's equipped with five USB 2.0 ports, and a further two eSATA 3 Gb/s ports to expand its storage using external enclosures. Out of the box, it comes with 2 TB of capacity brought about by two 2.5-inch 1 TB hard drives. The disk trays, support both 2.5-inch and 3.5-inch drives. It has two gigabit Ethernet network connections. Common protocols such as CIFS (SMB), HTTP, FTP, WebDAV, are supported. Slated for February, the I-O Data HDL-Z2WSLP will be priced at 120,540 JPY (US $1,542).
Download AMD Catalyst 12.2 Preview Driver Windows 7 and Vista 32/64-bit.
Next to the Catalyst 12.1 suite, AMD has today issued another graphics driver, a preview version of the Catalyst 12.2 which is set to come in WHQL-tagged form next month. Recommended for 'gamers', this preview release includes all the updates of Catalyst 12.1 as well as the following:
Please note that AMD Radeon HD 7900 users should keep using the 8.921.2 RC11 driver found here (the 12.2 preview does not supported the AMD Radeon HD 7900 Series).
We have a discussion thread open over here.
Download - Click here
AMD has made available the first WHQL-certified graphics drivers of 2012, the Catalyst 12.1. This release includes support for Radeon HD 2000, HD 3000, HD 4000, HD 5000 and HD 6000 series desktops (and mobile) cards (but not the HD 7970), for Radeon 3000 and HD 4000 chipsets, and features the following:
AMD HD3D technology support enhancement
AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements - Application Profiles
AMD Catalyst Control Center / Vision Engine Control Center enhancements - Video UI improvements
We have a discussion thread open over here.
Download
AMD Catalyst 12.1 WinXP 32-bit driver
AMD Catalyst 12.1 Win 7 | Vista 64-bit driver
AMD Catalyst 12.1 Win 7 | Vista 32-bit driver
Develop is reporting that the Wii U will be roughly twice as powerful as the Xbox 360. Nintendo's next generation hardware will be roughly twice as powerful as Microsoft's current system, the Xbox 360, according to a studio source speaking to Develop.
The person, communicating anonymously from a studio currently building a Wii U title, said the new Nintendo console could achieve roughly twice the processing and graphical potential of Microsofts current generation machine.
While twice the power of an Xbox 360 is broadly above market expectations, Develop's source claimed this is in fact less than some studios had expected. "I've heard [a project designer] complain it's underpowered compared to what Nintendo announced, resulting in people having to de-scale their plans," the source added.
Nintendos persistence with non-disclosure agreements means that it has been difficult for Develop to cross-examine the sources claim, which was made late last year.
However, yesterday a separate insider source told IGN that the next generation Xbox will be "six times as powerful" as its predecessor the key addition being that this will mean it yields a "200 per cent greater performance than Wii U".
That unverified calculation, if true, echoes claims from the Develop source who claims the Wii U is far more powerful than current expectations.
The next-gen Xbox will ship to retailers in late October or early November of next year with six times the processing power of the Xbox 360, sources close to the project have told the lads from IGN:
Following initial reports sources have confirmed that mass production of the system's GPU will indeed begin by the end of 2012 but will not, however, be based on AMD's 7000 series Southern Islands GPU. Instead, the processor will be derived from the 6000 series, which was introduced last year. More specifically, it will be akin to the Radeon HD 6670, which offers support for DirectX11, multidisplay output, 3D and 1080p HD output. The chip currently has a market price of upwards of $79.99.
In real terms, the Xbox 720's raw graphics processing power is expected to be six times that of the Xbox 360 and will yield 20-percent greater performance than Nintendo's forthcoming console, the Wii U.
Developers are likely to receive development kits based on the system's final configuration in August. Projected pricing for the console was not provided.
Cooler Master, an industry leading chassis, thermal solution, power supply, peripheral, and accessory manufacturer, today announces the trendy and stylish CM 690 II Advanced Black & White Edition based on the feedback from market.
Optimized Cooling System
Time tested as a titan among mid-tower cases, the CM 690 II makes it possible to take advantage of excellent airflow and water cooling options to vastly reduce temperatures on system components. The roomy interior space of CM 690 II Advanced Black & White enables users to install up to 10 fans, with enlarged mesh design for superb ventilation. Users can accommodate 120x240mm radiator at the top and bottom for superior cooling performance. It also supports up to 2 radiators for water cooling units, and larger CPU cooler, such as Hyper 612 PWM.
More User-friendly Design with Improved Expansibility
Keeping the ideal filter design of previous generation, the new CM 690 II series is also equipped with filters on all meshed area and bottom for easy maintenance. With the tool-free 5.25
FinalWire released updated AIDA64 Extreme Edition software, a streamlined diagnostic and benchmarking tool for home users; and the immediate availability of AIDA64 Business Edition 1.50 software, an essential network management solution for small and medium scale enterprises.
The new AIDA64 update implements AVX-optimized benchmarks for the upcoming Intel Sandy Bridge processors, adds a brand new video encoding benchmark, and supports the latest AMD and nVIDIA graphics processors.
New features & improvements
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.
The three CPU cores product was actually announced last year 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.
Read the article here.
Okay .. Awkward .. Now AMD had a pretty good launch with the Radeon HD 7970, NVIDIA however isn
AMD did reasonably well over the course of the fourth quarter, 2011, as well as the year as a whole.
That isn't to say that it actually made much profit, quite the opposite in fact, for October-December at least. There was a net loss of $177 million (136 million Euro, give or take), though it did not come about as a consequence of weak sales.
The marketing performance actually wasn't too bad, with revenues staying flat compared to the third quarter ($1.69 billion / 1.29 billion Euro). Also, for the whole year, revenue increased a small bit, ending up at $6.57 billion (5.04 billion Euro).
That said, the reason AMD incurred a loss this past quarter instead of profiting was the impairment of investments in Globalfoundries ($209 million / 160.5 million Euro loss). There were also some restructuring changes to cover, so the Sunnyvale, California-based corporation spent $98 million on that (75.26 million Euro).
If one factors in whatever monetary returns AMD managed to accrue, that leaves the CPU, APU and graphics card maker with a loss of $177 million for Q4 2011. Fortunately, the whole year didn't fare as bad, with the net income being of $491 million (377 million Euro), meaning $20 million / 15.3 million Euro above the sum of 2010 ($471 million / 361.72 million Euro).
Over 30 million APUs were shipped in 2011, belonging to the A, C and E lines, while the Bulldozer-based Opteron 6200/4200 CPUs enabled the server business to thrive. This fits with how Linley Group recently dubbed the 6200 as the best server processors currently available.
For the first quarter of 2012 (January-March), Advanced Micro Devices expects to face a revenue drop of 8%, give or take 3%.
It was noticed that with the AMD HD 7000-series release, XFX has silently moved away from their Double Lifetime Warranty and has instead moved to a more basic coverage model.
XFX explained that the Double Lifetime warranty isn't sustainable and they decided to pull it starting at the HD 7900-series cards release. This is what the warranty policies of XFX' HD 7900 graphics cards look like:
EVGA released a new piece of silicon called the EPower Board, it basically is a VRM board that you can use with motherboards and/or graphics card (some soldering required). All this to apply more watts required for uber-overclocking.
This warranty-voiding device features a 10-phase main output, a 3-phase secondary output, digital PWM (for the main output), three 6-pin PCIe power connectors, plus EVBot and fan support.
The EPower Board costs $99.99 and is "intended only for advanced users with electronics experience."
EVGA "The Untouchables" EPower board is a separate VRM board to provide additional power for target devices, such as videocard, motherboard or other devices which may need high-current low-voltage power source.
The EVGA EPower board is designed to operate with two voltage outputs:
VCORE output - Voltage adjustment range of 800mV to 2000mV. Current source up to 400A.
VDIMM output - Voltage adjustment range of 1000mV to 5000mV. Current source up to 80A.
Recommended Toolkit
Anyone remember PowerVR Kyro II based cards ? Well, Imagination Technologies is planning to make a return to the discrete graphics card market in the second half of this year. Last year the company acquired ray-tracing firm Caustic Graphics, and the plan is to use this technology in a GPGPU workstation card that promises to deliver real-time ray-tracing.
Last year, Imagination Technologies acquired Caustic Graphics, a small start-up company out of San Francisco which was working hard on creating an accelerator that would make real-time ray-tracing a reality. The company managed to create two generations of products which were more technology demonstrators than anything else, but their FPGA chips worked.
Following the acquisition, Caustic continued working hard on building commercial purpose for its technology and on CES 2012, we managed to see the birth of commercialization. By using OpenRL Brazil 3.0 software dev kits (SDK), Imagination Technologies are in the final stages of bringing a real-time ray-tracing accelerator card to market.
EA sent out a press release announcing their Origin service is expanding further beyond its EA-exclusive origins to add games from 11 more publishers:
REDWOOD CITY, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Electronic Arts (EA) Inc. (NASDAQ:EA) announced today that Origin, EA's direct-to-consumer gaming platform, will soon feature PC downloadable games from Trion Worlds, Robot Entertainment and nine other game publishers. Starting today, Trion's MMORPG Rift is the first new title added to Origin for purchase and download by PC gamers, with many more titles coming soon.
Origin is focused on providing choice to consumers and the games they play
Additional titles from publishers CD PROJEKT RED, Freebird Games, Recoil Games, Autumn Games, 1C Company, inXile entertainment, Paradox Interactive, Core Learning Ltd. and N3V Games will be available on Origin in the coming months. Origin is focused on providing choice to consumers and the games they play, said Craig Rechenmacher, Vice President of Business Development and Marketing for Origin at EA. From blockbuster franchises to high-quality independent titles, we're bringing the industry's best content to one place. We're excited to welcome new partners and a diverse new line-up of titles to Origin today. More information about individual titles and release dates will be available on www.origin.com.
The digital versions of Rift have seen incredible success, and Origin offers an ideal direct-to-consumer avenue for gamers interested in experiencing the rich world of Telara, said Jim Butler, Trion's Senior Director of Global Marketing. Origin has established itself as a destination for top titles currently available in the evolving digital marketplace, so it's definitely a place that Trion wants to be.
Origin offers digital downloads of more than 100 PC titles from EA and other leading game publishers. In addition to providing fast and safe game downloads and social connectivity to your gaming friends, Origin features live streaming demos, free-to-play games and cloud saves to save games and gameplay achievements online and access them from multiple PC gaming systems.
The Mediterranean Traveller Map Pack enriches the Assassin's Creed Revelations multiplayer experience with features that include:
The addition of six multiplayer maps introduces new gameplay opportunities through each map's varied terrain, perches and hideouts. The new collection of Trophies and Achievements will allow players to try their hand at kills and escapes that are as impressive as they are effective.
