It's time for an update on some good deals. Today I'd like to have a look at some great deals on procesessors from both AMD and Intel:

 AMD processors:

• AMD Phenom X4 9950 Quad-Core Processor at $159.99, a stunning price really.
• AMD Phenom II X4 920 Quad-Core Processor is spotted for $199.50
• AMD Athlon 64 X2 7750 Black Edition Dual-Core proecessor, a little gem for just $66.99

A great motherboards to go with these processors are is MSI AMD 790GX DKA790GX, it sells at only $124.99.

Intel processors:

• Intel Core i7 I7-920 Quad Core Processor, the best selling Core i7 goes for $299.88
• Intel Core 2 Quad Q6600 Processor, still the top selling entry quad core at $194.99
• Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 Dual Core Processor at $164.99

As far as Core i7 motherboards go, we noticed that the GigaByte X58 GAEX58UD3R motherboard dropped under 200 USD and is selling at $184.99. That's a grand price for sure.

Recently Zalman introduced the CNPS 9900 LED fan. An all new heatpipe based cooler with not one, but two heatsinks. The fun part is, it just looks really extraordinary as in-between the two heatsinks, an actual LED lit 120mm ventilator is located.

Yes The cooler has been split down the middle, moved away from each other to make room for that fan integrated into the center of the heatsink.

At 75,- USD you should expect a lot from a CPU cooler though, it's the CNPS 9900 LED living up to majestic Zalman reputation ?

You can read this Guru3D article right here.

 

That thing is SICK, I love it ! As insane Steampunk PC case mods go, this Frankenstein machine by D. Mattocks will take some beating. 

Standing almost eight feet tall, and bristling with copper piping, vintage gauges and glass indicator lights from an old navy ship, it

PC users are probably more familiar with OCZ performance components inside a PC tower than peripherals like a keyboard, but they do have gaming peripherals lineup named Alchemy, and today they have announced a new upscale keyboard, Alchemy Illuminati that features an adjustable backlit keys with user-selected color choices of blue and red.

Aside from the illuminating keyboards in the dark, the Alchemy Illuminati also features 14 multimedia and Internet hotkeys, and is completely plug-n-play with windows XP and Vista but as usual, it shows no love for OSX.

The board measures 215mm x 495mm x 30mm and weights only 850g. The rubber-coated keys are designed to improve tactile feedback and its durable outfit are said to have reliable life span of 5 millions cycles. Other than that, OCZ has not released pricing or product availability on the Illuminati.

Update: we just confirmed pricing to be 34.99 USD/EUR = bargain :)

 

 

Patriot Memory, a global provider of premium memory module and flash memory solutions, announced today the release of their DDR3 Tri Channel Signature Kits.

"With today's economy, 'value' has become even a greater concern for the consumer. Patriot Memory plans on making sure we provide solutions that provide value and the high quality that has made Patriot Memory a leader in the memory industry," says JR Wakabayashi, Marketing Manager for Patriot Memory.

Coming in kits of 3GB (3 x 1GB) and 6GB (3 x 2GB), Patriot's Signature Tri Channel is being offered at 1066MHZ, Cas Latency 7. The Patriot Tri Channel is compatible with all current X58 DDR3 motherboards.

Product Information

Part Number	Description	UPC
PSD33G1066K	Patriot Signature 3GB Tri Channel Kit	879699007405
PSD33G1066KH	Patriot Signature 3GB Tri Channel Kit w/heat shield	879699007764
PSD36G1066K	Patriot Signature 3GB Tri Channel Kit	879699007412
PSD36G1066KH	Patriot Signature 6GB Tri Channel Kit w/heat shield	879699007771

 

 

QNAP is on a roll lately, yet another model of theit NAS devices is palced into the market, this time a 4-bay Intel Atom-based NAS TS-439 Pro.

TS-439 Pro is designed for SMB/Business featuring low power Intel 1.6GHz CPU, 1GB DDRII memory, and stylish industrial design.  The TS-439 Pro supports dual Giga LAN, five USB 2.0 ports and two eSATA ports, RAID 0/1/5/6/5+spare configurations, Online RAID Capacity Expansion and Online RAID Level Migration, and offers advanced functions such as iSCSI target service with Thin Provisioning, AES 256-bit volume-based encryption, automatic policy-based IP blocking, instant SMS and email alert, and SSL secure certificate etc.

Powered by Intel 1.6 GHz CPU, 1GB DDRII memory, the TS-439 Pro delivers superior performance for multiple business applications. Advanced RAID configurations, including RAID 0/ 1/ 5/ 6/ 5+Spare, JBOD, Online RAID Capacity Expansion, and Online RAID Level Migration are all supported.

The TS-439 Pro supports file sharing across Linux, UNIX, Mac, and Windows platforms. Different applications are supported, e.g. file server, FTP server, printer server, web server, and encrypted remote replication. Also, windows AD (Active Directory) is supported to help create an easy-to-access environment and lower the maintenance cost. SSH login and web page SSL login enable users to transfer, store, and share data securely.

Especially designed for the ATI Radeon HD4870X2, the Accelero XTREME 4870X2 follows the sophisticated design of the Accelero XTREME series, offering the best cooling solution for this high-end VGA card.

Main features

• Extreme cooling performance up to 320 Watts
• 3 ultra quiet 92mm PWM fans with low noise impeller
• Efficient heat dissipation via 8 heatpipes
• Patented fan holder eliminates the buzzing sounds
• RAM and voltage regulator cooling
• Pre-applied MX-2
• Crossfire compatible

Extreme Cooling Performance
Outstanding cooling comes from outstanding components. The Accelero XTREME 4870X2 is equipped with three 92mm PWM fans running from 1,000 to 2,000 RPM, generating 81 CFM airflow which allows the fans to remove the heat from the two GPUs efficiently. The eight-heatpipe design also improves heat dissipation and achieves 320 Watts cooling capacity. The result is significant

The latest download of Realtek's HD audio driver version available for Windows XP and Vista -it supposedly runs under Windows 7 too. Guru3D placed these drivers on their own download servers, for fast downloading.

This download offers both the Windows XP and Vista binaries, the files contain drivers for the 32 Bit and 64 Bit versions. All Realtek HD audio chips, which are common on many motherboards and in notebooks, are supported. The sound specialist still offers the Beta version 0.1 of the 3D Sound Back Utility which preserves or reactivates 3D sound effects such as Surround, reverb and stereoscopic effects of older games under Windows Vista. Since it is a beta version, the use is used at one's own risk only. You should backup your important files before using the software.

Here is an extract from the change log . Unfortunately improvements of performance are rare for new audio drivers. An uninstall problem in Windows 7 has now been fixed.

Driver Package R2.16

Realtek HD Audio Driver support all of Realtek HD Audio Codec in Vista/WinXP/Win2000/Win2003 .

1. Vista WHQL Supporting: ALC882, ALC883, ALC885, ALC888, ALC889, ALC861VD, ALC660, ALC662, ALC663,
   ALC665, ALC260, ALC262,ALC267, ALC268, ALC269, ALC272, ALC273, ALC887
2. Windows 2000/XP WHQL Supporting: ALC880, ALC882, ALC883, ALC885, ALC888, ALC889, ALC861VC,
   ALC861VD, ALC660, ALC662, ALC663, ALC665, ALC260, ALC262, ALC267,ALC268, ALC269, ALC272, ALC273, ALC887
3. HDMI Device WHQL Support: ATI HDMI Devices
4. OS Supporting: Microsoft WindowsXP, Widnows2000, Vista, Windows7 x86/x64
5. Pack with Microsoft High Definition Audio UAAV1.0a(5013)
6. Add/Fix Driver :
   1. Customizations.
   2. Update directsound acceleration engine for XP driver.

Download: click here

I noticed you say you can't have hardware acceleration on MKV files in VMC, well I'm here to tell you that you indeed can. I have it working on my PC using a 780g motherboard.

I am a member of this community http://www.xpmediacentre.com.au/ and smart people here have worked it out.

1. Download MPCVideoDec.ax.

2. Extract MPCVideoDec.ax & put it in to c:\Windows\System32\. Open a command prompt & navigate to c:\Windows\System32\ & run: regsvr32 MPCVideoDec.ax

You then might need to use a filter manager to set the decoding options for MPCVideoDec.ax.

I didn't have to use a filter manager I just disabled CoreAVC and also FFDSHOW for x.264 and Mpeg4 and I am getting the same benefits of MPC-HC but intergrated in VMC.

Set to be released in really small volume we expect, Inno3D is releasing a GeForce GTX 260 with a mammoth cooler from AC. The new card will use Arctic Cooling's Accelero Xtreme VGA cooler that has six copper heatpipes and three 90mm fans that spin from 700 to 2000RPM.

The specs are: 620Mz for the core and 2,100MHz for the memory. There was no mention of the shader domain, so we expect that was left alone again. We are quite sure that this card can do much more and that it has a decent overclocking capability due to the size and the looks of this cooler.

A triple-x rated prodyuct from Inno3D, ooh-lala ...

GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU. A new update on GPU-Z is out and it supports the latest catalyst & latest forceware drivers.

Here is the list of changes :

0.3.2 changelog:

• Clock reading on ATI cards fixed
• GT200b is now detected as 55 nm
• Added detection for GeForce GT 120, GT 130, GT 130M, FX 5200, 9400 GT, 9600 GSO 512, FX 2700M, 9500 GS, Quadro FX 540M, Quadro FX 3700M, 9650M GT, Quadro FX 370M, 9400 IGP, 9300 IGP, 8200M G
• Added support for S3 Chrome 500 Series
• Added new ATI logo
• Fixed screen corruption during screenshot of sensors tab
• Added support to show lowest, highest and average reading on sensors tab (click on sensor value to switch)
• Fixed number of texture units on RV730
• Fixed Catalyst version reading

Download - click here.

A good step forward for AMD as shareholders of chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) on Wednesday approved a spinoff of the company's manufacturing operations. The move, approved by 94 percent of the shares at the vote, will improve the company's financial situation and have it concentrate only on designing chips rather than manufacturing them. AMD will enter into a joint venture with Advanced Technology Investment Co., which is an Abu Dhabi investment fund. The joint venture was first announced last fall.

The venture will be called the Foundry Co. and under the deal, another Abu Dhabi investment fund, Mubadala Development Co., will provide about $800 million to the new company. Last week, AMD postponed a scheduled shareholder meeting about the approval because less than 50 percent of the shares were eligible to vote. This time, just over 50 percent were present, at 50.26 percent, though it is not known what changed in just one week's time to cause this.

The deal is expected to close on March 2nd.

Communications (MIC) has been working on R&D and standardization of wireless power transmission technologies, which enable noncontact or wireless power supply to home appliances like TVs.

Toshiba Corp made the proposal of the R&D and standardization, which is currently being evaluated by an ad hoc team under the Radio Wave Policy Council, a study group at MIC. They are aiming to commercialize the technologies in between 2015 and 2020 though the schedule may change depending on the difficulty of the technology development, according to the team.

The ad hoc team considers that three types of technologies have to be established.

(1) A technology that utilizes a general electromagnetic induction method and features a transmission range of less than several millimeters, electricity of several hundred watts or less and a frequency less than several hundred kHz

(2) A technology that was developed by Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) and is called resonant induction. Using a frequency ranging from several to several hundred MHz, it is capable of wireless transmission with a transmission range of several tens of centimeters and electricity of several hundred watts.

(3) A technology for receiving radio waves by a highly-efficient receiving circuit and retrieving DC power via a rectifier circuit

The first technology, which has already been adopted for some products on the market, is expected to be standardized by 2015, according to MIC. As for the second and third technologies, "we are about to pinpoint issues, aiming to commercialize the technologies around 2020," according to MIC [via techon]

Intel filed a lawsuit against Nvidia late on Monday, alleging that the two companies' current four-year-old chipset license agreement does not extend to Intel's upcoming CPUs with "integrated" memory controllers.

NVIDIA entered into the agreement in 2004 in order to bring platform innovations to Intel CPU based systems. In return, Intel took a license to NVIDIA's rich portfolio of 3D, GPU, and other computing patents. Since signing the agreement, NVIDIA has offered innovations such as SLI, Hybrid power, and CUDA parallel processing. ION, the most recent innovation, integrates a powerful NVIDIA GPU, north bridge and south bridge into one compact die. When combined with a CPU, ION enables a two-chip PC architecture for Intel processors two years ahead of Intel's own solution. In addition, the ION platform offers 10x the performance of Intel's current three chip design.

The industry and consumers now count on innovations from NVIDIA. Microsoft recently endorsed ION because it offers consumers the first truly affordable premium Windows experience. Late last year Apple selected NVIDIA's chipset for its entire new line of notebooks including the MacBook Classic, MacBook Air, MacBook and MacBook Pro. Today, companies like Acer, Alienware, Asus, Dell, Falcon Northwest, Fujitsu, Gigabyte, HP, Lenovo, MSI, NEC, and Toshiba all ship exciting innovations created by NVIDIA as a result of its agreement with Intel.

Huang said that, given the broad and growing adoption of NVIDIA's platform innovations, it is not surprising that Intel is now initiating a dispute over a contract signed four years ago. Innovations like ION, SLI, Hybrid power, and CUDA threaten Intel's ability to control the PC platform.

We can;t say this enough, keep pathing up. It's a vicious cyberworld out there.

Cybercriminals are actively exploiting a critical vulnerability in Internet Explorer 7, which arises from the browser's improper handling of errors when attempting to access deleted objects. This vulnerability allows remote attackers to execute arbitrary codes on a vulnerable machine. The threat starts with a spammed malicious .DOC file detected as XML_DLOADR.A. This file has a very limited distribution script, suggesting it may be a targeted attack. It contains an ActiveX object that automatically accesses a site rigged with a malicious HTML detected by the Trend Micro Smart Protection Network as HTML_DLOADER.AS. HTML_DLOADER.AS exploits the CVE-2009-0075 vulnerability, which is already addressed by the MS09-002 security patch released last week. On an unpatched system though, successful exploitation by HTML_DLOADER.AS downloads a backdoor detected as BKDR_AGENT.XZMS. This backdoor further installs a .DLL file that has information stealing capabilities. It sends its stolen information to another URL via port 443.

If you are current on your patches, you are fine. If not...well, you know the drill.

Analysis by Trend Micro researchers reveal that BKDR_AGENT.XZMS takes screenshots of the infected system and sends these screenshots to a remote malicious location. It also creates a hidden Internet Explorer window which connects to a website to listen for commands.

Here's a new overview for the best selling PC games (US) for the week ending February 7:

1. World Of Warcraft: Wrath of the Lich King - Blizzard 
2. The Sims 2 Double Deluxe - Electronic Arts
3. Spore - Electronic Arts
4. World of Warcraft Battle Chest - Blizzard
5. Fallout 3 - Bethesda Softworks
6. World of Warcraft - Blizzard
7. Left 4 Dead - Valve/EA
8. Call Of Duty: World At War - Activision
9. The Sims 2 Apartment Life - Electronic Arts
10. The Sims 2 Deluxe - Electronic Arts

This is a WHQL driver for GeForce 6, 7, 8, 9, and 200-series desktop GPUs.

New in Release 182.06:

• Recommended for the best experience in F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin.
• Boosts performance in several 3D applications. The following are examples of improvements measured with Release 182.06 WHQL drivers vs. Release 181.22 WHQL drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
  • Up to 8% performance increase in Fallout 3 at high resolution and AA.
  • Up to 10% performance increase in F.E.A.R. 2: Project Origin.
  • Up to 9% performance increase in Half-Life 2 at high resolution with AA.
  • Up to 11% performance increase in Left 4 Dead at high resolution with AA.
  • Up to 10% performance increase in Race Driver: GRID at high resolution and AA.
• Includes full support for OpenGL 3.0 on GeForce 8-series, 9-series, and 200-series GPUs.
• Automatically installs the new PhysX System Software version 9.09.0203.
• Additional information on specific bug fixes can be found in the release documentation notes.
• Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here.

Existing Support:

• Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL, including 3-way SLI, Quad SLI, and SLI support on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards.
• Supports NVIDIA SLI Multi-monitor support, giving you the ability to use two monitors with your GeForce graphics cards in SLI mode. Learn more here.
• Supports NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on a dedicated GeForce graphics card. Use one card for graphics and dedicate a different card for PhysX processing for game-changing physical effects. Learn more here. Note: GPU PhysX is supported on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory.
• Supports GeForce Plus Power Pack #2. Download these free PhysX and CUDA applications now!
• Supports CUDA.
• Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.

Download:

  GeForce Forceware 182.06 WHQL XP 32-bit
  GeForce Forceware 182.06 WHQL XP 64-bit
  GeForce Forceware 182.06 WHQL Vista 64-bit
  GeForce Forceware 182.06 WHQL Vista 32-bit

BFG is working on passively cooled GeForce 9800 GT under its ThermoIntelligence Passive cooling label.

The video card operates at the frequency 600 MHz, and it is equipped with 512 MB GDDR3 video memory , clocked at a frequency 1800 MHz. The 9800 GT comes with 112 stream processors (used to be 128 if I'm not mistaken), which are clocked at a 1500 MHz frequency. We think the product will be based on a 55nm die-shrink, g92b.

The price of BFG Geforce 9800GT is expected to be $160,-