3DMark Vantage Has Gone Gold, and the countdown clock is ticking. Futuremark has just announced that 3DMark Vantage is ready, and the countdown indicates that it will launch on Monday, 28th of April 2008. Downloads should be available at 16:00 EET (13:00 GMT, 09:00 EST, 06:00 PST).

The definite DirectX10 benchmark will ship in four editions:

• Trial (free)
• Basic ($6.95)
• Advanced ($19.95)
• Professional ($495)

The Professional version is intended for business and commercial use, while Basic and Advanced are limited to private use. A Free Trial key allows you to test the benchmark with a single run. Full details on the differences between the available versions will be available at launch, but to give a rough idea, Basic (6.95$) version allows you to benchmark as many times as you like with the "Performance" preset, and you get a score with all the ORB features available. Advanced ($19.95) unlocks all four presets, six additional feature tests and allows you to customize all the settings.

The final system requirements to run 3DMark Vantage Trial are:

Minimum

• x86/x64 single core CPU with SSE2 support. Performance similar to Intel Pentium D 3.2GHz or better
• Fully D3D10/SM4.0 compliant graphics card, 256MB
• 1024MB Memory
• 2GB of free disk space
• Windows Vista (Server editions not supported)

Recommended

• Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 or equivalent AMD CPU
• Fully D3D10/SM4.0 compliant graphics card, 512MB
• 2048MB Memory
• 2GB of free disk space
• Windows Vista (Server editions not supported)

Additionally, following requirements must be met to run each of the four available presets with the Advanced and Pro versions

• Entry - 128MB DX10 Video Card and a monitor capable of displaying 1280x1024 resolution
• Performance - 256MB DX10 Video Card and a monitor capable of displaying 1280x1024 resolution
• High - 512MB DX10 Video Card and a monitor capable of displaying 1680x1050 resolution
• Extreme - 512MB DX10 Video Card and a monitor capable of displaying 1920x1200 resolution

Custom preset can be used to run the benchmark at an user-selectable resolution for individual subscores, but the 3DMark score is displayed and saved to ORB only when using one of the pre-defined presets. In other words, to get a score using the "High" and "Extreme" presets, a widescreen display is required. You probably also need a system that exceeds the recommended setup to get a reliable score at these settings - "Extreme" might be a bit too much for even the fastest systems available today.

For benchmarking older hardware and operating systems 3DMark06 is still around, and remains as the definite DX9 benchmark.

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Pretty good news for NVIDIA as Forbes has an positive article on NVIDIA and cites data from Jon Peddie Research that team green had a marketshare of 71% in the discrete graphics card market in Q4 2007:

"Nvidia's CEO, Jen Hsun-Huang, was talking some serious smack on Intel at the company's analyst day, dropping several choice lines," notes Mowrey. "First, he mocked Intel's claim of 42% market share in PC graphics in Q4 2007, versus Nvidia's 33% and AMD's 18%. Intel's figures count its 'integrated' on the motherboard graphics business, which Mr. Hsun-Huang called 'a joke.' So what's he gonna do? He's gonna 'open up a can of whoop-ass!' Really. He said that."

Mowrey chuckles at Hsun-Huang's colorful talk, but he notes that he is talking from a position of strength.

"Research firm Jon Peddie Research pegged Nvidia's Q4 2007 share of the add-in graphics board market at 71% of all units shipped, up from 64% in the prior quarter," he says. "As Nvidia continues to build its Tesla CPU business, focused now on supercomputing applications, it may well begin to take an interest in lower-level computing tasks, encroaching on Intel's home turf."

Mowrey and Buckingham have a 12- to 24-month price goal of $47 for Nvidia. It's going so well for NVIIDA that you almost start feel like the bubble has to pop at on point eh ?

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BFG Technologies announced today the BFG ES-800, an enthusiast level 800 watt power supply which has won numerous awards for its high efficiency and unique Frequency Conversion technology.

Exclusive in the industry, the ES features Frequency Conversion technology which allows the ES-800 to emulate virtually any size power supply. This makes the unit at least 80% efficient, even with loads as low as 10% of the unit's maximum capability. The ES-800 has the lowest minimum load requirements and the best +5VSB efficiency on the market. This best-in-class unit also features all Japanese made capacitors for longer life, and gold-plated pins for improved conductivity.

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Screenzilla Samsung unveiled a new line of "Touch of Color" (TOC) LCD displays today, pretty interesting design:

Delivering industry-leading performance to design-conscious markets, these ultra-sleek monitors advance Samsung

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A small booboo from a reseller in Germany. The masked Zorro that'll be called GeForce 9600 GSO (previsouly known as 8800 GS) has been spotted in an XFX model at bestseller-computer.de

The card is costing 99.90 Euro, this G92 based card features a 192-bit memory interface comes with 384MB of GDDR3 memory and 96 Stream Processors.  GPU, Shader Processors and memory clocks then, the XFX GeForce 9600GSO 580M is clocked at 580, 1450 and 1400 MHz respectively.

- GPU: NVIDIA GeForce 9600 GSO
- Bus Type: PCI Express
- Memory: 384MB GDDR3
- Core Clock: 580 MHz
- Memory Clock: 1400 MHz
- Shader Model: 4.0
- Connectors: 2 Dual-Link DVI-I, HDTV + TV Out
- HDCP Enabled: Yes

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Atari and SimBin Studios AB have released four new screenshots of GTR Evolution, an upcoming racing game which will be available as both a standalone product as an expansion for RACE 07. The game takes GT and WTCC Extreme cars to the Green Hell of Nordschleife, said to be the holy grail of racing. The circuit was dubbed The Green Hell by racing legend Jackie Stewart and is considered the most difficult track ever built. GTR Evolution will feature 22 GT car models in three different classes, plus a seclection of exclusive production cars. SimBin is also including WTCC Extreme tuned concept cars based on the FIA WTCC cars.

The GTR Evolution standalone game will also feature all the RACE 07 content. This means players will have access to 49 unique cars in 12 classes and 19 tracks in over 40 different layouts. An expansion for exisitng owners of RACE 07 will also be availble. GTR Evolution is scheduled for release in 2008 for PC and will be distributed across Europe by Atari.

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On the Microsoft TechNet forums, a handful of users began reporting (in early April) that after installing Windows Vista SP1 various applications would stop launching and instead gave the error "Not a valid Win32 application." Users found that Excel would often spit this message out and if they tried running it under administrative rights, the error would change to "Insufficient system resources exist to complete the requested service."

Most often it would be Microsoft Office applications crashing, but reinstalling the suite did not fix the problem. The issue, which does not occur every time the application is launched, happens to a select number of users regardless of whether Windows Vista SP1 was rolled out on a fresh install of Windows Vista or not.

Victims of the problem tried to find a workaround and eventually concluded that it is a resource leak that could only be temporarily fixed by logging off and back on every time it occurs. Almost three weeks after the problem was first reported, a moderator posted the following message in the topic:

Microsoft is aware of this issue and is working on a fix. As several people have observed, this is konwn (sic) to affect Excel 2007, Access 2007, Snipping Tool, and Windows Media Player on Vista SP1. The fix is to either exit as many apps as possible that you are running (e.g. Outlook), and then load the app (and then you can reload the apps you had running), or a logoff/logon will clear it up for a while (days/weeks). The error messages are confusing, but the problem is neither an invalid application file nor insufficient system resources. It only affects certain applications, and typically only after the user has been logged in for an extended period of time.

It is impossible to say how many users this problem is affecting. Thankfully, it does not happen every time and the suggested workaround is simple, although a bit time-consuming. If you're experiencing the problem and have new information, I'm sure Microsoft would appreciate if you posted in the thread linked below.

Watcher
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If you have a spare $1,600 burning a hole in your pocket, head on over to Think Geek and grab one of those Optimus Maximus keyboards. That

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Windows XP Service Pack 3 (SP3) includes all previously released updates for the operating system. This update also includes a small number of new functionalities, which do not significantly change customers experience with the operating system.

Supported Operating Systems: Windows XP; Windows XP Home Edition ; Windows XP Home Edition N; Windows XP Media Center Edition; Windows XP Professional Edition ; Windows XP Professional N; Windows XP Service Pack 1; Windows XP Service Pack 2; Windows XP Starter Edition; Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

Download - click here

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Intel hopes to carry on this tradition with its Centrino 2 platform which is slated to launch during the summer as Dailytech reports.

NVIDIA seems to have a mind of it's own though. NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang recently called Intel out on its integrated desktop/mobile graphics performance. Huang even went so far as to say that NVIDIA would "open a can of whoop ass" when it comes to its upcoming products.

It appears that NVIDIA's first few cans of "whoop ass" are just now leaving the factory and they are labeled MCP79. MCP79 is a new single-chip integrated chipset for "small form factor" notebooks according to NVIDIA. Each variant of MCP79 incorporates a DX10-capable GeForce graphics controller supporting Shader Model 4.0, NVIDIA's VP3 video processor, and support for Hybrid Power/Hybrid SLI/Hybrid Performance.

In addition, MCP79 features a single-channel TMDS interface for HDMI 1.2, support for a 1066 MHz FSB, 800 MHz DDR2, 1333 MHz DDR3 memory support, 3 Gbps SATA/eSATA, NVIDIA DriveCache (similar to Intel Turbo Memory), an NVIDIA GbE controller, High Definition Audio, TPM 1.2, and up to 20 PCIe 2.0 lanes.

NVIDIA has plans for six members of the MCP79 family. On the low-end, the MCP79ML lacks such features as RAID 0/1, PCIe x16, DisplayCache, and DriveCache. The MCP79GLM will feature a Quadro-based graphics controller instead of GeForce and the MCP79-SLI will support NVIDIA SLI as its name implies. Other members of the family include the MCP79MH, MCP79MX, and MCP79MVL.

NVIDIA's MCP79 family will be going toe-to-toe with Intel's Centrino 2 platform (Montevina) in June. Montevina Northbridges will include the integrated GM45/GM47 and the discrete PM45. The integrated Northbridges will incorporate Intel's new X4500 HD graphics processor (DX10, HDMI, DisplayPort) which NVIDIA doesn't think too highly of at this point in time. Like NVIDIA's MCP79, Centrino 2 chipset will support DDR2/DDR3 memory and support FSB's up to 1066MHz.

Since the Centrino platform won't be a single-chip solution like NVIDIA's offering, the GM45/GM47 and PM45 will be paired with either the ICH9M or ICH9-M Enhanced Southbridge.

It's shaping up to be an interesting summer with NVIDIA and Intel battling it out in the notebook platform sector. If flash manufacturers could expedite their downward trend for solid-state drives, the outlook would be even better for consumers.

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GGmania reports that the eBay Motors brand will be integrated into Race Driver: GRID (PC, PS3, Xbox 360, NDS) as a car and racetrack sponsor and as an in-game gameplay feature, publisher Codemasters announced today. The company also released a new trailer showcasing an eBay-branded car. Players in the game will actually buy and sell in-game vehicles using the eBay Motors service just like they would in real life. eBay Motors will also get a title race in the game called "The eBay Motors Mustang Muscle Series" in which they can drive the eBay Motors Mustang GTR concept car in San Francisco, Long Beach, Washington D.C. and Detroit. This type of next-gen in-game advertising should work well within the confines of Grid, since eBay Motors is widely visited and used by the type of person who might pick up the game.

GRID is aimed for a June 3 release in North America. And gosh i want this game ! 

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Intel and AMD recently published detailed, public information about the "DTS" (Digital Thermal Sensor), which provides much higher accuracy and more relevant temperature reading than the standard thermal diode sensors do. (How it works).

This feature is supported on all Intel Core and Core 2 based processors as well as the whole AMD's Athlon64 line of CPUs. For a full list of supported CPUs see the CPU Support List.

Core Temp also has a logging feature, allowing a user to easily record the temperature of his processor(s) over any period of time, then the data can be easily transferred into an excel datasheet for easy graphing.

Core Temp works on Windows 2000, XP and 2003 (both 32bit and 64bit versions). Windows Vista 32bit is fully supported.

Version 0.98.1

• Fix: Core Temp sometimes crashes when another program tries to access the log file. - Still needs further testing.
• Add: Show load percentage per core.
• Add: Adjustable Tj.Max value via *.INI file.
• Add: Option to start Core Temp with Windows.
• Add: Support new Intel Mobile processors
• Change: Maximum logging interval is now 99999ms instead of 9999ms.
• Change: Log file layout. Shows current temperature, high\low temperature, core load, CPU speed.

Download - click here

Version now updated to 0.98.1 die to a small 45nm Processor bug - thanks watcher !

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Upcoming Thursday around roughly 10:00 AM Guru3D.com will go offline for roughly an hour.

There is maintenance scheduled including moving the servers into a new rack. If no problem occur this downtime will be less than an hour. Maintenance is scheduled around 10:00 AM Central European Time which is:

• 10:00 AM CET
• 08:00 AM GMT
• 03:00 AM PST

Our sincere apologies for the inconvenience.

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SpeedFan is a freeware program that monitors fan speeds, temperatures and voltages in computers with hardware monitoring chips.

Added

• full support for SiS964 SMBus
• full support for SiS966 SMBus
• full support for ULi M1575 SMBus
• full support for VIA VT8237S SMBus
• full support for VIA VT8251 SMBus
• full support for nVidia MCP61 SMBus
• full support to read internal temperatures on AMD K10 processors
• native nVidia video card (up to, but excluding 8xxx) internal temperature reporting
• full support for SMSC SCH5307
• full support for F8000 temperatures and fan speeds
• full support for SMSC EMCT03
• full support for WINBOND W83793G, including ADVANCED options
• support for Fintek F71782F hardware monitor at unusual addresses
• support for Winbond W83627DHG at unusual addresses
• support for ITE IT8726F hardware monitor at unusual addresses
• support for a new stepping of the Andigilog aSC7621
• SMSC LPC47M192 FAN DIVISOR settings in CONFIGURE / ADVANCED
• full PWM support to SMSC LPC47B397, including settings in CONFIGURE / ADVANCED
• preliminary DDR3 identification

Improved

• DDR2 memory module size detection
• Tjunction detection for Intel CORE temperatures (you might no longer need the temperature offset in CONFIGURE / ADVANCED)
• Winbond W83791D properly handles higher fan divisors for fan1, fan2 and fan3 and shows fan4 and fan5 too
• CONFIGURE now allows to go as low as -60C when selecting the DESIRED and WARNING levels to let users of the RELATIVE Intel Core temperature reading properly configure SpeedFan
• restored the correct clock speed after resume from hibernation
• rewritten the logic of the usage of a synchronizer in the thread that reads CPU usage (this will fix the SpeedFan not exiting issue)
• address $2E on DFI motherboards is no longer scanned if the motherboard model starts with LP. If you have one of these models and you know that there should be a valid chip at that address, send me a SEND REPORT (INFO tab) with some NOTES
• mails sent by SpeedFan now properly separate headers and the body with a blank line
• new icon by Bengt Strom

Fixed

• an issue where Intel Core temperatures on multi core systems reported the same temperature for all cores
• fixed crash on several DFI motherboards
• fixed the detection of older revisions of the ITE IT8705F
• fixed ADT7475 temperature readings when in offset 64 mode
• fixed a bug when changing the type of data to be charted
• fixed an issue with SUN 2864 motherboard

Download - click here

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SiSoft released SiSoftware Sandra XII 2008 SP2 (14.24). SiSoftware Sandra (the System ANalyser, Diagnostic and Reporting Assistant) is an information & diagnostic utility. It should provide most of the information (including undocumented) you need to know about your hardware, software and other devices whether hardware or software.

Download

 

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Seagate announced that it is the first hard drive manufacturer worldwide to have shipped 1 billion hard drives.

The 1 billion hard drives Seagate has delivered equates to approximately 79 million terabytes, able to store 158 billion hours of digital video or 1.2 trillion hours of your favorite music

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In our forums a thread just started called 'Remembering the old'. In here people show photo's of their oldest graphics cards. Pretty funny to be honest, so I have an extensive collection of graphics cards. Ever since 1996/1997 this fetish started. If at all interesting on a slow news day, I might just take a card every now and then, and make a new photo of it.

The first is where it really all started for me .. This is a 3Dfx voodoo graphics based card. back in these days 3D graphics (or actually accelerator it was called back then) you needed to add it next to your existing 2D graphics card and loop the two with a cable.

Some interesting facts, 65K maximum colors, highest resolution supported 800x600 (640x480 was the norm). 4 MB EDO memory.

 

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Tri-core computing with AMD's Phenom X3 8750

With the incremental increase in multi-core computing AMD last year surprised pretty much anybody in the world when information leaked regarding a roadmap showing CPUs with not 1,2 or 4 cores on them .. no three cores. That's right, a triple core processor based on the Phenom architecture.

So then, recently AMD released their Phenom X4 50-series processors, with an all new fixed B3 core, with which they can now leave the past behind them and move forward with processors that can actually start competing with the competition. Today we'll look at a B3 based Phenom X3 xx50-series processor, the Phenom X3 8750.

Let's have a look at it:
http://www.guru3d.com/article/amd-phenom-x3-8750-review/

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Fun story at Engadget today, we've already seen the MacBook Air bathed in gold and crystals, but it seems that people just can't leave well enough alone, with the folks at Computer Choppers (no strangers to gilded Macs) only the latest to spare no expense in taking the laptop to heights of tackiness that no one from Cupertino would ever dare dream of.

That includes 24kt gold plating over the entire laptop and, in a final stake through El Jobso's heart, an Apple logo ensconced in multi-colored sapphires -- not to mention a polished gold SuperDrive to go along with it. If your eyes can take it, have a peek:

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Hiper Media Center HTPC HMC-2K53A-A3 review
(Media Center HTPC Slimline barebone)

Hiper recently released a new model of their slim-line HTPC barebone chassis, with VFD (display) fully integrated mainboard and PSU. Pretty much you drop a HD, a slice of memory and a processor in this system and you are good to go since the mainboard even has support for multi-channel audio, VGA & HDMI output as it's based on the reputable AMD 690G chipset (mainboard with integrated graphics card).

And next to all that, it even comes with a pretty decent remote control, all that for 300 bucks.

Read the full review here:

http://www.guru3d.com/article/hiper-media-center-htpc-hmc2k53aa3-review/

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