Another GeForce GTX 295 article, yet this time around more of a combo where we'll bring  the GeForce GTX 295 head to head against the Radeon 4870 X2 in 4-way GPU gaming.

That's right, both cards are setup in SLI or CrossfireX, meaning a 4-way GPU setup. Are you interested in learning how well such configurations perform ? We'll guide you through what you need to think about when you are buying Quad SLI or CrossfireX components, then I'll tell you a little tale about the installation, followed by a couple tests we ran in that all mighty experience of high a resolution gaming rig. Of course in a variety of games and resolutions.

You can check out this Guru3D article right here.

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G.Skill today unveiled the G.SKILL Titan SATA II 2.5

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Asyou guys know, about two weeks ago Creative put up a teaser site about something called the Zii. It quite obviously wasn't a sound chip, and everyone was left wondering what Creative had gotten up to this time. VR-Zone got word on what this Zii thing actually is. StemCell computing. . Soon to be officially unveiled at CES, the Zii may well become one of the most important products ever launched by Creative, perhaps even surpassing the Sound Blaster of yore.

Creative has invested many years and more than US$1b into the development of the Zii, which will form the core of many future Creative products. Zii stands for ZEN II or Zen 2nd Generation and it is not just a chip but a platform comprises of Processor, Board, SDK, Middleware, Optimized OS etc. Creative's buyover of 3DLabs back in 2002 when Creative bought over 3DLabs, the intention is to get hold of their next generation graphics architecture that said to be highly scalable and programmable.

Everything seems quiet only till the recent years, we saw the first chip from 3DLabs, the DMS-02 application processor which is ARM based and fully programmable too.

Today, Creative is going to announce the formation of Zii Labs, comprised of former 3DLabs personnel and some from Creative Labs Personal Digital Entertainment group and their first chip, the ZMS-05 SoC.Each ZMS-05 SoC has dual ARM-926 cores with 48 programmable processor elements (PE) churning out 10GFlops of processing power. The chip is able to re-program itself in real-time to suit the needs of the application being executed, so there's probably a software stack on top controlling the PEs.

In addition, the Zii chip has the ability to shut down unused PEs and wake them up when necessary, thus saving power. For instance, more PEs will be activated when performing intensive tasks such as  playing 3D games or playing back HD videos.

The advantage of this design is unlimited scalability. Creative is claiming a Teraflop computer with the footprint of an A4 sheet, and a Petaflop super computer with 147456 ZMS chips in 576 blade servers. Using ARM based chips, Creative is certainly not positioning itself against Intel or AMD in the x86 space but probably Nvidia with their Tegra chips and Texas Instrument DSP chips.

The Zii looks to have various potential markets, including some of the most lucrative such as mobile phones, handhelds, set top boxes, media players etc. It's plausible that the Zii might spark off a turnaround for Creative, which has been seeing falling margins for some time now.

Creative is going to make the SDKs available to developers today, and is also working with many OEM partners worldwide to bring out products based on the ZMS. One familiar name is MSI, which will be working closely with ZiiLABS for their future low cost, high performance Internet-ready devices. Surely, Creative will be the first to make use of the Zii platform for their future products and the first product based on Zii is an iPhone-like device [via VRZOne]

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Samsung has announced the slimmest LED-backlit HDTVs to date, in their new Luxia LED TV range.

This series will be available in sizes from 40 to 55-inch, the HDTVs all have a unified UI across all of Samsung

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If you

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AMD announced the availability of the AMD platform for ultrathin notebooks, enabling exceedingly thin and light OEM designs with rich entertainment capabilities at an affordable price. Previously codenamed

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Interesting news, Engadget reports that Steve Ballmer has announced the availability of Windows 7 Beta and Windows Live here at his CES keynote.

The official word is this: "The beta version of Windows 7, Microsoft's next-generation PC operating system, can be downloaded today by MSDN, TechBeta and TechNet customers. Consumers who want to test-drive the beta will be able to download it beginning January 9 at http://www.microsoft.com/windows7" Moreover, Windows Live -- described as "a free suite of communications and sharing applications that make it easy for people to communicate, share and keep their online lives in sync and in one place with one login -- is now globally available.

That would be tomorrow folks.

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AMD today unleashes their Dragon, and though that might sound like a pun it's actually an AMD marketing phrase for the infrastructure that carries Phenom II, an AMD 790 chipset based motherboard, Radeon graphics cards and a Phenom II processor.

Today of course we will focus on that new processor being launched. Is it a tick or a tock product ? You have learned to know it under the Deneb codename. Smaller die size, more performance, larges caches, more tweaking potential .. yes finally the Phenom II processors have arrived.  The Phenom II processors we are reviewing are:

• AMD Phenom II X4 920 (2.8 GHz)
• AMD Phenom II X4 940 (3.0 GHz)

AMD made a considerable step forward with the release of Phenom II and we wanted to make sure to show you exactly that with a large amount of benchmarks, but obviously also performance tests with games as this processor might be a really good sweet spot for high-end graphics cards. Have a look at this Guru3D article a this hotlink.

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Oh dear ... well, you'll either like or hate it. Well, at the very least Lian-Li is original which is more than you can say from the B-brand chassis designers. Based of the Burj Al Arab hotel in Dubai, this is one of their new creations.

There's nothing in the middle isn't there ? Lian-Li launched the PC-888 full tower chassis. The elegant curved design of the PC-888 is made completely from Aluminum and incorporates a feature rich extravaganza of customized creativity. The traditional brushed aluminum look has been re-sculptured to represent a sail in the winds of success. The sleek style and quality of Lian Li shine through admirably in anodized blue.

Feature Rich
Hosting an array of convenient features such as the SATA Hot swappable HDD bay which supports six (6) HDD

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Guys, I like to remind everyone to be sure to check back in tomorrow (Thursday 8th) as we'll have some disclosed articles that will be launched. Among them AMD's Phenom II processors being reviewed, and obviously GeForce GTX 295 the final review (with an actual BFG Tech retail card).

Next to that we are also finishing up a Quad GPU: GeForce GTX 295 Quad SLI / Radeon HD 4870 X2 CrossfireX article.

So that will be an interesting day, next to all the CES goodies being announced tomorrow :)

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Lian Li is shaking thing up in PC armor department as it unveiled two high end PC tower chassis, PC-B70 and PC-B71 for end users who are looking for stylish design, and acoustics damping as a part of their computer system with tool-less accessible parts and oversize fans.

Both systems are tailored with the usual Li-Lian separated compartments we

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Imation announced their new addition of its Wireless Projection Link, allowing wireless control of digital projectors, along with M-Class and S-Class SSD drives and a complete SSD upgrade kits. Presenters can speed up their initial setup with the Wireless Projection Link, which consists of a USB dongle and base with antenna and is compatible with the majority of projection systems on the market.

The Wireless Projection Link uses Wireless USB to transfer the images on a user's notebook or desktop PC to a compatible digital projector for a maximum range of 30 feet, with speeds at that range restricted to about 110Mbps. At about 10 feet, transfer speeds are much quicker, at up to 480Mbps. No software is necessary, as plugging in the USB dongle makes the system work, allowing users to keep swapping the dongle between computers as necessary. Users can extend their desktops or have enhanced video support when they install the included driver. The Imation Wireless Projection Link is currently available and priced at $250.

Imation also introduced two new families of Solid State Drives (SSD) along with an SSD upgrade kit that lets users upgrade their hard disks to SSDs. The new M-Class SSD drives are designed to fit 2.5-inch drive bays, while the S-Class SSD drives sport a 3.5-inch form factor. Capacities range from 32GB to 128GB. In addition, Imation provides M-Class and S-Class Upgrade Kits that include everything users need to transfer over their files and operating system from a hard disk drive onto the new SSDs. The Upgrade Kit includes an Imation M-Class or S-Class SSD, a USB-to-SATA or SATA connector cable, power cable, Acronis True Image HD software and instructions.

S-Class drives feature enterprise-class performance and energy efficiency, with faster write speeds than the M-Class SSDs, at 120MBps versus 90MBps, and much faster Input Output Per Second (IOPS) performance, specifically when sequentially writing data to the drive.

The Imation M-Class SSD products will begin shipping in February, with prices starting at $180 for a 2.5-inch, 32GB drive with a SATA interface. Both the S-Class SSDs and the Upgrade Kit for either drive will ship in March, with pricing yet to be announced.

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NEC introduced a new professional 30" LCD display, the MultiSync LCD3090WQXi. This IPS active matrix panel has a resolution of 2560 x 1600 pixels, 97% of AdobeRGB color gamut, 6ms gray-to-gray response time, 350 nits brightness, 1000:1 contrast ratio, 178
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Iomega has presented 500GB and 1TB Home Media Network Hard Drives, priced at $159.99 and $229.99, respectively. More details over here.

With EMC's acclaimed LifeLine(TM) software, in three simple steps users can configure up to one terabyte* of network storage for backing up all of their files as well as streaming music, photos, video and other multimedia files between computers, networked televisions, popular game consoles and other under-utilized digital home entertainment devices.

Iomega will be showing the new Home Media Network Hard Drive at the MacWorld tradeshow in San Francisco, January 6-9, 2009, and at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, January 8-11, 2009.

Starting at just $159.99, the Home Media Network Hard Drive is available as a 500GB or a 1TB single-drive device. Consumers with multiple computers can use the Home Media Network Hard Drive to centralize their computer storage as well as access files on everything from a laptop to a big screen TV to a Microsoft Xbox 360 or a Sony PlayStation 3. Sharing and streaming multimedia files to a home entertainment system creates lots of enjoyment for the whole family, and the 1TB Home Media Network Hard Drive can store plenty of entertainment - more than 4 million photos, 18,500 hours of music, or 1500 hours of video.**

"Iomega's new Home Media Network Hard Drive is a powerful network storage device that's so straightforward that even a novice can be backing up multiple computers and streaming media around their home in less than five minutes," said Jonathan Huberman, president of Iomega and the Consumer and Small Business Products Division of EMC. "The Home Media Network Drive does the serious work of backing up and protecting digital files, but it also does the fun things like streaming photos and videos to game consoles, digital picture frames and networked TVs, as well as automatically feeding music into iTunes(R) for easy playback - all for little more than the cost of a USB direct-attached desktop hard drive with comparable storage capacity."

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A pretty bold move from BFG. I know the guy who has been developing this. And they have been working on it for over a year. Check kit out, the company, best known for their overclocked PC video graphics cards, announced their plans to launch their Phobos gaming PC line. The line will officially launch on January 8 on the company's official web site.

While the Phobos PCs can be custom-configured, the company is also offering pre-built PCs that start at $3,000. In addition to features such as an 8 inch LCD touch-screen that offers up stats and performance numbers about your system, BFG is also offering what they are calling a complientary Concierge Service that includes in-home installation and a maintainence follow-up visit six months after the PC is purchased. Of course you can expect high-end hardware to be available inside including two upcoming BFG Nvidia GeForce GTX 295 graphics cards and a separate GeForce GTX 285 card just for PhysX hardware support.

BFG Technologies, known as a leading supplier of premium power supplies and 3D graphics cards, is excited to announce its first line of complete gaming and multimedia PCs, called Phobos. These sleek hand-built, high performance machines were designed with the
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I have GOT TO GET me one of these (we have this Godfather / Mafia thing going on with the entire Guru3D staff). Inspired by the epic film "The Godfather", these USB Flash drives from Super Talent are designed to capture the spirit of "The Godfather" in a small mobile storage device that is ideal for carrying data, digital images, presentations and music.

The Super Talent Godfather USB Flash drives are fully compatible with USB 2.0 and 1.1. As an added bonus, these drives come loaded with still images and quotes from the film. The drives are available only in USA.

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LaCie has unveiled its latest external devices, the d2 DVD burner and a dual-drive RAID system. The DVD burner is driven by Windows XP Embedded and touts a maximum write speed of 22x. Users can choose from a USB 2.0 connection or FireWire, and write to DVD-R, DVD-RW, Dual Layer, CD-R or CD-RW media. The drive also features LightScribe technology for burning custom labels directly onto the discs.

The Hard Disk MAX dual-drive external storage device provides 2TB of capacity, configurable to RAID 0 for the fastest transfer rates or RAID 1 to protect against data loss if one drive fails. A LED stripe changes from blue to red to warn of conditions that could lead to malfunction. The company claims 60MB per second transfer rates using a USB 2.0 connection. Software is included for Windows and Mac platforms.

The d2 external DVD burner works across Windows, Linux and Mac platforms and can be purchased for $120. The Hard Disk MAX storage system carries a price of $270 and includes management software for Windows and Mac.

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Lexar Media has introduced Crucial Ballistix DDR3 1333MHz and 1600MHz triple channel DDR3 memory modules for the Intel Core i7. Oddly enough, the full specifications aren't available just yet.

The Ballistix name is synonymous with high-octane gaming; these new three channel products are designed with the latest Intel Extreme Memory Profiles (XMP) for pre-defined memory optimization. Intel's QuickPath architecture, which connects the memory directly to the processor as opposed to communicating through a separate chipset, enables faster memory throughput and performance. Enthusiasts can continue to count on Ballistix memory for some of the fastest, most responsive performance available.

"Ballistix memory is known for its extreme performance and our new three channel kits are an excellent fit for the new Core i7 platforms. By utilizing Intel's latest XMP specifications, we are delivering a product that will allow consumers to easily configure their memory for excellent performance," said Jeremy Mortenson, senior product marketing manager at Lexar Media. "Like all Ballistix memory, the new three channel Ballistix kits incorporate specially selected components that are 100% tested at the component and module level and are a desirable memory solution for achieving outstanding throughput and speed gains. Additionally, they carry a limited lifetime warranty and feature world-class service and support."

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Two more days until we can publish our Phenom II review ;)

Following AMD's recent update to it 45nm consumer desktop CPU schedule, sources at motherboard makers have revealed the company also plans to launch six 45nm processors for its business class lineup in the third quarter of 2009.

The planned CPUs are the dual-core Athlon X2 B23 (2.9GHz/2MB) and B21 (2.7GHz/2MB), triple-core Phenom II X3 B73 (2.8GHz/7.5MB) and B71 (2.6GHz/7.5MB), and quad-core Phenom II X4 B93 (2.8GHz/8MB) and B91 (2.6GHz/8MB), the sources indicated.

In the fourth quarter of 2009, the company is also expected to issue last order notices for the Phenom II X4 9850B, 9750B, 9600B and Phenom II X3 8850B, 8750B, 8600B as well as Athlon X2 5600B, 5400B, 5200B, 5000B, 4850B, 4450B and Athlon 1640B, added the sources.

AMD declined the opportunity to respond to this report saying it cannot comment on unannounced products.

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Unlike three-platter 1TB hard drives from Hitachi, Samsung, and Western Digital, Seagate's new 3.5" Barracuda 7200.12 spreads 1TB of capacity across just two platters, and Seagate says it's shipping these HDDs right now. The new 'cuda's platters have areal densities of 329Gb/in

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