A sneak peek at Gigabyte's upcoming audio for the Sniper5 series

Subject: General Tech | May 1, 2013 - 02:19 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: gigabyte, G1.Sniper 5, G1.Sniper 5M, AMP-UP Audio

Slow but surely teases of the next generation of motherboards for Intel processors are showing up, such as Tweaktown's preview here.  You don't get to see much of the board its self but you do have a chance to learn about the new AMP-UP audio that will be featured on these motherboards.  This will be a removable OP-AMP paired with Creative's Sound Core3D to bring high end audio performance to your onboard audio.  It will be removable so that audiophiles can choose their favourite OP-AMP to install if they prefer it to the one included. Take a peek right here.

"The NDA is starting to come off the 4th Generation Intel Core series and today we'll show you what to expect from GIGABYTE in its new AMP-UP audio feature on the G1.Sniper 5 and G1.Sniper M5."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Microsoft Exchange rival Icewarp says selling Linux to Windows customers is easy @ The Inquirer
• Samsung making 20nm 4Gb LPDDR3 DRAM for mobile devices @ DigiTimes
• Is it me or did cloud marketing suddenly get really weird? @ The Register
• Intel LANFest SoCal 2013 – Local Gaming & Fun @ Legit Reviews
• Kitguru MEGA graphics card giveaway
• Noctua Joint Giveaway - NH-D14/NH-U14S/NH-U12S Up For Grabs Globally @ NikKTech

Deal for May 1st - Roku 2 XD 1080p Streaming Player (Refurbished) @ $60

Subject: General Tech | May 1, 2013 - 02:05 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: deals

If you are looking for a very inexpensive way to stream HD video the Roku 2 is a great choice as it offers flexibility and an easy to use interface.  The only better deal would be to pick up a Roku 2 at $20 off the retail price, which is exactly what the deal for today is.  There are quite a few units available but you might not want to spend too much time debating the purchase as they are not unlimited.

Roku 2 XD 1080p Streaming Player (Refurbished)
Groupon is offering refurbished Roku 2 XD 1080p Streaming Player for $59.99 with free shipping. That's 25% off the price of brand new model and backed by 90-day limited warranty.

AMD Planning APU13 Developer Summit In San Jose, California

Subject: General Tech | May 1, 2013 - 07:08 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: hUMA, hsa, apu13, APU, amd, AFDS

AMD announced its third annual Developer Summit last week. Dubbed “APU13,” the upcoming summit is the AMD equivalent to NVIDIA’s GTC and is an annual event that brings together industry analysts, researchers, programmers, academics, and software/hardware companies pursuing heterogeneous computing technologies.

In previous years, the AMD Developer Summit has been the launchpad for C++ AMP and the HSA Foundation. This year’s Summit will continue that trend towards heterogeneous computing as well as look back over the year and provide updates on where the various HSA member companies are at as far as goals to move towards standards-based heterogenous computing.

In addition to keynote speeches from AMD and some of its partners, expect a great deal of presentations and workshops from researchers and programmers that are working on new programming models and hardware solutions to efficiently use CPU and GPU processors. More information on hUMA is one of the likely topics, for example. Discussion about upcoming hardware, process nodes, and products may also be on the table so far as it relates to the HSA theme. Considering the summit is called “APU13,” I also expect that AMD will reveal additional details on the company’s Kaveri APU as well as a look into its future product road map.

AMD is currently asking for presentation proposals from researchers in a number of HSA and technology-related fields including heterogeneous computing, cloud computing, web technologies, programming languages, gaming and graphics technologies, and software security. The lineup of presenters for the summit is still being worked out, and proposal papers will be accepted until May 10th with the winners being notified over the summer.

In all, AMD’s APU13 should be an exciting and intellectual event. Last year’s AMD Fusion Developer Summit (AFDS) was an interesting and fun event to cover, and I hope that APU13 will keep up the same momentum and interest in heterogeneous computing that AFDS started.

Zotac Announces Overclocked GTX TITAN AMP! Edition Graphics Card

Subject: Graphics Cards | May 1, 2013 - 05:41 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: zotac, nvidia, gtx titan, AMP!

Zotac has announced a new GTX TITAN graphics card that will fall under the company’s AMP! Edition branding. This new Titan graphics card will feature factory overclocks on both the GPU and GDDR5 memory. However, due to NVIDIA’s restrictions, the Zotac GeForce GTX TITAN AMP! Edition does not feature a custom cooler or PCB.

The Zotac TITAN AMP! Edition card features a single GK110 GPU with 2,688 CUDA cores clocked at 902MHz base and 954MHz boost. That is a healthy boost over the reference TITAN’s 836MHz base and 876MHz boost clock speeds. Further, while Zotac’s take on the TITAN continues the reference specification’s 6GB of GDDR5 memory, it is impressively overclocked to 6,608Mhz (especially since Zotac has not changed the cooler). The GPU clocks might be able to be replicated by many of the reference cards though. For example, Ryan managed to get his card up to 992MHz boost in his review of the NVIDIA GTX TITAN.

The card has two DL-DVI, one HDMI, and one DisplayPort video output(s). The cooler, PCB, and PCI-E power specifications are still the same as the reference design. You can find more details on the heatsink in the TITAN review. Not allowing vendors to use custom coolers is disappointing and possibly limiting the factory GPU overclocks that they are able/willing to offer and support, but within that restriction the Zotac AMP! Edition looks to be a decent card so long as the (not yet announced) price premium over the $999 NVIDIA reference card is minimal.

AMD Releases FX CPU Refreshes

Subject: Processors | April 30, 2013 - 02:04 PM | Josh Walrath
Tagged: amd, FX, vishera, bulldozer, FX-6350, FX-4350, FX-6300, FX-4300, 32 nm, SOI, Beloved

Today AMD has released two new processors that address the AM3+ market.  The FX-6350 and FX-4350 are two new refreshes of the quad and hex core lineup of processors.  Currently the FX-8350 is still the fastest of the breed, and there is no update for that particular number yet.  This is not necessarily a bad thing, but there are those of us who are still awaiting the arrival of the rumored “Centurion”.

These parts are 125 watt TDP units, which are up from their 95 watt predecessors.  The FX-6350 runs at 3.9 GHz with a 4.2 GHz boost clock.  This is up 300 MHz stock and 100 MHz boost from the previous 95 watt FX-6300.  The FX-4350 runs at 3.9 GHz with a 4.3 GHz boost clock.  This is 100 MHz stock and 300 MHz boost above that of the FX-4300.  What is of greater interest here is that the L3 cache goes from 4 MB on the 4300 to 8 MB on the 4350.  This little fact looks to be the reason why the FX-4350 is now a 125 watt TDP part.

It has been some two years since AMD started shipping 32 nm PD-SOI/HKMG products to the market, and it certainly seems as though spinning off GLOBALFOUNDRIES has essentially stopped the push to implement new features into a process node throughout the years.  As many may remember, AMD was somewhat famous for injecting new process technology into current nodes to improve performance, yields, and power characteristics in “baby steps” type fashion instead of leaving the node as is and making a huge jump with the next node.  Vishera has been out for some 7 months now and we have not really seen any major improvement in regards to performance and power characteristics.  I am sure that yields and bins have improved, but the bottom line is that this is only a minor refresh and AMD raised TDPs to 125 watts for these particular parts.

The FX-6350 is again a three module part containing six cores.  Each module features 2 MB of L2 cache for a total of 6 MB L2 and the entire chip features 8 MB of L3 cache.  The FX-4350 is a two module chip with four cores.  The modules again feature the same 2 MB of L2 cache for a total of 4 MB active on the chip with the above mentioned 8 MB of L3 cache that is double what the FX-4300 featured.

Perhaps soon we will see updates on FM2 with the Richland series of desktop processors, but for now this refresh is all AMD has at the moment.  These are nice upgrades to the line.  The FX-6350 does cost the same as the FX-6300, but the thinking behind that is that the 6300 is more “energy efficient”.  We have seen in the past that AMD (and Intel for that matter) does put a premium on lower wattage parts in a lineup.  The FX-4350 is $10 more expensive than the 4300.  It looks as though the FX-6350 is in stock at multiple outlets but the 4350 has yet to show up.

These will fit in any modern AM3+ motherboard with the latest BIOS installed.  While not an incredibly exciting release from AMD, it at least shows that they continue to address their primary markets.  AMD is in a very interesting place, and it looks like Rory Read is busy getting the house in order.  Now we just have to see if they can curve back their cost structure enough to make the company more financially stable.  Indications are good so far, but AMD has a long ways to go.  But hey, at least according to AMD the FX series is beloved!

hUMA has come with a weapon to slay the memory latency dragon

Subject: General Tech | April 30, 2013 - 01:23 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Steamroller, piledriver, Kaveri, Kabini, hUMA, hsa, GCN, bulldozer, APU, amd

AMD may have united GPU and CPU into the APU but one hurdle had remained until now, the the non-uniformity of memory access between the two processors.  Today we learned about one of the first successful HAS projects called Heterogeneous Uniform Memory Access, aka hUMA, which will appear in the upcoming Kaveri chip family.   The use of this new technology will allow the on-die CPU and GPU to access the same memory pool, both physical and virtual and any data passed between the two processors will remain coherent.  As The Tech Report mentions in their overview hUMA will not provide as much of a benefit to discrete GPUs, while they will be able to share address space the widely differing clock speeds between GDDR5 and DDR3 prevent unification to the level of an APU.

Make sure to read Josh's take as well so you can keep up with him on the Podcast.

"At the Fusion Developer Summit last June, AMD CTO Mark Papermaster teased Kaveri, AMD's next-generation APU due later this year. Among other things, Papermaster revealed that Kaveri will be based on the Steamroller architecture and that it will be the first AMD APU with fully shared memory.

Last week, AMD shed some more light on Kaveri's uniform memory architecture, which now has a snazzy marketing name: heterogeneous uniform memory access, or hUMA for short."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• AMD’s new heterogeneous Uniform Memory Access
• hUMA; AMD’s Heterogeneous Unified Memory Architecture @ Hardware Canucks
• Compro TN50W Cloud Network Camera @ Tweaktown
• Wifi Pineapple project uses updated hardware for man-in-the-middle attacks @ Hack a Day
• New OpenWRT Drops Support For Linux 2.4, Low-Mem Devices @ Slashdot
• HP mashes up ProLiant, Integrity, BladeSystem, and Moonshot server @ The Register
• Acer selling tablet using Intel Y series processor @ The Register
• CERN Celebrates 20 Years of an Open Web (and Rebuilds 1st Web Page) @ Slashdot
• BitFenix 5K YouTube Subscriber Giveaway @ eTeknix

New Ubuntu 13.04 Release Upgrades Unity, Ditches Wubi, and Updates Applications

Subject: General Tech | April 30, 2013 - 12:57 PM | Tim Verry
Tagged: wubi, Unity, ubuntu 13.04, ubuntu, openstack, linux, canonical

Canonical released its the Ubuntu 13.04 “Raring Ringtail” Linux distribution earlier this week. The updated operating system incorporates a new Linux kernel, newer pre-installed applications, and a tweaked Unity desktop environment. Enterprise and server users also have updated server software stacks to look forward to, including the latest juju and OpenStack (Grizzly) releases.

Ubuntu 13.04 continues in the direction of convergence set in motion by Canonical and its founder Mark Shuttleworth. It is the first step towards Ubuntu running on many types of devices (including mobile) as it includes an updated Unity interface. The 13.04 release still uses the X window system, but Canonical has made tweaks to Unity and is offering up an optional download of the new Mir display backend that users can install. Mir is the display server that Ubuntu will be switching to with its next LTS release and that will reportedly enable a cross-platform Ubuntu/Unity experience. The Unity tweaks include disabling Workspaces and the “show desktop” button on the desktop (though they can be re-enabled in settings). There have also been tweaks to Ubuntu’s Dash UI, including a typo-tolerant search function and new result sorting options. It will not be until the next release that users will really start to see Ubuntu’s plans of convergence come together (heh), but even with the small changes present in 13.04, the traditional desktop OS is making considerations for mobile devices.

While the visual changes are minimal on Ubuntu 13.04 compared to 12.10, the new release does update a lot of the underlying software.At least on the outside, Ubuntu 13.04 has not changed much from its 12.10 predecessor. Ubuntu 13.04 is based on the upstream 3.8.8 Linux kernel, and incorporates a number of updates to the pre-installed applications and core software. The updates include Unity 7, LibreOffice 4, and Python 3.3 (future versions of Ubuntu will remove Python 2 completely, though it will still be available as a downloadable package). Gwibber has also been replaced with a new service called “Friends” that takes all of your social networking accounts and combines them under your Ubuntu Online account.

Additionally, Ubuntu 13.04 also no longer includes the Wubi installer, which allowed users to install Ubuntu as a program within Windows and got around the need to mess with partitioning. Although there was a bit of overhead in doing the install this way, it was noticeably easier for new users than other methods. Canonical suggests that users interested in trying out the new operating system should simply use the live media, but installing it in a VM such as VirtualBox or VMWare may be more appropriate as some of the functionality is missing from the Live DVD environment in my experience (at least if you also want to try out functionality or other Linux software that would require a restart). Canonical has also cut the support time in half for Ubuntu 13.04 (and all future interim releases) from 18 months to 9 months. Hopefully the development team puts the reduced support workload to good use by investing the time in quick and stable releases.

So far, Ubuntu 13.04 has been getting positive reviews, though some users have run into issues running the operating system on their particular hardware (a bit of instability is expected with a new release, however).

If you are interested in Ubuntu 13.04 “Raring Ringtail,” you can read more about the changes in the official release notes and grab a download of the OS from the Ubuntu website or the updater if you are currently running Ubuntu 12.10.

Deal for April 30th - Dell UltraSharp U2711 27" 2560 x 1440 @ $630

Subject: General Tech | April 30, 2013 - 11:48 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: deals

Only slightly less impressive than the flagship 30" model and significantly cheaper, though not as cheap as Ken's favourite Korean monitors, the deal for today is the 27" Dell UltraSharp U2711.  You still get the high resolution and variety of inputs including HDMI 1.3, DisplayPort, two DVI, Component and Composite along with USB connectivity.  As it is an IPS display it will function well as a professional display and the response is fast enough to serve a gamer as well.

Dell UltraSharp U2711 27" 2560 x 1440 LCD Monitor
Dell Home is offering 27-inch UltraSharp U2711 LCD Monitor for $629.99 plus FREE shipping. Use $299.01 instant savings and extra 10% coupon code: ?K0N8$SDH1ZF0P to get final price.

New Linux Kernel 3.9 Adds New Features Including KVM on ARM and SSD Caching Support

Subject: General Tech | April 30, 2013 - 09:46 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: ssd caching, operating system, linux, kernel 3.9, kernel, arm, 802.11ac

Linus Torvalds recently released a new version of the Linux kernel -- version 3.9 -- that advances the core of the GNU/Linux operating system with a number of new features. Among other tweaks, the new kernel rolls in new drivers, improves virtualization support, adds new hardware sleep modes, and tweaks file system and storage support.

The new kernel has added quite a few new experimental features, but developers/enthusiasts will no longer have to employ the CONFIG_EXPERIMENTAL flag when compiling the kernel in order to enable them. The kernel development team has decided to remove that option, enable the features by default, and merely tag those experimental features in the documentation. One of the experimental features is SSD caching that allows a solid state drive to cache both reads and writes. The SSD can cache frequently accessed data on the faster solid state drive as well as take the write cached data and write it to the hard drive when the IO subsystem isn’t being heavily utilized. The feature is not new to Linux distributions, but the caching support has now been moved to the kernel. Furthermore, the kernel is now RAID-aware when using the btrfs file system and RAID 5 or RAID 6.

On the driver front, Linux Kernel 3.9 now supports Intel’s upcoming 802.11ac Wi-Fi adapters, improved HD audio codec, AMD’s Oland (8500/8600) and Richland GPUs, and additional NVIDIA GPU support. The new kernel also rolls in a power-optimized driver for Intel’s Haswell GPU and several more track pads.

Kernel 3.9 also adds a new suspend/sleep mode. It will use more power than the traditional S3 (suspend to memory) sleep mode because components are not completely powered down (merely at their lowest sleep mode), but the system will be almost-instantly accessible upon exiting the new suspend mode as a result. According to H-Online, this "lightweight suspend" mode would be ideal for mobile devices or hardware used in network appliances. Also interesting is support for a KVM hypervisor on ARM Cortex A15 SoCs as well as some software tweaks to the kernel to improve web server workloads by allowing multiple networking sockets (and associated CPU processes) to listen on the same network port.

In all, version 3.9 looks to be a worthy upgrade, and one that I hope Linux distro makers will opt for in upcoming releases. I think the new drivers and the SSD caching being rolled into the kernel are the most important features for desktop users, though the networking stack improvements also sound interesting.

For more details, Thorsten Leemhuis has written up an extensive article on the new kernel.

Can you go too far with a gaming mouse? The Shogun Bros Ballista MK-1 Pro

Subject: General Tech | April 29, 2013 - 06:48 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: Shogun Brothers Ballista MK-1 Pro, input, gaming mouse

Gaming mice continue to evolve as the market has become saturated, with companies striving to stand out in the crowd but Shogun Brothers may have taken this a bit far.  While having 8200 DPI and 12000 FPS is impressive, being able to set the X and Y sensitivity separately seems excessive.  The ability to save five different profiles for button programming is impressive but when the mouse is capable of displaying the name of that profile you have perhaps reached a new level altogether.  Perhaps the most telling is that the mouse is clearly labelled with a warning not to even attempt to use the mouse without reading the instructions first.  However, if this sounds like the mouse of your dreams, head to eTeknix to see this mouse in action.

"For the last couple of days I have been spending my evening gaming and putting the Ballista MK-1 gaming mouse from Shogun Bros through its paces. Until a few weeks ago I had never even heard of Shogun Bros and give that the gaming peripheral is somewhat dominated by a few big brands it can be hard for another name to squeeze through. Yet a quick look online has shown that products like the Ballista and other products from Shogun Bros have been getting a lot of attention and a lot of love from both review media and the gaming community, so what is all the fuss about?"

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Steelseries World of Warcraft Wireless MMO Gaming Mouse @ eTeknix
• Func MS-3 Gaming Mouse @ Benchmark Reviews
• Logitech G100s Gaming Mouse Review @ Techgage
• ROCCAT LUA Tri-Button Gaming Mouse Review @ NikKTech
• Roccat Kone Pure Limited Edition Mouse @ eTeknix
• Tt eSPORTS MEKA G Unit Mechanical Gaming Keyboard @ eTeknix
• AZiO KB577U Levetron MECH5 Gaming Keyboard @ Benchmark Reviews
• CM Storm Quickfire TK Mechanical Keyboard @ Benchmark Reviews
• SteelSeries Apex [RAW] Gaming Keyboard Review @ Hardware Secrets
• Rosewill RK-9100 Mechanical Gaming Keyboard @ techPowerUp
• ROCCAT Isku FX Gaming Keyboard Review @ Neoseeker
• Gigabyte Aivia Osmium (MX Brown) Gaming Keyboard Review @ Hardware Secrets
• Logitech G510s @ LanOC Reviews

Can you spare $14K for a curvaceous LCD?

Subject: General Tech | April 29, 2013 - 04:38 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: LG, curved lcd

You thought 72"+ HD panels and 4K TVs were expensive?  Wait until you get a load of the price tag attached to the first curved OLED displays which will hit the market in South Korea for a mere $13,569; each.  At just 4.3mm thick and 17lbs they won't be hard to position in your home, if you can afford the asking price of one, let alone the three you would need to get proper multi-monitor performance.  The Inquirer begged for an official release date and price for the UK and were disappointed as are those in North America who have been waiting for these for several years now.

"SOUTH KOREAN ELECTRONICS FIRM LG has announced that it will launch the world's first curved OLED TV this summer, pipping rival Samsung to the post to take the lead in OLED technology."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

• Chromebook hack controls your television @ Hack a Day
• McAfee discovers Adobe Reader security flaw @ The Inquirer
• The NVIDIA Control Panel Memory Leak Problem @ TechARP
• Online Hitchhiker's Guide Thriving @ Slashdot
• Lenovo deal to buy IBM x86 server biz moving along fast @ The Register
• Video footage from inside AMD boardroom meeting @ Kitguru
• Spring Storm Preparedness - A Look At Energizer & Maglite LED Flashlights @ Legit Reviews
• Instant Recovery / Snapshot Software Review and Guide: Rollback RX @ Tweaktown

Deal for Apr 29 - Two Dell P2213 22" 16:10 Monitors with Stand @ $297

Subject: General Tech | April 29, 2013 - 03:15 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
Tagged: deals

If you want to set up dual monitors with as little fuss as possible and not spend too much doing it then today's deal might be just the thing for you.  At just under $300 you get two 22" 1680 x 1050 TN displays plus a stand to ensure that they are level with each other, something that can be difficult to accomplish without a stand.

L4D2 Beta Coming to Steam For Linux This Week

Subject: General Tech | April 29, 2013 - 07:25 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: valve, steam for linux, steam, pc gaming, linux, l4d2, beta

Users of Valve’s Steam for Linux client will be getting access to the beta version of Left 4 Dead 2 later this week. The L4D2 beta will come with the new Enhanced Mutation System (EMS), which adds advanced scripting options to the multiplayer zombie survival game.

In fact, all Left 4 Dead owners will get access to the new beta release via the Steam client (not just the Linux platform) for free. The beta will appear in the all games list as a separate download from the main Left 4 Dead 2 game. It will allow beta players to connect to beta servers and other L4D2 beta users.

The EMS system is the biggest addition to the beta currently. It gives developers access to custom script logic as well as custom spawn points and control entities. New maps, characters, and weapons are beyond the scope of the EMS, however.

Interested gamers should keep an eye on their Steam games list as well as the Left 4 Dead blog.

Additional Google Glass Specifications Discovered By Developer

Subject: General Tech | April 27, 2013 - 08:42 AM | Tim Verry
Tagged: wearable computing, ti omap, omap 4430, google glasses, android 4.0.4, Android

Earlier this month, Google announced some of the key specifications of its Google Glass project. However, the company left out just how much RAM the device would have or what the exact System on a Chip (SoC) would power the Android device.

Now that the Google Glass glasses are making their way to developers, those as-yet-unknown details are fairly-certain. Google Glass developer Jay Lee managed to access the device using ADB and discovered that the device offered up 682MB of RAM (accessible to developers) and a Texas Instruments OMAP 4430 SoC. Google Glass likely has 1GB of total RAM, but the operating system and other necessary device-level processes are likely responsible for reserving the remaining 342MB chunk of RAM. The TI OMAP 4430 is the same SoC that is powering the Amazon Kindle Fire and a number of other mobile devices released last year. Because of battery life constraints, Google is most likely not running the chip at its maximum 1GHz clock speed. In the Google+ discussion, developer Kevin Fitch speculated that it is likely clocked at 600MHz due to the cores’ BogoMIPS scores.

The remaining Google Glass specifications include Android 4.0.4 (Ice Cream sandwich), 16GB of internal storage, a 5MP camera, and support for both 802.11g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. It is essentially a mid-range smartphone hidden away inside a pair of glasses. At $1500, the first round of Google Glass was solely for developers, but once Google rolls it into production next year, judging by the internals, it should be much cheaper.

Are you excited for Google Glass? If you are curious about the software or hardware, Jay Lee is taking questions on his Google + thread.