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:: PC Perspective . News Archive
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.:News Archive ( 11/2009 )
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Overclockers Club | Subject: Motherboard
Sapphire has stuck with their motherboard division to compliment their graphics business and their new board is the 785G based PI-AM3RS785G. As you would expect from a board using this chipset your motherboards back panel is quite crowded, with PS/2 ports, an SPDIF Out port, an HDMI port, a VGA port and a DVI port along with four USB 2.0 ports, one LAN port, and 6 channel audio. There is only one PCIe slot, a full 16x but no 1x or 4x slots at all, simply a pair of legacy PCI slots. Overclockers Club didn't have any problems with the board at all but they felt limited by the sparse features on the board. "When it comes to the Sapphire Pure 785G motherboard, I have mixed feelings. When I reviewed its 790GX- based board earlier this year, I felt Sapphire made great improvements in most of the areas that count on motherboards. However, with this board, I feel like the company took a step back. Sure the board runs decent when plugged in at stock speeds, but it is still lagging when compared to another mainstream 785G -based motherboard. When it came to overclocking, there was not much there." Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: MetkuMods | Subject: System
A Swedish company called Fractal Design offers custom systems with some interesting features. Their
Define R2
ships with a feature called ModuVent, which are pieces of bitumen in either 120mm or 140mm squares which you can install into unused fan holes to both reduce noise and stop dust from coming into your system. Since you can fit up to 7 fans in the system you can choose to make it either very quiet or fill all the holes and get a ton of airflow. You may not get out to Sweden often, but still drop by MektuMods to see what you are missing out on.
"A while ago I saw a case called Define R2 from a Swedish manufacturer, Fractal Design. I thought the specs were great and the price was very reasonable, if it was able to deliver what it promised. Now we will find out!" Here are some more Systems articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Bjorn3D | Subject: Case and Cooling
Budget cases are all the rage right now, with $30 enclosures sporting a variety of fans and features for those who want good cooling and aren't concerned about the extra features the high end cases offer. That doesn't mean that high end cases are done, a market of devotees still exists to buy cases like the Thermaltake Element V. You can fit up to 8 fans on this case, ranging from 50mm fans devoted to moving air over your GPU to a monstrous 230mm side fan, plus it supports 3 different diameter tubing if you want to watercool your system with an external radiator. There are more features to this case that you can read about in Bjorn3D's review; even an optional cup holder.
"Being around for a decade, Thermaltake is well known as a dependable manufacturer for performance computer parts, particularly chassis. Thermaltake has a tendency to go the one extra step in innovation to make sure its name stands out from the others. With their latest 'created for pros' Element line, this attribute definitely stands true. At the top of this line, the Element V sports an imaginative cooling system, a vast area for holding drives, and a highly sturdy structure. This full tower case is created with a strong steel architecture, painted matte black. Because of its material, the Element V has a weight that is comparable to a bulldozer, which is not necessarily a bad thing. Its tank-like features only add to the V's" Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Ars Technica | Subject: General Tech
Loosing a netbook will not have a huge monetary impact; replacing it will only cost about $300. That is not the full scope of the problem you are about to have because of that lost netbook; especially if you have no password on your main account. Think how many websites have your username and password set to automatically log on. Maybe even MSN, ICQ, AIM or whatever your IM client of choice is also happens to be set to log in at boot. Ars Technica walks you through some simple steps to keep your data secure, track the location of your netbook and even remote data deletion tools.
"Yet more people are likely to run out and buy netbooks this holiday season, either for work or personal use. And many of those users won't have the first idea about how to lock down their data in case the netbook is lost or stolen. We're here to help." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Motherboard
First, the ASUS-provided spec sheet from that press release: 
Unfortunately there were no images of the new motherboard, so we'll just have to picture that in our mind. But here is what was most interesting: ASUS will be debuting the Republic of Gamers (ROG) Maximus III Extreme,
a bleeding-edge, P55-based motherboard that enables users to tweak
system settings wirelessly over Bluetooth via a mobile phone.
That's right...tweaking the overclocking settings of your motherboard using a cell phone. For users that aren't already familiar with the ROG Connect feature on the P55-based Maximus III Formula, it allows users to connect their systems to a notebook (or another PC if handy) via an included USB cable in order to change BIOS settings, monitor temperatures and more from the remote machine. Even when the system was powered off, the application running on the secondary computer could change the BIOS settings and options before the next reboot. That is indeed a very cool feature! 
The current Maximus III Formula motherboard with standard ROG Connect features Well the new feature coming on this future motherboard goes one step further and will allow you to connect to your PC and adjust its settings while monitoring its speeds and temperatures via Bluetooth to a cell phone. From the press release: Perhaps the most innovative addition to ROG Connect, however, is RC
Bluetooth, a feature which allows users to review the status of their
systems' hardware and tweak parameters wirelessly from a
Bluetooth-enabled PDA phone. RC Bluetooth is also capable of performing
standard Bluetooth functions, such as stereo music playback, Skype
messaging, Internet access via a Bluetooth phone, and mobile phone or
PDA synchronization. All it requires is the press of a button located
on the rear I/O panel to toggle between overclocking and standard modes.
Nice! I don't have a lot more information about the feature that I can share at this time but I do know that the application will be made available for Windows Mobile, Symbian and Android. What about the iPhone? Well you'll never guess, but apparently Apple's application approval process is taking longer than expected (go figure). Now if ASUS can add in WebOS, I'll be a happy camper. The ability to keep an eye on your system and adjust settings remotely at all was exciting but doing it on your phone is something extra that we honestly hadn't even been anticipating. Not only that, but with integrated Bluetooth on the motherboard you will be able to use A2DP compatible headphones for music, Skype, etc. The rest of the Maximus III Extreme looks to be just as impressive; it will support up to 5 PCIe x8 connections so while it doesn't mention it in the specifications, I assume it has to be using the NVIDIA nForce 200 PCIe bridge as well as the P55 chipset. The board will also have support for SATA 6G and USB 3.0 technology (which if you haven't read about yet you really should) to round out a hell of an enthusiast offering. This is definitely a board worth keeping an eye out for.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: General Tech
Our Tech Talk Forum is a great place to get help for all of those random little problems that make PCs so much fun. Ranging from Windows installation issues, to a bit of strangeness during boot to the best way to integrate a Blu-Ray player into an HTPC. We have hit Stage 2 in the ASUS Xtreme Design Contest, the rigs are here for your viewing enjoyment.
For more indepth discussion you need to head to the forums specifically assigned to individual hardware types. To discuss the apparent lack of nVIDIA DX11 cards one must head to the Graphics Forum, whereas a question about Windows 7 will find the best answers if posted to our Windows Forum.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Hexus | Subject: Mobile
The new ultramobile CPU from AMD, codenamed Congo, has appeared in a new MSI Wind. A 1.6GHz Athlon Neo X2 L335
processor along with the new 780M + SB710
chipset and a DX10 compatible ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3200
power the 12.1" MSI Wind 12 U230. HEXUS snagged this laptop just a hair over a month in advance of its release, to see if the lowered battery life is worth the performance increase from the dual core Athlon.
"We've already put a fair few MSI Wind netbooks to the test here at HEXUS, but one that has recently piqued our interest is the MSI Wind 12 U230 - a 12in ultra-portable that sports AMD's second-generation ultra-thin platform, Congo." Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Overclockers Club | Subject: Graphics Card
It has been a while since we've seen a review of an unbalanced Crossfire setup, so drop by Overclockers Club to see an HD 5870 and an HD 5850,
that they managed to get their hands on somehow, paired on a Core i7 920 system. They overclocked the HD5850 to the same speeds as the HD5870, 1GHz GPU and 1200MHz for the memory. The boost they saw was impressive, the Catalyst driver series continues to mature and makes keeping your old GPU in the system when you buy a new one even more attractive.
"Both the XFX HD 5870 and XFX HD 5850 are powerful cards and both earned good marks here at OCC, but when paired in CrossFire the performance boost gained was enormous for some of the test programs. Both video cards operated happily at 1000 MHz core speed with software that could adjust the core voltage easily. The memory overclock was hindered by the 5850 which couldn't go as far, but could at least match the 5870." Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Ars Technica | Subject: General Tech
Forums dedicated to PC Gamers of a similar mindset reach a certain fevered pitch when a beloved game just isn't what they had expected; even worse are the flame wars that erupt in the weeks leading up to a release or the weeks after a delay of release. The vitriolic ALL CAPS POSTS, members starting up threads faster than mods can lock them down, it is perhaps a great way to vent but it is not constructive in any manner whatsoever.
Ars Technica offers some advice to those willing to wipe the foam from their mouths and let the tunnel vision subside a bit. They suggest joining the Entertainment Consumers Association (for $20 a year?!?) in order to have your voice heard. They also point out that not all PC game makers are deaf and dumb idiots, Valve has allowed users to expand Team Fortress 2 into what it is now, also the 'Make Something Unreal' challenge comes to mind. Help the companies that you love make better games and soon the others shall either follow, perish or switch to making Wii Sports add-ons. "You need to know it, because nobody else is going to tell you: you guys sound like Goddamned subway vagrants," Jerry "Tycho" Holkins wrote in a Penny Arcade newspost. "Of course when you speak exclusively to each other, it all sounds so reasonable. It'll be reasonable when you all board the bus... and when you douse yourself with gasoline and immolate yourself in front of the offices of Infinity Ward, one assumes this will be reasonable also." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Tweaknews | Subject: Case and Cooling
You may find it hard to believe that CoolerMaster is offering a case for under $50, but that is exactly what the Cooler Master Elite 310 retails for. Steel construction should keep the noise down more so than an aluminium case at the cost of increased weight, though the spartan interior ensures the case isn't ridiculously heavy. You do abandon the wire management and tool less installation because of the price, and while are places to install additional fans, the hard drive cage does not lend its self to good airflow. Tweaknews takes you on a tour of a low budget case done well.
"It seems that Cooler Master has done what many budget chassis makers have been trying to do for some time now, to produce an inexpensive case that has the right stuff in the interior and some high style to boot. Their Elite 310 case will house your hardware, keep it fairly cool and look good doing it for the miserly sum of around $35-40 US." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: [H]ard|OCP | Subject: Motherboard
If you are looking to set up a low end LGA1156 system, the $150 MSI P55-GD65 is worth a look. 7 SATA II and an eSATA port should keep your storage subsystem happy, 14 USB 2.0 ports will accept a huge collection of gadgetry and there is even a pair of 16x PCIe 2.0 slots for graphics. As with all of the P55 boards, one touch overclocking is possible, though [H]ard|OCP managed a better overclock when they manually modified the BIOS settings. A Gold Award winning board for just $155 is hard to turn up.
"MSI’s latest Intel P55 based board looks to be cut from the same mold as its big brother P55-GC80 motherboard. The GD65 is mean, lean, and ready to rumble. While it does not pack in all the features of the GD80, the GD65 does not act like a $155 motherboard." Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Motherboard
A new motherboard from ASRock is making the rounds today for the upcoming Intel Clarkdale processors. If you don't have any background on the Clarkdale CPU and what it offers that is new, you should definitely check out the preview we posted from back in September that looks at both the Clarkdale and Arrandale (mobile version) cores.
The upcoming ASRock H55DE3 will be one of the first options available for the new platform.
You can see the board offers support for multi-GPU graphics, but only CrossFire. There are integrated graphics of course (courtesy of the Clarkdale processor) with VGA, DVI and HDMI outputs. Not much more detail is available and keep in mind that you can use ANY LGA1156 processor on this board but you will only be missing integrated graphics if you don't use a Clarkdale core.
It looks like the winter will see yet another big boon for Intel in the CPU market.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Digital Trends | Subject: System
The return of the tube amp is something that many wish for, but there is a lot of legacy components that
really do not belong in a modern stereo system, especially if you are using it in conjunction with an HTPC. There is little point in picking up a sound card that provides HD audio if you are hooking it up to an amp that has played a Velvet Underground album on the day it came out. Digital Trends takes a look at the modern A/V receiver and explains what the best features are, along with hints on price points for certain features. For instance, they recommend sticking with a 5.1 system if your budget tops out around $300, the 7.1 systems that are available at that price point will lack in other features.
"Think for a minute about all that has changed on the home theater/home entertainment front during the past decade. In 2000, the video source of choice was the VCR and all your music was on compact discs. Televisions were CRT-based monsters incapable of what we now commonly refer to as "high-definition." DVDs were just catching on, the terms "Blu-ray" and "HD DVD" hadn't even been coined, and you were one of the lucky few if you had something as advanced as a 5.1 speaker setup." Here are some more Systems articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: The Register | Subject: General Tech
The Register has spotted an interesting product that OCZ is working on, an external SSD with a USB 3.0 connection. From the picture in the article you can tell that this will resemble a 2.5" drive far more than it will a thumbdrive and with the recent release of their 1TB Colossus SSD it makes sense that they chose to go with the larger form factor. The Colossus uses SATA II and manages 260MB/sec, the USB 3.0 standard can go as high as 400MB/sec, so it offers a higher possible bandwidth than SATA II or eSATA can offer. The speed of this drive will quite likely out perform internal drives; a very big change in the way we think about HDD performance.
The 1TB Colossus will set you back over $3000, so expect a similar price if the new drive uses MLC flash at a similar density. On the other hand, if OCZ chooses to take advantage of their recent deal with SandForce and produce an SLC version then the price tag will shoot up, as will the overall performance of the drive. "The dreary wait for slow desktop and notebook booting could be halted in its tracks for those with USB 3 interfaces and and cash, as OCZ is developing a fast and large capacity USB 3 SSD. What's happening is that OCZ is getting together with Symwave, a supplier of USB 3.0 silicon, to add a USB 3 interface to a desktop solid state drive (SSD) it's developing. There's a picture of the prototype below courtesy of Daily Tech." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Hardware Secrets | Subject: Case and Cooling
It is nice to step away from the kilowatt class PSUs for a change and look at a PSU with a different purpose in mind. At 400W, it is to be used in systems of a lesser stature than a killer gaming rig and it has been designed primarily with that thought; it has no fans. Hardware Secrets received a unit for review and found it to be very impressive indeed. At 400W draw, they saw efficiencies of 85-87% and they saw the PSU peak at 617W, more than double its claimed wattage. Check this one out.
"SilverStone has released a completely fanless 400 W power supply, thus producing absolutely no noise, using a high-end design. Can it survive our tests? Let's see." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: InsideHW | Subject: Display
Acer, ASUS, Samsung, LG and ViewSonic are all well known providers of LCD displays and it is a selection of those manufacturers that InsideHW gathered for a cheap 22" display roundup. Each monitor sports almost exactly the same specifications apart from their claimed contrast, a stat that can be measured by many means and is at best slightly misleading. Read on for an overview of the current state of affairs in the lower end of the 22" market.
"We gathered all 22-inch (21.5’’) monitors that we could with one more condition: price tag should be below 160€. All monitors are black with differences in surface finish: matte or gloss (piano). This is nice change since earlier combinations of black and grey surfaces weren’t that much pleasing. All monitors have only one analog D-Sub, which is expected from low price models. All displays have 16:9 panel ratio, with 1920x1080 resolution. This will satisfy Full-HD standard and offer decent performances in new visually attractive operating systems. All tested models have decent picture control, which is important in case you have graphics card that cannot run new games in resolutions that are different from monitor’s native resolution. This means that if you lower game resolution, picture won’t get stretched but will maintain ratio even if it is not 16:9. Even specifications of all monitors are almost the same with only one difference: declared contrast values…" Here are some more Display articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: The Tech Report | Subject: Storage
Seagate's new 2TB Barracuda XT hard drive is not quite as fast as the drive they demoed with AMD a while ago but sustained transfer rates of 138MB/s at the outer edge of the platter is nothing to sneeze at. This still doesn't come close to saturating the theoretical bandwidth that SATA 2.0 can offer; but is very respectable for a platter based drive. The high amount of storage on this drive does make it a bit expensive compared to 1TB models and the speed is not top notch compared to some other high speed SATA 2.0 drives though it is still worth consideration. Drop by The Tech Report for more information. "Seagate's Barracuda XT is the first hard drive to support the third-generation Serial ATA 6Gbps standard. We've taken a closer look at the 'cuda, exploring its 6Gbps credentials and how the drive fares against Western Digital's latest Caviar Black." Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Ars Technica | Subject: General Tech
Ars Technica delves into the world of 15th Century Italy and reviews the sequel to Assassin's Creed, bearing a very similar name to the original, as they've simply added a 2. It takes place about 300 years after the first game and is perfectly playable for those who missed the first game. It is the Renaissance, so expect some interesting gadgets to appear during your travels to supplement your trusty blade. The Italian spoken in the game may be a little questionable but does help with the atmosphere.
"Assassin's Creed 2 is a shining example of a sequel, fixing its predecessor's flaws while at the same time expanding upon its strengths in nearly every way." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Extremetech | Subject: General Tech
ExtremeTech has taken Microsoft's claims that Windows 7 is the most secure ever as a challenge and put the new features under the microscope. There are 5 different sections, detailing UAC, the firewall and networking as well as the new Filtering Platform, all of the new features and the new implementations of familiar features are all covered. Check it out and see if Win7 passes the grade.
"It seems like we hear the same mantra every time Microsoft releases a new version of its flagship
operating system: "This is the most secure Windows yet!" But is it accurate with regards to the recently
released Windows 7?
PCMag's security guru, Neil J. Rubenking, has taken a probing look at the spate of security features in Windows 7 and written a five-part evaluation of everything from its basic interfaces and the infamous User Account Control to its firewall and networking capabilities and BitLocker encryption. He even spoke to some prominent folks in the PC security field to get their impressions of the Windows Filtering Platform, a basic set of core capabilities that other vendors may use or reject as they see fit." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PCStats | Subject: Processor
Thanks to the missing two cores, the Phenom II X2 BE CPU has only an 80W TDP, a big drop from its 45nm quad and triple core brothers. That is not the only benefit to be had for the trimming that was done to this particular CPU, the 3.1GHz clock speed is faster than all but the X4 955 BE and can be had for a less than half the price of that X4. The Black Edition also spells out opportunity for overclockers, that unlocked multiplier is just begging to be upped. That is exactly what PC STATS did and they did not have to back off until a 16.5x multiplier on a 230MHz bus speed, a total speed of 3.795GHz.
"The Phenom II X2 550 Black Edition is AMD's first dual-core Phenom processor, and thanks to an unlocked multiplier and 45nm manufacturing process, it has the potential to break some serious overclocking records... This 3.1GHz CPU slips easily into socket AM3 motherboards and Socket AM2+ platforms as well. This is largely due to its integrated DDR2/DDR3 memory controller, which functions in DDR3 mode for AM3 motherboards, and DDR2 mode on socket AM2/AM2+ motherboards." Here are some more Processor articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Extremetech | Subject: Graphics Card
Microsoft had a hope that DX10 would convince masses of gamers to migrate from WinXP to Vista. Unfortunately, a better dynamic lighting range and slightly improved textures just wasn't enough to convince gamers to upgrade en mass. Part of that was hardware support but mostly it was the poor implementation of features into games, there was not a huge difference. DX11's arrival saw affordable hardware on the scene already and a list of games that will support it before launch. Perhaps the biggest draw is the Heaven Benchmark, which if you have not yet seen, then you should head straight to ExtremeTech for a look. Certainly this benchmark is optimized and we may not see this level of complexity in games initially, but it does give you a reason to think about moving to Win7 and start saving for an HD5970.
"Now that both the applicable software (Windows 7) and hardware (like AMD's ATI Radeon HD 5970) have been released, we're finally able to get an idea of what DirectX 11 (DX11) will really be capable of. There are only a couple of DX11 games out at the moment—BattleForge and S.TA.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat—but more are slated to hit shelves within the next couple of months, including DiRT 2 on December 1. We have, however, come across an excellent tool for demonstrating the virtues of DX11: the Heaven Benchmark." Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: AnandTech | Subject: Mobile
The HP Mini 311
is an 11.6" Atom powered netbook an Integrated NVIDIA ION LE
chipset, aka a GeForce 9400M without DX10. Along with the usual input and output ports there is also an HDMI port and HP offers an external USB Blu-ray/DVDR combo drive for only an extra $130 to take advantage of the video capabilities of the ION LE chipset. If you pick up the new Flash 10.1.51.45, HD flash video plays without dropping frames. Drop by AnandTech to see if this netbook measures up to the competition, or is just an interesting alternative.
"NVIDIA's ION attempts to mix things up in the netbook market by introducing much faster integrated graphics. ION is essentially GeForce 9400M for Intel Atom processors. In the case of the HP Mini 311 we received, it uses ION LE, the difference being that the LE version doesn't support DirectX 10. While gaming is now more feasible than other netbooks using GMA 950 graphics, the Intel Atom processor is slow enough that a huge number of games are still unplayable, so losing DirectX 10 support isn't a huge issue. If you feel otherwise, there are other netbooks (i.e. the Lenovo S12 and Samsung N510) that include the full ION with DX10." Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: The Tech Report | Subject: General Tech
The Tech Report has compiled all the information they have gathered about nVIDIA's upcoming new architecture that we have all been hearing so much about. Not just a graphics solution and not quite a full GPGPU, the Fermi can be a little hard to wrap your head around. They take you through all of the terminology you will need to understand the architectural changes to the G80 processor, the GF100 and then move onto the actual meat of how the processor will work. Stick through to the end and you can see some educated guesses on the performance we should see when Fermi finally arrives.
"Nvidia has already revealed much about the compute-focused features of its upcoming Fermi GPU architecture. Now, insider info and careful speculation take us deep into the graphics capabilities of Nvidia's next GPU." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Overclockers Cafe | Subject: General Tech
The unfortunately named Zowie Gear Hammer e-Sports Headset has a rather rugged, almost military feel to its design. It looks like you could swing them around above your head by their cord and lay down the hammer on whichever ex-friend of yours just based camped your team, without the headset suffering any damage. The headset that Overclockers Cafe reviewed used a pair of 3.5mm jacks as opposed to a USB connection but there is a USB version available. Drop by and see if they sound good to you too.
"If the headphones provided decent sound isolation from the real world, and the high end response was a bit better, I would recommend the headset as the best you can get. As I've tried to stress in this conclusion, the shortcomings are actually minor, and I found the headset hard to fault. You can really tell a lot of thought, design and consideration went into developing the Zowie Gear Hammer headset, and it all paid off as Zowie Gear have produced a headset worthy of the professional gamer." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: techPowerUp! | Subject: Memory
Do you have a friend or family member that thinks they are a tweaker, when in fact all they are is a serial hardware murderer? Someone who swears they've never touched the BIOS settings even when you are looking at a DIMM that was overvolted to the point it has almost soldered its self to the motherboard? You could put a password and a case lock on, but you could also try the Elixir 6GB 1600MHz kit. Elixir, or Nanya specifically, makes chips that conform to JEDEC standards. No matter what you do to these DIMMs, there is a maximum speed you will hit a ceiling at and not be able to go any further. Not the best feature for an experienced overclocker, but great as a way to limit the less experienced while still giving them a little bit of room to let them feel like they've accomplished a difficult overclock. Drop by techPowerUp! for a look.
"Elixir is known for their standard JEDEC modules, usually found in budget and mid-range systems. Their 1600 MHz tri-channel kit tries to give you that same value with a hint of overclockability thrown in the mix, for those who want that magical 1600 MHz speed, while spending as little as possible." Here are some more Memory articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: GIGABYTE Technology | Subject: Motherboard
City of Industry, November 24, 2009 – GIGABYTE Technology CO., LTD., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards today is pleased to introduce their latest 333 Onboard Acceleration technology featuring support for USB 3.0, Serial-ATA Revision 3.0 (6Gbps) and a 3x USB Power Boost, as well as 8+2 power phases, Ultra Durable 3 (UD3) and Easy Energy Saver (EES) on AMD 700 series chipset motherboards including the GA-790FXTA-UD5, GA-790XTA-UD4 and GA-770TA-UD3. “By extending our 333 Onboard Acceleration technologies to the AMD platform, GIGABYTE is enabling more of our customers to take advantage of the many benefits high speed data transfer and storage has to offer,” commented Henry Kao, Vice President GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. “As the leader in motherboard innovation, GIGABYTE is proud to be able to deliver the very latest technologies to our customers, and with next generation storage capabilities including USB 3.0, SATA 3.0, as well as GIGABYTE’s own unique 3x USB Power Boost, tomorrows performance has truly arrived today.” Equipped with the AMD AM3 socket, the GIGABYTE GA-790FXTA-UD5, GA-790XTA-UD4 and GA-770TA-UD3 motherboards allow users to elevate their rig beyond the standard limits with support for the latest 45nm AMD Phenom™II/ Athlon™II processors featuring HyperTransport 3.0 and integrated DDR3 memory controller. Built with the highest level of top notch engineering, these 3 new models feature an extremely durable 8+2 CPU VRM power phase design, able to handle the power demands from 140W CPUs with ease. GIGABYTE also makes it easy for users to take advantage of extended power savings with the GIGABYTE Easy Energy Saver™. Featuring an advanced proprietary software design, GIGABYTE Easy Energy Saver™ is able to dynamically adjust CPU power depending on workload, delivering just the right amount of power needed for the task. USB 3.0 Support
SATA 6 Gbps Support
3x USB Power Boost
For additional information about the GIGABYTE GA-790FXTA-UD5, GA-790XTA-UD4 and GA-770TA-UD3 motherboards, please visit the GIGABYTE website at: http://www.gigabyte.com.tw/FileList/WebPage/mb_091020_333/data/tech_090814_amd-models.htm
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Extreme Overclocking | Subject: Motherboard
The socket775 Intel G43 chipset doesn't get a lot of coverage, mostly because of the poor graphical performance associated with the Intel GMA X4500. The ASRock G43Twins-FullHD
is available for under $80, a big difference in price from X48 based boards, which may garner the attention of anyone with a C2D or C2Q sitting in a box somewhere. A quartet of DIMM slots that can handle either a pair of DDR2 or a pair of DDR3 @ 1066 or 800
and a single PCIe 2.0 16x slot may seem limiting, but on a budget build you aren't going for a pair of HD5970s and DDR2 can only manage dual channel, so really it sits in a nice niche. Check out the full review at Extreme Overclocking.
"These days, with the economy the way it is, budget computers are getting more and more popular. The tradeoff between features and price is always a tough decision. ASRock’s newest mATX motherboard is hoping to gain some of that market. The ASRock G43Twins-FullHD is a small, but feature packed LGA775 motherboard based on the Intel G43 chipset." Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
Allyn Malventano | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Storage
Today Data Robotics, Inc. added two products to their already excellent line of storage solutions:
The first item is a new 'S' variant of the base-level Drobo, but there's nothing basic about it. This new model sports dual redundancy mode along with a 5th drive bay to make that second parity drive a little easier to swallow. Increased processing capability lets it move the data faster over the highly anticipated eSATA connection. Lack of a Drobo model with eSATA was a show stopper for many power users out there. The inclusion of iSCSI on the DroboPro helped, but the price kept it out of reach of many potential buyers. We're stoked to see this new model bring an even higher speed interface at a cost significantly lower than that of the Pro model.
Drobo 'S' sporting 5 vertical bays Also new is the 'Elite' model, which is essentially a beefier variant of the DroboPro. This new model gets a faster pair of CPU's as compared to Pro and is meant for use in higher end business environments. Where the DroboPro had to connect to a single host system, the DroboElite works more along the lines of a conventional SAN, but still keeps all of the Drobo-specific benefits like BeyondRAID. BeyondRAID keeps itself aware of the actual data use of the file system, enabling Drobo units to share the combined space of all installed drives across multiple Smart Volumes. The additional iSCSI port helps distribute workloads to multiple simultaneous users. More importantly, the new unit can handle a whopping 255 Smart Volumes, yielding much greater flexibility when assigning multiple Virtual Machines, each to their own Volume. Future migration to larger drive sizes should be no issue at all for the DroboElite - its advanced metadata structure enables it to address greater than 4PB of storage (yes, you heard me, PetaBytes!). 
Drobo 'S', Pro, and Elite all use this revolutionary Smart Volume technology, preventing the need for arbitrary subdivisions of fixed volume sizes. Current pricing for the product line follows:
The base Drobo takes a bit of a price cut and helps make way for the Drobo S. The DroboPro remains at its power user / small business sweet spot. The DroboElite is obviously priced for the enterprise, but promises to deliver features worthy of its cost. The finishing touches are going on an in-depth review of the DroboPro, where we will dive head first into many of the advanced features noted above. Stay tuned!
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Madshrimps | Subject: Case and Cooling
When you first take a look at the Sunbeamtech Automaton ATX Case, you might be taken in by its sleek lines and shiny black finish. It looks a bit like an Alienware product thanks to its lack of squared corners and you might wonder just how this case can look that good for under $100. The answer lies in the building materials, this case is aluminium and thin plastic which adds to the looks while dropping the price and weight. There are also no features inside the case, no cable management, motherboard tray or tool-less assembly. Drop by MadShrimps to get the full story on this case and the reasons they suggest you should look at other inexpensive alternatives from companies like NZXT.
"The Automaton ATX case from Sunbeamtech is a budget friendly aluminum tower case with Alienware looks and plenty of cooling fans to keep your hardware running stable. Is it any good? Time to find out!" Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: SemiAccurate | Subject: General Tech
The difficulties at TSMC with their 40nm process are very familiar to anyone who watches the industry or has tried to by an HD5xxx series or 4770 graphics card. The volume is tiny which has also had the effect of bringing prices up. The same issues have occurred in their 32nm process, though with less song and dance as there are no retail cards with a 32nm process GPU. According to SemiAccurate, TSMC has made the decision to stop work on their 32nm process and head straight to 28nm. This makes a lot of sense as most of their customers plan on doing the same thing and jumping from developing 40nm processors straight to 28nm thanks to the rapid development of the new process. Of course, a lot of the procedures used in the 32nm process carry over to the 28nm leaving room for speculation that the issues TSMC has had with yields will continue.
"SemiAccurate has not heard it directly from TSMC yet, but given the circumstances, we believe this report to be accurate. As we pointed out earlier in the week, some of the 32nm processes at TSMC are delayed and somewhat underperforming. Given how well 40nm has shaped up, or not, the earlier news is likely only the tip of the iceberg. As far as we can tell, this will be the first time TSMC has canceled a node entirely." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
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