Home
Intel

PC Perspective Podcast #158 - MSI P67-GD80 Motherboard review, Antec Performance P280 case, Corsair Force 3 SSD recall and more!

Subject: General Tech | June 9, 2011 - 06:47 PM |
Tagged: podcast, Intel, computex, amd, 990fx

PC Perspective Podcast #158 - 6/09/2011

This week we talk about the MSI P67-GD80 Motherboard review, Antec Performance P280 case, Corsair Force 3 SSD recall and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

  • iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
  • RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
  • MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Ryan Shrout, Jeremy Hellstrom, Josh Walrath and Allyn Malventano

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!

Program length: 1:00:43

Program Schedule:

 

  1. 0:00:33 Introduction
  2. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
  3. http://pcper.com/podcast
  4. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
  5. 0:01:50 AMD 990FX/SB950 Release: Asus SABERTOOTH 990FX and the MSI 990FXA-GD80
  6. 0:04:10 MSI P67A-GD80 LGA 1155 ATX Motherboard Review
  7. 0:06:42 MSI N560GTX-Ti HAWK Graphic Card Review
  8. 0:14:23 This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!
  9. 0:15:02 PowerColor Shows Off New 4GB AMD Graphics Card With Two Stock Clocked 6970 GPUs
  10. 0:20:18 Antec Performance P280 Case First Look at Computex
  11. 0:23:40 ECS Motherboards on display at Computex 2011
  12. 0:27:02 MSI shows Gen3 PCIe, X79 Motherboard and GTX 580 Extreme
  13. 0:33:12 Thermaltake Level 10 GT White, Frio GT and BigWater coolers and USB Power Strip
  14. 0:39:05 AMD Brings Back FX Branding For High-End CPUs and Motherboards at E3
  15. 0:40:18 Corsair recalls entire Force Series 3 SSD line, cites hardware defects
  16. 0:44:05 PNY and Asetek Team Up to Deliver Sealed-Loop Water Cooling for CPUs and Graphics Cards
  17. 0:48:30 Just Delivered.  Large, nifty video card. - MSI N580GTX Lightning Extreme
  18. 0:49:45 Quakecon Reminder - http://www.quakecon.org/
  19. 0:51:30 Hardware / Software Pick of the Week
    1. Ryan: Gold bar USB 3.0 drive
    2. Jeremy: Still like the newstweak, but if'n I used it up then IPv6 didn't destroy the world!
    3. Josh: Boston Lager Cut!  http://www.samueladams.com/promos/lager-and-beef/lagercut.aspx
    4. Allyn: Intel 320 Warranty = 5 years
  20. http://pcper.com/podcast   
  21. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
  22. 0:59:23 Closing

 

 

Source:

A tease from Research@Intel Day

Subject: General Tech | June 7, 2011 - 12:52 PM |
Tagged: Intel, Research@Intel Day, CMOS

Intel has been obsessed with shrinking all of their processes recently, be it flash storage or their processors and the basic transistor inside their CPUs.  They have a new success story that they will be sharing during their Research@Intel Day, they are the first to shrink their analog CMOS technology below 65nm.  The new process will be 32nm, the same process as their current CPU generation which brings several benefits but the most important one being that they can move that circuitry directly onto the same die as the digital circuitry.  Read more at SemiAccurate.

researchatintel.jpg

"It’s June and for those of you following the computing industry you know that Intel is having its yearly Research Day. This year Intel (NASDAQ:INTC) shows off about 40 different research projects – and we will dig more into them tomorrow after the doors have opened.

However, we thought that you should have a sneak peek at one of the most interesting research projects: 32nm analog CMOS design."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

Source: SemiAccurate

MSI P67A-GD80 LGA 1155 ATX Motherboard Review

Author:
Date: June 6, 2011
Subject: Motherboards
Manufacturer: MSI
Tagged: sandy bridge, msi, Intel

Introduction and Features

icon1_large.jpg

Courtesy of MSI

In 2011, MSI has based their enthusiast-level Sandy Bridge motherboards on two main features: novice and advanced overclocking and stable and reliable hardware components. We had the opportunity in March to evaluate the sub-$200 P67A-GD65, which flexed its muscles in several benchmarks including PC gaming and general PC tasks and applications.

icon2_large.jpg

Courtesy of MSI

The P67A-GD80 adds a few more ultra-enthusiast features and an additional PCIe x16 slot, which pushes the price of this high-end motherboard to around $229 (before mail-in rebate at Newegg). This board sports Intel's P67 chipset that supports their latest LGA 1155 Sandy Bridge processors. It also has three PCIe x16 slots that are compatible with CrossfireX and SLI graphics card configurations to make this board a fantastic solution for triple-monitor, high-resolution gaming.

A brief update on Computex

Subject: Graphics Cards, Shows and Expos | May 31, 2011 - 11:59 AM |
Tagged: computex, computex 2011, ocz, Intel, Ivy Bridge

You may have noticed with the new look to PC Perspective have come several new features, such as tags to group common topics together to make it easier to find them.  The important tag right now is computex, which will group all of the news we have reported from Computex. 

Ryan is not the only attendee of the conference, so in order to ensure you have enough information to keep you satiated over the day you can take a look at AnandTech's coverage as well.  They spent time with OCZ, discussing the RevoDrive Hybrid, a standard 0.5/1TB platter based HDD and a Vertex 3 SSD on PCIe card, a form factor that Intel's SRT has made obsolete but is still interesting to see.  The new PCIe based Z-Drive on the other hand can do very impressive things, the R4 88 has eight SF-2281 controllers in RAID 0!  RevoDrives with TRIM support are also very nice to see.  Intel talked about both the upcoming Ivy Bridge platform as well as their plans for USB 3.0 and Thunderbolt. 

Stay tuned for more.

AT_Ivy.jpg

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

Source: AnandTech

Intel Defines Ultrabook category and accelerates Atom development cycle

Subject: Processors, Mobile, Shows and Expos | May 31, 2011 - 02:01 AM |
Tagged: ultrabook, Medfield, Ivy Bridge, Intel, haswell, computex, atom

With the release of the Intel Z68 chipset behind us by several weeks, Intel spent the opening keynote at Computex 2011 creating quite a buzz in the mobility section of the computing world. Intel’s Executive Vice President Sean Maloney took the stage on Tuesday and announced what Intel is calling a completely new category of mobile computer, the “Ultrabook”. A term coined by Intel directly, the Ultrabook will “marry the performance and capabilities of today’s laptops with tablet-like features and deliver a highly responsive and secure experience, in a thin, light and elegant design.”

intelultrabook1.jpg

If this photo looks familiar...see the similarity?

Intel is so confident in this new segment of the market that will fall between the tablet and notebook that they are predicting that by the time we reach the end of 2012 it will represent 40% of Intel’s processor shipments. That is an incredibly bold claim considering how massive and how dominate Intel is in the processor field. Intel plans to reach this 40% goal by addressing the Ultrabook market in three phases, the first of which will begin with ultra-low-power versions of today’s Sandy Bridge processors. Using this technology Maloney says we will see notebooks less than 0.8 inches thin and for under $1,000.

Make sure you "Read More" for the full story!!

Source: Intel

Intel won't design ARM chips but they might be eyeing the manufacturing side

Subject: General Tech | May 30, 2011 - 12:09 PM |
Tagged: Intel, arm

Paul Otellini, the current CEO of Intel, has gone on record stating that Intel has little interest in fabbing non-Intel based chips on its manufacturing line.  That makes a lot of sense for those who watch the back end of the CPU business but it doesn't seem logical to those who don't.  The reasoning is based on licensing and the habit of the technology industry to use Intellectual Property licensing agreements and lawyers the same way Jason uses his machete.  If Intel starts fabbing their own ARM chips with none of their own IP inside, then it leaves an opening later on for ARM to go after Intel if any of their new products seem derivative of ARM's IP.  It also makes an entire production line at Intel dependant on ARM sales.

So, why did Intel's CFO Stacey Smith not repeat that same emphatic denial when asked a similar question?  In her case she was asked if they would fab Apple-designed ARM-based A5 CPUs with Intel's 22nm IP inside.  Suddenly Intel only has to design the core of the chip and does not have to license any of ARM's IP as they are only providing the production line.  As well, Intel would be licensing their own IP to Apple which brings them money and can the IP license can function as a hostage down the road; think the court case involving NVIDIA's ability to design chipsets for Intel chips with integrated memory controllers.  Get more at The Register.

gavel-money.jpg

"Parsing the statements of both Intel execs, however, reveals that their statements are not, in fact, as contradictory as they may at first seem. Otellini stated that "We have no intention to use our license again to build ARM," while Smith spoke only of fabbing someone else's custom design – and if that design included an ARM core, the third party would pay the licensing fee."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

Source: The Register

Podcast #156 - AMD FirePro V7900 and V5900, MSI R6970 Lightning, Intel i7-990x and more!

Subject: Editorial, General Tech | May 26, 2011 - 02:04 PM |
Tagged: R6970, podcast, nvidia, Intel, firepro, amd, 990x, 990fx

PC Perspective Podcast #156- 5/26/2011

This week we talk about the AMD FirePro V7900 and V5900, MSI R6970 Lightning, Intel i7-990x,Viewer questions and more!

You can subscribe to us through iTunes and you can still access it directly through the RSS page HERE.

The URL for the podcast is: http://pcper.com/podcast - Share with your friends!

  • iTunes - Subscribe to the podcast directly through the iTunes Store
  • RSS - Subscribe through your regular RSS reader
  • MP3 - Direct download link to the MP3 file

Hosts: Jeremy Hellstrom, Josh Walrath and Allyn Malventano

This Podcast is brought to you by MSI Computer, and their all new Sandy Bridge Motherboards!

Program length: 1:02:44

Program Schedule:

Source: PC Perspective

Maingear eX-L 15 Notebook Review: All Dressed Up and Ready to Game

Author:
Date: May 26, 2011
Subject: Mobile
Manufacturer: Maingear
Tagged: nvidia, maingear, Intel, gaming laptop

Introduction and Design

maingear15-4.jpg

Viewed from a bird’s eye, gaming laptops seem to be a homogenous bunch. Although there are rare exceptions like the Alienware M11x, most are 15.6” or 17” models with quad-core processors and discrete mobile graphics, most frequently the Nvidia GTX 460M. The two gaming laptops we’ve most recently reviewed, the ASUS G53 and MSI GT680R, most certainly fit into this mold. 

Upon closer inspection, however, the market for gaming laptops begins to expand and multiply into a wide array of options. While the big players like ASUS, Toshiba and MSI are happy to offer their pre-configured models with roughly similar hardware, customized rigs are as numerous as stars in the sky. Everyone has heard of Alienware, of course, but you may not have heard of companies like Origin, Falcon Northwest, AVADirect, AFactor Gaming, Malibal, Digital Storm and Maingear, just to name a few (or if you have, you may have only heard of their desktops). 

Maingear’s eX-L15 is a stereotypical example of a custom gaming laptop. It’s big and it’s bulky, but its appearance is not much different from your average laptop. Inside, however, there is a buffet of high-end hardware.

Shrinking the Xeon with Westmere-EX

Subject: Processors | May 25, 2011 - 03:28 PM |
Tagged: xeon, server, xeon x7, x7 4870, Intel

 AnandTech got their hands on four of the the brand new 32nm Intel Xeon X7 4870, 10 cores clocked to 2.4GHz; perhaps a delayed 'Tick" but a tick nonetheless.  Not only did they test the new chips they also had a chance to test it with Load Reduced DIMMs (LR-DIMM) as opposed to the old Fully Buffered style (FB-DIMMs) we were used to in days gone by.  That spells higher capacity which is good considering the testbed they used can support up to 2TB of RAM to keep the 4 CPUs fed.  This is a high end server part, not really competeing against AMD as a similar Opteron system would cost about 1/2 as much with performance reduced about the same as well.  Check out this beast, but keep in mind a single CPU will set you back more than you paid for your whole system.

anand_xeon4870.jpg

"Only one year later, Intel is upgrading the top Xeon by introducing Westmere-EX. Shrinking Intel's largest Xeon to 32nm allows it to be clocked slightly higher, get two extra cores, and add 6MB L3 cache. At the same time the chip is quite a bit smaller, which makes it cheaper to produce. Unfortunately, the customer does not really benefit from that fact, as the top Xeon became more expensive. Anyway, the Nehalem-EX was a popular chip, so it is no surprise that the improved version has persuaded 19 vendors to produce 60 different designs, ranging from two up to 256 sockets."

Here are some more Processor articles from around the web:

Processors

Source: AnandTech

Intel Extends 320 SSD Series' Warranty To 5 Years

Subject: Storage | May 20, 2011 - 07:00 PM |
Tagged: ssd, Intel, 320

Intel is so confident in their new Intel 320 series solid state drives that they are extending the warranty from three to five years. The 320 series use 25 nm NAND flash memory, and have a claimed MTBF (mean time before failure) of 1.2 million hours.

Intel320ssd.jpg

According to the new warranty, Intel states that: "if the Product is properly used and installed, it will be free from defects in material and workmanship, and will substantially conform to Intel’s publicly available specifications for a period of five (5) years beginning on the date the Product was purchased." Naturally, it does not cover physical or other accidental damage. As SSDs are still relatively new technology, it is hard to gauge reliability in consumer systems over the long term, so it is nice to see that Intel is confident enough in it's 25nm flash technology to extend the warranty. Hopefully, this will influence other manufacturers to adopt longer warranties. You can read the full warranty details here.

Source: Intel

PC Perspective
Upcoming Events
  • 5/22 @ 7:00pm PDT / 10:00pm EDT
    PC Perspective Podcast
  • 5/23 @ 6:00pm PDT / 9:00pm EDT
    This Week in Computer Hardware