Home
View news by subject:
All | Editorial | General Tech | Graphics Cards | Networking | Motherboards | Cases and Cooling | Processors | Chipsets | Memory | Displays | Systems | Storage | Mobile | Shows and Expos
Latest News

Intel updates Thunderbolt

Subject: General Tech | April 9, 2013 - 02:35 PM |
Tagged: Intel, thunderbolt, falcon ridge, DSL4510, DSL4410

As promised, the new Falcon Ridge Thunderbolt controller will be arriving soon, bringing improvements to Thunderbolt.  There will be two different updates supplied by Intel, the first is a doubling of bandwidth to 20Gbit/s which will significantly outpace eSATA and may help drive adoption of the new standard.  Less attractive for the consumer but interesting to businesses is a new revision of the current 10Gbit/s standard which will require less power to do the same job as the current controller.  The Inquirer also mentions that Intel is still looking to replace the copper with fibre optics, though what that will do to the already high price of Thunderbolt cables is unknown as of yet.

tb.jpg

"CHIPMAKER Intel has announced an update to its Thunderbolt bus boosting bandwidth to 20Gbit/s while introducing 10Gbit/s controllers with lower power consumption."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

Source: The Inquirer

Deal for April 9th - HP LaserJet Pro 200 M251nw Color Printer @ $150

Subject: General Tech | April 9, 2013 - 01:10 PM |
Tagged: deals

Tried of your old printer with its cord running from your PC and wanting one that is worth more than the price of the ink cartridges inside of it?  HP's LaserJet Pro 200 M251nw colour printer is capable of being connected wirelessly which clears up a bit of your cord clutter and makes it easy to connect to several machines at home. Currently you can pick it up at less than half price.

hprinter.jpg

HP LaserJet Pro 200 M251nw Color Printer
HP Home is offering their LaserJet Pro 200 M251nw Color Printer (CF147A#BGJ) for ONLY $149.99 plus free shipping. Use $165 instant savings and extra $15 coupon code: 15LOGICBUY to get final price. Sales tax where applicable. Offer valid through 4/13 or while stock last.

Source: LogicBUY

Dell Launches Cheaper Alienware X51 With Ubuntu 12.04 LTS

Subject: Systems | April 9, 2013 - 03:37 AM |
Tagged: ubuntu 12.04 lts, ubuntu, linux, dell, alienware x51

Dell has been one of the biggest (major OEM) supporter of the open source Ubuntu Linux operating system, and it seems the Linux love is trickling down to the company's boutique Alienware PC lineup as well. A new version of the Alienware X51, a small form factor gaming PC, is now available with Ubuntu 12.04 LTS pre-installed. Quite possibly the closest thing (so far) to a Steam Box, the Alienware X51 can run the Steam for Linux client along with all of the Linux games available on Valve's digital distribution service. Granted, the Ubuntu version cannot tap into the relatively-massive Windows game library out of the box, but it is also $100 cheaper than the X51 pre-installed with Windows due to Linux being free, and thus costing Dell less.

The Alienware X51 hardware is decent for a small form factor system, though it maxes out at a NVIDIA GTX 660 in the highest-end SKU. For $600, you can get an X51 will a dual-core Intel Core i3-3220 processor clocked at 3.3GHz, a NVIDIA GTX 645 1GB graphics card, 6GB of DDR3 1600MHz RAM, and a 1TB 7200RPM hard drive. On the other end fo the part configuration is the highest-end $1049 option, with a quad-core Core i7-3770 CPU clocked at 3.4GHz, a NVIDIA GTX 660 1.5GB GPU, 8GB of DDR3 1600MHz memory, and a 1TB 7200RPM hard drive.

gallery-shot_desktops_x51_01.jpg

The Alienware X51 chassis measures 12.5" x 12.5" x 3.74" and should fit into most entertainment centers (if you can get past the significant-other approval factor, that is). The PC comes equipped with Dell's 1506 802.11g/n Wi-Fi card as well, for situations where Ethernet or Powerline Ethernet is not an option.

It is nice to see Dell continuing to support Linux in some small way. Hopefully as Valve pushes for further Steam for Linux adoption, we will see more Linux-compatible games and OEMs will take notice and support the open source OS more openly in consumer lineups (a geek can dream...)!

You can find more information on the Alienware X51 at alienware.com/ubuntu/.

Does the inclusion of Ubuntu sway you towards the Alienware X51 (at least it's cheaper than the PISTON...), or will you be building your own custom Steam Box?

Source: Dell

Noctua Launches Two New NH-U Series Air Coolers

Subject: Cases and Cooling | April 8, 2013 - 08:14 PM |
Tagged: tower cooler, noctua, nh-u, air cooling

Noctua has launched two new single-tower air coolers in the NH-U series. The new NH-U12S and NH-U14S slim tower coolers come in both 120mm and 140mm sizes respectively. The air coolers are slim-enough to be installed in most system configurations, even with tall RAM heat-spreaders in use.

The Noctua NH-U12S is an updated version of the company's NH-U12P-SE2 cooler. It features a 45mm thick tower heatsink paired with a 120mm NF-F12 fan.

noctua_nh_u12s_2.jpg

On the other hand, the NH-U14S is Noctua's first air cooler sporting a 140mm fan. The cooler is 52mm thick, and is compatible with Intel's enthusiast LGA 2011/X79 platform. Further, it uses NF-A15 140mm fan that provides ample cooling power at lower RPMs (which means less noise, ideally).

noctua_nh_u14s_1.jpg

Both the NH-U12S and NH-U14S air coolers include Noctua's SecureFirm 2 mounting system, NT-H1 thermal compound, and PWM-controlled fans. Users can also attach the low-noise adapter to reduce the maximum fan speed from 1500 to 1200 RPM should they value quiet operation over maximum performance. Noctua is supporting both air coolers with a 6 year manufacturer warranty.

Both the 120mm NH-U12S and 140mm NH-U14S will be "available shortly" according to Noctua. The NH-U12S has an MSRP of $64.90 USD (59.90 EUR), while the larger NH-U14S is priced at $79.90 USD (69.90 EUR). In all, they appear to be decent air cooling options, and Noctua has demonstrated quality support in the past (such as the free Haswell mounting kit upgrades for older HSFs). Personally, I'm interested to see how the 140mm unit performs.

Source: Noctua

Refreshing the non-Ti GTX 660

Subject: Graphics Cards | April 8, 2013 - 07:33 PM |
Tagged: gk106, gtx660, asus, GTX 660 DirectCU II OC

Not everyone can afford to spend $400+ on a GPU in one shot but sometimes they can manage it if the purchase is split into two.  For those considering a multi-GPU setup, it has become obvious from Ryan's testing that NVIDIA is the way to go.  The 660 Ti is a favourite but even it might be too rich for some peoples wallets which is why it is nice to see the ASUS offer their GTX 660 DirectCU II OC for $215 after MIR.  [H]ard|OCP just put up a review of this card covering both the FPS performance of the card as it was when it arrived as well as after they pushed the base clock up almost as high as the original boost clock.  If you are on a limited GPU budget you should check out the full review.

h660.jpg

"ASUS has delivered a factory overclocked GeForce GTX 660 DirectCU II OC to our doorstep to run through the wringer. We match this ASUS video card up against AMD's Radeon HD 7870 GHz Edition and Radeon HD 7850 to see which will prevail in the battle of the mainstream cards. There are good values at this price point."

Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:

Graphics Cards

Source: [H]ard|OCP

Intel Shows DSL4510/4410 and Falcon Ridge 20 Gbps Thunderbolt at NAB

Subject: General Tech, Storage | April 8, 2013 - 04:00 PM |
Tagged: thunderbolt, nab 13, Intel, falcon ridge, DSL4510, cactus ridge

Way back in July of 2012 Tim Verry wrote a news story on PC Perspective discussing the upcoming Falcon Ridge and Cactus Ridge Thunderbolt controllers, due out in 2014 and 2013 respectively.  It appears this is coming to fruition at the NAB Show 2013 this week in Las Vegas, with two new variants of Thunderbolt on display by Intel.

tb1.jpg

Cactus Ridge, now known as the DSL4510 and 4410 controllers will add support for DisplayPort 1.2 when connected to native DisplayPort displays while also improving power management and lowering the implementation costs for hardware designers. 

Maybe more exciting is the prototype of next-generation silicon for Thunderbolt, code named Falcon Ridge, that runs at 20 Gbps, double that of current Thunderbolt implementations.  Intel promises that this will enable 4K video file transfer and display simultaneously.  As expected, production will start in late 2013 with ramping in 2014.

tb2.jpg

Thunderbolt's integration into the consumer market has been slower than expected but professionals are seeing more and more uses for this kind of extreme bandwidth as the video production pipeline prepares for large scale 4K distribution.  We are using Thunderbolt internally at PC Perspective for our Frame Rating capture based graphics testing running at nearly 800 MB/s we have been happy with the results. 

Source: Intel

New Intel HD Graphics Driver Improves Game Performance

Subject: General Tech | April 8, 2013 - 03:13 PM |
Tagged: Ivy Bridge, intel hd, Intel, hd 4000, hd 2500

Intel recently released an updated graphics driver for Ivy Bridge processors sporting either HD 4000 or HD 2500 GPUs. The new 15.31.3.3071 (or 15.31.3.64.3071 for those running a 64-bit OS) driver features several under-the-hood optimizations to reduce CPU overhead and improve the driver architecture itself.

Intel Logo.jpg

The driver architecture improvements have also led to improved game performance. Intel claims up to 10% better performance in StarCraft II, Batman: Arkham City, and World of Warcraft: Mists of Pandaria (among others).

The chip giant also notes that the new driver supports OpenCL 1.2 for GPGPU calculations. The graphics driver update is only for Ivy Bridge hardware, and is compatible with Ivy Bridge hardware and both the 32-bit and 64-bit versions of Windows 7 and Windows 8. If you are running Intel's Driver Update Utility, you should get the new driver automatically.

Otherwise, you can grab the new driver from the following link, depending on your OS.

Unfortunately, these drivers are generic Intel HD graphics drivers. If your OEM computer is running Windows with an OEM-customized version of Intel's drivers, you are out of luck. You will need to wait for your OEM to update its driver package in order to take advantage of the performance improvements.

Source: Intel

Windows versus Linux in an OpenGL free for al

Subject: General Tech | April 8, 2013 - 01:59 PM |
Tagged: linux, ubuntu 13.04, fedora 18, win7, opengl, Ivy Bridge

One major barrier to switching to Linux for many users is the graphical performance of the OS; Steam may be releasing a variety of games which will run on Linux but if the performance is awful there are not going to be many who think about making the switch.  Phoronix has been a close eye on the development of OpenGL drivers for Linux, this time specifically the onboard Intel graphics present on Ivy Bridge chips.  With one driver available for each OS the tests were easily set up, except for the aforementioned Steam games as there is a bug which prevents Phoronix from collecting the performance data they need.  Check out the performance differences between Ubuntu 13.04, Fedora 18 and Win7 in the full article.

Ubuntu_Raring_Ringtail_Wallpapers_01.jpg

"Last month Phoronix published Intel OpenGL benchmarks showing Windows 8 outperforming Ubuntu 13.04 with the latest Windows and Linux drivers from Intel. I also showed that even with the KDE and Xfce desktops rather than the default Unity/Compiz desktop to Ubuntu, Windows 8 still was faster on this Intel "Ivy Bridge" platform. The new benchmarks to share today from this Intel Ultrabook are the Windows 8 and Ubuntu 13.04 results but also with performance figures added in from Microsoft Windows 7 Professional Service Pack 1 x64 and Fedora 18."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

Source: Phoronix

Deal for April 8th - Dell UltraSharp U2410 24" IPS @ $384.30

Subject: General Tech, Displays | April 8, 2013 - 01:45 PM |
Tagged: deals

If you are shopping around for a 24" IPS LCD then today's deal might be custom made for you.  The Dell UltraSharp U2410 24" IPS is currently discounted $165 and comes with free shipping.  It is a full 1920x1200 display with HDMI, DVI-D and DisplayPort inputs and even better it has a ghosting time of 11 ms and an input lag so low as to be undetectable which makes it perfect for gaming.

delldeal.jpg

Dell UltraSharp U2410 24" IPS-panel LCD Monitor with HDMI & DisplayPort
Today only. Dell is offering UltraSharp U2410 24-inch LCD Monitor for $384.30 with FREE shipping. Use 33% instant savings to get final price.

Source: LogicBUY

(Not) The End of DirectX

Subject: Editorial, General Tech, Graphics Cards, Systems, Mobile | April 7, 2013 - 10:21 PM |
Tagged: DirectX, DirectX 12

Microsoft DirectX is a series of interfaces for programmers to utilize typically when designing gaming or entertainment applications. Over time it became synonymous with Direct3D, the portion which mostly handles graphics processing by offloading those tasks to the video card. At one point, DirectX even handled networking through DirectPlay although that has been handled by Games for Windows Live or other APIs since Vista.

AMD Corporate Vice President Roy Taylor was recently interviewed by the German press, "c't magazin". When asked about the future of "Never Settle" bundles, Taylor claimed that games such as Crysis 3 and Bioshock: Infinite keep their consumers happy and also keep the industry innovating.

gfwl.png

Keep in mind, the article was translated from German so I might not be entirely accurate with my understanding of his argument.

In a slight tangent, he discussed how new versions of DirectX tends to spur demand for new graphics processors with more processing power and more RAM. He has not heard anything about DirectX 12 and, in fact, he does not believe there will be one. As such, he is turning to bundled games to keep the industry moving forward.

Neowin, upon seeing this interview, reached out to Microsoft who committed to future "innovation with DirectX".

This exchange has obviously sparked a lot of... polarized... online discussion. One claimed that Microsoft is abandoning the PC to gain a foothold in the mobile market which it has practically zero share of. That is why they are dropping DirectX.

Unfortunately this does not make sense: DirectX would be one of the main advantages which Microsoft has in the mobile market. Mobile devices have access to fairly decent GPUs which can use DirectX to draw web pages and applications much smoother and much more power efficiently than their CPU counterparts. If anything, DirectX would be increased in relevance if Microsoft was blindly making a play for mobile.

The major threat to DirectX is still quite off in the horizon. At some point we might begin to see C++Amp or OpenCL nibble away at what DirectX does best: offload highly-parallel tasks to specialized processing units.

Still, releases such as DirectX 11.1 are quite focused on back-end tweaks and adjustments. What do you think a DirectX 12 API would even do, that would not already be possible with DirectX 11?

Source: c't magazin

Blink and It's Gone: Google Forks WebKit

Subject: General Tech, Mobile | April 6, 2013 - 05:47 PM |
Tagged: webkit, Blink, Android, Google Chrome, ChromeOS

There once was a web browser named Konqueror which was quite common in the Linux community. At its core was the KHTML rendering engine, a nice standards-compliant layout package; KHTML was so nice that Apple decided to create WebKit based on it. Since then, WebKit has been the basis of Google Chrome and other applications such as Steam as of a few years ago.

And even though the project maybe never be done, Google stuck a fork in it.

Blink is a new layout engine, based on WebKit, soon to be implemented in Google Chrome. By soon, I mean practically the next release. It stands to reason, too: a forked project by definition starts out looking nearly identical because they both start from the same point. The two projects will be able to evolve in different directions as each begin to differ in needs and desires.

So what does it mean? Firstly, web developers do not need to worry about a new vendor-prefix until at least Google starts to worry about one. According to their above Q&A, they currently seem more interested in reducing prefix support rather than adding new ones. Personally, I expect that at some point they will likely need to add some as standards evolve.

In terms of the future: I feel that multiple rendering engines will only be better for the future of the web. Sure, it can be difficult for web developers to test their products across a variety of devices but that is a drop in the bucket compared to the misery caused when a dominant player gets complacent. A noncompeting player will stop innovating and maybe pull away from open standards.

Then again this pretty much always happens: no-one is satisfied with monopolies. Thankfully the WebKit license made it easy for dissatisfied parties to take action. In turn, WebKit can benefit from many of these developments at their leisure, particularly before their products look too dissimilar.

Source: CNet

What We Are Learning about Internet Explorer 11

Subject: Editorial | April 6, 2013 - 04:34 AM |
Tagged: Windows 8.1, windows blue, internet explorer, Internet Explorer 11

Windows Blue Windows 8.1 was leaked not too long ago. We reported on the release's illegitimate availability practically as soon as it happened. We knew that Internet Explorer took it to incremented its version to 11. The recent releases of Internet Explorer each made decent strides to catch the browser up to Google's Chrome and Mozilla's Firefox. Once thrown to the sharks thoroughly investigated, this release is pining to be just as relevant despite how near its expected release has been to Internet Explorer 10.

I will not bury the lead: Internet Explorer contains some level of support for WebGL and might implement the SPDY protocol.

ie11.png

One of my first thoughts upon realizing that Internet Explorer 11 was an impending "thing": will it make it to Windows 7? Unfortunately, we still have no clue. Thankfully, unlike Windows RT which disallow rendering engines other than Internet Explorer's Trident, we are still capable of installing alternative browsers in Windows 7. If Internet Explorer 11 is unavailable, they can still install Firefox or Chrome.

For those who only use Internet Explorer and can upgrade to 11, you might be pleased to find WebGL support. Microsoft has been quite vocal against WebGL for quite some time, claiming it a security threat when facing the wild west of the internet. Then again, to some extent, the internet is a security nightmare in itself. The question is whether WebGL can be sufficiently secured for its usage:

This, to some extent, marks a moment where Microsoft promotes a Khronos standard. With some level of irony, Apple was one of the founding members of the WebGL group yet Microsoft might beat Safari to default WebGL support Of course it could not be that simple, however, as IE11 apparently accepts WebGL shaders (the math which computes the color and position of a pixel) in IESL rather than the standard GLSL. IESL, according to the name of its registry flag, seems to be heavily based on HLSL seen in DirectX.

I guess they just cannot let Khronos have a total victory?

SPDY also seems to be coming to IE11. SPDY, pronounced "speedy" and not an acronym, is a protocol designed to cut loading latency. Cool stuff.

Last and definitely least, IE11 is furthering its trend of pretending that it is a Mozilla Gecko-like rendering engine in its user agent string. Personally, I envision an IE logo buying a fiery-orange tail at a cosplay booth. They have been doing this for quite some time now.

Source: Within Windows

Haswell, we have a problem. USB 3.0 woes may lead to delays

Subject: General Tech | April 5, 2013 - 02:06 PM |
Tagged: haswell, Intel, usb 3.0, oops

Hardware.Info has recently had confirmation of the rumours we have heard about Intel's USB 3.0 chipset in Haswell; the problem exists and it will cause delays.  Many readers may find this remeniscent of the issues with the Marvell 88SE9123 SATA controller from back in the days of P55 boards.  This time however the issue has been caught before a single board was sold and while it is upsetting that we will be waiting even longer for Haswell perhaps it is better to get a working product late.  It could be quite annoying to lose all your peripherals every time your machine goes into S3.  Follow the links from their post for more details.

intel.PNG

"Intel now officially admits there is a problem with USB 3.0 in Haswell products, and that solving the issue will affect delivery times of various products"

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

Source: Hardware.Info

Deal of the Day - ASUS GeForce GTX 660 2GB @ $169

Subject: General Tech | April 5, 2013 - 01:48 PM |
Tagged: deals

If you are looking for a decent midrange card with a good selection of outputs and enough VRAM to handle multiple screens at reasonable resolutions but can't spend more than $200 then consider this GTX 660.  It is a decent upgrade for current owners of  GTX 560 Ti or even the GTX 570 with a Core clock of 1020MHz, 1085MHz Boost and 2GB of 6GHz GDDR5.  Also, it will be featured in Ryan's next frame rating article for those who need a refresher on its performance. 

gtx660.jpg

ASUS GeForce GTX 660 2GB GDDR5 Video Card @ $168.99 + FREE SHIPPING

Newegg offers the ASUS GeForce GTX 660 2GB GDDR5 Video Card (GTX660-DC2O-2GD5) for $168.99 with free economy shipping. Use coupon code EMCXSXV42 applied during checkout and $20 mail-in rebate to get final price. Coupon applicable for Newegg.com newsletter subscribers only (Free to signup). Deal ends 4/8 or while supplies last.

 

Source: LogicBUY

AMD and Adobe Show OpenCL Support for next version of Adobe Premiere Pro

Subject: General Tech, Graphics Cards | April 5, 2013 - 11:48 AM |
Tagged: premiere pro, opencl, firepro, amd, Adobe

As we prepare for the NAB show (National Association of Broadcasters) this week, AMD and Adobe have released a fairly substantial news release concerning the future of Premiere Pro, Adobe's flagship professional video editing suite. 

Earlier today Adobe revealed some of its next generation professional video and audio products, including the next version of Adobe® Premiere Pro. Basically Adobe is giving users a sneak peek at the new features coming to the next versions of its software. And we’ve decided to give you a sneak peek too, providing a look at how the next version of Premiere Pro performs when accelerated by AMD FirePro™ 3D workstation graphics and OpenCL™ versus Nvidia Quadro workstation graphics and CUDA.

This will be the first time that OpenCL is used as the primary rendering engine for Premiere and is something that AMD has been hoping to see for many years.  Previous versions of the software integrated support for NVIDIA's CUDA GPGPU programming models and the revolution of the Mercury Playback Engine was truly industry changing for video production.  However, because it was using CUDA, AMD users were left out of these performance improvements in favor of the proprietary NVIDIA software solution.

Adobe's next version of Premiere Pro (though we aren't told when that will be released) switches from CUDA to OpenCL and the performance of the AMD GCN architecture is being shown off by AMD today. 

Adobe-Premiere-OpenCL-vs-Cuda.png

Using 4K TIFF 24-bit sequence content, Microsoft Windows® 7 64-bit, Intel Xeon E5530 @ 2.40 GHZ and 12GB system memory, AMD compared several FirePro graphics cards (using OpenCL) against NVIDIA Quadro options (using CUDA).  Idealy we would like to see some OpenCL NVIDIA benchmarks as well, but I assume we'll have to wait to test that here at PC Perspective.

Adobe-Premiere-GPU-Utilization.png

AMD also claims that by utilizing OpenCL rather than CUDA, the AMD FirePro GPUs are running at a lower utilization, opening up more graphics processing power for other applications and development work.

While this performance testing is conducted on a pre-release version of the next Adobe Premiere Pro, we’re really pleased with the results. As with all of the professional applications we support, we’ll continue to make driver optimizations for Adobe Premiere Pro that can only help to improve the overall user experience and application performance. So if you’re considering a GPU upgrade as part of your transition to the next version of Adobe Premiere Pro, definitely consider taking a look at AMD FirePro™ 3D workstation graphics cards.

You can continue on to read the full press release from AMD and Adobe on the collaboration or check out the complete blog post posted on AMD.com.

Source: AMD

The Vertex 3.20, shrinking down to 20nm

Subject: Storage | April 4, 2013 - 07:22 PM |
Tagged: 20nm, ocz, vertex 3.20, synchronous flash, SandForce SF-2281

There is very little change between the original Vertex 3 and the new Vertex 3.20, as the controller remains as an SF-2281 and the rated speeds match, the only real difference is in the new 20nm NAND.  In a way [H]ard|OCP was disappointed that OCZ did not reduce the size of the Vertex to fit in mobile devices as the new NAND is very power efficient and would be welcomed more by mobile users than desktop users.  As far as performance per dollar it is still the Samsung 840 which remains on top but OCZ has a solid contender.

h_3popint2.jpg

"OCZ releases the Vertex 3.20 240GB SSD as part of the continued restructuring of its product lines. With 20nm NAND and a LSI SandForce SF-2281 controller the Vertex 3.20 SSD is geared for budget conscious buyers, and today we test it with the other top value-oriented SSDs."

Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:

Storage

Source: [H]ard|OCP

Still in the market for a gaming laptop?

Subject: Mobile | April 4, 2013 - 04:18 PM |
Tagged: Cyberpower, Fangbook X7-200, gaming laptop

If you are one of the few with the money and desire for a gaming laptop you have probably looked at CyberPower as a supplier in the past.  They recently updated their Fangbook series and Legit Reviews got a look at the X7-200 model, with a Core i7-3630QM, GeForce GTX 675MX, 16GB of DDR3-1600 and a 60GB Intel 520 SSD for your OS backed up by a WD Scorpio Black 750GB for storage.  Thankfully they chose a 1920x1080 panel for this 17.3" screen as 1366 would not live up to the components inside.  There are quite a few other extras in this laptop, up to and including a KillerNIC; read the full review for the entire list.

LR_fangbook_outside_1_550.jpg

"The fine folks at Cyberpower PC have sent us over one of their latest creations, and truth be told, I'm looking forward to this one! What we have today is the Cyberpower Fangbook X7-200 gaming notebook. The entire Fangbook series features a massive 17.3" screen (1920x1080 HD LED-Backlit), Intel Core i7-3630QM quad-core processors (to start), and NVIDIA GeForce GTX 675MX and GTX 680M graphics. To say that these things are beasts doesn't do them justice. The Fangbook has the different versions to it, each with slightly different specifications and price points. The Fangbook X7-200 that we have in our hands today starts out at $1549..."

Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:

Mobile

Source: Legit Reviews

Podcast #245 - Frame Rating, Ivy Bridge-E, Oculus Rift and more!

Subject: General Tech | April 4, 2013 - 03:39 PM |
Tagged: podcast, oculus rift, Ivy Bridge-E, gtx 700M, GTX 670 Mini, giveaway, frame rating, bioshock infinite

PC Perspective Podcast #245 - 04/04/2013

Join us this week as we discuss more Frame Rating, Ivy Bridge-E, Oculus Rift 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!

Program length: 1:18:58

  1. 0:01:45 You missed our Bioshock Infinite Game Stream!
  2. 0:02:40 Win the Roccat Kave Real 5.1 Gaming Headset
  3. Week in Review:
    1. 0:04:30 Frame Rating: HD 7990 vs GTX 690 vs GTX Titan
      1. Frame Rating: HD 7950 vs GTX 660 Ti
    2. 0:30:10 Oyen Digital USB 3.0 UASP / eSATA Dock
  4. News items of interest:
    1. 0:33:00 NVIDIA GeForce GTX 700M Announced
    2. 0:37:50 Oculus Rift Future from GTC
    3. 0:42:15 Activision Faces are scary!
    4. 0:44:15 Ivy Bridge-E Processor Leaks
    5. 0:49:15 64-bit ARM A57 SoCs are nearly here
    6. 0:52:30 AMD Fan Event in San Francisco!
    7. 0:53:45 Seagate has 1TB platter drives now
    8. 0:59:00 Could Lenovo makes it own chips?
    9. 1:02:45 ASUS Mini-ITX Ready Small GTX 670 card
  5. 1:05:45 Hardware/Software Picks of the Week:
    1. Ryan: Nerdytec Couchmaster
    2. Jeremy: Already modded Oculus Rift
    3. Josh: Used it this weekend. Nice
    4. Allyn: iBackupBot
  6. 1-888-38-PCPER or podcast@pcper.com
  7. http://pcper.com/podcast
  8. http://twitter.com/ryanshrout and http://twitter.com/pcper
  9. Closing/outro
Be sure to subscribe to the PC Perspective YouTube channel!!
 

 

Source: PC Perspective

Deal for April 4th - Dell Inspiron 15R (5521) 15.6" Core i5 Laptop

Subject: General Tech | April 4, 2013 - 01:58 PM |
Tagged: deals

At $500+tax with free shipping and Windows 8 included, the Dell Inspiron 15R is a good choice for anyone looking for a reasonably powerful and lightweight laptop.  It is powered by a 1.8GHz Core i5-3337U, has 6GB RAM, a 500GB HDD and integral DVD burner, with a 15.6" 1366 x 768 LED-backlit LCD powered by the HD4000 on the i5.  Not exactly a gaming PC but at 4.9lbs it is an easy way to bring your work with you wherever you go and have more processing power than a tablet will offer.

inspiron.jpg

Dell Inspiron 15R (5521) 15.6" Core i5 Laptop @ $499.99

Use $109 instant savings and extra $80 coupon code: HCV9LCWDGXR7WZ to get final price.

Source: LogicBUY

New Flash based products coming to a server near you

Subject: General Tech | April 4, 2013 - 01:40 PM |
Tagged: memristor, non-volitle RAM, mlc, PCIe SSD, hitachi, hp, dell

The Register assembled a brief look at the near future of flash storage products from HP, Hitachi, Dell and NetApp.  HP expects to be shipping memristor based storage devices by the end of the year as well as photonic inter-node backplanes which will offer much faster transfer than copper based solutions.  Hitachi Data Systems believes they have made a breakthrough in MLC flash and controller technology which will not only extend the usable life of the memory but they expect price parity with high end SAS HDDs by the end of 2015.  Check out those stories as well as Dell's server plans and NetApp's new OS right here.

rcjMemristor.jpg

"In every minute;

  • More than 600 videos are uploaded to YouTube
  • More than 13,000 hours of music are streamed via Pandora
  • 168 million emails are transmitted
  • 695,000 status updates are added to Facebook
  • 695,000 Google searches are also made."

Here is some more Tech News from around the web:

Tech Talk

Source: The Register

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