AMD Delivers the World's First 1 GHz Graphics Processor

Subject: Graphics Cards | May 13, 2009 - 01:39 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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SUNNYVALE, Calif.

Crank your 7 up to an 11

Subject: Systems | May 13, 2009 - 01:31 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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ExtremeTech is working on taking Windows 7 (RC1) to new heights of performance with their new system build.  The build list is done, a EVGA X58 SLI and Core i7 920 along with a pair of 6GB OCZ DDR3-1600 kits and an HD 4890 provide the power for this build, with a variety of other expansion cards and storage devices as well.  At this point the components have all arrived and are ready to be assembled.   See the pictures and tips by following the link.

A new look at a popular game

Subject: General Tech | May 13, 2009 - 12:53 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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When Dawn of War II first came out, we heard all about the new take on RTS that it provided, along with the inclusion of Boss battles.  We saw a lot of performance data on the game, with most of the cards that were current at the time being tested.  Since then, both AMD and nVIDIA have been churning out cards at an incredible pace, with a new generation of cards having never seen a benchmark of DoW II performance.

You're outta here!

Subject: General Tech | May 13, 2009 - 12:29 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Against all advice, be it legal, political or otherwise, France has decided to implement it's 3-strikes law against copyright infringers. 
Call it "Creation et Internet," or "Loi Olivennes" or HADOPI, this law makes it punishable to not 'secure your internet connection', for public WiFi operators to allow access only to a "white list" of acceptable sites and don't even mention file sharing.  The third strike, after an email and registered letter is the disconnection of your ISP account for 3 months to a year, to let you have time to think about how horrible you have been.

EC Ruling: Statement by Intel President and CEO Paul Otellini

Subject: General Tech | May 13, 2009 - 11:27 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., May 13, 2009 - Paul Otellini, Intel Corporation president and CEO today issued the following statement regarding the European Commission decision on Intel's business practices:

"Intel takes strong exception to this decision. We believe the decision is wrong and ignores the reality of a highly competitive microprocessor marketplace – characterized by constant innovation, improved product performance and lower prices. There has been absolutely zero harm to consumers. Intel will appeal."

Nothing but the basics

Subject: General Tech | May 12, 2009 - 06:02 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Picking up a high end gaming mouse for your office PC might be amusing, but it really isn't necessary.  Likewise, picking up an incredibly fancy wireless keyboard to run your HTPC is not ideal either.  I-ROCKS RF-6572A 2.4GHz wireless keyboard and mouse are a much wiser choice.  Solid wireless performance with enough channels to ensure you encounter no interference and a nice neat design are this combos qualities.  The mouse has five buttons, you won't be forced to give

nVIDIA continues to split the Atom

Subject: Motherboards | May 12, 2009 - 04:27 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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nVIDIA's experiments with the Atom processor have come a long way since the reference model that appeared back in January.  That reference model has birthed 4 models, the IONITX-A-U the IONITX-B-E the IONITX-C-U
and the IONITX-D-E.  Ryan had the luck to test out the IONITX-A-U, the flagship of this fleet of all in one motherboards.  See what new tricks it can do in his full review.

A very flexible and spacious case

Subject: Cases and Cooling | May 12, 2009 - 03:59 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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The

The second half of Intel's plans for 2009

Subject: General Tech | May 12, 2009 - 03:39 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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For the second half of 2009, Intel will be refreshing their mobile lineup from the top to the bottom.  At the high end are the 14" to 18.4" Calpella notebooks, which will retail at about $1,200.  They will also be introducing ultra thin CULVs, which will be 12" to 13"at retail between $699 to $1,10.  There will also be two Atom based netbooks, an 8.9" N270 and 945GSE for about $256 and the 10" N270 with 945GSE chipset.  If you don't want an Atom powered netbook, there will be a Pineview based CPU + Tiger Point chipset
for somewhere between $399 to $599. 

ZOTAC announces the NVIDIA ION-based mini-ITX platforms - the ZOTAC ION series

Subject: Systems | May 12, 2009 - 01:57 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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ZOTAC is pleased to announce the world's first NVIDIA ION-based mini-ITX platforms - the ZOTAC ION series.
The new ZOTAC ION platforms deliver superior power efficiency without any compromises. Powered by an NVIDIA ION
graphics processor and your choice of an Intel Atom N330 dual-core or N270 single-core processor, the ZOTAC ION
features Blu-ray high-definition video playback capabilities, compatibility with NVIDIA CUDA-enabled applications
and quick multi-tasking performance.

General details:

Do you value performance at any cost?

Subject: Processors | May 11, 2009 - 05:17 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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If you are looking for good performance from an Intel system without the cost of going with a Core i7, you might want to consider the

Corsair Announces New 256GB High-Performance Solid-State Drive

Subject: Storage | May 11, 2009 - 04:06 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Fremont, CA, May 11th, 2009 - Corsair, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer and flash memory products, today announced the launch of the Corsair Storage Solutions P256 high-performance 256GB solid-state drive (SSD).

The Corsair Storage Solutions P256 has been designed using cutting-edge technology to deliver the highest performance and compatibility, in a capacity that is big enough to replace conventional storage solutions in a high-performance PC.

Half a litre of mobile power

Subject: Mobile | May 11, 2009 - 02:52 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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When you look at an ION platform from nVIDIA, you might mistake it for a router or maybe an external HDD cage, but hidden in that box is a full PC.  The GeForce 9400 and Intel Atom beat the pants off of the Intel 945GC, but unless you want to replay Quake 4 at 800x600 with an average frame rate hovering around 20fps you may not want to use it at a LAN party.  On the flip side, with HD content in H.264, VC-1 or  MPEG-2, you can expect great performance, no dropped frames and a CPU utilization that stays well under 50%.  If you do try some other formats, you might run into s

Down, but not out

Subject: Graphics Cards | May 11, 2009 - 02:15 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Weighing in with a GPU of 575MHz, GDDR3 of 900MHz and a 256 bit wide memory bus, the HD 4830 has a hard time keeping up with the new HD 4770 even though they are almost exactly the same price, the HD 4850 is only a competitor if you want to spend almost $50 on an extra handful of

Big sound, small package

Subject: General Tech | May 11, 2009 - 01:09 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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For gaming, the Sennheiser PC-350 is a great set of headphones, but for music it is not your best choice.  They are designed to be mobile, folding up into a small enough size that they can be tossed in a laptop bag.  DriverHeaven really liked the performance while being shelled in CoD 4 and found that the surround sound was good enough to determine enemy positions by audio cues.  When listening to music, the poor bass performance stands out

Don't bother coming to get some, we're all out

Subject: General Tech | May 11, 2009 - 12:19 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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From the short video of game play, the long wait for Duke Nukem might have almost been worth it.  Along with a rather impressive use of the Unreal Engine and lighting to create a very nice looking world is some heavy scripting.  A lot of the eulogy contains both enemies and Duke performing some rather intricate scripted movements along with the game play shots.  It is hard to say just how well the game would have worked with jumping pig men, but hopefully someone will get their hands on the code, however unlikely that is. 

64 years of celebrating VE Day

Subject: General Tech | May 8, 2009 - 06:37 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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A while back Ryan experimented with a powerline ethernet adaptor from Linksys, and found it to be quite easy to use and effective, as long as you knew which circuits were which in your house.  Since that time there really hasn't been any forum members who have picked up a kit to try for themselves, though some have expressed an interest.  If anyone has tried this type of network, drop by this forum post to let us know how well it worked for you<

TSMC and UMC continue sales recovery in April

Subject: General Tech | May 8, 2009 - 03:56 PM | Ryan Shrout
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This is definitely good news for the tech industry as a whole - both TSMC and UMC, Taiwan's most prominent fabrication facility for silicon wafers, are both seeing increases in monthly revenue month-to-month and better year-to-year re