Forceware 185.20 Beta Leaked
In the wake of the new year, NVIDIA's GeForce Forceware drivers have surfaced. While being in a beta stage the 185.20 Forceware provide support for NVIDIA's upcoming products namely the GeForce GTX 295 and GeForce GTX 285. It also introduces ambient occlusion as a standard feature-set to enhance lighting effects, and reflections impacting on the realism. All other GPUs GeForce 6 Series onward are supported as usual. The driver is dated for 12-26-2008. The package includes PhysX system software version 8.11.18. Drivers for both 64-bit and 32-bit versions of Windows Vista and Windows XP can be downloaded from the links below. Be cautioned the drivers are unsigned beta versions, the use of which isn't covered by any warranty.
DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA Forceware 185.20 beta for Windows XP (32bit) | Windows Vista (32bit) | Windows XP (64bit) | Windows Vista (64bit)
Sources: XFastest, TechConnect Magazine
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(PR) Thermaltake Introduces TMG IA1 CPU Cooler, Gives You More
Gamers and DIY enthusiasts always want a good product with great value and performance. Now, Thermaltake makes this possible. Lately, Thermaltake releases its new CPU cooler- TMG IA1. This cooler definitely can satisfy PC DIY users and gamers' different needs.
TMG IA1 is equipped with a 12cm Scurve fan with blue LED. This giant fan's powerful air flow guarantees the CPU can work normally while the user's PC is on multi tasks. 4 copper heatpipes and large surface fin can maximize the heat dissipation speed. The copper base is also tempting to DIY enthusiasts and it is also good for the heat transfer between CPU and cooler. When the user does not need high performance, he/she can adjust fan speed to save more power and get more acoustic benefit. TMG IA1 is also equipped with blue eye-catching LED. Users can enjoy the performance and the attractive appearance.
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NVIDIA BIOS Editor (NiBiTor) v4.7 Released
MVKTech has just released a new version of NVIDIA BIOS Editor (NiBiTor) software. NiBiTor is the original and defenitive BIOS tweaker that supports the latest NVIDIA graphics cards. NiBiTor allows graphics card enthusiasts to have full control over advanced features and functionality found on firmware on supporting cards. This to gain some extra performance, enable hidden features and extra stability on the NVIDIA graphics cards.
For more information visit this page.
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(PR) ASUS Reveals Xonar HDAV1.3 Series Sound Cards with Dolby TrueHD Bit-Stream
Following the success of becoming the world’s first sound cards to be equipped with the next generation DTS-HD Master Audio and Dolby Digital Plus bitstream on the PC platform, the ASUS Xonar HDAV1.3 Series once again moves to the forefront as the world’s first and only solution to offer Dolby TrueHD audio bitstream on the PC platform. A powerful combination comprising of C-Media’s custom-made AV200 audio processor and ArcSoft’s TotalMedia Theatre software player lets users be the first to enjoy Dolby TrueHD’s lossless compression rate of 24bit/192KHz over to their AV receivers. This breakthrough in the emerging Blu-ray era was unprecedented before the release of the Xonar HDAV1.3.
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Pricing, Availability and More Details Trickle in for the Upcoming HP Firebird
Following the initial information and shots which we covered here, PCWorld has got further information on availability and pricing, whilst also discussing the new system with Rahul Sood, Chief Technology Officer for HP's Global Gaming Business. Sood mentioned that, "... the new systems use compact, power-sipping components usually found in notebook PCs, providing a reduced footprint and maximum energy usage -- 350 watts, or one-fifth the energy used by an average high-performance desktop PC... By pulling the power supply out of the case, the Firebird systems can get away with "way quieter" fans than other high-performance PCs... The high-performance PC space seems to have gone out of control when power supplies exceed 1.6 or 2 kilowatts, drawing more than the wall can handle, and people have 3-4 video cards and spend $5,000 to 6,000 on a machine just to play a videogame."
The HP Firebird, is said to start at $1,799 (excluding monitor) and will be available at voodoopc.com from January 9th, and at yet to be announced retail stores sometime in February.
Source: PCWorld
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30GB Zunes Fail at Midnight on New Years Eve. Microsoft Releases a Fix
As the New Year began early this morning, Gizmodo started receiving lots of reports that people's 30GB Zune's were failing. What was happening, was that at 12:01am PST on 31st December 2008, a bug in one of the drivers unique to a 30GB Zune was not allowing the calendar to update properly. For players that were already on, this resulted in a hard reset at that exact moment. Upon restarting or for those who turned their Zune's on after midnight, they were presented with a locked up Zune which would simply stop at the end of the loading screen and stay there. Microsoft have now released an official statement for how to resolve this issue, which follows below.
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(PR) A-DATA Launches XPG Dual SSD 3.5آ” RAID Enclosure
A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd., a worldwide leader in high performance memory products, announced today that it is launching XPG Dual SSD 3.5" RAID Enclosure to expand its portfolio of SSD solutions.
The A-DATA XPG Dual SSD 3.5" RAID Enclosure is a complete RAID solution through the use of two 2.5" SATA SSDs and/or HDDs mounted on one standard 3.5" form factor drive cage. This multifunctional RAID enclosure can be used as two separate drives, as a redundant drive to protect against drive failure, combined to become one high-performance drive or combined to become one large drive. By utilizing the hardware DIP switch on the back of the unit or included software utility, all these different RAID configurations and more can be set in an instant. Connection via SATA or USB enables easy direct access.
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(PR) Thermaltake Provides Phase Change Cooling for AMD Graphics Cards
Thermaltake today announced an initiative with AMD to redesign the revolutionary Xpressar micro refrigeration cooling system for use with ATI Radeon HD 4000 series graphics cards. First introduced in a specialized case designed to achieve CPU temperatures much lower than standard liquid cooling systems, the Xpressar technology will be modified for use as a graphics cooling solution. When commercially available, the Xpressar graphics solution could reduce graphics processor temperatures by as much as 20آ°C when compared to common liquid cooling products.
The Thermaltake Xpressar micro refrigeration cooling system utilizes a miniature version of the compressor cooling module commonly used in refrigerators and air conditioners. To streamline installation, the graphics cooling module will utilize a compact design, occupying only the drive bay area in the computer.
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ASUS M4A Series to Spearhead Company's AM3 Motherboard Initial Lineup
With motherboards based on AMD's newest AM3 socket surfacing from the likes of ECS and ASRock, market heavyweights such as ASUS have decided to pixellate their offerings on the internet. ASUS for one has two motherboards in the pipeline, under the M4A series. As the series name suggests, It's based on the AM3 socket (AM2+ was M3A) and based on AMD chipset. AM3 boards based on NVIDIA nForce chipset will be most likely called the M4N series.
Here are the initial offerings: M4A78 Pro and M4A79 Deluxe. The two are based on the AMD 780G and 790FX chipsets respectively. Both the motherboards use DDR2 memory. A complete range of AM2, AM2+ and AM3 socket CPUs are supported. Surprisingly neither support DDR3 memory, the one that makes AM3 stand apart from AM2+. The two are expected to be released in January, their prices are unknown at this point in time.
Sources: OCWorkbench, FudZilla
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Symwave to Demonstrate USB 3.0 External Storage Solution at CES
A major update and commercial introduction to the USB technology has been long overdue. While most devices such as printers, MFDs and other office automation equipment seem fairly comfortable with the bandwidth USB 2.0 offers, with storage solutions where large amounts of data transfer is involved, USB needs a facelift, so much so that companies are slowly gaining interest in technologies such as eSATA.
At the upcoming CES event, Symwave is planning a demo of an external storage solution based on the new USB 3.0 "SuperSpeed" technology. The device it plans to demo could be an external hard-drive or an enclosure with USB 3.0 compliancy. With 10 times the available bandwidth (4.8 Gbps or 600 MB/s), the new technology looks to provide devices with both performance and backwards compatibility with older USB standards. The Symwave storage solution will be one of first devices the technology kicks-off with.
Source: Engadget
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Seagate Ups Storage Density With Single Platter 500GB HDD
Seagate, a vetran with fixed data storage solutions, already holds the reputation of making the conventional HDD with the highest unformatted capacity, 1.5TB. The company now looks to step-up the per-platter storage density with the introduction of high-capcity HDDs with single platters.
Hard drives with single platters are not only economical to manufacture and sell, but also could actually have lower access times since data is read and written on only two surfaces (either sides of a platter). The first in line will be the 500GB Seagate Barracuda (model: ST3500410AS) under the new 7200.12 series which is yet to be announced. As the name suggests the drive will have spindle speeds of 7,200 rpm. The drive will have a 16 MB cache and will use the standard SATA II interface. These drives will be available in the first week of January, priced under 50€.
Source: TechConnect Magazine
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The Foundry Company to Make GPUs, To Accept Designs from Other Manufacturers Soon
At the AMD Analyst Day event, AMD indicated in its presentations that The Foundry Company, a manufacturing company formed from the assets of AMD with the intestments of ATIC under the AssetSmart program, would in the future become an independent foundry company accepting foundry partnerships from companies apart from its one largest customer, AMD. The move would keep the newly formed company profitable and competitive with other Asian foundry companies.
In the same presentation, AMD also indicated that eventually it would assign manufacturing of its ATI Radeon GPUs and chipsets, to The Foundry Company (TFC). Currently GPUs and chipsets are being manufacuted by foundry companies such as TSMC and UMC in Taiwan. This move would send a significant chunk of manufacturing to TFC. Sources tell ATI Forum.de that at FAB38 Dresden, a major manufacturing facility, installations of the 40nm bulk manufacturing node is in full-swing (not to be confused with 45nm SOI, on which K10.5 processors are built). Also there are indications of the facility accepting orders for manufacturing chips on the new node from other fab-less companies, an attempt to bring in profitability right from the start.
Source: ATI Forum
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GeForce GTX 285 Reviewed, Lives-Up to Company Projections
NVIDIA looks to restore the market position it lost to ATI in the past two quarters. Its plans will be spearheaded by the G200b graphics processor, on which are based products that outperform and offer better value than ATI products in its price-bands. The GeForce GTX 280 lost its position as the fastest graphics card to the Radeon HD 4870 X2. While NVIDIA is looking to establish itself as the maker of the fastest grachics card with the dual-G200b based GeForce GTX 295, the Radeon HD 4800 Series faces a two-pronged attack from NVIDIA's products, in which the GeForce GTX 285, will fit in as a sub-$400 product that looks to be "too good for its price to opt for a Radeon HD 4870 X2". The GeForce GTX 285 comes with reference clock-speeds of 648 MHz (core), 1476 MHz (shader) and 2484 MHz (memory).
German website ComputerBase.de put the GeForce GTX 285 (GeForce GTX 280 overclocked to its specs) through a broad range of games and synthetic benchmarks. Its evaluation found the GeForce GTX 285 living-up to NVIDIA's performance projections when pitted against a GeForce GTX 280, that of increments of roughly 10%. The review was conducted at a set resolution of 1680x1050, with different AA/AF modes.
The full review (in German) can be read here (Google Translated to English).
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(PR) RiData Releases 233x/300x CF Cards and SATA HDD Converter Kit
Advanced Media, Inc., is a manufacturer and marketer of the Ridata brand of electronic storage products, and digital accessories. The company is pleased to announce Ridata 233x Lightning Series CompactFlash cards plus a SATA Converter RAID 1. Compatible Ridata CF cards range in capacity from 512MB to 32GB. The adapter allows a CF card to function as a Solid State Drive (SSD). In the case of a hard drive failure, the CF card via the converter appears as an ordinary hard drive to any OS and can be configured as a boot device.
"Many of our portable device customers would like to try an SSD without the bigger price tag. Our industrial customers face the problem of waiting for long hard disk drive (HDD) rebuilds that may cause over heating issues. By using our CF card and SATA converter, users can hot swap the HDD with the card and converter saving storage rebuild time with low temperatures and high transfer speeds," commented Harvey Liu, president of Advanced Media, Inc.
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DFI Releases Two New Core i7 Motherboards
DFI made additions to its Core i7 compatible motherboard lineup today by releasing two new motherboards under the LANParty Dark and LANParty Junior series. While pictures and specifications of the LANParty JR X58-T3H6 surfaced earlier, its introduction makes it a one of its kind mATX motherboard supporting the Core i7 platform. DFI started its Core i7 motherboard series with the enthusiast-grade LANPARTY UT X58-T3eH8. Its newest entry that comes to surface is its LANParty Dark motherboard: the LANParty DK X58-T3eH6.
The LANParty DK X58-T3eH6 uses essentially the same PCB layout as the LANPARTY UT X58-T3eH8, except for a few changes: the CPU power ciruit and the component cooling. While the UT board comes with digital-PWM, the DK board comes with standard choke-based 6-phase CPU power circuit. It uses chipset and VRM coolers identical to those of the LANParty JR board, comprising of a simplistic northbridge cooler that propagates into the VRM cooler, while a heatsink cools the southbridge. It provides three PCI-Express x16 slots (electrically x16, x8, x8 or x16, NC, x16). These two motherboards are expected to reach retailers soon.
Source: TechConnect Magazine
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AOpen Ready with Dual-Core Atom Nettop Platform
Harnessing an adequately powerful processor in the Intel Atom 330 dual-core, AOpen is ready with a nettop system board in the mini-ITX form factor, the AOpen i945GCt-DN. AOpen has taken care of the essentials, making it an entry-level platform.
The i945GCt-DN embeds an Atom 330 processor clocked at 1.60 GHz, with provision for a single DDR2 memory module of the standard 240-pin DIMM size. It takes its power from an external 12V input or from the Molex connector. It lacks an ATX power switching input. Of all the components, the i945GS northbridge is actively cooled with a fan. The Atom 330 makes do with a heatsink, while the ICH7 southbridge is cool enough to run without one. Display output is via a D-Sub connector. A total of 8 USB 2.0 ports are provided (4 on the back-panel + 4 by headers). Also provided are the essential 10/100 Ethernet and 6-channel audio. A single PCI-E x1 slot provides expansion. Pricing is yet to be known.
Source: TechConnect Magazine
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VIA Preparing Dual-Core Nano 3000 Processor for H2 2009
VIA, the third active player in the x86 processor market, is known for its low-power processors catering to the ULPC segment of the market. Sources tell HKEPC that the firm is now readying a dual-core variant of its Intel Atom competitor, the Nano 3000. The Nano 3000 series, slated for launches throughout 2009 includes a new architecture by VIA, while bearing the same essential Nano-BGA package.
The processor would use a boarder system interface with the 1333 MHz VIA V4 bus (FSB). It will feature x86-64 extension along with the SSE4 instruction sets to make it standards compliant. It will feature 128KB of L1 and 1MB of L2 caches. VIA is also looking to improve the processor's number-crunching capabilities by working on its integer and floating-point operations efficiency. The processor will be built on the Japanese Fujitsu 65nm manufacturing process which has so far been VIA's foundry partner with processors and S3 Graphics products. The company is also considering a switch to the TSMC 40nm or 45nm node later, sources note. The VIA Nano 3000 Dual-Core variant can be expected in the second-half of 2009, while single core variants of the architecture can be expected earlier.
Source: HKEPC
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EVGA Makes its 55nm GeForce GTX 260 Lineup Official, Intros SSC Variant
About a week into its market introduction, EVGA today made its 55nm GeForce GTX 260 graphics cards lineup official. The company also introduced a premium Super-Superclocked (SSC) variant of the said card. While having identical reference clock speeds to those of the 65nm GeForce GTX 260 Core-216 lineup, the new lineup offers higher energy efficiency and improved thermal characteristics.
The SSC variant introduced has clock speeds of 675 MHz (core), 1,458 MHz (shader) and 2,304 MHz (memory). It is backed by the EVGA limited lifetime warranty. EVGA also disclosed the suggested retail prices for the entire lineup (North American region) in its press-release, so you know which prices to buy them at: US $259.99 for the base model (896-P3-1255-AR), $269.99 for the Superclocked model (896-P3-1257-AR) and $289.99 for the SSC model (896-P3-1258-AR).
Source: EVGA
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Muskin Launches its First Hex DDR3 Memory Kit
Mushkin today introduced its first memory kit consisting of six DDR3 modules for use on Core i7 and other compatible platforms. The kit (model: HP3 995659) provides a combined memory capacity of 12GB (6x 2GB), which should suit workstations and other high performance systems based on the Core i7 platform. The modules operate at 1600 MHz (PC3-12800) at voltages between 1.5 and 1.6 volts with DRAM timings of 9-9-9-27. The modules come with the blue-coloured FrostByte heatspreaders. Pricing and availability will be announced soon.
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New Tri-Channel DDR3 Testing Platform - Foxconn Blood RAGE & Noctua U12P
Well guys, you may be wondering what is happening with DDR3 reviews at Techpowerup. Especially with that juicy Core i7 and Tri-Channel memory kits popping up at insane speeds all over the internet. Well: fear not! We will have you covered in the near future. Thanks to the guys at Foxconn and Noctua we now have the basis for some of those reviews you have come to (hopefully) love. The choice of a CPU has not yet been made, but expect to see a reviews based on this rig in the new year! And now time for some pictures of this crazy board:
Source: Techpowerup.com
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Mushkin Releases 996580X2 DDR2 Memory
Mushkin today announced a new DDR2 800 MHz, 2x 2GB dual-channel memory kit, the XP2 series model 996580X2. The product targeted at the mainstream thru value segments. Mushkin adopted a simplistic product design which includes two modules without heatspreaders. The modules operate at voltages between 2 and 2.1V and DRAM timings of 4-4-4-12. The modules use an 8-layer black coloured PCB to reduce electronic noise. Mushkin plans to sell this kit for 46 to 49 Euros including taxes.
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(PR) HP Launches New MediaSmart Home Server for PCs and Macs
HP today launched a home server designed for use with both Windows and Mac computers. Based on the Microsoft Windows Home Server platform, the HP MediaSmart Server ex485/ex487 is a central repository for automatically backing up and accessing digital music, videos, photos and documents from multiple computers on a home network.
The MediaSmart Server automatically organizes files across all PCs, streams media across a home network and the Internet, and publishes photos to popular social networking and photo sharing sites.
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(PR) Acer Enhances Aspire 8930G with the New Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 Processor
Acer America, part of the world’s third largest PC company, today introduced the Aspire 8930G-7665 notebook PC, utilizing the new Intel Core 2 Quad Mobile Processor Q9000. The new quad-core processors allow for extreme mobile performance and speed for gaming on the go. Designed for multimedia and gaming enthusiasts, the Aspire 8930G-7665 combines superior computing power, innovative technology and productivity features, with stylish PC design.
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VIA Platforms Hold 10-15% ULPC Shipments in 2008
A computing segment conceived by low-power CPU vendors such as VIA, that only got materialised with the participation of Intel with the Atom processor, the ULPC expects competition provided by the likes of VIA. According to news reports by a Chinese daily citing sources at VIA, the company's ULPC platforms have accounted for anywhere between 10 and 15 percent of ULPC shipments.
VIA, the third most popular x86 CPU producer specialises in low-power, low-cost CPUs to cater to the ULPC and UMPC segments. Its two main processor brands for this segment include C7 and Nano. With "low-power" being the selling point and Intel for a competitor, the major direction for CPU development would be performance per Watt while maintaining low thermal footprints. During its development in 2008, the VIA platform in general was able to reduce CPU size and power consumptions by up to 33 percent, which is further expected to drop by as much as 41% in 2009.
Source: DigiTimes
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ASRock M3A790GXH AM3 Motherboard Pictured
Following ECS, ASRock will be one of the first ones to be out with an AM3 socket motherboard supporting the upcoming 45nm processors by AMD, as well as support for the newer DDR3 memory technology. The M3A790GXH-128M motherboard has been pictured by the guys at OCWorkbench. It is based on the AMD 790GX + SB750 chipset and features 128 MB of DDR3 Sideport graphics memory for the onboard Radeon HD 3300 IGP.
The most significant feature of this motherboard is support for up to 16 GB of DDR3 1333/1066/800 MHz memory. What's even more interesting according to the specifications OCW listed, is that the motherboard supports a range of AM3, AM2+ as well as AM2 processors that include Sempron and Athlon64, while featuring only DDR3 memory slots. There are three PCI-Express x16 slots ,which depending on the devices installed, arrange in lane configurations of (x16, NC, x4) or (x8, x8, x4). The IGP provides output from DVI, D-Sub and audio-routed HDMI ports. The SB750 southbridge provides six SATA II channels. The board also integrates a high-grade 7.1 HD audio CODEC, the Realtek ALC 889, which comes with a rated SNR of 110 dB. Overall, the motherboard features a simplistic construction. The cooling isn't extravagant, with heatsinks for the chipset. The CPU is powered by a 4+1 phase power circuit whose MOSFETs have no heatsinks. Pricing and availability isn't known at this point in time.
Source: OCWorkbench
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Creative Getting Creative This CES with Zii
Known for decades as a company that specialises in digital entertainment products, Creative is up to something new. The company is working on what it calls "Stemcell Computing". It is reportedly making a processing chip or architecture called Zii. A teaser micro-site of the same has been launched. The Zii processing chip is expected to give Creative the new direction the company has been striving for, with announcements of products incorporating the Stemcell Computing technology being expected at the upcoming CES event. Not much is known about Creative's plans at this point in time. The teaser goes with the tag-line "Everything you know is about to change", so we are expecting something big, or significant at least.
Source: TechConnect Magazine
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(PR) The World's First Hybrid Storage Netbook - MSI U115 Hybrid
MSI today announces U115 Hybrid. The very first notebook computer in the world that is capable of operating both SSD and HDD hard drives simultaneously, combining all the features of SSD and HDD in the U115 Hybrid for your enjoyment.
With MSI Exclusive Hybrid Storage Technology, in the "ECO on" mode, the battery life of U115 Hybrid is super long. This amazing battery life can escalate the mobility and the productiveness of the U115 Hybrid, which can also make your daily lives much more convenient.
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G92-Based GeForce 9 Series Products to be Renamed GeForce GTS 200 Series
The NVIDIA G92 graphics processor has had the reputation of spanning across two generations of GeForce graphics accelerators, which could well become three with talk about NVIDIA executing another re-branding to products based on the GPU. The re-branding will use the B1 revision of the G92 GPU (aka G92b), which is known to have been manufactured on the 55nm fabrication process, along with the 65nm A1 revision.
The new series created will include two SKUs based on the G92, the GeForce GTS 240 and GeForce GTS 250. These are the 112 SP and 128 SP variants of the G92 core, presently branded under 8800/9800 GT and 8800 GTS 512, 9800 GTX/GTX+ respectively. NVIDIA looks to capitalise on the sales improvement the GTX 200 series has seen for the past two or so months now, by giving it a present-generation branding. The re-branding, or rather, releasing products with the new naming scheme is said to be operationalised by February 2009.
Source: Expreview
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RivaTuner Version 2.22 Released, Adds Skins Support
RivaTuner has just been updated to the New Year's build number v2.22. This release has a number of updates and fixes, but most importantly RivaTuner now supports skins.
DOWNLOAD: RivaTuner Version 2.22
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Intel Introduces New Mobile Dual-core and Quad-core Processors
Intel has released a total of five new mobile processors over the holidays, including one quad-core CPU and four dual-core models:
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9000 - 2.0 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 6MB of L2 cache, TDP 45W - $348
- Intel Core 2 Duo T9800 - 2.93 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 6MB of L2 cache, TDP of 35W - $530
- Intel Core 2 Duo T9550 - 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 6MB of L2 cache, TDP of 35W - $348
- Intel Core 2 Duo P9600 - 2.66 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 6MB of L2 cache, TDP of 25W - $316
- Intel Core 2 Duo P8700 - 2.53 GHz, 1066 MHz FSB, 6MB of L2 cache, TDP of 25W - $241
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