Techconnect Review Round-up 12/6/09
CPU & Motherboard
- ASUS M4A79 Deluxe Motherboard @ motherboards.org
- Asus Rampage II GENE (Intel X58) @ t-break
Storage
- Seagate BlackArmor NAS 440 @ HardwareLogic
- Silicon Power 64GB eSATA / USB Portable SSD @ TweakTown
- OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD @ TrustedReviews
- ICY DOCK MB881US-1S-1 @ Bjorn3d
- NewerTech Voyager Q @ TechRadar
Graphics cards
- GeForce GTX 295 single PCB @ Guru3D
- GIGABYTE GV-R489-1GH-B Radeon HD 4890 Video Card @ Futurelooks
- ASUS EN9400GT GeForce 9400GT HDMI Video Card @ Benchmark Reviews
- Roundup: New Graphics Cards from $100 to $260 @ X-bit labs
- Sapphire HD 4890 Toxic / Vapor-X @ techPowerUp
- Sapphire Vapor-X Radeon HD4890 1GB Graphics Card @ Big Bruin
Enclosures & PSUs
- Corsair HX850 PSU @ Hexus
- Antec P183 Case @ Hardware Secrets
- NZXT GUARDIAN 921 Crafted Series PC Case @ Test Freaks
Displays
- 7" Axion AXN-8701 Portable Handheld Widescreen LCD Digital TV @ Test Freaks
Cooling and modding
- Zalman CNPS9900 LED Flower Cooler @ Tech-Reviews
- Coolermaster Hyper TX3 Heatsink @ FrostyTech
- CoolerMaster Hyper 212 Plus CPU cooler @ Overclockers Club
- Thermaltake Xaser S1000 Notebook Cooler @ ThinkComputers
- Battle of the elements: air vs. water CPU cooler showdown @ The Tech Report
- Enermax Aeolus Laptop Cooler @ Pro-Clockers
Peripherals
- OCZ Alchemy Series Illuminati Keyboard @ InsideHW
Sound
- Moon i5 amplifier @ TechRadar
Other
- Hiyatek HB-8700 Vertical 7 Port USB 2.0 Hub @ Tweaknews
- Samsung SCX-4824FN - Mono Laser MFP Printer and Sony Ericsson W995 @ TrustedReviews
- Samsung i8910 HD and Solwise Piggy6 @ TechRadar
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Rambus closer to ending EU Commission investigation
This week is ending better than it started for XDR designer Rambus as it has just reached a tentative settlement with the European Commission that will most likely see to the ending of the investigation started by the EC almost two years ago. To recap, back in August 2007, after getting several complains from DRAM manufacturers, the Commission started looking into potential violations of EU competition laws on Rambus' part. Now, in accordance with antitrust procedures, the EC has proposed a resolution through which it won't fine or press any charges against Rambus, which is obliged to license its memory technologies to manufacturers.
If everything smooth then Rambus will offer five-year worldwide licenses with royalty rates of 1.5% for DDR2, DDR3, GDDR3 and GDDR4 SDRAM memory. Moreover, the company will provide licenses with a royalty of 1.5% per unit for SDR memory controllers through April 2010, dropping to 1.0% thereafter, and royalty rates of 2.65% per unit for DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR3 and GDDR4 memory controllers through April 2010, then dropping to 2.0%.
"With this proposed resolution, we create a new platform where all parties can move forward by licensing our patented innovations for future use in their products rather than engaging in costly litigation," said Thomas Lavelle, senior vice president and general counsel at Rambus. Here's to burying the hatchet.
For more info on Rambus and its patented knowhow check out its website.
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Thermaltake unveils the EVO_Blue PSU family
Thermaltake has now announced the EVO_Blue line-up of eye-catching modular power supplies. Coming in 500W (peaking at 550W), 600W (650W) and 700W (750W) versions, the new units feature an 'X' theme case, and 140mm multi-color (blue, red, green) LED fan for an increased bling factor, are ATX 12V 2.3 and EPS 12V 2.91 compliant, have a single 12V rail, and unfortunately provide an efficiency of just 75% (at full load), well under the 80% which has almost become a (minimum) standard.
According to its maker, the EVO_Blue PSUs have a MTBF (mean time before failure) of over 100,000 hours, over power, over voltage, and short-circuit protection, SLI and CrossFireX support, and will be offered with a five-year warranty. No word on pricing or shipping just yet.
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Gelid releases the GC-Extreme thermal compound
Less than a month after throwing the GC-2 in the mix, Gelid Solutions has now introduced the GC-Extreme thermal compound. The new 'user-friendly' release is a high-grade non-electrical conductive and non-corrosive offer that comes in a 3.5g syringe and is bundled with a plastic applicator.
The GC-Extreme is now shipping and has a recommended price tag of $9.99 / 6.99 Euro.
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Lite-On intros the iHOS104 Blu-Ray drive
Lite-On has this week started shipping the iHOS104, an afforable BD-ROM internal drive. The new release features a SATA interface and 2MB of buffer memory, is bundled with CyberLink's TrueTheater HD software, and provides read speeds of 4x for BD-ROM, BD-R, and BD-RE, 8x for DVD-ROM and 32x for CD-ROM.
"Slowly but surely the Blu-ray Disc format is growing in popularity. By reducing the end-user price of a Blu-ray Disc playback device for PCs, Lite-On facilitates consumers who want to upgrade their system to enjoy High Definition content playback on their PC from a Blu-ray Disc, without making a high investment," says Jelmer Veldman, Marketing Manager for Lite-On in Europe. "Furthermore, the BD-ROM drive has a high value Cyberlink software package included, which will change the way people watch video content from a PC."
The iHOS104 is now available in the US for $69.99 and will reach Europe next month.
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Opera plans to 'reinvent the web' next week
The maker of probably the most underestimated (underappreciated) desktop browser out there, Opera Software has launched a teaser page - opera.com/freedom/ on which it claims that it will reinvent the web. The page lists June 16 as the day when the official announcement of the new Opera product/service will be made, and has several cloud drawing which suggest something that's got to do with an increasingly hot topic - cloud computing.
According to a likely unwilling leak on Hicksdesign's Twitter page, with Opera 'Freedom(?)' they have "put the internet on a USB stick so that you can always have a connection wherever you are!" so you can start guessing from there. Maybe it's a modem that provides access to a cloud-based browser? Whatever it is though we've got one thing to say (BEd: you mean shout) - Viva la Revolution!
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EIZO unveils the eco-friendly FlexScan EV2333W-H monitor
EIZO has now introduced a new FlexScan model to its monitor line-up, the green HD-ready 23-inch EV2333W-H. Seen below, the display is EPEAT GOLD-rated and has a typical power consumption of 25W, it features a beefy stand that offers quite a lot of adjustment options, and has a 10-bit panel, native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, a 7ms response time, a 3000:1 contrast ratio and a maximum brightness of 300 cd/m2.
The EV2333W-H includes two audio ports, and also D-Sub, DVI and DisplayPort connectors, is offered with a five-year warranty and cost about $560 / $397.
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Google kills off critical bug with Chrome 3.0.187.1
It was just the other day when Google delivered Chrome 3.0.187.0 through the dev channel, and already a buggy issue was found and required a new update. According to its makers, Chrome 3.0.187.1 comes to fix a critical bug in the Windows version that crashed the browser when using the wrench or page menus, and nothing more.
To download Chrome 3.0.187.1 simply click on this link.
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Yahoo hires a new CFO
It took a few months but Yahoo has now found a chief financial officer to CEO Carol Bartz's liking, Tim Morse. Set to take the CFO seat from Blake Jorgensen on July 1st, Morse previously held the same position at Altera Corporation and is joining Yahoo to handle the company's finance, investor relations, and mergers and acquisitions groups.
"Tim has a proven ability to translate strategy into structure, process, and execution, and I am delighted that he will be joining my leadership team to help drive Yahoo!'s growth," said Bartz. "With his passion for operational finance, global experience, and expertise simplifying complex organizations and managing growth, Tim is a natural fit for Yahoo!."
Morse is going to have his work cut out as Yahoo has been reporting declining revenue and profits for quite some time now and although it continued to show an interest in a search/ad deal with Microsoft, no papers are signed as of this time.
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Chinese site-blocking software said to pose major security risk
Already criticized for the censorship opportunities it possesses, the Green Dam-Youth Escort software, which is to be installed on all PCs sold in China, has been found to have major security flaws. Developed by Jinhui Computer System Engineering, the soft's official story is that it will help block access to porn sites and other web zones that would be harmful to China's youth but it may turn out to be hax0r heaven.
According to reports, the site-blocking application could be exploited by malicious individuals to steal personal information and even take control of PCs that have it installed. Even though online security is a major concern these days, Jinhui Computer System Engineering has yet to respond to the claims and the roll out of the software continues. No suprise there.
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