IT-Code-News: IT News HeadLines (Overclockers Club) 12/03/2010

Intel Core i7 980X Review

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Lian Li Unveils 'Spider-like' Chassis

Lian Li has unveiled a new chassis at CeBIT 2010 which takes PC aesthetics to a new level. The chassis, named the PC-TI looks like a red four-legged spider, but still manages to pack in a mATX motherboard, hard drive, PSU and optical drive! It also includes an on and off switch. Maybe if you're in the market for a show-stopping PC, this will be the right one for you. But it won't be cheap, the PC-T1 will retail for around US$205 and will be available in red and black variants.

OCZ Releases 'Affordable' Onyx SSD

OCZ has unveiled its new 2.5" Onyx SSD which it dubs as "cost efficient," retailing at under $100. The Onyx SSD is based on the cheaper Multi Level Cell (MLC) technology, offering up to 125MB/s read and 70MB/s write speeds through a SATA interface. The Onyx includes a 64MB on-board cache and a quoted Mean Time Before Failure (MTBF) of 1.5 million hours.

OCZ CEO, Ryan Petersen says that the "New OCZ Onyx SSD delivers the speed and reliability of solid state storage to mainstream consumers at an aggressive price point that makes the technology more accessible to customers who want to take advantage of all the benefits of the SSDs without incurring the high cost normally associated with the solution."

Although the exact price of the SSD is not known, as mentioned before it will be sub-$100. The OCZ Onyx 2.5" SSD will only be available in a 32GB model.

To be honest, I think that all of us will agree $100 is a steep price to pay for a 32GB capacity. Although that being said, any step to try and bring down SSD prices to reality is a good one, in my opinion.

Hardware Roundup: Intel Core i7 980X Edition

Westmere, Gulftown, Nehalem - all the code names can get confusing, but the Intel Core i7 980X processor, codenamed 'Gulftown', is based on the 32nm Nehalem micro-architecture code named 'Westmere'. Whatever. What's under the hood are six execution cores with Hyper-Threading Technology for a total of twelve threads. Along with the increase in cores comes a bump in the L3 Smart Cache to 12MB. All this while still fitting in the LGA 1366 socket. The processor is also one of Intel's Extreme Edition CPUs with a clock speed of 3.33GHz and a price tag of around $999. So is it worth it? Read on to find out.

Intel Core i7 980X @ OCC
Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition "Gulftown" @ HardwareHeaven
Intel Core i7-980X Extreme 6-Core Processor @ HotHardware
Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Processor @ Benchmark Reviews
Intel Core i7-980X @ Neoseeker
Intel Core i7-980X Gulftown Hexa-core Processor @ PC Perspective
Intel Core i7-980X 32nm LGA-1366 Six Core CPU @ TweakTown
Intel's Core i7-980X Extreme Edition - Ready for Sick Scores? @ Techgage
Intel's Core i7-980X Extreme processor @ Tech Report
Intel Core i7 980X Extreme 6 Core Gulftown Desktop CPU @ Motherboards.org (YouTube link)
Intel's new Gulftown Six Core CPU meets LN2 Extreme Cooling @ TweakTown
Intel I7-980X Gulftown Six Core Processor @ Tweaknews
Intel i7 980x (Extreme) @ Bjorn3D
Intel Core i7 980X 6 Core Gulftown CPU @ Motherboards.org

ASUS Unveils Cine5, the World's Most Compact Five-channel Speaker

I'm not going to lie, I have absolutely zero experience with those "sound bars" that claim to simulate 5.1 surround sound from a single long speaker. But obviously there must be a decent market for them if ASUS decided to pour some of their resources into developing the Cine5. That being said, I think that a lot of people who want the 5.1 experience but don't want to go through the hassle of mounting speakers and running wires will be all over this. Besides, half of the people who post screenshots of their workstation always have all five speakers on their desk anyway. The Cine5 would provide a more efficient if it works as claimed, a better surround experience as well.

ASUS ROG Series HD 5870 Matrix Graphics Card Pictures

We've been provided with additional shots of the upcoming ASUS ROG HD5870 Matrix graphics card. The unit is going to be equipped with a 2GB frame buffer. From the shots of the PCB you can tell it departs from the reference design and includes beefed up VRM. It will be powered by dual 8-pin power connectors. Cooling is provided by a five-pipe direct contact heatpipe with active cooling provided by a fairly thick blower-type fan. We;re looking forward to getting our hands on one of these to test and hopefully we'll see some pricing and availability information soon.

Click here to discuss this card in the OCC forums.

Why Sony's Playstation Move is NOT a Wii-mote

Well Sony has finally revealed the official name for it's motion controller: Playstation Move. While it looks suspiciously like a Wiimote, there are several discerning features. One, there are no AA batteries to die. Both controllers utilize built in rechargeable batteries that use the same mini-usb cable that the regular PS3 controllers use. Second, the Move controller does NOT have to be pointed at the TV for it to work. By using the Sony Eyetoy camera as well as built in motion sensors, the Move will continue to work even if the Eyetoy camera is blocked. Another pretty cool feature is the ability for it to recognize movement in in the Z-plane. Since the Move controller has a colored sphere on the end, the Eyetoy camera can tell if you move away (sphere gets smaller) or closer (sphere gets larger) to your TV.

I don't know about you, but I can't stand the Wii-mote, it's jittery-ness and lack of accuracy really annoy me, it will be interesting to see how this compares. What do you think of the Playstation Move? Let us know in the comments or forums.

SAMSUNG E6 to Come Into the United States Soon

As the Kindle and Nook take over more of the eBook community, with even large companies such as Sony offering up their own reader, it seems like the market is more than welcome for competition. One company to get into the game is SAMSUNG, which will offer up its E6 eBook reader into the United States soon after being shown off highly in Europe, though there is not currently a release date or a price point set. The E6 from SAMSUNG will feature a 600 x 800 resolution, coupled with eight shades of gray being able to be displayed. The device also features 2GB of internal storage, Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and TTS technology, all built into the reader. It will be able to read the most common electronic document formats, and should overall be a good contender with the other options that are available, depending on the price upon release.

New Dell Tablet Heavy on Amazon Features

The new Android based tablet from Dell, the Mini 5, has had some of its features leaked from an internal document. The device will feature a 5 inch touchscreen and a 5 megapixel camera. According the leaked information, the Mini 5 will also be available in a broad array of color options. Also revealed was a potential partnership with Amazon, perhaps setting the stage for the Mini 5 to go head to head with the iPad. The tablet will feature integration with the Kindle, MP3, and Video services from Amazon. The tablet and e-Reader market is certainly beginning to heat up, and with so many options, the consumer is sure to win.

Microsoft Gains in Search, Google Still Winning

New search data puts Microsoft at an 11.5% share, up 3% since the launch of Bing. Much of this comes from Yahoo, which is down nearly 3% since the launch of Bing. Google has seen little movement, gaining 0.5%. Microsoft has been trying to catch Google in the search market for a long time, and should continue to see gains as it will be receiving much of the searches from Yahoo due to an agreement between the two companies. It would probably be a good thing for Google if Microsoft continued to gain, as it may help to get anti-trust regulators off its back.

Throw Away That Copper Heatsink... Use Plastic

Well not yet, and not just any plastic. A few smart people at M.I.T (imagine that!?) have figured out, "By slowly drawing a polyethylene fiber out of a solution, using the finely controllable cantilever of an atomic force microscope, which they also used to measure the properties of the resulting fiber." Perhaps the coolest part about this is that the polymer is only conductive in one direction and is about 300 times more conductive than regular polyethylene along the direction of the fibers. Currently, they've only produced the polymer in a lab setting but they hope to scale the operation up down the road.

This is pretty cool stuff. It will also be great to not have to hang a big heavy chunk of metal off our motherboards. I personally can't wait until the day the OCC CPU Cooling section has some metal vs plastic heatsink comparisons. What do you think about this? Let us know in the comments or forums.

PC Game software totaled ~$13.1 Billion in 2009

Well here is a bit of good news. According to the PC Gaming Alliance, PC Game sales for 2009 was $13.1 Billion, up 3% from 2008's roughly $11 Billion in sales. While the sale of retail box games accounts for less than 20%, this does not mean people aren't buying games. The PCGA has said that in surveys done in North America and Europe, 70% of respondents have purchased a full game online.

This is great news for the industry and gamers alike. I don't know about you but I keep hearing more and more how the PC gaming industry is dying and the manufacturers are using poor sales as the reason for pushing ridiculous DRM down our throats (even though critics of the system got the last laugh). Hopefully with figures like these manufacturers realize that if you produce a great game, people will buy it. Making it locked down tighter than Fort Knox with your "unbeatable" DRM is just going to piss off the gamers that actually paid for the game, and then just make you look stupid when the pirates crack your DRM within hours of it's release. Drop by our forums and let us know your thoughts.

Friday, March 12, 2010

IT News HeadLines (Overclockers Club) 12/03/2010

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