XFX Radeon HD 6790 comes with dual-slot cooler :: Posted by THRASHER2
Unsurprisingly, XFX is supporting AMD's newest Barts-powered card, the Radeon HD 6970, and is releasing its own version featuring an overclocking-ready design with two 6-pin PCIe power connectors (the PowereColor HD 6790 has just one 6-pin plug) and a custom cooler.
Seen below, XFX's Radeon HD 6790 has a dual-slot cooler rocking three direct touch copper heatpipes and two fans, and packs 800 Stream Processors, a 256-bit memory interface, 1GB of GDDR5 memory, CrossFireX support, and dual-DVI, HDMI and dual mini DisplayPort outputs. The card's clocks are unconfirmed but they could just mimic the reference ones (840 MHz for the GPU, 4200 MHz for the memory).
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PowerColor Radeon HD 6790 listed and up for grabs :: Posted by THRASHER2
The reported Radeon HD 5790 launch day is April 5th so it seems AMD's new Barts-powered card has slipped out early as you can already purchase it from Newegg. The model available bears the PowerColor brand, has a custom cooler but resorts to stock frequencies.
The gun-jumping PowerColor Radeon HD 6790 utilizes a dual-slot cooler with a central fan and some three copper heatpipes, and features 800 Stream Processors, 40 Texture Units, a core clock of 840 MHz, a 256-bit memory interface, 1GB of GDDR5 VRAM set to 4200 MHz, a single 6-pin PCIe power connector, and 'just' three display outputs - DVI, HDMI and mini DisplayPort.
As predicted as week, the HD 6790 can be had for $150 ($149.99 to be exact).
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Cooler Master rolls out the HAF 932 Advanced full-tower :: Posted by THRASHER2
Cooler Master has today introduced an updated (Advanced) version of its HAF 932 full-tower case which includes two main changes, it has a a 'rugged' black coated interior (as opposed to the plain grey of the original HAF 932) and includes USB 3.0 connectivity.
The HAF 932 Advanced has the same front I/O panel as the original case - USB 2.0 x 4, IEEE 1394a x 1, eSATA x 1, Mic x 1, Audio x 1 ports, so the two USB 3.0 connectors available come on a front panel that will take up one of the six 5.25-inch bays.
Seen below, Cooler Master's case measures 243 (W) x 560 (H) x 564 (D) mm, weights 13.4kg and features removable HDD racks equipped with anti-vibration pads, a tool-free design for the easy installation/removal of optical drives, two pre-drilled holes for watercooling tubes, and four fans, a 230mm spinner with red LEDs in front, LED-less 230mm fans on top and on the side panels, and a 140mm exhaust fan at the rear.
The HAF 932 Advanced is now available , priced at $159.98.
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G.Skill intros the 115GB Phoenix EVO SSD with 2xnm NAND :: Posted by THRASHER2
G.Skill has started to adopt 2xnm (likely 25nm) NAND Flash memory too and its first product to feature such chips is the Phoenix EVO, a 2.5-inch solid state drive with 115GB worth of storage space that's powered by the SandForce SF-1222 controller.
G.Skill's new Phoenix has a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, a MTBF (mean time before failure) of 1 million hours, is capable of read and write speeds of up to 280 MB/s and 270 MB/s, respectively, and is backed by a three-year warranty. Availability is expected very soon.
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Chieftec to roll out the Nitro 88+ series 80Plus :: Posted by THRASHER2
Chieftec is starting to realize its power supply potential with its newest creation being a line of (fully) modular units which feature 80Plus Silver certification for their efficiency, and have a single 12V rail design.
Aimed for use in gaming systems, the Nitro 88+ PSUs comply with the ATX 12V 2.3 standard, have active PFC (power factor correction), a MTBF of 100,000 hours, and are equipped with a 140mm PWM fan.
The Nitro 88+ line includes 650W, 750W, 850W and 1000W units which are now available for pre-order at آ€112.05, آ€120.61, آ€158.87 and آ€198.97, respectively.
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Enermax releases 3.5-inch Jazzmate drive enclosures :: Posted by THRASHER2
Enermax has now released a couple more Jazzmate series hard drive enclosures, two models which support 3.5-inch SATA drives. The first Jazzmate enclosures were introduced in November 2010 and could 'handle' 2.5-inch HDDs/SSDs/HHDs.
The 3.5-inch Jazzmate cases measure 200 (D) x 123 (W) x 38 (H) mm, have a double-sided steel mesh, a black paintjob, a zero screw design, and are bundled with an acrylic stand.
The Jazzmate 3.5" with USB 2.0 connectivity costs آ€24.90, while the version with USB 2.0 and eSATA ports is priced at آ€29.90.
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Roccat readies Kulo 7.1 gaming headset for May release :: Posted by THRASHER2
As promised back in February, the Hamburg-based Roccat team is now preparing an updated version of the Kulo gaming headset is bundled with an external 7.1 USB audio card allowing for an 'impressive' virtual 7.1 surround sound which gives an edge over players rocking in stereo.
Spec wise, the Kulo didn't change so it still weights 178 grams and features 40mm drivers with neodymium magnets and Mylar membranes, on-ear padding for passive noise cancellation and a padded (metal-reinforced) headband, an in-line remote control, a foldable, bi-directional, noise-filtering microphone backed by an automatic mute function, a frequency range of 20 ~ 20,000 Hz, a maximum output of 80mW and an impedance of 50 Ohms.
The Kulo - Virtual 7.1 USB package will be released in May, priced at آ€79.99.
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Nvidia to allow SLI on AMD 990FX & 990X motherboards :: Posted by THRASHER2
It's a well-known fact that Nvidia is out of the chipset business, it hasn't done anything new for some time and it's not planning to. This (forced) business decision means that it can't directly push its multi-GPU technology (SLI) but thankfully for enthusiasts, it agreed to a loophole.
Licensing SLI has worked out pretty well on Intel-based motherboards for about two chipset generations now so Nvidia is taking it a bit further by offering this solution for a few AMD-powered boards too.
For starters, SLI for AMD will be available on products based on the upcoming 990FX and 990X chipsets which support AM3+ processors (like the Bulldozed-based Zambezi). A fee will obviously be paid by motherboards manufacturers, but only by those who also make SLI-enabled Intel boards, AMD-exclusive partners need not apply.
On 990FX boards Nvidia will allow for 3-way and 2-way SLI setups, while on the 990X only 2-way will be available. SLI and SLI-less 9 Series AM3+ motherboards are expected to make their debut in the second part of Q2.
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Samsung Galaxy S Plus revealed, has 1.4 GHz processor :: Posted by THRASHER2
Samsung Electronics has already announced a successor for the Galaxy S (the S II) but it is also preparing the launch of an updated version of its popular smartphone. The refreshed model is known as Galaxy S Plus (i9001) and it runs Android 2.3 enhanced with the TouchWiz 3.0 UI.
Set to become available in Russia at the end of April (as the Galaxy S 2011 Edition), the Galaxy S Plus is powered by a 1.4 GHz processor like the incoming Galaxy S II mini, has a metal back cover, a 4-inch Super AMOLED touchscreen, 8GB of internal storage, and a 1,650 mAh battery. In contrast, the 'initial' Galaxy S features a 1 GHz chip, a plastic cover, the same display and a 1,500 mAh battery.
The Galaxy S Plus will cost about $846 unlocked. Do note that this is the price tag for the Russian market.
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New 360 format to add 1GB of storage :: Posted by THRASHER2
Sources claim structure of disc to change
We told you about the new disc format that is apparently going to be tested as part of the upcoming Dashboard update for the Xbox 360. A number of our sources and rumors from other sites on the Internet seem to confirm that the new format will yield 1GB of additional space on the typical Xbox 360 game disc.
How Microsoft will be getting this extra space has to do with the company changing the way that the actual disc is structured, which will increase the amount of game data available by about 1GB. Most of this gain will come from doing away with the DVD-Video partition on the disc. Besides being used for DVD-Video, this partition was also used for anti-piracy protection, which means that besides the additional space, it is also likely to feature a re-worked or new anti-piracy scheme.
Some sources are indicating that the video partition was located near the center of the disc which, of course, has slower access times. This means that developers who take advantage of the additional space of the new format will also have to adjust for longer load times for data located closer to the center of the disc. These access times should still be within acceptable limits, however, and the developers who need the extra space will not be worried about the slightly longer access times.
It seems to us that this could be what Microsoft is actually planning; if so, it should be helpful to some developers who need the extra space, but we donآ’t expect anything very revolutionary to come out of the additional disc space if it is only 1GB in total.
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Corsair rolls out new Vengeance memory kits :: Posted by THRASHER2
DDR3 2000MHz at 10-10-10-27
Corsair has announced the availabilty of three new memory kits that will be a part of its Vengeance DDR3 lineup. The 2000MHz DDR3 4GB, 6GB and 12GB kits that will join the already available DDR3 1600 and 1800MHz Vengeance kits.
All three new kits will be cooled by Corsair's aluminum Jet Black Vengeance heatspreaders and, as noted, will be available as a 4, 6 and 12GB memory kit. All three kits are rated to work at 2000MHz with 10-10-10-27 latencies at 1.5V. According to Thi La, Vice President of Memory Products at Corsair, the new kits are the perfect choice for PC gamers and enthusiasts, as well as system integrators that are familiar with the overclockability of Vengeance series.
The new DDR3 2000MHz Vengeance kits are still not available but can be found on pre-order for آ€54,54 for the 4GB one and آ€104,37 for the 6GB one.
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Asus' EP121 and Transformer tablets to reach UK next week :: Posted by THRASHER2
آ£429 for 16GB Transformer with keyboard/battery dock
Asus' pride and joy Eee Slate EP121 and Eee Pad Transformer tablets are scheduled to hit the UK, and most probably other European countries, over the next two weeks. The business oriented, Intel/Windows 7 based, Eee Slate EP121 should start shipping as of April 10th while the quite unique, Tegra 2/Android 3.0 based, Eee Pad Transformer is scheduled for April 6th.
We already wrote about these two tablets during CeBIT and in case you missed it, the Eee Slate is based on Intel's Core i5-470UM 1.33GHz CPU paired up with 4GB of memory, a 64GB SSD, a 12.1-inch 1280x800 capacitive touch screen with Gorilla Glass and Windows 7 Home Premium OS. The rest of the features include a 802.11bgn WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, 2M web cam, card reader, USB 2.0 port and HDMI output. Asus will bundle the EP121 with digitizer pen and Bluetooth keyboard. The price for the UK is set at آ£999 which might sound like a lot for a tablet, but then again, it is not your average tablet either.
The cheaper, and probably more interesting one for the average consumer, Eee Pad Transformer is scheduled to appear on 6th of April. And once again, in case you missed it, this 10.1-inch tablet packs Tegra 2 chip paired up with Android 3.0 Honeycomb OS. It comes with a 10.1-inch IPS 1280x800 screen with Gorilla Glass, a 5M back and 1.2M front cam, 802.11bgn WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1, miniHDMI output, and will be available in 16 and 32GB versions. The key feature of the Eee Pad Transformer is its keyboard dock that actually has a built-in battery that could extend the battery life to up to 16 hours.
The Eee Pad Transformer will be bundled with "unlimited" Asus WebStorage and should cost آ£379 for the 16GB version and آ£429 for the 32GB one. The 16GB version with the keyboard dock is also priced at آ£429 which means that the 32GB should be priced somewhere around آ£479.
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AMD's John Byrne is now EVP of America :: Posted by THRASHER2
AMD of course
AMD America got some new leadership at least when it comes to its sales machine. As of today, John Byrne is promoted to an Executive Vice President, Americas Region and let me remind you that America is AMDآ’s largest market. America makes AMD some 45percent of its revenue.
John started selling graphics cards in the UK for AMD, as a managing director of Advance 3D an exclusive ATI partner for UK and Nordics. His company got acquired by AMD and he got promoted to Executive Vice President of WW Channel and SMB Sales and he served this position unit today. He worked his way up quite quicky.
As of today, he starts as an executive Vice preside of America region as his boss Emillio Ghilardi, a senior vice president and chief sales officer at AMD, obviously looks for more aggressive team to fight Intel and ARM treat.
John is a highest positioned Scottish man at AMD and we wish him a braveheart and all the best. He is good friends with another high ranked Scottish man, Mike Magee, we were told.
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MSI launches its Wind Top AE2050 in Europe :: Posted by THRASHER2
Brazos based all-in-one
MSI has now officialy launched its Wind Top AE2050 all-in-one based on AMD's Brazos platform. Altough it has already been available in the USA, the new Wind Top has now started to sell in Europe as well.
The MSI Wind Top AE2050 features a 20-inch 1600x900 multi-touch screen coupled with AMD's E-350 APU with HD 6310 graphics, 2GB of DDR3 memory and 500GB of HDD space. Other noted specs include a DVD Super Multi optical device, 802.11bgn WiFi, Gigabit Ethernet, card reader, 0.3M webcam, two USB 3.0 ports and four USB 2.0 ones, HDMI output and integrated stereo speakers. It will be bundled with USB keyboard and mouse and will run on Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.
We are quite sure that MSI will roll out more SKUs down the road but the current one will be available in Europe with a price tag set at آ€599.
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Facebook will be worth $234 billion in four years :: Posted by THRASHER2
No, seriously
Beancounters over at Wedbush Securities estimate that Facebook will have a market value of about $234 billion by 2015. The social networking giant is currently valued at $85 billion.
Analyst Lou Kerner announced the estimate last week and he expects to company to post about $11 billion in profits with a 50 percent margin. In his previous prediction a year ago, Kerner said that Facebook would be worth $100 billion by 2015.
For comparison, Microsoft is currently valued at $213 billion and we are talking about a company that actually makes things, whereas Facebookآ’s sole purpose is to waste peopleآ’s time in the workplace.
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THQ tightens the belt :: Posted by THRASHER2
Layoffs hit Kaos and Volition
News has reached us that THQ has moved to tighten its belt by letting 33 employees go. Their spin is that 16 positions at Volition and 17 positions at Kaos were redundancies, and the decision was made to better align the studios with the current needs for the current projects at both studios.
This decision will not affect the release of any titles in development or the support of any titles that have been released. Volition will continue working on the new Saints Row while the team at Kaos will continue to support Homefront, prepare the upcoming DLC for release, and start working on pre-production for a future title which is expected to be a sequel to the recently released Homefront.
THQ says that the employees that are affected will be receiving outplacement assistance and will be treated with the appropriate concern. It is unknown in the case of Kaos if this decision is a warm up for the potential closure of the studio, as has been rumored for some months.
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Crytek to deal with Crysis 2 cheats :: Posted by THRASHER2
Will remove exploits and use the ban hammer
Crytek knows that people are cheating in Crysis 2 and they are not at all happy about it. The developer is working on a number of fronts to deal with the problem. The developer is working hard to get rid of exploits and to issue patches to close them out for good.
The developer is also warning that they are going to be swinging the آ“ban hammerآ” and they are going to land with both feet on those that are cheating, according to a recent blog post. The developer plans to penalize individuals that continue to choose to use exploits and they want to keep the integrity of the game intact and cheat free. The will be coming down hard and without any additional warnings.
Recently Crytek released a patch that killed the auto-aim feature and added a new anti-cheat system for PC players. The company is planning a series of updates for all platforms to address potential cheating and exploit issues. Crytek does not appear to be playing around, and they seem very serious about dealing with these issues. Cheaters beware!
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Android to seize 45% of smartphone market :: Posted by THRASHER2
By 2016
Analysts believe Googleآ’s Android OS will find its way to about 45 percent of all smartphones within the next five years.
Android has seen strong growth since its introduction in late 2008 and the trend is expected to continue. In addition, the global smartphone market is destined to grow at a rate of 19 percent a year, as more and more users shift to feature pack handsets rather than plain phones.
ABI Research believes Android, Bada and Blackberry stand to gain a great deal from the demise of Nokiaآ’s Symbian OS over the next two years. However, Appleآ’s iOS is also expected to gain some share and end up at 19 percent in 2016. Apple probably wonآ’t gain as much from Symbianآ’s disappearance, as itآ’s focused on the high-end market. Samsungآ’s Bada on the other hand aims at the low-end and mid-range, a market space previously dominated by Symbian.
As for Windows Phone 7, the outlook seems rather bleak. Even with Nokia on board, Redmondآ’s latest mobile OS is expected to capture just 7 percent of the market by 2016.
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Samsung starts mass production of transparent LCD panels :: Posted by THRASHER2
Users can look straight through them
Samsung Electronics has announced that it began mass production of 22-inch transparent LCD panels.
The panels have a contrast ratio of 500:1 with WSXGA+ (1680x1050) resolution. Instead of LCD units that use backlight units (BLUs) and have five per cent transparency, Samsung said its transparent LCD panel boasts a transparency rate of over 20 per cent for the black-and-white type and over 15 per cent for the colour type.
With the high transparency rates, the models enable users to look right through them like glass, Samsung said. The transparent LCD panel consumes 90 percent less electricity because it uses ambient light such as sunlight, which consequently reduces the dependency on electricity for generating power.
Younghwan Park, senior VP of Samsung Electronics LCD Business said that transparent displays will have a wide range of use in all industry areas as an efficient tool for delivering information and communication. (Hm, I want one in my car. sub.ed.)
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Nvidia in trouble with investors :: Posted by THRASHER2
Share prices falling
It seems that investor confidence in Nvidia is sliding as the money people don't think the outfit is doing enough for the smartphone and tablet markets.
Analysts have been warning about the viability of Nvidia-based tablets against Apple iPad, and there are fears about overall weakness in the PC market. This week Nvidia shares fell 3.8 percent. But some analysts do not agree with those who want to write Nvidia off.
Analyst Hans Mosesmann with Raymond James said this week's fall was driven by speculation that Motorola's Droid Bionic smartphone, which uses an Nvidia chip, might be delayed. But they said that concerns about Nvidia's smartphone-chip business are overblown. The think that the outfit is doing jolly well in contracts for smartphones using its Tegra chip and doubts the Motorola's Bionic will be delayed.
Mosesmann said he could not see why people were ranking Apple gear over Nvidia chips which were technologically better and used more advanced manufacturing technologies than Jobs' Mob.
While Apple's success with the iPhone and iPad isn't solely determined by its processor technology, the long-term viability of those chips is likely threatened without a "significant redesign" or the use of an outside vendor such as Nvidia, he said. He said Apple's technology is "way behind."
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Leaked Forza 4 footage is legit :: Posted by THRASHER2
Might not accurately reflect feature set
An extended trailer for the upcoming Forza 4 from Microsoft has been leaked. Microsoft has confirmed that the footage is authentic, but was never intended for public distribution and may not accurately reflect the final features and functionality that will ship in Forza Motosport 4. Microsoft has since been able to get the video pulled.
What Forza fans are already worried about is the large amount of attention in the video paid to Kinect and the Kinect features that said to be a part of the game. Many of the hardcore Forza fans in the community are already skeptical of the Kinect support and how that will change the game, and not necessarily for the better.
Developer Turn 10 Studios and Microsoft have so far had little official to say beyond the standard, آ“We will have more to share on Forza 4 in the near future.آ” It will be a difficult balancing act for Turn 10 to satisfy the fans of the franchise and retain what has made the franchise great, without going too far in the direction that doesnآ’t appeal to the core fan base.
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Oak Trail tablets coming in May :: Posted by THRASHER2
Just in time for Computex
Back at Cebit we were told that Intel was rushing to introduce Oak Trail products by the end of the second quarter.
It appears chipzilla will meet its deadline and Oak Trail based tablets are expected to ship in May, while availability should coincide with Computex, which starts May 31. In a chat with PC Advisor, an Intel spokesperson confirmed that the first products should be available in May, but there is still no information on the number of design wins or exact launch schedules. In any case, quite a few major players, including the likes of Samsung, Lenovo and Fujitsu are expected to introduce Oak Trail tablets with Windows 7.
Although the tablet market is currently dominated by ARM-based chips, x86 parts will also have take a swing at this emerging market. In addition to Intelآ’s Oak Trail, AMD is also offering the C-50, a Fusion dual-core part with on-die graphics, which will make its debut in the Acer Iconia W500 shortly. Although most users will probably opt for cheaper ARM-based designs, x86 tablets could fill a unique niche in the market, especially among business users who need an x86 platform and are willing to pay a premium for compatibility.
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