NVIDIA gives gaming notebooks a good kick in the pants with GTX580M
If you're in the market for an outrageously fast notebook for gaming and the current top dog choices of mobile GPUs from both the green and red teams weren't impressive enough to meet your expectations, hold onto your seats folks, for notebooks equipped with a new GPU weapon are on the immediate horizon thanks to the launch of NVIDIA's new mobile GPU today; the GTX 580M.
Specs wise, the GPU runs at a clock speed of 1240MHz and a memory clock of up to 1500MHz. It houses 384 CUDA cores and up to 2GB of 256-bit 96GB/s GDDR5 memory.
Furthermore, the new GPU sports several improvements in efficiency over the previous generation offerings, giving more performance per watt while maintaining optimal battery longetivity.
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ASRock and Fatal1ty first to the PCI-E 3.0 party with Fatal1ty Z68 Professional
While PCI-E 2.0 has been more than kind enough to us since its inception in early 2007 with its gobs of available bandwidth on tap, looking over 4 years beyond and now PCI-E 3.0 is becoming the talk of the town.
While it's been said that current gen high-end video cards can be used to their maximum potential on existing PCI-E 2.0/.1 equipped boards, PCI-E 3.0 gives far more headroom for future super bandwidth hungry graphics cards inevitably to come, boasting a bit rate that effectively "doubles" PCI-E 2.0 at 8GT/s.
On that note, it's been rumoured that the benefits of PCI-E 3.0 could be utilized for some folks straight off the bat, providing you are lucky enough to have one of those super duper PCI-E based SSD solutions, such as one of these monsters from OCZ.
WIth that said and done, make way for the world's first PCI-E 3.0 equipped enthusiast motherboard, from none other than ASRock along with Fatal1ty's influential touches.
These expansion slots are of course ready for up to Quad SLI or 3-Way CrossfireX and will be awaiting future bandwidth hungry VGA PCI-E 3.0 graphics cards along with the use of Intel's upcoming PCI-E 3.0 supprting Ivy Bridge processors to kick things up a good few notches.
ASRock has also integrated the PLX PEX8608 chip on this board which is said to allow all PCI-E devices to work at their proper speeds simultaneously.
Of course, in typical ASRock fashion they've made sure not to cut corners elsewhere on this top end Z68 chipset board either, providing all of their exclusive enthusist features along with some additional touches from Fatal1ty such as the Fatal1ty Mouse Port that gives a wider adjustable polling rate range from 125 Hz to 1000 Hz.
The board is said to be shipping at this time and should reach your favourite re/etailer within the next week or so. For further details on the board, you can read the official announcement from ASRock here.
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Acer AC700 Chromebook hitting US shelves this month for $350
Acer are stepping up to the plate with a release of their very own Chromebook in the form of the Acer AC700, it goes on sale later this month for $349.99 which will be followed by a 3G-equipped version later this summer. The Chrome OS-based notebook is powered by an Intel Atom N570 processor, includes 2GB of RAM, 16GB of flash storage, a 1.3-megapixel webcam, two USB 2.0 ports and a 4-in-1 memory card reader.
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NVIDIA tease new laptop GPU, yes, it runs Crysis 2, quite well actually
NVIDIA have another leak and this one is quite good, they've been showing an unnamed GPU running in SLI, powering Crysis 2. The clip below shows the DirectX 11 version of Crysis 2 running at 1080p with tessellation enabled via the high-resolution texture pack. It runs very smooth considering the game is not only maxed out, but running in DX11 and including high-res textures! Impressive NVIDIA!
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Download of the Day: CCleaner 3.08.1475
Our Download of the Day today is CCleaner 3.08.1475.
CCleaner is a freeware system optimization, privacy and cleaning tool. It removes unused files from your system - allowing Windows to run faster and freeing up valuable hard disk space. It also cleans traces of your online activities such as your Internet history. Additionally it contains a fully featured registry cleaner. But the best part is that it's fast (normally taking less than a second to run) and contains NO Spyware or Adware! :)
Cleans the following:
- Internet Explorer
- Firefox
- Google Chrome
- Opera
- Safari
- Windows - Recycle Bin, Recent Documents, Temporary files and Log files.
- Registry cleaner
- Third-party applications
- 100% Spyware FREE
Changes in Version 3.08.1475
- Added support for Firefox 5.0.
- Improve Firefox History cleaning.
- Improved cleaning for Windows Error Reporting and Other Explorer MRUs.
- Added cleaning for Ditto, Evernote, I2P, McAfee AntiVirus, MS AntiMalware, PerfectDisk, PowerISO, UltraISO, GIMP, Go!Zilla, MagicISO.
- Improved cleaning for 7-Zip, Daemon Tools, Windows Defender.
- Improved DOMStore cookie domain discovery and cleaning.
- Improved Uninstall tool scanning and uninstalling routines.
- Improved Registry Cleaner detection algorithm.
- Improved Start Up tool detection algorithm.
- Added multiple monitor support.
- Improved shortcut key accelerators.
- Improved search response when using wild cards.
- Added support for root registry keys in the exclude list.
- Added Kazakh language.
- Minor GUI improvements and fixes.
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RumorTT: Windows 8 to reach RTM in April 2012
Microsoft is aiming at an April 2012 date for the RTM release of not only Windows 8 for x86, but for Windows 8 for ARM/SoC and Windows 8 Server all at the same time. Microsoft's plan is to deliver a single Windows 8 beta build around the the time of its upcoming Build conference.
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Apple's A6 processor might come from TMSC? Samsung, U mad bro?
Apple's relationship with Samsung is on rocky territory right now, I really think Samsung should've put a ring on it ages ago. But, history can't be changed. It looks like Apple might be grabbing a contract with TMSC to build their next-generation ARM SoCs, dubbed "A6", sometime in 2012. Rumors of a partnership between Apple and TMSC began early this year before the release of the iPad 2 and its included A5 processor.
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Crysis 2 DirectX 11 Ultra Upgrade is out
As promised Crytek have released the "DX11 Ultra Upgrade" patch for Crysis 2 and also the high-resolution texture pack is now available. The update intros DX11 as well as graphical improvements to not only the DX11 version of the game, but the stock DX9 version. There are three packs available, patch 1.9 enables DX11 support but there will be separate downloads on top of patch 1.9 in the form of "DirectX 11 Ultra Upgrade," DX11 Tessellation Pack," and "High Res Textures."
The DX11 patches will obviously give higher-fidelity visuals, but the patch also includes graphical and performance improvements under DX9. After the patch 1.9 is installed, DX9 users will gain real-time local reflections and contacts shadows. DX11-based gamers will gain hardware tessellation, parallax occlusion mapping along with various shadow, water, particle, depth of field and motion blur enhancements.
Patch 1.9 also includes over twelve gameplay tweaks as well as multiplayer bug fixes.
Is this patch too late? Personally, I think so. The console-centric development of Crysis 2 has really shunned a lot of the high-end gamers away from it and a little DX11 patch (to me) won't bring them back. Maybe if it was built from the ground up on PC, developed around DX11 and had absolutely amazing scaling and efficiency built in, things would be different. But, at least DX11 is available for the game finally.
Crysis 2 Patch 1.9 includes:
- Added Contact Shadows
- Added DX11 benchmark level
- Added DX11 support for Crysis 2 (the following features only work when downloading the optional DX11 package here):
- - Tessellation + Displacement Mapping
- - High Quality HDR Motion Blur
- - Realistic Shadows with Variable Penumbra
- - Sprite Based Bokeh Depth of Field
- - Parallax Occlusion Mapping
- - Particles Motion Blur, Shadows and Art Updates
- - Water Rendering improvements and using Tessellation + Displacement Mapping
- Added Realtime Local Reflections
- Added support for Higher Res Textures Package
- Added various new console variables to whitelist
- Fixed bullet penetration, which had been broken by a bug introduced with the DLC 2 patch
- Fixed issue in MP where player stats weren't always saved at the end of a game
- Fixed issue in MP where player stats would sometimes randomly reset
- Fixed issue with MP time played statistic, which would sometimes be too low on leaderboards and in stats
- Fixed issue with JAW rocket not firing through window's containing broken glass
- Fixed rare issue where a user could not access MP with a valid CD key if they had previously used an invalid CD key
- Improved advanced graphics options menu
- Improved anti-cheat measurements: fixed exploit which could prevent vote kicking working against a user
- Improved multi-GPU support
- Improved Tone Mapping
- Re-added possibility to enable r_StereoSupportAMD via config file (unsupported)
The patch is available here.
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Patriot Wildfire 120GB Solid State Drive Review
Have you ever been to a kid's baseball game where the game was delayed? This usually happens during summer vacation; two of the kids are on vacation and another one is late. Little Jimmy's mom called and said Jimmy would be there 15 minutes late. All of the kids are on the field tossing the ball around, except Jimmy, and the crowd of parents are anxiously wondering what the hell the holdup is because they want to get home to cook dinner and finish some work. Then all of a sudden Little Jimmy comes running on the field and the ref yells "PLAY BALL!"
Little Jimmy is now here and Team SandForce can start the game. This game is played on websites, e-tail and retail outlets all over the country. For me, SSDball is more exciting than any sport I watch on TV because I've got front row seats on the first base line. All of the action happens right in front of me and this season is going to be exciting.
So far we've seen products with the SandForce SF-2281 controller from OCZ Technology and Other World Computing. All of those products were really good and priced very well, but their reign is about to come to an end. SandForce partners like Patriot, G.Skill, Kingston and many others are now getting ready to hit the market and with the flood of new products comes competition. This competition will push the performance, price, availability and accessory envelope to new levels. 2011 is going to be the year where everyone can and should have an SSD in their computer and notebook.
Patriot Memory might not get the press that OCZ and a few others get, but they deliver solid products early in the season and manage to fight for the best online price throughout the year. Last year's Inferno product based on the SF-1200 was impressive with its blood red case and attractive price point. Patriot is one of the companies that push the price of consumer SSDs down to make their products more accessible to mainstream users. This in turn forces other companies to lower their price and the revolving price war cycles again.
Having the lowest priced drive on Newegg is going to be a little more complicated this year. There will be several drives based on the SF-2281; if we only had different controllers fighting it out, everything would be easy like last year. This year SSD manufacturers are taking their products to the next level of complexity and getting creative with the flash used. So far we've seen three flash types used with the SF-2281; 25nm async, 25nm sync and Toshiba Toggle flash. Even though we've only seen three so far, it doesn't mean that's all we'll see.
The Patriot Wildfire we're looking at today uses Toshiba Toggle flash. The OCZ Technology Vertex 3 Max IOPS, OCZ's flagship SSD also uses Toshiba Toggle flash, but these two drives are a little different. The Vertex 3 Max IOPS 120GB drive has four chips at twice the density of the eight Toshiba Toggle flash chips used on the Patriot Wildfire.
Before I lose you in technical jargon, let's take a look at the Patriot Wildfire's specifications and get this sorted out.
... Read the rest in your browser!
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Acer Debuts AC700 Chromebook
Acer America today debuts the Acer AC700 its first Chromebook in the United States and its first product running Google's Chrome-based operating system. The Acer AC700 ultraportable delivers blazing boot times and instant access to the Internet.
The first in a planned line of products that will utilize Google's Chrome operating system, the Acer AC700 Chromebook is ideal for savvy mobile consumers, educational institutions, and business people that spend most of their time on the Internet for cloud computing such as using web-based email, uploading photos to sites like Flickr and Picasa, and keeping up-to-date on the latest news and events. The new Acer AC700 provides WiFi connectivity, a sleek thin and light form factor, long battery life and excellent HD playback.
"Acer's expertise in technology and hardware make them an ideal partner to bring one of the first Chromebooks to market," said Caesar Sengupta, Director of Chrome OS, Google. "The Acer AC700 Chromebooks are built for people who want a fast, simple and secure web-based computing experience."
Chrome is Speedy, Secure - Boots in 10 Seconds, Defends Against Threats
The Acer AC700 tackles every task with incredible speed. It boots in less than 10 seconds and resumes almost instantly, so users immediately start enjoying their always-on Internet connection.
The Acer AC700 running the Chrome operating system is designed to defend against the ongoing threat of malware and viruses by employing the principle of "defense in depth" to provide multiple layers of protection, including sandboxing, data encryption, and verified boot.
Sharing and collaborating on the Acer AC700 is easy. With online applications such as Google Docs and Calendar, customers can share media, collaborate on documents and projects, and share their work and personal calendars. Plus, because customers save their documents, files, photos, video and more in the cloud, they are protected from data loss if an Acer AC700 is physically damaged, lost or stolen.
Connectivity for the Web-Based Lifestyle
The Acer AC700 is a portable powerhouse truly optimized for the growing number of customers who use their computer to spend most of their time online. Acer InviLink Nplify 802.11b/g/n Wifi Certified will keep customers connected to the Internet. To support this always-on connection, the Acer AC700 provides excellent battery life of up to six hours with its 6-cell battery.
Incredible Mobility, Easy to Use and Enjoy
Designed for ultimate mobility, the Acer AC700 is portable and sleek. It weighs only 2.95 pounds and measures a mere one inch thin, so it can be easily taken anywhere as it fits into a backpack, briefcase or purse.
The combination of a simple and intuitive Chrome operating system and full-sized keyboard makes the Acer AC700 incredibly easy to use and navigate. The oversized fully-clickable touchpad allows customers to conveniently click anywhere on it as they navigate the Internet.
Ready for On-the-Go Entertainment
The Acer AC700 is ready for instant fun and entertainment. The Acer AC700's integrated HD 1.3MP webcam w/ LED indicator is great for video chatting and conferencing, as well as capturing video and photos for sharing online. It supports the latest web standards and Adobe Flash 10.1 video. Everything looks incredibly crisp and clear on the Chromebook's 11.6-inch HD Widescreen CineCrystal LED-backlit LCD. Plus, the Acer AC700's HDMI output lets customers stream video from the cloud to high-definition TVs and displays.
Many Benefits for Travelers, Business, Education
Business and education customers will appreciate the simplicity and manageability of the Acer AC700, since files can be shared or edited from one device, saved to the cloud, and then accessed from another Chromebook or any device with a web browser. In addition, Chromebooks are great for accessing web-based tools, applications behind the firewall, and virtualized desktops. This eliminates the need for a large hard drive and helps protect against data loss since everything is stored remotely.
IT managers will value the security and simplicity benefits that the Acer AC700 provides. Also, customizing and managing a fleet of Acer AC700s can be done from one web-based console in an efficient, timely manner.
Acer AC700 Built for Performance
The Intel Atom N570 dual-core processor and 2GB of DDR3 memory provide the performance to speed through the web, access files, enjoy video and more. It has a 16GB SSD for storing files as well as the millions of Chrome apps and games from the Chrome Web Store. The Acer AC700 also has two USB 2.0 ports and a 4-in-1 card reader that accepts popular flash storage, so customers can play music and video directly from the card, or upload photos, video and music to their favorite sites.
Software, Pricing and Availability
The Acer AC700 Chromebook is available this month in the United States at Manufacturer's Suggested Retail Prices starting at $349.99. A model with 3G broadband wireless capabilities will be coming this summer.
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LaCie and Porsche Design Introduce New Generation of Hard Drives
Porsche Design Group (Porsche Lizenz- und Handelsgesellschaft mbH & Co. KG) and LaCie announce the latest technology to join the luxury brand's exclusive P´9000 electronics category: the LaCie Porsche Design Mobile (P'9220) and Desktop (P'9230) Hard Drives. The new storage accessories represent cutting-edge USB 3.0 technology, sleek aluminium frame, and purist design.
Since 2003, LaCie and Porsche Design have worked closely to deliver products that are technically inspired, delivering flawless functionality in its purest form. The luxury brand and the leading technology company complement the other, with technical influence from LaCie, together with an exclusive and timeless shape presented by Porsche Design.
For Porsche Design, the authenticity and quality of materials further exemplify the components inside. The aluminium frame of the LaCie Porsche Design Mobile and Desktop Hard Drives is elegant by appearance, but supports the vast functionality of the hard drive inside. The LaCie Porsche Design Mobile and Desktop Hard Drives are built with durable and scratch-resistant aluminium, protecting the hard drive mechanics. Each frame is built with precision. The aluminium also regulates heat for guaranteed performance. And for the environment, the aluminium frame is 100 percent recyclable.
BUILT FOR SPEED
Clocking speeds three times faster than USB 2.0*, The LaCie Porsche Design Mobile and Desktop Hard Drives are the fastest USB 3.0 hard drives on the market. Technology enthusiasts will appreciate transferring their digital assets in seconds with no delay to their digital lifestyle, delivering peak performance and pure design.
MORE THAN JUST STORAGE
More than just a beautiful exterior, LaCie Porsche Design Hard Drives come with software to easily install your drive on PC and Mac. Each drive includes backup software, to ensure you have a complete backup of all your digital assets, eco mode for power savings, password protection to keep files secure and 10GB of Wuala secure online storage.
The LaCie Porsche Design Mobile Hard Drive (P'9220) comes in 500GB and 1TB capacities. Additionally, a 750GB model will be available exclusively in the worldwide Porsche Design Stores. The LaCie Porsche Design Desktop Hard Drive (P'9230) comes in 1TB and 2TB capacities. The products will be available through the LaCie Online Store and select retailers including Amazon, B&H, Best-Buy.com, and Micro-Center, starting at $104.99. For more product information, visit http://www.lacie.com.
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Enermax Announces U.R.Vegas USB Rubber-Frame Fan
ENERMAX is proud to lead the cooling fans to a new era by its latest fan series: U.R.VEGAS, USB RUBBER VEGAS FAN. Think outside the case. Cooling fan is no longer stationary and hidden inside the case. U.R.VEGAS breaks the rule by special designed magnetic skin pad and USB power. U.R.VEGAS provides mobility and flexibility with its magnetic skin pad.
It can be attached onto case and moved easily to anywhere that needs extra cooling. With 18 LEDs, the U.R.VEGAS not only shines 4 times brighter than other fans, but also has 7 switchable lighting effects for users to enjoy the fabulous light show.
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MSI Rolls Out GT780 High-Performance Gaming Notebook
MSI has finally rolled out the GT780-the dream machine long awaited by gamers worldwide. It packs the Intel Core i7-2630QM quad-core processor with core speeds of 2.00GHz and NVIDIA's new generation GeForce GTX 560M discrete graphics card. It boasts 1.5GB GDDR5 of high-end, large-capacity display memory for superior performance that greatly enhances game realism for the ultimate gaming experience.
Eric Kuo, associate vice president for global sales, MSI Notebook, explains that the GT780 gaming notebook comes equipped with a gaming keyboard crafted by SteelSeries. It is not only much more rugged, the Windows Start key was relocated to the right side of the keyboard and the Ctrl and Alt keys enlarged to make it harder to strike the wrong keys in the heat of battle. The GT780's keyboard features the latest LED backlighting technology. Simply depress the Gaming Mode hotkey above the keyboard to light up just the left side of the keyboard. The rest of the keyboard remains dark, allowing you to find the gaming keys quickly when the bullets are flying.
Intel 2nd Generation Core i7 quad core processor: MSI's GT780 features Intel's most advanced Intel's 2nd Generation Core i7-2630QM quad core processor giving each core clock speeds of 2.00GHz. New generation Intel Core i7 processors support Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 which automatically allocates processor resources to boost core clock speeds and overall computer performance.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M discrete graphics card: The new generation GT780 pack NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 560M discrete graphics card with 1.5GB of GDDR5 display memory. They also feature large-capacity GDDR5 high-speed display memory coupled with nVidia's powerful display core, and DirectX 11 support for better detail in games.
16GB of memory: The new generation top end GT780 gaming laptop features four DDR3 memory slots for up to 16GB of memory. It also comes with RAID-0 dual hard disk architecture which not only doubles hard drive memory capacity, it enhances read-write speeds by some 70%.
TDE technology: The GT780 uses MSI's own Turbo Drive Engine (TDE) technology, so just one touch of the luminescent Turbo hotkey located above the keyboard instantly revs up performance. It also has MSI's own powerful Cooler Boost technology, so again, just one touch of the luminescent hotkey above the keyboard kicks in the powerful cooling function to rapidly reduce system temp to enhance system stability.
SteelSeries gamers' keyboard
Windows function key relocated: Responding to cries from gamers, MSI got together with gaming equipment manufacturer SteelSeries to create a keyboard for the GT780. Not only is the keyboard more rugged, it has a more solid feel and the Windows function key has been repositioned to the right side to reduce the possibility of accidently striking it when you're hip-pocket deep in ogre blood. Larger Ctrl and Alt keys: Fans of FPS games need to use the Ctrl and Alt keys a lot for such commands as "crouch," "jump," and "pause," but these keys are smaller on most keyboards, making it easier to punch a nearby key by accident when you're going for one of them. With this in mind, the Ctrl and Alt keys were enlarged on the GT780.
Executes 10 commands at once: Most keyboards aren't designed for gamers and don't respond readily to key combinations, adversely impacting combat capabilities. This doesn't happen on the GT780, because its gaming keyboard allows you to execute 10 commands simultaneously, enabling you to stay ahead of the game by rapidly accomplishing several missions concurrently.
Backlighting for the task at hand: The GT780 lets you choose from among five keyboard backlighting scenarios-Normal, Gaming, Wave, Breathing, and Dual Color. Gamers will also appreciate the fact that the frequently used keys W, A, S, D, and Ctrl are all backlit on the GT780, using the latest backlighting technology. Simply depress the Gaming Mode hotkey at the top of the keyboard to light up the LED backlighting at the bottom left side of the keyboard. The rest of the keyboard remains dark, so you can find the keys you need quickly even in the middle of a white-hot battle.
Sleek looks, cool sound
Space Ship inspired exterior: In the creation of the GT780, MSI was inspired by design concepts found in space ship. The elements incorporated into the overall design and every detail of this machine serves to give these high-performance gaming machines a feeling of professionalism and style. The glowing white letters "MSI" in the center of the cover accentuate the aluminum manganese alloy body's brush metal finish, placing this NB in a class all its own. What you get is a chic high tech texture that exudes awesome power and envelope-pushing style.
Top theater sound technology: To enhance sound performance, MSI joined forces with world renowned sound designers at Dynaudio to study the GT780 meticulously. Even speaker locations and sound field design were calculated with precision. The two firms worked side by side to carry out vast amounts of study and countless calculations to determine ideal locations to install speakers to obtain obstruction-free sound transmission. MSI also worked closely with sound design specialists at Creative to incorporate cinema-grade THX TruStudio Pro wrap around sound which reproduces crystal-clear sound regardless of source.
Full HD display: The MSI GT780 sports a 17.3-inch full HD screen and comes with Cinema Pro technology for a crisper picture and richer colors. It also has an HD720p webcam, so you can engage in clear, hiccup-free video conferences with friends and family anywhere in the world.
Latest USB3.0 ports: The GT780 comes with USB3.0 which boasts transfer speeds of 4.8Gbps-10 times faster than USB2.0, so a 25GB HD film transfers in just 70 seconds. It also provides 80% more power for vastly faster charging speeds for external hard drives, flash drives, and other handheld electronic devices.
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Available Tags:NVIDIA , gaming , ASRock , Acer , Download , Windows 8 , Windows , Porsche , USB , MSI , Notebook ,
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