Friday, September 30, 2011

IT News Head Lines (techPowerUp) 30/09/2011

techPowerUp!



(PR) NZXT Launches Phantom Big Tower Pink Edition
For the ladies! NZXT proudly presents the Phantom Big-Tower in pink, which is intended for the female gamer base. All new Phantoms, including this variant also come equipped with USB 3.0 connectivity. Additional features of these enclosures are a five channel fan controller with 20W load capacity on each circuit, spacious interior, lighting which may be turned off, elaborate cable management, numerous anti-vibration measures and a water cooling ready design.



The futuristic design of the NZXT Phantom makes it the perfect basis for an extravagant gaming PC as the case specialist has included unique shapes and lines which resembles that of modern high performance sports cars. A front door covers the drive bays, so that the chassis looks perfect, regardless of what type of drives you have installed. Besides the pink color option, NZXT also offers a white, black, red and red/white variant with more special editions in the works.





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(PR) Share Data Wirelessly with LaPlug by LaCie
LaCie announced the LaPlug, a simple solution to share any USB hard drive or key over a local network. The LaPlug also offers a convenient way to access data at home or on the go, as well as share personal files such as vacation or birthday photos with family and friends. Additionally, the LaPlug can stream multimedia content and back up multiple computers to one central location. Even better, all this functionality can be achieved with USB hard drives a user already owns.





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BIOSTAR TA990FXE Socket AM3+ Motherboard Pictured
BIOSTAR is ready with its new performance-segment socket AM3+ motherboard based on the AMD 990FX + SB950 chipset, the TA990FXE. It carries on with the design elements and component choices for some of BIOSTAR's recent Intel Z68 motherboards, it's likely that the board will carry a sweet-spot price. The CPU is powered by a 5-phase VRM, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel DDR3-2000 MHz memory.



Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (x16/x16/x4), a PCIe x1, and two PCI. Five of the six SATA 6 Gb/s port from the southbridge are internal ports, with the sixth one being assigned as an eSATA. The connectivity loadout covers essentials: 8-channel HD audio, USB 3.0, gigabit Ethernet, and FireWire, apart from USB 2.0 and PS/2. The board is driven by AMI UEFI firmware, with BIOSTAR's own GUI setup program.







Source: TechConnect Magazine

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NVIDIA Begins Sampling First Kepler GPUs
Graphics major NVIDIA has begun sampling the first GPUs of its next-generation Kepler family. Kepler succeeds the present generation Fermi family of GPUs, that make up the GeForce 400 and 500 series. Members of the GeForce Kepler family will follow the codename nomenclature of GK1xx, like GeForce Fermi followed GF1xx. The first GPU being sampled is codenamed GK107. The codename suggests that this isn't the top-end part, it's more like a lower-mainstream or value segment offering.



It is reported that GK107 has a 128-bit GDDR5 memory bus, which also supports inexpensive DDR3 memory. It is built in small quantities on TSMC's 28 nanometer fab process (as the foundry isn't ready for 28 nm bulk manufacturing. NVIDIA will follow a "bottom-to-top" strategy, when dealing with a new fab process technology. It will first design the smallest, simplest GPUs in the lineup, and then gradually move on to larger ones. The first GK107-based SKUs will succeed the GeForce GT 500M series. NVIDIA will carve out four SKUs, internally, NVIDIA will refer to those as N13P-LP, N13P-GS, N13P-GT and N13E-GE, with N13E-GE being the "enthusiast" part. Its market SKU will likely succeed the GeForce GT 560M.



Source: VR-Zone

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(PR) AMD Announces Preliminary Third Quarter Results
AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced that revenue for the third quarter ending Oct. 1, 2011 is expected to increase four to six percent as compared to the second quarter of 2011. The company previously forecasted third quarter 2011 revenue to increase 10 percent, plus or minus two percent, from the second quarter of 2011.



In addition, AMD expects third quarter gross margin to be approximately 44 to 45 percent. The company previously forecasted third quarter 2011 gross margin to be approximately 47 percent.

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Sapphire Intros Pure Platinum A75P Motherboard
Sapphire announced its second motherboard based on the AMD A75 chipset, the Pure Platinum A75P. This is the slightly more cost-effective A75-based socket FM1 motherboard by Sapphire compared to the Pure Platinum A75. It uses a more compact PCB, does away with features such as mSATA, features just two DDR3 DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3-1866 MHz memory, and the open PCIe x4 slot making way for a longer PCI-Express x16 slot, which still runs at x4 speed.



Sapphire does seem to have improved the processor VRM design, it's likely that the board continues to use an 8-phase VRM, but features better power conditioning components. Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 wired to the APU, one PCI-Express x16 (electrical x4) wired to the A75 FCH, three PCI-Express x1, and two legacy PCI. Display outputs include DVI, HDMI, and D-Sub. Storage connectivity includes six SATA 6 Gb/s ports. There is 8-channel HD audio, gigabit Ethernet, two USB 3.0 ports, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. Apart from UEFI, this board features redundant ROM chip technology, that protects against failed BIOS updates. We expect the Pure Platinum A75P to be one of the more affordable FM1 motherboards in the ATX form-factor.





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Electronic Arts' Massive 2012 $1.6m Battlefield 3 Tournament: Consoles Yes, PC No
While PC gamers are getting understandably excited about one of the year's biggest releases, which is guaranteed to have standards-setting graphics at least, there's a kick in the teeth waiting just around the corner. EA and Virgin Gaming have teamed up to launch a massive BF3 contest with $1.6m in cash and prizes - for consoles only. Yes, you read that right. And the reason? Consoles are the "gold standard". That's the aging console platforms reported on TechPowerUp a few days ago. GameStop's president Tony Bartel said in an interview with IndustryGamers:


We continue to believe that the console is a strong platform and will continue to be the gold standard.





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(PR) Kingston Digital Introduces New Ultra-Secure DataTraveler 6000 USB Flash Drive
Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the DataTraveler 6000 (DT6000) USB Flash drive, which protects sensitive data with Federal Information Processing Standard (FIPS) 140-2 Level 3 Validation and 100-percent encryption. For financial service organizations and government agencies that need the strongest data protection in mobile storage devices, the DT6000 meets data-at-rest regulations and is the most secure USB Flash drive available on the market.



The Kingston DT6000 utilizes patented Secured by Spyrus technology which supports 256-bit AES hardware-based encryption using XTS block cipher mode. XTS is current generation technology that provides much stronger protection than other block cipher modes such as CBC and ECB. The DT6000 uses ‘military-grade’ elliptic curve cryptography (ECC), which is recommended by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) as part of its Suite B set of cryptographic algorithms.





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AMD Releases Catalyst 11.9 WHQL
Here's the latest Radeon Catalyst driver suite for all you Radeon graphics card fans! It has one major new feature:


Enables AMD HD 3D technology support on DisplayPort panels, such as the Samsung 750 and 950 series 3D displays



which sounds very cool and is begging to be reviewed and benchmarked, plus quite a few fixes:

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(PR) Prolimatech Announces Panther CPU Cooler
Prolimatech presents the Panther, their newest CPU cooler aimed to take the mid-range by storm, while featuring the same excellent quality as all products from Prolimatech. Besides the mounting for all modern AMD and Intel based systems, the Panther CPU cooler also includes a 120 mm fan with PWM functionality. This complete package manages to impress with an excellent price/performance ratio.



Prolimatech has set the bar with the high-end Genesis cooler, so it is only natural that the company takes their experience and engineering capabilities and develop the Panther, a potent solution for the mainstream market. The Panther utilizes less material in the most efficient manner possible, keeping a maximum of surface area while offering compact dimensions. It is also the first CPU cooler from Prolimatech which ships with a fan.





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(PR) Greenliant Now Shipping SATA NANDrive, Increasing Adoption of Embedded SSDs
Greenliant Systems, a leader in energy-efficient, highly secure and reliable solid state storage products, has started volume production of its SATA interface NANDrive solid state drives (SSDs). The GLS85LS product family has the same pin-out across all capacities-2 GB, 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB, 32 GB and higher in the future-which simplifies system-level board design.



Measuring 14mm x 24mm x 1.95mm, in a 145 ball grid array (BGA), 1 mm ball pitch package, SATA NANDrive devices are one of the smallest SSDs, giving OEMs (original equipment manufacturers) flexibility when designing data storage into their embedded products. The BGA package can be soldered directly onto the motherboard-no extra connectors are needed-providing added stability to the SSD.





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ASUS Unveils Trio of PCI-Express 3.0 Motherboards Based on Intel Z68 Chipset
ASUS unveiled a trio of socket LGA1155 motherboards based on the Intel Z68 chipset, which feature PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slots (electrical x8/x8 when both are populated). The new motherboards are PCI-Express Gen 3.0 specifications compliant, complete with switches and electrical components. Leading the pack is the P8Z68 DELUXE/Gen3 in the $250-segement, followed by the P8Z68-V PRO/Gen3 in the $200-segment, and the P8Z68-V/Gen3 in the sub-$200 segment.



All three feature 16-phase Digi+ CPU VRM, an Intel-made gigabit Ethernet controller, and Lucid Virtu support. All three feature the same expansion slot loadout, with two PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/NC or x8/x8), one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical 2.0 x4), and two each of PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI wired to an ASMedia-made bridge chip.





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(PR) JEDEC Publishes News Standard for Serial NOR Flash
JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, the global leader in the development of standards for the microelectronics industry, today announced the availability of JESD216: Serial Flash Discoverable Parameters (SFDP) for Serial NOR Flash. Widely anticipated by software engineers, the SFDP will allow Serial Flash manufacturers to embed a standard description of important device characteristics inside the Flash chip.



Users can read the description and obtain critical information about the functional characteristics and capabilities of SFDP compliant Flash memory devices, which will enable user applications such as mobile phones, set-top boxes, HDTVs, PC/NB motherboards, or any system that needs to support multiple Serial NOR Flash device types, to configure themselves to handle various Serial Flash implementations.

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Intel Intros New Z68-based Extreme Series Desktop Boards
Intel released two new Desktop Board Extreme Series motherboards based on the Z68 chipset, supporting Core processors in the LGA1155 package, the DZ68ZV and DZ68BC. The DZ68ZV uses the same exact PCB as the DP67BG, replacing the P67 PCH with Z68 (they're pin-compatible). It lacks display connectivity. The only plus here is support for Intel Smart Response Technology. It uses a 8-phase active-swiching/load-balancing digital PWM power circuitry for the CPU, and quite a few overclocking features. Expansion slots include two PCI-Express 2.0 x16, three PCIe x1, and two PCI. Storage connectivity includes two SATA 6 Gb/s four SATA 3 Gb/s and one eSATA 3 Gb/s. Then there's 8-channel HD audio, USB 3.0, and Intel GbE controller.



The DZ68BC is a completely new design that is tailored for the Z68 chipset, complete with overclocking features, as well as display connectivity. The CPU is powered by an 8-phase digital PWM VRM, makes use of improved VRM cooling, expansion slots include two PCI-Express 2.0 x16, three PCI and two PCIe x1, storage connectors consist of four SATA 6 Gb/s, four SATA 3 Gb/s, and two eSATA. There's 8-channel HD audio, Intel GbE connections, display IO that includes DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI, USB 3.0, and possibly FireWire. Lucid Virtu comes bundled, that provides active switching between the integrated and discrete GPUs.







Source: VR-Zone

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Firefox in Warp Zone, Updated to Version 7.0
A little over a month after releasing Firefox 6.0, and quickly following it up with two minor updates (6.0.1 and 6.0.2), Mozilla released its next "major" version, Firefox 7.0 into the release channel. It is now clear that Mozilla Firefox is playing catch-up with other popular web-browsers in some sort of a version number game. The three year old Google Chrome is already into version 14, with version 16 already in the dev channel.



While Firefox users will not be in for a different user interface (it's bad to drastically change it from time to time), Firefox 7 does seem to come with several under-the-hood changes. To begin with, the Windows version features a brand-new rendering back-end that speeds up Canvas, a tweaked Sync system that instantly syncs changes to bookmarks and saved passwords, support for text-overflow: ellipsis, compliance with the Web Timing specification, WebSocket protocol updated from version 7 to 8, and improved support for MathML. The only UI change is that the protocol of the page loaded is hidden. The full URL will be copied when you copy the address in the bar. Firefox 7 is launched for all platforms it's available in: Windows, Mac, Linux, and Android.







DOWNLOAD: Mozilla Firefox 7

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Available Tags:NVIDIA , AMD , Sapphire , Kingston , USB , Catalyst , WHQL , CPU Cooler , CPU , SATA , ASUS , Motherboards , Intel , Firefox ,

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