IT-Code-News: IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 10/05/2012

Portal 2's DLC 'Perpetual Testing Initiative' is now available
It's finally here! Valve's have announced that the free Portal 2 update 'Perpetual Testing Initiative' is now available for download. Did we mention it's, uh, free? Yep! If you already own Portal 2, you now own this.

Perpetual Testing Initiative is available for both PC and Mac, and lets players "easily create, share and play Portal 2 puzzles". The DLC pack sports a simplified Puzzle Maker which makes the creation of Portal 2 maps that much easier.

The Puzzle Maker can also directly publish maps to Valve's Steam Workshop, where everyone else can browse, vote on, and select to play them.

Micron the first to announce DDR4 DRAM module, DDR4-2400, DDR4-3200 is on its way
Micron have announced that they have begun shipping the very first engineering samples of "fully functional DDR4 DRAM modules" in DIMM form factor to their major customers. Micron expects to have DDR4 ready for mas production by Q4 2012, where fast adoption of the new DDR4 tech will be scooped up by key industry players next year.

DDR4 focuses on reducing power consumption, while at the same time offering a performance increases over DDR3. The memory was developed in conjunction with Taiwan's Nanya, where they've used Micron's 30nm process node.

The new sticks, 4 Gigabit, 512MB DDR4 x 8 memory chip is offering memory densities up to 8GB for a single DIMM. This means we're looking at DDR4 hitting us with systems capable of 32GB of RAM in the mainstream, with 64GB and 128GB hitting up the high-end. Micron plan on making the memory chips with x8, x16, and x32 solder connections, which should reach clocks from 2.4-3.2 billion transfers per second, or "effective GHz" as the memory vendors like to say.

Usually, this wouldn't mean much because Intel don't plan on baking DDR4 support into their products this side of 2014. The first to receive DDR4 will be server chipsets such as Haswell-EX. Desktop and mobile would receive DDR4 in 2015 with Broadwell, a 14nm die-shrink of Haswell. But... there are now some seriously big players who want some high-speed DDR4 goodness, AMD, NVIDIA, Qualcomm and TI. I'm sure this will grow in between now and 2013, too.

Fujitsu, Lenovo both unveil DisplayLink-based USB 3.0 port replicators
With Ultrabooks slimming down not just in size and weight, but also port options, port replicators are going to be the new in-thing. Fujitsu and Lenovo have both unveiled two new DisplayLink-based USB 3.0 replicators, and first we'll tackle the Fujitsu model. Both models sport DisplayLink's USB 3.0 chipset, the DL-3900, which offers dual display connectivity.

Fujitsu's USB 3.0 Port Replicator PR08 has some great features, where they've added DisplayPort connectivity which means you can throw a 2560x1600 display on it, without an issue. The port replicator also features a DVI-I port that can be used with an adapter to give D-sub support. Gigabit Ethernet, two USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports (not at full speed, obviously), and audio jacks for 2.1- and 5.1-channel audio.

Lenovo steps in with their ThinkPad USB 3.0 Dock which sports two DVI ports, five USB 3.0 ports (again, not at full speed), Gigabit Ethernet and audio ports. Lenovo's product has an MSRP of US$179.99 and should hit on May 15, where Fujitsu kindly left out pricing and availability information.

Upcoming mobile Ivy Bridge CPU pricing has been unveiled
On June 3, Intel plans to launch some cheaper dual-core Ivy Bridge-based CPUs, prices of these new chips will range between $225 and $346. We're also looking at two Core i7 options, the first being the Core i7-3520M which clocks in at 2.9GHz with a turbo frequency of 3.6GHz, 4MB of L3 cache, a 35W TDP and pricing of $346.

The second Core i7 offering, the Core i7-3667U retains the same L3 cache, but mixes up the clock speed to 2GHz, with a turbo frequency of 3.2GHz, but we have a big change in the TDP, just 17W, it also retains the same $346 pricing.

The three Core i3 offerings are split into 2 options, one of them with a 17W TDP, the remaining two with 35W TDPs. The first one, Core i5-3320M has a clock speed of 2.6GHz, turbo at 3.3GHz, 3MB of L3 cache and a price of $225, the second, Core i5-3360M has a frequency of 2.8GHz, turbo up to 3.5GHz, the same L3 cache amount, but a price of $266. The final Core i5-3427U has a clock speed of 1.8GHz, turbo at 2.8GHz, 3MB L3 cache, and a 17W TDP, its price is set at $225.

All five new Ivy Bridge mobile CPUs sport Hyper-Threading, which adds doubles the amount of threads the CPU can handle at once. All 35W models will be released in PGA and BGA packages, with ULV chips made available only in a BGA package.

Faster Wi-Fi is on its way, 802.11-2012 promises 600Mbps, 3.65-3.7GHz, mesh networking
The Wi-Fi (802.11x) has been revised multiple times over the years, where we've seen 802.11b, g, n and smaller changes like 802.11a, but the IEEE standards committee is now looking at a pretty major revision to the standard dubbed 802.11-2012.

802.11-2012 is said to stand out from the 802.11x crowd by operating within a range of 3.65 and 3.7GHz. At the moment Wi-Fi usually operates at around 2.4GHz or 5GHz frequencies. With the 2.4GHz frequency absolutely saturated by most consumer devices, and 5.8GHz becoming more and more popular, using a new area of the spectrum will give customers not only the change to avoid interference, but a serious injection of speed.

802.11-2012 is expected to hit 600Mbps throughout, with the PHY (physical layer) and MAC (software layer) components of the new wireless standard to be reworked in order to provide that insane speed. These changes will allow allow for new additions such as "mesh" networking, direct-link setup, changes in security, broadcast/multicast/unicast data delivery and additional network management features.

Current 802.11n tech can hit 600Mbps at 5GHz, but requires MIMO technology to aggregate four multiplexed systems.

All I can say is, bring it on. Ditching wires and using insane speed for Wi-Fi would be great. Until SSDs get bigger and cheaper, 10GbE is mostly a dream to the large audience out there.

NVIDIA GEFORCE GTX 670 2GB Video Card Overclocked Performance Preview

Introduction

I'm not going to get into why we're bring you an overclocked article on the unreleased GTX 670 because I think we've done a pretty good job of making it clear. If you do want to know more about it all, though, I recommend you look at our GEFORCE GTX 680 review and our GEFORCE GTX 670 preview along with our news post on why we didn't get a GTX 690.

As for what we're doing here today, as we just mentioned we'll be overclocking the soon to be released GTX 670. This is a video card that really impressed us with some amazing performance when we tested it on the weekend. We wonder what kind of overclock we're able to get out of it.

Talking to some partners, word is it's not the best when it comes to overclocking, but apparently they have no issue reaching the same speeds as the GTX 680, but beyond that there's not a lot of headroom. We'll find out just what we're able to get out of the video card today, though.

There's not a lot to do here today. Like our original coverage on the GTX 670 we won't be including any pictures, instead we'll quickly get into the testbed side of things. Once we've done that we'll quickly cover the overclocking and then we'll get straight into the performance, which is what you came to see.
... Read the rest in your browser!

Portal 2 Perpetual Testing Initiative Starts Now
Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced the arrival of the free Portal 2 update titled "Perpetual Testing Initiative."

Available now for PC and Mac, The "Perpetual Testing Initiative" allows players to easily create, share, and play Portal 2 puzzles. The Initiative comes with a simplified Puzzle Maker that allows that creation of mind-bending puzzles without ever leaving the game.

The Puzzle Maker can directly publish maps to the Steam Workshop where users can browse, vote on, and select to play them. Selected puzzles will automatically be downloaded and installed inside Portal 2.

Portal 2 holds a Metacritic score of 95% and has been awarded numerous Game of Year awards. It features expansive single and cooperative multiplayer game modes. For more information on Portal 2 and its downloadable content, please visit http://www.thinkwithportals.com.

The Razer Naga Has Just Levelled Up!
Razer, the world leader in high-performance gaming hardware, today announced the return of the award-winning Razer Naga MMO gaming mouse. It has been updated for a new generation of win with an anti-slip, anti-fingerprint matte finish and three interchangeable side panels for a more ergonomic gaming experience. It still retains its most important feature, a 12-button thumb grid built to deliver cataclysmic destruction on all enemies when you bind spells, items, and macros to the buttons for quick access.

"When we released the Razer Naga three years ago, we knew its twelve-button thumb grid was an amazing, revolutionary interface that was going to change the way gamers enjoy MMO action," said Robert 'RazerGuy' Krakoff, President, Razer USA. "Three years on and the number of gamers armed with the Razer Naga continues to grow. We want to keep updating the Razer Naga with the best features, and keep arming gamers with the best MMO gaming mouse in the world."

The Razer Naga has been enhanced to provide a more comfortable and ergonomic gaming experience. Its anti-slip, anti-fingerprint matte finish ensures you have the best grip over your very special gaming weapon no matter how intensively you swipe. The buttons over the top of the gaming mouse have also been repositioned for much easier actuation. Three interchangeable side panels have been provided to let you personally customize the shape of the Razer Naga to fit your hand and play-style. Whether you're a claw- or palm-grip, the Razer Naga has got you covered and gaming just the way you want to.

For more information on the new Razer Naga, please visit http://www.razerzone.com/getimba

About the Razer Naga MMO gaming mouse
The best-selling MMO gaming mouse of all-time, the Razer Naga, is evolving to take the MMO games of the next generation head-on. Engineered for improved comfort and control, the all-new Razer Naga has a redesigned anti-slip, anti-fingerprint matte finish, re-optimized button placement, and three interchangeable side grips to suit your personal grip style.

Price: $79.99

Availability:
RazerStore - Available Now
US & EU - Available Now
Worldwide - Q2 2012

Features
17 MMO-optimized buttons (including 12-button thumb grid)
3 interchangeable side panels
Razer Synapse 2.0 enabled
5600dpi Razer Precision 3.5G Laser Sensor
1000Hz Ultrapolling / 1ms response time
200 inches per second max tracking speed
Zero-acoustic Ultraslick mouse feet

DisplayLink Powers First USB 3.0 Port Replicator with DisplayPort from Fujitsu
DisplayLink, the leading provider of technology for virtual graphics and USB-connected computing announced the introduction of the Fujitsu USB 3.0 Port Replicator PR08 powered by the latest DisplayLink's DL-3900 graphics technology IC, enabling the first USB docking station to feature DisplayPort connectivity, reaching resolutions of up to 2560x1600.

Leveraging the high demand for "hot-desking" and flexibility within corporations, Fujitsu's USB 3.0 Port Replicator PR08 extends the capabilities of PCs, notebooks and Ultrabooks for businesses, consumers and design professionals alike, facilitating the right ergonomics and providing the productivity benefits of a workspace with multiple displays by harnessing the dual-head video port power of DisplayLink's DL-3900 graphics technology.

"We are proud to partner with Fujitsu to bring to market the first USB 3.0 universal docking station with DisplayPort connectivity, enabling much higher resolutions than any other USB docking station before," said John Cummins, DisplayLink senior vice president of sales and marketing. "The Fujitsu USB 3.0 Port Replicator PR08 is a one stop dock, managing it all."

"Incorporating virtual graphics technology from DisplayLink into Fujitsu's USB 3.0 Port Replicator PR08 makes it easier for mobile workers to connect to a more ergonomic, richer desktop display experience, no matter which desk they choose," says Dieter Heiss, Head of Workplace Systems at Fujitsu Technology Solutions. "The Fujitsu port replicator works with any make and model of notebook obtaining compatibility for external displays in heterogeneous hot-desk environments, saving both time and costs."

Equipped with a multiple connectivity options to facilitate the delivery of high-performance graphics, Ethernet and audio, the Fujitsu USB 3.0 Port Replicator PR08 docking station features a Gigabit Ethernet port, two USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 ports for connecting a variety of accessories and a DisplayPort connection that supports ultra-high resolutions of up to 2560x1600. It also features a DVI-I port with an external VGA adapter, as well as 3.5mm audio in/out ports with stereo (2.1) and surround sound (5.1) support; allowing users to connect speakers, headphones or a microphone, and finally a Kensington lock slot to help secure the dock and avoid theft.

NVIDIA Stockholder Meeting Set for May 17; Stockholders Can Participate Online
NVIDIA will hold its Annual Meeting of Stockholders in San Jose, Calif., on Thursday, May 17, 2012, at 2 p.m. PT. The meeting will take place at NVIDIA's GPU Technology Conference in the San Jose McEnery Convention Center, on 150 W. San Carlos St.

Individuals wishing to attend the meeting virtually may do so at http://www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/NVIDIA2012. Stockholders will need their 12-digit control number included in their notice or proxy card to vote and submit questions while attending the meeting online. Non-stockholders are welcome to attend by going to the above link and selecting "Other Attendees."

The matters to be voted on at the meeting and the requirements for admittance to the in-person meeting are set forth in the company's Proxy Statement filed with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission on April 4, 2012. The Proxy Statement is available at http://www.nvidia.com/proxy.

A replay of the 2012 Annual Meeting webcast will be available through June 1, 2012 on the company's website at http://www.nvidia.com or http://www.virtualshareholdermeeting.com/NVIDIA2012.

Available Tags:Portal , DDR4 , USB 3.0 , Lenovo , USB , Ivy Bridge , CPU , NVIDIA , GEFORCE , GTX , USB 3.0 , Fujitsu ,

Thursday, May 10, 2012

IT News Head Lines (TweakTown) 10/05/2012

Introduction

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