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:: PC Perspective . News Archive
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.:News Archive ( 6/2008 )
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Hardware Secrets | Subject: Storage
Hardware Secrets can tell you all you want to know about Serial ATA, it's different flavours and speeds. It's more that just a quick picture of a SATA cable and a PATA cable, they delve into NCQ, port multipliers and even pinout diagrams. Drop by for a look into the newest way to cut cable clutter and speed up your data transfers.
"Serial ATA - or simply SATA - is the hard disk standard created to replace the parallel ATA interface, a.k.a. IDE. SATA provides a transfer rate of 150 MB/s or 300 MB/s against of a 133 MB/s maximum using the previous technology. In this tutorial we will explain everything you need to know about Serial ATA." Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: BFG Technologies | Subject: Graphics Card
Lake Forest, IL - (June 30, 2008) - BFG Technologies, Inc., the leading North American and European supplier of advanced NVIDIA-based 3D graphics cards, power supplies and other PC enthusiast products, announced today the BFG GeForce GTX 260 OC2 and the BFG GeForce GTX 260 OCX factory overclocked graphics cards.
Backed with 24/7/365 free technical support and a lifetime warranty, the BFG GeForce GTX 260 OC2 and OCX versions are factory overclocked graphics cards that go through extensive testing to find the right mix of speeds for the core, memory, and shader clocks that will produce the best performance and uncompromised stability at each level. "Customers should be aware that companies who follow our lead and factory overclock their GPUs tend to rush into setting clocks as high as possible just to claim the highest MHz. However, without extensive testing these cards are likely to be more unstable and prone to a shorter life then are BFG OC series cards", said John Malley, senior director of marketing for BFG Technologies. "The rigorous testing process we put our GeForce GTX 260 OC2 and OCX cards through to find the optimal speeds for the core, memory, and shader clocks gives customers a more stable, longer lasting, and better performing card overall". BFG GeForce GTX 260 OC2
BFG GeForce GTX 260 OCX
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Bjorn3D | Subject: Case and Cooling
SilenX's IXTREMA Pro IXC-120HA2 features exposed heatpipes and the ability to support a pair of 120mm fans for some extra cooling power on those systems which require it. Bjorn3D was quite impressed with the cooling it could provide as well as it's relatively quiet operation. They did feel the inclusion of a fan controller would have been a good idea though.
"We have seen many newcomers to the computer cooling industry; and lately, many of these newcomers have been making a name for themselves, like Noctua and Zerotherm. These companies are now competing against well-established manufacturers like ThermalRight and Zalman, and today, we will be reviewing another heatsink and fan from SilenX - even another manufacturer that is quickly becoming a big player in the PC cooling industry." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Tech ARP | Subject: Motherboard
Foxconn BlackOps X48 Express has a lot of features bearing the name Quantum for some reason, but don't let the cheesy naming fool you, this board is rather impressive. It will support DDR3-1600, 8 phase power, and has a rather interesting cooling design which will support cooling with dry ice. That may not be the most useful feature, but it is certainly unique. Drop by TechARP for a closer look.
"Foxconn is a relative newcomer to the motherboard business, at least in the retail segment. The truth of the matter is that thhey have been manufacturing motherboards for ages, albeit for other companies. They have only recently entered the retail market under the Foxconn brand name. Recently, they announced the availability of their new Foxconn BlackOps X48 Express motherboard. This is the latest addition to their Quantum Force series of motherboards, which are designed specifically for extreme overclocking. In fact, it is so packed full of features that Foxconn is proudly claiming that it is far superior to what was considered the ultimate overclocker's motherboard - the ASUS Rampage Formula." Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Legit Reviews | Subject: Mobile
Legit Reviews has more information on the upcoming Toshiba Qosmio, the x305 model in this case which has some rather nice sounding components. Built around a 3GHz Intel C2D, supporting up to 4GB of DDR3 RAM and with a pair of 200GB 7200rpm drives, the raw performance should be impressive. Add a 17" 1680x1050 screen powered by a mysterious nVIDIA Geforce 9800M GTX graphics with 1GB RAM and you have one impressive laptop.
"The graphics on the Qismio x305 will be powered by the yet to be announced nVIDIA GeForce 9800M GTX graphics card, which has 1GB of video memory. For those that still want to game, but save some hard earned dollars we overheard that consumers can customize the notebook with the less expensive GeForce 9700M GT graphics card rather than the GeForce 9800M GTX. NVIDIA hasn't said much about this un-released graphics card, but they did have the Toshiba Qosmio x305 notebook on display at a Microsoft Corporation event this week called the Games for Windows Presents: The Big Picture..." Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Hexus | Subject: General Tech
AMD's HD4870 and HD4850 finally deliver on what many enthusiasts have been waiting for these past few generations of GPUs; some competition. nVIDIA has been far and away the better choice for performance and often for price as well. These two new cards from AMD have worried nVIDIA enough that HEXUS thinks we should see some significant changes to nVIDIA's next generation of chips. We all expect performance increases, but nVIDIA may have to tighten up their bottom line and sell the next generation of cards at a lower price than they may have planned.
"Byrne thinks AMD/ATI’s aggressive pricing is just one of its current problems. “One of NVIDIA’s challenges is how to bring a new series to market when you already have so much stock out there,” he says. “Also we have a ‘less is more’ partner strategy whereas NVIDIA’s is ‘more is more’ and that doesn’t work when times are tough.” NVIDIA has roughly three times as many board partners as AMD/ATI, which can help it maximise sales when its GPUs are heavily in demand but can complicate matters when adjustments are needed, such as when your competitor gets its act together. For a look at how AMD has gone about getting its act together on the GPU front, read on... " Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: DIAMOND Multimedia | Subject: Graphics Card
CHATSWORTH, CA - June 27, 2008 - Diamond Multimedia, a leading manufacturer of PC graphics cards, sound cards and communications products, launched today along with boutique system builder Smoothcreations, and Water cooling mavens, Danger Den the ATI Radeon HD 4870 XOC Black Edition graphics card. This card offers exquisite gaming capabilities combined with state of the art efficiency. The HD 4870 is a smoking gun dual slot card, PCIE 2.0, with 512MB of DDR5 memory and a clock speed of 800 MHz. The memory speed is 1100 MHz and is designed with 800 stream processors. The HD 4870 provides plug-and-play ATI CrossFireX upgradeability with up to quad-GPU support. Continuing with ATI's Power Play and 55nm processing technology, this card is the fastest and efficient. "The Diamond Radeon HD 4870 XOC Black Edition was clocked to kick some ass". We didn't just want a fast card out in the market, we wanted the fastest card that could kick the living daylights and bust some performance records, say Mario Gastelum, Director of Product Development & Engineering. "we wanted a card that kicked the competitions teeth into the curb", and that's exactly what our engineers accomplished". "The firmware was custom designed to enable end users to go beyond the normal over clocked speeds and allow them to push their cards for higher performance via the catalyst control center." The GPU's custom firmware has been unlocked to push cards to GPU settings of up to 950 Mhz and Memory of up 1200 Mhz.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PC Perspective Forums | Subject: General Tech
Psychiatrists are currently arguing about codifying Internet addiction into the next update to the DSM as a mental disorder, but they are ignoring a far, far worse condition; hardware upgrade addiction. Help a forum member avoid the social stigma of this horrible disease by offering advice on the components most likely to provide enough performance to delay his next upgrade as long as possible. On the other hand, there are plenty of productive members of society that have come to terms with their problems.
Dropping by the video card forum will let you see how well the new AMD 4870 works for one of our forum members, as well as letting you participate in the debate spawned by Ryan's article. In the storage forum you can see how often forum members defragment their drives, so far it's nowhere near what CNET, PC Mag and the rest seem to be advising in their email alerts. Or, if you wish to just skip all that great advice, make sure to drop by The Trading Forum for some great deals, TLR for some great debate, or just the off-topic forum for some great links and general strangeness. ... and take a day off work/school next week, you deserve it!
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Madshrimps | Subject: Processor
Madshrimps takes a look at the overclocking performance of Intel's new Wolfdale processor on all of the major chipsets currently on the market. Most of their time is spent on the Intel chipsets, for as they put it (nVIDIA's) "680i = 780i = 790i". There really isn't that much difference, whereas the Intel chipsets have had some significant changes in their updates.
"Bought yourself a brand new Intel 45nm CPU? Those Wolfdale CPUs are the ideal candidate for some overclocking action. In this article we help you extract the most from it by selecting the correct motherboard. Choose the wrong one and you are stuck at low overclock, pick the right one and the sky is the limit!" Here are some more Processor articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Graphics Card
If you are looking for a graphics card update, and you budget just cannot stretch beyond $150, then the 9600 GTS is perfect for you. Ryan tried three different models, the $130 ASUS EN9600GT Silent and ASUS EN9600GT TOP and the $150 XFX 9600 GT XXX Edition. Read through the review and see if you want to spend the extra $20 for the overclocked version.
You can also hear the reactions of Ryan, Josh and myself to the 9800GTX+ and AMD's two great graphical gifts in the 32nd edition of the PC Perspective Podcast. "Even with new GPUs from both AMD and NVIDIA the GeForce 9600 GT is very appealing. Price drops and a large variety of cards featuring passive coolers, overclocked cores and custom heatsinks have expanded the 9600GT market to offer someone for just about everyone. If you are looking for a new budget graphics card check out out roundup of options." Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: AnandTech | Subject: System
Serious multi-threaded processing power and a tight race between Intel and AMD in the server market. AnandTech, with a little help, tested quad socket, quad core server setups to see if AMD can climb back into what used to be their strongest market. Take a look at how the server market is right now, just before the release of Dunnington.
"Accounting for up to 56% of market share in the US and 40% worldwide, the quad-socket market is the last stronghold of AMD. It is a small stronghold, as for every 4S server, there about 17 dual-socket and four single-socket servers sold. However, since each 4S server contains four CPUs, the 4S server market accounts for about 10% of the server CPUs sold. More importantly, the margins are quite a bit higher than in the popular 2S market, and as a result those 10% of server CPU shipments are good for 20% of the revenue, and it gets even better." Here are some more Systems articles from around the web:
Ryan Shrout | Source: 3DCenter | Subject: Graphics Card
Hey, look at this! The GeForce GTX 260 896MB cards are finally showing up in stock! You can read our review of both the GTX 260 and GTX 280 here and then head over to Newegg to pick one up!
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: The Inquirer | Subject: General Tech
As shocking as it may seem, Bell may not have been completely honest about the effect P2P has had on network congestion. As many were probably already aware, since packets really don't care what route they take, the 2-5% of their network that supposedly suffered from P2P related congestion was simply Bell being too lazy to re-route the traffic. This is good news even if Bell isn't your ISP; you are using their copper and fibre, which your ISP has leased and suffering from the throttling. Get more info, and a link to the inevitable 'data isn't a Chevy' analogy at the Inquirer.
"TELCO BELL'S OWN DATA contradicts its belief that P2P traffic is congesting its networks. Bell was ordered to release some details about how important it was to throttle P2P traffic and how file sharing was hurting the company. It did this and has been clearly trying to spin the information to cover the fact its evidence is starting to look a bit weak. The most damaging evidence is a claim that over two months two to five per cent of their network suffered some sort of congestion. It did not say if the problem was sustained or brief bursts of congestion. Bell admits that "while these numbers may seem low to the average lay person, they are significant to network traffic engineers such that it is important to consider the number of congested links in the proper context." If only a single link in the network is congested, end users may still experience slowdowns or dropped connections, it said. However engineers reading the document here said that the whole idea is bogus as blockages in one area can be easily re-routed. The congestion Bell claims to be suffering from is nothing and its figures completely dispel the myth that P2P is crushing the internet." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: VIA Technologies | Subject: System
Taipei, Taiwan, 27 June 2008 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the VIA EPIA P700 Pico-ITX board that couples more features within a streamlined, ultra compact footprint designed for low profile systems, with extended I/O port options through two companion boards.
Now featuring native S-ATA II support, Gigabit LAN, and support for GPIO, SM bus and LPC devices, the 10cm x 7.2cm VIA EPIA P700 is based on the VIA VX700 unified digital media IGP chipset and is powered by a 1GHz VIA C7 or fanless 500MHz VIA Eden ULV processor. An integrated power adapter coupled with the 5-volt S-SATA power cable negates the need for a separate power daughterboard, saving considerable space for ultra compact systems. Linear on-board pin-header placement means developers can use a single cable to effortlessly connect various I/O devices in a streamlined way that reduces cable clutter. Flexible battery placement is also geared towards improved miniaturization, making the VIA EPIA P700 the most slimline Pico-ITX board yet. Two companion boards make light work of design implementation and product testing. The P700-A board features an RJ45 port, a VGA port and a COM port, while the P700-B sports four USB ports and three audio jacks for multi-channel surround sound. The two companion boards fit seamlessly with the streamlined linear pin-headers on either side of the VIA EPIA P700 to enable ultra low profile devices. "VIA has listened to its customers to learn how we can add even greater features to our products," said Daniel Wu, Vice President, VIA Embedded Platform Division, VIA Technologies, Inc. "Pico-ITX continues to evolve in tandem with the needs of our customers, addressing the challenge of producing full-featured, ultra compact embedded systems that can be brought to market as quickly and as easily as possible."
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: circuitREMIX | Subject: General Tech
If you are looking for an easy way to play your iPod in your car or anywhere else you are having difficulty connecting it, try the Belkin TuneCast Auto. It is an FM transmitter that will broadcast whatever your iPod is playing to an FM channel that you pick, it is as easy as that. circuitREMIX were a little dissapointed with the Clearscan feature, but didn't find that one lack to take too much away from a perfectly good gadget.
"I normally don't review non-computer accessories circuitREMIX, but I made an exception for Belkin's TuneCast Auto with Clearscan for iPhone/iPod. For one, iPods are hugely popular around the world and the new iPhone 3G is going to make a huge splash on July 11. As well, I personally own some iPods and I intend on buying an iPhone 3G when they're released. In my personal interest in the matter, I've had some trouble finding a good FM transmitter for my iPods. My car is from 2003, and that was before most cars came standard with auxilary input jacks for audio devices. It also doesn't have a cassette deck, and since I'm still using the OEM stereo, there isn't an easy way to install a direct cable input. Using an FM transmitter is my only easy option to get audio from my iPods to my stereo, and out the speakers." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Silent PC Review | Subject: Case and Cooling
Zerotherm's Zen FZ120 CPU Cooler is about the same size and shape of the Ultra 120 from Thermalright,
and has similar performance. SPCR did like the amount of heat this cooler can deal with, but they did find that the fan hurt their sensitive ears at 12V. Take a read through the review and see if you are willing to sacrifice a little quiet for a bit mroe cooling.
"The Zerotherm Zen FZ120 is a conventional, high performance, tower heatsink — it has four U-shaped heatpipes, tightly packed fins, and a 120mm PWM fan attached via wire clips. It sports a few curves and contours reminiscent of the BTF80/BTF90 "butterfly" coolers (which were quite good)... but the sheer size of the new Zen makes it a more serious contender." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: NGOHQ | Subject: Graphics Card
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Graphics Card
The cries are familiar to anyone who remembers the schoolyard back in the primary grades; screams of "No fair, you cheated" echo and messages are passed via third parties, "I won't talk to him unless he talks to me first" and "Oh ya, well he better apologize first or I won't ever speak to him".
Unfortunately, this bitching and moaning is not emanating
from small children, though you could be forgiven for thinking so, that whine you hear is coming from people who should have gotten over that type of behaviour years ago.
Josh spoke with Roy Taylor of NVIDIA, Dave Erskine and David Baumann of AMD, Mark Rein of Epic Games, and Oliver Baltuch of Futuremark to get their takes on this. "So I am here to put, in writing, a message from NVIDIA to AMD. Richard Huddy, please call Roy Taylor at NVIDIA ASAP. He is awaiting your call." Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: OCMODSHOP | Subject: General Tech
Users of NoScript are accustomed to seeing a message telling them that they need to install Flash player to view a web page properly, and since they specifically installed that add on for that purpose it doesn't bother them. Users of 64-bit OSes on the other hand are not quite so happy, seeing as how Adobe has yet to create a 64-bit version. [OC]ModShop can offer some help to those who haven't found a work around that they like.
"Adobe must really want their users to start using Microsoft's new Silverlight technology (a rich media technology similar to Flash). Adobe has recently released a new version of Flash, and yet there is no version for 64-bit browsers. That means that the person using Vista x64 either has to miss out on the latest websites, or they have to use a 32-bit version of Firefox. Trying to install Adobe onto Internet Explorer (32-bit or 64-bit) seems to work, but users are still met with the infamous "you need to install flash" message." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: AMD | Subject: Case and Cooling
Sunnyvale, Calif. - June 26, 2008 - AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced new ATI Catalyst drivers with major performance enhancements to ATI FireGL professional graphics cards. Availability of this enhanced 8.49.7 Linux driver represents a significant leap for Linux customers seeking improved performance of CAD and digital content creation applications that can offer up to approximately 33 percent faster OpenGL performance than the previous driver. "ATI FireGL graphics accelerators beat the competition in application performance at every price point." said Janet Matsuda, senior director, Professional Graphics at AMD. "In the past we limited this statement to Microsoft Windows XP and Windows Vista environments. Now, ATI FireGL graphics outperform the competition across the board from Linux to Windows XP and Windows Vista." ATI FireGL graphics customers using Linux can take advantage of performance enhancements whether using the value ATI FireGL V3600 or the ultra high-end ATI FireGL V8650, which comes with the industry's largest, 2 GB frame-buffer memory configuration. Additionally, the updated driver is compatible with ATI Radeon graphics. Version 8.49.7 of the ATI Catalyst Driver is now available for download via the ATI Catalyst Linux software suite at http://ati.amd.com/support/driver.html.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: OCZ Technology | Subject: Memory
Sunnyvale, Calif. - June 24, 2008 - OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, components, and system builds, is pleased to announce the availability of its hardware solutions through the popular online segment of Sam's Club, a major player in the U.S. consumer variety stores. By partnering with high-profile and reputable resellers like Sam's Club that offer a wide range of consumer electronics and computer accessories, OCZ's performance hardware will become more accessible to a greater breadth of customers. The Sam's Club website will now feature a variety of OCZ memory, flash, and power supplies, initially offering a specialized segment of products for the needs of enthusiasts, gamers, and mainstream desktop users, further diversifying OCZ's ever-growing sales channel. As the Group's product line continues to expand into different sectors of the technology market, OCZ strives to deliver the most innovative solutions at the nation's largest resellers for ultimate customer convenience. "OCZ's wide range of premium consumer memory, flash and power supply components are designed for customers that demand both high quality performance and reliability" stated Justin Shong, Senior VP of Worldwide Sales, OCZ Technology Group. "We are thrilled to partner with Sam's Club online to make our consumer solutions more readily available to their tech-savvy customers."
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Phoronix | Subject: Case and Cooling
The OCZ EliteXStream 800W sits at a good price point and provides enough power to keep most systems happy without straying into the overkill of a kilowatt PSU. Phoronix prefers having one powerful 12V line as opposed to several lower powered rails, and with 62A on it's single 12V line this PSU fits the bill and the 82% claimed efficiency doesn't hurt either.
"While OCZ Technology is known for their memory products, over the past few years they have developed a strong family of power supplies -- most notably with their PowerStream, ProXStream, and GameXStream series. With their acquisition of PC Power & Cooling in 2007 it affirmed their position as a leader in this market and with the combination of the engineering talent from OCZ and PC Power & Cooling they are now able to deliver even more competitive and high-end products. One of the most recent power supplies to have been introduced under the OCZ brand is the EliteXStream 800W. The OCZ EliteXStream 800W is ATX12V v2.2 compliant, greater than 80% efficiency, single +12V rail, active PFC, and is backed by a five-year warranty. Today we are reviewing this product." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Overclockers Online | Subject: Storage
Lite-On's EZ DUB offers an incredibly easy way to burn disks. It's an external 16x burner that can handle just about any format but Blu-ray and HD-DVD. There are two buttons on the device; pressing Dub will make a copy of whatever disk you have in the drive, file will pop a window up and prompt you to drag whatever files you want copied and then makes your disk. See just how easy it is at Overclockers Online.
"The front of the box advertises the simplicity of the product: Press - Burn - Go. Pretty simple, no?" Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Graphics Card
Ryan has finished reviewing the HD4850 and 4870 and he is quite happy with the results. The HD4870 can beat the dual GPU HD 3870 X2 1GB and has 7.1 channel HD audio decoding to boot. The HD4850 can also compete with the X2, although not beat it, at an MSRP of $199. Read on to get an idea of what has changed in the architecture and technology and then carry on into the benchmarks.
Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Hexus | Subject: General Tech
Alone in the Dark is back and HEXUS spent some quality time with it. Being fans of the original series, they were not disappointed with the story line and they thought the new graphics were superb. Unfortunately they also found a serious flaw with the controls; as they put it, "You don’t so much move Carnby as drive him about like a human shaped remote control car".
"Now I’m sure there’s going to be loads of Alone in the Dark aficionados banging on about the series as a whole and what a ground breaking game the original was and all that. Yes, it was damn fine stuff and the original trilogy, even that Jack-in-the-box mini-game that game out, were hauntingly fun to play. Some would even say that the original Alone in the Dark was the first survival horror game and inspired the likes to Resident Evil, Silent Hill and so on." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Slashdot | Subject: General Tech
The last copies of XP, as well as the last new licenses will be shipped June 30, after that it is a two year (or so) wait until 7. This may seem like bad news to the gamer and home user who don't want to switch to Vista for a variety of reasons. Put that aside for a minute and think of the poor IT worker, who will find it increasingly difficult to get their hands on a replacement machine that doesn't have Vista on it. Corporate adoption of Vista has been bad; about half of the companies spoken to in a recent survey have started or are about to start testing a Vista rollout. Another way of looking at that is that half of those major corporations have no plans to switch for at least a year. It's time to stock up on VLKs and to hope that they store well. Visit Slashdot for more information.
"Microsoft has laid to rest rumors that it might reconsider pulling Windows XP from retail shelves and from most PC makers next Monday. Microsoft's Bill Veghte wrote to customers reiterating that June 30 would be the deadline when Microsoft halts shipments of boxed copies to retailers and stops licensing the operating system directly to OEMs. However, Veghte did leave the door open to all computer makers, even the largest, who want to continue selling new PCs with XP pre-installed. 'Additionally, Systems Builders (sometimes referred to as "local OEMs"), may continue to purchase Windows XP through Authorized Distributors [such as Ingram Micro] through January 31, 2009,' he wrote in the letter. 'All OEMs, including major OEMs, have this option,' said Veghte. At the same time, Microsoft confirmed Windows 7 would ship in January 2010. Who, if they have not already, would install Vista now? Microsoft has said they will post the letter, but it's not up yet." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: AMD | Subject: Graphics Card
SUNNYVALE, Calif. - June 25, 2008 - AMD (NYSE:AMD) today achieved two world firsts in visual computing: the launch of the first teraFLOPS graphics card, the ATI Radeon HD 4850, and the launch of the first graphics card featuring ultra high bandwidth GDDR5 memory, the ATI Radeon HD 4870. These two innovations combine with trademark AMD energy-efficient design and powerful DirectX 10.1 compatibility to deliver superior performance at the high-volume mainstream and performance price points. Both the ATI Radeon HD 4850 and ATI Radeon HD 4870 are immediately available.
"The ATI Radeon 4800 series represents a 2X performance jump over the ATI Radeon HD 3800 GPU, the biggest generational increase since the game-changing launch of the Radeon 9700 in 2002," said Rick Bergman, senior vice president and general manager, Graphics Products Group, AMD. "AMD made a strategic decision to focus on GPU designs that maximized our efficiency and allowed us to provide enthusiasts, performance and mainstream users with the most compelling value proposition at every price point. The ATI Radeon 4800 series sets a new industry standard in key metrics such as performance-per-watt, performance-per-mm2 of chip die size, and performance-per-dollar." AMD customers expressed excitement with the introduction of the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series. "The new ATI Radeon HD 4800 series cards have really impressed us in a lot of areas," said Kelt Reeves, president of Falcon Northwest. "In performance, the ATI Radeon HD 4850 and ATI Radeon HD 4870 just blew past competing cards at their respective price levels. Each draws less power and produces less fan noise for this level of performance as well. To cap it off, the driver support is solid. The ATI Radeon HD 4800 series represents a huge leap forward for AMD." "It is remarkable that we are now able to build high performance gaming PCs with over one teraFLOPS of compute power inside," said Patrick Cooper, director of Product Planning, Alienware."With that kind of performance and the addition of visual enhancements made possible by DirectX 10.1 and tessellation, gamers can now achieve cinema-quality realism. It's an incredible step forward in gaming and Alienware is looking forward to introducing the ATI Radeon HD 4800 series in the near future."
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Bjorn3D | Subject: General Tech
Bjorn3D recently reviewed the Razer Lycosa Gaming Keyboard and found that they liked it a lot. With glowing WASD keys, auto-disabling of the Windows key, full programmable macro keys and more there is a lot to like about the keyboard. As you read through the review, you do start to get the feeling that maybe they are just a little too excited by the keyboard?
"Keyboards of the past were designed for the same thing typewriter keyboards were, typing. Today's computers, being more powerful and diversified, encompass entertainment and gaming and the need for good gaming and multimedia keyboards has grown with the evolution of more powerful machines. We've been scouring the Earth looking for a keyboard that would handle modern games, and still serve as an every day keyboard yet satisfy the gaming enthusiast in all of us. So when Razer contacted us about their Razer Lycosa gaming keyboard we were naturally excited about testing it to see if it could handle our craving for a death dealing device capable of delivering destruction upon our enemies heads with ease and precision. Err, we mean, will it fulfill the needs of the modern gamer. After several weeks of passing the keyboard around the lab, and after many hours of grueling game play, we mean testing, we're ready to give you the skinny on the Lycosa. Stick around and see if the Lycosa is the instrument of destruction you need to improve your gaming arsenal." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: techPowerUp! | Subject: Memory
Winchip's DDR2 667 may not be blazing fast compared to other DIMMs but the size is impressive. 16GB in four 4Gb DIMMs does stand out in the crowd though. techPowerUp! couldn't get the DIMMs to overclock at all, but they did set up a RAM drive and used VMWare to set up a virtual Windows machine with good results.
"There are not many manufacturers offering such massive kits, but Winchip has made some waves before with unique offerings. Their 667 MHz 4x 4 GB kit runs at CL5. Such a large capacity kit is intended for very specific scenarios. We try to showcase some of these." Here are some more Memory articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Tech Spot | Subject: Motherboard
The new ASUS Crosshair II Formula is a 780a SLI chipset, with a GeForce 8 onboard and a PCIe 1x add in card for sound, as opposed to an onboard chip. The sound card makes sense on two levels, it can be physically removed if a XiFi or other card is purchased and it saves a lot of space on the PCB. Techspot took a look at this Phenom board, and their only dissapointment was the price.
"Early this year we reviewed the Asus M3A32-MVP Deluxe, a high-end Phenom supporting motherboard that featured the AMD 790FX chipset. But while gamers wanting to use Crossfire technology will no doubt be quite happy with that product, those wanting to use multiple Nvidia-based graphics cards are going to have to look elsewhere. Unfortunately SLI support does come at a price and choice premium for AMD users. The Asus Crosshair II Formula that we will be testing today features the Nvidia nForce 780a SLI chipset, which is currently the most advanced SLI capable chipset available to AMD users. This new Asus motherboard is a member of the elite "Republic of Gamers" series, meaning that it is geared towards gaming." Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
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