Intel
Shifts Future Core™ Processors Into Turbo Mode INTEL DEVELOPER FORUM, San
Francisco, Aug. 19, 2008 – In his Intel Developer Forum
keynote today, Pat Gelsinger detailed
the roadmap for Intel's continued march toward pervasive,
higher performance and power efficient computing. The senior
vice president and general manager of Intel's Digital
Enterprise Group discussed new features of the company's
next-generation processor family including a new turbo mode
that shifts the processor into a higher gear for
mind-blowing performance without a heat penalty.
The company's first desktop PC chips
branded Intel® Core™ i7 processors and initial
energy-efficient, high-performance server products
(codenamed "Nehalem-EP") will be first to production. Intel
is also planning to manufacture a second server derivative
designed for the expandable sever market ("Nehalem-EX"), and
desktop ("Havendale" and "Lynnfield") and mobile
("Auburndale" and "Clarksfield") client versions in the
second half of 2009.
I have always been a fan of AMD. In fact it was on
an AMD that I popped my overclocking cherry. Looking
back over the years, it's always great to see the
die hard fans of Intel and AMD duke it out over CPU
supremacy. However, for the last couple of years
Intel has had the speed crown thanks to the C2D and
C2Q. Nevertheless, AMD had held the speed crown for
several years before that and I don't think they
were happy losing it. AMD is not going to settle for
second best in a two man race. The 9950 Black
Edition is their new flagship and
we're
going to take it for a test drive to see what's it's
made of.
OCZ Technology
Introduces the ModXStream Pro Series, Efficient, Quiet,
High-Performance Power Supplies Featuring Cable Management
Sunnyvale, CA—August 18, 2008—OCZ Technology Group, a
worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and
high reliability memory and components, today announced the
ModXStream Pro, a superior gaming-grade power supply series
that offers consumers a combination of OCZ’s cutting-edge
PSU architecture and an efficient modular cable management
system. Designed for enthusiasts and gamers in 400W, 500W,
600W, and 700W configurations, the ModXStream Pro is built
for unparalleled stability and will provide optimal
high-performance power to the latest GPUs and CPUs while
promoting a tidy case environment.
The ModXStream Pro Series is the superlative solution for
driving today's gaming systems, and can power both NVIDIA®
SLI™ and ATI CrossFire™ modes. Professional-grade yet
designed with gamers and modders in mind, this PSU is
stable, robust, and sports a sleek look and compact form
factor. Kept ultra-cool with a load-controlled 120mm fan,
the ModXStream Pro was engineered to be the quietest PSU
available and eliminate distracting noises from your PC.
Highly efficient, featuring up to 86% efficiency at typical
load and up to 82% at full load, this leading-edge power
supply remains rock solid and powerful while retaining
superior efficiency under load.
“Global market presence for OCZ high-performance power
supplies continues to grow rapidly due to our ability to
remain on the cutting-edge of both efficiency and
stability,” said Ryan Edwards, Director of Product
Management. “With the introduction of the ModXStream Pro
line of PSUs, end-users can have the whole package –
efficiency, stability, low noise, clean high-performance
power, and the increased air flow and convenience of modular
cables. With a power output to fit every need, the 400 –
700W MXSP are an exciting addition to the extensive range of
PSUs offered by the OCZ Technology Group.”
Today we have the honor of reviewing the new Lian
Li PC-A7110, an all aluminum, full tower chassis that bears the
message "The way you want it to be" right on the box. Years ago we compared every case we reviewed to Lian Li standards
of quality.
Will the ultra high levels of quality and workmanship still be
evident in Lian Li's new case designs? Is it possible that all other
case manufacturers will be held to the standards of
Lian Li once again?
There's only one way to find out so let's
get to it...
Special weekend edition tech news from around the web...
OCZ Technology
introduces the enhanced Core V2, the latest addition to the
SSD series with New Features, Performance Gains, and
Increased Storage Capacity Sunnyvale,
CA—August 14, 2008—Responding the demands of enthusiasts and
high-performance mobile computing consumers, OCZ Technology
Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high
performance and high reliability memory and computer
components, today unveiled the newest addition to their
industry-leading OCZ Core Series SATA II 2.5” Solid State
Drives. The Core Series has established OCZ as a pioneer in
the SSD market by offering consumers the benefits of solid
drives technology at an affordable price. With the industry
continuously shifting in this direction, OCZ strives to
place its Core Series at the forefront.
“OCZ continues the trend of enabling consumers with the
latest in cutting edge solid state disc technology with the
introduction of the new Core V2 SSD,” said Ryan Petersen,
CEO of the OCZ Technology Group. “As SSD technology
progresses, OCZ will continue to release updated and
enhanced solutions to ensure our customers stay on the
leading edge. The new Core V2 drives offer consumers and
system integrators increased capacities up to 250GB,
improved read and write performance and faster seek time,
all coupled with a new mini USB port empowering customers
with the ability to further improve performance and
compatibility by updating firmware in the future.”
Featuring new architecture, the Core Series SSD V2 will be
available in up to a massive 250GB capacity and delivers
enhanced speeds of up to 170 MB/s read and 98 MB/s write
speeds with an improved seek time of less than 0.2-0.3ms,
making the Core V2 significantly faster when it comes to
both Read/Write and seek-time performance. The addition of a
mini-USB port also makes it possible for customers in the
field to update the Core V2’s firmware should new versions
become available, to further enhance compatibility or
performance with future platforms.
OWC ANNOUNCES NEW 2TB MERCURY
ELITE-AL PRO August
14, 2008, Woodstock, IL -- Other World Computing (OWC)
http://www.macsales.com,
a leading Mac and PC technology company, today announced the
new OWC Mercury Elite-AL Pro USB 2.0 Dual-Drive Storage
Solution with a built-in USB 2.0 powered hub and new
expanded storage capacity to 2TB. The Mercury Elite-AL Pro
USB 2.0 Dual-Drive is a low-cost, Plug ‘N Play hard drive
storage solution for any Mac or PC, with capacities from
500GB–2TB, priced at $169.99-$439.99.
The Mercury Elite-AL Pro USB 2.0 Dual-Drive offers the best
USB 2.0 storage performance possible with data transfer
rates of over 60MB per second. With its additional two
powered USB 2.0 ports on the rear of the unit and one
easy-access USB 2.0 port directly on the front, there’s no
need for an additional separate hub. The drive is
geared to users that need more storage and an easy place to
connect devices, like pen drives, bus powered portable hard
drives, and any USB 2.0 device. The Mercury Elite-AL
Pro USB 2.0 Dual-Drive is beautifully designed in a sleek,
protective aluminum package that complements any user’s
computer system.Read the full
press release here.
NVIDIA GeForce
Motherboard GPUs Power New Lines Of Smaller Consumer PCs SANTA CLARA, CA—August 13, 2008—Suppliers of
corporate and business PCs have had success in marketing
small-form-factor PCs, but to date the demand for smaller
PCs in the consumer market has not appeared because these
PCs lacked the visual processing power to meet consumers’
increasingly visual application demands. But this may be
changing as consumer PCs are moving from the desktop to the
living room and great visual processing technology moves
more and more into the mainstream. To meet this nascent
demand, PC makers like Acer are using NVIDIA® motherboard
GPUs to deliver new lines of consumer-oriented,
small-form-factor PCs that have the performance,
functionality, price, and visual performance of full-sized
desktop machines. The Acer Aspire x1200 and x3200 line of
PCs use the NVIDIA GeForce® 8200 GPU to deliver stunning
visual performance while solving many of the thermal, noise,
and cost issues traditionally associated with designing
smaller machines.
Read about it here.
Today
we continue our back to back video card reviews thanks to Sapphire,
but how in the world do you follow the 4870 X2??? With an
overclocked version of the HD 4850 of course! Here's a quote:
"As it goes with all the video
card vendors, it was only a matter of time before the overclock
versions made their debut. Sapphire was the first to send us the
overclocked 4850 and this is not a disappointing sample. I'm
actually amazed at how well a $199.99 video card can perform! Sure,
I would like to have been able to push the card further and harder
with our own user induced overclocking, but again - this is not
totally unheard of when it comes to vendor overclocked cards. The Zalman cooler is quiet, efficient, and hopefully once some
better overclocking utilities present themselves - it will be able
to take this card to new heights."
Mushkin Announces HP3-10666 CL7 High
Performance DDR3 Modules DENVER,
August 12, 2008 – Mushkin, Inc. (www.mushkin.com),
a global leader in high-performance computer products, today
announced availability of the HP3-10666 DDR3 modules. Rated
for 667MHz (1333MT/s data rate) and 7-7-7-20 latencies, the
HP3-10666 significantly improves performance on all DDR3
enabled platforms while using 1.7V supply voltage.
“In order to further drive DDR3
technology to the mainstream, the market needs
value-oriented, high-quality parts that operate the way
end-users expect”, said Brian Flood, Mushkin’s director of
product development. “The new HP3-10666 products
provide the uncompromising quality that Mushkin’s customers
expect, while increasing performance versus standard 9-9-9
rated parts.”
The HP3-10666 modules are immediately
available worldwide in 1GB and 2GB single modules and 2GB (2
x 1GB) and 4GB (2x2GB) dual-channel kits. Every module
is hand-tested beyond its rated specification and features
Mushkin’s FrostByte heatspreader which keeps the modules
within safe operating temperatures. Like all Mushkin
products, the HP3-10666 modules are backed by a lifetime
warranty and an industry-leading technical support staff.
Intel Unveils Extensible Host
Controller Interface Draft Specification to Support USB 3.0
Architecture
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 13, 2008 – Intel Corporation today
announced the availability of the Extensible Host Controller
Interface (xHCI) draft specification revision 0.9 in support
of the USB 3.0 architecture, also known as SuperSpeed USB.
The xHCI draft specification provides a standardized method
for USB 3.0 host controllers to communicate with the USB 3.0
software stack.
Read about it here.
Boy, what a ride the last few months have been. While the star
of ATi had fallen considerably with the launch of the R600-based HD
2900 XT, they have more than made up for it with the launch of the
RV770-based 4850 and 4870. While nVidia was basking in the
glory of the GTX-260 and GTX-280, ATi came out of nowhere and completely took the wind
out of their sails with the price-performance friendly 4000 series.
In turn, nVidia responded by slashing prices and launching the
9800GTX+.
AMD
Launches World’s Fastest Graphics Card
Sunnyvale, Calif. -- August 12, 2008 --AMD (NYSE: AMD) today
announced the world’s fastest graphics card, the ATI Radeon™
HD 4870 X2, advancing visual computing ever closer to
eye-definition computing gaming and cinematic experiences
and delivering a whopping 2.4 teraFLOPS of processing power.
Also announced today is the ATI Radeon™ HD 4850 X2 graphics
card, delivering blistering performance at a compelling
price point.
Read the details here.
Next-Generation Intel PC Chips to Carry Intel Core Name
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 11, 2008 – Intel Corporation
announced today that desktop processors based on the
company's upcoming new
microarchitecture (codenamed "Nehalem") will be formally
branded "Intel® Core™ processor." The first products in this
new family of processors, including an "Extreme Edition"
version, will carry an "i7" identifier and will be formally
branded as "Intel® Core™ i7 processor." This is the first of
several new identifiers to come as different products launch
over the next year.
Read the full article here.
I hate to admit it but I haven't been in the AMD game for a long
time. The last AMD I owned was a Barton 2500. Don't get me wrong,
this isn't going to be an Intel Fanboy writing an AMD motherboard
review. I've been a long time fan of AMD dating back to the K5
series. But the truth is outside of some exceptional video cards,
AMD hasn't given us a whole lot to get excited about lately. However.
when one of my favorite video card companies tells me they have
gotten together with DFI to create a sweet AMD motherboard, it's
time to get excited about AMD again.
Let's take a
look at what Sapphire has created.
Sunnyvale,
CA—August 14, 2008—Responding the demands of enthusiasts and
high-performance mobile computing consumers, OCZ Technology
Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high
performance and high reliability memory and computer
components, today unveiled the newest addition to their
industry-leading OCZ Core Series SATA II 2.5” Solid State
Drives. The Core Series has established OCZ as a pioneer in
the SSD market by offering consumers the benefits of solid
drives technology at an affordable price. With the industry
continuously shifting in this direction, OCZ strives to
place its Core Series at the forefront.
