Featured Reviews
GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD7 Motherboard Review
The GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD7 is the top Intel X79 motherboard in GIGABYTE's product stack. There isn't much in the way of features that GIGABYTE left out of the X79-UD7. Today we will compare the performance of the GIGABYTE GA-X79-UD7 to the ASUS Rampage IV Extreme and the ECS X79R-AX! How will it stack up against The top Intel X79 motherboards from ASUS and ECS? Join our little bandwagon and find out!
NZXT Switch 810 White Case Review
The full tower market has been getting a bit more crowded lately and that causes manufacturers to try and find unique ways to set themselves apart. NZXT is one that is well known for doing things to set itself apart and recently sent us their latest incarnation, the Switch 810. Read on to see if the extra features make us ho hum or say WOW!
Intel 520 'Cherryville' Series 240GB SSD Review in RAID 0
Intel's 'Cherryville' 520 Series SSDs are here, packing heat with SandForce SF-2281 controllers and custom firmware. We received a pair of 240GB drives to throw on our test bench and report our findings. With nearly a year to develop the firmware, will the 520 Series become the new gold standard for SSDs or just another drive in the SandForce pile? Read on to see.
Intel Core i7-3820 3.6GHz Processor Review
Intel's high-end LGA2011 platform has been out since November 2011 and since the platforms introduction there have only been two SNB-E processor choices available, the six-core Intel Core i7-3960X and Core i7-3930K. These hexa-core processors are costly as they run over $600 and that is more than most want to spend. All that changes this month with the introduction of the Intel Core i7-3820 that is priced at just $285. Read on to see how this processor performs!
Deepcool Gamer Storm Dracula VGA Cooler Review
Today we take a look at the flagship GPU cooler from Deepcool, the Dracula. The Dracula is part of Deepcool's Gamer Storm line and is designed for those that want some serious cooling performance. This GPU cooler is massive and takes up four PCI slots when installed. Join us today we put the Dracula on the notoriously hot running NVIDIA GeForce GTX 480 to see how it handles the heat compared to another aftermarket cooler.
AMD Radeon HD 7950 & XFX R7950 Black Edition Video Card Review
AMD has finally released Radeon HD 7950, which happens to be the cut-down version of the Radeon HD 7970 graphics card that hit the streets on January 9th, 2012. The AMD Radeon HD 7950 graphics card is based on the same 'Tahiti' core architecture that is used on the Radeon HD 7970, but some has less features and lower clock speeds. Read on to see how the Radeon HD 7950 performs!
SteelSeries World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse Review - Legendary Edition
SteelSeries recently released another gaming mouse for World of Warcraft players called the SteelSeries World of Warcraft MMO Gaming Mouse: Legendary Edition. Designed for World of Warcraft, this gaming mouse features 130 predefined commands for easy macro creation and 10 profiles that let multiple users save personalized settings. The 11 programmable buttons help you create a customized gaming style. Read on to see how it performs
Legit News
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Video Card Specs
We have finally come across some NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 video card specifications that look valid! Check them out below:
Posted by | Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 04:17 PM | Comments
Ubisoft Releases Another Video For I Am Alive
Ubisoft is planning to release the console game title 'I Am Alive' on March 7, 2012 and to building some hype for the game by releasing a new trailer. The game takes place in the fictional American cit after a worldwide cataclysmic event that wiped out most of the human civilization and left the world in ruins and barely habitable. In the video released for 'I Am Alive' it shows how you can learn to survive in this post apocalyptic world! I saw part of National Geographic Channel's new reality show Doomsday Preppers and it appears that everyone is trying to cash in on this. Doomsday Preppers profiles Americans who have taken extreme measures to plan for a forthcoming apocalypse — whether natural disaster, nuclear war or economic crisis. If the world falls apart be sure to have a generator, so you can play I Am Alive!
One year after, a worldwide cataclysmic event that wiped most of the human race, a man struggles for survival in a desolate city as he tries to reunite with his long lost wife and daughter. In this post-apocalyptical tale, there are no supernatural threats, just an everyman who faces a decaying and hazardous world and humanity’s darkest inclinations. Will you hang on to your humanity and help strangers or are you ready to sacrifice others in order to survive?
Posted by | Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 03:59 PM | Comments
Announcing the 2012 Common Platform Tech Forum
IBM, Samsung, and GLOBALFOUNDRIES will preview the future of silicon technology at the 2012 Common Platform Technology Forum to be held at the Santa Clara Convention Center on March 14. The companies will address next-generation semiconductor innovation and discuss the Common Platform’s technology - covering critical topics such as 28-, 20- and 14-nanometer processes, as well as innovations beyond 14nm and 450mm wafer manufacturing. You can register for the one-day event here.
“The Common Platform alliance is built upon an unmatched legacy of invention and deep commitment to research and development from IBM. The combined expertise of the companies involved is driving truly breakthrough technology innovations for semiconductor manufacturing. Our focus on building the most extensive and open ecosystem around our core manufacturing capabilities delivers customers a flexible and risk-free way to bring a wide range of semiconductor products to market,” said Michael Cadigan, general manager of IBM Microelectronics, on behalf of the Common Platform alliance.
Posted by | Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 03:47 PM | Comments
Intel DX79SI 'Siler' Motherbaord Gets PCI Express 3.0 Functionality With BIOS Update
Intel just sent us word that they have released BIOS Version 0424 (SIX7910J.86A.0424.2012.0127.1620) for their DX79SI motherboard! This BIOS update includes 20 fixes, updates or new features! We've been asking Intel why their flagship Sandy Bridge-E motherboard doesn't support PCI Express 3.0 for weeks and it appears that with this BIOS update the board now supports the PCI Express 3.0 specification. This is good news for AMD Radeon HD 7900 video card owners as they can run their card at its full potential. Sure, the gains of PCI Express 3.0 are hardly noticeable, but at least the board now supports it! You can download the latest BIOS to flash your board here. This was the last Intel X79 motherboard on the market to get PCI Express 3.0 support, which is strange considering Intel made the chipset and board!
New Fixes/Features in BIOS Version 0424:
- Fixed issue with BIOS Recovery support.
- Added keyboard controller reset workaround.
- Fixed issue where internal PLL override option does not work correctly.
- Fixed issue where non-XE CPU will not run in Turbo speed.
- Updated processor support.
- Fixed issue with manual mode fan control.
- Updated FSC Stack.
- Updated GUID defined section Security check.
- Disabled ACPI OS native PCI Express support when certain graphics card is installed in the system.
- Improved memory stability at higher memory speed.
- Updated Turbo Ratio maximum limit in BIOS Setup.
- Updated Turbo related options range in BIOS Setup.
- Improved BIOS watchdog timer support for Intel Extreme Tuning Utility.
- Updated PEG slot to support PCIe Gen3.
- Updated Setup options for Overclocking Assistance and Turbo Ratio.
- Added support for Primary/Secondary Temperature Input parameters to controller.
- Fixed issue where some USB optical drives are not detected.
- Fixed random hang at boot on systems with TPM present.
- Fixed POST hang at boot with cursor at top-left of screen with certain option ROM configurations.
- Updated SATA RAID option ROM to version 1370.
Posted by | Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 03:41 PM | Comments
Apple Faces Fines In China Over iPad Trademark, Sales Ban Possible
Proview Shenzhen Technology and Apple have been locked in a legal battle over the iPad trademark in China for some time now. According to reports Proview registered the iPad trademark in 2000, six full years before Apple unveiled the iPad in 2006. Proview has urged the local administration to make a final decision on Apple's penalty, with the formal complaint calling for US $38 million in fines. Proview also plans to seek $1.586 billion in compensation from Apple for their use of the iPad trademark. Considering the fact that Apple is indirectly one of the largest employers in Shenzhen, which is reliant on Apple monetarily should indicate just how strong Proview's case is. Apple can still appeal the court's ruling, but based on existing facts it would most likely lose the appeal again. Proview's lawyers have stated they are ready for a long-term legal battle to settle the dispute; however some sources disagree pointing out Proview is trapped in a debt crisis and only using the lawsuit as a means to bail itself out. As it stands if Apple fails to win an appeal or negotiate with Proview they could face a sales ban in China on top of fines and damages.
Beijing authorities have launched an investigation into possible trademark infringement by Apple after a Chinese company filed a lawsuit against the electronics giant for infringing upon its trademark of the iPad name, which may result in Apple receiving a heavy fine.
Posted by | Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 02:54 PM | Comments
Price Gives ARM Edge Against AMD & Intel
AMD and Intel, the x86 heavyweights, are struggling in their competition with ARM. Their efforts to develop low power x86 processors and platforms to compete with ARM in the tablet, smartphone and netbook markets just isn't price competitive according to manufacturers. The simple fact that ARM processors are manufactured by a multitude of companies with tough competition among them has ensured that ARM processor platforms are significantly cheaper than low-power x86 designs. Intel recently debuted the 32nm "Medfield" Atom processors, the power consumption being as low as 11W will allow Intel to release x86 Android 4.0-based devices this year. In the second half of 2012 it is expected that Intel will launch another Atom line of processors with power consumption under 10W. These chips will be used in high-end smartphones. In the meantime, AMD will unveil their new "Hondo" x86 architecture with integrated Radeon graphics IP, which is expected to have a power consumption of less then 5W. The launch of the "Temash" APU in 2013, using the 28nm process, is expected to have a power consumption under 2W. If AMD and Intel can lower prices, their processors paired with Windows 8 might be competitive with ARM in 2013, but that's still a full year away and ARM is unlikely to sit quietly during that time.
While Intel and AMD have been making efforts to develop low power processors for use in smartphones and tablet PCs, they cannot compete with solutions from ARM in terms of price, according to notebook makers.
Posted by | Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 11:57 AM | Comments
95% Of Paradox's Revenue Stems From Digital Distribution
Paradox Interactive's CEO Fred Wester has a few choice words to say about their digital distribution revenue: "My own experience of digital distribution is that we made 1.5 percent of our revenue from digital distribution in 2006, while the digital number in 2011 was over 95%.". The simple fact their digital distribution revenue increased by 93.5% over five years is insane. The increase itself is attributed to two things according to Wester, one is customers replacing physical media for digital, the other the big push Paradox has made on the digital front itself. Those two factors are what has driven growth, Paradox has made their games available everywhere imaginable and made it convenient for customers at every turn. It seems a number of publishers could learn a thing or two from Fred Wester and Paradox Interactive.
Paradox’s CEO Fred Wester has revealed the startling growth of Paradox’s digital distribution revenue. I’ll put it in the man’s own words, because not long afterward he himself grew in relation to the number. He’s a giant now, and incapable of understanding numbers. He said.
Posted by | Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 10:25 AM | Comments
Antec Launches One - Gaming Series PC Case For $59.95
Antec today announced the One, the latest addition to their Gaming Series of PC cases. The One is aimed mainstream gamers, new PC builders and seasoned system integrators alike, as it provides user-friendly cooling and convenient features at an affordable price. Antec says that this case has ample cooling, fits video cards up to 10.5" in length, supports USB 3.0, has tool-less 5.25" & 3.5" drive bays and features a bottom-mounted PSU that has an air filter on the intake. The feature list looks rather complete for an ATX Mid Tower. The One is available with an MSRP of $59.95. Antec will also bring two special versions, the One S (MSRP $49.95) and the One S3 (MSRP $54.95), to the market. We searched and found the Antec One on sale at Newegg for $54.99 plus $9.99 shipping.
“The One is for anyone who has thought about building a PC or for anyone looking for a wallet-friendly, long-lasting case,” said Mafalda Cogliani, Global Marketing Director at Antec. “It’s a great option for system integrators because it has tool-less drive bays and blends well in a home.”
Posted by | Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 10:15 AM | Comments
G.Skill Launches Ares Low Profile DDR3 Memory Kits
G.Skill today announced the brand new Ares series low profile performance DDR3 memory that was designed to work well with large CPU coolers. The G.Skill Ares memory modules are fitted with a low profile heat spreader design that stands at just 3.2cm in height (1.26-inches).
G.Skill Ares specifications
|
Frequency |
Timing |
Available Capacity |
Voltage |
Color |
Model |
|
1333MHz |
CL 9-9-9-24 |
8GB(4Gx2)/16GB(4GBx4)(8GBx2)/ |
1.5V |
Orange |
AO |
|
1600MHz |
CL10-10-10-30 |
16GB(8GBx2)/32GB(8GBx4) |
1.5V |
Orange |
AO |
|
1600MHz |
CL 9-9-9-24 |
8GB(4GBx2)/16GB(4GBx4) |
1.5V |
Orange/Blue |
AO/AB |
|
1600MHz |
CL 8-8-8-24 |
8GB(4GBx2)/16GB(4GBx4) |
1.5V |
Blue |
AB |
|
1866MHz |
CL 9-10-9-28 |
8GB(4GBx2)/16GB(4GBx4) |
1.5V |
Blue |
AB |
|
1866MHz |
CL10-11-10-30 |
16GB(8GBx2)/32GB(8GBx4) |
1.5V |
Blue |
AB |
|
2133MHz |
CL11-11-11-31 |
8GB(4GBx2)/16GB(4GBx4) |
1.6V |
Orange |
AO |
|
2133MHz |
CL9-11-10-28 |
8GB(4GBx2)/16GB(4GBx4) |
1.65V |
Blue |
AB |
Posted by | Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 09:52 AM | Comments
Rambus and NVIDIA Sign 5-Year Patent License Agreement - Settle All Patent Disputes
It was announced this morning that Rambus has signed a five-year licensing agreement with NVIDIA as the two companies have settled all of their outstanding patent disputes. The agreement covers the use of Rambus patented innovations in a broad range of integrated circuit (IC) products offered by NVIDIA. The term of this agreement is five years; other details are confidential.
“This is an important license agreement as it settles our differences and allows us to move forward with NVIDIA, the leader in visual and parallel computing,” said Harold Hughes, president and chief executive officer at Rambus. “Looking forward, we have the opportunity to focus on developing innovative solutions in concert with our licensees to help bring compelling, innovative products to market.”
Posted by | Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 09:32 AM | Comments
Google Announces Chrome For Android Beta
Google has finally introduced a version of their popular Chrome browser for Android devices! Chrome for Android Beta is now available from Android Market, but only in select countries and languages for phones or tablets that are running Android 4.0 'Ice Cream Sandwich' right now.
With Chrome for Android, you can search, navigate and browse fast—Chrome fast. You can scroll through web pages as quickly as you can flick your finger. When searching, your top search results are loaded in the background as you type so pages appear instantly. And of course, both search and navigation can all be done quickly from the Chrome omnibox.
Posted by | Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 09:22 AM | Comments
AMD Announces FirePro V3900 Professional Graphics Card For $119
AMD has launched the AMD FirePro V3900, which is the companies entry-level priced workstation graphics card. AMD says that the FireProV3900 provides up to 95% better application performance than the competition thanks to AMD's latest graphics features, including AMD Eyefinity technology. The AMD FirePro V3900 is currently available in select workstation systems and will be sold for $119 MSRP at select online resellers.
"The AMD FirePro V3900 is the most powerful entry-level professional graphics card on the market today," says Sandeep Gupte, general manager of Professional Graphics, AMD. "Armed with advanced multi-display capability of AMD Eyefinity technology, extensive certifications for professional applications and blazing fast performance, it offers best-in-class value for our technical and business customers."
Posted by | Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 09:08 AM | Comments
February 8, 2012 News from Around the Web
Sapphire VID-2X Review @ OCC and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!
"With many in the industry projecting a sharp decline of desktop PC sales over the next few years, an external portable solution for laptop and netbook users on the go may find it a product that will handily fit into their carrying case and very useful for sales presentations, or to just make their tasks easier with increased screen estate. The idea of reduced toggling between multiple open programs and applications is also very appealing as well. As an avid user of a multiscreen desktop setup, I can attest to how much more easy and enjoyable the access is in day to day computing, project management, and content creation software settings.This product would also seem to hit its stride in board rooms and businesses."
Posted by | Wed, Feb 08, 2012 - 08:38 AM | Comments
Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 Limited Edition Motherboard Sold Out & Not Coming Back
We recently noticed that the Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 motherboard was deactivated at Newegg and we reached out to Gigabyte to find out what the deal was. We just got a response back from Gigabyte and the company says that their flagship Intel X79 motherboard was a limited edition sku and that they have sold out. Gigabyte also went on to say that no more are being produced, thus the board is end of life (EOL). If you want to buy the Gigabyte GA-X79-UD7 mainboard you might be able to find some floating around, but that will be it. We didn't know that this board would be such a limited edition board and already be gone!
No, we don't have this board anymore. It was a limited edition board and it's all sold out.
Posted by | Tue, Feb 07, 2012 - 05:40 PM | Comments
Kingston & Sandisk Slashing Product Prices That Use NAND Flash Memory
Last week it was reported that Kingston Technology was planning on cutting prices for all of its NAND flash products, including USB drives, memory cards and SSDs, by as much as 15%. It appears that SanDisk has followed suit and is also lowering prices of memory cards and USB drives in an effort to protect its market share, according to sources at memory module makers in Asia. These price drops have been made possible thanks to an excess of NAND flash on the market and improved manufacturing processes. A quick look at NAND Flash chip pricing and it appears to be down nearly 40% from 12 months ago. Kingston is the dominant force in the memory market and now that they have slashed prices it will likely make other companies cut prices to stay competitive with them. Expect Soilid-State Drive (SSD) prices to fall in the months ahead as a result of this move.
Kingston reportedly has launched its first-wave price reduction especially in emerging market, which is aimed at growing its presence in the global NAND flash product segment. But the company responded saying its price adjustments are to coordinate chip suppliers' shift to more advanced 2Xnm production technologies.
Posted by | Tue, Feb 07, 2012 - 04:06 PM | Comments
Heat Could Bring Hard Drive Performance Breakthrough
At the University of York in the United Kingdom, researchers led by Thomas Ostler have discovered a new way to improve hard disk drive (HDD) performance: Heat. The researchers discovered that by using a short burst of heat they could record data at a much faster rate. They accomplished this by hitting a magnet with a laser for less than one trillionth of a second, raising the temperature by an astounding 800 degrees Celsius. This short term burst of heat increases performance to levels hundreds of times faster than current HDDs. Essentially the method could allow for hard drives capable of recording terabytes of data per second, while lowering power consumption during the process.
Hard drives store data using magnetic recording, with tiny sections of the disc magnetized in a particular direction to represent the 0 or 1 of a bit. Recording data involves flipping the direction, which is currently done using an external magnetic field. Now, a team of researchers led by Thomas Ostler at the University of York, UK have discovered that a short burst of heat can do the job much faster.
Posted by | Tue, Feb 07, 2012 - 03:28 PM | Comments
Rumor: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 Video Card Will Blow The AMD Radeon HD 7970 Away
Lenzfire says that the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 (Kepler) will be up to 45% faster than AMD’s Radeon HD 7970 'Tahiti' graphics card. The site goes on to say that the GeForce GTX680 will have a 2GB frame buffer and will be priced at $649 when it launches in April 2012. If this rumor is true it means that for $100 more than an AMD Radeon HD 7970 3GB card you will get a video card that is up to 45% faster. If this is true, it will be really good news for NVIDIA. Of course, this is just a rumor and with launch still over a month away it will be interesting to pan things out. It is always entertaining to check out the video card speculations before a major launch!
- 850MHz Core clock
- 2 GB 5.5GHz GDDR5 Memory
- 1024 Stream Processors
- 512bit Bus Width
- Priced at $649
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 600 Series Lineup Details:
- GTX 690 - 2x750MHz Core / 2x1.75GB 4.5GHz GDDR5 / 2x448-bit bus / 2x1024 CUDA Cores / $999
- GTX 680 - 850MHz Core / 2GB 5.5GHz GDDR5 / 512-bit bus / 1024 CUDA Cores / $649
- GTX 670 - 850MHz Core / 1.75GB 5GHz GDDR5 / 448-bit bus / 896 CUDA Cores / $499
- GTX 660 Ti - 850MHz Core / 1.5GB 5GHz GDDR5 / 384-bit bus / 768 CUDA Cores / $399
- GTX 660 - 900MHz Core / 2GB 5.8GHz GDDR5 / 256-bit bus / 768 CUDA Cores / $319
- GTX 650 Ti - 850MHz Core / 1.75GB 5.5GHz GDDR5 / 224-bit bus / 448 CUDA Cores / $249
- GTX 650 - 900MHz Core / 1.5GB 5.5GHz GDDR5 / 192-bit bus / 256 CUDA Cores / $179
- GTX 640 - 850MHz Core / 2GB 5.5GHz GDDR5 / 128-bit bus / 192 CUDA Cores / $139
Posted by | Tue, Feb 07, 2012 - 03:21 PM | Comments
Electronic Arts Releases Shank 2 PC Game for $9.99
Electronic Arts today announced that the cinematic 2D action brawler, Shank 2, is now available on the PlayStation Network and PC in North America for $9.99 USD. Shank 2 will be available tomorrow on Xbox LIVE Arcade for 800 Microsoft Points and on PlayStation Network in Europe for €9.99.The sequel has received praise in early reviews and looks pretty good if you like 2D games. hank 2's all-new multiplayer Survival mode drops players into fast paced and action-packed interactive environments where they tactically take down hordes of goons and mini-bosses in an arcade-style fight to protect objectives and stay alive. You can see a demo of this mode in the clip below!
Shank 2 drops players into a stunning pulp fiction world as Shank, an ex-mob hitman who is forced down the road to redemption after his village comes under brutal attack. With precise and fluid controls, tons of new weapons, stronger enemies and the most advanced combo system of any 2D brawler, Shank 2 delivers a dynamic and evolved combat experience. Players have access to a diverse arsenal of guns, knives, chainsaws, baseball bats, and more as they move through Klei's beautifully drawn environments that earned the indie studio IGF's Excellence in Visual Arts nomination in 2010, and the Canadian Animator of the Year award in 2011.
Posted by | Tue, Feb 07, 2012 - 02:21 PM | Comments
Team Group Announces Lucky Dragon USB Key For Chinese New Year
Team Group has announced the Team C121 Lucky Dragon USB Drive! Could this USB drive bring you good fortune in the Year of the Dragon 2012? Team Group has adorned this USB Flash drive with Chinese totems and believes that it is a good choice for personal use or as a gift. The Team C121 Lucky Dragon uses a USB 2.0 interface and is available in 4GB, 8GB, and 16GB capacities. No word on pricing, but Team Group has always had affordable prices on their Flash memory devices.
Team Group Inc. presents Team C121 Lucky Dragon USB Disk to make another auspicious and lucky year! C121 Lucky Dragon integrates chic technology and Chinese totems and adopts the brilliantone-finger push-based mechanism. It is compact and attractive as a popular 3C product in 2012. Team C121 Lucky Dragon is compact with push-based mechanism to prevent cap loss and to ensure outstanding protection and simple operation. All Team memory module products come with a lifetime warranty, repair and replacement services.
Posted by | Tue, Feb 07, 2012 - 01:15 PM | Comments
Cooler Master Elite 361 Budget PC Case Launched at $39.99
Cooler Master today launched the Elite 361 rotatable chassis. The company says that this is a formidable Mini-Tower contender that focuses on versatility and expandability within a compact enclosure. The price tag on this case is $39.99 (MSRP) and is obviously aimed at budget builds. The key feature of the CM Elite 361 is that it can be placed either horizontally or vertically and doesn't take up a ton of space. A rotatable Cooler Master logo and four user attachable rubber feet assist in making these transitions.
The Cooler Master Elite 361 supports up to a full-sized ATX motherboard, five 3.5” hard drives while being potentially expandable to a multiple graphics card configuration with its seven expansion slots. Benefiting from innovate enthusiast-grade features, Elite 361 incorporates a removable hard drive cage that, when removed, offers a maximum space of 12.3” or 312mm for graphics card length. A large 120mm top fan and several optional 80mm to 120mm fan ports provide superior ventilation potential.
Posted by | Tue, Feb 07, 2012 - 01:05 PM | Comments
Hackers Hold Symantec Ransom, Source Code Leaked
Hackers, supposedly from Anonymous, demanded $50,000 from Symantec Corp in return for destroying the source code for Symantec's pcAnywhere product. The hackers who stole the source code have posted conversations on Pastebin detailing the demands of Yamatough, who claimed to have the source code for multiple Symantec products. The Negotiations between Yamatough and Symantec began back in January just after the source code theft, with Symantec agreeing to pay the money to Anonymous. The negotiations broke down however, with Symantec only offering to pay in monthly installments. Eventually with negotiations having soured, the hacker set a 10-minute deadline for Symantec to meet his demands, which they failed to do. The resulting fallout ended with "Symantec's pcAnywhere Leaked Source Code" being put up on The Pirate Bay. The real twist here is the fact that the negotiations between Yamatough and Symantec had been under investigation since January, and it was a sting operation to catch the hackers. The sting operation was confirmed to CNET last night with a statement from Symantec. The investigation appears to still be ongoing, with the hackers free for the time being.
Yamatough demanded that Symantec transfer the money via Liberty Reserve, a payment processor based in San Jose, Costa Rica. But Thomas appears reluctant, calling it "more complicated than we expected." Thomas instead suggests using PayPal to transmit a $1,000 test as "a sign of good faith." Yamatough rejects that offer, saying, "Do not send us any money (we do not use paypal period) do not send us any 1k etc. We can wait till we agree on final amount."
Posted by | Tue, Feb 07, 2012 - 10:54 AM | Comments
MAINGEAR TITAN 17 Gaming Notebook Updated - Gets Intel Sandy Bridge-E CPUs
MAINGEAR has updated the TITAN 17 high performance desktop replacement solution with all new aesthetic features while still maintaining top of the line performance for PC gamers who want to harness desktop-like power wherever they go and creative professionals that can work on site with no loss in productivity. The TITAN 17 features support for both the Intel Core i7 3930K and the Core i7 3960X Extreme Edition. The MAINGEAR TITAN 17 starts at $3,499 and is available now. For that price you get the Intel Core i7 3930K six-core processor, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M 2GB video card and 8GB of Corsair Vengeance DDR3-1600 memory. Not bad for the standard build!
“The new MAINGEAR TITAN 17 offers the best in desktop replacement versatility.” Said Wallace Santos, CEO and Co-founder of MAINGEAR Computers. “With the power of the latest Intel 2nd generation Core I7 Extreme Edition desktop processor, dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580Ms in SLI and with the option to use Quadro 510M graphics, this system caters to anyone looking for the ultimate mobile powerhouse.”
Posted by | Tue, Feb 07, 2012 - 09:41 AM | Comments
NVIDIA 'Kepler' GK104 Die Said To Be Smaller Than AMD Radeon HD 7900 'Tahiti' Die
Charlie Demerjian over at SemiAccurate says that he was shown an NVIDIA Kepler GK104 GPU! He says that the GK104 chip will be around 18-19mm x 18-19mm in size, which means that the die size will be between 324-361 mm^2. This is interesting if it is true as the AMD 'Tahiti' core that is used on the Southern Islands lineup (Radeon HD 7900 Series) is 365mm^2. Rumor has it that the TDP on the GK104 will be somewhere around 225W with the 28nm manufacturing process. The TDP on the AMD Radeon HD 7970 is 250W and 200W on the Radeon HD 7950. Charlie mentioned that the NVIDIA GK104 might be done by late March, so things are going to get really interesting in the video card market. Will NVIDIA take the performance crown back from AMD? If the cards using GK104 come out at the rumored $299 price point, it might turn the GPU market upside down. We won't say that NVIDIA has a performance segment killer yet, but it looks like they are cooking up something really interesting.
The chip we saw is roughly 18-19mm * 18-19mm, putting the range from 324-361mm^2. If you assume it is both square and in the middle, 342mm^2 wouldn’t be a bad number to plug in to the spreadsheets. While this is a lot bigger than we were expecting, it is still smaller than Tahiti by an appreciable margin. If performance ends up about where we have been told, it will be about as efficient as AMD’s current chips at a lot lower power draw. If the price holds up too, GK104 will own the mid-market, aka where the money is. Net result, if Nvidia can get it to yield, power use stays where it is now, as do clocks, and they don’t get greedy with the price, well, three of four isn’t a bad tally.
Posted by | Mon, Feb 06, 2012 - 02:22 PM | Comments
Intel Solid-State Drive 520 Series Released - Intel Goes Sandforce
Intel launched the companies fastest, most robust client/consumer solid-state drive (SSD) to date this morning with the release of the Intel Solid-State Drive 520 Series (Intel SSD 520), a 6 gigabit-per-second (gbps) SATA III SSD produced using Intel 25-nanometer (nm) NAND memory.
"We tapped Intel engineering to create a client SSD that delivers performance on all fronts with obsessively high reliability," said Rob Crooke, Intel vice president and general manager of the Intel Non-Volatile Memory Solutions Group. "The Intel SSD 520 once again raises the industry bar on SSD performance, quality and reliability to dramatically improve user experience."
Posted by | Mon, Feb 06, 2012 - 10:59 AM | Comments
Micron Technology Appoints Mark Durcan as CEO
Micron Technology recently announced the appointment of Mark Durcan as Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of the company. Mr. Durcan will also serve as a Director on Micron's Board of Directors. The appointments come after the company reported that Steven R. Appleton, longtime Micron Chairman and CEO, passed away in a Feb. 3 airplane accident in Boise.
The Board of Directors also announced the appointment of Director Robert E. Switz as Chairman of the Board and Mark W. Adams as President. Mr. Switz has served as a Director since 2006 and is the former Chairman and CEO of ADC Telecommunications. He has previously served as chair of the Micron Board's Audit and Governance committees. Mr. Adams joined the company in 2006 and served most recently as Vice President of Worldwide Sales.
Posted by | Mon, Feb 06, 2012 - 10:52 AM | Comments
Skyrim PC Gamers Getting Creation Kit Tomorrow
Bethesda’s Vice President, Pete Hines posted a tweet last week that The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim’s Creation Kit along with a special surprise would arrive on the PC tomorrow. What could the surprise be?
With Skyrim Workshop, you can browse and search for the latest or highest rated mods, subscribe to any that interest you, rate your favorites and post feedback. Once you've subscribed to some mods, start the Skyrim launcher and you'll see your subscribed mods automatically download. The launcher will even check if a mod has been updated and grab the latest version.
Posted by | Mon, Feb 06, 2012 - 10:48 AM | Comments
AVADirect Launches Intel X79 Chipset Powered Gaming Notebook
AVADirect just announced that the company is the first to offer Clevo's P270WM mobile gaming notebook. The Clevo P270WM is based off of the Intel X79 chipset and powered by Sandy Bridge-E processors. AVADirect said that with these desktop components placed inside a gaming notebook that consumers can expect performance increases of as much as 35-50 percent. AVADirect will begin to accept pre-orders for the X79 high-end gaming notebook as of today. The base price starts at $3305.61 and will feature the Intel core i7 3930K, GTX 580M 2B, 4GB of DDR3 RAM at 1333Mhz, 750GB 7200RPM hard disk, and Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.
The P270WM's design shapes the ground we stand on by creating new standards for mobile desktop replacements. The revolutionary X79-fueled P270WM, being the successor of the world renowned Clevo X7200, supports all of the functionality provided by its older brother. Three 9.5 inch hard drives, with optional RAID, two USB 3.0 ports, SLI support, HD LED screen, HDMI 1.4a support, and the recently re-designed express card slot for third-party expansion are still key features of the newly offered Clevo P270WM Gaming Notebook. The Nvidia GTX 580M 2GB comes standard in the Clevo P270WM and offers SLI support for gaming duality. The GPU offers 384 CUDA cores, or 768 when in SLI. Furthermore, the victor of desktop replacements offers the Quadro 5010M 4GB for the elitist AutoCAD or developing engineer. Combined with the support of Quad-channel DDR3 SODIMM RAM and speeds up to 1866Mhz, creating a configuration suitable for your tasks is as simple as a few clicks on AVADirect's website. The board features a total of four SODIMM slots expandable up to 32GB. The P270WM includes full 3D support, which has never been provided in a desktop replacement until now. End-users will more importantly be interested in the first-ever backlit keyboard integrated in the P270WM notebook. Clevo has not received outstanding remarks in the past for their lack of aesthetically pleasing designs, but a backlit keyboard changes everything enthusiasts have grown to know about Clevo's design.
Posted by | Mon, Feb 06, 2012 - 10:10 AM | Comments
THQ Delays Metro: Last Light Till Q1 2013
THQ recently announced the companies fiscal 2012 third quarter results and by doing so they revealed an updated product roadmap for investors. Metro: Last Light has been delayed, moving back to Q4 FY 2013 – that is, the first quarter of calendar 2013; it had been expected in time for the holidays this year. It looks like the game title 'Metro: Last Light' has been delayed! THQ appears to have moved it off till Q4 FY 2013, which is really the first quarter of calendar year 2013. Most had been expecting the title to come out in time for the holidays this year.
Beneath the ruins of post-apocalyptic Moscow, in the crumbling Metro tunnels, you hold the key to humanity's survival -- the last light in our darkest hour...
Posted by | Mon, Feb 06, 2012 - 09:11 AM | Comments
Thermaltake Announces New Toughpower & SMART Series Power Supplies
Thermaltake recently expanded both the Toughpower and the SMART PSU product lines by adding Toughpower 550W, 650W and 750W 80Plus Gold certified as well as SMART 750W and 850W 80Plus Bronze certified PSUs. Thermaltake believes these five new power supplies will be able to fulfill mainstream users and enthusiasts power requirements. The Thermaltake SMART M850W is pictured below and is a modular power supply with a single +12V rail rated at 70 Amps and is backed by a 3-year warranty. Thermaltake did not mention pricing of any of the new models. You can find more pictures, including internal shots, by following the link below to the forums.
Toughpower 550W, 650W and 750W 80Plus Gold Series:
Carrying the same concept, Toughpower series want to provide user a reliable, efficient and eco-friendly environment. Therefore the new Toughpower Gold Series adopted Active CLAMP circuitry offers low power loss and high efficiency, 100% High Quality Japanese Capacitors provide uncompromised performance and reliability, Industrial Grade Protection on over current and voltage, under voltage, over power, over temperature and short-circuit protections to ensure the critical components have the best chance of avoiding damage if a problem were to arise, and Quiet and durable cooling Fan offers long-lasting Fluid Dynamic Bearing fan delivers excellent airflow at an exceptionally low noise level, making the Toughpower 550W, 650W and 750W 80Plus Gold a great choice for mainstream users.
SMART 750W and 850W 80Plus Bronze Modular Series:
As the responses of the flat modular cables are assenting in market, the SMART Modular Series would like to provide more choices for enthusiasts by adding the 750W and 850W into the Series. Both 750W and 850W units pretty much similar to 450W, 550W and 650W with built in industrial-grade protections for over current, over Voltage, under voltage, over power and short-circuit protections and 14cm cooling fan with intelligent RPM control guarantees cool performance and silent operation. The differences in 750W and 850W are by adopting 100% high quality Japanese capacitors and adding DC-DC converter circuitry on top of double forward circuitry to ensure the efficiency and stability. Both of series are compliance with Intel ATX 12V 2.3 & SSI EPS 12V 2.92 standards and are guaranteed to deliver continuous power 24 / 7 @ 40℃.
Posted by | Mon, Feb 06, 2012 - 08:53 AM | Comments
Origin PC Debuts Frostbyte 360 Liquid Cooling System
ORIGIN PC announced today the exclusive availability of their new FROSTBYTE 360 liquid cooling system. Featuring silent pumps, a high efficiency triple 120mm radiator, and zero maintenance, the FROSTBYTE 360 liquid cooling system allows for extreme overclocking in a more affordable solution. The ORIGIN PC GENESIS configured with the FROSTBYTE 360 starts at $1599. With the FROSTBYTE 360 installed, ORIGIN has been able to reach processor speeds up to 5.2GHz. The FROSTBYTE 360 costs $121.00 more than the FROSTBYTE 120 sealed liquid cooling system and is not available as a stand alone product.
- ORIGIN professional CPU overclocking up to 5.2GHz on multiple cores
- Micro-channel copper CPU block and 360mm high efficiency copper radiator
- Embedded temperature sensor delivers the copper surface temperature with an accuracy of +/- 1C
- Ultra silent operation and exceptionally low weight
- Factory sealed, maintenance free operation
- Thermal resistance as low as 0.085 C/W
"Until now, extreme overclocking required hundreds if not thousands of dollars worth of components including pumps, radiators, coolant hoses, fittings, and expensive water blocks." said Kevin Wasielewski ORIGIN PC CEO and cofounder. "With the Frostbyte 360, a maintenance free liquid cooling solution, ORIGIN PC customers can enjoy top-end CPU performance at a fraction of the cost."
Posted by | Mon, Feb 06, 2012 - 08:39 AM | Comments
February 6, 2012 News from Around the Web
Xigmatek Midgard II Mid-Tower Chassis Review @ TweakTown and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!
"I remember looking at the original Midgard from Xigmatek and I even refreshed my memory by looking at the old review from 2010. As I remember, the original offered something like five ODD bays, five HDD bays with metal trays, seven expansion slots and a pair of orange bladed fans to go along with the tool-less mechanisms used in that chassis. One other thing I remember was that the original did have most of the front and the entire top covered with mesh for easy breathe-ability for both air in through the front. Via convection it allowed hot air to escape right through the top passively or you could add fans to help things along. All in all, for the time of its release, the Midgard had an oddly placed front I/O panel, but other than that it was a nice chassis for its day. As time progresses, older designs are left in the dust in favor of cases with USB 3.0, room to manage wires behind the motherboard tray and even handy hot-swap SATA hard drive docks built into cases are a huge hit. Well, Xigmatek saw the writing on the wall and took what was a good selling product for them and figured it was time to update the chassis to today's customers' expectations. With a fresh set of eyes, the new release got both an exterior and an interior redo. There are some subtle hints to the original case, but honestly it looks a lot like the mid towers we seen from BitFenix. Either way, the new chassis is a definite improvement over the original concept."
Posted by | Mon, Feb 06, 2012 - 07:35 AM | Comments
Snow Leopard Update Breaks PowerPC Apps Using Rosetta Framework
A security update released alongside Mac OS X Snow Leopard by Apple is causing no end of headaches for a group of Mac users. The update has apparently caused major issues for users running older PowerPC applications running on Apple's Rosetta framework. The security update 2012-001 was released alongside OS X 10.7.3 on February 1st 2012. This update was to fix security issues found in OS X 10.7.3 for users still running Max OS X Snow leopard. The problem is that the update causes crashes when trying to use commands from an application's drop down menus. The problem affects many applications including: older versions of Adobe Photoshop, Quicken, Filemaker 7, Microsoft Office X and more that were written to run on PowerPC chips used in older Apple machines. Rosetta was developed by Apple during its transition to Intel in order to allow older applications to function on updated hardware, granted Apple has now killed off Rosetta in OS X Lion, but it was still used in Mac OS X Snow leopard as an optional install. A Mac user on the Apple Discussion forums has created a work around patch to address the issue but it's considered a band-aid at best. Apple is working on a fix to the problem, but users will have to be patient till it's ready.
While the odd "CUI Error" experienced by some users after upgrading to OS X 10.7.3 earlier this week has garnered a fair amount of attention, it appears that a security update released for Mac OS X Snow Leopard at the same time is also causing major issues for users who rely on older PowerPC applications that run under Apple's Rosetta framework.
Posted by | Sun, Feb 05, 2012 - 09:17 AM | Comments
Motorola Sells Refurbished Xooms, Forgets To Delete Previous Owners Data
Another day, another slip up; this time it comes from Motorola. The company managed to put previous customers information at risk when it failed to wipe the memory on a batch of refurbished Xooms. The tablets were sold by Woot.com sometime between October and December of 2011, with Motorola claiming the mistake only affects a small batch of Xoom tablets. The total number of units shipped with previous owner's data is said to be 100 out of a batch of 6200 refurbished Xooms. Motorola will be going the extra mile for customers suffering from this mistake by offering two years of Experian identification protection services to those whose private information was exposed and are advising customers to call 1-866-926-9803 to sign up for the credit monitoring service. Motorola is even going so far as to offer a $100 American Express gift card to those who send in their affected Xoom to be reset. To find out if your Xoom is among those affected, you can check online or call 1-800-734-5870 and select option 1.
The information that may be accessible to the purchasers of the impacted refurbished tablets may include any information that the original user elected to store on the tablet. It is possible that users might have stored photographs and documents. They may have also stored user names and passwords for email and social media accounts, as well as other password-protected sites and applications.
Posted by | Sat, Feb 04, 2012 - 10:13 AM | Comments
Micron CEO Steve Appleton Dies in Plane Accident
Micron has announced that Steve Appleton, the companies Chairman and CEO, passed away this morning in a small plane accident in Boise. He was 51. His experimental fixed wing single engine Lancair crashed at 8:56 a.m. in between two runways at the airport. He was the only person on-board. Our condolences go out to his wife, Dalynn, his children and his family during this tragic time.
The National Transportation Safety Board said they interviewed witnesses on the scene who said Appleton tried to take off once, landed and then went back to his hangar. About five minutes later, he tried to take off again. They say the plane was flying at about 100 to 200 feet above ground when it stalled, then nosedived. A chilling recording from air traffic controllers paints the picture of panic shortly after take-off. In the recording, you can hear Appleton telling controllers he needed to turn around moments before the crash.
Posted by | Fri, Feb 03, 2012 - 04:28 PM | Comments
Facebook Friday - Corsair Vengeance M60 FPS Gaming Mouse
Welcome to our weekly giveaway for our dedicated readers! We love our fans and our sponsors! You guys love Facebook Friday right? This week the sponsor for our weekly promotion is Corsair and they have donated a Vengeance M60 FPS Gaming Mouse as this weeks prize! This prize has a retail value of ~$69.99 plus shipping. You can enter the contest here. Corsair asked us to invite you to their Facebook page as well, so be to take a look and give them some love as well here.
The Corsair Vengeance M60 is the premium performance gaming mouse for First Person Shooter (FPS) games. An enthusiast grade 5700 dpi laser sensor provides for maximum precision, ultra responsive mouse control for extended domination over players with less accurate, slower mice. Designed and tuned for exceptional FPS gameplay, the Vengeance M60’s ergonomic design is comfortable to the hand even for extended hours gaming sessions. The dedicated sniper button instantly lowers your DPI so that you can quickly and accurately aim for precise location shots. A machined, one-piece aluminum frame provides low weight, high rigidity, and optimal mass distribution. And the center of gravity can be adjusted up to 21g in your mouse so you have just the right balance. Victory is yours with the Corsair Vengeance M60!
Posted by | Fri, Feb 03, 2012 - 04:18 PM | Comments
AMD Trinity Ultrathin Notebook Spotted at AMD's Financial Analyst Day
At AMD's Financial Analyst day, Engadget came across a small demo area showcasing a Trinity-APU powered ODM reference unit from Compal. The unit was one of several proof of concept designs being used to demonstrate the Trinity APUs performance and power usage to OEMs. The particular unit shown was using a lower voltage Trinity APU and was housed in an 18mm shell.
Inside this particular prototype is one of the lower voltage variants of Trinity (read: either the 17W or 25W part), which enables that svelte 18mm profile. Seeing as it is a one-off (and one that'll never come to market in this form), our impressions are moot, yet we'd be remiss if we didn't point out we were a little dismayed by its chassis, which was flimsy enough to put the existing flex champion, Toshiba's Z830, on notice.
Posted by | Fri, Feb 03, 2012 - 11:29 AM | Comments
Motherboard Prices To Increase Again By 10%
It seems PC enthusiasts can look forward to even more price hikes this year. Motherboard vendors will be increasing the prices on their products by 10% according to industry sources. The price hike will take effect as early as the end of the first quarter of 2012. The 10% price hike comes on top of the 5-10% hike that happened in early 2011 along with the 3-8% hike in April of 2011. The reasons for this particular increase are fairly obvious, however, with the international price of copper having gone up, and labor costs in China on the rise as well. The minimum wage has jumped 8.62% in Beijing as of January 1, 2012, 14.28% increase in Shanghai takes effect on April 1, 2012, and a 13.63% raise in Shenzhen on February 1, 2012 causing labor costs to rise substantially. The increase in price for raw materials and labor has Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology among others increasing prices for their motherboards, this has not slowed shipments however which show an increase of nearly 10% and 20% respectively. Let's hope this is the only price hike we see on motherboards this year.
Copper pricing has risen from less than US$8,000 per metric ton (MT) before the 2012 Lunar New Year to US$8,600/MT currently, causing hikes in the cost of CCLs (copper-clad laminates) and in turn production cost of motherboards, the sources noted.
Posted by | Fri, Feb 03, 2012 - 10:40 AM | Comments
Fujitsu Releases 7-inch Android Tablet - STYLISTIC M350/CA2
Fujitsu today announced the STYLISTIC M350/CA2, an Android OS-based tablet for the enterprise market. The STYLISTIC M350/CA2 features a compact form factor, equipped with a 7-inch display and a body weighing approximately 420g for easy mobility. The 7-inch WSVGA has a resolution of 1024 x 600 pixels. Fujitsu says the tablet has running time of approximately 6.1 hours.
The tablet achieves both superior portability and usability, with features such as rapid booting and the ability to select between different character input modes—a numeric keypad, QWERTY, and hand-writing—to gives users the choice that best meets their individual needs. Moreover, the new tablet can be employed in a wide range of scenarios, including as a mobile sales terminal, as a handset for displaying digital catalogs at a retail store, and as an e-book reader in a classroom setting. In addition to offering excellent cost-performance, the STYLISTIC M350/CA2 supports customers in transforming work styles within their companies.
Posted by | Fri, Feb 03, 2012 - 09:51 AM | Comments
MSI Announces 10-inch Wind U180 Netbook
If you thought netbooks were dead, it looks like you have been proven wrong. MSI has unveiled the Wind U180, which is the companies first new netbook model for 2012. MSI is calling the Wind U180 an ultra thin, ultra light netbook as they are trying to ride the ultra thin form factor craze that everyone is infected with. The Wind U180 is powered by either an Intel Atom 'Cedar Trail' Processor N2800 (1.86GHZ) or N2600 （1.6 GHZ). MSI says the WInd U180 has twice the processing and display performance of the previous generation netbook as well as eight hours of battery power. Will this 10-inch (1024 x 600 resolution) netbook help prove to the world that netbooks still have a heartbeat? Time will tell, but for the love of God, can you stop using 0.3 MP webcams? It's not really that expensive to update the camera!
MSI U180 Netbook Specifications:
- CPU: Intel Atom Processor N2800/N2600
- Chipset: Intel NM10
- Graphics: GMA 3650
- Memory: DDR3 800MHz/1066 MHz; support up to 2 GB(1 DIMM slot)
- LCD: 10" (1024 x 600) ultra slim
- HDD: 320/250 GB (2.5” SATA)
- Battery: 3 cells / 6 cells
- Wireless: 802.11 b/g/n, Bluetooth 3.0+HS
- Webcam: 0.3 M Webcam
- Sound: HD Audio, Stereo speakers
- Dimension: 263 x 186 x 21.26mm
- Weigh:t 1 Kg (with 3 cell battery)
- OS: Microsoft Windows 7 Starter
Posted by | Thu, Feb 02, 2012 - 01:36 PM | Comments
AMD Announces Sea Islands GPUs Coming in 2013
Today at AMD's 2012 Financial Analyst Day the company showed off a client and graphics product roadmap that goes all the way into 2013. The slide showed that the Sea Islands GPU architecture will replace the Southern Islands architecture that just came out in November 2011 for discrete graphics sometime in 2013. Southern Islands is the core architecture used on AMD Radeon HD 7970 and Radeon HD 7950 GPUs. AMD also announced that Kaveri will become the companies 3rd generation APU and will use the Steamroller core architecture. On the low power and ultra low power APU side of things, AMD announced Kabini and Temash. Kabini and Temash are SoC processors. All of the new parts will be made on the 28nm. Right now AMD is making products on the 40nm, 32nm and 28nm manufacturing nodes.
Posted by | Thu, Feb 02, 2012 - 01:23 PM | Comments
MSI Intel X79 Motherboards Reach Base Clock of 170.33MHz
MSI announced that some of their Intel X79 series mainboards with Military Class III components have reached a new overclocking milestone. The American overclocker Turn&Burn successfully overclocked an Intel Core i7-3930K processor to a world record of 5.83GHz on an MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) motherboard. The 182% overclocking rate has rewritten the highest record for the Sandy Bridge-E processor. Meanwhile, the renowned Taiwanese overclocker Toppc used a Big Bang-XPower II mainboard to overclock an Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition processor to a new world record of 170.33MHz base clock!
The new MSI X79 series mainboards are equipped with Military Class III components of high quality and stability. The newly introduced DrMOS II is the next generation DrMOS with a double thermal protection system built in. It ensures safety when users exceed normal operating specifications, for instance when they start overclocking. MSI X79 series mainboards also adopt the new PCI Express Gen 3 platform and offer the exclusive MSI Click BIOS II interface to offer the best performance and the smoothest operating experience. Other incorporated include the THX TruStudio PRO audio standard, Multi-BIOS II, Control Center II, and Super Charger. Furthermore, MSI Big Bang-XPower II has an enhanced 22-phase power design and supports 4-way NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFire multi-GPU computing technologies. All these above make MSI X79 series mainboards the best choice for ultimate performance.
Posted by | Thu, Feb 02, 2012 - 01:14 PM | Comments
ASUS Launches Radeon HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP Video Card
ASUS has officially announced the the ASUS HD 7970 DirectCU II TOP graphics card! This card is overclocked to 1000MHz on the core, which is 75MHz higher than the AMD Radeon HD 7970 reference design. This card is cooled by the exclusive DirectCU II, a dual fan thermal design with six copper heatpipes and a large dissipation area. The cards custom PCB features ASUS DIGI+ VRM 12-phase digital power delivery along with Super Alloy Power components for improved overclockeings. As with other ASUS DirectCU II cards you get the ability to do VGA Hotwire hardware overvolting and use the GPU Tweak software utility. The card should be available online later today. The ASUS 7970 DirectCU II TOP graphics card will carry a suggested retail price of $599.
Further design and engineering improvements to the ASUS DirectCU II thermal architecture have resulted in its finest iteration yet. The new design consists of six all-copper heatpipes in direct contact with the GPU, in addition to a 20% larger dissipation area than any previous versions. Cooling effectiveness increases by up to 20% compared to reference, helping the card run with improved stability and reliability ― critical to successful overclocking. Since the card stays so cool, the dual fans can operate at lower speeds, contributing to a 14dB quieter than reference experience that helps gamers focus on the action instead of the noise.
Posted by | Thu, Feb 02, 2012 - 01:10 PM | Comments
57% Believe a Cyber Arms Race is Currently Taking Place
McAfee and the Security & Defence Agenda (SDA) recently revealed the findings from a report; Cyber-security: The Vexed Question of Global Rules that paints, for the first time, a global snapshot of current thinking about the cyber-threat and the measures that should be taken to defend against them, and assesses the way ahead. The SDA, the leading defense and security think-tank in Brussels, interviewed leading global security experts to ensure that findings would offer usable recommendations and actions. The report was created to identify key debate areas and trends and to help to governments and organizations understand how their cyber defense posture compares to those of other countries and organizations.
Here are some noted findings:
- 57% of global experts believe that an arms race is taking place in cyber space.
- 36% believe cyber-security is more important than missile defense.
- 43% identified damage or disruption to critical infrastructure as the greatest single threat posed by cyber-attacks with wide economic consequences (up from 37% in McAfee’s 2010 Critical Infrastructure Report).
- 45% of respondents believe that cyber-security is as important as border security.
- The state of cyber-readiness of the United States, Australia, UK, China and Germany all ranked behind smaller countries such as Israel, Sweden and Finland (23 countries ranked in report).
Posted by | Thu, Feb 02, 2012 - 01:01 PM | Comments
Ubisoft Games And Services Going Offline Next Week
On February 7th, Ubisoft will transition its online services from their current third-party data center to a brand new facility. The migration to the new data center will cause some online games and services to be unavailable for a short period of time. Ubisoft had the following to say "We apologize to our customers for the inconvenience. This move ultimately will help us improve the maintenance of our infrastructure and deliver better uptime and greatly improved services for our customers." Lets hope the transition is a quick and painless one for both Ubisoft and there customers, as any severe downtime will surely enrage more then a few PC / MAC gamers.
Games and Services to be Impacted
- Assassin's Creed on MAC
- Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X. 2 on PC
- Might & Magic: Heroes VI on PC
- Splinter Cell Conviction on MAC
- The Settlers 7: Paths to a Kingdom on PC
- The Settlers on MAC
- Uplay will not be available during transition.
- All Ubisoft Websites except: Ubisoft Official Forums and Ubisoft Consumer Services
Posted by | Thu, Feb 02, 2012 - 12:59 PM | Comments
February 2, 2012 News from Around the Web
G.Skill Ripjaws Z 2133CL9Q-16GBZH Memory Kit Review @ Madshrimps and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!
G.Skill is one of the more prominent market leaders in the RAM department. Offering a zillion of different ram combinations in all sorts of quantities, timings, speeds and even you can pick between different heatspreader colors. With the launch of the SandyBridge-E platform, we received one of the higher end 16Gb quad channel kits, running at 2133Mhz. Timings are the following : CL9-11-10-28. Maybe you are not impressed, but remember this is a quad channel comprising of 4Gb dimms. And best of all the price isn't lethal at all. The X79 ram line is baptized RipjawsZ. The X lineup for the older Sandy Bridges has been renown for being potent overclockers. But most reviewed kits were only 2GB DIMM versions. So being a lot easier to push. Let's have a look if we can get some more juice out of these DIMMS.
Posted by | Thu, Feb 02, 2012 - 07:50 AM | Comments
Study Finds Internet Addiction a Growing Problem Among Youth
A recent British survey took a look at the internet addiction and analyzed the online lives of children. A total of 1,000 youngsters in the UK between the ages of eight and 16 were surveyed and asked about the impact of the internet on their lives. Almost half of those under 12 said they would feel sad without the internet. For teens, it's even worse, the study found. Experts say that internet addiction is a growing problem that affects about 8-12% of U.S. children.
The poll, called the 'Digital Futures' project, was carried out by Intersperience - a British research firm. The survey found that 74 per cent of children under 12 played online games with 65 per cent using the internet for homework. More than a third went online to look for things to buy or sell while youngsters also used the web to check prices for fashion items.
Posted by | Wed, Feb 01, 2012 - 03:19 PM | Comments
EUROCOM Introduces Leopard 2.0 Dual GPU Mobile Workstation
Eurocom Corporation, a developer of long lifespan, fully upgradable high performance Mobile Workstations and Mobile Servers is now introducing the EUROCOM Leopard 2.0. The EUROCOM Leopard 2.0 is a high performance 18.4" notebook that includes support for dual GPU operation. The new Leopard 2.0 will support dual GPU technology from both AMD and NVIDIA. The Leopard 2.0 will also use an 18.4" FHD 1920x1080p LCD with an Auto Light Sensory technology to allow the Leopard 2.0 to adjust panel brightness automatically depending on the environment. THX TruStudio PRO is also featured in the Leopard 2.0 to allow customers the ability to enhance music and movies while improving the sound quality of any speaker system. The features don't end there, the Leopard 2.0 also supports up to 24GB of system RAM, alongside a Second Generation Intel Sandy Bridge i7 or i7 extreme processor. This is made possible by the use of Intel's HM 67 chipset. The EUROCOM Leopard 2.0 also features 4 storage drives, for up to 4TB in a RAID 0/1/5/10 setup. The Leopard 2.0 looks to be a serious contender in the mobile market space as both a workstation or enthusiast gaming notebook.
EUROCOM Leopard 2.0 Specifications:
Optional Graphics Processors:
- Processor: Intel Core i7 and Core i7 Extreme Mobile; up to i7-2960XM
- VGA Technology: Modular MXM 3.0b; NVIDIA GeForce GTX single and SLI; AMD Radeon single and CrossFireX; NVIDIA Quadro
- Memory: up to 24GB of DDR3-1600; 3 RAM Sockets
- Storage: up to 4TB of storage; 4 physical drives (SSD, HDD or Solid Hybrid); RAID 0/1/5/10; 4th drive is via ODD bay
- Optical Drive: DVD-RW; Blu Ray Reader; Blu Ray Burner or 4th HDD
- Ports:2x USB 3.0; 4x USB 2.0; eSATA; Firewire 1394a; DVI; HDMI-out 1.4a; Headphone; Microphone; S/PDIF output; Line-in; RJ-45 LAN
- NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M
- SLI: 2x NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M
- AMD Radeon HD6970M
- CrossFireX: 2x AMD Radeon HD 6970M
- AMD Radeon HD 6990M
- CrossFireX: 2x AMD Radeon HD 6990M
- NVIDIA Quadro 5010M
- NVIDIA Quadro 4000M
- NVIDIA Quadro 3000M
Posted by | Wed, Feb 01, 2012 - 02:39 PM | Comments
February 1, 2012 News from Around the Web
Sapphire PURE Black X79N (Intel X79) Motherboard Review @ TweakTown and other reviews from around the web can be found by visiting our forums!
"The company's entry into the motherboard market hasn't been a smooth one, even though, it started off well with the PURE Black X58. Following the X58 we saw the PURE Platinum P67 Hydra miss the mark. The release of the new AMD A75 chipset and the Sapphire PURE Platinum A75 saw the company again shine in the motherboard market. The shine was quickly taken off as the delayed Intel Z68 offering of the Sapphire PURE Platinum Z68 again lagged behind its competitors. From a pure statistics standpoint with the on again off again relationship we've had with Sapphire motherboards, the new PURE Black X79N based on the new Intel X79 chipset which we are looking at today should be on the mark. Before we find out just how performance on the board goes, though, we need to first take the time to check out the package that Sapphire are offering us here. From there we'll take the time to have a closer look at the motherboard itself to see how the design of it all is. After that it's time to get into the BIOS, an area that Sapphire has been a bit weak in since launch. With the move over to UEFI for the X79, we hope that Sapphire has been able to do something here that moves its BIOS in a positive direction. Once we've done all that, though, it's time to really get down and dirty with the BIOS to see what kind of overclocking potential the new board has before we of course check out the performance of it."
Posted by | Wed, Feb 01, 2012 - 02:29 PM | Comments
Samsung Galaxy Note Super Phone To Be Announced During Super Bowl - Teaser Released
Samsung released a teaser clip of their first-ever Super Bowl commercial that will air during the 4th quarter of the big game on Sunday. Samsung is using the sporting event to launch the revolutionary Galaxy Note super phone to the world. You can see the trailer below
“During the past six months we’ve launched the Galaxy S II, Galaxy Nexus and now the Galaxy Note super phone in North America bringing unparalleled innovation to the marketplace,” said Todd Pendleton, Chief Marketing Officer for Samsung Telecommunications America. “The Galaxy Note ushers in the era of truly personalized communications, allowing people to capture, share and create like never before.”
Posted by | Wed, Feb 01, 2012 - 11:06 AM | Comments
Antec Announces the High Current Gamer M PSU Series
Antec today announced the High Current Gamer M series, a mid-range wattage class of hybrid modular power supplies. The High Current Gamer M series is an extension of the HCG PSU line issued in late 2010 but features hybrid modularity, allowing for cleaner systems by reducing cable clutter behind the motherboard. The power supplies are available in 400W ($89.95), 520W ($99.95), and 620W ($119.95) variants with an 80 PLUS Bronze power efficiency rating. This means that the power supplies are up to 87% energy efficient to help reduce electric bills. The HCG-M PSU series will be available later this month.
HCG-620M Detailed Specifications:
- 620W Continuous Power
- 80 PLUS BRONZE certified - Up to 87% efficient
- 10-pin modular sockets
- 135mm double ball bearing fan with long lifetime
- All-black wires for minimal visibility in chassis
- All Japanese Heavy-Duty Capacitors
- Advanced low voltage fan control for optimal heat & noise management
- 92.9% +12V - Output for maximum CPU & GPU support
- 2 PCI-E connectors for multiple GPU support
- AQ5 - Antec Quality 5 year warranty and global online support 24/7
Posted by | Wed, Feb 01, 2012 - 10:10 AM | Comments
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