LR News History - Legit Reviews

Legit Reviews News History

Intel Introduces two 50W low-voltage 45nm Xeon server processors - L5420 and L5410

Intel Corporation has further increased its energy-efficient performance lead today with the introduction of two low-voltage 45 nanometer (nm) processors for servers and workstations that run at 50 watts, or just 12.5 watts per core and frequencies as high as 2.50 GigaHertz (GHz). The Quad-Core Intel Xeon Processor L5400 Series takes advantage of Intel's unique 45nm manufacturing capabilities and reinvented transistor formula that combine to boost performance and reduce power consumption in data centers.

Benefiting companies with power-constrained, high-compute density environments, the Quad-Core Intel Xeon L5400 processors are as much as 25 percent faster(1) and have a 50 percent larger cache size than Intel's previous-generation, low-voltage Quad-Core Intel Xeon processors, while at the same time maintaining the low 50-watt thermal envelope. The quad-core L5420 and L5410 processors run at 2.50 GHz and 2.33 GHz, respectively, and feature a unique 12 megabytes (MB) of on-die cache and dedicated 1333 MHz front side buses (FSB).

Posted by | Tue, Mar 25, 2008 - 10:20 AM | Comments

March 24 News from Around the Web

circuitREMIX posted a Thermal Compound Roundup today! Find this and other reviews by visiting our forums!

In the past few years, thermal compounds have undergone an evolution. I'm sure many are familiar with the basic silicon based thermal compound, also known as white goop. This quickly evolved into metal based thermal compounds, which by its namesake have a composition of metal particles. This improved the thermal conductivity, but also had the problem of being electrically conductive. Now we are at a stage where performance thermal compounds are ceramics based. Thermal conductivity has been improved even more, and don't have the problem of being electrically conductive. Most of the thermal compounds we are looking at today are ceramics based. The thermal compounds we are looking at in our mini-roundup are the Stars-700, Noctua's HT-N1, Arctic Silver's Ceramique, Tuniq's TX-2 and OCZ's Freeze.

Posted by | Mon, Mar 24, 2008 - 02:41 PM | Comments

Fujitsu plans a 320GB laptop drive with 7,200 RPMs

Fujitsu plans to begin selling in late June a new range of high-performance hard-disk drives for laptop PCs that offer more storage space than current models. The "MHZ2 BJ" series of drives have disks that spin at 7,200rpm (revolutions per minute) -- faster than the 5,400rpm common on most similar drives -- and will be available in capacities up to 320GB, the Tokyo company said Monday.

The drives consume 2.3 watts for read/write operations over a SATA (Serial ATA) interface, which is comparable with current drives. Fujitsu hopes to sell 2 million of the MHZ2 BJ-series drives by the end of March 2009. They will be available worldwide.

Posted by | Mon, Mar 24, 2008 - 08:29 AM | Comments

STMicro launches chip to detect bird flu - VereFlu Chip

Europe's top semiconductor maker, STMicroelectronics, said it has developed a portable chip to detect influenza viruses including bird flu in humans. The device, which functions as a mini laboratory on a chip, can screen and identify multiple classes of pathogens and genes in a single diagnostic test within two hours, unlike other tests available on the market that can detect only one strain at a time and require days or weeks to obtain results.

The VereFlu Chip was developed by the Franco-Italian chipmaker together with Singapore's privately held Veredus Laboratories after more than a year of research. The application underwent extensive evaluation trials at Singapore's National University Hospital last year. It allows users to process and analyze patient samples -- comprising human blood, serum or respiratory swabs -- on a single disposable thumbnail-sized microchip.

Reuters Technology News

Posted by | Mon, Mar 24, 2008 - 08:28 AM | Comments

Asustek launches compact server based on Intel 45nm technology

Asustek Computer recently launched its latest 1U server, the RS100-E5/PI2, a quad-core/dual-core Intel Xeon 3000 series platform, which supports Intel 45nm processors with a FSB up to 1333MHz. As a uni-processor server, the RS100-E5/PI2 provides 4-dimm slots to support up to 8GB DDR2 800/667 ECC memory, while offering RAID 0, 1 functions for cost-effective data protection.

Equipped with dual PCI Express (PCIe) Gigabit Ethernet functions, the RS100-E5/PI2 is capable of higher bandwidth aggregation and reliable networking based on failover and load balance functions. An optional Asustek ASMB3-SOL Card (out-of-band monitor/troubleshooting) provides security and extends remote offline serviceability functions with IPMI2.0 Serial Over LAN standards – significantly saving MIS efforts for maintenance and minimizing system downtime.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Mon, Mar 24, 2008 - 08:27 AM | Comments

Kingston leading the opposition against SanDisk patent lawsuit

Three major camps have formed out of the 25 companies sued by SanDisk over NAND flash-related patent infringement, with Kingston Technology's camp taking the lead in fighting against SanDisk, according to sources at Taiwan memory makers. Of the various companies being sued, Kingston and Phison Electronics have taken the lead role in fighting the lawsuit. A second camp is being led by A-Data Technology, Afa Technologies and Skymedi and the third is led by Apacer Technology, Transcend Information and Silicon Motion, the sources revealed.

Reviewing relationships between companies in the same camp, most of them have pre-existing investment relationships, implying that they are unlikely to join other camps over the lawsuit, the sources noted. Some memory makers commented that SanDisk suit is primarily driven by Kingston's growing position in the NAND flash market, especially in Asia and emerging markets. Most involved companies think that the lawsuit is more a dispute between SanDisk and Kingston because Kingston is putting up the strongest opposition in fighting the allegations, while many of the involved parties are happy to adopt a wait-and-see attitude as their sales contribution from the US is relatively low.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Fri, Mar 21, 2008 - 10:50 AM | Comments

Intel to offer low-cost laptop - Classmate for under $500

After all the buzz surrounding the low-cost Classmate PC laptop it designed for school kids in other countries, Intel is talking to computer manufacturers about offering an updated retail version in this country within months for less than $500.

We're expecting to see Classmate PC in the U.S. by the end of this year," said Agnes Kwan, a spokeswoman with the Santa Clara chip maker. "In the past 18 months, we've been getting a really good response from customers . . . as well as from consumers asking about the product. We realized there was a big interest out there." Although the second-generation laptop is expected to cost from $250 to $350 to make, it would be priced higher for retail sale after it's loaded with various software applications, Kwan said.

SiliconValley.com

Posted by | Fri, Mar 21, 2008 - 10:20 AM | Comments

AMD to add another member to its Radeon HD 3000 family - Radeon HD 3830

AMD is planning to launch a Radeon HD 3830 graphics chip for the mid-range/entry-level market, according to sources at graphics card makers. Cards are expected to launch in April or May. The 3830 will have a 128-bit memory interface, 320 stream processing units, 16 texture filtering units and 16 ROPs, and will support memory capacities up to 256MB. The card will be positioned between AMD's Radeon HD 3850 and 3650 and will target the gap between Nvidia's GeForce 9600GT and 8600GTS with a price lower than US$129.

Several graphics card makers already plan to launch overclocked versions of the card, boosting the core frequency to even higher levels, while using faster memory chips, noted the sources. AMD also notified its partners that if Radeon HD 3830 does not perform as it expected, the company might cut the price of its Radeon HD 3870, 3850 and 3830 some time in the second quarter in order to grab more market share, added the sources.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Fri, Mar 21, 2008 - 09:41 AM | Comments

Kingston Technology Releases 800MHz FB-DIMMs

Kingston has just launched a family of 800MHz FB-DIMM memory modules, ranging in capacity from 512MB to 4GB, that are ideal for servers and high-performance workstations. Kingston is first rolling out industry standard ValueRAM FB-DIMMs, but has hinted that high-performance kits might be out in the near future. The kit with 2 x 2GB modules (KVR800D2D4F5K2/4G) offers a total memory density of 4GB with a MSRP of $260. Kingston is doing a $13 instant rebate on the kit right now which brings the price down to $247 plus shipping!

Today's dual XEON systems using the new 1600MHz front-side bus quad-core processors demand a robust memory solution to match processor bandwidth with memory bandwidth," said Louis Kaneshiro, senior technology manager, Kingston. "Our 800MHz FB-DIMMs deliver the blazing performance and reliability required by high performance servers and workstations." Delivering up to 25.6 GB/s bandwidth with four memory channels active, Kingston 800MHz FB-DIMMs match the bandwidth needs of the latest XEON processors. The 2GB and 4GB 800MHz FB-DIMMs enable a flexible upgrade path while leaving plenty of headroom for future RAM expansion.

Posted by | Fri, Mar 21, 2008 - 08:08 AM | Comments

Semiconductor toolmakers had $1.23B in orders in Feb., 12% below year ago

North American-based manufacturers of semiconductor equipment posted about $1.23 billion in orders in February 2008, according to a report by trade organization SEMI.

The San Jose, Calif.-based group reported late Tuesday that manufacturers also had a book-to-bill ratio of 0.93 -- meaning that $93 worth of orders were received for every $100 of product billed for the month. The bookings figure is about 8 percent greater than the January 2008 level of $1.14 billion, but 12 percent less than the $1.40 billion in orders posted in February 2007.

The Business Review

Posted by | Thu, Mar 20, 2008 - 08:48 AM | Comments

S3 Graphics Launches Chrome 430 GT in the U.S. Market

S3 Graphics today announced the S3 Graphics Chrome 430 GT desktop cards are now available at online retail affiliate stores. The first of the S3 Graphics Chrome 400 Series to market, the Chrome 430 GT combines advanced 3D graphics and incredible HD multimedia performance with extreme power-efficiency and rigidly low thermal specifications, breaking new ground in the highly competitive graphics industry.

The S3 Graphics Chrome 430 GT gives users the perfect balance of leading DirectX 10.1 3D performance, high-quality Blu-ray playback, and advanced bus and display connectivity in a 64-bit DDR2 configuration. Display connections allow dual-link DVI (DVI-D/DVI-I), VGA, and 1080p widescreen HDTV support. The Chrome 430 GT also utilizes the ChromotionHD 2.0 scalable video engine to perform smooth decoding of MPEG-4/AVC (H.264), MPEG-2, VC-1, WMV-HD, and AVS video for Blu-ray and HD content for theatre-like viewing entertainment.

Posted by | Thu, Mar 20, 2008 - 07:23 AM | Comments

AMD planning layoffs after releasing the B3 Phenom steppings

Advanced Micro Devices is getting set to launch updated Phenom processors amid rumors that the chipmaker is reducing its workforce by 5 percent. AMD is slated to begin shipping quad-core Phenom 9850, 9750, 9650, 9550, and 9150 processors in the coming weeks, according to sources close to the company. The "50" branding scheme indicates that the processors are the B3 version of the Phenom that fixes the "TLB" bug.

Maybe more importantly, AMD is in the midst of handing out pink slips, according to a report in The Inquirer. The report states that AMD is "quietly" cutting about 5 percent of its workforce across the board, not in specific areas. The report also states that AMD may badly miss its numbers this quarter. AMD, when contacted, said that it can't comment on "rumor and speculation."

Posted by | Thu, Mar 20, 2008 - 07:17 AM | Comments

700MHz spectrum auction ends

The controversial 700MHz spectrum auction has closed, raising $19.59 billion, a record for a spectrum auction in the U.S., the U.S. Federal Communications Commission said Tuesday. The FCC, however, failed to sell off a swath of spectrum that was set aside for a public safety network. That block did not receive a bid that met the FCC's $1.3 billion reserve price. The agency is evaluating its options for the spectrum, it said.

The 700MHz auction was the first to require anonymous bidding, and the FCC has not yet revealed which companies won the rights to the bands that were sold. While Google was instrumental in pushing the so-called open-access rules for the auction, it is still unknown if the search giant bid for or won any of the licenses.

Posted by | Wed, Mar 19, 2008 - 08:29 AM | Comments

ECS unveils Diamondville-based netbook

Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS) has unveiled its G10IL netbook (mini-notebook) available with either a 10.2- or 8.9-inch glossy display. Not much more is known about this notebook, but they do have a picture!

The netbook features a built-in tri-band HSDPA and HSUPA modem to allow a download speeds up to 7.2Mb/s or 2Mb/s. It also comes with three USB 2.0 ports, Ethernet networking, a 56kbps analog modem, WLAN, Bluetooth, a four-in-one card reader, and 1.3-mega pixel camera. And ECS representative said pricing for the G10IL will be available in April.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Wed, Mar 19, 2008 - 08:27 AM | Comments

ASUS Announces The Xonar DX Soundcard

ASUS just announced that the Xonar DX soundcard is going to available soon on the retail market. Engineered for pristine, clean audio quality with a 116 dB Signal-to-Noise Ratio (SNR), the Xonar DX is equipped with innovative technologies such as Dolby Home Theater and DirectSound3D Game Extensions 2.0 (DS3D GX2.0) offering immersive home theater audio and rich gaming sound features, which makes it ideal got that HTPC you are planning on building. The Xonar DX will be available via ASUS North American resellers starting March 24, 2008. The introductory MSRP is $89 USD. This is far lower priced than the Asus Xonar D2/PM Ultra Fidelity 7.1 PCI Sound Card, which has a street price of $174 plus shipping.

Today’s motherboards feature onboard audio solutions rated between 80-86 dB SNR. Low quality components and electrical interference introduce unintentional noise and distortion to the overall audio experience. Adopting CirrusLogics CS4398 Digital Analog Convertors (120 dB SNR & 117 dB THD+N), the Xonar DX achieves 30% cleaner sound. The Xonar DX dramatically minimizes the output of background noise, as little as 1/32 (-105dB) of the total harmonics distortion versus traditional motherboard audio (-75dB). Listeners can now enjoy clean audio as it was meant to be heard.

Posted by | Wed, Mar 19, 2008 - 08:24 AM | Comments

WD Now Shipping WD Caviar SE16 640GB 3.5-inch hard drives

Western Digital announced today that it is now shipping in volume its WD Caviar SE16 640 GB 3.5-inch hard drives based on 320 GB-per-platter technology -- a platform that it has been shipping since January 2008 and is serving as the foundation of all of the company's 3.5-inch drive families. The WD Caviar SE16 640 GB (model WD6400AAKS) hard drives may be ordered now and have a manufacturer's Suggest Retail Price (MSRP) of $139.99 USD, but can be found at retailers like Newegg for $129.99 plus shipping.

"The 640 GB capacity point will be an important one for our desktop customers, and WD is leading high-volume shipments to the channel and OEM customers,” said Don Bennett, general manager and vice president of WD's desktop business unit. "Two-platter hard drives have always been the perfect balance of value, capacity and performance for many of our customers. Today's common two-platter drives are limited to 500 GB, but we are expanding capacity by 28 percent on the same design with WD's leading technology heads and disks.”

Posted by | Wed, Mar 19, 2008 - 08:15 AM | Comments

Kingston Technology HyperX DDR3 Memory Achieves NVIDIA SLI Certification

Kingston Technology just sent us work that the Kingston family of HyperX DDR3 memory modules have been SLI-certified by NVIDIA Corporation, as part if its program to offer gaming enthusiasts solid platform/memory compatibility, stability and performance solutions when building high performance systems using the new series of NVIDIA nForce 790i SLI platforms.

Kingston N Series HyperX memory (designated with an 'N' at the end of the part number to indicate NVIDIA SLI-ready memory with Enhanced Performance Profiles (EPP)) delivers the fastest performance possible when paired with the latest NVIDIA MCP790i series chipsets. Memory DIMMs receiving SLI-Ready certification are required to support EPP technology to ensure the modules can be automatically detected and their full potential realized with the NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI and nForce 790i SLI platforms.

Posted by | Tue, Mar 18, 2008 - 02:29 PM | Comments

ASUS Announces The Striker II Extreme motherboard

ASUS today released the ROG Striker II Extreme series of motherboards. Supporting NVIDIA’s nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset the Striker II Extreme is the motherboard for overclockers and power users. This powerful series of motherboards is also equipped with innovative technologies for enhanced graphical and thermal performance, versatile overclocking options, as well as a vast array of features that include device protection.

The Striker II Extreme’s Fusion Block System utilizes a Pin-Fin heatsink design that combines the ROG's renowned heatpipe design with the additional ability to connect to a water cooling system. This unique design means users can enjoy 50% cooler thermal performance to the north bridge, south bridge, and even VRM with a single connection; Providing them with a versatile, efficient, and advanced thermal system resulting in improved overclocking and stability.

Posted by | Tue, Mar 18, 2008 - 12:51 PM | Comments

March 18 News from Around the Web

ASE Labs posted their Kingston SD/2GB-U Review! Find this and other reviews from around the web by visiting our forums!

" Kingston Technology produces all kinds of memory including RAM for a computer to flash memory. Kingston is pushing harder and harder into the consumer flash market. Kingston sent over their high speed SD flash memory for review and the SD2/2GB-U is really fast. "

Posted by | Tue, Mar 18, 2008 - 11:06 AM | Comments

Palit Microsystems Announces The Palit GeForce 9800 GX2 Graphics Card

Palit Microsystems announced the release of the GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card this morning for those looking for the best money can buy when it comes to gaming performance. With the power of two GeForce 9800 GPUs in a single graphics solution the Palit GeForce 9800 GX2 will exceed the expectations of gamers across the world with the fastest graphics card on the planet!

Palit GeForce 9800 GX2 features a 600 MHz core frequency, 256 blistering fast stream processors with 1GB GDDR3 memory operating at 2 GHz. Palit GeForce 9800 GX2 allows the users to switch from the GeForce 9800 GX2 graphics card to the motherboard GeForce GPU when running non graphically-intensive applications for a silent, low power PC experience. Along with the latest PCI-Express 2.0 platform and Microsoft DirectX 10 Shader Model 4.0 technology, Palit GeForce 9800 GX2 features the second generation PureVideo HD technology engine, delivers unsurpassed Blu-ray and HD DVD movie picture quality, and offers full hardware acceleration of high definition movie.

Posted by | Tue, Mar 18, 2008 - 07:53 AM | Comments

Albatron Announces The GeForce 9800GX2 1GB Video Card

Albatron has sent out the press release on the GeForce 9800 GX2 a bit early and claims to be the first to announce the dual GPU 9800GX2. Two heads are better than one as SLI pundits have proven, but with the 9800GX2, you don’t have to fumble with manipulating two cards into your case.

The 9800GX2 has two GPUs tucked into a sleek black case with a single PCI-e 2.0 slot connector. In addition, this card features the latest 65 nm technology assuring the highest processing efficiency, lowest power consumption and the most optimal 3D gaming performance and HD Video playback. The 9800 GPUs on this card are the first to hit the market for this series. Each GPU contains 128 stream processors and boasts a 600 MHz Core Clock. The Shader Clock is rated at 1500 MHz with a Texture Fill Rate of 76.8 (billion/sec). This card comes with a whopping 1 GB (512 MB per GPU) of GDDR3 memory with a Memory Clock of 1000 MHz using a 512-bit (256-bit per GPU) Memory Interface. The memory bandwidth is 128 GB/sec.

Posted by | Tue, Mar 18, 2008 - 07:46 AM | Comments

Palit Announces The GeForce 9600 GT 1GB Sonic Edition Video Card

Palit Microsystems today announced another graphics card to its 1GB Sonic family, the Palit GeForce 9600 GT 1GB Sonic! Being the first company to release an entire family of graphics solutions with 1 GB of on board memory, Palit extends its 1 GB family with the release of the Palit GeForce 9600 GT 1GB Sonic with 1 GB of memory to future-proof consumers with tomorrows’ games and astonishing pre-overclocked memory and core speed for today’s most demanding games.

Continuing Sonic’s outstanding reputation for excellent overclocking performance, Palit enlarged the memory size of GeForce 9600 GT from 512 MB to 1 GB. The Palit GeForce 9600 GT 1GB Sonic features 1GB of GDDR3 memory operating at 2 GHz and a stunning 700MHz core speed. This attention to overclocking detail will not only save the users from memory capacity bottlenecks but also provides the astonishing gaming and home entertaining experience.

Posted by | Tue, Mar 18, 2008 - 07:43 AM | Comments

Intel's future graphics chip adding a new vector

Intel released a few incremental details about its future graphics chip on Monday, but left a lot of unanswered questions about the company's push into uncharted waters.

Larrabee, a "many-core" graphics processor scheduled for 2009 or 2010, will come with a brand-new set of vector-processing instructions as part of its design, said Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president and co-general manager of Intel's digital enterprise group. Vector-processing instructions are used to improve the performance of graphics and video applications; you may have heard of previous vector-processing implementations such as SSE4. These new instructions, combined with Larrabee's compatibility with the x86 instruction set, will make life easier for software developers, according to Gelsinger. In addition to regular graphics tasks currently dominated by Nvidia and Advanced Micro Devices, Intel wants Larrabee to be able to take on a wider variety of tasks

Posted by | Tue, Mar 18, 2008 - 02:41 AM | Comments

Robert Soloway Pleads Guilty - King of Spam Will Go To Jail

The notorious spammer authorities dubbed "the King of Spam" is facing a possible 26-year jail sentence after pleading guilty in Seattle on Friday to charges of fraud and tax evasion. Robert Soloway, 28, had already been found guilty of spam charges in several civil cases -- Microsoft won a $7.8 million judgment against him in 2005 -- but had avoided paying fines in those cases. The criminal charges to which he pleaded guilty on Friday followed his arrest in 2007 by the U.S. Justice Department.

In a 2005 discussion group post, Soloway bragged , "I've been sued for hundreds of millions of dollars and have had my business running for over 10 years without ever paying a dime regardless to the outcome of any lawsuits." That year, Soloway raked in more than $300,000 from his spam operations, according to his plea agreement. Soloway has avoided fines in the past, but this time around he may not be so lucky. In addition to the jail time he now faces, he has also agreed to discuss his financial assets while being monitored by a lie detector.

Posted by | Mon, Mar 17, 2008 - 08:41 AM | Comments

AMD updates Phenom and Triple-Core CPU launch schedule - 50 series

AMD is planning to launch B3 stepping quad-core Phenom 9050 series CPUs including 9850, 9750, 9650, 9550 and 9150 within the next 1-2 weeks, however the top-end 9850 will only reach a core frequency of 2.5GHz, instead of the original goal of 2.6Ghz. The company expects to be able to deliver higher core frequencies in the third quarter this year, according to sources at motherboard makers. AMD will later launch triple-core Phenom 8750, 8650 and 8450 CPUs with power consumption of 65W in late April. Prior to that, the company will launch the Athlon 64 X2 5800+ to fill the gap in the mainstream market, noted the sources.

For the dual-core CPU market, AMD will launch the Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Black Edition and 4600+ by the end of March and will follow with Phenom-based Athlon 6250 and 6050 CPUs by the end of the second quarter. The company has also informed customers that final orders for Athlon 64 X2 6400+, 6000+ and 5600+ (89W versions) will be taken at the end of March, the sources added.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Mon, Mar 17, 2008 - 08:37 AM | Comments

After 10 Years of LAN Gaming the CPL Ceases Operations

It seems like yesterday that I was down in Dallas for the Winter CPL back in 2004, but that was back when things were going good in the gaming industry. I guess I'll have to look at old pictures of past CPL events as the CPL is no longer hosting events. Remember back in 2006 the canceled the CPL World Tour, but things turned around for them. Then again back in 2006 I wrote a little editorial about how LAN gaming was headed in the wrong direction and they two groups I highlighted (WSVG and CPL) are both gone now. Makes you think for a second...

Effective immediately, the Cyberathlete Professional League (CPL) will cease operations. Therefore, all CPL events currently scheduled for 2008 are hereby canceled. The CPL was launched in June 1997 with the pioneering mission of promoting and sanctioning video game competitions as a professional sport. For ten years the CPL events experienced increased growth - commencing with a small LAN event in Dallas, Texas, and culminating in world-class competitions across five continents.

Posted by | Sat, Mar 15, 2008 - 10:04 AM | Comments

CoolIT Systems Releases NVIDIA VGA MTEC Coldplate

CoolIT Systems announces its new NVIDIA VGA MTEC Coldplate. This newest addition to CoolIT’s line of MTEC coolers is perfect for PC Enthusiasts who already have a custom liquid cooling system along with NVIDIA’s 8800 GTX/Ultra series graphics cards. The MTEC Coldplate is available now from CoolIT Systems.com for $109.99.

''PC Enthusiasts can take their cooling setup to the next level by replacing their traditional water blocks with the MTEC Coldplate'' said Geoff Lyon, CEO of CoolIT Systems.'' The NVIDIA 8800 series is an extreme graphics card that requires extreme cooling performance to reach its full potential. That’s what the NVIDIA VGA MTEC Coldplate delivers.''

Posted by | Sat, Mar 15, 2008 - 09:52 AM | Comments

Legit Reviews Folding Team 38296 Breaks 17 Million Points

The Legit Reviews Folding team has reached a new milestone today as Team 38296 has broken the 17 million point mark! The team has completed over 48,745 work units since it was created and has had over 150 people contribute work units over the years. Currently the team has 41 active members and a total of 201 CPU's folding thanks to these members. The team is currently looking for more members, so if you are interested in folding please feel free to look into it and join our active team. The Legit Reviews folding team is free to join and always welcomes new members! If you are interested in the team check out the folding forums here or our various articles on folding here, here and here.

The goal of F@H and Stanford is to apply this new technology to dramatically advance the capabilities of the project, applying their simulations to further study of protein folding and related diseases, including Alzheimer's Disease, Huntington's Disease, and certain forms of cancer. With these computational advances, coupled with new simulation methodologies to harness the new techniques, Stanford believes they will be able to address questions previously considered impossible to tackle computationally, and make even greater impacts on our knowledge of folding and folding related diseases.

Posted by | Sat, Mar 15, 2008 - 09:46 AM | Comments

Intel Nehalem CPUs to fuel FC substrate growth

With the upcoming launch of Intel's Nehalem CPUs, the highly integrated CPU means a boost for corresponding flip-chip (FC) substrate demand is likely as more substrates are required for new designs, according to industry players. Of the Nehalem lineup, Bloomfield, which will pack the processor and memory controller, as well as possibly more northbridge functions such as a GPU in a multi-chip-package (MCP), will demand more substrate layers, implying a larger size of substrate.

Besides the stronger integration requiring more substrate layers, 45nm process made ICs have a thinner line-width and more complicated structure, which also grows demand for more substrates, the industry players commented. Additionally, the Ibexpeak platform controller hub (PCH), which replaces the traditional southbridge in the Nehalem platform, features a new system-on-chip (SoC) design which will also require more substrates, the industry players remarked.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Fri, Mar 14, 2008 - 09:01 AM | Comments

Corsair Memory Announces Low Latency Apple MacBook Memory Kits

Corsair just announced what they claim is the the world’s first high performance memory modules for the MacBook noteboks. The new Corsair memory modules are the industry’s first low latency modules specifically tuned for the new MacBook and MacBook Pro laptop computers. Testing has demonstrated that the CAS Latency 4 memory kit shows as much as a 28% overall system performance improvement versus standard Mac upgrade memory. Legit Reviews took a look at the 3GB MacBook Memory Kit last year and found it to be a great kit.

Memory bandwidth has a critical impact on the performance of many of the advanced computing applications used by Mac consumers. Corsair’s Mac Memory features special Serial Presence Detect (SPD) profile characteristics, so that Macs can self-configure for optimal performance for critical applications. “The Corsair brand is synonymous with high-performance PC memory modules,” said Jack Peterson, VP of Corporate Marketing at Corsair. “These Mac Memory SODIMMs featuring new SPD settings in conjunction with our high-quality standard chip screening process allows Corsair to offer the first ever enhanced performance laptop memory for Mac,” added Peterson.

Posted by | Thu, Mar 13, 2008 - 10:42 AM | Comments

Toshiba faces $986 million loss on HD DVDs

Japan's Toshiba is likely to book a $986 million loss in its high-definition DVD business and post a full-year operating profit of about $2.44 billion, falling short of its outlook, the Nikkei business daily said Thursday. Shares of Toshiba opened down 2.3 percent at 717 yen ($7) on the report.

Toshiba's decision to pull the plug on HD DVDs will entail production line changes and other charges that would double the 50 billion yen ($488.5 million) loss the electronics group had previously expected this business year on next-generation DVDs, the Nikkei said. "We did not announce this, and therefore we cannot comment," a Toshiba representative said.

Posted by | Thu, Mar 13, 2008 - 09:21 AM | Comments

Electronic Arts launches tender offer for Take-Two

Electronic Arts on Thursday launched a tender offer for rival video game maker Take-Two Interactive at $26 a share, indicating its $2 billion bid is turning hostile. EA's tender offer will expire at midnight on April 11, but could be extended. Take-Two's annual meeting is scheduled for April 10.

"We believe Take-Two investors will see our tender offer as the best way to maximize the value of their investment in Take-Two," EA Chief Executive John Riccitiello said in a statement. Take-Two Chairman Strauss Zelnick has said the bid was "the wrong price and the wrong time," arguing that EA was trying to buy his company on the cheap just before the April 29 launch of "Grand Theft Auto 4."

Reuters Technology News

Posted by | Thu, Mar 13, 2008 - 09:15 AM | Comments

Intel X48 motherboards to show up in the channel this week

Although Intel has not yet officially announced its high-end X48 chipset, some first-tier motherboard makers started shipping boards in small volumes a few days ago. Mass shipping will start in the middle of March, according to sources in the channel.

Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology both started shipping the motherboards this week. In additional to the X48, Intel will launch a P45 chipset in the second quarter of 2008, while the first-tier motherboard makers have already started showcasing their P45-based motherboards.

DigiTimes Daily IT News

Posted by | Thu, Mar 13, 2008 - 09:07 AM | Comments

DVD failure to cost Toshiba nearly a billion dollars

Toshiba Corp. is expected to see total HD DVD losses balloon to as much as 100 billion yen (985.61 million dollars), the Nikkei business daily said, without identifying its sources.

Toshiba declined to confirm specific figures. "The company is currently assessing the possible losses," a Toshiba spokeswoman said. "If we need to revise an earnings report, we will make an announcement at an appropriate time." Toshiba conceded defeat last month in a long-running DVD format war, clearing the way for the Blu-ray format developed by Sony and its partners to become the industry standard for next-generation discs.

Posted by | Thu, Mar 13, 2008 - 02:31 AM | Comments

Microsoft Adding Sony Blu-ray Support To Windows

Apparently the mourning period for HD DVD is over and everyone is falling into the BluRay line!

Microsoft is developing software that will add native support for devices that play Sony's Blu-ray high definition movie format to the Windows operating system, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer said. "We've already been working on, for example, in Windows, device driver support for Blu-ray drives and the like," said Ballmer, speaking at the Microsoft's Mix '08 conference. Ballmer also said that Microsoft is "going to support Blu-ray in ways that are important," according to a transcript of his remarks posted on the company's Web site.

Posted by | Wed, Mar 12, 2008 - 11:06 AM | Comments

Asus becomes a PC company

ASUS IS FINALLY taking the step that you knew they would, they are making PCs. Low and high end machines are first out of the gate, complimenting the laptops and accessories they already make.

First one is the Ares, a gaming machine if that is not blindingly obvious by the oversized stylish carbon fibre case. It will be sold through vendors and the channel as a complete box with enough variants to satisfy most people. It has a brand new keyboard with a round swivelling game key add-on to the left and customized Logitech G9 mouse.

Posted by | Wed, Mar 12, 2008 - 10:47 AM | Comments

March 12 News from Around the Web

ASE Labs posted their Crucial Ballistix 2GB PC3-12800 Kit Review! Find this and other reviews by visiting our forums!

" These modules are rated for operation at DDR3-1600 which is PC3-12800 at 1.8V. The modules have SPD values for lower speeds (DDR3-1066) at JEDEC specs to provide boards the needed initial boot to provide the RAM with the proper voltage and timings. The stock timings at DDR3-1600 are 8-8-8-24. DDR3 latencies are very high compared to DDR2 and should only get better in time. These modules are lead free which helps the environment. Nothing like being green in today's world. I almost forgot that the command rate is 1T which means you get an extra performance boost. "

Posted by | Wed, Mar 12, 2008 - 10:33 AM | Comments

Adobe ColdFusion warming to 64-bit Operating Systems

Adobe Systems plans to update its ColdFusion 8 technology within the next month with additional 64-bit platform support before launching a full-scale upgrade codenamed "Centaur" in 2009. ColdFusion is a server platform for deploying Web applications based on Java. Applications are deployed as Java files. CFML (ColdFusion Markup Language) tags are turned into Java byte code.

With a free update due this quarter known as "Gemini," Adobe extends 64-bit support to Windows Server 2008, Mac OS X Leopard, Red Hat Enterprise Linux 5 and Suse Linux 10. This improves application performance, given the ability to address larger amounts of memory in 64-bit systems. ColdFusion applications currently will run on those platforms only in 32-bit mode. "With the 'updater,' your code will run as is, but it will be a native 64-bit application now," Forta said. ColdFusion 8 already supported the 64-bit Solaris OS platform.

Posted by | Wed, Mar 12, 2008 - 08:25 AM | Comments

OCZ Announces The Vendetta 2 CPU Cooler

OCZ Technology today unveiled the OCZ Vendetta 2, an efficient new CPU cooler with a powerful 120mm fan design for maximum performance. Utilizing a distinctive stacked fin design and trend-setting heat-pipe direct touch (HDT) design combined with a large low-noise fan, the Vendetta 2 is built to solve the cooling challenges of today’s most powerful processors.

Utilizing the proven performance of the latest HDT design, the Vendetta 2 has direct contact with the processor using three copper heat pipes to ensure the most rapid heat transfer. The dimple micro-configuration of the stacked aluminum fins adds turbulence, reducing the skin effect of air flow for more efficient circulation within your case. The versatile and user-friendly Vendetta 2 is compatible with AMD AM2/939/754/755 and Intel 775 sockets and can be installed quickly and easily by end-users at all skill levels. Quiet and efficient heat dissipation makes the OCZ Vendetta 2 the top choice to cool the latest processors.

Posted by | Tue, Mar 11, 2008 - 06:38 PM | Comments

Google closes $3.1 billion DoubleClick acquisition

Google said today it has completed its $3.1 billion takeover of DoubleClick for the New York company's online advertising management expertise, shortly after the European Union approved the deal.

"We are thrilled that our acquisition of DoubleClick has closed," said Eric Schmidt, chief executive officer of Mountain View-based Google, in a prepared statement. "With DoubleClick, Google now has the leading display ad platform." DoubleClick helps its customers place and track online advertising, including search ads, which Google - more than its nearest search competitors Yahoo and Microsoft - has turned into a lucrative business. It places ads on Web pages that targeted consumers are likely to use, generating money for smaller publishers and lesser-visited pages.

SiliconValley.com

Posted by | Tue, Mar 11, 2008 - 12:28 PM | Comments

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