Hardware-Infos

"In three days the games Convention starts. Many publisher have said that they want to announce many games at this festival. So, if you visit the fair, you can expect to play: C&C: Alarmstufe Rot 3, Crysis Warhead, Dead Space, Die Sims 3, Left 4 Dead (EA), Far Cry 2, Prince of Persia, Tom Clancy's Endwar, Tom Clancy's H.A.W.X (Ubisoft), Stalker: Clear Sky (Deep Silver), Tom-Raider: Underworld (Eidos), Bionic Commando, Dark Void, MotoGP 08, Street Fighter IV (Capcom), TR Evolution, Legendary (Atari) and Call of Duty 5: World at war (Activision)"

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TC Magazine

"The O to the Z Technology Group known simply as OCZ has now introduced a new series of power supplies, the ModXStream Pro. Claimed to be gaming-grade units, the ModXStream Pro power supplies are modular, have ATX12V v2.2 and EPS12V certification and come in 400, 500, 600 and 700W configurations. The new PSUs measure 150 (W) x 165 (L) x 86 (H) mm, have overvoltage, overcurrent and short-circuit protection, an efficiency of 82% at typical load and a passion for juicing up SLI and CrossFire setups.

Offering two 12V rails, OCZ's ModXStream Pro units are cooled off by either a 140mm (400W model) or a 120mm (500, 600 and 700W) fan and they are all backed up by a 3-year warranty.

"Global market presence for OCZ high-performance power supplies continues to grow rapidly due to our ability to remain on the cutting-edge of both efficiency and stability," said Ryan Edwards, Director of Product Management. "With the introduction of the ModXStream Pro line of PSUs, end-users can have the whole package - efficiency, stability, low noise, clean high-performance power, and the increased air flow and convenience of modular cables. With a power output to fit every need, the 400 – 700W MXSP are an exciting addition to the extensive range of PSUs offered by the OCZ Technology Group."

For now, there's no word on pricing but all should be revealed as soon as the ModXStream Pro PSUs hit the stores."

VR-Zone Forums

"As the release of AMD's 45 nm processors Shanghai and, more importantly, Deneb is drawing closer, we are getting a better idea of what to expect from AMD’s next generation of CPUs. The HyperTransport Consortium just released details of the HyperTransport 3.1 specification, which increases the clock speed from 2.6 to 3.2 GHz (6.4 GTransfers/s).

Since the HyperTransport (HT) bus is 32-bit wide, the total aggregate bandwidth grows to a massive 51.6 GB/s (25.8 GB/s in both directions), which is a 10 GB/s improvement over the original 3.0 standard and a powerful tool to improve the performance of HT components such as chipsets and CPUs – including the upcoming Fusion processor.

It is widely expected that motherboard vendors will have no trouble adopting 3.1 support in 3.0-enabled chipsets. AMD’s existing 790FX and GX chipsets should support native bandwidth of HT 3.1 as soon as you pair them with a 45 nm CPU.

The HyperTransport Consortium also revealed the HTX3 specification, lifting the potential aggregate bandwidth of HTX cards to the level of HT3.1: 51.6 GB/s is an impressive number for an extension connector and we are hearing that the standard is already getting some attention in the field of enterprise NAS-boxes with SSD technology.

Possibly most interesting, HT3.1 and HTX3 clear up some of the questions surrounding key features of AMD’s Fusion processor. Without doubt, HyperTransport 3.1 will be used as a communication interface between CPU and GPU and a bandwidth of 51.6 GB/s may open a whole new world of possibilities and an opportunity to be more competitive with Intel in terms of overall performance.

HyperTransport 3.1 will also be included with every Shanghai processor. According to our sources however, the technology will disabled and only HyperTransport 1.1 and 2.0 (up to 22.4 GB/s) will be supported."

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Digitimes

"Micron Technology has made further progress on its memory card deployment by settling controller IC and backend production partners. Industry sources noted that InComm and Siliconware Precision Industries Ltd. (SPIL) are the respective partners for Micron, and a secondary controller IC house may likely be added in the future.

By extending its presence from upstream memory chips to downstream finished card production, Micron will be the fourth memory maker after Samsung Electronics, Toshiba and Hynix Semiconductor, that has tapped into the memory card business, industry watchers noted. They commented that the move is logical, citing a supply glut that prompts players to seek alternatives to digest excess inventory.

The sources noted that InComm has been selected as Micron's memory card controller IC supplier. Competitors of InComm are aggressively soliciting potential orders from Micron also; therefore, more controller IC design houses may be selected in the future, they added.

Already being the packaging and testing partner for Micron on both DRAM and NAND flash, SPIL is said to have taken assembly orders for Micron memory cards also. The sources added that Micron has started placing wafer-level testing orders for DRAM and NAND flash at SPIL from the first quarter of 2008, marking a change of Micron's long-established in-house production strategy.

A consistent supply glut in the NAND flash industry has prompted fellow chipmakers to extend their presence beyond memory production, the industry watchers said. As these companies see weakening demand for memory chips, they have thus shifted to produce finished card and selling these cards in the "white-box" memory card market, or in some cases, to handset vendors.

Amid the change, those downstream memory module customers of the memory chipmakers have reduced their chip procurement amounts, as procurement costs for these finished cards is even lower. Part of their costs are saved from royalty payment to those associations (e.g.SecureDigital Association) for memory card standards as the responsibility of paying royalties will go to chipmakers themselves"

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CPU3D Review: Sapphire Radeon HD4870x2 (2Gb GDDR5)

High resolution gaming is what hardcore enthusiasts love to do. So sahpphire has come up with the Radeon HD4870x2. The card features dual R700 GPUs @ 750Mhz and a massive 2Gb of GDDR5 ram. Based on advanced 55nm technology, it also include support for DX10.1, a massive 1600 stream processors and CrossfireX. This card is great news for enthusiast gamers who's after performance that's affordable.

" ... The Sapphire Radeon HD4870x2 is one of those cards that just oozes with appeal ... I can't really see why any hardcore gaming enthusiast would ignore it. It has everything going for it ... features, price and performance.  "  

Read the rest of the review ... HERE.

DailyTech

"When Apple launched its MacBook Air 13.3” ultra-portable notebook earlier this year, it took the computing world by storm. The notebook didn’t impress people with high-end specifications or an overabundance of features or connectivity options – most were dazzled by the notebook’s sleek aluminum design/construction and slim profile.

Unbeknownst to most people, Lenovo was working on its own thin, lightweight ultra-portable of its own which it was aiming at the business sector (and comically at Apple’s MacBook Air). The Lenovo ThinkPad X300 launched in mid-February with a 1.2GHz Core 2 Duo processor, 13.3” LED-backlit display, 64GB solid state drive (SSD), optional built-in optical drive, and optional WWAN.

Lenovo is now ready to give its ThinkPad X300 a makeover in the form of the new ThinkPad 301. While the original ThinkPad X300 featured an ULV 1.2GHz Intel Core 2 Duo SL7100 processor, the new ThinkPad X301 will come equipped with either an ULV Intel Core 2 Duo U9300 (1.2GHz) or U9400 (1.4GHz) processor. Lenovo is also adding support for DDR3 memory.

The 64GB SSD remains standard equipment for storage duties, but an optional 128GB SSD is now on the options sheet for those that require more space. The ThinkPad X301 also supports DisplayPort and models coming later this year will also take advantage of WiMAX.

"Lenovo continues to push the technology envelope by giving road warriors the latest enhancements in solid state drive storage and digital display technologies with the new ThinkPad X301 notebook PC," said Sam Dusi, vice president, worldwide notebook product marketing for Lenovo. "This announcement extends our commitment to blending ultraportability and functionality, and equipping today’s business users with the most advanced, highest-performing computing tools."

The Lenovo ThinkPad X301 will start at $2,599 when it launches on August 26."

Hexus

"The two people we speak to are Nick Stam (pictured), the technical marketing director for GeForce and Bryan Del Rizzo, PR manager in the US. We start by asking them what they feel about losing the performance leadership. Is that interesting?" says Del Rizzo. "To some people maybe, but it took two of their GPUs to beat one of ours. We have had dual GPU cards and it's feasible that it may happen again."
That last point was intriguing. In our review of the 4870 X2, HEXUS.net editor Tarinder Sandhu said: "We'll have to wait for the GTX 200-series to go on a process diet, to 55nm, and then, just perhaps, we'll see a GX2 based on GeForce GTX 260. While we're unable to draw either of them on whether or not this will happen, when we ask them if they expect to regain the performance leadership this year, Stam says "Yes".

That's as much as you're going to get on that topic for now and we move swiftly back to the 4870 X2. "Is that product the best product you can buy for a PC?" asks Del Rizzo. "A lot of people care about power consumption. Two GTX 260s have lower power consumption than one 4870 X2. In the Asia-Pacific region, for example, they're sensitive about power consumption. Stam is keen to point out that he thinks NVIDIA's multi GPU platform has advantages over AMD's. "We've done our own testing of SLI vs Crossfire and we see a lot of issues with Crossfire. SLI is far more developed and doesn't have as many issues."

Just be listening for more information around Nvision."

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Coolermaster have been busy hosting the MakeMeCooler competition at Multiplay's i34 LAN event ... aka M-Festival. In fact, Coolermaster had one of the MOST impresssive stands at the i34, and according to a lot of gamers who've attended i34 ... Coolermaster rocked the house on the main stage, with their Grande Finale of the MakeMeCooler competition.

MakeMeCooler

"The GRAND FINALE of the MakeMeCooler competition has now been completed. The main stage errupted in a mad frenzy as everyone was shouting "Coolermaster, Coolermaster, Coolermaster!!"  ... 5 mins before the main prize presentation.

The main stage was set ... there were 3 FULLY kitted body guards protecting the main prizes on stage. They stood still ... looking very serious ;)

More breaking news from Digitimes

"Asustek works with Orange to release free netbook bundle in the UK. Asustek Computer is cooperating with Orange to push out a free Eee PC bundle in the UK market, according to the company.

Asustek is offering its Eee PC 900, which features a Celeron M processor, 8.9-inch panel, 16GB hard drive and Windows XP operating system, in the bundle deal. The deal requires a two-year 3.5G online services contract with Orange, which will cost an average of £25 (US$46.71) per month.

The bundle deal should help ease Asustek's Eee PC 900 inventory pressure."

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CNet News

"David Katz is heading into a Web site battle against Internet sports powerhouses like the ones run by ESPN, Yahoo, Fox Sports, Major League Baseball and AOL.

At least he knows the enemy. By the time Katz left Yahoo at the end of 2006 as the head of sports, entertainment and studios, he had guided its sports site into a rivalry with Espn.com that still has them trading the monthly lead in unique visitors in their category.

Katz, 36, believes that his Web site, Sportsfanlive.com, which will be formally released this week, will find a substantial following with his versions of customized content, social networking and fantasy games. He believes his competitors have grown overly stodgy and too congested for fans to wade through.

"Those other sites are fundamentally all the same," he said, calling them "imbued with traditional media DNA." He added that they are "not built for the next generation and for the evolving needs of sports fans."

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