Max Pc Tech

Radeon 4800 and 3800 cards won't Crossfire

2008-07-02T22:49:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - Radeon 4800 and 3800 cards won't Crossfire: "Despite previous reports on the internet that old Radeon 38x0 and new Radeon 48x0 cards will work in Crossfire together, unfortunately this won't happen.

Two senior software guys at ATI has just confirmed that 3800 series in Crossfire with 4800 won't work and that such a configuration is not supported.

You won't be able to match the generations and we are investigating if you will be able to mix cards from 48x0 series. We believe you should, but we won’t jump the gun with this announcement.

Sorry for destroying one cool dream, but you will have to forget about your 38x0 card and swap it for a much faster 48x0 generation.

At the same time, our friend W1zzard from tech power up has confirmed that he couldn't make 3800 and 4800 generation cards work together in XP, but now we know the answer why. It won't work on XP or Vista, simply as it's not supported."

AMD hotfixes 4800 cards

2008-07-02T22:45:00.000+05:30

AMD hotfixes 4800 cards - The INQUIRER: "NO SOONER HAS DAAMIT released its new graphics card, it has released a hotfix to patch up problems with it.

The wibble was wobbled by reviews of AMD's Radeon 4850 last week, a $200 card for mid-range gamers. Reception was mixed, with the Green Team spoiling the release somewhat with the Geforce 9800 GTX+.

But dated last Friday, this hotfix is suspiciously lacking in details. The support notes claim that it 'improves overall performance and stability' on the 4800 series, which will no doubt delight reviewers who spent last week testing the card on older drivers.

But beyond that, nobody knows what it does or why the performance improvements have been pushed up to a hotfix, rather than just included in the next Catalyst release.

Meanwhile, ATI has come back with a 1GB version of the 4870, to come back against the 9800 GTX+. How long until we see a hotfix for the response card to the response card for the hotfix?"

Digital Cameras Buying Guide

2008-06-28T21:33:00.002+05:30

I came across this site with a great Digital Cameras Buying Guide. The guide explains everything from the absolute basics to more advance features about digital cameras. It classifies cameras according to price and simplicity, portability, versatility power and control features and according to your budget. The guide also explains technical jargon related to cameras like resolution, megapixels, flash cards, sd cards, memory sticks and a lot more. It also mentions various aspects like weight, grip size and location of buttons, optical and digital zoom etc. The thing I like most about the guide is the list of special features (automatic shutter priority and scene modes), in camera editing, manual control overide, antishake wireless transfer etc.)

This australian shopping site also list some great deals on digital cameras. It crawls the web like a search engine and lists all deals available which means more choices and better prices. If you're looking to buy a digital camera be sure the check out the Camera Buying Guide. You can also check various other shopping guides on other electronic items on the site.

Ubisoft's says no Direct 3D 10.1

2008-05-30T21:37:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "As you may remember, Ubisoft's Assassin's Creed was the first game to have some use for DirectX 10.1, at least the part of it. But as soon as that was discovered, as it was the "hidden" feature of the Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft has issued the famous 1.02 patch that has removed this feature.

Our colleagues over at Pcgameshardware.de have done an email interview with Ubisoft, and tried to get some info on this situation. You may have heard the explanation for the DirectX 10.1 support in Assassin's Creed before, but just for the sake of the argument, we will do it once again.

According to Ubisoft, they have found that they could optimize a pass by reusing an existing buffer, which is one of the great features of DX10.1 API. But unfortunately, at least according to Ubisoft, the performance gains that were observed in the retail version were inaccurate since the implementation was wrong and a part of rendering pipeline was broken.

This was only notable when anti-aliasing was pushed into play, but in any other scenario both Dx10 and Dx10.1 use the same rendering pipeline. According to that same interview, the mentioned feature was buggy and Ubisoft had to remove it.

When asked about the plans of getting the D3D 10.1 back to Assassin's Creed, Ubisoft responds that there is no plan to re-implement support for DX10.1. Like we expected anything different from a TWIMTBP title."

Intel, Micron Introduce First Sub 40nm Chip

2008-05-30T21:36:00.000+05:30

Techtree - Intel, Micron Introduce First Sub 40nm Chip: "Intel and Micron have together introduced the industry's first sub-40 nanometer (nm) NAND memory device -- a 34nm 32gigabit (Gb) multi-level cell chip that promises increased storage capacity in small form factor applications.

Measuring just 172mm -- less than the size of a thumbnail -- the 34nm 32Gb chip, designed mainly for solid-state drives (SSD), will enable high-density solid-state storage in small form factor applications. It is touted as the only monolithic device at this density that fits into a standard 48-lead thin small-outline package (TSOP), providing a cost-effective path to higher densities in existing applications.
It is believed the chip will enable more cost-effective SSDs, doubling the current storage volume of these devices as well as driving capacities to beyond 256GB in today's standard, smaller 1.8-inches form factor.

A single 34nm 32Gb chip can store more than 2,000 high-resolution digital photos or hold up to 1,000 songs on a personal music player. Two 8-die stacked packages can realize 64 gigabytes (GBs) of storage, enough for recording anywhere between eight and forty hours of high-definition video in a digital camcorder."

AMD RS780D supports AM3 and DDR3

2008-05-30T21:33:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "AMD's soon-to-launch RS780D chipset, the one that will get branded as AMD 790GX, will also be quite ready for the future. The new and improved IGP board includes RS780D chipset with SB750 Southbridge, but the roadmap we've seen actually claims that the same chipset will be able to cope with future SB800 Southbridge.

Even more surprising is the fact that the document we’ve seen claims that RS780D will be able to support future socket AM3 and DDR3 memory. Let’s not forget that RS780D or AMD 790GX actually has an integrated graphic inside.

RS780D has an IGP that supports DirectX 10 and you should be fine with it even in 2009. This kind of makes sense, as the memory controller will be inside of the CPU and AMD’s chipset doesn’t have much to do with memory controller and AMD tends to make most of its chipsets pin compatible."

GeForce GTX 280 & GTX 260 Price Up

2008-05-30T21:31:00.000+05:30

VR-Zone - GeForce GTX 280 & GTX 260 Price Up: "CJ let us know that GeForce GTX 280 will be sold for $649 while GeForce GTX 260 will be sold for $449 at the time when they are launched on June 17th. Also we got to know that the price to AIC partners is $485 and $325 for GTX 280 and 260 respectively so there is a tidy sum to be made by their partners. As our previous article has suggested, the GPU cost alone is $100-$120 and so Nvidia isn't making as much money as they would love to. As such, they will try to lower cost by going 55nm."

Far Cry 2 Multiplayer Feature to Rock!

2008-05-30T21:30:00.000+05:30

Techtree - Far Cry 2 Multiplayer Feature to Rock!: "Ubisoft has said that the upcoming 'Far Cry 2' game will feature a 16 player multi-player mode along with its single-player mode.

However, gamers hoping to engage in some online co-operative play are in for disappointment considering there's no co-operative mode included in the game.

On January 3rd this year, Ubisoft had announced the game would be shipping for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and the PC. It was officially unveiled on July 19th last year by Ubisoft. At that time, Ubisoft had said the game was being developed by the Ubisoft Montreal team and that it would release in spring this year. Later, Ubisoft postponed the release (still tentative) to 2008-2009. More news as we get our hands on the game!"

Nvidia GT200 Die Shot Exposed

2008-05-30T21:27:00.000+05:30

VR-Zone - Nvidia GT200 Die Shot Exposed: "CJ sent us a high res die shot of the GT200. If you observe carefully, there are 10 blocks altogether and each block has 24 SPs. Therefore, a GT200 core can have up to 240 stream processors. Due to its large die size on 65nm process technology, the yield rate will be poor and that drives costs up. CJ told us that cost of making a GT200 die is about $100-120 which is very high so Nvidia will need to drive costs down. INQ has suggested a 55nm version of GT200 coming in September to drive costs down which is line with our previous speculation. It is almost impossible for Nvidia to come out with a GX2 card on GT200 with the current TDP but we don't see much of an issue with AMD coming out with R700 so the performance graphics war might tilt to AMD's favor in late Q3."

Intel to cut some Quad core prices in Q3

2008-05-30T13:19:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "Intel plans to introduce one “new” 45nm Quad core branded as Q9645 and this “sounds familiar” chip will work at 3.0GHz and has 12MB cache. This is the same chip as QX9650 that we reviewed more than half year ago but without unlock multiplier. Once Intel introduced it, it will price it at $525 wholesale price.

This introduction, scheduled for Q3 will drop Q9550 price from current $525 to $317. For those who don’t know Core 2 Quad Q9550 works at 2.83GHz and has 12MB cache.

Core 2 Quad Q9450 with 2.66GHz clock and 12MB memory will stay at current $317 and Q9400 with 2.66GHz clock and 6MB cache will stay at current $268. Q9300 2.5GHz clocked CPU with 6MB cache will also sell for $268 and so will 65nm Q6700 clocked at 2.66GHz with 8MB cache.

Three CPUs will share the same price but they will have different clocks, which doesn’t make much sense but obviously Intel will play availability game with these CPUs as there will probably be shortages of some of the three. They will simply force you to buy one of them at very similar price.

The last to slightly drop its price is the world’s most famous quad core 65nm Q6600 and this 2.4GHz veteran with 8MB cache will drop from $219 to $209."

Geforce GTX 280's 240 Shaders are brute force

2008-05-30T13:17:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - Geforce GTX 280's 240 Shaders are brute force: "We chat with a lot of knowledgeable people in the industry and we've learned quite interesting truth behind GT200 chip. Our developer friends called it brute force chip, with not so much brains.

Putting 240 Shader units in the chip that basically reminds on G80 and G92 design will naturally get things faster. More Shader units at faster clock will always make your card faster, especially at higher resolutions.

G92 with 65nm design has 128 Shaders while GT200 has 240 or almost twice as much. The die size of GT200 is much bigger than GT200 and that is how you get the fastest chip around.

Our developer friends added that the last innovation that Nvidia did was G80 and that G92 is simply a die shrink of the same idea. You can look at GT200 as G92 with 240 Shaders.

This results that GT200 will be hot but it will be powerful, let’s just hope that Nvidia yields of such a huge chip (rumoured bigger than 550mm2) will be acceptable."

ASUS P5Q Series Motherboards, Video Cards, and More to Launch at Computex

2008-05-30T13:13:00.000+05:30

DailyTech - ASUS P5Q Series Motherboards, Video Cards, and More to Launch at Computex: "Despite the fact that Intel’s P45 chipset was delayed, Intel is still sticking to the June launch next month at Computex. ASUS will be fielding an entire family of motherboards based on the P45 chipset at Computex and the six models that make up the P5Q family share many of the same specifications.

One thing that the new boards have in common that will be most welcome to computer users is the new Express Gate feature that promises to get users from boot up to online in 5 seconds without using Windows. ASUS says that with Express Gate you can view images, listen to online music and surf the net.

Another common feature between the six boards in the family is the EPU-6 engine that provides phase switching for components including the CPU, video card, memory, fans, drives and chipset. The technology provides the ideal power needed for the components via acceleration and overclocking eliminating excess power to save energy.

Both the P5QC and P5Q3 boards support DDR3 and the P5QC supports DDR2 as well. Since DDR2 and DDR3 aren’t slot compatible the board has RAM slots for both formats with four for DDR2 and a pair for DDR3.

The boards support bus speeds appropriate for the newest Intel processors of 800/1066/1333/1600 MHz. The P5Q3 Deluxe/WiFi also features onboard 802.11n networking. Another very welcome feature on some P5Q boards is five available USB headers providing a total of 10 external USB ports. Some lower end models of the P5Q family have four USB headers"

Nvidia GT200 sucessor tapes out

2008-05-30T13:09:00.000+05:30

Nvidia GT200 sucessor tapes out - The INQUIRER: "THE LAST TIME Nvidia's CPU mouthed off about Intel, the firm followed it up with the stunning NV5800 'Dustbuster'. This time, he mouthed off, and the successor to the GT200 had already taped out. NV is in deep trouble once again.

You heard that right, the successor for the GT200 chip has already taped out, and it too will be nothing special. Documents seen by the INQ indicate that this one is called, wait for it, the GT200b, it is nothing more than a 55nm shrink of the GT200. Don't expect miracles, but do expect the name to change.

There are several problems with the GT200, most of which are near fatal. The first is the die size, 576mm^2, bigger than most Itanics. One might trust Intel to make a chip that big with decent yields, especially if it is basically an island of logic in the middle of a sea of cache. Nvidia using a foundry process doesn't have a chance of pulling this off."

Abit's Computex line-up revealed

2008-05-30T13:07:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "Some info about what motherboards Abit will be showing at Computex has made its way online and although it covers several older models as well, we'll stick to telling you about two P45 and one P43 model here.

The model names are IP45-MAX, IP45 and IP43 Pro, and it gives away some information about what features the different models will have. Let's start from the bottom with the IP45, as this is a very basic P45 motherboard with a single x16 PCIe 2.0 slot, two PCIe x1 slots and three PCI slots. Around the back is a single PS/2 port, six USB 2.0 ports, a Gigabit Ethernet connector, 7.1-channel audio jacks with a coaxial S/PIDF out and a CMOS reset button.

This board is limited to DDR2 800 and 1,066MHz memory, according to the specs, and it also has six SATA ports and headers for a further six USB 2.0 ports. Depending on the market, Abit has three additional models of this board, one with 10/100Mbit Ethernet, one with 5.1-channel sound and one with both. This is what is commonly known as cost down.

Next up, we have the IP43 Pro, which appears to be a better motherboard than the IP45. It has the same slot layout and the same rear I/O layout, with the addition of an optical S/PDIF out. This board features Abit's micro Guru BIOS and silent OTES chipset cooling and supports DDR2 memory up to 1,200M"

VIA's "Isaiah" Officially Launches as "Nano"

2008-05-29T20:04:00.001+05:30

DailyTech - VIA's "Isaiah" Officially Launches as "Nano": "VIA's C7-M processor architecture has soldiered on for a number of years, but it's finally time for a chance. While the C7-M processors are relatively efficient and find homes in embedded products and notebooks like the HP 2133 Mini-Note, it's not exactly a performance powerhouse.

VIA hopes to change this with its Isaiah processor family which today is being officially launched as the Nano. The Nano is a 64-bit out-of-order processor design -- Intel's Atom is in-order to save power -- and is built on a 65 nanometer manufacturing process.

'VIA Nano processors represent the next generation of x86 technology, providing the fundamental building blocks for a new genre of optimized computing solutions,' said VIA President and CEO Wenchi Chen. '‘Small is Beautiful’ is more than a design strategy; it’s our vision of where the PC market is heading and our new processors will help the market realize that dream.'

The Nano will be available in both standard voltage (desktop) and ultra low voltage (notebook) SKUs to satisfy a large range of products. Standard voltage chips include the 1.8GHz Nano L2100 (25W) and 1.6Hz Nano L2200 (17W). The ultra low voltage lineup will consist of the 1.3GHz Nano U2300 (8W), 1.2GHz U2500 (6.8W), and the 1.0GHz U24000 (5W). All Nano processors include 1MB of L2 cache and an 800MHz FSB."

Geforce GTX 280 to be available at launch

2008-05-29T20:02:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "Middle June is the launch date and Nvidia can play with the date moving it from 18th to 17th or similar but it looks that Nvidia will launch both GT200 in week 25 2008.

A few of our sources have confirmed that they are in preparation to launch these boards at that time. As Nvidia set quite high standards the boards are suppose to be available at launch, and Nvidia has to ship in volume at the launch date.

The biggest issue is the price as around $600 might be too steep but at the same time GT200 / D10U-30 the board that you now known as Geforce GTX 280 will definitely be faster than dual chip Geforce 9800 GX2 that sells for minimum of $500.

ATI’s Radeon 4870 and 4850 will both end up slower but they will also cost significantly less. From what we know, 4870 should cost $229 and it will be slower than any GT200 but it will be almost twice cheaper."

AMD to launch Phenom FX in Q1 2009

2008-05-29T20:01:00.001+05:30

Fudzilla: "There is a chance that 45nm Stars core codenamed Deneb FX might be AMD's chance to get back to the high end market. This CPU is scheduled for Q1 2009 and we heard before that Deneb 45nm quad core should be able to reach the speeds of at least 3GHz.

At that time Intel should be happily selling its Quad core Nehalem, the CPU that supports eight threads and might still end up faster than AMD’s FX offering, but at least AMD can get close to Intel’s performance crown.

The CPU has 6MB of L3 cache and it should be completely unlocked and overclocking friendly, since that is what FX usually stands for. AMD might brand this one as the Black edition as it looks that this new brand worked quite well for AMD."

Dual-core Atoms mass production starts in July

2008-05-29T20:01:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - Dual-core Atoms mass production starts in July: "Intel will start with mass producing its dual core Atom processors in the second week of July.

The first dual-core Atom will run at 1.6GHz and support a feature, similar to Hyper-Threading, that allows for up to two instructions per clock in some scenarios. While single core Atom CPU and chipset TDP adds up to 12W, for dual cores that number will be 16W.

As Dual core Atom has 8W TDP this means that 945 chipset has 8W TDP which is quite a lot considering that this is a low power platform. SIS chipset for Atom CPU dissipates just a fraction of that power.

Since the CPUs are pin to pin compatible, a simple BIOS update will let you swap your single core CPU for a dual-core one. Still, there are some concerns that this might affect the sales; after all, why stay single, when you can go dual."

AMD RD890 supports DDR3

2008-05-29T20:00:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "AMD is working hard on a new chipset codenamed RD890 and this chipset will have support for upcoming 45nm star cores.

AMD new start cores will feature support for DDR3 memory and they will use socket AM3. The chipset itself will interconnect with SB800 Southbridge.

RD890 is a desktop discrete chipset and it doesn’t come with integrated graphics. It is supposed to replace AMD 790FX boards out there. It looks like AMD did a good job by not rushing to adopt DDR3 till early 2009, as the prices have started falling, and by early 2009 they just might be at the right level to make people consider buying the DDR3.

We still don’t know anything about the SB800 features but we expect that it should be better than SB750. We also know that soon to be launched SB750 has all the features of SB700 Southbridge + Raid 5 support."

AMD dual core Phenom is still missing

2008-05-29T19:58:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "Last time we heard AMD talking about its dual core Phenom, codenamed Kuma, we heard that this CPU should be out in May timeframe. The worst case scenario was to see this CPU in late Q2 and June is pretty much the last chance to meet this timeframe.

Kuma is still 65nm, it has 2MB of L3 cache and 2x512KB of L2 cache and it does support HT3. The new dual core CPU fits in existing eco-systems as it uses socket AM2+ and we've also learned that there won't be any high clocks close to 3GHz for Kuma parts.

AMD will position this CPU as an energy efficient CPU but we still don’t know what should happen then."

Intel to kill E2160 by late June

2008-05-28T20:58:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "Intel plans to kill three CPUs by the end of next month. It has already sent product discontinuance notices (PDN) in April for the E2160, E2140 and E4500 CPUs.

The Pentium dual core E2160 with 1.8GHz GHz speed was one of the most popular CPUs and Intel plans to end its life in June, which means that the last orders won't be returnable or cancellable.

The E4500 with 2.2GHz clock and 2MB cache also dies in June, but it will be outlived by the 2.4GHz clocked E4600 and 2.6GHz clocked E4700.

Intel will keep the 2.0GHz clocked E2180, 2.2GHz clocked E2200 and 2.3GHz clocked E2220 and there isn't much of a reason for panic. These CPUs are simply incredibly cheap as you can buy a Pentium dual core E2180 for €50.

Intel also plans to kill most of its Core 2 Duo 65nm processors by Q1 2009."

45nm dual cores to get cheaper in Q3

2008-05-28T20:57:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "Intel is preparing a new CPU line-up for Q3 and it plans to introduce a few new CPUs and to drop the price of existing models. The top speed for Q3 is the Core 2 Duo E8600 with 6MB cache and a 3.33GHz clock. This baby will sell for $258 in the wholesale market.

The second in line is the well known E8500 that works at 3.16GHz and has 6MB cache. It will drop from its current $258 to $179. The E8400 with 6MB cache and 3GHz clock will also drop from its current $179 to $159. Funnily enough the E8300 with 2.83 clock, the E8200 with 2.66GHZ clock and the E8190 at 2.66GHZ clock will all continue to sell for $159.

At this time Intel doesn’t plan to drop the price of these models and we wonder why would anyone want a 2.66GHZ dual core for $159 when the 3GHz E8400 will be selling for the same price. Obviously Intel will have to drop these prices, but its not ready to disclose these strategies and moves."

Mass Effect gets benchmarked

2008-05-28T20:55:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "Our colleagues over at pcgameshardware.de have managed to do some benchmarking on Bioware's upcoming PC version of Mass Effect. Pcgameshardware.de benched this game on various CPUs and a lot of graphics cards from both green and red camp.

Bioware's Mass Effect uses Epic's modified engine which keeps the requirements at a moderate level, so basically if your system managed to cope with Unreal Tournament 3, you are all set to play Mass Effect too.

According to their testing, a dual-core processor is recommended, whereas quad-cores aren't providing any noticeable benefits. As for the graphics cards, Nvidia's 8800GT will be enough for 1,280x1,024 as long as you don't get cocky with anisotropic filtering.

The PC version of Mass Effect is scheduled to be released on May 28th for North America and June 6th for Europe. You can check out some screenshots and the benchmark results here."

RV770PRO to fight 9800GT 512MB

2008-05-28T20:53:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "ATI's soon-to-launch RV770PRO will fight Geforce 9800GT 512MB cards. Once again, ATI is up against a G92-based chip and it looks like Nvidia is still not done with rebranding.

Geforce 9800GT is still not launched, but sources close to the ATI camp believe that this will be a simple rename of a 8800GT-based card to fit the needs of Nvidia partners.

You should expect that RV770PRO-based card with 512MB of memory should be able to fight the 8800GT and even the 8800 GTS-based cards.

We still have to see if and when Nvidia will launch the 9800GT-based cards."

Arctic Cooling announces Freezer Xtreme

2008-05-28T20:52:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "Arctic Cooling has announced a new addition to its CPU cooling line up. The new Freezer Xtreme will feature an unique twin tower design and it will be able to achieve a stunning 160W of cooling capacity.

The mentioned unique twin tower design with 102 fins is paired up with four double-sided heatpipes and a single ultra quiet 120mm PWM fan. The dimensions of the new Freezer Xtreme stand at 130 x 100 x 131mm (LxWxH) and it weighs 608g. The PWM controlled fan spins at 800-1500RPMs and creates 35.7CFM of airflow. The new Freezer Xtreme supports Intel socket LGA775 and AMD's socket AM2+, AM2 and 939 processors with TDP of up to 160 Watts.

According to the press release, the new Freezer Xtreme is also able to cool the memory, Northbridge and voltage regulators, possibly due to the unique design and the placement of the fan. Arctic Cooling's testing reveals that Freezer Xtreme is able to hold Intel's Core 2 Extreme QX9770 processor at 42.6 degrees, which is better than the stock cooler by 17.4 degrees. Besides the better cooling performance, AC's new Freezer Xtreme is much less noisier than the stock fan."

ATI's new cards are 23cm long

2008-05-28T20:18:00.001+05:30

Fudzilla: "According to the drawings that our colleagues from hardware-aktuell.com managed to get, both new ATI cards are going to be 23cm, or 9-inches long.

As we wrote before, the HD 4870, or the RV770XT will have a fatter dual slot cooler while the RV770Pro will have a single slot cooler, similar to the previus HD 3850 card. ATI's cards will end up few centimeters shorter than Nvidia's GTX 260 and 280 which will be 27cm long, at least according to some first rumors.

The 27cm length is well known, as this was the length of both 9800GTX and GX2 cards. Of course, you must bear in mind that performance-wise Nvidia's GTX 280, 260 and HD 4870, HD 4850 are just not in the same league."

Windows 7 confirmed for 2010

2008-05-28T20:18:00.000+05:30

Windows 7 confirmed for 2010 - The INQUIRER: "MICROSOFT has confirmed that Windows 7 will be with us ' sometime in 2010' and appears to have released screenshots into the blogsphere.

A spokesvole said the release date of the successor to Windows Vista will ultimately be decided by, 'meeting the quality bar'. It is not the first time Microsoft has decided something in a good pub.

Client versions of Windows 7 will ship in both 32-bit and 64-bit flavours. A server version with the original title of Windows Server 7, is also being looked at.

The Vole is keeping deadly quiet about Windows 7 in case more punters decide that is probably worth waiting three years rather than buying the disappointing and lacklustre Vista. It also seems unlikely to want to promise the world and then have the embarrassment of having to pull all the functionality because it cannot get it to work."

Dhoom 2.5 PC Game to Hit Stands Soon

2008-05-28T20:17:00.000+05:30

Techtree: Dhoom 2.5 PC Game to Hit Stands Soon: "Dhoom 2.5 the game is expected to hit shelves very soon. Earlier, the game was scheduled to be out by end last year but got delayed.

FX Labs refused to comment on the delay or give a tentative release date for the game simply saying 'the wait would be over soon!'. The game is designed to give players the opportunity to assume the role of their favorite characters from the movie and make their way through numerous exciting missions and mini-games.
FX Labs and Yash Raj Studios inked an exclusive deal in 2007 to develop the blockbuster into a PC game. The former also claimed that the game will have an international production quality to it, at the same time creating a bench mark for future film-based games in the country.

Incidentally, FX Labs is also developing a game based on the film, Ghajini, which is being remade by Aamir Khan. The game will feature mind-boggling quests, stunning sound and visuals that would get you immersed. Expected to be released in the Fall of 2008, I think that this game will be delayed due to Dhoom 2.5."

Gigabyte's 790GX motherboard pixellized

2008-05-28T20:16:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "Gigabyte is prepping yet another interesting motherboard which should make its debut during the Computex show. This one will be based on AMD's 790GX chipset paired up with the SB750 Southbridge, which should bring some improvements when it comes to overclocking AMD's Phenom processors.

The GA-MA79GP-DS4H, as the motherboard will be known, features two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots, limited to x8 mode when both are in use. The new motherboard supports AM2 and AM2+ processors and DDR2-1066 memory. The 790GX chipset features integrated graphics that should go under the name of Radeon HD 3300, and there's also support for Hybrid Crossfire and CrossfireX support.

The most interesting thing is the side-port DDR3 memory, courtesy of Elpida. The addion of 64MB of DDR3 memory should bring a boost to the 3D performance of the IGP. Gigabyte is also using a 4+1 PWM design, which should be able to deliver enough power for Phenom processors."

First Nehalem has 8MB cache

2008-05-28T20:14:00.002+05:30

Fudzilla - First Nehalem has 8MB cache: "The first generation of Nehalem desktop processors codenamed Bloomfield, abbreviated BLM, will have 8MB of cache memory. As it has shared cache memory, this should be just about enough.

This decreases the amount of cache from the Core 2 Quad generation from 12MB to 8MB, but Nehalem should be able to use its cache wiser and 8MB should be just about enough.

Intel also tells its partners that Bloomfield has four-cores, but it can cope with eight threads. The CPU fits in socket LGA1366, and this is the only new socket Intel plans for 2008.

Intel is still very quiet on the FSB and the CPU core clock itself."

R700 to launch in August

2008-05-28T20:14:00.001+05:30

Fudzilla - R700 to launch in August: "We've learned that the R700 should be expected in August. This should be just around back-to-school-time and the card would be ready before the big titles gets release in the September/October time.

From what we’ve learned, the hardware could be ready for a late June launch time, but ATI still wants to tweak the drivers. ATI also wants to learn the real performance numbers of the Geforce GTX 280, aka G200/D10U-30 graphics card, to be able to tweak its performance accordingly.

The single chip RV770PRO and RV770XT cards are still on the schedule for a June 16 launch with an immediate availability, but the real quantities will ship in early Q3, the quarter that starts in July."

RV770XT to challenge 9800GTX

2008-05-28T20:14:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "According to a roadmap we've seen, the RV770XT, the card that ATI might brand as the Radeon HD 4870 512MB will be position to fight the Geforce 9800GTX 512MB.

The RV770XT should be as fast as a non-overclocked version of the Geforce 9800GTX 512MB or around that speed. This means that the RV770XT might be a bit faster or a bit slower than this Nvidia offering.

However, the RV770XT based 512MB cards won't be able to beat overclocked Geforce 9800 GTX 512MB cards, which implies that the RV770XT performance will be a bit below that of an overclocked G92 with 128 Shaders.

This sounds quite good for a card that will sell for $229 at launch."

Atom 330 dual core works at 1.6GHz

2008-05-28T20:13:00.001+05:30

Fudzilla - Atom 330 dual core works at 1.6GHz: "Intel plans to launch its first dual-core Atom-based CPU in Q3. We scored some more details and many of them were quite easy to guess. The new dual-core Atom will end up branded as the Atom 330 ,and just as the single-core Atom 230, the dual-core CPU will end up at 1.6GHZ.

It has 1MB cache memory, which is twice as much as the single-core Atom 230. We would suggest that Intel actually has 2x512KB L2 cache, as this cache is not shared between the cores.

The FSB stays at 533MHz and this is also a chipset limitation, but, of course, on some boards you will be able to overclock, at least the FSB.

The CPU and its two cores support four threads and the magnificent TDP stops at 8W, which is definitely a great result for a dual-core CPU. This is far better TDP than most of Intel mobile CPUs around.

The Atom also supports 64-bit processing, executive disable bit and it is halogen and lead-free."

Yorkfield R0 stepping to arrive

2008-05-28T20:13:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - Yorkfield R0 stepping to arrive: "We learned that Intel is about to release a new stepping for its Yorkfield quad-core CPUs. The name will be R0-stepping and this new stepping should be better than the current C1-stepping.

The new stepping will arrive with a new batch of Yorkfield CPUs, and let’s hope that this will increase the yields and efficiency of a pair of dual-core 45nm stitched together into a quad-core socket 775 CPU.

As we still don’t know what kind of improvement you should expect from it, we're expecting slightly better TDP and thermals, but this doesn’t have to be the case."

AMD Radeon 4800-series coolers pictured

2008-05-28T20:12:00.001+05:30

Fudzilla - AMD Radeon 4800-series coolers pictured: "Chiphell has scored some pictures of the coolers for the upcoming Radeon HD 4800-series from AMD and at first glance, the coolers don't look that different from the current ones. The X2 cooler seems to have scored a heatpipe in addition to having had the second heatsink upgraded to copper instead of aluminum.

The single chip high-end cooler also seems to feature heatpipe cooling, although if you look closely it appears to have a pair of heatpipes nestled underneat the plastic shrouding. The cooler for the DDR3 cards appears to be almost identical to that of the early single-slot Radeon HD 3850 cards with what appears to be some cosmetic changes.

There's also a picture of what is meant to be the cooler for a mid-range graphics card, which might be called the 4650, but you can draw your own conclusions based on the design.

You can find the pictures here as we couldn't locate them over at Chiphell."

Nvidia GTX260 and 280 revealed

2008-05-28T20:08:00.000+05:30

Nvidia GTX260 and 280 revealed - The INQUIRER: "The 280 has 240 stream processors and runs at a clock of 602MHz, a massive miss on what the firm intended. The processor clock runs at 1296MHz and the memory is at 1107MHz. The high-end part has 1G of GDDR3 at 512b width. This means that they are pretty much stuck offering 1G cards, not a great design choice here.

The 280 has 32ROPs and feeds them with a six and eight-pin PCIe connector. Remember NV mocking ATI over the eight-pin when the 2900 launched, and how they said they would never use it? The phrase 'hypocritical worms' come to mind, especially since it was on their roadmap at the time. This beast takes 236W max, so all those of you who bought mongo PSUs may have to reinvest if they ever get three or four-way SLI functional.

The cards are 10.5-inch parts, and each one will put out 933GFLOPS. Looks like they missed the magic teraflop number by a good margin. Remember we said they missed the clock frequencies by a lot? Here is where it must sting a bit more than usual, sorry NV, no cigar."

More RV770PRO details

2008-05-28T20:06:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - More RV770PRO details: "We finally have a screenshot that confirms most of the things that we said about RV770PRO, here. Our sources suggested that ATI is talking about a Radeon 4850 512MB name for this card.

The card at its top frequency works at 900MHz, as we wrote yesterday, and the GDDR3 memory works at 1000MHz. ATI uses power play, a power saving technique that can drop the GPU clock to 500MHz or 625MHz, depending on the power state.

At the same time, the memory also works at three states. The top one is 1000MHz (2000MHz effectively), the second is 993MHz (1986MHz effectively), and the slowest one is 750MHz (1500MHz effectively).

You will need 1.123V to make the chip work.

Update: After thorough checking, it looks that 900MHz is the top Shader clock."

MSI's 9600GT Hybrid Freezer is overclocked

2008-05-24T15:02:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - MSI's 9600GT Hybrid Freezer is overclocked: "According to our sources, MSI is prepping yet another version of its N9600GT Hybrid Freezer card based on Nvidia's Geforce 9600GT G94 GPU.

The new overclocked card will have the same 1024MB of GDDR3 memory paired up with the 256-bit memory interface. The only difference are at the GPU and the Shader clock of the card. The GPU will be pushed from 650MHz to 700MHz and the Shader clock will be boosted from 1,625MHz to 1,680MHz. The memory will remain clocked at 1,800MHz.

Geforce 9600GT features 64 stream processors, and has support for DirectX 10, Shader model 4.0 and PCI Express 2.0. If you have managed to miss this card, it is cooled by Hybrid Freezer cooler that kicks in when the temp of the card goes over 40 degrees, so the card will be silent in idle mode."

RV770 DDR5 is confirmed by AMD

2008-05-24T14:59:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "As AMD and the rest of the world knows that GT200 based Geforce GTX 280 and 260 will only support GDDR3, AMD has decided to make a big fuss about its GDDR5 support.

They dared to officially tell the world that they do support GDDR5. AMD has also said that it is working together with Samsung Semiconductor Inc., Hynix and Qimonda to bring GDDR5 cards on the market. GDDR5 simply offers far more bandwidth at higher clocks and it should help the new RV770XT to boost some performance.

The Executive Vice president of AMD, the one that goes under the name Rich Bergman, has said that “AMD believes that GDDR5 is the optimal way to drive performance gains while being mindful of power consumption. We’re excited about the potential GDDR5 brings to the table for innovative game development and even more exciting game play.” Don’t get too excited.

Furthermore, AMD said that GDDR5 affirms its “continued tradition of technology leadership in graphics for AMD” and AMD underlines that it is first to bring unified Shader architecture to market, first and only to support DirectX 10.1 and first to go to 55nm, first to offer integrated HDMI with audio and first with double precision floating point calculation support."

X-Fi Fatal1ty PRO supports Dolby Digital live

2008-05-24T14:58:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "Sound card product manager from Creative Labs Europe has confirmed that X-Fi PCIe 1X Fatal1ty Pro card indeed supports Dolby Digital live 5.1 over the optical port.

This is the first Creative card to support this very nice and neat feature. The card supports Dolby Digital live encoding and you can send good X-Fi and EAX powered sound in Dolby digital to your Dolby digital 5.1 compliant decoder, all via an optical cable.

This is something that you will get if you are a high-end sound freak and it is something that we really missed on the previous generations.

We have been waiting for this since the Nforce 2 Sound storm audio times, and Creative finally decided to implement it."

RV770PRO can reach 900MHz

2008-05-24T14:57:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "RV770PRO can work at an astonishing 900MHz. This implies that RV770XT should work even faster. RV770PRO could be called Radeon 4850 512MB, but we are still not sure if this is the fixed and final name. This looks to be the right name.

Memory works at up to 1000MHz and we are talking about the 256-bit GDDR3 memory. The sample cards are up and running, and as was the case with previous cards, RV770 has power play and can down-clock the GPU all the way to 500MHz and save some power. The sample card comes with 512MB GDDR3 memory.

Remember that ATI is about to sample RV770XT, the fastest version of the same chip that will use GDDR5 memory."

Logitech announces the V450 Nano mouse

2008-05-24T14:52:00.001+05:30

Fudzilla: "Logitech has announced its new V450 Nano cordless laser mouse aimed at notebook users. The V450 Nano comes with Logitech's advanced 2.4 GHz wireless technology in combination with what Logitech likes to call the 'Plug-and-Forget' Nano-receiver.

The receiver itself is very small and will not interfere or even get into your way when plugged into one of the USB ports on your notebook. Other features include 12 months of battery life, advanced laser sensor and a comfortable, ergonomic design with soft rubber grips.

The mouse should be available in the U.S. sometime in late May, and Europe should get it sometime in the beginning of July. The suggested retail price stands at US$49.99."

RV770XT and PRO are 256-bit

2008-05-24T13:31:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - RV770XT and PRO are 256-bit: "We've posted that RV770XT will be 512-bit, but our usually very reliable sources misinterpreted some parts of the information. The card is 512-bit internally, as ATI has its internal ring buss memory interface; but externally, we are talking about the 256-bit card.

Both RV770XT and PRO will be the same and they will work with 256-bit memory. The RV770XT pairs with 512-bit memory and the ultra high speed should help the card improve the performance, but from what we know Nvidia’s GT200, Geforce GTX 280 will work with the real 512-bit memory controller.

GT200 is in a higher league altogether and we believe that GT200 will easily beat RV770XT; but at the same time, it will come with a much higher price, almost twice as high. It’s now less than a month to see these cards in action."

Dunnington 6-core works at 2.66GHz

2008-05-24T13:20:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - Dunnington 6-core works at 2.66GHz: "Intel's Dunnington is a world's first six-core CPU, and this monster with 16MB of cache will work at 2.66GHz. This will be the fastest iteration, while there will be 2.4GHz Xeons based on this six core design.

This CPU will use FSB1066 and it will officially be known as Xeon X7460; and there will be a 2.4GHz version branded as Xeon X7450 that will work at 2.4GHz and have 12MB of cache.

The CPUs will be awfully expensive and we also heard it will need a new socket. It is still scheduled for Q3 2008 launch."

Dual-core Atom expected in Q3

2008-05-24T13:19:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - Dual-core Atom expected in Q3: "We've already reported that Atom dual-core won't make it on the mobile platform in 2008, but it looks that Atom 3xx, which is the branding for the dual core part, should be ready to launch in Q3 2008.

We don’t have many details about the clocks, but these two physical cores will support two threads per core or four threads when you add them together and the TDP should be in the 8 to 10W range.

Many, including MSI, are planning desktop versions of Atom and we believe that with a properly priced case these small and quiet Atom-based dual core desktops can do really well.

In the real world we don’t expect the 1.6GHz dual-core Atom to be faster than a 1.6GHz dual-core Celeron, but only time will tell. On the other hand, Atom 3xx dual core should have much better TDP compared to Celeron dual-core, and this is its key winning bet."

Intel Upcoming Desktop CPU Price Cut

2008-05-24T13:01:00.000+05:30

VR-Zone - Intel Upcoming Desktop CPU Price Cut: "Intel plans to release two new quad cores, Q9650 and Q9400 in Q3 '08 at $530 and $266 respectively. As such, Q9550 pricing will be lowered from $530 to $316 and Q6600 will be further lowered from $224 to $203. Intel also plans to release two new Core 2 Duo, E8600 and E7300 in Q3 at $ 266 and $ 133 respectively. By then, E8500 price will be cut from $ 266 to $ 183, E8400 from $ 183 to $ 163 and E7200 from $ 133 to $ 113."

PowerColor's HD 3870 Football available

2008-05-24T12:52:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - PowerColor's HD 3870 Football available: "Powercolor's HD 3870, cooled by its PCS (Professional Cooling Series) cooler, courtesy of ZeroTherm, is finally available. This card comes with the new football bundle which includes a Powercolor football.

This card works at 775MHz for the core and comes with 512MB of 1ns DDR3 memory clocked at 1,800MHz. With its PCS cooler, this card might even have some room for additional overclocking.

The card should be available as of tomorrow, and the lowest price that we could find stands at €120,05. This is a nice way to wait for the European Football Championship that will be held in Austria and Switzerland."

Galaxy prepping low-profile 9600GT

2008-05-24T12:50:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - Galaxy prepping low-profile 9600GT: "According to the post over at Expreview.com, Galaxy is going to release a new low profile addition to its 9600GT line-up.

The new card is based on Nvidia's G94 GPU with 64 Stream processors and it comes with a small low profile cooler. This card should end up working at reference clocks and it will feature 512MB of memory.

Since it is a low profile card, it lacks SLI support, but it will provide you with more performance in those tight low profile cases. You won't be able to play Crysis at high resolutions, but this is going to be the best low profile HTPC card that you will be able to get."

Desktop Fusion comes in 2010

2008-05-24T12:41:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - Desktop Fusion comes in 2010: "We've learned that Swift is the first Fusion that should launch in second half of 2008 and it will be exclusively a mobile part. After that, at some point in 2010, AMD plans to shift the Fusion CPU with an integrated GPU for desktop.

From what we've heard Nehalem generation CPUs will be able to get to market in 2009 for both notebooks and desktop and this doesn't really come as a surprise, as you really need stable and developed 45nm process to be able to make such a complex chip.

ATI does have a point with launching Fusion first for notebooks as this market will vastly benefit from such a chip as a CPU with an integrated GPU will be cheaper to produce and it is cheaper to produce one complicated chip than two less complicated ones."

RV730 confirmed

2008-05-24T12:39:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - RV730 confirmed: "We’ve heard that RV770XT and PRO are the mainstream chips that will also create the high-end R700 card.

Last time we checked, there were several chips positioned under the RV770, such as RV740, RV730 and RV710. We’ve also learned that these chips will be launched over time. ATI won’t launch them all at once.

We also heard that RV730 board uses board no. B66601, if that helps at all."

RV770XT 1GB card planned

2008-05-24T12:38:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - RV770XT 1GB card planned: "ATI plans to power RV770XT with 1GB memory, and when it comes to the XT card we are talking about 1GB of quite fast GDDR5. RV770PRO is also possible and will launch in its 1GB iteration, making it possibly more attractive to end users.

ATI counts on the good old logic that implies that bigger is better and more memory doesn’t really makes the card much faster, but at least it doesn’t hurt either. The standard RV 770XT and RV770PRO comes with 512MB but some partners will launch 1GB versions.

The chip itself can address even more than 1GB but we guess apart from a good marketing buzz you can create with a 2GB card, you don’t really see the performance benefits."

RV770 A12 needs less power

2008-05-24T12:36:00.001+05:30

Fudzilla - RV770 A12 needs less power: "RV770 version A11, which is usually a pre-production version, needed 1.26V to work, and it looks like the ATI boys did improve the A12 chip.

The A12 revision, which is the one that ATI usually ships to market, only needs 1.13V, which means it's significantly cooler and can be clocked higher. Both voltages are referring to the samples clocked to 625MHz, but we have a strong feeling that the final units will work at higher than 625MHz.

The clock details are something that the company finalizes shortly before the launch. so this is really out in the open."

RV770PRO fan is 0.75 inch wide

2008-05-24T12:36:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - RV770PRO fan is 0.75 inch wide: "The new cooler for RV770PRO card will be significantly smaller than the one that ATI plans to use with RV770XT card. The PRO fan has a 0.75-inch diameter (1.905 cm).

As you can see in the picture, the cooler looks like a single slot design, but this is something that we cannot confirm right now, although it makes perfect sense.

The cooler itself is about 17cm long on the longer side and a bit less on the bottom side of the cooler, but we don’t really know the right dimensions. Here is how it will look."

MSI shows off P45 board with 8 memory slots

2008-05-24T12:35:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - MSI shows off P45 board with 8 memory slots: "Not only did Impress have an exclusive preview of the MSI Wind PC, but they also have pictures of a P45 or possibly a P43 motherboard from MSI that we haven't seen so far. The peculiar thing about this board is the fact that it has no less than eight memory slots.

Four of the slots are for DDR2 memory, while the remaining four are for DDR3 memory. We're not sure if this motherboard will actually enter production or not, but we'll try to find out more about it at Computex in little under two weeks' time.

The rest of the board doesn't look all that special, as it has a single x16 PCIe slot, a single x1 PCIe slot and three PCI slots. However, it does have no less than eight SATA ports and it supports MSI's new OC Jumper, which is meant to improve overclocking on its P45 motherboards."

Geforce GTX 280 to launch on June 18th

2008-05-19T16:42:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "We've found out what looks to be the launch date for GT200 cards. We are happy to report that both GT200 cards are single chip cards, something that we've suggested back in January.

The launch should take place on the 18th of June, just in the middle of week 25, and at current schedule that is two days after ATI's RV770 launch.

The name Geforce GTX 280 looks a bit odd, but I am sure that we will get used to it. The only other alternative was to use a Geforce 9900 cliché, but we believe that GT200 deserves a better name. As it's been suggested on many occasions, GT200 chip will have significantly more Shader units and the most frequent number that we heard was 240. We are still working on getting the confirmation of this bold spec.

Nvidia just ran out of numbers and it’s starting all over again. It's like resetting the odometer, more or less."

Phenom 9950 to work at 2.66GHz

2008-05-19T16:17:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - Phenom 9950 to work at 2.66GHz: "AMD has another 65nm quad-core to launch, and as we suggested before it will call it Phenom 9950. After Phenom 9950 comes Deneb, a new 45nm quad-core that we saw in action at CeBIT. Unlike previously believed, the new Phenom 9950 won't work at 2.6GHz than on rather interesting 2.66GHZ clock.

This speed might suggest that the CPU might run at 10x266FSB, but this is something that we will have to confirm.

Phenom 9950 was scheduled for a late May launch and it’s most likely to show its face before Computex 08 that starts on June 3rd , or at least at this event. AMD doesn’t plan any big launch but it will make some noise when it gets it out.

The new CPU will be out there before RV770 cards and AMD will probably push reviewers to test on its own CPUs."

Razer Launched Goliathus Soft Mat

2008-05-19T16:15:00.000+05:30

VR-Zone - Razer Launched Goliathus Soft Mat: "Razer™, the world’s leading manufacturer of high-end precision gaming and lifestyle electronics peripherals, today launched the Razer Goliathus™, a premium grade soft mat in two versions with three sizes co-developed with global professional gaming teams.

Razer Goliathus – US: $14.99, 19.99 & 24.99; Europe: €12.99, 17.99 & 19.99

Speed Edition: Advanced cloth weave for maximum speed and effortless control
Control Edition: Heavily textured weave for maximum mouse control

Pixel-precise targeting and tracking
Optimized for all mouse sensitivity settings and sensor types
Rubber base for a secure grip on smooth surfaces
Dimensions: Goliathus Ω Speed / Control 270mm x 215mm x 4mm
Goliathus Speed / Control 355mm x 254mm x 4mm
Goliathus α Speed / Control 444 x 355 x 4.3mm

AVAILABILTY: May 2008 – Worldwide"

Assassin´s Creed gets Patch 1.02, kills DX 10.1

2008-05-19T16:08:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - Assassin´s Creed gets Patch 1.02, kills DX 10.1: "Today, Ubisoft launched a new patch for the PC version of Assasin’s Creed. The patch will fix a couple of bugs in the game, among which the bug where Alt-Tab key combination would crash the game. The patch will also introduce post-effects improvements for cards with DX10.1 support and add support for x64 versions of Windows.

The thing that Ubisoft doesn't really say is that this patch removes the support for DirectX 10.1, and it causes up to 20 percent performance drop for all Radeon 38x0. Since Assasin’s Creed is Nvidia's The Way its Meant to be Played title as per Nvidia's request, the game somehow lost its ability to run better with DirextX 10.1.

It's one thing to choose not to support a feature such as DirectX 10.1 but removing it from the title that obviiously scores better on competitors' cards is immature and despicable, to say the least."

GT200 is GeForce GTX 200 Series

2008-05-19T16:07:00.000+05:30

VR-Zone - GT200 is GeForce GTX 200 Series: "Nvidia has informed their partners about the change in naming for the upcoming GT200 series today. Previously, the marketing name for GT200 is GeForce 9900 series when launched but now it has been changed to GeForce GTX 200 series. GeForce 9900 GTX is now GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce 9900 GTS is now GeForce GTX 260. Nvidia has decided to launch them slightly earlier to coincide with RV770 launch which is around third week of June. However, Nvidia plans to show the GeForce GTX 280 card behind doors at Computex."

Alan Wake decides to lie in a bit

2008-05-19T16:04:00.000+05:30

Alan Wake decides to lie in a bit - The INQUIRER: "ALAN WAKE is due to go back to sleep until 2009, with Microsoft apparently resigning itself to the delay.

Due to be released in 2008 on the Xbox and PC, Alan Wake was supposed to be a mystery story about a guy who wakes up with no memory and lives in a ghost town, etc, etc, etc. More interesting was the fact it was from Remedy, the chaps behind Max Payne, and who are supposedly going to base the game on a version of the 3DMark engine, with all the spectacular graphics that that entails.

The game was scheduled for its first major outing at GDC this year, which it missed - and there is no sign of it this week at Microsoft's Gamers Day in San Francisco, the Vole's showcase for its top 2008 titles.

For his part, Microsoft's Xbox man Shane Kim said that, 'We're managing that project with Remedy very carefully... Alan Wake is pretty ambitious. It's taking a very different approach to both story-telling and gameplay.' Which we suspect is code for 'it doesn't really work yet'."

AMD To Launch RV770 On June 18th

2008-05-19T16:00:00.000+05:30

VR-Zone - AMD To Launch RV770 On June 18th: "AMD has just confirmed the marketing name for RV770 yesterday which is no surprise to anyone, the Radeon HD 4800 series. RV770PRO is Radeon HD 4850, RV770XT is Radeon HD 4870 and R700 is Radeon HD 4870 X2. AMD will be shipping RV770 GPUs to AIB by end of this month and you can expect different card designs from the manufacturers at launch. AMD is set to launch the Radeon HD 4850 on June 18th and it is definitely a hard one with retail availability on the same day. Radeon HD 4870, however, will be launched a week later on June 25th with retail availability in July due to GDDR5 availability. Radeon HD 4870 X2 will come later in Q3. As for the clocks, we won't be revealing them yet but the RV770XT core clock is not going anywhere above 800MHz."

Foxconn extends warranty for graphics cards

2008-05-19T15:52:00.001+05:30

Fudzilla - Foxconn extends warranty for graphics cards: "In a never-ending battle for the buyers, partners are constantly changing stuff in order to give their cards some extra value. Foxconn has announced that it is extending its warranty period for graphics cards to three years.

According to Foxconn, the overclocked cards with non-reference cooling solutions and longer warranty periods are just the thing consumers like to see. Many AIB partners are definitely going that way, and many of them already offer the longer three-year warranty.

Unfortunately, this isn't enough to beat Zotac's five-year warranty period. According to the press release, Foxconn's extended warranty applies to all graphics cards bought after the 1st of May."

Arctic Cooling launches Accelero Xtreme

2008-05-19T15:52:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - Arctic Cooling launches Accelero Xtreme: "Just a day after its debut on the Inno3D i-Chill 9800GTX card, Arctic Cooling has officialy launched its Accelero Xtreme cooler.

This cooler comes with three 80mm PWM fans in combination with 107 aluminum fins and five heat pipes. The three 80mm fans have fluid dynamic bearings and they spin at speeds ranging from 700 to 2000RPM.

The new Accelero Xtreme 9800 cooler is SLI compatible and, according to the press release, it should reduce GPU temperature up to 29°C more compared to the reference cooler.

The new Accelero Xtreme 9800 should be available sometime next month at a suggested price of US $53.95 or €34.95."

R700 to launch after RV770

2008-05-19T12:31:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - R700 to launch after RV770: "We've learned that R700, a dual RV770 product, won't launch alongside with RV770 products. As we've said before, both RV770 are scheduled for late June launch, and it looks like the dual chip card won't launch simultaneously.

R700 will launch at least one month later, and you can probably blame the complicated design and drivers for such inconvenient timing.

The way it looks now, GT200 based cards will launch first and then will AMD follow with its high-end card."

AMD announces low-power quad-cores

2008-05-19T12:27:00.001+05:30

Fudzilla - AMD announces low-power quad-cores: "These days, AMD seems to be concentrating on their new Opteron line, possibly in hopes to revitalize their server bussiness. Furthermore, these new quad-core processors' power consumption should be lower by as much as 43%.

These processors will feature integrated memory controllers and a 55 Watt ACP thermal envelope. They'll be available in 2300 and 8300 series for two-, four-, and eight-way rack and blade servers.

The prices are already posted on AMD's site, but there's a catch. Apparently, AMD uses different metrics for consumption measuring, so their numbers might not be as impressive as they'd like to make us think."

More MSI Wind information revealed

2008-05-19T12:27:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - More MSI Wind information revealed: "Laptop Magazine has scored a whole bunch of missing information about the MSI Wind mini-note, although we've already covered most of the hardware, but apart from having revealed the various SKUs that will be available in the U.S. Along side pricing, they also have an interview with Andy Tung, the Director of Sales for MSI in the U.S.

The base version will retail at US$399 and it will become available on June 3rd, along with a more expensive model with Windows XP for US$549. The extra $150 upgrades the memory from 512MB to 1GB and adds Bluetooth; apart from that there doesn't seem to be any major differences between the two models.

There might be a cheaper Windows XP model as well for around $500, but no information was given on what he difference between this and the more expensive model would be. However, interestingly, MSI will only offer the 10-inch model in the U.S., while there will be an 8.9-inch model in some markets."

OCZ Announces 15.4" DIY Gaming Notebook

2008-05-15T12:16:00.000+05:30

DailyTech - OCZ Announces 15.4" DIY Gaming Notebook: "OCZ hopes to branch out even further with the announcement of a new do-it-yourself (DIY) gaming notebook. End-users will be able to purchase the DIY notebook barebones and add components to the machine to build an entire system. OCZ venders, however, will be able to spec the notebooks however they see fit.

Each notebook comes from OCZ standard with a 15.4' WXGA display, NVIDIA GeForce 8600M GT 512MB GPU, Intel PM965 northbridge/ICH8M southbridge, SATA support for HDDs or SSDs, 8x dual-layer DVD burner, four USB 2.0 ports, ExpressCard 34/54 slot, and a fingerprint reader. Optional components will include Bluetooth 2.0+EDR, a TV tuner, and a Intel 4965AGN 802.11a/g/n wireless adapter.

OCZ's DIY gaming notebook is no lightweight, however, and weighs in at hefty 7 pounds with a 9-cell battery pack. External dimensions for the machine ring in at 14.25' x 11.25' x 1.5'.

'For years consumers have wanted to build their own mobile computing platforms, but the product offerings and market simply did not serve them as they did in the desktop do it yourself segment,' said OCZ Systems Solutions Product Manager Eugene Chang. 'With the OCZ Do-It-Yourself Notebook initiative, OCZ empowers with the resources like validated component guides, documentation, tech support, and a warranty to allow consumers"

GT200 is 65nm or 55nm

2008-05-15T12:03:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - GT200 is 65nm or 55nm: "From what we know, Nvidia has placed orders for 65nm and 55nm versions of the GT200 chip and there is a big reason why. Nvidia is simply playing it safe and it doesn’t want any delays.

Nvidia traditionally migrates from bigger transistors to smaller in the entry-level, less complicated chips and then tries this in the higher end. Usually this works well, and you can remember that Nvidia went from 80nm to 65nm in this order.

As it’s pressured by time it will try to make even its biggest chip in 55nm. If it fails, it will have a 65 nm version of the chip ready to take its place. 55nm means that the chips will run a bit cooler and that you can crack the clocks a bit higher and we will probably learn if the fastest version of GT200 will end up at 55nm.

Taping out two chips means doubling the cost and this will likely increase Nvidia's operating cost, but at least it will help the company to keep up in the high-end market.

It might happen that GTX version of GT200 is 55nm and that GT version ends up as 65nm, but this is something that is yet to be confirmed. Nvidia simply cannot make any mistakes, as this is the most critical time for the company in a while."

RV770 to launch in the last week of June

2008-05-15T12:01:00.001+05:30

Fudzilla - RV770 to launch in the last week of June: "AMD plans to show off its RV770XT and PRO cards at Computex, but it won't launch them until late June.

We've learned that AMD plans a launch and retail /e-tail availability of RV770XT and PRO-based products in the last week of June.

We've told you before that the real retail availability is planned for Q3 2008, and Q3, as you might know, will start on the first day of July. If AMD decided to launch the card at Computex, the retail cards would follow after three weeks and the company doesn’t want that."

GT200 to retail for $499

2008-05-15T12:01:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - GT200 to retail for $499: "It looks like the GT200 or D10U card will sell for US$499 and it will be the perfect replacement for the Geforce 9800GTX. We are not sure about the name. Many people have suggested Geforce 9900GTX and GT brands, but we are not sure if these will really be the final names.

The cards based on the GT200 will sell for $499 and the cards are sampled and work well. Nvidia plans to show the cards to journalists in the last week of May and it’s highly likely to see the launch in June, with retail availability.

It will be fun to see if the GT200 will end up faster than the GX2, and if this single big chip can actually beat a dual chip card. We have a feeling it should."

55nm GeForce 9800 GT Final Clocks

2008-05-15T11:58:00.000+05:30

VR-Zone - 55nm GeForce 9800 GT Final Clocks: "Nvidia is getting ready to launch the GeForce 9800 GT on 55nm G92 core soon and the release schedule might be pushed forward to June instead. Apparently, Nvidia plans to clocked the 9800 GT card at 600MHz, like the 8800 GT and same goes to the memory clock at 900MHz and shader clock at 1500MHz. The VGPU is at 1.05-1.1V and on G3-256 package. As we have said before, there will be two versions; one is on 55nm and the other is on 65nm, both same clocks. So how do you tell it is 55nm? Look out for G92-280-B1/H markings on the GPU or look out for 0×0605 device ID in Windows."

Microsoft Places Restrictions on Continued Sale of Windows XP Home

2008-05-15T11:55:00.000+05:30

DailyTech - Microsoft Places Restrictions on Continued Sale of Windows XP Home: "In early April, Microsoft made a lot of OEM and consumers happy with the announcement that Windows XP Home would live on in ultra-low-cost PCs (ULPCs) until June 30, 2010. The rise of such low-cost machines as the ASUS Eee PC -- which primarily runs on a Linux-based operating system -- led to Microsoft's decision to offer Windows XP to OEMs past the already established June 30, 2008 cutoff date.

At the time of the announcement, the only restriction seemingly placed on the reprieve for Windows XP Home seemed to be that the operating system could only be sold on ULPCs. IDG News, however, came into possession of an internal document to OEMs which detail the full extent of the restrictions.

In an effort to protect its Windows Vista operating system, Microsoft is requiring OEMs to abide by the following rules:

* HDDs can be no larger than 80GB.
* The screen size for the ULPCs can be no larger than 10.2'.
* Installed memory can be no greater than 1GB.
* Processors must use a single core and can be no faster than 1GHz. Processors which are severely handicapped by low-clock speeds (a la the VIA C7-M and Intel Atom) are excluded from this restriction."

EVGA announces USB display cards

2008-05-13T19:19:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - EVGA announces USB display cards: "For those that are craving for additional displays, EVGA has announced its UV Plus+ lineup of USB display adapters. These two display adapters branded as UV12 and UV16 will use a USB to connect to PC in order to give support for additional displays.

Both UV12 and UV16 feature DVI and VGA support, and come with the so-called GPU-less design. This design uses a virtual driver and high-performance DDR memory, which gives it enough juice to run Windows Vista Aero and do high resolutions.

The UV12 will be able to produce up to 1440x900 resolution at 60Hz of refresh rate, while its bigger named brother, UV16, will be able to give up to 1680x1050 at the same 60Hz. The design is stackable so you are basically limited by the number of USB ports.

These new USB display adapters should be available sometime during this week at the suggested retail/e-tail price of €79. Both devices are based on DisplayLink chips and they will be definitely good for anyone that needs more than one additional display on the notebook."

RV770PRO supports 256-bit memory

2008-05-13T19:17:00.001+05:30

Fudzilla - RV770PRO supports 256-bit memory: "We wrote that RV770XT supports 512-bit here and now we have learned that the slower RV770PRO will only support 256-bit and it will use GDDR3.

It looks that the current GDDR5 design sticks with 512-bit memory interface and that RV770PRO will use 256-bit GDDR3 memory. The RV770PRO will need a smaller cooler, as it is definitely going to end up the cheaper of two, and you can bet on a sub-$200 price.

RV770PRO will also end up with a slower clock than RV770XT, but we still don’t know what the current speed plan. It is sampled and it works, at least the RV770PRO with 256-bit GDDR3 does."

Watch out for Burnout Paradise on the PC!

2008-05-13T19:17:00.000+05:30

Techtree - Watch out for Burnout Paradise on the PC!: "Criterion Studios has announced a new version of 'Burnout Paradise' exclusively for the PC. This is the first 'Burnout' title ever made for the PC, the company said.

Earlier available only for the PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360, 'Burnout Paradise' for the PC has been customized with expanded multi-player, better online features, and community-driven content.

In a release, Criterion said, 'Burnout Paradise will combine all the open-world racing, intense speed, and action of the original game with new game play for the PC version.'"

GT200 is 512-bit

2008-05-13T19:13:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - GT200 is 512-bit: "We finally managed to confirm a few details about GT200. This is without a doubt a single chip card, and as we said before, it's quite a big one.

The second important detail is that the chip supports 512-bit memory, and at least on the memory side it is ready to fight RV770XT.

We know that GT200 is a high-performance part and it will certainly be faster than RV770XT; but we are not sure if it will be faster than R700, a dual chip card. At this time, no one knows the answer to that.

It needs a dual slot cooler and it will dissipate quite a lot of heat, but it promises great performance."

More Nehalem details emerge

2008-05-13T19:12:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "Expreview has scored some more information about Intel's Nehalem processor and if the slide they've posted is indeed genuine, then it looks like triple-channel DDR3 will provide a 32GB/s memory bandwith, which isn't amazingly much better than the X48's 25.6GB/s in dual-channel.

Although this is using DDR3 1,333MHz modules while the X48 is using DDR3 1,600MHz, so there should be enough head room for the Nehalem to improve these numbers using faster memory. However, Intel seems to have decided to stop at DDR3 1,600MHz, although this might change by the time the processors launch.

The X58 chipset should handle up to four graphics cards in CrossFireX mode, but don't expect to see more than 32 PCIe lanes in this chipset. The X58 will retain the soon-to-be-launched ICH10, which will interface with the X58 via Intel's DMI interface.

One interesting thing on the slide is that Intel is talking about physics engine scaling, which might have something to do with Intel's purchase of Havok and its physics engine, which could be gettings its first hardware accelerator in the guise of the Nehalem processor."

AMD cuts quad core power

2008-05-13T19:07:00.000+05:30

AMD cuts quad core power - The INQUIRER: "TROUBLED CHIP FIRM AMD this morning launched five low power quad core server processors. The company reckons manufacturers will use its chips in both rack mounted as well as blade servers.

AMD’s x86 Opteron HE processors runs on only 55 Watts of AC power, and comes in 2300 and 8300 product lines for two, four, and eight way rack server blades.

Randy Allen, corporate vice president and general manager for AMD said in a press release that AMD’s new quad core Opteron HE processors “were designed to help data center managers who see power consumption and virtualisation as the keys to solving their overall performance equation'.

He added that the new processors with their souped up power management and virtualisation capabilities “offer a compelling platform for power-conscious datacenter managers who are changing the way they think about performance.”"

GeForce 9900 GTX Card Design Exposed

2008-05-13T19:01:00.000+05:30

VR-Zone - GeForce 9900 GTX Card Design Exposed: "We saw some mechanical designs on GT200 card leaked out on the internet and we can confirm it is not fake as we got the same file earlier last week from our reliable sources. The D10U card has a total of 16 memory chips onboard up to 1GB GDDR3 memories, in line with rumored 512-bit memory interface which we are hearing a while back. Other information we have revealed earlier is the card is 10.5' long and dual slot with CoolerMaster TM71 cooler. There are evidences suggesting that GT200 could be on both 55nm and 65nm process technology, a similar approach that Nvidia is going to take with their current G9x series. GT200 is currently on A2 revision and there is a high possibility that Nvidia might launch GT200 on 65nm first then move to 55nm at a later stage. CJ told us GT200 could have 8 ROP partitions connected with 64-bit each making up the 512-bit memory interface and up to 10 clusters of 24 SPs = 240 stream processors. You can think of it as two G92 cores packed into one. There are some rumored specs leaked recently that might be pretty close to the truth."

GeForce 9500 Series On 55nm Process

2008-05-13T19:00:00.000+05:30

VR-Zone - GeForce 9500 Series On 55nm Process: "Nvidia is preparing two new mainstream cards, the GeForce 9500 GT and 9500 GS based on the new 55nm G96 cores. However, there will be a mixture of 65nm and 55nm G96 cores as revision A1 will be 65nm and revision B1 & C1 will be 55nm. GeForce 9500 GT codenamed D9M-30 will be clocked at 550MHz core and 800MHz GDDR3 on 128-bit memory interface while GeForce 9500 GS codenamed D9M-25 will be clocked at 550MHz core and 500MHz GDDR2 on 128-bit memory interface. There is a new package naming known as GB1 for mainstream and in this case it is called GB1-128. For 55nm G92 package is called G3-256."

Biostar TPower N750 Hybrid SLI Board

2008-05-13T18:58:00.000+05:30

Biostar TPower N750 Hybrid SLI Board: "BIOSTAR TPower N750 With NVIDIA Hybrid SLI®

BIOSTAR TPower N750 offers cutting-edge Hybrid SLI technology, based on industry-leading SLI technology, delivers multi-GPU benefits when a TPower N750 motherboard GPU is combined with an NVIDIA discrete GPU. BIOSTAR TPower N750 Hybrid SLI increases graphics performance with GeForce® Boost and provides intelligent power management with HybridPower™.

GeForce® Boost
GeForce® Boost turbocharges the performance of NVIDIA discrete GPUs when combined with TPower N750 motherboard GPUs. Plug any NVIDIA Hybrid SLI-enabled GPU into BIOSTAR TPower Hybrid SLI-enabled motherboard to enjoy additive performance and more value for your money.

HybridPower
TPower N750 also gets HybridPower™ to unleash graphics performance when needed and switches to quiet, low-power quiet operation for everyday computing. Plug any NVIDIA Hybrid SLI-enabled GPU into BIOSTAR TPower N750 Hybrid SLI-enabled motherboard for the ultimate control. Dial up performance for demanding 3D games and applications; go green and reduce noise and power consumption for everyday computing tasks like browsing the Web, word processing, or watching HD videos."

How Intel did the overclock lock on LGA1160

2008-05-10T22:19:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - How Intel did the overclock lock on LGA1160: "As we told you some time ago, Intel has put in what can only be called an overclocking lock in the upcoming LGA1160 processors which are currently going under the codenames of Lynnfield and Havendale.

Until now we didn't know how this had been implemented, but we've learned some more about it and it looks like there is no easy work around. As these processors have the memory controller and a few more bits integrated into the CPU itself, Intel suddenly has a lot more control than it has had with past designs that utilized a separate chipset which contains the memory controller.

As Intel seems to want to push the much more expensive Bloomfield platform to overclockers, the company implemented a lock that prevents these new processors from being overclocked by adding two PLL clock generators, one inside the CPU itself and one in the PCH.

This might not sound like it's a big problem in itself, but what Intel has done is that these two will clock generators will reference eachother and this means that just changing the bus speed won't have any effect if you're trying to overclock the CPU as it will dissregard the information from the PCH if it's not a correct value."

RV770 GDDR5 supports 512-bit

2008-05-10T11:51:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla: "The fastest of ATI's two upcoming chips, the RV770XT, will offer support for two cool memory marchitectures. One is GDDR5, a very fast memory, and the second is 512-bit memory interface.

We are getting back to the memory controller of R600, but possibly significantly improved, and this time the chip can cope with GDDR5 while the previous controller could only cope with GDDR3 and GDDR4.

As GDDR4 didn’t really get these cards any faster, ATI decided to go for GDDR5. We believe this is the future and this definitely makes the RV770 a bit bigger than the RV670 and this will be the most significant difference between the chips.

The launch date still remains June, with volume availability in July and onward."

Xbox 360 "Jasper" 65nm GPU in Production

2008-05-10T11:45:00.000+05:30

DailyTech - Xbox 360 "Jasper" 65nm GPU in Production: "Chip process evolution is a usual thing in a console’s lifecycle, but rarely has it been as important as in the case of the Xbox 360.

Known for its relatively hardware fragility, the original design of the Xbox 360 would frequently fall to the “Red Ring of Death” failure, which Microsoft terms as the three flashing red lights. While improvements in cooling and a CPU die shrink to 65nm in the Falcon revision have surely improved the situation, the problematic GPU still sits with its 90nm process.

The 65nm drop for the GPU in the Xbox 360 revision codenamed Jasper isn’t expected until August, a time frame backed up by a report from CENS. Microsoft has contracted Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC), Advanced Semiconductor Engineering Inc. (ASE) and Nanya PCB Corp. to build the chips that will ship with the Jasper consoles later this summer.

TSMC will produce the 65nm chips, ASE will package and test them, and Nanya will supply the flip-chip packaging substrates. Microsoft has supposedly booked a production capacity at TSMC estimated to be at around 10,000 300mm wafers."

AMD Quad-core Suzuka supports DDR3

2008-05-10T11:42:00.002+05:30

Fudzilla: "AMD plans to unveil its first DDR3 processor in Q2 2009. This is the current plan, but if something goes bad, it can be delayed.

The new 45nm quad-core is codenamed Suzuka and it has 6MB L3 memory 1xHT3 and AMD-V support. The big difference between Shanghai and Suzuka is the memory support and the use of a different socket. Suzuka will be AMD’s first CPU to support DDR3 memory.

Suzuka will work with AMD RS780 Northbridge and SB700S Southbridge, but we heavily suspect that it will use Socket AM3. This CPU is planned for Server and UP Platforms -1000 series and the platform is codenamed Catalunya. We just hope that this Spanish codename will work better than the Barcelona.

As AMD's memory support is inside the CPU, the currently available AMD RS780 chipset that is commercially known as AMD 780G will support DDR3."

AMD 12-core uses MCM

2008-05-10T11:42:00.001+05:30

Fudzilla - AMD 12-core uses MCM: "Yesterday we wrote a bit about AMD's upcoming twelve-core Opteron here and we learned a few more details about it.

Both twelve-core Magny-Cours and six-core Sao Paolo will use socket G34 and this socket and Maranello platform can accommodate DDR3.

The twelve-core Magny-Cours is a multi-chip module and is also known by its MCM abbreviation. This means you will have two six-cores on a single chip and it should look very much like Kentsfiend and Yorkfield, just much bigger.

The 12-core CPU at 45nm will have to be quiet and big, and both new six and twelve-cores are scheduled for first half of 2010; we just hope that this includes a real availability at the same time."

AMD 6-core Istanbul to arrive in 2H 2009

2008-05-10T11:42:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - AMD 6-core Istanbul to arrive in 2H 2009: "We've seen an updated server roadmap where AMD places its six-core Istanbul processor for the second half of 2009. At first, AMD internally said that there will be some samples in late 2008, but 2H 2009 is the time of volume production.

The new six-core CPU will have 6MB L3 cache and DDR2 support, powered by HT-3 and AMD Virtualization support. Of course, this CPU will be developed in 45nm and it looks just like Shanghai 45nm CPU but with two additional cores.

Istanbul fits in the current socket F1 (1207) and it will be available for 2P and above configurations: OEMs shouldn’t have much trouble to make it work in existing servers.

In 2009 AMD’s chipset of choice for the server market is Nvidia Nforce 3600/3050 with Broadcom HT-2100/1000; while that will change in 2010 for AMD’s own chipset. We would be scared if we were Nvidia’s chipset manager, as it lost a lot of AMD market and you can bet that it will be even worse for Intel chipsets."

SP3 for XP is available again

2008-05-10T11:31:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - SP3 for XP is available again: "Service Pack 3 for Windows XP is once again available for download. It was pulled from being available for download after Microsoft discovered what can best be described as a small glitch with users that are using Microsoft’s own Dynamics Retail Management System, running systems that have Windows XP installed.

Those users/customers that have Dynamics Retail Management System installed on systems running Windows XP will need to first download and install just released hotfix prior to installing Service Pack 3.

You can download the Dynamics Retail Management System hotfix here.

Those needing to deploy Service Pack 3 to multiple systems can download SP 3 here.

All other users can get Service Pack 3 for Windows XP by using Windows Update."

Asus P5Q3 Deluxe P45 motherboard tested

2008-05-10T11:28:00.001+05:30

Fudzilla - Asus P5Q3 Deluxe P45 motherboard tested: "NordicHardware scored an exclusive review of the Asus P5Q3 Deluxe motherboad and they seem to like it a lot. Although they didn't have time to test every aspect of the board, the P45 chipset seems to be working properly on all accounts now, and this is indeed good news, as it's less than a month until the official launch.

The new chipset doesn't add much in terms of performance, although it seems to be very close to Intel's X48 chipset in most of the benchmarks on test, which could potentially be bad news for Intel, as people might choose to go for the cheaper chipset due to the small performance differences.

The P5Q3 Deluxe supports DDR3 memory and comes with Asus' USB 802.11 pre-N WiFi card, has a pair of dual x16 PCIe 2.0 slots, although as per all P45 motherboards these are limited to x8 bandwidth when both slots are being used. This is also the first motherboard we know of that features a 16-phase PWM, which seems somewhat over the top.

They also managed to overclock the FSB to 500MHz using a QX9770 which isn't exactly the most overclocking friendly processor, but they didn't have a dual-core CPU at hand and hope to post an update with some dual-core overclocking results. The downside is the fairly high asking price of €199, which seems too steep for what is meant to be a upper mid-range consumer chipset-based motherboard."

Xbox 360 With Blu-ray Disc Underway from Asus Subsidiary

2008-05-10T11:13:00.000+05:30

DailyTech - Report: Xbox 360 With Blu-ray Disc Underway from Asus Subsidiary: "Although Microsoft has continually denied the development of a Blu-ray Disc enabled Xbox 360, reports slowly trickle in from Asian OEMs working on such an upgraded console.

According to a recent report by the DigiTimes, which cites Chinese-language Economic Daily News (EDN) newspaper, Pegatron Technology, an OEM subsidiary of Asustek Computer, has won the order to make Xbox 360 consoles equipped with a Blu-ray Disc drive.

Previous interpretations of Blu-ray Disc on Xbox 360 figured an add-on device similar to the HD DVD drive, but this latest report points strictly at a new SKU that would incorporate a BD-ROM drive internally to match up with the PlayStation 3.

Shipments of such a console are supposed to commence in the third quarter of this year, likely making it a product that Microsoft will promote heavily during the holiday season against Sony’s console."

E8600 3.33GHz dual core to launch in Q3

2008-05-10T11:09:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - 3.33GHz dual core to launch in Q3: "Back on the first day of February we confirmed the existence of E8600, a Core 2 Duo CPU based on 45nm and we wrote that the new CPU will work at 3.33GHZ, have 6MB of cache memory and fit into socket 775.

Intel's latest roadmaps reveal that this CPU comes in Q3, but it didn’t say anything more precise than that. At the same time, Intel will cut the prices of existing Core 2 Duo E8500 and E8400 processors

Core 2 Duo E8600 will cost $266 if you buy thousands of them, and in retail you can count with a little bit on top of that.

That will officially be the fastest 45nm processor that will be introduced, as currently both dual and quad-cores stop at 3.2GHz."

Q9650 will have multiplier locked

2008-05-10T11:05:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - Q9650 will have multiplier locked: "We wrote about Intel’s new Q9650 CPU here and this 45nm Yorkfield-based CPU will start selling in Q3 for $525. We got quite a few emails with an interesting question: what is the difference between Core 2 Quad Q9650 and the already available Core 2 Extreme QX9650?

Both CPUs work at 3GHz, have 12MB cache, operate under FSB1333 and they fit in socket 775. There will be two things that will differentiate these two. As you might know, Extreme in the name means that the CPU is unlocked and you can overclock it as much as you like; and Core 2 Quad Q9650 means you will get a plain, multiplier locked 3GHz CPU.

The bigger issue will be the price, as Core 2 Extreme QX9650 will continue to sell for at least $990 and Core 2 Quad Q9650 will start selling for a much more reasonable $525."

Xbox 360 Price Cut in Asia up to 20 Percent

2008-05-10T11:04:00.000+05:30

DailyTech - Xbox 360 Price Cut in Asia up to 20 Percent: "Earlier this week, Microsoft dropped the price of the Xbox 360 by up to one-fifth in four Asian markets. New prices are effective in South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong.

The bundle which includes the 20 GB hard disk drive dropped 20 percent in Singapore (S$499; US$366), 17 percent in Taiwan (NT$10,360 ; US340), 11 percent in Hong Kong and 5.1 percent in South Korea (369,000 won; US$369).

'This price drop is part of Microsoft's ongoing strategy to bring Xbox's high-definition gaming and entertainment experience to an even wider user base,' Microsoft said in a statement.

Japanese game companies Nintendo and Sony appear to hold greater mindshare in the buyer’s market in Asia. Microsoft hopes that the latest price drops will help spur demand to better compete with the Wii and PlayStation 3.

In March, Microsoft dropped the price of its console in Europe by margins great enough to drop below the Wii’s price. In February, Canadians could buy their consoles at the exact same MSRP as their U.S. counterparts."

RV770 will do GDDR 5 and GDDR3

2008-05-10T11:01:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - RV770 will do GDDR 5 and GDDR3: "We’ve learned that ATI's single chip RV770 card comes in two flavors. The first and slower one is branded as RV770PRO, and it will be using GDDR3 memory. ATI will let its partners build them and, of course, these will be the more affordable of the two.

The second Asic is codenamed RV770XT and it comes paired with GDDR5 memory. This board will be manufactured by ATI (MBA) and it will end up faster. The new Rx7x0 generation will have two single-chip cards and we believe ATI will continue using numbers only to reduce the confusion. The larger number one will be RV700XT-based, and Radeon 4xxx has a high possibility on the naming list."

Atom runs Vista just fine

2008-05-10T11:00:00.000+05:30

Fudzilla - Atom runs Vista just fine: "We've learned that Atom at 1.6GHz or even at 1.33GHz runs Vista just fine. You don’t feel the difference by running Vista with enough memory on low frequency Celeron or Atom single-core CPU.

As most of Celerons are single-core you cannot really feel the difference and Atom will be a good match for fancy Vista OS.

As far as we have heard you can forget about Aero, but the system will work. Intel’s 945GC simply cannot cope with fancy Aero as the graphic integrated chipset is too old and crappy to run the fancy Aero glass.

As Vista likes more memory, you will have to add at least 2GB memory to smoothly run applications. So, yes, you will be able to run both Windows XP and Vista and we bet that sooner or later Linux will run on Atom just fine."

Buy GTA 4 online from Play Asia

2008-05-03T10:03:00.002+05:30

Grand Theft Auto IV (also known as GTA IV and GTA 4) is a sandbox-style action-adventure video game developed by Rockstar North. It is the ninth title in the Grand Theft Auto series and the first in its fourth generation. Grand Theft Auto IV was released worldwide (except Japan) on 29 April 2008 for both PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360. Exclusive Xbox 360 episodic packs are due for release in August 2008 via Xbox Live.

The game is set in a redesigned Liberty City, based heavily on New York City. It follows Niko Bellic, a Serbian veteran of the Bosnian War who comes to the United States in search of the "American Dream", only to find his cousin has lied about the wealth that was promised to be awaiting him. Grand Theft Auto IV is the first console game in the series to feature an online multiplayer mode, which contains fifteen different game types.

Buy this from Play Asia for Xbox 360

Buy the PS3 version from Play Asia

Guys, if you buy through these links you will help me get a discount on a Xbox 360 controller. Thanks in advance!

Windows XP Service Pack 3 delayed

2008-05-01T07:24:00.001+05:30

XP SP3 delayed by retailer glitch - The INQUIRER: "MICROSOFT has pulled the plug on the expected release of Windows XP Service Pack 3 because of a glitch in the way it works with MS Retail Management Systems (RMS).

Anyone who jumped the gun and downloaded the update from any one of the non-official sources bouncing around the Wibble for the last couple of days should think twice before hitting the install button.

Volish minions won't say when a proper version of the update will be available, but it won't be pushed out through normal channels until Redmond has worked out how to filter downloads from RMS customers."

Nvidia to make all your PC games 3D (if you so choose) | Crave : The gadget blog

2008-05-01T07:22:00.000+05:30

Nvidia to make all your PC games 3D (if you so choose) | Crave : The gadget blog: "Thanks to a new software driver Nvidia is cooking up, any PC game can be played in 3D, with no extra work on the part of game developers.

Beginning this summer, any PC with an Nvidia graphics processor will have the ability to run a game in normal mode, or in 3D, with the aid of 3D glasses.

The software driver will enable the ability to have two views--left eye and right eye--which, at the push of a button, appear blurry and pixelated to the naked eye. When viewed through 3D lenses though, the game pops into three-dimensional mode.

The important part is that game developers won't have to do anything differently. They just continue to make their games the way they want, and Nvidia will take care of the rest. It's just an option for gamers though--it doesn't mean all games have to be three-dimensional."

9500GT DDR3 release date

2008-05-01T07:17:00.002+05:30

Fudzilla - 9500GT DDR3 comes in July: "Nvidia is not going to have an easy entry level transition from Geforce 8 to Geforce 9, but it still looks that it will be just in time for back to school.

Geforce 9500GT, the new DDR3 entry-level card, will launch at some point in July, but the more attractive and cheaper Geforce 9500GS with DDR2 memory is currently scheduled for August.

We are talking about the volume shipments but some smaller volumes might actually see the light of day even before these dates.

This will be the final piece of puzzle in completing the Geforce 9 series launch and Nvidia better be working on Geforce 10.

GT200 aka D10U also launches around June / July. but despite the codename we are not sure if Nvidia dares to call it Geforce 10. We’ve been surprised before."

Ubisoft nixes first DX10.1 support

2008-05-01T07:17:00.001+05:30

Ubisoft nixes first DX10.1 support - The INQUIRER: "

AFTER BEING THE FIRST games company to implement Direct X 10.1 in a video game, Ubisoft has now said that it plans to remove the support from the game to address concerns over alleged graphical glitches.

Assassin's Creed is a PC port of last year's console favourite, and is the first PC game on the market to support DX 10.1, the updated version of the Vista-only 3D technology that ships with Service Pack 1. Of course, DX10.1 is supported primarily in ATI's Radeon 3000-class GPUs, with Nvidia choosing to eschew support for the most part, claiming that there was nothing important to be missed.

But a new graphical analysis of the game running under DX10.1, which you can see over at HardOCP here, has shown that there is actually a large performance boost to be had from a couple of the more efficient rendering algorithms in the updated spec. Author Mark Warner called the boost 'significant', pumping the frame rate up by as much as 20% with anti-aliasing enabled - although with no discernable improvement in image quality.

However, Ubisoft says that the performance gain is due to a bug in the rendering process - despite there being no visible difference in image quality - and will be promptly removing 10.1 support from the game in an upcoming patch. This seems rather non-sensical when image quality is good and there are performance improvements to be had. There is no suggestion from Ubi that there is any instability here - they are simply taking a performance boost for Radeon cards and removing it.