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today (Friday 05/09/2008)
4:02 PM Nehalem's first chipset X58? Product news 0 comments
10:03 AM Iomega launches shockproof hard disk Product news 0 comments
9:53 AM Artistic Dell notebooks Product news 0 comments
7:36 AM Toshiba introduces multimedia photoframe Product news 0 comments
7:26 AM Super Talent's 120 GB SSD costs $699 Product news 0 comments
yesterday (Thursday 05/08/2008)
2:20 PM AMD's Puma in June Product news 0 comments
9:55 AM Pictures ASUS motherboard with onboard CPU Product news 0 comments
7:53 AM Creators 3DMark Vantage working on hotfix Other news 0 comments
5:16 AM Fujitsu Siemens home entertainment notebook Product news 0 comments
5:10 AM Cooler Master Hyper Z600 Product news 0 comments
Wednesday 05/07/2008
2:19 PM ASUS ROG Maximus II Formula spotted Product news 0 comments
9:57 AM ASUS overclocks the GeForce 9600 GSO Product news 0 comments
6:08 AM New WD VelociRaptor benchmarks Product news 0 comments
4:44 AM Point of View launches 9600 GSO Product news 0 comments
4:43 AM 32 GB flashdrive by A-Data Product news 0 comments
4:43 AM Noctua NH-C12P cooler with 6 heatpipes Product news 0 comments
4:42 AM New version of GPU-Z detects GT200 Other news 0 comments
Tuesday 05/06/2008
1:27 PM Thermaltake's Armor+ MX available Product news 0 comments
1:08 PM RaidSonic introduces new SSD cases Product news 0 comments
12:57 PM Airlive launches powerline network adapter Product news 0 comments

News items

Nehalem's first chipset X58?

Nehalem's first chipset X58?

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/09/2008 4:02 PM

News type: Product news

Source: Expreview

Though Intel has been delayed with the 45nm quadcores it's convinced to be able to release a new series of processors, Nehalem, by the end of this year. The desktop version of this, the Bloomfield, will feature four cores with a shared cache memory of 8 MB. Bloomfield will also have a triple-channel DDR3 memory controller, which should significantly increase the bandwidth between the memory and the processor.

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Detailed information on the Nehalem processor has been released during the Intel Developer Forum earlier this year, but there was nothing known yet about the motherboards and chipsets for this processor. According to Expreview, the first Nehalem chipset will be called the X58, and as the name suggest, will be aimed at the high-end market. Since the memory controller is integrated in the processor with this new generation, the chipset can be made much more efficient and smaller than the current X38/X48 chipsets.

The X58 chipset has 32 PCI-Express 2.0 lanes, which can be spread in two times 16x of four 8x lanes. It's almost certain that Crossfire support will remain existant. The X58 will be linked to the current ICH10/R southbridge, meaning there won't be any new features in this area. Earlier on, a motherboard picture leaked, of which Expreview thinks might be an X58.

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Iomega launches shockproof hard disk

Iomega launches shockproof hard disk

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/09/2008 10:03 AM

News type: Product news

Source: PRnewswire

A few months ago Iomega expanded their line of external hard disks with the eGo 2.5 inch Portable Hard Drives.  These drives have a capacity of 160 or 250 GB at 5400 RPM.  Iomega has now released a special 'camo' version of these disks. The model comes witrh a camouflaged pattern and features a black protective cover to enhance durability. The hard disk gets it's power through USB and does not require an external power supply. 

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The camouflage pattern and protective cover give the disk a 'rugged' look

De 2,5 inch Camo drive heeft een opslagcapaciteit van 250 GB en wordt geleverd met EMC Retrospect HD software die zorgt voor eventuele backups. Iomega heeft ter bescherming van de drives een nieuwe Dropguard technologie ontwikkeld die in combinatie met de grip bescherming biedt tegen valschade tot op een hoogte van ongeveer anderhalve meter.

The 2.5 inch Camo drive has a capacity of 250 GB and comes with EMC Retrospect HD software to create backups. Iomega has developed a new technology called Dropguard to protect the drive. This technology combined with the protective cover should ensure that the hard disk survives a fall of about 1.5 meter.


Artistic Dell notebooks

Artistic Dell notebooks

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/09/2008 9:53 AM

News type: Product news

Source: TechConnect

Following HP, Dell has introduced two 'Special Art Edition Inspiron 1525' laptops. The notebook will be available in two types, the 'Sea Sky' and 'Bunch O Surfers'. Concerning hardware they will be equal to the 'normal' Inspirion 1525 and feature an Intel Core 2 Duo processor, 160GB hard disk and a maximum of 3GB DDR2 memory. The screen is 15,4-inch in size.

It looks like the 'Special Art Edition' is going to cost the same as the regular model in the US (the regular one costs 699 dollar as well with a 160GB hard disk). Price and availability in Europe are still uknown.

dell_artistic_inspiron_1525_sky_01_550

Inspiron 1525 "Sea Sky"

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Inspiron 1525 "Bunch O Surfers"

Toshiba introduces multimedia photoframe

Toshiba introduces multimedia photoframe

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/09/2008 7:36 AM

News type: Product news

Source: Toshiba

Toshiba introduces the Gigaframe Q8 digital photoframe. The Gigaframe Q8 features an 8-inch screen and can play back photo's, videoclips and music. It is expected that the Q8 will be available in the second quarter of 2008. 

opt_gigaframe_feb08_03_550 

The Gigaframe Q8 has an aspect ratio of 4:3 with an 800 x 600 pixel resolution. Two stereo speakers (2 x 0,5 Watt) are integrated, allowing the frame to be used as an mp3 player as well. The blue glowing on-screen buttons are touch sensitive and give access to extra applications, like screen configurations, calendar and clock.

The Gigaframe Q8 has 128 MB integrated flash memory to store digital content, but also supports memory cards such as: SD, MMC, MS and xD.  An adjustable stand, USB 2.0 cable, AC/DC adapter and a short users manual come in the box. 

Super Talent's 120 GB SSD costs $699

Super Talent's 120 GB SSD costs $699

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/09/2008 7:26 AM

News type: Product news

Sources: SuperTalent / TG Daily

Even though the SSD uprise is going slow, it is almost certain that this flashchip technology will replace the platter hard disks in time. The SSD may be superior in performance already, it still doesn't beat the capacity and price per gigabyte of a platter hard disk.  A good 64 GB SSD costs a few hundred euro, whereas for that amount, you could buy several terabytes of regular hard disks. 

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To close the gap in the capacity and price area Super Talent has released two new SSD series, based on the cheaper MLC NAND flash memory. The MasterDrive MX is available in a 30, 60 and 120 GB model and achieves speeds of respectively 120 and 40 MB/s for reading and writing.  The recommended price for the 120 GB model is $699 dollar, allowing the SSD to be an option for a lot more people. 

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If you don't think the writing speed of this cheaper MX series is enough you could also choose for the 30 and 60 GB models from the MasterDrive DX series, which achieve writing speeds of up to 70 MB/s.  These drives are a lot more expensive, but they come with a 3 year warranty, while the cheaper MX series only has 1 year. 

 MasterDrive MX
 Specifications  Recommended price in US-Dollar
 FTM20GK25H  120 GB / 120MB/s reading, 40MB/s writing / SATA2  699
 FTM60GK25H  60 GB / 120MB/s reading, 40MB/s writing / SATA2
 449
 FTM30GK25H  30 GB / 120MB/s reading, 40MB/s writing / SATA2  299
 MasterDrive DX
 Specifications  Recommended price in US-Dollar
 FTD60GK25H  60 GB / 120MB/s reading, 70MB/s writing / SATA2  1299
 FTD30GK25H  30 GB / 120MB/s reading, 70MB/s writing / SATA2  699
All of Super Talent's  SSD drives are 2,5" and equipped with a SATA II connector. The complete line-up of flash memory and DRAM modules by Super Talent will be presented in June during the Coputex. 

AMD's Puma in June

AMD's Puma in June

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/08/2008 2:20 PM

News type: Product news

Sources: Fudzilla / Hexus / Toms Hardware

AMD will introduce it's new mobile platform Puma in June. Puma is built around the 65nm Turion Ultra processor  (codenamed Griffin) and is a combination of the K8 and K10 architecture.  The Turion Ultra has the K8 cores, with the powersaving options and Hypertransport 3.0 of the K10 (Barcelona/Agena) architecture.  

The used chipset (780M, with n RS780M Northbridge and SB700 Southbridge) features an integrated graphics card based on the HD2400 chip. It is expected that for an IGP chipset Puma will perform quite well.

amdpuma2_550
A schedule of the Griffin processor

It's likely that the Puma platform won't beat Centrino 2 (based on Intel's 45nm Penryn), neither in performance, nor in battery lifetime. According to Fudzilla the platform will be powerful enough for everyday tasks like email and listening music. The biggest advantage of Puma over Intel's platform would be the price. Notebooks based on Puma are expected by the end of June.


Pictures ASUS motherboard with onboard CPU

Pictures ASUS motherboard with onboard CPU

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/08/2008 9:55 AM

News type: Product news

Sources: Fudzilla / Matbe

Pictures of ASUS' I220GC have appeared on the internet. The I220GC is a mATX motherboard with a Celeron 220 soldered onto the board. This single-core CPU has a TDP of 19W, 512kB L2 cache and a clockspeed of 1.2GHz with a 533MHz bus. According to Fudzilla the BIOS allows overclocking the bus to a speed of 800MHz.

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Photo by Matbe.com

A remarkable thing is the usage of the 945GC chipset, which supports some of Intel's upcoming Atom processors. Fudzilla says that the Atom 200-serie pin-compatible is with this board and that in the future ASUS may introduce a motherboard with an onboard Atom processors.

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As seen on the picture above there are four USB 2.0 ports, 10/100 Mbit Ethernet, HD audio and IDE/SATA connections. While the old Intel GMA950 takes care of onboard graphics, the mATX board has a PCIe x16 slot, allowing a seperate graphics card. This means that the motherboard can be used for an HTPC as well. Apart from the PCIe x16 slot, the I220GC also features one PCIe x1 slot and two PCI slots.

Since ASUS has yet to release any official information on the I220GC it is not clear when the motherboard will be released and at which cost.


Creators 3DMark Vantage working on hotfix

Creators 3DMark Vantage working on hotfix

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/08/2008 7:53 AM

News type: Other news

Source: YouGamers

After the release of 3DMark Vantage several problems with the benchmark application were reported. Some users had to enter their product key twice, while others got an error when starting the program. Jaakko Haapasalo, Vantage projectmanager, has now confirmed that they are working on a hotfix to resolve these problems. 

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He also mentioned that there will be looked at the request to give the Advanced version of 3DMark Vantage the possibility to view results offline. Another point of criticism is the amount of adverts in the Advance version, which costs $20 online.  Haapasalo says to release more information on the hotfix soon. 


Fujitsu Siemens home entertainment notebook

Fujitsu Siemens home entertainment notebook

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/08/2008 5:16 AM

News type: Product news

Source: Fujitsu Siemens

The Amilo Xi 2550, Fujitsu Siemens' latest notebook, features an ATI HD 2700 graphics card, Intel PRO/Wireless 4965AGN a 17" widescreen monitor and an optional Blu-Ray Disc drive.  The laptop is aimed at home entertainment solutions and the price starts at €1500. 

amiloxi2550_left_lo_550

Thanks to the remote control, the HDMI-connection for an optional screen and the multimedia LightTouch control panel the Amile Xi 2550 can easily becontrolled from the couch, according to Fujitsu Siemens. The laptop has and integrated numeric pad, 640 GB hard disk, an eSATA-connector and a Raid 0/1 function to use two hard disks (optional). 


Cooler Master Hyper Z600

Cooler Master Hyper Z600

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/08/2008 5:10 AM

News type: Product news

Source: Cooler Master

Cooler Master has introduced it's much anticipated Hyper Z600.  The Z600 uses a special "X" shaped design which should allow a better airflow and a faster heat conduction.

The positioning of the fins and the space between them are to make sure the cooler covers a big surface. while the mirror finished copper base, leading to 6 heatpipes, should be able to handle passive cooling of quad-core CPUs up to 89W.

cm_hyper_z600_550

The design of the Z600 allows to mount two 120 mm fans on the it and it is compatible with all existing CPU sockets. 


Specifications:

  • Dimensions: 127.28 x 127.28 x 160 mm
  • Material: Aluminum fins with a copper base
  • Heat pipe dimensions: φ6mm x 6
  • Weight: 1045g

ASUS ROG Maximus II Formula spotted

ASUS ROG Maximus II Formula spotted

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/07/2008 2:19 PM

News type: Product news

Today we have laid eyes upon the successor of the popular ASUS R.O.G. Maximus Formula, the on Intel's P45 chipset based Maximus II Formula, in ASUS' Republic of Gamers series.

As expected of a highend motherboard like this, ASUS has set the bar very high to create an even better board than the prior one. The board features a 16-phase power connection for the processor, three for the Northbridge, and two for the DDR2 memory. According to ASUS this ensures a very reliable solution that allows excellent performance under all circumstances.

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ASUS Maximus II Formula
The detailed power connection offers more stability while overclocking. Like it's predecessor, this board comes with software to allow overclocking based on Intel's processortypes. This model also has the new 45 nm processors added to the selection list.

We find another option at the two additional SATA-ports that are attached through a Silicon Image-controller. When you add two hard disks to these ports they are automatically configured in RAID 0 (striping), however this controller can easily be configured differently.

This motherboard comes with a Supreme FX soundcard featuring gilded connections. Surprisingly, (ASUS has it's own Xonar soundcards) this card is compatible with Creative's X-Fi. The card is based on an ADI HDA-chip and is connected through a special connector and can also be used as a PCI-Express x1 port. This soundcard is incompatible with other motherboards.

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The X-Fi compatible soundcard of the new R.O.G. motherboard.

Other remarkable details are the red on/off switch (under the bottom PCI-slot) and the detailed heatpipe cooling. It is expected that ASUS' Maximus II Formula will hit shelves next month.


ASUS overclocks the GeForce 9600 GSO

ASUS overclocks the GeForce 9600 GSO

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/07/2008 9:57 AM

News type: Product news

Source: ASUS

ASUS launches it's  GeForce 9 GSO editions with the EN9600GSO TOP/HTDP/384M and EN9600GSO/HTDP/384M.  The EN9600GSO TOP comes with a standard overclock, which according to ASUS should have a performance increase of about 11%. 

Both models feature the Gladiator Fansink, while the integrated SmartDoctor should allow you to enhance the Shader Clock.

en9600gsotop_hires_550
Model EN9600GSO naarP/HTDP/384M EN9600GSO/HTDP/384M
Graphic engine GeForce 9600GSO GeForce 9600GSO
Memory
384M DDR3 384M DDR3
Core Clock 600 MHz 550 MHz
Shader Clock 1700MHz 1375MHz
Memory Clock 1.8GHz (900MHz DDR3) 1.6GHz (800MHz DDR3)
Memory bus 192 bit 192 bit
DVI Max. resolution 2560 * 1600 2560 * 1600
Bus Standard PCI Express 2.0 PCI Express 2.0
DVI Output DVI-I 2 DVI-I 2
HDCP compliant Yes
Yes
D-Sub Output Yes,  DVI to D-Sub adapter Yes, DVI to D-Sub adapter
HDTV Output Yes,  HDTV Out cable Yes, HDTV Out cable
TV Output Yes, S-Video to Composite Yes, S-Video to Composite
Adapter/cable bundled DVI-to-D-Sub adapter  
HDTV-out cable    
Powercable DVI-to-D-Sub adapter  
HDTV-out cable    
Power cable    
Bundled software ASUS Utilities & Driver ASUS Utilities & Driver

New WD VelociRaptor benchmarks

New WD VelociRaptor benchmarks

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/07/2008 6:08 AM

News type: Product news

Source: Anandtech

A few weeks ago Western Digital (WD) introduced the successor of it's well-known Raptor hard disk, named the VelociRaptor. Anandtech already ran benchmarks of a preview model, though the drive was fast in the tests, there were still some minor problems due to the disk's firmware. WD has since improved this and even though not all problems are solved yet, the disk performs a lot better, reason enough for Anandtech to update their article.

wd_300gb_velociraptor_03

To make things easy, we've created a table of some of the benchmarks. The New column is represented by the VelociRaptor with new firmware, the column Old by the older firmware and the WD6400AAKS by a reference disk, in this case a WD SE16 640GB model. As seen below, the results aren't always as different. However, in some cases, like the file copy test, a significant performance increase can be seen. Anandtech also reports that the new firmware version is not a retail version, so further performance advantages and bugfixes are a possibility.

  New Old WD6400AAKS
PcMark Vantage Total 6304 6222 4758
Windows Defender 28,2 MB/s 28,2 MB/s 20,9 MB/s
Vista startup 23,4 MB/s 23,7 MB/s 19,7 MB/s
Application loading 6,5 MB/s 6,2 MB/s 4,5 MB/s
Company of Heros Wolfheze level load 33,96 sec 34,97 sec 35,13 sec
Crysis Harbor level load 36,9 sec 37,6 sec 37,5 sec
WinRAR creat 602MB archive 216 sec 223 sec 222 sec
File copy 7,55GB 100 sec 129 sec 101 sec
File copy 602MB 10,6 sec 13,3 sec 10,8 sec

Point of View launches 9600 GSO

Point of View launches 9600 GSO

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/07/2008 4:44 AM

News type: Product news

Source: Point of View

Point of View expands it's GeForce 9 series with the 9600 GSO, the smaller brother of the GT. The GSO features 96 stream processors running at 1350 MHz.

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The card uses DDR3 memory, which runs at 1600 MHz with a 192 bit bus. The GPU's core is clocked at 550 MHz. The GSO also features an HDMI connector, allowing full support of:

  • Blu-ray and HD-DVD decoding with PureVideo HD (H.264 en VC-1)
  • Microsoft DirectX 10 and 9 and Shader model 4.0

32 GB flashdrive by A-Data

32 GB flashdrive by A-Data

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/07/2008 4:43 AM

News type: Product news

Source: Techpowerup

A-Data has announced to expand it's MyFlash series of USB flashdrives with a 32 GB model. The white PD2 and black PD9 drives are already available in sizes of 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 GB.

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The drives have a dimension of 69,6x17x10 mm (LxWxH), and according to A-Data, will be sold worldwide. The 32 GB model will cost around $149 (ex VAT).


Noctua NH-C12P cooler with 6 heatpipes

Noctua NH-C12P cooler with 6 heatpipes

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/07/2008 4:43 AM

News type: Product news

Source: Noctua

Noctua introduces the NH-C12P CPU cooler, equipped with 6 heatpipes and Noctua's NF-P12 120mm fan. The downwards angled c-type design allows the cooler to be smaller in height (114mm), while two Airflow-Gaps are to offer additional cooling for several motherboard components.

noctua_nh_c12p_2_550

The premium bundle comes with Noctua's NT-H1 high-end cooling paste, at a recommended price of €59,90.


New version of GPU-Z detects GT200

New version of GPU-Z detects GT200

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/07/2008 4:42 AM

News type: Other news

Source: TechConnect

Recently GPU-Z version 0.2 has been released by it's creator techPowerUp. The graphics card tool is officially still in beta but is already used a lot.

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The program now offers better detection of ATI's RV770 chip and support for nVidia's GT200 chip and different S3 cards. There is also a possibility added to create a screenshot and upload it directly, clicking the icon on the right.

Shortly after the introduction of version 0.2.0 a newer version, 0.2.1 was released to fix a problem with Vista 32/64 bits detection. This version, released saturday the 3rd of May, is as of yet the latest version and can be downloaded here.


Thermaltake's Armor+ MX available

Thermaltake's Armor+ MX available

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/06/2008 1:27 PM

News type: Product news

Sources: TechConnect / Thermaltake

Recently Thermaltake introduced a new case, the Armor+ MX. The case, which was presented at the CES 2008, should be available this month for a recommended price of $139.

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The Armor+ MV has a transparant side panel

The new mid-tower case weighs 10,8 kilo, has dimensions of 535x240x490 mm and is meant for ATX / micro ATX motherboards. The case features four 3,5" and five 5.25" bays, and seven expansion card slots, which can all be used toolless.

According to Thermaltake the Armor+ MX is optimized for both air- as watercooling. It has three fans, as illustrated below:

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RaidSonic introduces new SSD cases

RaidSonic introduces new SSD cases

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/06/2008 1:08 PM

News type: Product news

Source: RaidSonic

Manufacturer RaidSonic has introduced two new cases in the Stardom series. The SF2010 and SF2020 are compatible with Compact Flash memory cards with a capacity of up to 1 TB.  Since the casings feature a SATA connection, they can easily be transformed into a 2.5" Solid State Drive.

raidsonic_ssd_enclosure4_250 raidsonic_ssd_enclosure1_250

The Stardom SF2010 offers room for a single Compact Flash card and is has a lid to protect the insides. Two LED's show the memory card's activity.  This also counts for the Stardom SF2020, which offers space for two Compact Flash cards.  The two placed cards can be configured in RAID 1 or as JBOD. 

The recommended price of these new SSD cases is still unknown. 


Airlive launches powerline network adapter

Airlive launches powerline network adapter

Author: Marc Mouthaan

Publication: 05/06/2008 12:57 PM

News type: Product news

Source: Airlive

Airlive has introduced a new powerline networkadapter with claimed speeds of up to 200Mbit/s. The HP-300E adapter allows a  home network solution by simply connecting a UTP cable to the adapter, without requiring additional cables.

airlive3000e
The adapter features support for 128bit AES encryption to secure data and is compatible with 110V, 220V and 240V electricity currents. Price and availability are unknown. 

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