A-DATA Technology today unveiled a brand-new swivel-designed C903 USB Flash Drive. Accentuated by its glossy, metallic swivel casing with a distinctive asymmetric contour therein, C903 is delicately designed to bring out the minimalist style with an innovative touch.

Unlike conventional swivel-designed USB flash drives, the unique asymmetric outer casing of C903 protects the USB connector and serves as a lock mechanism to prevent the connector from sticking out due to constant turning and wearing. The same design also enables users to turn and store the USB connector properly in place with much of an ease.

Products of Thermaltake’s ISGC series have become representative of silent and good performance coolers. Users have already been expecting the newest ISGC VGA cooler to complete the collection. Now, finally the ISGC-V320 is coming with lots of killer features.

The ISGC-V320 is a true masterpiece of Thermaltake’s R&D team. Its foremost feature, as a matter of course, is its surprising silence which it inherited from the original ISGC Fan. The ISGC-V320 is equipped with two 120 mm ISGC fans. Users can adjust the fan speed from 800 to 1300RPM according to their needs. Broad compatibility of the ISGC-V320 greatly enhances its convenience factor. Supported are the last graphics cards such as the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 285 and ATI Radeon HD 4890. 5 heatpipes in combination with a large dissipation surface ensure best performance under high stress. With these powerful parts, ISGC-V320 can easily take loads of up to 320W.

Major ATI partner Sapphire is releasing a variant of the HD 4890 Vapor-X accelerator, with double the amount of memory: 2 GB. Being a variant, it retains the rest of the feature-set, with a blue non-reference PCB, Sapphire Vapor-X GPU cooler, and separate heatsinks over the VRM and memory areas. The card comes with clock speeds of 870/4200 MHz (core/memory), and provides output from DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort connectors. It is expected to retail in Europe for as low as 226 EUR.


Source: TechConnect Magazine

Having released the 120 mm copper monstrosity, the CNPS9900, Zalman is looking to give the NVIDIA-branded CNPS9700-NT an update, only this time, there's no NVIDIA branding to be seen. The CNPS9900-NT is decked with nickel-plated copper, which gives it the chrome appearance. Between the two copper-fin blocks, is nested a 120 mm green LED lit fan, which gives the same illumination as the older NT versions of Zalman's coolers. It measures 94 x 131 x 152 mm (LxWxH), and weighs in at 730 g. The fan spins at speeds between 1000 and 2000 rpm. The cooler supports all current CPU socket types, including LGA-1366, LGA-1156, LGA-775, and AM3/AM2(+). It packs a tube of the company's ZM-STG2 thermal compound. When released in Europe, it is expected to sell for 70 EUR.


Source: TechConnect Magazine

Nearly four months after its previous version, the chaps at oZone3D have released Furmark 1.7.0. This release packs a host of nifty new features, and a number of bug fixes. For starters, FurMark is able to work along with GPU-Z to provide real-time readings on the graphics card's temperatures, voltages and VDDC current (for cards that support it). An experimental feature allows you to Twit your score onto your Twitter account. While the stability test or benchmark is running, the main GUI stays minimized, so you needn't have to start another instance to run several tests.

With multiple GPUs doing the rendering, each GPU is given its own temperature graph. You can start or stop the rendering by hitting the space key without having to close the window. A number of new resolutions have been added, and the application is now also available in Castilian, Bulgarian, Polish, Slovak, and Spanish, thanks to translations. Issues relating to temperature updates in the graph, and the application's multithreading management are resolved. Give your graphics cards a sunbath.


DOWNLOAD: FurMark 1.7.0

Source: Geeks3D

ASUS' P7P55 series includes the company's mainstream-thru-premium motherboards based on Intel P55 chipset, supporting LGA-1156 socket processors. Following the recent exposé of its little sibling the P7P55 Pro, XFastest took the higher-end P7P55 EVO for a photo-shoot. This motherboard retains its lesser sibling's feature-set for the most part, except for additional connectivity. The CPU is powered by a 14-phase power circuit. Additional power management is provided by the ASUS EPU chip. The expansion slots include three PCI-Express x16 slots.

The first two arrange as (x8, x8) electrically, while the third one is electrical x4. Two PCI-E x1 and two legacy PCI slots make for the rest of the expansion. The connectivity options of this board will include support for SATA III. Apart from the six SATA ports the P55 PCH provides, an additional Marvell 88SE9123 two-port PCI-E SATA III controller is present, which also provides an IDE connector. Apart from the 8-channel audio, Firewire, and 14 USB ports in all, there are two gigabit Ethernet controllers. More pictures can be found at the source.


Source: XFastest

Over a month into the release of its flagship enterprise processor, the six-core Opteron codenamed "Istanbul", the company expressed plans to roll out another line of Opteron chips, this time targeting the cost-effective SME market, and not exactly power scaling and parallelism offered by its two-socket and multi-socket capable Opteron 2000 and Opteron 8000 series. The new quad-core processor will be codenamed "Suzuka", and will be made for single-socket systems. For this reason, it will not use the 1207-pin Socket F, but rather the AM3 socket, and will be compatible with existing AM2(+) motherboards that support the Budapest quad-core chip (single socket version of Barcelona).

Suzuka shares the same die design as Shanghai (Opteron) and Deneb (Phenom II). It features four x86-64 processing cores on a monolithic die, with 512 KB of L2 cache per core, and a shared 6 MB L3 cache. Dual DDR2/DDR3 memory controllers work in ganged or unganged dual-channel modes. Currently three models are ready, the 2.50 GHz Opteron 1381, 2.70 GHz Opteron 1385, and 2.90 GHz 1389. These chips are specified to come with system bus speeds of 2200 MT/s (HyperTransport bus actual speed of 1100 MHz). All three models come with a rated TDP of around 115 W, and is built on the 45 nm SOI process. Opteron 1381 is priced at US $189, Opteron 1385 at $229, and Opteron 1389 at $269.

Source: AMD

Thermaltake, leading provider of computer cooling solutions, is introducing their latest addition in their wide range of liquid cooling products, the PW880i gets your PC in gear for the coming summer heat. In addition to this big size water cooling system, Thermaltake also offers water cooling solutions for VGA cards (WB400) and for the motherboard North Bridge (WB200), tailored for your individual cooling needs.

The PW880i is a powerful liquid cooling solution for the core of your PC the CPU. With a 24cm radiator equipped with two 14cm fans this is the ideal device for efficient heat dissipation. The solid CPU water block is made of pure copper with delicate brazing technology. Supporting most mainstream CPU sockets such as Intel LGA1366 and AMD AM3, the PW880i sports excellent cooling performance for demanding users and overclockers alike. As the tank and pump can be placed outside the chassis it offers two practical advantages: you gain more space within the case itself and maintenance is made easier and more convenient.

With Microsoft close to the finalization of Windows 7, MSI today also announced that from June 26 onwards it will support the Windows 7 upgrade offer that gives consumers the opportunity to pre-book Windows 7 upgrades online for a small processing fee. Once Windows 7 is officially released, Windows 7 upgrade DVDs will be sent out to consumers by Microsoft so they can upgrade their Vista operating system to the latest Windows 7. This offer will apply to owners of specific new and used laptops and all-in-one PCs under the MSI brand with legal Microsoft Windows Vista Home Premium, Business and Ultimate operating systems. The offer is legit till January 31, 2010. You can find more information on the MSI Windows 7 upgrade offer here.

Source: MSI

Silicon Power’s DDR3-1333/1066 dual channel memory module packs not only support the new Intel / AMD platforms but also benefits from Intel’s Core i7 Quick Path Interconnect (QPI) technology boosting bandwidths up to 6.4GB/s. It is best suited for gaming, HD multimedia, intense graphic and video editing / processing work.

Silicon Power’s DDR3-1333 /1066 memory modules are in compliance with JEDEC DDR3 standards. Using the new Fly-by circuit design for efficient communications between DRAM modules and the controller; its On-DIE Termination (ODT) technology dramatically reduces unwanted reflection signals and maximizes speed. Silicon Power insists on using original memory modules and FBGA packaging for better heat dissipation and accurate data transfer. Tested 100% proof for dual channel operation, Silicon Power’s dual channel DDR3 memory pack is stable, durable and highly compatible.

Japanese manufacturer Green-House recently announced lines of internal and portable SSDs. The company now announced two new IDE SSDs, in 1.8 and 2.5 inch form-factors. Both the 1.8 inch GH-SSDxxGP-1yA and 2.5 inch GH-SSDxxGP-2yA (where "x" is the capacity amount in GB, "y" being S or M, denoting SLC or MLC NAND flash type respectively) use the aging parallel ATA interface, and come in capacities of 16, 32, 64, and 128 GB.

The 1.8 inch drive's SLC variant offers read/write speeds of 65/55 MBps, while its MLC variant offers speeds of 60/35 MBps. The speeds of the 2.5 inch drive shows a simlar trend. The SLC variant provides speeds of 70/60 MBps, with the MLC variant trailing it at 60/40 MBps. While the 1.8 inch drive uses a ZIF ATA interface, the 2.5 inch drive has a standard 44-pin IDE interface. Sales will begin soon in Japan. While not exactly making a mark with its speeds, the SSDs could use durability and low access-times as their selling points for aging notebooks with the older interface.


Source: Green-House

MSI' latest X-Slim X400 14" ultra-slim notebook based on Intel's new ultra low-voltage CULV platform is so slim it is thickness never exceeds one ich. When the battery is included, the notebook weighs just 1.5kg yet delivers long run times. The X400 produces very little noise and heat during its operation so it doesn't heat up after extended use. X-Slim's seductive lines and personalized color bezels redefine the allure of minimalism, making the X400 the best choice of the fashionable urban elite!

The external appearance of the X400 makes clever use of sensual urban curves and a special glossy finish. The perfect proportions enhance its minimalist style while the personalized color bezel gives the X400 a sense of depth. The indentations emphasize X400's exquisite attention to detail and quality, making it a perfect way to express your own personal metro style and professionalism. With the battery included, the X400 is a feather-light 1.5kg making it the world's lightest and thinnest 14" NB. All of these exclusive features on the X400 make its external design the perfect embodiment of minimalist appeal and high quality craftsmanship.

The Swiss cooling solution provider ARCTIC COOLING today unveiled the new premium thermal compound ARCTIC MX-3 (4g). Its high thermal conductivity and non-curing nature make it one of the best thermal compounds for overclockers and gamers.

As an upgraded version of the award-winning ARCTIC MX-2, the performance of the ARCTIC MX-3 outranges other well-known thermal compounds clearly. This new compound is composed of carbon microparticles which lead to an extremely high thermal conductivity – 8.2 W/mK. It guarantees that heat from the CPU or GPU can be dissipated quickly and efficiently.

A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd., a worldwide leading manufacturer in high-performance DRAM modules and Flash application products, today introduced its new 64 GB capacity XPG Xupreme 200X flash drive, which is the first flash drive compatible with Windows 7 (32-bit and 64-bit). Coated with an elegant dark grey aluminum color, the XPG Xupreme 200X flash drive presents the high-performance USB flash drive in a simple yet stylish design of XPG product line. It offers capacity from 8GB to incredible 64GB, and supports up to 30MB/s (200X) read speed.

The XPG Xupreme 200X flash drive also certified for Windows Vist and Windows ReadyBoost, offering the high performance advantages to this operation system. Moreover, the XPG Xupreme 200X flash drive also comes with a practical leather strap and provides true "Plug and Play" function to make your storage utilization more convenient.

EVGA today introduced the compact X58 SLI Micro motherboard (model number: 121-BL-E756-TR), supporting the Micro-ATX form factor. Don't be fooled by the small size, in performance figures this motherboard is a match for all standard ATX Intel X58 equipped motherboards, it supports all LGA1366 Core i7 processors to date, has six DDR3-1600+ memory slots, two PCI-Express x16 slots, a single PCI slot and one PCI-E x1 slot. In addition EVGA gives you full range of overclocking features including: EVGA VDroop Control, EVGA E-LEET support, enthusiast BIOS options and of course the chance to put a SLI or CrossFireX setup of video cards in a micro-ATX system. The board's build quality is also off the hook, 100% solid capacitors are used, and passive heatsink design is incorporated so the board is 100% silent. The EVGA X58 SLI Micro will be available very soon for around $200.


Source: EVGA

To be fair, Sony made a bit of a mess of the backwards compatibility feature of the PS3. Initially the Playstation 3 shipped with the main processing unit from the Playstation 2, called the Emotion Engine as part of the SKU which meant that in effect, you were buying a PS3 and PS2 in one box, providing universally compatibility for all Playstation games. This feature was present in Sony's Playstation 2 for PS1 games, and it would have provided a good advantage over its main competitor Microsoft's Xbox 360, which only has limited backwards compatibility of original Xbox games. Presumably to cut costs to make pricing of the PS3 more competitive, Sony dropped the Emotion Engine from future SKUs severly crippling support for backwards compatibility.
It would appear that things could be about to change however, as it seems Sony have filed a patent for technology enabling the emulation of the PS2 Emotion Engine on the Playstation 3's beefy Cell processor.

German Memorysolution today introduces its first 2.5-inch solid-state drives, branded MAXFLASH. Weighting just over 80 grams, the MAXFLASH Rapstore SSDs come in 128 and 256 GB flavours and have a 3 year warranty. Full specs of both drives are listed below:
- MLC-technology
- Read up to 230 MB/s
- Write up to 160 MB/s
- 64 MB Cache
- Compatible with SATA Interface (SATA I/II)
- Low power consumption (410 mA)
- Voltage: 4,5 V ~ 5,5 V
- Shock-proof up to 1500 G max
- ROHS compliant
- NAND flash: Samsung
- Controller: Indilinx (Barefoot) IDX110M00-LC


Source: HEXUS.net, TechConnect Magazine

Spire, famous for over a decade in the field of PC Cooling is proudly introducing the universally compatible PacificBreeze II is designed for multiple application and comfort. The top aluminum surface works like a heat sink and enables fast heat dissipation, it also provides a sophisticated look. The gentle slope improves typing comfort, raises the laptop screen and reduces neck strain. The PacificBreeze accommodates laptop performance, comfort and is affordable. Trust the brand with the industry experience and 3-year warranty, Spire – Powered by Innovation.

NZXT, specializing in making gaming chassis, has silently introduced Sentry 2 series fan controller. Representing a step up compared to the original Sentry and Sentry LX, the Sentry 2 occupies single 5.25-inch slot and displays all the needed information on a big touchscreen display. There are no buttons or knobs, all there is to be adjusted is controlled by touching. The NZXT Sentry 2 has five temperature sensors, and supports up to five fans. It can display the temperature readings from the sensors, fan speeds, it can also manually control fans rotation speeds and alarm you if there's a fan malfunction. The NZXT Sentry 2 will set you back 29.90 Euro.


Source: PCGH

HP today announced the immediate integration of the highly anticipated Six-Core AMD Opteron 2400 Series processor into the award-winning family of HP Workstations. Ideal for high-end workstation applications in fields such as engineering, 3-D digital content creation, oil and gas, and science, the HP xw9400 Workstation taps the power of the new AMD Opteron processors to deliver higher productivity, especially for multi-threaded applications, multi-tasking and mega-tasking environments.
With the built-in engineering advantages of HP’s highly tuned workstations, the HP xw9400 Workstation can accommodate up to two Six-Core AMD Opteron processors – for a total of 12 cores – each of which offers up to 34 percent more performance per watt over the previous-generation quad-core processors.

Microsoft reminds you all that as of today systems running the Beta release of its Windows 7 operating system - launched back in January this year - will begin to automatically shut down every two hours. This is a precaution used by Microsoft to remind testers that their beta copy of Windows 7 will expire on August 1st, so they need to switch to an alternative ligitimate operating system as soon as possible. Users may upgrade to the newer Windows 7 Release Candidate, but this will temporarily stop the bi-hour shut downs. Windows 7 RC will also eventually expire. RC users will face bi-hourly shutdowns beginning on March 1st 2010, and will be prompted to install the already officially released by that time version of Windows 7. Following that, the RC will expire on June 1st, 2010.

Source: Engadget

Transcend Information (Transcend), a worldwide leader in storage and multimedia products, today released a new line of server-grade DDR3 ECC DIMM and Registered DIMM premium memory modules equipped with thermal sensors. This advanced innovation in thermal monitoring technology can greatly enhance memory reliability, efficiency, and overall system stability, making these new modules perfect for use in dedicated servers as well as workstations.
For high-end systems that constantly process huge amounts of data under non-stop operating conditions, CPU speed regulation and various other techniques to prevent overheating have become increasingly important in hardware design. In order to provide increased performance, Transcend now offers server-grade DDR3 modules that come equipped with an advanced thermal sensor. This allows motherboard chipsets to monitor the exact temperature of each memory module and adjust the memory load accordingly, ensuring the best possible system performance while at the same time protecting the DRAM modules from potentially catastrophic failure and compromised system stability.

MSI launched a new AMD AM2+ socket micro-ATX motherboard targeting the value and SME markets. The 760GTM-P33 is based on the AMD 760G + SB710 chipset, and supports DDR2 memory from two DIMM slots. It extends compatibility to AM3-socket processors along the way. The CPU is powered by a 4+1 phase circuit, with support for MSI's APS (active phase switching) feature. The SB710 chipset connects to six SATA II ports internally, and one standard IDE connector. The 760G chipset embeds an ATI Radeon HD 3200 class IGP, with slightly lower clock speeds and higher energy efficiency compared to the 780G. Display connectivity includes DVI and D-Sub ports. 8-channel audio, and gigabit connectors, a PCI-E x16, x1, and two PCI slots make for the rest of the package. The MSI 760GTM-P33 will arrive at stores soon, at an expected price under $100.


Source: TechConnect Magazine

Dell today announced the latest addition to its expanding line of Vostro laptops, the 12.1-inch Vostro 1220. This stylish, ultraportable laptop was designed exclusively for business travelers who are unwilling to compromise performance, battery life and security for a thin and lightweight design.
Available in Obsidian Black or Deep Cherry Red, the Vostro 1220 starts at a mere 3.36 lbs, is equipped with the latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors and features up to 9 hours of battery life on a 6-cell battery, making it an ideal travelling companion for on-the-go, global entrepreneurs.

Intel Corporation's largest technical conference returns to San Francisco on Sept. 22-24. Registration is now underway for the Intel Developer Forum, featuring 3 days of vision, learning and collaboration at Moscone Center West. In its 12th year, IDF focuses on Intel's technology and platform roadmap directions for the next year and beyond in the areas of digital enterprise, mobility, digital home, software, manufacturing and research.

Our colleagues at Expreview report that XFX is trying to work out its way to the Chinese market by launching a spin off company that will sell ATI Radeon based cards there. XFX is no longer NVIDIA exclusive and there's nothing bad in such an action. The new XFX brand will be called “Jing Tai”. That's all the info we got for now.

Source: Expreview

In addition to the shiny $160 piece of metal for GeForce GTX 295 single PCB cards, Koolance also launched full-cover solution for NVIDIA's remaining high-performance video cards - GeForce GTX 275 and GeForce GTX 285. The new Koolance VID-NX285N is a combined GPU and memory cooler that fits reference NVIDIA GeForce GTX 275, 285 1 GB, and 285 2 GB cards in single or multi video configurations. It couples a full nickel-plated solid copper base plate which cools all primary heat-producing regions of the video card (including the voltage regulators) and an acrylic top. The Koolance VID-NX285N weights exactly 1.5 pounds (680g) and ships standard with 1/4-inch nozzles, but versions for 3/8-inch and 1/2-inch tubings are also available. Getting one will cost you $99.99, you can order the VID-NX285N directly from Koolance's web page here. The firm is also offering optional connect nozzles, in case you're using two of the water blocks for multi-card setups and need to link them.


Source: Koolance

Renowned water-cooling components specialist Koolance is one of the first to be ready with a water block for the new single-PCB NVIDIA GeForce GTX 295 video card. The Koolance VID-NX295S provides full-coverage cooling for the accelerator. The package bundles a full-coverage cooling plate for even the rear-side of the card, where 14 out of 28 of the card's memory chips are located. The water block uses nickel-plated copper as its primary material, topped with an acrylic jacket. Its dimensions are 24.2 cm x 12.3 cm x 1.8 cm, and it weighs in at around 1 kg. It uses a standard G 1/4" nozzle threading. The VID-NX295S priced at US $159.99, and is available from the Koolance store.

Professional videographers face continuous pressure to deliver high quality work under tight deadlines. To ease that burden and enable greater levels of creativity, NVIDIA today announced the availability of GPU-accelerated plug-in solutions for Adobe Creative Suite 4 (CS4) users, optimized to run on a wide range of NVIDIA Quadro graphics solutions.

NVIDIA is offering exclusive discounts of up to 50 percent on plug-ins from Elemental Technologies, Boris FX, Red Giant Software and proDAD when purchased at NVIDIA.com.

Among the plug-ins being offered is the NVIDIA CUDA architecture-based Elemental Accelerator 2.0 for Windows from Elemental Technologies (MSRP $499 discounted to $249). By leveraging the CUDA parallel computing architecture, this new plug-in offloads H.264 video encoding to the Quadro GPU, enabling Adobe Premiere Pro CS4 users to experience a performance increase of up to 11X when compared to CPU-only video encoders. Now available on a range of Quadro GPUs, Elemental Accelerator 2.0 supports the creation of Blu-ray DVDs and web content using Flash. In addition, NVIDIA and Elemental Technologies are bringing accelerated H.264 video encoding capabilities to Mac Pro users for the first time with the new Elemental Accelerator 1.2 for Mac OS X running on the Quadro FX 4800 for Mac.

Swedish firm called the Global Gaming Factory announced today that it has bought The Pirate Bay webpage for just 60 million Swedish Krona (roughly $7.8 million USD or £4.6 million GBP). That's the breaking news for today. There's no need to describe The Pirate Bay, probably everyone here knows about The Pirate Bay web address and has visited it at least a dozen times, searching for pirated software, books, videos, games and everything that can be transferred into zeros and ones. At the moment The Pirate Bay is one of the 100 most visited Internet sites in the world and one of the leading search engines for file sharing. The site has more than 20 million visitors and over one billion searches per month.
With the deal completed, GGF acquires domain names and related web sites, including the http://www.thepiratebay.org domain. After the full acquisition The Pirate Bay is said to become as legitimate as possible. A new "business models" are being prepared for it that will compensate "the content providers and copyright owners." Read the full press release below.

Cooling and power specialist, Akasa announced a new fan for its consumer lineup. The Apache 120 mm (model number: AK-FN057) banks mostly on its unique fan-blade design, and its appearance to sell it. It uses what Akasa calls an "S-Flow" blade design, which delivers 30% higher air-flow against traditional blade designs, keeping speed constant.

Apache 120 mm uses a copper-ish red colour for its frame, and military green for the fan. The frame is of standard 25 mm thickness. The fan is PWM controlled, and spins in speeds of 600~1300 rpm. Its maximum air-flow is 57.5 CFM, and noise levels between 6.9 and 16.05 dBA, depending on the speed. It has started selling in the UK, priced at about ₤13.80.

Mozilla today announced the newest stable version of Firefox, version 3.5, which has been available in various developer preview forms for months. The new version is a milestone release, unlike timely updates that Firefox receives on a near-monthly basis, and boasts of better performance. For instance, Firefox 3.5 outperforms its previous version (Firefox 3) by over 100% in the SunSpider benchmark.

Under the hood, this new version extends support for HTML5 audio and video elements, including native support for open-source formats such as Ogg Theora. It uses a faster TraceMonkey Javascript engine (which is behind the performance boost in SunSpider), It supports downloadable fonts, CSS media queries, new transformations and properties, JavaScript query selectors, HTML5 local storage and offline application storage, canvas-driven text, ICC profiles, and SVG transformations. The user interface remains fairly identical to its predecessor, except for a few minor changes. The browser finally supports a private browsing feature which MSIE 8 (InPrivate) and Google Chrome (Incognito mode) have. Existing users of Firefox will be prompted to upgrade to the new browser. Others can find it here.

Popular memory manufacturer Mushkin, which is also known for power supply units and until last year, for video cards, plans to resume being a video card manufacturer, and an add-in card partner for NVIDIA. The company just announced plans on an entire lineup of products based on the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 200 series, called Mushkin UltimateFX. It includes products starting from the GeForce GTX 260 896 MB base model, going all the way up to GeForce GTX 285 2048 MB, with models carved out based on clock speeds and memory sizes.

For the most part, it looks like Mushkin will use non-reference designs which we may be familiar with. One of their products resembles a similar design by Sparkle, while another bears resemblance with the reference NVIDIA design, albeit a green PCB (something PNY has opted for). The cards will be shipped in an a classic wooden jewel case, similar to to the "WoodBox" it shipped with its older products. Here's what the lineup looks like:

Scythe Europe hereby announces the availability of the new compact-size BIG Shuriken CPU Cooler. This new product enriches the series of compact and silent CPU Coolers for computes with very limited height and weight restrictions. Due to its height of only 58 mm and the weight of 405 g, the BIG Shuriken CPU Cooler is perfectly qualified for such PC Systems.

Compared to normal Shuriken CPU Cooler which comes with a Kaze Jyu 100 mm Slim fan, the BIG Shuriken CPU Cooler is equipped with the brand new Slip Stream 120 mm Slim case fan with 12 mm thickness. Despite the name “BIG” Shuriken, the total height shrank by 6 mm (0.236 in) to 58 mm (2.28 in). Whereas the Shuriken CPU Cooler was equipped with 3 copper heatpipes the BIG Shuriken CPU Cooler received an additional copper heatpipe to further increase the performance. Yet, both of the models support the PWM feature (pulse-width modulation) for flexible fan by the motherboard. The specified fan speed varies from 650 (+300) to 1600rpm (±10%) whereas the generated airflow varies from 15.77 to 38.05 CFM (27 to 65 m³/h) at a noise level of 12.91 to 28.89 dBA.

Inno3D's iChiLL range is going to have one more product to talk about soon, this will be an upcoming NVIDIA ION-based mini-ITX mainboard with a name that's yet to be discovered. The board was shown for the first time during this year's COMPUTEX. It follows NVIDIA's reference design and is expected to ship in two flavours - one featuring an integrated single-core Intel Atom N270 processor, and another sporting an integrated dual-core Intel Atom 330. The second heart of the board is NVIDIA's ION chipset which brings with it a GeForce 9400m integrated graphics, with a GPU clocked at 450 MHz and 16 stream processors clocked at 1100 MHz. The iChiLL board provides two DDR2 DIMM slots, supporting up to 8 GB of 667 MHz/800 MHz memory, and is bundled with a 90W external power supply. The board is yet to be priced.


Source: HEXUS.net

NDA has been lifted off AMD's newest processor for serious overclocking, the Phenom II Black Edition TWKR 42. While this processor isn't meant to be an out of the box high-speed performer, it caters specifically to those who know (TWK) the inside outs of overclocking. Hence, it comes with a speed of 2.00 GHz, but with an unlocked multiplier, high-leakage silicon, and a significantly higher overclocking headroom compared to other consumer-grade chips AMD offers. Currently AMD has only 100 of these ready to sell.

Legit Reviews is one of the first sites to review this chip, and adds an interesting list of myth busters to go with it. The chip is based on a cherry-picked high quality yield of Deneb C2 core. It comes with a vCore value of 1.44 V out of the box, and lets the overclocker decide which bus-multiplier, frequency, and voltage value to use. It comes in an exclusive jewel-case from AMD. Using air-cooling by an XIGMATEK HDT-S1283, the reviewer was able to reach 4.00 GHz on the air and more than 5.90 GHz using liquid-nitrogen cooling.


Source: Legit Reviews

Micron Technology today announced mass production of new NAND flash memory products using its award-winning 34-nanometer (nm) process technology. As consumers demand increased capacity to store more music, videos, photos, and applications in ever smaller portable electronic devices, manufacturers need a storage solution that delivers on capacity, performance, and size. Micron’s new 16- and 32-gigabit (Gb) NAND chips pair large capacity with performance, providing a compelling solution for today’s demanding portable storage requirements that are tailored to end-customer product dimensions.
The newly architected 32Gb multi-level cell (MLC) NAND chip is 17 percent smaller than Micron’s first-generation 32Gb chip. The 16Gb MLC NAND chip, at just 84mm², provides high-capacity in an ultra tiny package. Micron is also now sampling 8- and 16Gb single-level cell (SLC) NAND chips using the 34nm process.

Long renowned as one of the top providers of power supplies in desktop computing, Cooler Master makes a move into universal notebook power adapters with the SNA (Slim Notebook Adapter) 95; targeting business travelers carrying a notebook and other USB devices. With a sleek design and being the slimmest 95W notebook adapter available, the SNA 95 was immediately recognized as one of COMPUTEX 2009’s hottest products by receiving the Design & Innovation Award 2009.

DirectX 11 isn't far from its being an official industrial standard. Both NVIDIA and AMD have high-end graphics processors supporting the standard in the works, though it is expected that by the time DirectX 11 reaches the masses, we will be into 2010. On the course, both companies have the time to perfect their designs on the new 40 nm silicon fabrication technology, which will build the first waves of DirectX 11 GPUs. One of the best ways of doing this is by building products based on the current architecture on the new process, and testing the foundry-companies' abilities to handle large market demands, while benefiting from low-manufacturing costs. Following AMD's introduction of the RV740, NVIDIA recently announced a new class of mGPUs based on the 40 nm process, and is having concrete plans of selling their desktop versions by this October.

Two of the important starting points for NVIDIA are the GT218 and GT216 graphics processors. The two have already being assigned mGPU branding of GeForce G 210M and GeForce GT 230M respectively. Their desktop versions are to be branded GeForce G 210 and GeForce GT 220 respectively. VR-Zone sourced the specifications of these GPUs, by running them on the upcoming GeForce 190.15 drivers.

A new list of features surraunding the upcoming RTS franchise Star Craft 2 that might interest you were announced today. Starting with the big one, Blizzard has confirmed that Star Craft 2 will not support LAN multiplayer mode. The game will be entirely online based, multiplayer connections will go through Battle.net only, no LAN connections will be allowed.
Blizzard today also posted a new 7 minute video footage of some ingame action. Units from all the three races are captured in the video, you can watch it in high quality here.
Also unveiled during an interview with Shacknews was that players will be able to hire NPC mercenaries and use them in the single player mode campaign. StarCraft II lead designer Dustin Browder also detailed that again in single player campaign mode, there'll be additional objectives and optional quests which if completed will give players different bonuses. You can read the full interview with Dustin Browder right here.


Source: Shacknews, IncGamers

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today began shipping a new line of IDE flash disk modules (FDMs), primarily developed for embedded computing applications, that deliver unmatched reliability and fast transfer speeds.

These FDMs, also known as disk on module (DOM), are made first and foremost for extreme reliability in embedded computing applications. They incorporate a standard IDE hard drive interface and use solid state NAND flash as the storage media. With no moving parts, these FDMs will have a very long worry-free usable life in harsh manufacturing environments where hard drives would not survive, such as areas exposed to high levels of dust, shock, vibration or extreme temperatures. Super Talent included wear leveling, ECC and bad bit management as standard features to further enhance reliability and endurance.

ASUS, a leading producer of innovative networking solutions, today announced the ASUS RT-N16, a technologically-advanced wireless router with a host of intuitive, easy-to-use features. Engineered for the future, the ASUS RT-N16 is a Wireless-N Gigabit Router offering three "S's" that fulfill users' all-around networking needs that no other brand can provide—Speed for ultra-fast data transfers, Simplicity for unparalleled ease-of-use and ease-of-setup, and Security for absolute peace of mind when performing online tasks. Such an unprecedented integration of powerful performance and user-friendly operation makes the RT-N16—and ASUS' full range of routers—the best choice on the market.

Auzentech, Inc. announced shipment dates today for the highly-anticipated X-Fi HomeTheater HD sound card. Reviewer shipments of the X-Fi HomeTheater HD will begin the second week of July. According to Auzentech the sound card will also go into full production at that time, enabling customer shipments to begin at the end of July.

"We are excited to officially announce shipment dates of the X-Fi HomeTheater HD sound card," said Stephane Bae, president of Auzentech, Inc. "We appreciate the patience of all our customers, distributors, and dealers who have waited anxiously for this sound card."

We've learned that Microsoft might be considering the opportunity to distribute Windows 7 on USB flash drives to ease netbook owners when installing operating systems. Although nothing is confirmed yet, this approach makes distribution of Microsoft software products a lot more convenient, bravo Microsoft for the idea. These drives will be used primary for netbooks and computers without any optical drives installed.
Unfortunately, the use of USB flash drives for this tight segment is just one of the many choices Microsoft is thinking over. Currently the company sells a downloadable version of Windows, so the same might apply to Windows 7, also users might download the content to an external hard drive and then hook it up to their netbook or a notebook for installation, instead of buying the more expensive USB flash drive with the licensed software. Read more at CNET.

Source: CNET News

Seiko Epson Corporation (Epson) today announced that it has started volume production of its latest line of liquid crystal panels ("3LCD chips") for 3LCD data projectors. Measuring just 0.55 of an inch (1.4 cm) on the diagonal, the new 3LCD chips are believed to be the world's smallest high-temperature polysilicon (HTPS) TFT panels offering XGA (1024x768) resolution.
The new 3LCD chips enable projectors to deliver 2000 to 2600 lumens of brightness. Epson made this possible by using a liquid crystal material with high light-resistance and by further increasing the luminance of panels with an organic alignment layer. Also, Epson achieved an aperture ratio equivalent to that of the company's earlier 0.63-inch (1.6 cm) panels while shrinking the chip size to 0.55 inch by using its latest process technology to narrow the pixel pitch of the new panels to 11 microns.

ASUSTeK today also announced that it will be starting an upgrade program that will allow users who have purchased a qualifying ASUS desktop PC, notebook, EeeTop PC or Eee PC to upgrade their existing Windows Vista OS to the better and yet to be finalized Windows 7 operating system. From June 26, 2009 through January 31, 2010 owners of the below listed ASUS products may visit this webpage here, complete the registration process and wait for their upgrade kit after the general availability date of Windows 7 which is October 22nd. The ASUS Windows 7 Upgrade offer will be free in the USA, while users from other parts of the world will have to pay a nominal shipping and handling fee. Below is the full list of ASUS products that are eligible for the Windows 7 upgrade program.

ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual display and computing products, today announced the commercial availability of its VPC100 All-in-One PC at an MSRP of $599. With 20 years of display experience as a leader in desktop technology and partnerships with computing market leaders, high quality computing products are a natural extension of ViewSonic’s product offering. With its slim design (35mm thin), ease-of-use, eco-friendly design and affordability, the VPC100 is ideal for every lifestyle – from home and office settings, to call centers, libraries, school computer labs and any location where space is limited.

“When people talk about office clutter, it’s not just about paperwork. Traditional computing solutions can be expensive, unattractive and take up an entire desk,” said Jeff Volpe, vice president and general manager of ViewSonic North America. “We designed the VPC100 to overcome that ‘computer clutter’ problem with one cable ease and a clean, All-in-One design. We’re excited to bring this product to market in the US and give our channel partners and customers a solution that further merges technology and lifestyle.”

Rumor has it that chip giant Intel will be launching new solid-state drives based on the company's 34 nm NAND chips in just a few weeks time. The report claims that these new SSDs will be faster and most importantly cheaper than what we're used to pay for a solid-state drive. Intel will manufacture the 34 nm drives in 320 GB, 160 GB and 80 GB capacities, and most probably in other capacities that are still unknown for one or another reason. The drives are said to be coming out in about two weeks so stay tuned.

Source: The Inquirer

While the bulk of Intel's upcoming Nehalem and Westmere derived products include quad-core processors, the company hasn't left out dual-core processors just as yet. The dual-core Core i5 desktop processor will be based on the new Clarkdale core, built on the 32 nm Westmere architecture. Originally slated for a Q1 2010 launch, the new chip seems to have been pulled into the Q4 2009 launch schedule, deep enough to make for a significant amount of projected sales, according to sources in the Taiwanese motherboard industry.

The sales projections for Q4 look particularly interesting. Core i5 "Clarkdale" dual-core is projected to amount for 10% of Intel's sales, while Core i7 "Bloomfield" at 1%, Core i5 "Lynnfield" at 2% (Core i7 "Lynnfield" is slated for Q1 2010), Core 2 Quad at 9%, Core 2 Duo E7000/E8000 at 35%, Pentium E5000/E6000 at 31%, Celeron E3000 and Atom together at 9%, Pentium E2000 and Celeron 400 together at 4%. In the following quarter, Clarkdale's sales share is expected to rise to 20%. The numbers prove just how large the market for dual-core processors is, even four years into the introduction of quad-core chips.

Source: DigiTimes

ASUS, the leader in motherboard innovation, has launched a comprehensive range of SMB-ready motherboard solutions to help Small-and-Medium-Sized-Businesses (SMBs) refresh their technology environment, improve customer service provision, and boost operational performance. Developed in partnership with Intel, the solutions are grouped into secure, productive, and smart categories to meet different SMB requirements. The specially-designed motherboards come with all the industry-leading innovations synonymous with ASUS as well as extensive service support, including one year supply of product availability and conditional advance swap support.

Thecus, the leader in digital storage, today announced the availability of its latest 7-bay NAS server, the N7700SAS. Offering massive storage capacity and cutting-edge technology, the N7700SAS is an enterprise class NAS server providing incredible flexibility, reliability, and expandability.

The N7700SAS brings the latest technologies to the table, including seven SATA/SAS hard disk bays that accommodate multiple terabytes of storage. To manipulate all of this data, an Intel Core 2 Duo processor and 2GB of DDR2 memory allow for more concurrent connections and quicker system response. For data protection, the N7700SAS lets you choose from a wide selection of RAID modes, including RAID 0, 1, 5, 6, 10 and JBOD. The N7700SAS also supports multiple RAID volumes, enabling system administrators to choose the right combination of RAID volumes for the network. Should changes need to be made, the N7700SAS also features online RAID expansion, online RAID migration, and auto rebuild for maximum flexibility.

EVGA published the 13th release of its SLI Enhancement Patch. The patch works in conjunction with NVIDIA's drivers, and expands its SLI profiles for games. Based on GeForce drivers 186.18 WHQL, EVGA SLI Enhancement Patch v13 adds SLI support for the games ArmA 2 and Merchants of Brooklyn, along with the new SLI profiles GeForce 186.18 brings for the games Dark Sector, Trine, Prototype, Wallace and Gromit's Grand Adventures, Operation Flashpoint: Dragon Rising, Free Realms, Wolfenstein, Order of War, Disciples 3, and Bigworld. Registered EVGA users (registration is free) can download the software from here.

Lenovo finally made the initiative to include a netbook powered by the VIA Nano processor. This IdeaPad S-12 uses the same exact name and chassis as the one powered by Intel Atom, based on i945 chipset, and exists merely as a variant in the S12 series. On the brighter side, it is priced $50 lower than its Atom-based cousin.

Its specifications include a 12-inch display with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, VIA Nano ULV 2250 processor clocked at 1.30 GHz, 1 GB DDR2 memory, VIA VX855 chipset with S3 Chrome9 HC3 integrated graphics, 160 GB of storage, and a 6-cell battery, 1.3 MP web-camera, WLAN and Ethernet, and optional Bluetooth. It comes with Windows XP SP3 pre-installed. Backed by a one-year warranty, the S12 is priced at US $449.


Source: TechConnect Magazine

Active Media Products, manufacturer of unique USB drives including the WWF Penguin and Panda drives, today announced immediate availability of the new 8GB Obama USB drive. the new USB flash drive that commemorates President Barack Obama, and comes pre-loaded with President Obama’s Inaugural Address.

The Obama drive comes preloaded with 80MB of free bonus material that includes: high resolution photos of President Obama and the First Lady; over two hours of landmark speeches in MP3 format including the Inaugural Address and the Victory speech; text of 35+ speeches that track the President from 2002, to Senate addresses, the campaign trail, Presidential addresses and college commencement addresses in PDF format. Every Obama drive also includes a smiling rubber Obama charm that fits on the keychain. The drive itself is an impressive product. The waterproof drive features a chrome plated steel pivot-style lid that is adorned with a holographic image of the President. Measuring only 40 x 14 x 5 mm, the drive is exceptionally small and lightweight. The Obama drive is USB 2.0 compliant and works in any computer.