AMD opens new facility in India

Design centre in Hyderabad

AMD is opening a new design centre in Hyderabad and it will be focused on hardware and software

It appears that much of the design centre will be devoted to custom SoCs, like the processors powering the new Xbox and PlayStation. It is still unclear how many people the centre will employ, but at 175,000 square feet it should have hundreds of engineers milling around

“AMD is committed to providing our customers with innovative, tailored technology solutions that empower people and deliver exceptional experiences," said AMD CEO Rory Read

Our Hyderabad Design Centre will play an important part in that mission as the team works in concert with our other design centres around the world to deliver AMD's next round of innovative products

In other words the next big thing for AMD might come from Hyderabad

AMD is not new to India. It already has a design centre in Bangalore and offices in New Delhi and Mumbai

Nvidia Shield gets its torndown at iFixit

 

Low repairability score

The brave guys from iFixit finally got their hands on Nvidia's Shield as well tearing it down to its bare components showing some interesting things including the unique cooling system, infamous Tegra 4 chip and hefty lithium-ion batteries, but they also gave it a pretty low repairability score

In case you missed it earlier this week, Nvidia Tegra 4-based handheld Shield console is already out and have received mixed reviews, noting that, although the hardware side looks quite decent and PC streaming, which is still in beta, works like a charm, the actual console does not make much sense considering that it places high hopes on Android gaming, something that most people don't find that interesting, at least not yet

The teardown at iFixit revealed a rather unique cooling system that draws air from the front of the device and exhaust in out the back and also showed a how that three-cell, 3.7 V, 7350 mAh, lithium-ion battery is actually placed inside the console itself

The same batteries are theortically replacable and upgradable but they are permanantely attached to a PCB which is one of the reason why Shield actually got a six out of ten points on a repariability scale. The 720p screen is also another reason as it is proven to be quite hard to replace

Those that did not pre-order the console before, can purchase it for US $300 as of yesterday

You can check out the full teardown with high-resolution pictures over at iFixit.com

Moto X is out, but only in America

Nice, but quite pricey

Motorola’s first true Google phone is out and it is getting some very positive coverage, although it’s not all smooth sailing

Based on a Snapdragon Pro chip with Motorola’s X8 customizations on top, the Moto X is decidedly a mid-range phone, but it still has some nifty features. For example, it packs a 10-megapixel camera with a relatively big sensor to help low-light performance, so it is on par with high-end handsets in the camera department

It has a 4.7-inch screen, but it is a 720p unit, a far cry from 1080p panels used in current Android flagships. We won’t hold this against it, since going for higher resolutions on phone screens is practically a marketing gimmick. However, although it has a very spacious screen, it’s significantly smaller and lighter than flagship droids such as the HTC One and Galaxy S4.

Now for the bad news. Europe isn’t getting it, at least not anytime soon. The Moto X will be reserved for the North American market and it will be available on a number of networks for $199. However, the full retail price is $575, which is way too high for a mid-range device. Motorola insists that specs don’t really matter, it’s all about optimizations and user experience, but it’s still a bitter pill to swallow

A Google Play version with stock Android is on the way, too. The phone itself can be customized with tons of colour and trim options, which is pretty nice. The back Kevlar and should stand up to punishment quite well

It looks like a very nice phone and we absolutely love the fact that Motorola managed to come up with something a relatively compact with a huge screen. It is definitely the way to go, as many consumers find the current generation of Android superphones too big and unwieldy

We don’t like the price though. We were hoping for something in the Nexus 4 price range and even yesterday analysts were saying it would cost about $300. Sadly, we were all wrong

 

XFX launches new HD 7730 cards

Inexpensive low profile GCN cards

 

XFX has added another member to its Radeon GCN portfolio and this time it’s a single slot, half size Radeon HD 7730 card. It is based on 28nm Carpe Verde silicon and this is one of the thinner ones that will find its way into HTPCs that wants some extra power

The company has two models a 1GB DDR5 Model (FX-773A-ZNJX) featuring Dual-Link DVI-D, HDMI and VGA connection, with 800Mhz core clock and a 4.5GHz Memory as well as the 2GB DDR3 model (FX-773A-CNFX) also features Dual Link DVI-D, HDMI and VGA outputs, with a 800Mhz core clock and 1.3GHz memory clock

Both cards feature XFX Patented Duratec IP-5X Dust free cooling fan and XFX Ghost thermal technology. Both cards are low profile that will put some smiles into HTPC owners that wants a newer core that still stays within the reasonable power consumption

The Radeon HD 7730 is currently quite a rare card on the market and we saw some Sapphire and MSI cards shipping. MSI has low profile cards with 1GB GDDR3 that clearly stays slower than the XFX offering. The card should be available shortly and should end up below £70 including VAT for the UK and below €70 in EU markets with VAT, but we haven’t received the final pricing. This is what the card looks like

 

Eurocom launches new thin and light Electra notebook

15.6-incher with Core i7 and GT 750M

 

Eurocom has launched a new thin and light 15.6-inch notebook that will feature Intel's 4th generation Core Haswell Core i7 CPU paired up with Nvidia's Geforce GT 750M graphics

 

The Eurocom Electra measures 380x252x14-26.8mm and weighs just 2.4kg. The Electra is built around a 15.6-inch 1920x1080p IPS matte display and can be equipped with a wide variety of Intel's 4th generation Core Haswell CPUs, up to Intel Core i7-4930MX Extreme as well as Nvidia's Geforce GT 750M graphics card with 2GB of DDR3 memory

The full list of Intel Core Haswell CPUs include Intel Core i7-4900MQ, Core i7-4800MQ, Core i7-4700MQ as well as the aformentioned quad-core 3GHz clocked Core i7-4930MX with 8MB of L3 cache. The Nvidia Geforce GT 750M packs 384 CUDA cores, feature 2GB of GDDR3 memory, support Nvidia Optimus GPU switching technology and works at 967MHz for the GPU

The rest of the specs for the Electra includes up to 16GB of DDR3-1600 in two slots, up to three drives (1 SATA 3 mSATA, 1 SATA 3 (9.5 mm), 1 SATA 2 (12.5mm)), 6-cell 62.16Whr battery that should keep it running at around 7 hours, according to Eurocom

The base configuration starts at US $1036/€868 and is already available for order at Eurocom's site here

Micron announces 16nm flash memory technology

Enabling 128Gb MLC NAND flash devices

 

Micron Technology has announced that it is now sampling the next-generation 16nm process technology. The new 16nm technology enabled them to bring the industry's smallest 128Gb multi-level cell (MLC) NAND flash memory

The new Micron 16nm 128Gb MLC NAND flash memory provides the greatest number of bits per square millimeter, lowest cost of any MLC device today and ability to create nearly 6TB of storage on a single wafer. According to Micron, the 16nm node is not only the leading flash process but also the most advanced processing node up to date. The new 128Gb MLC NAND flash memory targets consumer SSDs, removable storage such as USB drives and flash cards, data center cloud storage as well as tablets, ultrathin devices and mobile handsets

Micron is currently sampling 16nm 128Gb MLC NAND to select partners and plans to achieve full production in Q4 2013. Micron also announced that a new line of SSDs based on 16nm 128Gb MLC chips is expected to ship in 2014.

More here

Asus announces Designo series MX299Q monitor

The 29-inch 2560x1080 ultra-wide display

 

Asus has now officially launched its new Designo Series MX299Q ultrawide 21:9 Cinematic Monitor that is based around a 29-inch AH-IPS (Advanced High Performance In-Plane Switching) panel that should provide rich, vibrant colors and a 178-degree wide viewing angles

The Asus MX299Q has a display area equivalent to two 17-inch monitors placed next to each other and provides a 33 percent wider area compared to similarly sized full HD monitors. The 21:9 aspect ratio and 2560x1080 resolution are, according to Asus, perfect for watching 2.35:1 movies which will have no black bars above and below the image as well as ideal for multi-tasking with multiple windows placed side-by-side, thus removing the need for multiple monitor setup

According to Asus, the LED-backlit AH-IPS display brings accurate color reproduction and impressive 178-degree wide viewing angles with low wash out. According to the specification sheet, the MX299Q feature 80,000,000:1 Asus Smart contrast ratio, 300cd/m² brightness and built-in 3W stereo speakers with an embedded Bang & Olufsen ICEpower MobileSound 3 chip. It also features DisplayPort, Dual-link DVI and MLH (Mobile High-Definition Link) capable HDMI inputs

As a part of Asus' Designo series, the MX299Q features a 0.8mm bezel that gives an illusion of a frameless panel and ultra-slim profile that is 16.4mm thick at its thinnest point, as well as quite unique and sleek round stand. With a price of around €450 in Europe the MX299Q is certainly one of the cheapest 29-inch ultra-wide monitors on the market

Gigabyte rolls out F2A75M-DS2 FM2 motherboard

Entry level, micro-ATX, AMD A75 chipset-based 

 

Gigabyte has rolled out a new socket FM2 motherboard based on AMD's A75 chipset, the F2A75M-DS2. Aimed at the entry-level market, the new micro-ATX F2A75M-DS2 motherboard will bring all the necessery features without even making a dent in the budget

Based on the micro-ATX 174x226mm form-factor, the Gigabyte F2A75M-DS2 supports AMD socket FM2 APUs and features 4+1-phase VRM, two DDR3 DIMM slots with support for up to 64GB of DDR3-2133 memory, single PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot, PCI-Express 2.0 x1 and legacy PCI slot, DVI and D-Sub outputs, four SATA 6Gbps ports, four USB 3.0 ports (two via header) and a couple of USB 2.0 ports, 5.1-channel HD audio and Gigabit Ethernet

The Gigabyte F2A75M-DS2 has all the features that you would actually need to power up an office PC and with a price of around US $60 it will certainly find its buyers when it hits the market

Haswell-X Xeon EP seen in the wild

Being taken on tour

 

Tom's Hardware is reporting how Intel’s Haswell-X Xeon EP Processor has surfaced in Penang. The chip was seen during the company’s “Design in Asia” tour

The processor was the Socket 2011-3 Haswell EP or Xeon E5 v3 and features 14 cores, a 35 MB cache, twin 9.6 GT/s QPI channels, and support for quad channel DDR4-2133 memory. This means that the Intel’s Haswell Xeons have already reached at least the QS phase

The chip is still at least a year from commercial announcement, and the Ivy Bridge EP chips will only be arriving this summer. This means that selected customers may be receiving fully working ES versions by the end of the year

Sapphire's HD 7990 Atomic further detailed

12-layer PCB and 18-phase VRM

 

Sapphire's Radeon HD 7990 Atomic was unveiled at Computex, but now we have the first pictures of the actual PCB as well as the cooling solution. As seen earlier, the upcoming Sapphire HD 7990 Atomic will feature two 28nm Tahiti XT2 GPUs paired up with a total of 6GB of GDDR5 memory

The custom 12-layer PCB will feature an impressive 18-phase VRM that will draw power from three 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors and feature PLX PEX8747 PCI-Express gen 3.0 x48 bridge chip. Each Tahiti GPU will feature its own 6+2+1-phase power supply for Vcc, VDDCI and MVDD and it will feature two sets of BIOS of each GPU. The display output configuration includes six mini-DisplayPort outputs and it should be able to pair up with any Radeon HD 7900 series GPU for CrossfireX action

According to what can be seen from the leaked pictures, the cooler will feature a full-cover water block, 240mm radiator cooled by two 120mm 1200RPM fans and a reservoir+pump system

Unfortunately, there are still no details regarding the actual clocks, price or the launch date of the new Sapphire HD 7990 Atomic

Powercolor releases Devil HD 7870 graphics card

Triple-fan cooler and 1100MHz GPU clock

 

Powercolor has announced a new addition to its Devil series of Radeons, the Devil HD 7870. Designed to be in the same class as the previously released Devil 13, the new Devil HD 7870 features custom PCB and a decent factory-overclock

As a part of the Devil series, Powercolor decided to equip the new Devil HD 7870 with its own Platinum Power kit that features 9-phase VRM, Digital PWM and Super capacitors in order to provide increased overall stability and reliable power delivery to the GPU. Like the Devil 13, the Devil HD 7870 also features a triple-fan cooler paired up wtih four heatpipes and large aluminum heatsink and should, according to Powercolor, be 25 percent cooler and 18 percent quieter when compared to the reference card

The new Powercolor Devil HD 7870 ended up with 1100MHz GPU and 1250MHz (5.0GHz effective) memory clocks. It feature 2GB of GDDR5 memory paired up with a 256-bit memory interface. It features two DVI, HDMI and two mini-DisplayPort outputs

Unfortunately, the precise price or the actual availability date have not been announced

Cooler Master announces CM Storm Pitch in-ear headset

Gaming premium headset

 

Cooler Master has announced a new addition to its gaming CM Storm lineup, the CM Storm Pitch gaming in-ear headset. According to Cooler Master, the new CM Storm Pitch is the first gaming in-ear headset built from the ground up in order to serve the needs of gamers and provide percision, clarity and power

Designed with a premium aluminum housing, the CM Storm Pitch features high-quality sound drivers and comfortable ear tips that function as passive, noise cancelling "distraction blockers". Specification wise, the CM Storm Pitch features 10mm drivers with 10-20000Hz frequency response, 16 Ohm impedance and 3.5mm headphone jack (2x3.5mm adapter included) connected via 1.2m long cable

The CM Storm Pitch also features a 360° omni-directional microphone with 70-10000Hz frequency response, -42±3dB sensitivity and 58db or more signal to noise ratio. It a,lso comes with a super slim in-line control for play/pause or pick up/hang up commands when CM Storm Pitch is used with media players or smartphones

The CM Storm Pitch will be bundled with a premium pouch for storage and two extra size ear tips. The CM Storm Pitch will be available in Europe soon with an estimated end-user price of €29.95.

MSI announces Geforce GTX 770 Gaming 4GB graphics card

With red Twin Frozr IV cooler

 

MSI has announced a 4GB version of its Geforce GTX 770 Gaming graphics card that will hit retail/e-tail with a N770 TF 4GD5/OC model number

Pretty much same as the previously available 2GB GTX 770 Gaming, the new one features double the amount of memory, same non-reference PCB and MSI's Twin Frozr IV cooler with two 100mm fans and large heatsink. As it was the case with the previous one, the new GTX 770 Gaming 4GB also feature factory-overclocked settings set to work at 1137MHz GPU base and 1189MHz GPU Boost clocks while 4GB of GDDR5 memory paired up with a 256-bit memory interface ended up clocked at 7010MHz

Unfortunately, MSI did not announce any detail regarding the price or the actual availability date but you can expect it hit retail with a price of around US $450.

EVGA announces new 500B PSU

Best value power supply unit

 

EVGA has announced a new addition to its lineup of power supply units that aims at budget builders rather than enthusiasts. The EVGA 500B PSU provides 500W of continous power features a single +12V rail. It also supports the latest Intel 4th gen Core Haswell CPUs

The EVGA 500B features a 80 Plus Bronze certification with up to 85 percent efficiency under typical loads and comes equipped with all the usual protections including over power, under power, over voltage and short circuit protection. As noted, it provides 500W of power and feature a single +12V rail delivering 40Amps. It is cooled by what appears to be a 120mm fan with "quiet and intelligent" Auto Fan feature for silent operation

EVGA opted for highest quality Japanese brand capacitors and in case you are wondering, you get standard 24-pin ATX, 8-pin EPS12V, two 6+2-pin PCI-Express, six SATA, three Molex and one FDD connectors

It is backed by a rather unique three-year warranty and is currently available for pre-order at the EVGA web shop for €44,90 and US $49.99.

You can check out more here

Zotac updates ZBox Nano with Ivy Bridge CPUs

ZBox Nano getting Core i3, i5 and i7 CPUs

 

Zotac has decided to update its ZBox Nano lineup with 3rd generation Core Ivy Bridge CPUs in order to give them a bit more performance. The ZBox ID63, ID64 and ID65 series will feature Core i3, i5 and even Core i7 CPU

Although not the smallest mini-PC in Zotac's offer, a title that belongs to the ZBox Nano XS, the ZBox Nano series is still quite impressively small, measuring just 127x127x45mm. According to Carsten Berger, senior director at Zotac International, engineers have done a phenomenal job in combining the raw CPU power of Intel Core CPUs and Intel HD Graphics 4000 into the tiny ZBox Nano platform providing performance and customizability that is unmatched to any competition

The ID63, ID64 and the ZBox Nano ID65 will be available with Core i3-3227U, Core i5-3337U and Core i7-3537U CPUs, respectively. The top of the line Core i7-3537U is a dual-core chip clocked at 2.0GHz base and 3.1GHz Turbo clock. The Core i5-3337U found in the ID64 is also a dual-core part but clocked at lower 1.8GHz base and 2.7GHz Turbo clocks. The last but not the least is the dual-core Core i3-3227U inside the ZBox Nano ID63 clocked at 1.9GHz and without Intel's Turbo technology

The entire lineup will be bundled with nanoRAID storage adapter that features two mSATA slots and uses the internal 2.5-inch drive bay to deliver RAID 0 or RAID 1 setups. The rest of the specs that are the same on all three new ZBox Nano devices include single SO-DIMM slot for up to 8GB of DDR3 1600 memory, support for single 2.5-inch HDD or two mSATA devices via Zotac nanoRAID storage adapter, HDMI and DisplayPort outputs, one eSATA ports, Gigabit Ethernet, 7-in-1 card reader, on-board 802.11n WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0, two USB 2.0 and four USB 3.0 ports, combo mini-Optical SPDIF/analog ouotput, Intel's Clear Video HD, Quick Sync Video and InTru 3D technologies

As was the case with previous ZBox mini-PCs, these three will also be available as a barebone or equipped with 500GB HDD and 4GB of DDR3 memory, also known as the ZBox Nano PLUS versions

Unfortunately, the price or the actual availability dates have not been announced

Toshiba apparently working on 7-inch tablet

There’s gold in the low end

 

Toshiba is apparently working on a frugal 7-inch tablet, running Android 4.2.2.

The tablet, designated ToshibaAT7-A, was uncovered in a benchmark by Notebook Italia. It doesn’t sound very impressive, as it has a 1024x600 display and a 1.6GHz with Mali-400 graphics, so it has cheap and cheerful written all over it

Toshiba recently announced a new 10-inch Excite tablet, with a 2560x1600 screen and a Tegra 4 SoC under the bonnet, so it has the high end covered. However, Tosh didn’t dabble in cheap tablets until now

With HP, Asus and Acer rolling out unimpressive 7- to 8-inch tablets like there’s no tomorrow, Toshiba’s decision to join the party is hardly surprising. Cheap Android tablets are simply selling a lot better than their high-end counterparts

ZTE Geek U988S is the first Tegra 4 phone

Shipping to China Mobile only

 

Tegra 4 is going to have a rough time. It has been delayed for quite a few times now, but today it finally made its way to an actual product

It has launched inside of ZTE Geek U988S phone and it aims a Chinese market. This is a China Mobile version of the ZTE Geek phone where Nvidia is replacing Intel as a processor supplier of choice for this line of phones. The phone will have a Tegra 4 processor clocked at 1.8GHz, 100MHz short of its full potential, and it comes with 2GB of memory, a standard for 2013 top of the line phones. We don’t know about the storage but the phone comes with 5-inch screen that features 1920x1080 full HD resolution, 2-megapixel front facing camera and a 8-megapixel primary camera

This particular model works only on China Mobile’s TD-SCMA network while the rest of the planet will get another version of the ZTE Geek phone. There is no mention of LTE support but since China has none, this feature won't be coming to this phone.
The phone looks red and we are not sure about the build quality of it, but with the right pricing it might do just fine

You can get more details here

Snapdragon 800 based Sony Xperia Z Ultra announced

World’s largest HD phone

  

The Asian market loves oversized phones and this is why Samsung Note phablets did so well in the past. Sony finally decided that it wants a piece of that market and launched the Xperia Z Ultra. This is currently the biggest brand name phone to date, with a 6.4-inch display and 1080p resolution

 

It should work with any pencil or stylus and it runs Android 4.2. Saying it’s a full 1080p resolution phone and leaving it there is an understatement, as Sony marketing machine claims that this is a Triluminos display powered by X-Reality mobile engine for ultimate big screen entertainment experience

The phone is ultra slim, dust resistant and waterproof and comes with 16GB internal storage and micro SD support for additional storage. The 3000mAh battery sounds like a good idea and the phone comes with an 8-megapixel camera with HDR enabled Exmor RS sensor that should do just fine

This is an LTE phone, the first major one to launch with a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor clocked at 2.2GHz and Adreno 330 graphics. Until Tegra 4 phones appear the big Xperia will definitely be the fastest thing out there, and we still don’t know whether Tegra 4 will be fast enough to make it run for its money

However, looking at the wider picture Qualcomm wins due to HD voice and 4G LTE modem integrated on the Snapdragon 800 SoC and its brand new Krait 400 cores. The Xperia Z Ultra will globally launch in Q3 2013 with dates depending on the market. It looks the Samsung Galaxy Note 3 just got some serious competition and it was about time. You can get some additional details about Sony Xperia Z Ultra at the official website here

EVGA launches Geforce GTX 760 with ACX cooler

Couple of other EVGA GTX 760 cards

  

As most other Nvidia AIB partners, EVGA also launched a couple of new graphics cards based on the Nvidia Geforce GTX 760 design. To be precise, EVGA actually launched and announced a total of eight different cards, three with ACX cooler and five with the standard blower-style cooler

The ACX cooled lineup will include the Geforce GTX w/ ACX cooling, GTX 760 Superclocked w/ ACX cooling and the GTX 760 4GB FTW w/ ACX cooling that will launch at a later date. The blower style cooled cards include two standard GTX 760 cards with reference and EVGA blower coolers, GTX 760 4GB one as well as FTW and Superclocked graphics cards

While most of them are left at reference 980MHz base and 1033MHz Boost GPU clocks as well as 6008MHz for 2GB or 4GB of GDDR5 memory paired up with a 256-bit memory interface, the Superclocked and the FTW version feature a decent factory overclock. The Superclocked version works at 1072MHz base and 1137MHz Boost GPU clocks while memory was left at reference 6008MHz. The FTW version on the other hand will be available with 4GB of memory and works at 1085MHz base and 1150MHz Boost GPU clocks

You can check out the full lineup here

Nvidia cuts the Shield price to US $299

 

Preparing for the 27th of June launch

    

Nvidia has announced what it calls a "final touch" for its handheld, Android based and Tegra 4 powered Shield console. The new price gets the Shield at US $299 and the official shippind date is 27th of June

According to Nvidia, all the touchups done to the console recently were a result of a direct feedback from gamers so Shield's buttons have just the right amount of give, thumb sticks are just right and triggers have the perfect throw lenght. Nvidia also noted that a lot of gamers noted that exactly the US $299 price tag was just right and decided to lower it accordingly

Those that already pre-ordered the Shield should not worry as they will be charged the new lower price as soon as the product ships

The new US $299 price tag still sounds a bit steep but, on the other hand, it at least a bit more reasonable than the original US $349 one. This still leaves the Shield some $50 more expensive than Playstaion Vita but the games for Shield are much less expensive. Major stores including Newegg, Game stop and microcentar will have Shield in stock on the launch date June 27th

MSI launches new GE40 high-performance notebook

14-incher with Nvidia GTX 760M

  

MSI has launched the new GE40 gaming notebook that, according to MSI will offer the perfect combination of ultrabook portability and deadly gaming capability

Based on Intel's Haswell platform with HM87 chipset and the new Core i7-4702MQ quad-core CPU clocked at 2.9GHz and 3.2GHz Turbo, the GE40 sports Nvidia GTX 760M graphics based on the 28nm GK106 Kepler GPU with 768 CUDA cores paired up with 2GB of GDDR5 memory and 128-bit memory interface. The new MSI GE40 will certainly pack enough punch to handle most games with decent amounts of detail on its 14-inch non-reflective 1600x900 screen

The precise dimensions are 33.9x23.9x2.2cm (13.35"x9.42"x0.87") and the entire notebook weighs just under 2kg (4.4lbs). The rest of the specs include, 128GB mSATA SSD combined with 750GB 7200RPM HDD (750GB only SKU as well), 8GB of DDR3 1600MHz memory, Gigabit Ethernet, AW-NB114H Combo 802.11bgn WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0 for connectivity, SD card reader, headset AMP, two USB 3.0 and one USB 2.0 port, HDMI output, 720p webcam and 6-cell 90W battery

Currently available in two versions, with 128GB mSATA SSD + 750GB and without optical drive with a price set at US $1.399.99 as well as a version with 750GB HDD only and DVD super multi optical drive for US $1299.99. We are quite sure that more SKUs should follow but it surely sounds like a decent little gaming notebook

Corsair launches new Vengeance Pro DDR3 memory

Up to 64GB and up to 2933MHz

  

Corsair has launched a new line of high-performance DDR3 memory aimed at PC overclockers, enthusiasts, and system builders, the Vengeance Pro Series DDR3. To be available in capacities of up to 64GB and speeds of up to 2933MHz, the Vengeance Pro series will also feature a new aluminum heatsinks in four different color accents

The entire Vengeance Pro line will feature an eight-layer PCB and RAM ICs that are specially screened and picked for speed and overclocking headroom and will feature XMP 1.3 profiles. The new kits will use new "aggresively" styled, 44mm high aluminum heat spreaders in silver, red, blue or gold accents that should allow wide choice for enthusiasts, gamers and modders to pair it up with their favorite setup

As noted earlier, the new Vengeance Pro DDR3 series will be available as 8GB, 16GB, 32GB and 64GB (2x4, 4x4, 2x8, 4x8, 8x8) kits and at 1600MHz, 1866MHz, 2133MHz, 2400MHz, 2666MHz, 2800MHz, 2933MHz, depending on the SKU. Corsair also announced an optional Vengeance Pro Airflow fan that has a single 60mm fan that spins from 2500RPM to 3500RPM and features a replacable fan shroud cover in red, blue or silver to match the kits as well as the variable mounting brackets adjustable between socket formats

During Computex, Corsair also demonstrated the 3200MHz C11 Vengeance Pro Series 8GB memory kits that should be announced at a later date

Corsair's new Vengeance Pro series should be already available

You can check out the full lineup in a tablet below

EVGA and K|ngp|n breaks some records at Computex

3DMark Fire Strike record shattered

  

In order to promote its recently launched EVGA X79 Dark motherboard as well as the GTX Titan graphics card, EVGA has teamed up with Vince “k|ngp|n” Lucido at Computex 2013 and already managed to shatter some of the 3DMark FireStrike records

The system consisted of the EVGA X79 Dark motherboard paired up with Intel's Core i7-3930K clocked at 5.7GHz and G.Skill TridentX memory, four EVGA GeForce GTX TITAN graphics cards, and several EVGA SuperNOVA NEX1500 Classified power supplies. This setup was enough for Vince “k|ngp|n” Lucido to achieve 30,789 in 3DMark Fire Strike benchmark and 15,276 in the same benchmark with a single card. He also managed to get a new world record in Fire Strike Extreme scoring 19,491 overall score and 7,623 with a single card

We are quite sure that this is just a start and that we will hear more about this joint effort between EVGA and Vince

You can check out more details here

Point of View launches GTX 780 Ammo and Mag graphics cards

Meet the Trooper series

  

Just as we hinted back when the GTX 780 was officially launched, Point of View has lived up to its name and revealed its first in-house factory-overclocked Trooper series with GTX 780 Ammo and the GTX 780 Mag Edition

Backed by a veteran in GPU factory-overclocking industry and a chap that was behind some of the OCed graphics cards from EVGA and Gainward, Point of View can now brag with some quite impressively overclocked GPUs and decided that GTX 780 GPU is good enough to be a first one in the Trooper series. Both launched new graphics cards will use Nvidia's reference design with a GTX Titan blower fan but work at pretty higher GPU clocks

In case you missed it back when it was officially launched, the GTX 780 is based on the GK110 GPU, features 2304 CUDA cores and works at 876/900 base and Boost GPU clocks. It comes equipped with 3GB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 6009MHz and paired up with a 384-bit memory interface

The POV GTX 780 Ammo got overclocked to 902MHz base and 941MHz Boost GPU clocks, while the POV GTX 780 Mag Edition got even higher factory-overclock set at 941MHz base and 980MHz Boost GPU clocks. According to our info, these two graphics cards are just a start and judging from the box art, we might see even higher factory-overclock in future, most likely paired up with a custom cooling solution

The Trooper series graphics cards should appear in European retail/e-tail pretty soon

Razer announces the new Blade Pro gaming notebook

17-incher with Haswell and GTX 765M GPU

       

Razer has launched its newest version of the Blade gaming notebook, the 17-inch Blade Pro that will be based on Intel's 4th generation Core Haswell platform and paired up with Nvidia's latest Geforce GTX 765M GPU

Built around a 17.3-inch 1920x1080p LED backlit screen, the Blade Pro has 427x22.4x277mm dimensions and weighs 2.98kg. It is based on Intel's upcoming Haswell CPU that will be paired up with Nvidia's latest Geforce GTX 765M dedicated GPU with 2GB of GDDR5 memory complemented by Intel's HD4600 graphics. The rest of the specs include 8GB (2x4GB) of DDR3L-1600 memory, 128GB SSD with optional 256/512GB SSD (mSATA), Qualcomm's Killer NIC N1202 with 802.11abgn WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0, stereo 2.0 speakers, front facing 2-megapixel webcam with array microphones and three USB 3.0 ports

As expected, the new Razer Pro features Razer's Anti-Ghosting keyboard with adjustable backlight, Razer Switchblade user interface instead of the numpad and Razer Synapse 2.0. It comes with a built-in 74Whr battery that should keep it running for at least a couple of hours

According to Razer, the new Blade Pro will be available for pre-order as of June 3rd in the US and Canada with a starting price of US $2,299.

You can check it out here

Kingston announces SSDNow KC300 SSD

With Sandforce SF-2281 controller

  

Kingston has announced a new addition to the SSDNow family of solid state drives, the KC300. To be available in capacities of up to 480GB and both as a stand-alone drive or as an upgrade bundle kit, the KC300 features LSI Sandforce second-generation SF-2281 controller, advance power management and decent performance

Packed in a 2.5-inch 7mm-thick form factor with SATA 6Gbps interface, the new KC300 line of SSDs will be replacing the V+200 and the KC100 line of drives in Kingston's bussines SSD family. It features enterprise-grade SMART, Data Integrity Protection with DuraWrite technology as well as RAISE support that reduces the number of uncorrectable errors in the drive

The new KC300 line of SSDs will be available in 60, 120, 180, 240 and 480GB capacities with sequential read and write performance of up to 525MB/s and 500MB/s and PCMark Vantage HDD suite score of up to 57,000. The maximum random 4k read/write performance is at up to 84k/64k IOPS for the 60, 120 and 180GB models, up to 84k/52k IOPS for the 240GB one and up to 73k/32k IOPS for the 480GB model

The entire line features a three-year warranty and MTBF of 1 million hours. As noted earlier, all capacity options will be available as a stand-alone SSD or as an upgrade bundle kit that includes 2.5-inch USB enclosure, 3.5-inch bracket, HDD cloning software and 7 to 9.5mm adapter

Unfortunately, Kingston did not shed any light on the actual price or the availability date for the new KC300 SSD series

18 million copies is what GTA V will sell in first year

Not a surprise, since GTA 4 has sold 25 million copies

Analysts at the Cowen Group expect Grand Theft Auto V to sell 18 million copies within the first 12 months of release. The number is a staggering amount of copies; but when put into perspective, GTA 4 has sold over 25 million copies, so the number maybe isn’t really that much of a surprise

Word from Take-Two has indicated that pre-orders for GTA V are doing well and that, of course, is a good sign. The sales estimates from the Cowen Group should make Take-Two pretty happy when you combine this with the news of the pre-orders doing so well

AMD launches Jaguar-based Opteron APU/CPU

Opteron X2150 APU and X1150 CPU

  

AMD has announced a new line of low-power processors that are aimed for use in the Network Attached Storage and microserver scenarios, the Opteron X-Series. Previously detailed under the Kyoto codename, the new Opteron X-series features X2150 quad-core APU and the X1150 quad-core CPU, both promising much better performance and feature list set when compared to Intel's Atom offering

According to AMD, the new Opteron X-series line will offer quite a hefty performance gain over Intel's Atom S-line CPUs, including twice the amount of cores and L2 cache as well as higher integration and support for up to 32GB of DRAM

The new AMD Opteron X2150 is the first server APU SoC that feature both the CPU and GPU engines combined with a high-speed bus on a single die. The quad-core Jaguar-based CPU part is clocked at up to 1.9GHz and paired up with AMD Radeon HD 8000 GPU with 128 stream processors and clocked between 266 and 600MHz. The TDP for the X2150 is set at between 11 and 22W depending on the actual clock of the CPU and GPU

The AMD Opteron X1150 does not feature a GPU part but also has four Jaguar 64-bit x86 cores that can be clocked at up to 2.0GHz. The TDP range for the X1150 is set at 9 to 17W depending on the clock

The entire Opteron X-series lineup features integrated SATA ports, USB 2.0 and 3.0 ports, Displayport, VGA and HDMI outputs, PCIe Gen2 8-lane interface, 2MB of L2 cache and support for up to 32GB of DDR3-1600 memory. Both new Opteron X-series chips come in a 24.5x24.5mm FT3 BGA package

The price of the AMD Opteron X2150 is set at US $99 for the 1KU batch while the X1150 is priced at US $64. AMD's new Opteron X-series lineup certainly sounds good on paper and currently offers much more than Intel can with its current generation Atom CPUs but Intel's new generation is just around the corner. AMD also noted that HP is already eyeing the new Opteron X-series for its future HP Moonshot servers

GTX 770 listed, priced in Poland

GTX 680 on steroids

A bunch of Polish retailers has listed Nvidia’s upcoming GTX 770, with a rather obscene price tag. The Asus card, product number GTX770-DC2O-2GD5, is currently priced at roughly €533 and up. We expected it to end up quite a bit cheaper, closer to the €400 mark, so the price is probably off

The listing points to a heavily overlocked version of the GTX 680, based on a GK104-425 chip. It appears to be clocked at 1046MHz, or 1085MHz with GPU Boost. The memory is clocked at 1750MHz and it features 2GB of GDDR5. The shader count is 1536, there are 128 TMUs on board, along with 32 ROPs

The max power consumption stands at 230W and it relies on a combination of 8-pin and 6-pin PCIe power connectors for juice

You can check out the listings here

EVGA announces new GTX 780 Hydro Copper series

EVGA GTX 780 Classified Hydro Copper coming soon

  
EVGA has now officially announced its new Geforce GTX 780 Hydro Copper series that will feature two models, a standard water cooled GTX 780 Hydro Copper and the special edition GTX 780 Classified Hydro Copper

For now, EVGA has only detailed the standard GTX 780 Hydro Copper while precise specifications for the Classified Edition are still a mystery. The standard GTX 780 Hydro Copper still features 2304 CUDA cores and 3GB of GDDR5 memory but also got a hefty factory-overclock so it works at 980MHz base and 1033MHz Boost clocks. The 3GB of GDDR5 memory are still clocked at 6008MHz and paired up with a 384-bit memory interface

Both cards feature the full cover water block with swappable inlet/outlet design, chrome-plated C110 copper material and 0.25x0.35mm thin-pin matrix that helps transfer heat from the GPU to the liquid coolant. It also features a glowing EVGA logo that can be tuned via software and comes bundled with custom compression 3/8" and 1/2" fittings

The Classified Edition is coming soon and only thing that we can see from the picture provided by EVGA is that it will probably feature a custom PCB and will need 8+8-pin PCI-Express power connectors which suggest that we'll see a hefty factory-overclock on that one

Unfortunately, neither one of those Hydro Copper graphics cards are currently available but the standard one is listed at US $799.99. The price might sound a bit steep but we are quite sure that Swiftec-made Hydro Copper water block will do a much better job in keeping those temps at bay, especially when paired up with a high-end water cooling setup