Graphics enabled CPUs coming to every second PC

IGPs and low-end discrete dying out

 

Nearly half of PCs shipped in 2011 will feature CPUs with integrated graphics, either in AMD or Intel flavors

Analysts believe integrated on-chip graphics will be used in 115 million notebooks and 63 million desktops by the end of the year. HIS iSuppli believes about 45 percent of all PCs shipped this year will feature such CPUs and their share will continue to rise in the future

The trend kicked off with Intel’s last generation CPUs and it is continued with Sandy Bridge cores, as well as AMD’s promising Fusion parts. With ever growing performance, the need for discrete graphics is slowly diminishing in many market segments and sticking a graphics core onto the CPU die saves money and space

Analysts believe that graphics-enabled processors will be used in 83 percent of notebooks and 76 percent of all desktops shipped by 2014.

More here

Japan earthquake will not stop Chipmakers

Intel and Qualcomm will be fine

 

Intel has told the world that it will not be effected by last week’s earthquake in Japan. Intel's Chuck Mulloy told Bloomberg that Intel had a policy of not having something sourced to one area

Rivals said that it had a similar policy so it was able mitigate disruptions in its supply chain. In a statement it said that it did not foresee any significant impact in our ability to supply product to our customers due to the events in Japan

Both are the market leaders. Intel microprocessors run more than 80 percent of the world’s personal computers and Qualcomm dominates the market for chips in mobile phones

The statements were released after soothsayers at Barclays and UBS speculated that shutdowns at Mitsubishi Gas would deprive some chipmakers of a chemical resin used to package their products, causing supply disruptions

Asus takes GTX 550 Ti to 1015MHz

With GTX 550 Ti Ultimate

 

In addition to the GTX 550 Ti DirectCU and TOP Edition working at 975MHz, Asus has also announced the GTX 550 Ti Ultimate Edition clocked at 1015MHz for the GPU

It looks like Asus decided that GTX 550 Ti is quite stable over the 1GHz mark, and even memory got overclocked to 4200MHz. The TOP Edition works at 975MHz while the DirectCU one ended up overclocked to 910MHz. Both version swill have memory clocked at 4104MHz. It looks like GTX 550Ti is quite an overclocker, and it will be interesting to see how far can it actually go

Most partners are sticking to 1000MHz for their overclocked editions, and it was simply a matter of time before someone actually got over it. All three cards use GF116 GPU with 192 CUDA cores and pack 1GB of GDDR5 memory paired up with a 192-bit memory interface

According to Asus, the new GTX 550 Ti Ultimate should be available as of next month with a price tag set at €168.

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Nvidia makes its 3D Vision cheaper

Drops it to US $149.

 

Nvidia decided to drop the price of its 3D Vision kit bundle that now goes for US $149. The bundle includes the USB IR emitter, pair of wireless active shutter 3D glasses and the required 3D software

Two years have passed since Nvidia introduced its 3D Vision kit. The cool and interesting gadget was selling for US $199 back when it was announced. However, overall cost of the 3D Display coupled with less than desirable availability made it an enthusiast piece of gaming gear

The new price of 3D Vision kit makes it a bit more affordable and the new glasses have been updated so you will be looking at a 50 percent longer battery life. Nvidia also slashed the price of the glasses as well so you can snatch them at up for US $119.

Of course, in order for it to work, you still need a 3D display and a system, or to be precise, a graphics card that supports 3D Vision. Thankfully, 3D displays are not as rare as they were two years ago, so this time around you just might have a chance

Apple delays launch of iPad 2 in Japan

Every cloud... .

 

It seems that Apple has decided that it is probably not a good idea to try and launch a new product in Japan at the moment. Apple loves to generate a bit of hysteria for its product launches but has decided that it is probably not a good idea to try that in earthquake ravaged Japan

There is nothing like a tragic disaster to focus people on what really is important. The iPad is completely pointless in any environment and any outfit that tries to get people to focus on buying one in such a climate will look incredibly daft

"We are delaying the launch of the iPad 2 in Japan while the country and our teams focus on recovering from the recent disaster. Our hearts go out to the people of Japan, including our employees and their families, who have been impacted by this terrible tragedy," Apple was quoted as saying

Sales of the iPad 2 were slated to begin there on March 25, along with 25 other countries around the globe

Prey 2 will not use id Tech 5 engine

Was never considered an option

 

Bethesda confirmed yesterday that Prey 2 is in development and will be the long-awaited sequel to the 2006 release. Bethesda acquired the rights to the franchise in 2009.

The game is being developed by Human Head Studios in Wisconsin, which is primarily made up of former employees of Raven Software. The game has apparently been in development for some time

With the announcement, many have been wondering if Prey 2 would be using the id Tech 5 engine, and it is now confirmed that it will not be using the id Tech 5 engine, as it is still in development. In fact, the Tech 5 engine was apparently not even considered as an option for Prey 2.

It is expected that when Prey 2 is released that it will be released for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC. No official release date has been set yet for its arrival

GameStop to offer 500GB PS3

Refurbished exclusive offering

 

GameStop will be offering a 500GB refurbished PlayStation 3 Supercharged package. The effort is a new unique way to move PlayStation 3 inventory by making it more attractive than buying a new one. Refurbisher Recharged is handling packaging of this refurbished offering for GameStop

The Supercharged package includes a Western Digital Scorpio 500GB Blue hard drive bundled with the PlayStation 3 slim, as well as a special Supercharged console skin, media hub, remote, HDMI cable, charging stand, and a one-year warranty

The console will come with the 500GB hard drive already installed, formatted for PS3, and include all of the latest updates for the PlayStation 3. The price is $399 for the package and you can purchase it from GameStop both in store and online

The idea is actually a good one and provides a good value when compared to other used PS3 options, and even compares well when you look at it versus a new PlayStation 3. You have to give GameStop credit for coming up with an innovative way to move some of their used PlayStation 3 inventory and we suspect that it will be quite popular with buyers

Sapphire HD 6990 4GB

Preview: Red camp strikes back

AMD has every reason to be happy today - the company launched its Radeon HD 6990 and it earned the title of the world’s fastest card. The card uses two Cayman XT GPUs and will churn out some seriously impressive performance

Naturally, two chips on one card mean more heat and power as well, but this card is not for the faint of heart to begin with. Sapphire kindly provided us with its HD 6990 and we’ll briefly take a look just what the card offers

Sapphire HD 6990 4GB GDDR5 PCI-E DVI-I/QUAD Mini DP is a 30 cm long graphics card. Thanks to the 2GB memory buffer per GPU, gaming on 6 monitors should be a breeze

As you already probably know, Radeon HD 6990 is the largest of the HD 6000 series, comparable perhaps only to the HD 5970. Our today’s sample is based on reference design but it comes with Sapphire’s sticker symbolizing twin GPU engine underneath

Sapphire HD 6990 comes with a dual-link DVI out and four mini-DisplayPort (version 1.2) outs

Sapphire threw in a few dongles in case you require an HDMI or DVI connectors. Among them is the active single-link mini-DP-to-DVI adapter which can come in handy for connecting the third DVI display

All the cards that launched today run at 830MHz for the GPU and come with 4GB of GDDR5 memory (2GB for each GPU) clocked at 5000MHz and paired up with a 2x256-bit memory interface

Just like on the rest of the HD 6900 series cards, there is a BIOS switch that takes the card up to 880MHz for the GPU

Temperatures and Noise

The central fan takes case of cooling where temperatures don’t exceed 87°C. Although the card is audible, it’s nowhere near unbearably loud. However, you’ll hear the airflow well




Power Consumption

The card consumes around 37W in idle mode, which isn't half bad considering that a single HD 6870 consumes 22W
On the other hand, HD 6990 consumes around 335W and if you intend to overclock it, you should know that it can draw up to 370W. This means that it will draw about 125W more than HD 6970, via two 8-pin connectors

However, all those watts aren't in vain and the card already boasts the title of the fastest graphics cards around


Aliens vs Predator

Metro 2033

3DMark Vantage

Zotac shows its Brazos ZBox nettop

Cebit 2011: The ZBox AD02 with E-350 APU

 

During Cebit we had a chance to check out Zotac's latest addition to the ZBox line of nettops, the ZBox AD02 and Zbox AD02 Plus

Both systems are equipped with AMD's 1.6GHz E-350 APU with Radeon HD 6310 integrated graphics, have integrated 802.11bgn WiFi, two USB 3.0 ports, eSATA port, Gigabit Ethernet, card reader and D-Sub, DVI and HDMI outputs. The difference between the ZBox AD02 and the ZBox AD02 Plus is the fact that the second one comes equipped with 2GB of DDR3 memory and a 250GB drive

We had a chance to actually see one running and we must say that these things don't get hot and aren't noisy despite the fact that Zotac told us that they've been running the entire time

Patriot shows its Supersonic Magnum USB flash drive

Cebit 2011: USB 3.0, eight-channel and 200MB/s

 

We really had no doubt that Patriot will have something to show at Cebit, and Supersonic Magnum flash drive is really something that you can brag about. Coming in 64 and 128GB capacities, this "little" piece of flash drive heaven scores up to 200MB/s for maximum read speed

Of course, Patriot paired its new Supersonic Magnum with USB 3.0 interface and eight-channel technology which allows it to reach speeds up to 200MB/s for read and 110MB/s for write. The drive is packed in a rather slim black case with blue details but the real excitment are its insides

The new Supersonic Magnum will most probably end up to be a bit on the expensive side, as it is the case with all premium products, but we'll know for sure as it should be ready in time for Computex show, end of May/early June

Cooler Master shows its new coolers

Cebit 2011: The Hyper 412S, 612S, Project V-A2 and the new GeminII S524

 

It just wouldn't be Cooler Master Cebit show if there weren't any new and quality air coolers on the stand. It has been quite a while since we've seen something new from Cooler Master and it looks like it was every bit worth the wait

First in line is the Hyper 412S, a 98x131x161mm cooler with aluminium heatsink and four copper heatpipes. It features a single 120mm fan with DynaLoop bearing that spinns at 1600, 1200 or 1000 RPM depending on the choice. It will support Intel's socket LGA 1366, 1156, 1155 and 775 as well as AMD AM3, AM2+ and AM2 sockets



The second addition to the Hyper lineup is a bit more serious and as its Hyper 612S name suggests it features a much larger aluminium heatsink and a total of six copper heatpipes. Another addition is a smaller heatsink located just on top of the contact block. This one has 140x127x163mm dimensions and comes with a single XtraFlo 120mm fan with DynaLoop bearing. Bear in mind that this one also supports additional fan for some intake/exhaust fun





We all remember Cooler Master's GeminII series and this time CM showcased its newest GeminII S524. The CM GeminII series was always designed so it should cool other motherboard components, in addition to the CPU, of course. The new GeminII S524 is not different as it cools the motherboard VRM as well. The 144x145x105mm dimensions are large enough for it to lean over the VRM heatsink and give it additional cooling from its top placed 120mm XtraFlo fan. The heatsink is connected to a copper base via five copper heatpipes



The last of the coolers is the Project V-A2, as CM calls it for now. It is a pretty neat 120x120x59mm low-profile cooler equipped with a 15mm thick 120mm PWM controlled fan and four copper heatpipes

Cooler Master working on new water cooler

Cebit 2011: The Project A-L2

 

It's been a while since we've seen a water cooler from Cooler Master but judging from the A-L2 prototype unit showcased at Cebit, this will change pretty soon

The Project A-L2 as Cooler Master calls it for now will be a sealed, ready to use, water cooling system for CPU. Although it is similar to the water cooling systems from CoolIT and Asetek, Cooler Master is proud to say that this one is all theirs

The A-L2 features a large radiator cooled by a single fan and a pump/block system. Most of those similar water cooling systems have a rather noisy pump, but Cooler Master's engineer behind this project told us that this one will end up to be pretty silent compared to others on the market. One other noticeable thing is the special block that should improve the transfer of the heat and thus make this water cooling system pretty unique

The A-L2 should appear in reatil sometimes in May with a price set at below US $100.

Asus shows ROG Rampage III Black Edition motherboard

Cebit 2011: Intel's X58 to the max

Apart from the Z68 based motherboard and its, now quite famous Sabertooth motherboard, Asus also showcased the Republic of Gamers Rampage III Black Edition motherboard based on Intel's X58 chipset

In addition to the "almost all black" colour scheme, the X58/ICH10R based ROG Rampage III Black Edition motherboard features four PCI-Express x16 slots for some 3-way SLI or quad-CrossfireX action, six DDR3 slots with support for 48GB of DDR3 memory set (overclocked to) at 2200MHz, four USB 3.0 ports (two at front) and eleven USB 2.0 ports (one reserved for ROG Connect), eight SATA ports two of them SATA 6Gbps, and a dedicated Asus Thunderbolt add-on card

The Thunderbolt is actualy the Asus Xonar sound processor paired up with a, quite well known, Bigfoot Networks Killer NIC dedicated network processor, something that gamers and enthusiasts will surely appreciate. Other features include on-board buttons for power, reset, clear CMOS and on-board overclocking switches as well as the voltage measure points

Unfortunately the price or the shipping date haven't been disclosed but we will surely get those pretty soon, so stay tuned

Crysis 2 benched by Nvidia

Geforce 8800GT enough for medium settings

 

Since Nvidia is one of the main companies behind Crytek and its Crysis 2 game, they had a chance to get it early and test some of its own graphics cards on various settings and resolutions. It looks like optimisation done by Crytek has paid off so you'll be able to play it quite nicely at 1680x1050 and medium settings while running the, now quite old, Geforce 8800GT graphics card

Nvidia ran the benchmark with 8800GT, GTX 260, 460, 560 Ti, 570 and the 580 paired up with Core i7-960, 6GB of DDR3 memory and Windows 7-64-bit OS. The 8800GT was enough to score just above 30fps at 1680x1050 on medium (Advanced) settings

Hardcore settings are a different story and if you want to run the game at those settings and at 1920x1200 you'll need the GTX 460 at least. At the same time, the GTX 570 is the cheapest card that can run over 30fps at hardcore settings and at maximum 2560x1600. At 1680x1050 the GTX 260 is quite enough to get you over 30fps at hardcore settings

You can check out the full test lineup here

MSI's new tablets come in June

Cebit 2011: MSI Windpad 100A to start at €399

 

We managed to score more information on MSI's upcoming tablets and it looks like we will see the first ones in June 2011, or just in time for Computex 2011.

In case you missed them before, the new Windpad 100A will be running Android 3.0 Honeycomb backed by Nvidia dual-core Tegra 2 chip, while the Windpad 110W will be running Windows 7 Home Premium and AMD's C-50 dual-core APU with Radeon HD 6250 graphics. Both feature a 10.1-inch 1280x800 multi-touch touchscreen

The suggested price starts at €399 for the Windpad 100A while the Windpad 110W will start at €499. It looks like there will be a couple of SKUs depending on the storage space and 3G capability so these prices will get you the base product

AMD shows a lot of Fusion wins

Cebit 2011: Bunch of notebooks, netbooks and nettops

It looks like AMD partners really like the Brazos platform as we had a chance to see a bunch of those at Cebit and some of them really look pretty nice if you ask us. It was pretty hard to find a Fusion equipped product but according to AMD it should change pretty soon and availability will most certainly improve

Almost every important partner has showcased at least one product based on AMD's Fusion and some of those notebooks, netbooks and nettops really look nice. We already wrote about MSI's and Asus' netbooks and notebooks and even tablets, while AMD was keen to show a bunch of other Fusion wins from partners like Acer, Sony, Lenovo and others

Sony's VAIO Y-Series 11.6-incher with AMD's dual-core E-350 APU really looks nice and Acer's Aspire One 522 10-incher with C-50 APU ain't half bad either. Lenovo's 11.6-inch E-350 APU equipped IdeaPad S205 was also there next to the IdeaPad SG575, a 15.6-incher with E-350 APU. Acer also has a 15.6-incher with E-350 as well and it looks like Fusion will be in a wide range of sizes and formats











We also had a chance to see a couple of nettops including the Asus' EeeBox PC EB1021 with E-350, Tul/Powercolor Mini PC and Zotac's ZBOX Blu-ray AD03 equipped with E-350 APU and Blu-ray drive











Partners that we had a chance to talk to about Fusion are pretty confident about the product, as everyone wants a piece of that cake. Honestly, we can't say that we are surprised

MSI to roll out Fusion X-Slim

Cebit 2011: The X370 with E-350 APU

We had a chance to check out MSI's lastest addition to the thin and light X-Slim lineup, the Brazos equipped X370.

Featuring AMD's Brazos E-350 APU with AMD Radeon HD 6310 graphics, the new X370 will be able to pull up to 10hrs of battery life. It has a 13.4-inch 1366x768 HD LED screen and will be available in couple of SKUs version depending on the amount of memory and storage space. The one that we had a chance to check out was running with 2GB of memory and a 320GB HDD

The price wasn't mentioned but hopefully it will end up a bit cheaper than the previous X-Slim series

OCZ shows its Vertex 3 in action

CeBIT 2011: The new Sandforce controllers in full glory

Since it stopped memory production for the time being, OCZ has been focusing on SSD market even more and during Cebit we had a chance to see the new Vertex lineup in its full glorry running at 550MB/s read and 525MB/s write

OCZ has a full lineup of Vertex 3 drives including the Vertex 3 Pro and EX, 1.8-inch one, 3.5-inch one and of course the plain Vertex. It features the SATA 6Gbps interface, will be available in capacities ranging from 128GB (64GB for the EX) to 512GB and will be based on different Sandforce controllers depending on the model. The EX and the Pro one will both be running on Sandforce SF-2582 controller and as always the only difference will be in the type of chips used as the Pro will be available with MLC and eMLC while the EX will stick to SLC chips

The plain Vertex 3 will be using MLC chips combined with Sandforce SF-2281 controller. The entire lineup has the same 550MB/s and 525MB/s read and write speeds ad the 4K random write starts at 60K IOPS for the plain one, 70K IOPS for the Pro version and an impressive 80K IOPS for the EX model

The last two members of the Vertex 3 lineup are the 1.8-inch and the 3.5-inch Vertex 3 drives that will be pretty much the same as the plain 2.5-inch Vertex 3 except for the fact that the 1.8-inch one will be available in capacities ranging from 64 to 256GB while the 3.5-inch one will go up to 512GB

SSDs are getting pretty fast and we were told that the price shouldn't be too steep and we will surely keep an eye out for them

Bulldozer has chipset issues

Cebit 2011: To be fixed in time for launch

 

Bulldozer sample chips have been around for quite some time, but this time around AMD has decided not to show the new parts at Cebit 2011.

Our sources pinned the blan on the chipset, which apparently has some teething issues, but they should be resolved in time for launch. The official story at AMD's booth was that this year the company wanted to focus on Fusion more than anything else

We will get to that in another article, as they have demonstrated Llano vs. Core i7 quad-core, along with a lot of Brazos products. Bulldozer wafers have been shown months ago, sample chips do exist but chipset development apparently ran into some issues

There is no reason for panic, as the processor looks good, according to our sources

We saw Geforce GTX 590 in action

Cebit 2011: Dual-chip Nvidia is real

 

We had a chance to see Geforce GTX 590 at Cebit. It is real, it runs and it’s coming soon. It is quiet and packs enough power to run Crysis 2 in 3D at very nice frame rates

The card has two PCIe 2x8 power connectors and it is rather hot, something that doesn’t come as a surprise. The card looks slightly different than the EVGA card we saw at CES 2011, but the EVGA card had a custom cooler that will be different than the reference one

The launch has not been set, sources confirm, but there is a chance for a March, Q1 2011 launch. It looks like Nvidia wants to see Radeon HD 6990 performance and then decide on the final clocks and specs

Once this card launches, it will be time for us to start sniffing about possible Q4 2011 28nm part launch dates

MSI shows its Fusion tablet as well

CeBIT 2011: MSI WindPad 110W with AMD Brazos C-50

 

In addition to Android based tablets, MSI has showcased the Windpad 110W 10.1-inch tablet based on AMD's Brazos C-50 APU and running Windows 7 Home Premium with MSI's Wind touch interface

The tablet looks pretty good and we are sure that AMD's C-50 1GHz clocked APU with Radeon HD 6250 graphics will do a pretty good job. The specs and features should be in line with other tablets on the market and for now we know that it will use a 10.1-inch IPS panel and will feature an optical pad on the right side for easier mouse pointer control

MSI is planing to launch this one sometime in the middle of the year but the precise date or other details are still off the table



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Asus shows its Z68 based motherboard

CeBIT 2011: Showcased at Cebit

Asus and other motherboard manufacturers used Cebit to showcase their latest motherboards including some based on the Z68 chipset

According to what we have been told around the show, Z68 based motherboards should show up in the second quarter and should phase out the P67 based motherboards as you practically get the same thing with support for graphics, or to be precise, DVI and HDMI outputs on the motherboard I/O

There is not much to see as the motherboards based on this chipset look pretty much identical to the P67 motherboards except for the mentioned video outputs

MSI launches and shows its new HD 6950

CeBIT 2011: R6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition

 

MSI has officially launched and showed its newest Radeon HD 6950 card, the R6950 Twin Frozr III Power Edition. The new cooler will bring a new fan design and will use the previously seen SuperPipe technology

The card itself features 1408 stream processors, and clocks are set at 800MHz for the GPU and 5000MHz for memory. MSI will also roll out an OC version of the same card which should run at 850/5200MHz

The PCB features a 6+2-phase desing and will feature Military Class II components as well as support for "Triple Overvoltage", which means that you will be able to set voltages for GPU, memory and VDDCI. It also comes with a hardware switch on the back of the card that regulates the fan speed for either maximum cooling or lowest possible noise

As noted, the new cooler features a new "propeller blade" fan that should provide 20 percent more airflow while being 11 degrees cooler and 13.9dB quieter when compared to reference cooler. The fans are cooling a large heatsink that is connected to a copper base via five heatpipes  three 6mm and two SuperPipes 8mm

The card should launch pretty soon and might reach some shops this month

AMD HD 6990 up and running at Cebit

CeBIT 2011: Coming on March 8th

 

While Nvidia's dual-GPU card is nowhere to be seen on Cebit, AMD's dual-GPU HD 6990 is happily running at MSI's booth and is showcased behind close doors by other partners around the show

The partners' mouths are sealed when it comes to the details regarding the card but we did manage to get some details. As far as we know so far, it will be based on two Cayman GPUs with 1536 VLIW4 stream processors

The details regarding the clocks might change but for now the card works at 830MHz for the GPU and 1250MHz (5.0Gbps) for a total of 4GB of memory (2GB for each GPU) paired up with a 2x256-bit memory interface

The card has one DVI and four mini DisplayPort outputs, needs two 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors and should arrive on March 8th, as AMD actually rushed the official launch date a bit. Enjoy the pictures

Asus tablets showcased

CeBIT 2011: Transformer and Slider coming

 

We had a chance to play around with Asus' tablet lineup at Cebit and we must say that we were pretty impressed. Both the Slider and Transformer bring a new edge as the real keyboard is something that you might need on a tablet from time to time

The Slider, as the name suggests, has a slide-out keyboard and this 10.1-incher runs on Nvidia's Tegra 2 chip and will be ready with Google's Honeycomb OS. The 10.1-inch IPS capacitive touchscreen has 1280x800 resolution. The rest of the specs include either 512MB or 1GB of DDR2 memory, 16 or 32GB of storage space, GPS, 1.2M cam on the front and 5M one on the back, Bluetooth 2.1, 802.11bgn WiFi, optional 3G, G-sensor and all other bits of feature that you might need. It should run on 25Wh battery that is apparently enough for around eight hours





The Transformer is a neat piece of equipment and unlike the Slider, this one doesn't feature a slide out keyboard but comes with a keyboard dock that also doubles as an extended battery. The specs are pretty much the same except for the fact that this one will be available with 64GB of storage. Of course, the Mobile Docking as Asus calls it will be optional and might cost a bit more

Tablet market to hit $35 billion in 2012

Cannibalizing netbook, notebook markets

 

The tablet market is expected to grow to $35 billion by 2012 and analysts believe tablets will start to eat into the PC market share

JP Morgan believes the steep adoption rate, new operating systems and devices will continue to spur market growth in the short-term

"We expect tablets to have an increasingly negative impact on PC shipments," analyst Mark Moskowitz told Reuters. "More than 35 percent of tablets sold in 2012 will be cannibalistic, particularly as relates to netbooks and notebooks

Apple’s iPad will lead the charge, but new Android tablets will offer some stiff competition in coming months. Analysts forecast 2011 tablet shipments at 47.9 million units, while shipments in 2012 could come close to 80 million units

More here

Sandy Bridge ULV leader is i7 2657M

Q2 2011 at 1.6GHz + turbo

 

The new performance leader in the sub-17W Ultra Low Voltage market is naturally based on the new Sandy Bridge Core i7 mobile processor. It comes in Q2 2011 branded as Core i7 2657M

This new CPU is a dual-core and it has four thread support and a base frequency of 1.6 GHz. Of course, it supports Turbo overclocking but at this time we do not know what are the maximum possible clocks. We expect it to go over 2.5GHz

It does come with 4MB of cache and will sell for $317when it launches in Q2 2011. Note however that this price is valid only if you buy 1000 or more units

This CPU replaces Arrandale 32nm based Core i7 680UM CPU with the base clock of 1.46GHz, 4MB and Turbo

MSI rolls out yet another Wind netbook

The MSI Wind U160MX

 

Despite the fact that netbook market might be dead soon enough, MSI has released a new model in its Wind lineup, the MSI Wind U160MX. This 10.1-incher features Intel's N455 CPU paired up with Intel's GMA 3150 integrated graphics and a battery that should keep it running for up to 8.5 hours

The full spec list includes the Atom N455 running at 1.66GHz paired up with 1 or 2GB of DDR3-667 memory, a 10.1-inch WSVGA LED backlit screen, chicklet keyboard, 250/320GB of storage space, three USB 2.0 ports, card reader, 802.11bgn WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, 10/100 LAN, 0.3M webcam, 3-cell battery and Windows 7 Starter OS

Of course, MSI also included its own TDE (Turbo Drive Engine) and ECO Engine technologies, which either overclock the CPU when running intensive tasks or simply downclocks it to save power. The new Wind U160MX has 265 x 165 x 19.8~25.4mm dimensions and is pretty light, weighing in at just 1kg

The most important detail, the price, remains a mystery

Microsoft rolls out Windows 7 service pack 1

As was announced

 

As was promised, Microsoft officially rolled out the final release of Windows 7 for general public

The Windows 7 SP1 comes with all the previous security, performance and stability updates, as well as some improvements to features and services. Microsoft advises users to use the regular Windows update system, although manual download will probably be the faster way to go

Depending on your method of choice, you will need anywhere from 750MB to 7,400MB for installation. Naturally, any pre-release versions of SP1 will have to be uninstalled

You can find the SP1 here.

Pentium G6960 gets replaced by G850

Comes in Q2 2011

 

It looks like Intel has new plans to continue the Pentium brand. A Pentium based on the new Sandy Bridge core is just around the corner and it will carry the G850 moniker

You already saw the G840 dual core clocked at 2.8GHz with graphics at 850MHz and 3MB of memory but the new G850 is about 100MHz faster. The Pentium PG850 runs at 2.9 GHz and it packs two multithreaded cores as well as 850/1100MHz clocks for the graphics

It supports dual channel memory and fits in Sandy Bridge socket 1155 boards, affected by the SATA bug or not.  Pentium P850, G840 and G620 branded Pentium CPUs will continue troughout 2011.