Gigabyte GA-7PESH1: A Dual Processor Motherboard through a Scientist’s Eyes

Browsing through a manufacturer’s website can offer a startling view of the product line up.  Such was the case when I sprawled through Gigabyte’s range, only to find that they offer server line products, including dual processor motherboards.  These are typically sold in a B2B environment (to system builders and integrators) rather than to the public, but after a couple of emails they were happy to send over their GA-7PESH1 model and a couple of Xeon CPUs for testing.  Coming from a background where we used dual processor systems for some serious CPU Workstation throughput, it was interesting to see how the Sandy Bridge-E Xeons compared to consumer grade hardware for getting the job done

 

In my recent academic career as a computational chemist, we developed our own code to solve issues of diffusion and migration.  This started with implicit grid solvers – everyone in the research group (coming from chemistry backgrounds rather than computer science backgrounds), as part of their training, wrote their own grid and solver classes in C++ which would be the backbone of the results obtained in their doctorate degree.  Due to the idiosyncratic nature of coders and learning how to code, some of the students naturally wrote classes were easily multi-threaded at a high level, whereas some used a large amount of localized cache which made multithreading impractical.  Nevertheless, single threaded performance was a major part in being able to obtain the results of the simulations which could last from seconds to weeks.  As part of my role in the group, I introduced the chemists to OpenMP which sped up some of their simulations, but as a result caused the shift in writing this code towards the multithreaded.  I orchestrated the purchasing of dual processor (DP) Nehalem workstations from Dell (the preferred source of IT equipment for the academic institution (despite my openness to build in-house custom hardware) in order to speed up the newly multithreaded code (with ECC memory for safety), and then embarked on my own research which looked at off-the-shelf FEM solvers then explicit calculations to parallelize the code at a low level, which took me to GPUs, which resulted in nine first author research papers overall in those three years

In a lot of the simulations written during that period by the multiple researchers, one element was consistent – trying to use as much processor power as possible.  When one of us needed more horsepower for a larger number of simulations, we used each other’s machines to get the job done quicker.  Thus when it came to purchasing those DP machines, I explored the SR-2 route and the possibility of self-building the machines, but this was quickly shot down by the IT department who preferred pre-built machines with a warranty.  In the end we purchased three dual E5520 systems, to give each machine 8 cores / 16 threads of processing power, as well as some ECC memory (thankfully the nature of the simulations required no more than a few megabytes each), to fit into the budget.  When I left that position, these machines were still going strong, with one colleague using all three to correlate the theoretical predictions with experimental results

Since leaving that position and working for AnandTech, I still partake in exploring other avenues where my research could go into, albeit in my spare time without funding.  Thankfully moving to a single OCed Sandy Bridge-E processor let me keep the high level CPU code comparable to during the research group, even if I don’t have the ECC memory.  The GPU code is also faster, moving from a GTX480 during research to 580/680s now.  One of the benchmarks in my motherboard reviews is derived from one of my research papers – regular readers of our motherboard reviews will recognize the 3DPM benchmark from those reviews and in the review today, just to see how far computation has gone.  Being a chemist rather than a computer scientist, the code for this benchmark could be comparable to similar non-CompSci trained individuals – from a complexity point of view it is very basic, slightly optimized to perform faster calculations FMA but not the best it could be in terms of full blown SSE/SSE2/AVX extensions et al

With the vast number of possible uses for high performance systems, it would be impossible for me to cover them all.  Johan de Gelas, our server reviewer, lives and breathes this type of technology, and hence his benchmark suite deals more with virtualization, VMs and database accessing.  As my perspective is usually from performance and utility, the review of this motherboard will be based around my history and perspective.  As I mentioned previously, this product is primarily B2B (business to business) rather than B2C (business to consumer), however from a home build standpoint, it offers an alternative to the two main Sandy Bridge-E based Xeon home-build workstation products in the market – the ASUS Z9PE-D8 WS and the EVGA SR-X.  Hopefully we will get these other products in as comparison points for you

Visual Inspection

I knew server boards were large, but coming from the ATX and E-ATX standards, this thing is huge.  It measures 330mm x 305mm (13” x 12”) which correlates to the SSI EEB specification for server motherboards.  This is the size exact size of an official E-ATX motherboard (despite a small amount of loose definition), but to put the icing on the cake, the mounting holes for the motherboard are different to the normal ATX standards.  If we took a large case, like the Rosewill Blackhawk-Ultra, it supports ATX, SSI CEB, XL-ATX, E-ATX and HPTX, up to 13.6” x 15”, but not SSI EEB.  Thus drilling extra holes for standoffs may be required

Unlike the SR-X or Z9PE-D8 WS, the GA-7PESH1 supports two memory modules per channel for all channels on board.  In terms of specifications this means support for up to 128 GB UDIMM (i.e. regular DDR3), 128 GB UDIMM ECC, and 512 GB RDIMM ECC.  Due to the nature of the design, only 1066-1600 MHz is supported, but the GA-7PESH1 supports 1600 MHz when all slots are populated.  For our testing, Kingston has kindly supplied us with 8x4GB of their 1600 C11 ECC memory

As with the majority of server boards, stability and longevity is a top priority.  This means no overclocking, and Gigabyte can safely place a six phase power delivery on each CPU – it also helps that all SB-E Xeons are multiplier locked and there is no word of unlocked CPUs being released any time soon.  As we look at the board, standards dictate that the CPU on the right is designated as the first CPU.  Each CPU has access to a single fan header, and specifications for coolers are fairly loose in both the x and the y directions, limited only by memory population and the max z-height of the case or chassis the board is being placed into.  As with all dual CPU motherboards, each CPU needs its own Power Connector, and we find them at the top of the board behind the memory slots and at opposite ends.  The placement of these power connectors is actually quite far away for a normal motherboard, but it seems that the priority of the placement is at the edge of the board.  In between the two CPU power connectors is a standard 24-pin ATX power connector

One of the main differences I note coming from a consumer motherboard orientation is the sheer number of available connectors and headers on such a server motherboard.  For example, the SATA ports have to be enabled by moving the jumpers the other side of the chipset.  The chipset heatsink is small and basic – there is no need for a large heatsink as the general placement for such a board would be in a server environment where noise is not particularly an issue if there are plenty of Delta fans to help airflow

On the bottom right of the board we get a pair of SATA ports and three mini-SAS connections.  These are all perpendicular to the board, but are actually in the way of a second GPU being installed in a ‘normal’ motherboard way.  Users wishing to use the second PCIe x8 slot on board may look into PCIe risers to avoid this situation.  The heatsink on the right of this image covers up an LSI RAID chip, allowing the mSAS drives to be hardware RAIDed

As per normal operation on a C602 DP board, the PCIe slots are taken from the PEG of one CPU.  On some other boards, it is possible to interweave all the PCIe lanes from both CPUs, but it becomes difficult when organizing communication between the GPUs on different CPUs.  From top to bottom we get an x8 (@x4), x16, x8 (@x4), x16 (@x8), x4(@x1).  It seems odd to offer these longer slots at lower speed ratings, but all of the slots are Gen 3.0 capable except the x4(@x1).  The lanes may have been held back to maintain data coherency

To those unfamiliar with server boards, of note is the connector just to the right of center of the picture above.  This is the equivalent of the front panel connection on an ATX motherboard.  At almost double the width it has a lot more options, and where to put your cables is not printed on the PCB – like in the old days we get the manual out to see what is what

On the far left we have an ASPEED AST2300 chip, which has multiple functions.  On one hand it is an onboard 2D graphics chip which powers the VGA port via its ARM926EJ (ARM9) core at 400 MHz.  For the other, it as an advanced PCIe graphics and remote management processor, supporting dual NICs, two COM ports, monitoring functions and embedded memory.  Further round this section gives us a removable BIOS chip, a COM header, diagnostic headers for internal functions, and a USB 2.0 header

The rear IO is very bare compared to what we are normally used to.  From left to right is a serial port, the VGA port, two gigabit Ethernet NICs (Intel I350), four USB 2.0 ports, the KVM server management port, and an ID Switch button for unit identification.  There is no audio here, no power/reset buttons, and no two-digit debug LED 

AMD 28nm chips are still TSMC

GlobalFoundries couldn’t make it

Despite a major effort on the part of GlobalFoundries to ramp up its 28nm process and make it more stable and reliable, we are hearing that the company still faces issues

The issues will hopefully disappear in the future as the Fab 8 in Malta, New York State is doing some test wafers at 20nm and 14nm. However, we were surprised to learn from AMD and people close to the matter that the company is making both of its 28nm Temash and Kabini APUs at TSMC

They are both expected in Q2 2013, probably around Computex time, or early June 2013. GlobalFoundries is expected to design some 20nm and 14nm for AMD and let’s hope that both AMD and GlobalFoundries will have better luck with 20nm products

We met several AMD executives at CES and they told us that with 32nm Richland, 28nm Temash and Kabini, things should start to look better for the company. Basically it looks like 2013 will be a much better year for AMD, which is not a surprise as it could hardly do worse than it did in 2012 and this is the general feeling of many AMD executives as well as some major partners

Intel's 7W Y-Series is actually 13W TDP CPU

CES 2013: Talks about Scenario Design Point

 

During its CES keynote Intel talked a lot about its 10W Ivy Bridge Y-series chips and even said that they managed to surpass its goal and that we will see a 7-watt Y-Series CPU as well. Unfortunately, it looks like Intel's slide was a bit misleading and Intel was actually talking about Scenario Design Point rather than the Termal Design Point

To make things worse, out of the entire Y-Series, only a single SKU will be able to reach the targeted 10W TDP while others are still at 13W. The 7W number, according to Intel chaps, is actually the Scenario Design Point, or a way for Intel to give manufacturers that want to squeeze a 13W TDP CPU in a, for example, tablet that can deal only with 7W of TDP

Of course, this also means that the CPU will actually work at lower frequency in order to accommodate that TDP. As for example, the 1.5GHz Core i7-3689Y will actually work at 800MHz and "will be able" to Turbo up to 2.6GHz when it is able to stay cool enough. Of course, this does not mean that the CPU will be slower but at tight 7W, it will probably mostly work at 800MHz rather than its 1.5GHz default clock or the 2.6GHz Turbo

Of course, Intel says that we are looking at an "intellectual honesty" but intellectually and honestly it does look a lot like a misleading marketing gimmick. It is good that Intel can set the CPU to stay at 7W but then you can't say that it is the same CPU with a 13W TDP as it will certainly stay at lower frequencies in order to keep the TDP at hard set level

In any case, these are still impressive TDP values but now it looks like you will have to keep a closer eye on Intel's SDP when buying a future ultrathin or tablet

You can check out more over at TheVerge.com

Western Digital finally embraces hybrid drives

Up to 1TB, 24GB NAND in tow

 

Seagate launched its first Momentus XT hybrid drives almost two years ago and it was just a matter of time before the competition picked up the challenge and came up with similar products

It took a while, but Western Digital’s new hybrid drives seem to have been worth the wait. Dubbed WD Black SSHD, the new drives come in two flavours, as a regular 2.5-inch 7mm drive and an ultrathin 5mm unit for ultrathins and ultrabooks

The standard 7mm version offers up to 1TB of storage, along with 24GB of NAND, so it has quite a bit more solid-state storage than Seagate’s offerings. The 5mm unit has a single 500GB platter, but it features the same amount of flash cache

However, WD will also offer the new Black SSHD drives with 16GB to 24GB NAND cache, which should allow OEMs to shave off a few pennies from their BOM cost

Western Digital is still not saying when the drives will become available, but a senior company rep told CNET that they should appear this year and they will be very affordable

More here

PCs will see more innovation this year

Intel sees Ultrabooks as innovation

Chipzilla has been bending the ear of any one who will listen at CES claiming that not only is the PC alive and kicking, 2013 will see more innovation than there has been for 15 years

Navin Shenoy, Intel vice president and general manager said that the development of thin and lightweight ultrabooks and hybrid laptops with detachable screens that fold back and convert into tablets will be a major change for the industry. He told Computerworld that these designs are a far cry from the thick, heavy and fairly static laptop designs that the industry produced for years and will offer the world up to 13 hours of battery life

If you believe Shenoy, Intel became involved with the whole ultrabook thing to get innovation flowing in the PC industry. For years the world had put up with machines that were thicker than Gibbon’s Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire and less sexy than John Major’s racy biography 38.7 Shades of Grey. But Shenoy expected to see more innovation in the next 12 months than we had in the last 18 years

Intel has been showing off detachable hybrid prototype codenamed North Cape which designed to run Intel's upcoming fourth generation Core chip. The computer, has batteries in the base of the machine, as well as in the detachable tablet. It can run for 10 hours without a recharge. At that point, it can be reattached to the base and used either as a laptop or to recharge the tablet

But Intel has to face the fact that Ultrabook sales in 2012 were less than anyone expected. It seems that Intel has not given up hope especially for hybrid ultrabooks

ZTE unveils Grand S 5-inch 1080p smartphone

CES 2013: Claims world's thinnest full HD phone at 6.9mm

ZTE's Grand S has been rumored, pictured and talked about for quite some time and has now finally been officially unveiled during CES 2013 show in Las Vegas. Company also claims "world's thinnest full HD smartphone" title as the new Grand S is mere 6.9mm thick

Built around the 5-inch 1080p screen, the Grand S uses a 1.7GHz clocked quad-core Snapdragon S4 Pro chip paried up with 2GB of RAM, 16GB of intenal storage expandable by a microSD card slot, 13-megapixel rear and 2-megapixel front camera and Android 4.1 Jelly Bean OS

The new ZTE Grand S will certainly have no problem standing shoulder to shoulder with all the recently announced flagships but currently and according to ZTE's press release, it is only scheduled to appear in China sometimes during this quarter

Nvidia shows off Tegra 4 reference tablet

CES 2013: No longer behind the glass

There have not been any talk of a hands-on with Nvidia's new Tegra 4 reference tablet after the original keynote, since Nvidia decided to hold it back from the press and keep it under wraps. However, the company caved in and let some members of the press to have a quick hands-on

Although there was not much to see here since there have been other Tegra 4 tablets at the show, Engadget.com notes that the 11-inch tablet was impressively light. They even had a chance to try out the Riptide GP 2, designed for the Tegra chip. The prototype was running on Android 4.0.2 and was running circles around it

The reference tablet also featured micro-USB, HDMI and storage expansion ports/slots as well as some kind of a dock connector. Of course, it was no wonder that the device would perform well, but we guess that we will see a real showdown of mobile chipmakers at MWC 2013 in February

Lenovo's K900 5.5-inch smartphone shows up at CES 2013

CES 2013: Running on Intel Clover Trail+

 

Since Intel's first Medfield smartphone was Lenovo's K800, it is no surpirse to see that Lenovo is the company behind the first Clover Trail+ based smartphone

Although Lenovo did not officially state that we are looking at a Clover Trail+ smartphone, but rather says it is the forthcoming Intel Atom processor platform for smartphones, all specs behind it point to the new Intel Atom Z2580 clocked at 2GHz. During its keynote at CES 2013, Intel officially announced and talked about the new Clover Trail+ platform

The Lenovo K900 is built around a 5.5-inch IPS display with 1920x1080 resolution placed behind the Corning Gorilla Glass 2. In case you are wondering this adds up to 400ppi. The rest of the specs include 13-megapixel camera with Sony sensor. The new smartphone has a 6.9mm thick stainless steel and polycarbonate body and weighs 162g. The new Lenovo K900 smartphone runs on Android OS, although we are not sure which version of it

The entire package sounds pretty good but unfortunately the Lenovo K900 is aimed at Chinese market and should hit retail/e-tail shelves there in April. Of course, this does not mean that some other company will make a pass on that Intel Inside logo, but that will probably have to wait for the Mobile World Congress in February

CST-01 E Ink watch hits CES, Kickstarter

CES 2013: 0.8mm thick E Ink wristwatch

E Ink and watchmaker Central Standard Timing spiced up CES 2013 with a rather interesting prototype that went live on Kickstarter as well, a 0.8mm thick (or rather thin) bracelet style wristwatch

We must say that the CST-01, as CST decided to name it, does look pretty impressive as the entire thing is made by laminating thin, flexible components into a 0.5mm pocket etched in a of flexible stainless steel, just 0.8mm thin. The entire watch lacks any physical buttons or knobs as the entire setting is done on the included base/charging station

It is powered by Infinite Power Solutions' 4V 0.7mAh Thinergy "Micro-Energy Cell" solid-state battery that can be recharged 10,000 times and lasts over 15 years. It charges up in 10 minutes and expected lifetime between charges is around a month

CET also launched a campaign on the Kickstarter asking for US $200,000 and already scored almost half of it. Currently, US $99 pledges are already gone, but you can still score one in white or black color for US $129.

It is definitely one of the more interesting Kickstarter projects to show up in recent weeks

CST-01 E Ink watch hits CES, Kickstarter

CES 2013: 0.8mm thick E Ink wristwatch

E Ink and watchmaker Central Standard Timing spiced up CES 2013 with a rather interesting prototype that went live on Kickstarter as well, a 0.8mm thick (or rather thin) bracelet style wristwatch

We must say that the CST-01, as CST decided to name it, does look pretty impressive as the entire thing is made by laminating thin, flexible components into a 0.5mm pocket etched in a of flexible stainless steel, just 0.8mm thin. The entire watch lacks any physical buttons or knobs as the entire setting is done on the included base/charging station

It is powered by Infinite Power Solutions' 4V 0.7mAh Thinergy "Micro-Energy Cell" solid-state battery that can be recharged 10,000 times and lasts over 15 years. It charges up in 10 minutes and expected lifetime between charges is around a month

CET also launched a campaign on the Kickstarter asking for US $200,000 and already scored almost half of it. Currently, US $99 pledges are already gone, but you can still score one in white or black color for US $129.

It is definitely one of the more interesting Kickstarter projects to show up in recent weeks

Capsule Review: Thermaltake Level 10 M Gaming Mouse

Introducing the Thermaltake Level 10 M Gaming Mouse

Input peripherals can be an interesting subject to tackle in these tiny bite size reviews. It's difficult to quantify strict performance, an issue ameliorated somewhat by the fact that actual performance (dpi, etc.) can often take a distant backseat to user comfort and the software included. Comfort is a very subjective thing as well; a mouse that's enjoyable to use for one person may be incredibly uncomfortable or even downright painful for another. High performance gaming mice can complicate things, and mice like the Thermaltake Level 10 M even more so

Picking up with Thermaltake's successful Level 10 branding, the Level 10 M is advertised as being from the same BMW subsidiary that helped design their striking Level 10 enclosure. This mouse is genuinely packed to the brim with features, sporting configurable lighting, adjustable height and angle, four DPI settings that can be toggled on the fly, and seven configurable buttons

not including the four axis DPI adjustment switch

Thermaltake wants you to know this is a premium product, and it's clearly been very heavily engineered above and beyond the engineering you typically expect to see in gaming peripherals. With an MSRP of $99, it had better be the best

The Level 10 M features an aluminum base that folds up along the sides; the interior of the mouse is chiefly black matte plastic with a soft finish that's pleasant to the touch. On the left side of the surface, they've actually ventilated it to make sure your hand doesn't get clammy during long gaming sessions. The Razer mice I've used have always left my hand feeling exceptionally clammy, so this is a nice feature. And while the right mouse button is a bit thinner than the left, it bears mentioning that this design is essentially ambidextrous. Thermaltake includes two mouse buttons on both sides of the mouse; "A" and "B" are on the left side, and "C" and "D" are on the right. Only the DPI rocker is on the left side. While ambidextrous mouse designs aren't totally alien, southpaws will probably appreciate a gaming mouse that can cater to them

Part of that stems from how adjustable the mouse actually is. With the included screwdriver, the user can raise and lower the palm rest of the mouse, as well as rotating it left and right. Yet one adjustment curiously missing is user-configurable weight. There are, however, four DPI settings that can be toggled between on the fly: 800dpi, 1600dpi, 3200dpi, and 5000dpi. These are also configurable in software, as is pretty much everything else

The Level 10 M Software

Honestly, the software developed by peripheral vendors to support their hardware is generally a horror show. I very seldom use it (although my MechWarrior Online habit has forced my hand with my own Logitech G500), and the software has become even less relevant as more and more mice simply store their configurations in onboard memory. You can install the software once, configure the hardware, then uninstall the software and go about your life

It pains me to say it because I do like Thermaltake, but this software is really unpleasant to use. It works fine, but you can tell from the screen cap above that Thermaltake's engineers went for style first and usability a very distant second. Clicking "Air Through" or "3D Axis Movement" just opens video files with generic electric guitar music that describe the mouse itself. Yet the other "Key Assignment" buttons are blanked out until you click on the button you want to program on the mouse images. "T Key," by the way, means macro.

If you mess around with the software long enough, you can begin to figure out how to use it, but the learning curve need not be so steep. The "Normal" and "Battle" LED mode toggles are just silly and needlessly clutter both the mouse's functionality and the software's interface. What's bizarre is that none of the mouse buttons can be configured to handle media playback or switch between profiles. The former is mostly forgivable, but the latter is mystifying for a mouse that supports both configurable lighting and five different profiles. Most of the functionality you're looking for is here, though. You can individually set the DPI settings for the four levels, configure sensitivity on the X and Y axes individually, control scroll speed, click speed, and so on

The Thermaltake Level 10 M in Practice

When I mentioned in the introduction that mouse comfort is a tricky thing, I very much meant it. Back when I reviewed the Logitech G600 MMO gaming mouse, I pointed out that while the mouse was too big for my dainty little hands, it would undoubtedly find fans elsewhere. I was right, too; a good friend of mine absolutely adores it, and another friend elected to pick one up after trying it out. So it's painfully clear that comfort is a very subjective thing

With that said, I found the Level 10 M to be frankly unpleasant to use. Being able to adjust the height and rotation of the palm rest should alleviate some of the usability problems, but in practice I found myself having a couple of major issues with it

The first issue is where Thermaltake's engineers placed the actuation points under the primary mouse buttons. When I use any mouse, I tend to use not my fingertips but the joint to click the buttons. On the Logitech and Corsair mice I've tested, this hasn't been an issue. Yet the Level 10 M is the first mouse I've used where I've had a real problem consistently clicking due to how I grip the mouse. The bottoms of the mouse buttons are slightly raised, and they're hinged to depress at the middle and top of the buttons. I may be a completely bizarre user, but I found this very uncomfortable

The second issue is the placement of the side buttons. While the ones on the left side are easy enough to press with my thumb, the ones on the right side have too much resistance to reliably click them with my pinky. You have to push them in dead center for them to actuate; pushing them from any angle means they just stay in place. Southpaws will undoubtedly have the same problem if they switch the mouse orientation

And then you get into missing features. On-the-fly DPI switching is grand, but the "DPI shift" functionality of some of Logitech's gaming mice and both of Corsair's is desperately missed. My G500 doesn't have it and I live without because the thing was designed before the concept even existed, but it's here now, and its absence in a brand new premium product is notable. Any game involving some kind of zoom or sniper scope (ranged weapons in MechWarrior Online like the ER PPC or Gauss Rifle, sniper rifles in Far Cry 3) benefits from that functionality

Ultimately I just found the Level 10 M to be overengineered and awkward to grip. I use the Logitech G500 on my home machine and the Corsair M60 when I'm away, and they both fit me almost perfectly from the word go

Razer's Project Fiona comes to fruition

CES 2013: Meet the Razer Edge, 10.1-inch gaming tablet

Project Fiona was a big surprise when it showed up back at CES 2012 and it was pretty clear that Razer and its CEO Min-Liang Tan will not give up so easily on it. Just a year later, at CES 2013, Razer prepared a big announcement, officially launching the Edge, a 10.1-inch gaming tablet that is the final production ready evolution of the Project Fiona

Based around a 10.1-inch 1366x768 IPS display, the Razer Edge is powered either by a 1.7GHz (2.6GHz Turbo) clocked Core i5 or 1.9GHz (3.0GHz Turbo) clocked Core i7 CPU depending on the SKU. The Ivy Bridge CPUs and their Intel HD 4000 GPU are paired up with Nvidia's GT 640M LE GPU (most likely Kepler based) with Optimus GPU switching technology and everything happily runs on Windows 8 OS. It also comes with 4 or 8GB of DDR3-1600 memory and either 64, 128 or 256GB of SSD storage space depending on how much money do you want to shell out. The rest of the specs include 802.11bgn WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, front-facing 2MP web-cam, array microphones, one USB 3.0 port and audio jack

Razer had to make some, or precisely, a lot of changes to the original Project Fiona, so the original integrated controller handles have been redesigned to an optional gamepad dock, since most of the community wanted detachable controllers stating that original ones were just not practical. This was a good thing though as this gave Razer a chance to convert the Edge to a couple of different devices by launching other accessories including a keyboard dock with additional 40Wh battery and a docking station with HDMI output and additional USB ports

A few months ago, Razer asked its faithful community to to give them an estimated price expectation and managed to keep the Edge well below it since the number went between US $1300 to $1500. The base version of the Edge, with Core i5 CPU, 4GB of memory, 64GB SSD and no accessories will sell at US $999. The faster Core i7 version, known as the Edge Pro, also comes with 8GB of memory, 128GB SSD and will end up at US $1299.

The detachable controllers accessory will be sold separately for US $249, the keyboard will go for US $69 and docking station for US $99. Razer also plans to sell a Pro version bundled with detachable controllers at a bundled price of US $1499.

The good side of the story is that Razer Edge packs enough power to deal with some recent PC games and keep playable fps on its 1366x768 native resolution. Both models are available for pre-order right now and should be ready to ship this quarter

AMD shows off next gen APUs, SoCs

CES 2013: Temash, Kabini and Richland on track

Although AMD’s next generation APUs are not ready for prime time yet, the company managed to show off working silicon of its first proper SoC, codenamed Temash, and Kabini, at CES. AMD also shed more light on Richland, which is said to deliver a significant performance increase over previous A-series APUs

However, AMD stopped short of talking about exact specs, but at least the new chips were shows off in action, which is always good news as it indicates that everything is on schedule. AMD showed off ultrathin notebooks and tablets designed by Vizio and Asus, all powered by its next gen chips

However, there is still a lot we don’t know, although AMD made some quite promising claims. Richland should end up 20 to 40 percent faster than Trinity, which is pretty much in line with expectations. However, Kabini is looking even better, as it is expected to deliver a 50-percent performance boost over Brazos 2.0 parts. We told you Kabini is the chip to look out for in 2013 and if all goes well AMD could really have a winner on its hands, for the first time in years. Temash is said to deliver 100 percent more GPU performance over Hondo, so it should be more than capable of handling HD tablets

2013 will be an eventful year for AMD and we should see Kabini, Temash and Richland in the first half of the year. However, AMD plans to kick things up a notch in the second half of the year, as 28nm Kaveri parts come on line

Kingston announces world's largest flash drive

CES 2013: HyperX Predator goes 1TB

Kingston came to CES 2013 with something quite impressive in its pocket, the Kingston DataTraveler HyperX Predator 3.0 1TB USB 3.0 flash drive

Currently shipping as a 512GB model, the HyperX Predator peaks at 240MB/s for read and 160MB/s for write and measures at 88.53x26.94x21mm. It is, of course, backward compatible with USB 2.0 but do not expect anything above 30MB/s. The flash chips are safely packed in a zinc alloy metal casing and it comes bundled with HyperX valet keychain as an exclusive accessory

As always, good things come at a price, so the currently available 512GB model is selling at US $1750, while the 1TB is expected to show up later in Q1, and we do not even want to guess the price of that one

Barclays downgrades AMD

Better off betting on a horse

Barclays Capital have given the thumbs down to AMD claiming the company is an underweight.  It thinks that the outfit’s share price will fall to $2.00.

AMD current trades at $2.66 so this would mean a significant fall. The financial outfit has updated their ratings on a number of other technology stocks in the last week. Intel will fall from $22.00 a share to $20.00.   It did have a lot to say about Cavium Networks which it thinks will rise from $37.00 to $45.00.

Analysts in general have been moaning about AMD. Zacks reiterated a neutral rating in a research note to investors on Thursday, December 20th. They now have a $2.75 price target on the stock. Oppenheimer cut its EPS estimates on Friday. BMO Capital Markets tends to agree that a $2.00 price target on the stock is about right

No Crysis 3 for Wii U

No business driver for EA to do it

Wii U will not be getting Crysis 3, reports Crytek boss Cevat Yerli. While Yerli says that he would have liked to seen Crysis 3 make its way to the Wii U, the decision was out of his hands. Electronic Arts’ decision not to release Crysis 3 for the Wii U is apparently based on the fact that publisher EA feels no business drive to do so

The game was originally developer for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC, so the game would have to be ported to the Wii U platforms, as it was not designed from the start with the Wii U in mind; it would be a full blown conversion to the Wii U. While Yerli admits that Crytek can’t publish it themselves and if it is a business decision that does not make sense for EA, Nintendo and EA would have to come together to change that decision

Crytek has indicated previously that there was at least a possibility that Crysis 3 might make it to the Wii U, but at the time the company said it had no additional details. In the end, sources tell us that the lackluster sales of other EA titles on the Wii U platform have made the company a bit skeptical about the potential success of a title like Crysis 3 on the platform, especially after the company has seen the sales numbers for other Wii U titles that offer a more hard core theme

Nvidia Shield to be sold by Nvidia

CES 2013: No partners

 

Just as Nvidia was the only company selling 3D Vision glasses, it looks like it will be the only company selling its Shield console as well

We spoke with a few Nvidia partners and they said that Nvidia wants to sell the console itself. We learned that the general opinion is that giving the console to partners such as Asus, EVGA or Lenovo would make the partners fighting each other for their space under the sun, something that might potentially hurt the product

Nvidia will take care of the distribution and sales just as it did with 3D Vision glasses that can be purchased in usual retail and etail stores. The same thing should happen with the Shield console when it is ready to launch

From what we learned it might be a few months at least before we see the Shield console in retail

Asus announces new ROG Ares II graphics card

CES 2013: Two HD 7970 GHz Edition GPUs and water cooling

Asus decided that CES 2013 is a perfect time to launch a new graphics card in its Republic of Gamers line of products, the ROG Ares II. Based on two HD 7970 GHz Edition GPUs and paired up with a dual water+air cooling, the Ares II features an impressive design and will certainly justify the premium ROG moniker

Similar to the Ares I, which was based on two HD 5870 GPUs and the Nvidia equipped Mars (like the Mars II with two GTX 580 GPUs), the Ares II also features two factory overclocked HD 7970 GHz Edition GPUs for a total of 4096 stream processors (2048 per GPU). The new Ares II graphics card is pretty much what we have already seen from Powercolor and their Devil13 card, but with twist in the cooling department

The new Ares II ended up working at 1050MHz for the GPU and 6.6GHz for 6GB (3GB per GPU) of GDDR5 memory. It requires three 8-pin PCI-Express power connectors and with 75W from the PCI-Express slot the total maximum power ends up at 525W. Asus opted for a 20-phase VRM that deals with the GPU and memory

The cooling system on the new Ares II is something that we have not seen so far as it combines a closed-loop water cooling system with 120mm radiator and two push-pull fans with a standard 80mm air cooling on the card itself. Judging by the looks of it, the cooler on the graphics card will probably deal with the VRM and memory, while the water cooler will handle the GPUs

As it was the case with previous Asus ROG graphics cards, the Ares II will also be a limited edition product with a total of 1,000 cards. The price or the actual release date have not been announced but it will not be cheap, that is sure

You can check out more at Anandtech.com

Nvidia announces its own portable gaming console

CES 2013: Meet Project Shield

During its press conference at CES 2013 in Las Vegas, Nvidia managed to pull out a big surprise and announced its own portable gaming console based on the new Tegra 4 chip, the Nvidia Project Shield

The new Shield is pretty much a standard sized controller with a flip-up 5-inch 1280x720 294dpi Retina-class touchscreen with Nvidia DirectTouch tech. It features rechargeable batteries capable to keep up with up to 38 hours of gaming and up to 24 hours of HD video playback, great integrated audio system with custom bass reflex and integrated console-grade game controller. HDMI output, microUSB, microSDcard slot and a 3.5mm audio jack are also on board. It also features integrated 802.11n 2x2 MIMO game-speed Wi-Fi that provides high-bandwidth, ultra-fast wireless for seamless game streaming

It is, at least currently, based on Android Jelly Bean OS, or according to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, pure Android with no custom UI. Thank God for that

The backside of the screen part of the Shield features a customizable tag/shield and the entire console is pretty much the size of a standard controller

Jensen had it connected to the 4K LG TV and it is pretty much what you would expect from an Android based device. You can actually control the device with either the controller or the touch screen and it appears that Tegra 4 has enough power to push a 4K video via HDMI output, as eagerly demonstrated at the presentation. The Project Shield is, as expected, connected to the Nvidia Tegra Zone but it can also stream games from the PC as it connects to Steam and its Big Picture mode

The Shield is, according to Jensen, Android "the way it's meant to be played". Unfortunately, Nvidia did not shed any official light on the actual release date and did not even provide any hint regarding the price of the upcoming project Shield portable gaming console. Some sources as well as the rumors on the floor suggest that it could show up sometime in Q2.

You can check out a nice video of it after the break

Lenovo goes big with Horizon Table PC

CES 2013: 27-inch table/tablet/AIO

Lenovo can certainly be happy with its CES 2013 showing. The company easily gets the the biggest tablet award with the new Horizon Table PC that can be used as a touch screen table, folded to be used as a portable 27-inch tablet, or just used as an All-in-One PC

Despite its claimed portability we think that it is just silly to carry a 7.7kg heavy 27-incher around, but yeah we must agree that it is still a portable device. At 27mm (1.1-inch) it is pretty thin and has a built-in stand that allows it to stay in an upright position as well

With enough room behind the 27-inch 1080p touchscreen, the CPU choice ranges from Core i3 to Core i7 CPU. It can also be equipped with Nvidia Geforce GT 620M GPU and up to 1TB of storage space

Lenovo also added the Aura dual moon UI that is pretty much Lenovo's hub for games and media. Monopoly comes preloaded turning it into a 27-inch interactive board, although we would rather use it for a good game of chess with enough room to hold a cup of coffee

The 27-inches of touchscreen estate and decent specs come at a price so Lenovo's Horizon Table PC will start at US $1699 making it quite an expensive table. If only they made it spill proof, it might have ended up a bit more interesting

Tegra 4 is out, 4G LTE onboard

CES 2013: External LTE, first A15 quad

Nvidia has finally introduced Tegra 4, with 72 GPU cores and 4 CPU cores based on the A15 architecture. 4G LTE is supported externaly, it's not on board

Like Tegra 3, the Tegra 4 has a fifth companion core designed to improve battery life. Nvidia compared Nexus 10 with dual-core A15 cores versus Tegra 4 quad core A15 and Tegra 4 finishes the 27 second loading 25 unique web pages while Nexus 10 needed 50 seconds for the same task

Nvidia claims both tablets were loading web pages from an internal server hooked to a router, to provide the same fair conditions. Nvidia claims that Tegra 4 is faster than iPad 4's A6X processor in browsing and compared to the Kindle Fire HD TI OMAP 4470 Nvidia claims it is 3.5x faster

Nvidia details Icera i500 LTE chip

CES 2013: Programmable LTE chip 

Nvidia just showed the external LTE part of Tegra 4 and it calls it the i500 Soft Modem. This is the new LTE 4G programmable chip that is roughly 40 percent smaller than conventional LTE chips. It has 8 processors that can calculate 1.2 trillion operations per second and apparently, or according to Nvidia, does a pretty good job for a 4G modem

It is sampling now and it should be capable of supporting multiple bands due to its programmability

 

Nvidia introduces Geforce Experience

CES 2013: Optimization for games

Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang just introduced a new Geforce Experience an addition to the driver that will help you optimize your game settings for your graphics card. After seven years of toying with the idea that we need a better way to optimize the in-game settings, Nvidia is rolling out what will be known as Geforce Experience

Nvidia tested thousands of computer configurations and over the course of 7 years and a lot of engineering hours, and the whole idea of Geforce Experience is that once you plug a new graphics card, Nvidia can optimize the settings to use the best your card can offer

He showed the before and after settings in Call of Duty and you could see that with Geforce Experience on GTX 680, the game looked better. The Geforce Experience used higher resolution textures and overall game looked better

Hopefully it is coming out soon to driver near you

Archos goes Smart TV at CES

Gamepad keyboard controller in tow

 

We have to admit we have a soft spot for Archos. The plucky outfit has some pretty interesting and innovative Android tablets to offer and it tends to deliver Android updates before the big players

That’s why its TV Connect smart TV kit could make a big splash at CES. Archos claims TV Connect will be the only system to offer a proper multi-touch Android experience on your telly. Better yet, it ships with a odd looking controller, which looks like the lovechild of an old console controller and an HTPC keyboard

The QWERTY part of the controller also features Android shortcut keys, including shortcuts for voice control and voice typing. Pretty neat for couch potatoes who can’t be bothered with typing. Also, the analog thumb sticks should allow users to easily zoom in or out, rotate or swipe. The remote also features a classic 4-button gamepad, so it should come in quite handy in some games. It looks practical, but a bit cramped

Archos has not disclosed the full spec yet, but Connect TV will feature a 1.5GHz SoC, 1GB of RAM and 8GB of storage, backed with a memory card slot, microUSB port, USB host port, as well as Ethernet and WiFi. The OS of choice is Android 4.1 and the asking price is $129.

360 Minecraft breaks 5 million sold

Almost 500K on Christmas Day alone

It seems that no matter what you might have thought, Minecraft just continues to break records. The latest sales record that it has set is over five million copies sold. That’s right, the Xbox 360 version of Minecraft has sold five million copies as of December 31st, 2012 and the sales continue to grow

This includes the almost 500K copies that the game sold on Christmas day alone to Xbox 360 owners. While we have yet to put all of these numbers in context, it is by far the best selling Microsoft Xbox Live Arcade title release so far

Developer 4J Studios, who is responsible for the conversion of Minecraft to the Xbox 360 platform, is currently working on swatting some bugs in Update 7 as it works on getting Update 8 ready for release. Currently, 4J does not have a timetable on when Update 8 will be released, but we suspect that it will not be long

Intel's Core i7-3537U CPU detailed

In addition to the rest of the ULV lineup

We already wrote about Intel's plans to refresh its ultra low power lineup during this quarter. The currently available Core i3-3217U, Core i5-3317U, Core i5-3427U and the i7-3667U will get replaced with Core i3-3227U, i5-3337U, i5-3437U and the Core i7-3687U. In addition to these four, the Core i7-3537U has also briefly appeared as a new CPU on Intel's Korean/Taiwanese website

Although already removed, Google cache and CPU-World.com managed to get some details on the new Core i7-3537U. The refresh is brings a 100MHz clock bump when compared to previous models

The new Core i7-3537U comes in a BGA package, works at 3.1GHz and features 4MB of L3 cache. Some details leaked earlier by HP and Dell show that it will have a 2GHz base clock, and will feature HD 4000 graphics, support for DDR3-1600 memory and a 17W TDP. Although the rest of the features aren't detailed, the new Core i7-3537U should end up to be similar to the i7-3517U, so it will end up with two cores, hyper-threading support and most of Ivy Bridge technologies and extensions

It is still not clear whether the Core i7-3537U will show up with the rest of the refresh lineup

You can check out more here

Celeron M goes Ivy Bridge 22nm in 2013

Celeron 1037U and 1007U

 

Currently the fastest Celeron that you can get inside of a notebook is the Celeron 887, a Sandy Bridge based 32nm chip. It is a U-series part that sits between 15W and 25W and has two cores

The Celeron 887 is a dual-core with two threads and 1.5GHz clock, 350MHz graphics that can clock all the way to 1000MHz, has 2MB of cache, DDR3 1333 support and 17W TDP

Intel plans two Ivy Bridge 22nm Celerons to take its place in the lower end market segment called U Dual Core VC1. The one that replaces 887 is called Celeron 1007U and has the same 1.5GHz core clock, two threads, the same graphics, memory and cash size speeds

The difference is of course that Ivy Bridge 22nm core should bring some performance boost over the 887 at the same speed and it will generate less heat at the same clock

The new processor that will lead this U Dual core VC1 market is called Celeron 1037U and this dual-core with two threads now works at 1.8GHz speed, keeping the thermal envelope at the desirable 17W level. It comes with Intel HD graphics with the same 350 / 1000MHz clocks and it comes with DDR3 1333 support, 2MB cache and 17W TDP

With the Celeron 1000 series and Ivy Bridge 22nm dual-cores, Intel makes this market segment even stronger in 2013. Having a Celeron based on Ivy Bridge 22nm just two quarters after the new architecture was introduced looks good

Razer announces Sabertooth Elite gaming controller

Pushes Xbox 360 control a notch further

Razer has announced a new addition to its gaming controller lineup, the Razer Sabertooth. Following the success of its predecessor, the Razer Onza Tournament Edition, the new Sabertooth takes Xbox 360 controllers to a new level

The new Razer Sabertooth pretty much uses the same layout as the original Xbox 360 controller but adds six additional remappable buttons, two on each shoulder of the controller and two removable rocking switches at the bottom. The new Sabertooth comes with a built-in OLED screen which allows customization of the controller features as well a remap option for the multi-function buttons, analog stick's sensitivity and profile saving

Razer was also keen to point out that the design of the Sabertooth increases actuation speed, reduces fatigue and encourages natural hand posturing and, when it comes to tournament-grade gaming, it brings quality materials and stringent quality control checks to ensure domination in that part of the market

The cable is fully detachable and secured by screws. The new Sabertooth controller will ship with carrying case and is probably cream of the crop when it comes to Xbox 360 controller

The new Razer Sabertooth is already available at Razerzone.com, while the rest of the world should get it by the end of this month. The price is set at U.S. $79.99 / EU €79.99 and owners of the Razer Onza Tournament Edition gaming controller are eligible for a coupon discount when buying the new Razer Sabertooth

You can check out more here

Intel to roll out smaller 335-series SSDs

80GB and 180GB units inbound

 

Intel’s latest 335 series SSDs are about to get a bit cheaper. Intel launched the 335 with a 240GB unit earlier this year, but 80GB and 180GB versions are on the way

Both SSD’s are based on 20nm MLC NAND chips, but there is still no word on transfer speeds or IOPS. Still, Intel SSDs tend to be quite speedy and the 240GB version is rated at 500MB/s write and 450MB/s read, with 42000IOPS and 52000IOPS respectively

There is no word on the pricing, either

More here

LG takes orders for OLED TVs

Hopes to take the war to Samsung

LG has started taking orders for organic light-emitting diode (OLED) televisions, hoping to give rival Samsung a good kicking in the next-generation technology

LG and Samsung both showed off 55-inch OLED TVs a year ago. They are expected to be five times higher than liquid-crystal display (LCD) equivalents when they reach store shelves next month. OLED technology is more energy-efficient and offers higher contrast images than LCD, and is so thin that future mobile devices will be foldable. We are not sure why you would want to fold your telly in half, but I am sure that the LG and Samsung know what they are doing

LG said it would start delivery of the new TVs from early February, with plans to display them at 1,400 retail outlets in South Korea. They would be launched in the United States, Europe and other Asian markets during the first quarter of 2013. The 55-inch model would sell for $10,300 which is nearly four times that of LG Electronics' LED-backlit LCD model and around five times that of more common LCD versions