Antec is preparing the airy, new Lanboy Air ATX case. The new case will be one of Antec's star attractions at CES 2010, where it will be launched. The sporty design looks to be massively modular, from the looks of it, users could completely dismantle it. Several shards look to be connected to each other, which make for the case's various panels. Each of these has a steel mesh for high airflow. These, in combination with the black, grey and a dash of yellow, give it a subjectively industrial look.

The case sports three 5.25" drive bays, two 120 mm fans which protrude, and the the front connectors, on the front panel. The area of the side panel covering the drive bays holds another two to three 120 mm fans, two more right over the expansion slot area. The top, again, is perforated, with room for two 120 mm exhausts apart from the usual one on the rear panel. The LanBoy Air awaits launch at CES 2010, which will be held in the coming January. It is expected to be priced at around 200 EUR.


Source: Case & Cooling.fr

Elpida Memory, Inc. and ProMOS Technologies announced today the signing of a DRAM foundry agreement. This agreement marks the beginning of mutually beneficial business cooperation.

According to the agreement, Elpida will provide advanced DRAM process and product technologies to ProMOS, while ProMOS will provide certain amount of manufacturing capacity at ProMOS' Taichung 300mm wafer fab to Elpida for the manufacturing of Elpida's advanced 1Gb DDR3 device. Trial runs will be completed in the first half of 2010, with mass production following in the second half of the same year.

Dr. M. L. Chen, President & Chairman of ProMOS Technologies, noted that Elpida has long been globally recognized as a leader in the development of leading edge DRAM technologies. The synergistic partnership built through this agreement will combine strengths from both companies; Elpida's 1Gb DDR3 device is among the most cost-competitive product in the industry, pairing well with ProMOS' strength in 300mm manufacturing. Dr. Chen further noted that through this agreement, ProMOS will be able to rapidly increase its capacity utilization rate at its Taichung 300mm facilities. With the recent turnaround in the DRAM market, ProMOS has embarked on the road to recovery.

NVIDIA Corp. today reported revenue of $903.2 million for the third quarter of fiscal 2010 ended Oct. 25, 2009, up 16 percent from the previous quarter and up slightly from $897.7 million reported in the same period a year earlier.

On a GAAP basis, the company recorded net income of $107.6 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, compared with net income of $61.7 million, or $0.11 per diluted share a year ago. Third quarter GAAP results included a benefit to operating income of $25.1 million related to insurance reimbursements received during the quarter. On a non-GAAP basis - excluding the insurance reimbursements and stock-based compensation, as well as their associated tax impact − net income was $110.3 million, or $0.19 per diluted share, compared with $111.4 million, or $0.20 per diluted share, a year earlier.

ECS is jumping the USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s bandwagon with two PCI-Express expansion cards for each kind of connectivity. The cards use popular controllers NEC µPD720200 for USB 3.0 and Marvell 88SE9123-NAA2 for SATA 6 Gb/s. While the USB 3.0 card provides both its ports on the rear-panel, the SATA 6 Gb/s card holds one internal SATA 6 Gb/s port, and one eSATA 6 Gb/s. Currently there is no word on the availability or price of the two. These cards follow similar offerings from the likes of ASRock and ASUS.


Source: XFastest

Speed plays a decisive role in computing. When the computer runs slowly, not only will the work progress be delayed, even our thoughts will be interrupted. Therefore, hard drives with higher speed will mean efficiency to professional graphic designers. The 2.5-inch P2 IDE Solid State Disk (SSD) from Team Technologies not only enhances the computer startup and data transfer speed, but also loads programs much faster than conventional mechanical hard drives. The excellent speed performance of the P2 IDE SSD is particularly felt when users open many windows at the same time. This saves designers a lot of time from searching images and drawings and allows them to enjoy speedy reading and writing, thus fully displaying computing performance and speed.

A promising new technology from LucidLogix, the Hydra, has perhaps hit its biggest roadblock. The Hydra multi-GPU engine allows vendor-neutral and model-neutral GPU performance upscaling, without adhering to proprietary technologies such as NVIDIA SLI or ATI CrossfireX. NVIDIA, which is staring at a bleak future for its chipset division, is licensing the SLI technology to motherboard vendors who want to use it on socket LGA-1366 and LGA-1156 motherboards, since Intel is the only chipset vendor. On other sockets such as LGA-775 and AM3, however, NVIDIA continues to have chipsets that bring with them the incentive of SLI technology support. NVIDIA’s licensing deals with motherboard vendors are particularly noteworthy. For socket LGA-1366 motherboards that are based on Intel’s X58 Express chipset, NVIDIA charges a fee of US $5 per unit sold, to let it support SLI. Alternatively, motherboard vendors can opt for NVIDIA’s nForce 200 bridge chip, which allows vendors to offer full-bandwidth 3-way SLI on some high-end models. For the socket LGA-1156 platform currently driven by Intel’s P55 Express chipset, the fee is lower, at US $3 per unit sold.

The Lucid Hydra engine by design is vendor-neutral. It provides a sort of abstraction-layer between the OS and the GPUs, and uses the available graphics processing resources to upscale resulting performance. This effectively kills NVIDIA’s cut, as motherboard vendors needn’t have the SLI license, and that users of Hydra won’t be using SLI or Crossfire anymore. Perhaps fearing a loss of revenue, NVIDIA is working on its drivers to ensure that its GeForce GPUs don’t work on platforms that use Hydra. Perhaps this also ensures "quality control, and compatibility", since if the customer isn't satisfied with the quality and performance of Hydra, NVIDIA for one, could end up in the bad books. This could then also kick up warranty issues, and product returns.

The explosion of online media and digital data means that many more people take film and music, digital images and other files with them when they are on the move. The MiniStation Lite is a low cost, external hard drive ideal for storing, backing-up and transporting digital files, giving people access to their important files from wherever they are.

With a sleek compact form factor, the MiniStation Lite in Sakura Pink and Lapis Blue are both available in capacities of 320GB or 500GB. The MiniStation Lite is also available in black, red or white with capacities of 250GB, 320GB or 500GB.

Buffalo Technology, a global leader in the design, development and manufacturing of wired and wireless networking, network and direct attached storage solutions today announced the Nfiniti™ Wireless-N Essential Router & Access Point WHR-HP-G300N. An ideal solution for connecting PCs and laptops wirelessly to the Internet, it is perfectly suited for the home and small office environment. When streaming multimedia content, such as HD movies or music, the Nfiniti Essential Router lets you download images or send and receive e-mail from multiple PCs simultaneously. With speeds of up to 300 Mbps it is also ideal to upgrade an existing wireless network, providing greater speed and coverage than Wireless-G.

"The latest iteration of Buffalo's wireless routers and clients are engineered to exacting standards to meet and exceed the rigorous demands of our customers," said Ralph Spagnola, vice president of sales at Buffalo Technology. "Buffalo Technology continues to be committed to delivering robust wireless solutions that are designed to precise specifications to maximize performance and range."

Here is one of the first socket LGA-1156 motherboards in the mini-ITX form-factor, certainly the first one based on the Intel P55 chipset. Packed in its 6.7 x 6.7 inch PCB are a 6 phase digital PWM circuit powering the CPU (socket made by LOTES), two DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory, and a decent utilization of the feature-set of the P55 PCH, which is cooled by a tiny low-profile heatsink. The PCH gives out three internal SATA 3 Gbps ports, and one powered eSATA port.

The 8-channel HD Audio also takes care of optical and co-axial SPDIF connectivity. Gigabit Ethernet, and four USB 2.0 ports make for the rest of the rear-panel. Two headers make room for four more USB 2.0 ports. The lone expansion slot is a generous PCI-Express 2.0 x16, which will accommodate any PCI-Express addon card. You will especially need it, as the P55 platform relies on discrete graphics. With its ABS II, debug LED, and rear-panel clear CMOS button, the board also tries to be as overclocker-friendly as it can afford to be, with its limited resources. Its pricing is yet to be known, though the launch isn't very far off.


Source: Clunk.org.uk

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, today introduces a passive cooling solution into the HD5700 family: SCS3 HD5750. The PowerColor SCS3 HD5750 features an effective passive cooling solution dissipating excessive heat with minimal noise. The copper base, which fully covers, the GPU through 4 copper heat pipes and 32 piece heat sink offers outstanding cooling performance in a quite setting.

While running passively, the PowerColor SCS3 HD5750 maintains the original specifications with core engine of 700MHz, 1150 MHz memory speed. This model takes advantage of the latest 40nm technology, providing better performance while using less power and offering an excellent balance between a superior gaming experience and power efficiency.

Toshiba Corporation, the industry pioneer in small form factor hard disk drives (HDDs), today introduced a new line up of 1.8-inch HDDs with a maximum capacity of 320GB, the highest yet announced by the industry, targeted at thin and light mobile PCs and portable external hard disk drives. The new series delivers three models in 160GB, 250GB and 320GB capacities, and will start mass production from December.

Improvement of the MK3233GSG family's perpendicular magnetic recording head and the disk's magnetic layer secure an areal density of 801 Mbit/mm² (516Gbpsi), the industry's highest for 1.8-inch HDDs. The new drives position Toshiba to provide manufacturers of PCs and peripheral equipment with thin and light solutions offering the industry's largest storage density in a 1.8-inch form factor. They also deliver highly efficient power consumption, high-level durability and quiet seek operation.

I-O Data released a trio of products circled around the new USB 3.0 SuperSpeed standard. The first being the HDJ-UT external hard drive that supports USB 3.0, and then expansion cards that provide USB 3.0 support to PCs, desktops and notebooks alike: the USB3-PEX PCI-Express x1 two port low-profile addon card, and USB3-EXC ExpressCard 34 card. The HDJ-UT comes in capacities of 1 TB and 1.5 TB, and is backwards compatible with USB 2.0 systems. When connected using USB 3.0, it offers read speeds of up to 139 MB/s. The HDJ-UT external HDD is priced at US $231 (1 TB) and $279 (1.5 TB), while the USB3-PEX and USB3-EXC are priced at $69 and $93, respectively.


Source: TechConnect Magazine

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the VIA AMOS-5000, a specially designed chassis kit for Em-ITX form factor boards such as the VIA EITX-3000, offering fast and easy assembly of a variety of fanless, robust IPC designs.

Built using only five sections the VIA AMOS-5000 has the VIA-developed Em-ITX at its heart, offering developers a wealth of advantages including rich and versatile I/O configurations through expansive dual I/O coastlines, coupled with a variety of expansion modules for wide variety of application specific I/O configurations and a flexible EMIO bus supporting a wide range of modern and legacy bus technologies. Systems build using the VIA AMOS-5000 are shock resistant and can withstand a wide range of temperatures.

Flash memory manufacturer leader, Silicon Power debut their flagship USB flash drive earlier this year, the LuxMini 920. It featured ultra fast read (maximum 200x) and write speed. Straight out of the gate, Silicon Power's LuxMini 920 received rave reviews and was awarded "Original Design" from iXBT Labs and won the top honor ~ Product of the Month, a five-star review from PC Magazine, Russia. To continue its success, Silicon Power announced today (11/4), the LuxMini 920 storage capacity will be boosted up to 64GB. Retaining its elegant looks and the 200X high speed transfer rate, it is currently one of the most attractive and the fastest USB flash drives in its class.

The maximum 200X read (30MB/sec) transfer rate is a feature accomplished only by a few USB flash drives in the market. With modern day high definition digital devices, the captured data capacity have increased daramtically. Whether it be recorded audio or pictures, the 200x speed can signigicantly reduce the time it takes to copy data. Apart from LuxMini 920's ultra fast read speed, its write speed is no slow either. When compared with most USB flash drives on the market, it is roughly 3~6x faster at a maximum speed of 20MB/sec.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology solutions, announced today that it has developed the world's thinnest multi-die package, one that measures a mere 0.6mm in height. Designed initially for 32 gigabyte (GB) densities, the new memory package is just half the thickness of a conventional memory package of eight stacked chips (or dies). The advanced packaging technology delivers a 40 percent thinner and lighter memory solution for high-density multimedia handsets and mobile devices.

"Thin remains the action word in today's mobile environment and we're taking a big step here at Samsung to make higher density memory less than half the thickness of what it was before," said Jim Elliott, vice president, memory marketing, Samsung Semiconductor, Inc.

Active Media Products, manufacturer of SSDs and innovative USB drives, today began shipping an eco-friendly silicone rubber Koala drive, that is both waterproof and shock resistant, in capacities from 2GB to 16GB.

The Koala drive is exceptionally rugged. The sealed COB style USB drive has a soft silicone rubber outer casing that provides outstanding protection from the elements and protects the drive if it is dropped or banged around. "Customers will enjoy the Koala drive's durability as much as its stylish design." commented Active Media Products' VP of Sales, Jerry Thomson. "The Koala drive merges form with function, and the result is an awesome little product with great visual appeal and a soft tactile feel that protects its contents much better than most USB drives".

LaCie today announced the LaCie Network Space 2, design by Neil Poulton - a leading-edge Network Attached Storage (NAS) and media server. The LaCie Network Space 2 combines the performance of a full-featured NAS solution, with a unique and customised way to manage the total experience.

LaCie Network Space 2 was designed to be as convenient and user-friendly as a classic USB external hard drive. With the advanced LaCie Network Assistant, you can be up and running in a few short steps. To help you manage your desired product preferences, the LaCie Network Assistant now offers new dashboard functionality. You can customise the dashboard with useful widgets to access network and drive information, administer user accounts and monitor drive capacity.

The CoolNess laptop base cooler is equipped with a large 20cm cooling fan. Formed out of lightweight plastic this laptop cooler is not only portable, but a great value for the cost conscientious laptop user. The ergonomic design and anti-slip features provide comfortable computing experience.

Compatible with 10" up to 17" laptop computers. There is no need for an external power adapter, powered by your laptop's USB port (cable included) the CoolNess is a ‘plug and play' ready product.

German gaming peripherals and accessories specialist Raptor-Gaming is out with its newest gaming mouse, the M3x. This right-oriented mouse features 7 buttons including the scrollwheel, and provides high-precision pointing along with being able to tailor its weight to preference. The laser sensor resolution can be adjusted in a broad range between 400 and 4800 dpi, in steps of 400 dpi (400, 800, 1200,...). The soft tough surface ensures better grip. It comes with a 2 m long cable, with a gold-plated USB connector. The weight chamber underneath it allows five weight settings using additional weights of 6.5 g each. The unit's weight can be altered from 110 g to 140 g. Available for preorder, the M3x is priced at 70 EUR. Shipping starts later this month.

ECS revealed leading technology called "15μ Gold Contact" that ensures motherboards longest lifespan, better reliability and excellent contact. This leading Technology is available on both Intel and AMD platforms.

Metal Pins on CPU Sockets and Memory Slots are susceptible from environment molecules that can cause instability of the whole system by forming oxidized rust on pins contact. Traditionally, in order to provide protection, 5µ Gold is flashed on these metal pins. Compared to 5µ Gold flash, ECS has discovered 3 times extra Gold "15 μ Gold Contact" which is equivalent to 0.000381 millimeters of Gold plating on its motherboard Socket and Slot Pins to offer 3 times extra protection. Due to this technology, Gold plating on Socket and Slot pins are 3 times thicker and stable that also provide additional confidence to extreme gamer who always plug-in and plug-out their system components.

AMD today made its RB-C3 revision of the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition quad-core processor official. Carrying a characteristic model number of HDZ965FBK4DGM compared to HDZ965FBK4DGI the older C2 revision. Another important specification change is the TDP, now rated at 125W compared to 140W on the C2. Built on the 45 nm SOI Deneb die, the Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition runs at a clock speed of 3.40 GHz (17.0 x 200 MHz). Each core has 128 KB of L1 and 512 KB of dedicated L2 cache. The four cores share an L3 cache of 6 MB. Based on the socket AM3 package, the new CPU typically supports DDR3 and DDR2 memory on socket AM2+ motherboards. It is priced on par with its 140W twin, at US $196.


Image Courtesy: OverclockersClub

Stealth.com Inc. (Stealth Computer) a leading ISO 9001 manufacturer of industrial rugged computers and peripherals has released the new Model LPC-395F, a rugged, small footprint, fanless computer with integrated removable storage.

Stealth's LPC-395F fanless mini PC includes front loaded removable media slots for both hard drive and compact flash media. An industry standard mobile 2.5″ SATA hard drive slides directly into the machine without having to open the chassis. The system also supports a front loaded CF memory card for easy system updates and file deployment. Ed Boutilier, President & CEO of Stealth.com states; "Stealth's removable storage feature presents a new level of security, maintenance and data protection in a small form factor PC. There is no longer any need to spend lengthy time to open a chassis to change/ remove the hard drive. Our removable storage feature allows the user to secure or replace their critical data in a matter of seconds."

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today announced the new SuperSpeed USB 3.0 RAIDDrive, which supports transfer speeds up to ten times faster than USB 2.0 drives. The new drive, in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities, is fully backward compatible with USB 2.0 ports, but operates at slower speeds.

The USB 3.0 RAIDDrive uses patented "multiple pairs of differential serial data lines technology" for optimal NAND flash performance. "This product underscores Super Talent's continued leadership in USB drives." said Super Talent COO, C.H. Lee. "We've developed the world's first mobile USB 3.0 flash drive. It delivers phenomenal performance and it incorporates our own patented technology".

The Mushkin Enhanced Design Team has once again pushed the envelope in regards to memory cooling and developed the new Copperhead Memory Cooling System. The side plates are comprised of pure copper, providing much more heat reduction than other metals.

One of the unique characteristics of the Copperhead System is the "Copperhead Watercooler". This is a quick and easy way to liquid-cool your memory modules. All that is needed is a quick, two-screw setup per memory module and Copperhead can be integrated into any existing watercooling system. The water cooler is available separately.

Acer America today introduced the Acer Aspire AS8940G-6865 notebook PC, featuring the new Intel Core i7 Quad-Core 720QM processor and Windows 7 Home Premium. This mobile processor delivers extremely fast performance for the most demanding applications such as playing games and editing digital photos and videos.

Designed for entertainment and multimedia enthusiasts, the Aspire AS8940G-6865 offers superior performance, innovative features and advanced technology for mobile users. This new notebook boasts a large 18.4-inch widescreen HD display for extraordinary visual quality, advanced NVIDIA graphics, Blu-ray technology, a high-quality audio system, a large hard drive and ample memory, making it a mobile powerhouse. The addition of Windows 7 to this new notebook provides users with a new level of performance, simplicity and ease of use.

Be Quiet! is out with the SilentWings PWM series of case fans. Available in sizes of 80 mm, 92 mm, and 120 mm, the fans feature blades with ridged surfaces. The PWM controlled motor allows user cotnrol over the fan speed. The copper-core fluid dynamic bearing ensures longer service life of 300,000 hours. The fan frame comes with a screw-less mounting system.

The 80 mm model comes with a rotational speed range of 500 ~ 2,000 rpm, 16.5 dBA of noise output, and up to 44.3 m³/h of airflow. The 92 mm model on the other hand, has a rotational speed ranged between 470 ~ 1,800 rpm, 17.5 dBA noise output, and 55.4 m³/h airflow. And lastly, the 120 mm one spins between 500 ~ 1,500 rpm, with a noise output of 18.5 dBA, and 85.5 m³/h of airflow. The three are priced between 11 to 14 EUR.


Source: TechConnect Magazine

WD, known for its hard disk drive leadership in the desktop, mobile and consumer marketplaces, today announced its entry into the traditional enterprise market segment with volume production shipments of its first 10,000 RPM, 2.5-inch, small form factor, SAS interface hard drives. The WD S25 provides up to 300 GB of high-performance storage suitable for both mission-critical enterprise server and enterprise storage applications, such as high-I/O-driven applications and configurations, as well as data centers and large data arrays.

"Our entry into the traditional-enterprise market continues the strategic expansion and diversification of WD's broad market and product portfolio, and significantly increases our addressable revenue opportunity," said John Coyne, president and CEO of WD. "As with our previous market expansion and diversification efforts, WD will approach the traditional enterprise space with the same focus on quality, customer service, technology and value that has earned us strong positions in every market we serve."

VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms,　today introduced its new VIA Nano 3000 Series processors, bringing enhanced digital media performance and lower power consumption to Windows 7 thin and light notebook and all-in-one desktop PC markets.

Based on the 64-bit superscalar 'Isaiah' architecture, VIA Nano 3000 Series processors deliver the most compelling thin and light notebook computing experience with their rich HD entertainment capabilities, including support for flawless playback of high bit-rate 1080p HD video, as well as low power consumption resulting in longer battery life.

Targeting HTPC buffs, Enermax rolled out its Aurora Micro Wireless keyboard. The device combines a compact keyboard with a high-precision trackball. Measuring 319 x 193 x 33 mm and weighing 800 g, the keyboard has a brushed metal shell, with diamond-cut edges. Being a micro keyboard, it trades the number pad for compactness. Some of the important keys are LED illuminated for convenience in the typically dark HTPC room. Besides the 7 hotkeys, there is a full-fledged high-precision trackball with a 1200 dpi sensor, two buttons, and a 2-way scroll-wheel. The wireless technology operates in the 2.4 GHz range, with an operating range of 10 m. The keyboard is powered by two AA batteries. On sale now, the Enermax Aurora Micro Wireless is selling for 75 EUR.

Icy Dock is out with its newest single-drive enclosure that converts 2.5 inch HDDs or SSDs into 3.5 inch drives, to properly fit into PC cases with 3.5 inch bays. The Icy Dock MB882SP-1S-2B provides enclosure and ventilation for 2.5 inch drives, while connecting them to the SATA interface (data and power) in accordance with the standards, so it could be easily inserted into desktop HDD docks that use a 'cartridge-load' mechanism. Measuring 145 x 101 x 25 mm, it is the size of a the typical 3.5 inch HDD. It weighs 163 g, and is made of plastic. The unit also has a simple slide-open lid that makes handling it (installing/uninstalling 2.5 inch drives) tool-less. The Icy Dock MB882SP-1S-2B is priced at $17.

Thermal Solutions specialist GELID Solutions unveils its multi-compatible CPU Cooler "Tranquillo" of its SILENT product line. The mainstream tower CPU Cooler "Tranquillo" uses 4 power heat pipes and a special heat pipe constellation to achieve best heat transfer from CPU core to the aluminium fins in its class. After precise software simulation and calculation during the development stage a unique heat sink shape was created to lower air flow resistance as much as possible.

A silent 120mm fan with the intelligent GELID PWM (Pulse Width Module) control has been chosen to make this heat sink more valuable. The fan blades were optimised to guarantee high airflow while running silently. The intelligent GELID PWM curve keeps the fan silent when no necessary cooling is needed and accelerates the fan speed whenever additional cooling is needed. The multi-award winning high performance GC-2 thermal compound is already included in the package. Additionally mounting clips for AMD 754/ 939/ 940/ AM2/ AM2+ and for Intel 775, 1366 and latest 1156 sockets as same as back plates for Intel LGA 775, Core i5 and Core i7 boards are all included. The cooler is RoHS and WEEE conformed and carries a 5 year warranty.