GIGABYTE unveiled the first mini-ITX motherboard based on Intel's upcoming Z87 Express chipset, ready for 4th generation Core "Haswell" processors in the LGA1150 package. The Z87N-WiFi from GIGABYTE takes advantage of the smaller package size of the Z87 PCH, to cram in every feature you'll need, on the space constrained form-factor. The board draws power from a combination of 24-pin and 4-pin ATX connectors. It uses a 4-phase power supply for the CPU, which is wired to a pair of DDR3 DIMM slots, supporting dual-channel memory, and a PCI-Express 3.0 x16 slot. The only other expansion slot is an mPCIe, populated by the board's WiFi card. Storage connectivity on the Z87N-WiFi includes four SATA 6 Gb/s ports, all from the PCH. A pair of HDMI connectors, and dual-link DVI make for its display connectivity. Two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, 8-channel HD audio with optical SPDIF, six USB 3.0 ports (four rear, two by header), and 802.11ac WLAN make for the rest of it. The Z87N-WiFi could be part of the first wave of LGA1150 motherboards by GIGABYTE.Source: LegitReviews

Be Quiet!, market leader with power supplies in Germany for seven consecutive years, confirms that all of it's current PSU models support Intel's fourth generation of Core processors (Codename Haswell). Intel's upcoming Haswell CPUs impose stricter requirements on the power supply regarding energy saving features. To lower the power consumption of current computers even more, the new processors feature new sleep states called C6 and C7. In these states, the processor is nearly shut off completely, bringing down the power consumption close to zero.

Intel will soon introduce the new 4th generation Intel Core processors, code-named "Haswell", the new technology for reducing power consumption of the CPU in sleep mode. The new C6 and C7 states are able to reduce the CPU power consumption to just 0.05A (0.6W) while previous Ivy Bridge processors draw up to ten times more minimum power. As this resulting from the deep sleep state, when most other 12V devices are either turned off or in low power state, this significantly decreases the 12V load on the power supply.

Thermaltake, being an industry leader in computer chassis, thermal solutions, and power supply units announces the latest news that most high-end power supplies of Thermaltake are fully compatible with Haswell CPUs. All current high-end and mainstream PSUs from Thermaltake are already prepared for the new Intel processors to deliver stable voltages to achieve maximum energy savings.

With the new 4th generation Intel Core processors, code-named "Haswell", Intel introduces new technologies for reducing the power consumption of the CPU during sleep. The new deepest sleep state, called C7, will be able to reduce the power consumption of the CPU to only 0.05A (0.6W). As this occurs in the deep sleep state, when most other 12V devices are either in low-power states or turned off, this can reduce the 12V load on the power supply significantly. For some power supplies this low load can cause voltage regulation issues, if combined with high loads on the minor rails (3.3V and 5V).

SeaSonic Electronics congratulates Intel on the launch of the Haswell Processors. We are inspired by the continuing efforts made by Intel to push the boundaries of performance and at the same time, be environmentally conscious through reduction of energy consumption. These are the exact same attributes which have driven Sea Sonic for the past 35+ years.

As we strive for industry leading performance, we continue to research the long term effects of each of our design. By continuously improving our efficiency we try to achieve maximum energy savings and by using high quality components we aim to prolong product lifetime; all to achieve long term sustainability. Our full lines of 80 PLUS Platinum and Gold power supplies have been designed to be ready to meet Haswell's new technical requirements!

Cooler Master, a leading creator, innovator and manufacturer of desktop components and more, today announced the entrance of the top performing V Series Power Supply (PSU) line to North American markets.

Developed to be the highest quality, Cooler Master carefully sourced every aspect of the V Series PSU line to produce a high-efficiency and stable power supply. This operational stability includes being highly efficient even at low loads ? far exceeding the parameters of the breadth of operational efficiency exhibited by a typical 80 Plus Gold PSU. A single, powerful rail platform channels the full power of V Series PSUs with outstanding voltage stability, ripple suppression and efficiency. These higher quality components include the highest grade Japanese electrolyte and solid capacitors, a custom PCB interface, and high quality 42mm transformers. All of which are among a few of the integral parts that make the V Series a great power supply.

Intel Corporation today took the wraps off its brand new, low-power, high-performance microarchitecture named Silvermont. The technology is aimed squarely at low-power requirements in market segments from smartphones to the data center. Silvermont will be the foundation for a range of innovative products beginning to come to market later this year, and will also be manufactured using the company's leading-edge, 22nm Tri-Gate SoC manufacturing process, which brings significant performance increases and improved energy efficiency.

"Silvermont is a leap forward and an entirely new technology foundation for the future that will address a broad range of products and market segments," said Dadi Perlmutter, Intel executive vice president and chief product officer. "Early sampling of our 22nm SoCs, including "Bay Trail" and "Avoton" is already garnering positive feedback from our customers. Going forward, we will accelerate future generations of this low-power microarchitecture on a yearly cadence."

Computex is Asia's largest high-tech event and will run from June 4th to to 8th, 2013 in Taipei, Taiwan and BIOSTAR will be showcasing their embedded/IPC solutions and graphics cards products as well as their line of Intel and AMD based motherboards in the Nangang Exhibition Hall at Booth M0402. The theme of their exhibition this year is their Hi-Fi Puro integrated products, including Intel's next generation Haswell based boards and their FM2 motherboards that support AMD's new Fusion "Richland" CPU. Continuing the tradition of their own in-house audio technology called "Puro Hi-Fi Technology"; Biostar is going to present the 2nd generation of this technology, called "Hi-Fi 3D".

Targeting audiophiles, HTPC enthusiasts and high-end gamers alike, Puro Hi-Fi features an integrated independent audio power design with a built-in amplifier. The technology utilizes audio components with an independent power delivery design for a significant reduction in electronic noise producing superb sound quality. The unique noise-blocking multi-layer PCB layout is conducive for an exceptionally clean signal. That design feature, together with a sampling rate of 192 kHz/24-bit, delivers high quality audio through an analog connection to your home theater system, multi-channel speakers or high-end headphones, allowing you to enjoy true high-definition 7.1-channel surround sound.

Launch of Intel's Core i7-4770K "Haswell" processor may be a month away, but the chip has been in circulation for some time now. An overclocker going by the handle "rtiueuiurei" managed to get an engineering sample of the chip past the 7 GHz mark, 7012.65 MHz to be precise. A base clock of 91.07 MHz, multiplier of 77.0x, and a staggering 2.56V core voltage, unless CPU-Z read it wrong. A single 2 GB memory module was used; no other details were revealed. Core i7-4770K and a fleet of compatible socket LGA1150 motherboards launch around the first week of June.Source: OCaholic

With its 4th generation Core "Haswell" processors, Intel is putting in a serious effort to improve integrated graphics (IGP) performance to catch up with AMD's Radeon HD 8600 series on its latest APUs. There are three classes of Intel IGPs for Haswell, the GT1, which features 10 execution units (EUs), and will feature on entry-thru-mainstream Pentium, Core i3, and Core i5 chips; GT2, which features 20 EUs, featuring on mainstream-thru-performance Core i5 and Core i7 chips; and GT3, a large 40-EU IGP, which uses an L4 eDRAM cache. Chips with GT3 graphics are multi-chip modules (MCMs) of the CPU die and this eDRAM due, as detailed earlier. It was earlier believed that Haswell chips with GT3 graphics cores will be confined to notebook and Ultrabook-specific CPU models, but it turns out that it will make an appearance on the desktop platform as well.

At a media event held in its Taipei headquarters, GIGABYTE demonstrated its AMP-UP integrated audio solution that will feature on some of its upcoming motherboards. On that pretense, it even got to show of two of its top socket LGA1150 motherboards, built for Core "Haswell" processors, the G1.Sniper 5, and the G1.Sniper M5. Positioned in gamer-overclocker targeted G1.Killer series, the two boards are based on Intel Z87 Express chipset. The G1.Sniper 5 is the larger standard ATX motherboard; while the M5 is a compact micro-ATX offering. The pictures also confirm that socket LGA1150 retention module and bolt-spacing is identical to sockets LGA1155 and LGA1156.

The G1.Sniper 5 appears to feature a 16-phase VRM, which uses ferrite-core chokes, and the same International Rectifier PowIRstage components as Ultra Durable 5 motherboards from the previous generation. This time around, the CPU plays a greater role in voltage regulation. The driver-MOSFETs on the board are cooled by an active fan-heatsink, which also has a liquid channel running through it, so you could make it part of your CPU loop. Thankfully GIGABYTE didn't let its imagination run away with designs of the other heatsinks on the board, one of which cools the Z87 Express chipset, and the other we imagine, a PLX PEX8747 48-lane PCI-Express 3.0 bridge chip. This chip gets you 4-way SLI/CrossFireX support.

Intel has just released more details about the new Haswell processors. It sets new benchmarks in terms of energy efficiency. The new C6 and C7 states are able to reduce the CPU power consumption to just 0.05A while previous Ivy Bridge processors draw up to ten times more minimum power.

But the positive progress of the CPU technology is subject to certain restrictions, because only few power supplies will be able to deliver stable voltages at such low loads. End users are therefore groping in the dark with no clues if their own power supply will be compatible with the new energy functions of Intel Haswell CPUs. PSU manufacturers usually do not state the possible minimum load of their products.

Is this what Intel's 4th generation Core i7 "Haswell" retail box looks like? That is the question. For the first time in a decade, Intel could use a collage of pictures in its box-art. The running theme appears to be "creativity," with the box asking "what will you make?" You'll also notice that the box-art doesn't feature a small case-badge art. The top half of the front side could be what the badge ends up looking like. A little while ago, Intel made a cryptic Facebook post confirming a series launch along the sidelines of Computex 2013, held between 3rd and 7th June.

Source: VR-Zone

Intel is expected to unveil its 4th generation Core "Haswell" processor family by early-June, along the sidelines of the 2013 Computex event. In addition to being available in 1000-unit tray quantities to OEMs, the desktop variants of these processors will be available in their familiar retail box packages. Multiple sources confirm that pricing of these chips will be largely identical to that of the current Core "Ivy Bridge" series, with succeeding next-generation part for each current generation one. The table below describes their US MSRP (excl. taxes).Source: VR-Zone Chinese

With Computex 2013 a little over a month away, alongside which Intel plans to launch its 4th generation Core "Haswell" family, motherboard manufacturers are gearing up for another summer of product launches, with compatible socket LGA1150 motherboards. Among these is MSI, which teased its flagship motherboard that targets overclockers and PC enthusiasts interested in taking the Core i7-4770K and Core i5-4670K for a spin. This motherboard falls inside the company's Big Bang series, bearing the name Z87 XPower. As the name suggests, it's based on Intel's Z87 Express chipset.

Not much is known about the Big Bang Z87 XPower, except what the teaser video (after the break) and a couple of corner-shots reveal. Expect a fancy new color scheme (probably a combination of gold and black), a new design scheme for the VRM and chipset heatsinks with a glowy "X" sign, the usual plethora of overclocking options MSI packs with its high-end motherboards, and what appears to be an mSATA or mPCIe slot, in one of the pictures.

Intel may be a couple of months away from launching its Core "Haswell" processor family, and the 8-series "Lynx Point" family of chipset to back it, but is already talking to partners about the platform's successor, slated for the second quarter of 2014. Core "Haswell" introduces the industry to socket LGA1150 motherboards, and Core "Broadwell" could, in all likelihood, provide continuity to it, much in the same way "Ivy Bridge" did to "Sandy Bridge." Intel could introduce a new chipset to tag along with "Broadwell."

According to a roadmap slide seen by VR-Zone, Intel's 9-series chipset will include at least two models, the Z97 targeting enthusiasts, and the H97 targeting mainstream consumers. These chipset could drive socket LGA1150 motherboards going into the second half of 2014, and could support both "Haswell" and "Broadwell," in the same way today's 7-series chipset support "Sandy Bridge" and "Ivy Bridge." Intel could introduce a major feature with 9-series, SATA Express.

To tackle upcoming generations of Ultrabooks and NUC that lack space for discrete graphics, yet having to keep up with the demands of higher display resolutions (i.e. proliferation of 3840 x 2160), Intel is designing special variants of its Core "Haswell" processors that feature large integrated graphics cores bolstered by fourth-level eDRAM caches on-package. Pictured below, is one such contraption.

The graphics-enhanced Core "Haswell" processor is an MCM (multi-chip module) of two dies, the larger one is the actual "Haswell" processor complex with cores, uncore, and the larger GT3 integrated graphics core. While the standard Haswell silicon with GT1 and GT2 integrated GPU options, physically features up to 20 execution units (EUs), the large GT3 silicon features double that, at 40 EUs.

At the Intel Developer Forum (IDF) 2013 event held in Beijing last week, the company ran two separate seminars related to "Haswell," one related to the micro-architecture itself, and the other overclocking it. The company detailed improvements to the ways in which you can overclock these chips, without necessarily having to shell out dough for the base clock multiplier unlocked "-K" parts.

To begin with, tweaking Core "Haswell" processors will be similar to tweaking Core "Sandy Bridge-E" high-end desktop (HEDT) platform. Naturally then, overclocking "non-K" parts will be similar to overclocking the Core i7-3820. The chips ship with a base clock speed of 100 MHz. As with "Ivy Bridge," not just CPU cores, but also certain uncore components rely on this frequency. Also, as with "Ivy Bridge," overclockers will be given 5 to 7 percent headroom for tweaking this frequency, but it doesn't end there.

Scythe rolled out the fourth generation Mugen CPU cooler, in its home market of Japan. Mugen 4 (model: SCMG-4000), builds on the design of its predecessor with a feature it calls TMAPS (three-dimensional multiple airflow pass-through structure), a fin stack arrangement that works to improve air-flow and heat-dissipation to the flowing air. Another abbreviation Scythe is throwing at you is HPMS (hyper-precision mounting system), a new retention module that takes fewer steps to install, and supports all modern CPU socket types, including the upcoming Intel socket LGA1150, on which desktop Core "Haswell" processors will be based.

Scythe Mugen 4 retains the unique jagged aluminum fins of its predecessor, it is an aluminum fin tower type CPU cooler, which uses six 6 mm-thick copper heat pipes to convey heat to the stack. Heat is drawn from a nickel-plated copper base. A Falcon 120 mm PWM fan guides air through the heatsink, which spins at speeds ranging from 400 to 1,400 RPM, pushing 20.7 to 79 CFM of air. Measuring 130 x 88 x 160 mm, the cooler weighs about 625 g. Slated for April 24, it is priced at 4,980¥ (US $50).Source: Hermitage Akihabara

During her keynote at the Intel Developer Forum today in Beijing, Diane Bryant, senior vice president and general manager of Intel's Datacenter and Connected Systems Group, discussed how her company is helping users harness powerful new capabilities that will improve the lives of people by building smarter cities, healthier communities and thriving businesses.

Bryant unveiled details of upcoming technologies and products that show how Intel aims to transform the server, networking and storage capabilities of the datacenter. By addressing the full spectrum of workload demands and providing new levels of application optimized solutions for enterprise IT, technical computing and cloud service providers, unprecedented experiences can be delivered.

Intel reportedly began shipping its 4th generation Core processors, codenamed "Haswell," to its OEM partners (companies that sell pre-built PCs). These shipments could go into building the first batches of PCs running the chips, which will be launched alongside retail trims of the chips, in June 2013. In June, on the sidelines of Computex 2013, one of the biggest annual PC technology tradeshows, Intel is expected to launch its Core "Haswell" processors, various motherboard vendors are expected to launch compatible socket LGA1150 motherboards.

Among the Core "Haswell" chips Intel is expected to launch for the desktop platform, are the Core i7-4770K flagship quad-core part, and the Core i5-4670K, both of which feature unlocked base-clock multipliers, appealing to overclockers and PC enthusiasts. There are twelve other models on offer, with locked base-clock multipliers, a majority of which come in energy-efficient brand extensions such as -T and -S.Source: C|Net

Intel issued a product-change notification (PCN) to partners in the motherboard industry, informing them of a new C2 stepping of the 8-series "Lynx Point" chipset. The stepping introduces a metal layers change that fixes the USB 3.0 remuneration erratum, which causes devices plugged in to USB 3.0 ports to fail to reinitialize after waking up from sleep states such as S3, requiring uses to unplug and replug them, which could get particularly irritating for people with external RAID devices that rely on USB 3.0 for host connectivity.

According to the PCN, the first socket LGA1150 motherboards in the market may not feature C2-stepping chipset. It predicts samples to be available to motherboard manufacturers by April 19, 2013; availability of qualification data (when Intel has finalized design after taking feedback from partners), by July 1 2013; customers should be ready to receive C2-stepping chips by July 31. These dates indicate that the very first batches of socket LGA1150 motherboards will still feature C1-stepping chipset that are affected by the erratum, and if you can't live with it, you should ideally wait until late-August or mid-September for the first motherboards with C2-stepping chipset to make it to the markets. Intel expects to launch its 4th generation Core "Haswell" processors and compatible LGA1150 motherboards by mid-June.

Prices of graphics cards with DDR3 memory are set to rise by 10-15 percent. The roughly 10 percent hike in prices of DDR3 memory chips, due to inventory-digestion, aided by reduced production from DRAM makers, is responsible for the hike. The June 2013 launch of Intel's Core "Haswell" platform could see a flurry of system upgrades, which could strain on DDR3 chip supply even further. Luckily for most DIY buyers, DDR3 memory is only used in sub-$100 graphics cards, with proliferation of GDDR5 to current-generation graphics cards around the $100 mark.Source: DigiTimes

FinalWire announced AIDA64 v2.85, the popular system diagnostic and benchmarking suite is updated with 64-bit benchmarks optimized for AMD's "Richland" APUs, improved support for "Kaveri," "Kabini," and "Temash" APUs; and Intel "Haswell" and "Valleyview" CPUs; early support for AMD "Beema" APU, Intel "Avoton" SoC, "Crystalwell," "Ivy Bridge-E," and "Haswell-E" CPU, "Haswell-ULT" SoC; preliminary support for DDR4 and GDDR5 system memory types; and GPU support for AMD Radeon HD 8000 series and NVIDIA GeForce GTX Titan.DOWNLOAD: FinalWire AIDA64 v2.85 Installer (EXE), Archive (ZIP)

In an effort to clear inventories of its current-generation A-series "Trinity" desktop APUs, creating room for next-generation "Richland," AMD is preparing a string of price-cuts for April. APUs including (but probably not limited to) A8-5600K, and A4-4000 series could be part of these price cuts.

In addition to its APUs, AMD is also planning early price-cuts of some of its socket AM3+ CPUs, such as the FX-8320, FX-6300, and FX-4300, which is probably preemptive to Intel's June launch of Core "Haswell" desktop processors. AMD recently launched the mobile variants of its A-series "Richland" APUs, its desktop variants could be launched some time in Q2 2013, beginning with high-performance parts such as the A10-6800K and A8-6600K.Source: DigiTimes