DFI LANParty today introduces its new motherboard, the Blood Iron BI P43-T34, after the launch of the high-end P55 motherboard. BI P43-T34 makes LANParty Blood Iron series a more complete product line. For those who like LANParty products, it is the best value motherboard.

To provide consumers with better value platform, BI P43-T34 is equipped with exclusive LANParty ABS II, CPU auto upgrade technology. CPU performance can be automatically promoted!! As long as users choose ABS II started while boosting system at the first time, the system's performance can be upgraded immediately. Therefore, users do not have to spend a lot of time and effort to set up for better performance. That is, even with limited budget, consumers still can obtain higher performance easily and fast.

Memory manufacturer Kingmax announced the Hercules line of high-end DDR3 PC3-17600 memory modules for overclockers. Available in dual-channel kits for now, the Hercules can operate at 2200 MHz, with CAS latency of 10T, with DRAM voltage in the range of 1.5~1.7V. Optimized for Intel socket LGA-1156 processors, the modules support Intel Extreme Memory Profiles. Each kit includes two 2 GB modules. At 2200 MHz, each module provides a theoretical bandwidth of 17.6 GBps. There is no word on the availability or pricing.

Thermaltake, leading DIY chassis brand, launches the newest full-tower PC case for demanding gamers and power-users. The Element V offers optimized airflow characteristics with 5 preinstalled heavy-duty fans, while leaving room for another 3 upgrade fans. Two 120 mm front mounted fans are blowing outside air directly through and over the drive bays with an additional oversized 230 cm ColorShift fan at the side panel taking in a vast amount of outside air and distributing it over graphics cards and CPU. Two exhaust fans in the upper area remove uprising hot air; one 120 mm rear side TurboFan and one big size ColorShift fan in the top panel. No matter how much peripherals you throw at this case, you can always rest assured they won't ever be an air-congestion. You will rather stay cool and calm.

For users you like a vivid look and enjoy giving their case a character of it's own, the three ColorShift fan provide you with 6 color option that can static or in motion. Adjustment of the three ColorShift fans' color scheme and fan speed are conveniently done by a dual-function know on the top front side.

MSI's newest creation adds to its growing lineup of socket LGA-1156 motherboards based on the Intel P55 chipset. The P55-GD55 sits somewhere between the P55-GD65, and the P55-CD53. For the most part it resembles the P55-CD53 in having a simple 4+1 phase DrMOS equipped CPU VRM, OC Genie, all six SATA 3 Gb/s ports from the PCH being assigned as internal ports, while an additional controller provides two eSATA ports and an IDE channel, among other minor similarities, including component layout. The difference lies in the GD55 having two PCI-Express x16 slots. The second slot on this board, however, is wired to the PCH, and is electrical x4. While it does offer CrossFire support, SLI support is not known. Expect it to be released in the coming few weeks, priced at around 100 EUR.

Buffalo's latest update to its LinkStation family comes in the form of a new and improved LinkStation Mini NAS. Improvements include a subjectively more aesthetic chassis, and a faster CPU. Measuring 40 (W) x 82 (H) x 135 (D) mm, the chassis has a piano-black or glossy white shell. The device holds comes in capacities of 500 GB, 1 TB, and 240 GB (using SSDs). Besides offering RAID 0 and RAID 1 modes, the LinkStation Mini can expand its storage using its USB 2.0 port that connects to external storage devices such as external HDDs, and flash drives. Basic support DLNA, Apple TimeMachine, make for the rest of it. The 500 GB variant is priced at around $290, with the 1 TB variant at $464, and $1163 for the 240 GB (SSD) model.

Just as ASUS was readying its first wave of socket LGA-1156 motherboards, the company picked up interest in offering SATA 6 Gb/s and USB 3.0 as a feature set. With the P7P55D Premium motherboard, the company even used a PCI-Express 2.0 bridge chip to ensure the SATA 6 Gb/s controller - the Marvell 88SE9123-NAA2 - got a PCI-E 2.0 x1 link, which other manufacturers end up wiring a PCI-E 1.1 x1 link from the P55 PCH. In a bid to propagate the design, the company had also designed an addon card that works on the same principle. The the card has finally taken shape in the form of the ASUS U3S6 (USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s), complete with its missing USB 3.0 controller that provides two SuperSpeed 5000 Mbps ports. The interface bottleneck for the NEC µPD720200 USB 3.0 controller is also reduced by provision of a PCI-E 2.0 x1 link. Both connectors are wired to a PLX PEX8613 3-port/12-lane PCI-E 2.0 bridge chip, which takes in four PCI-Express lanes (typically PCI-E 1.1 lanes from the southbridge or P55 PCH), and gives out the required two links. Although there is no word on the card's price yet, PCSTATS reckons something around $30 likely. In that case, the card would be a steal deal, considering recently announced SATA 6 Gb/s addon cards by HighPoint that hold just the Marvell 88SE9123-NAA2, are priced over $60.

ASRock's ION NetTop series, thanks to its specifications, apparently has what it takes to be a home theater PC in itself. It already has a Blu-ray drive equipped model, the ION 330-BD to its credit. To further project it as a home theater product, its makers have decided to carve out two more variants: the ION 330HT, and ION 330HT-BD. What set these apart from the non-HT models, is the provision of the Windows MCE remote. The rest of the specifications remain the same. Also planned is the ION 330Pro, a lite version of the original ION 330.

Packed in its compact chassis measuring 195mm (W) x 70mm (H) x 186mm (L), is a full-fledged system based on the NVIDIA ION platform. It is powered by the Intel Atom 330 dual-core processor, and the ION chipset, which embeds an NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics. It is aided by 2 GB of DDR2 800 memory, and offers 500 GB of storage. On the connectivity front, it has gigabit Ethernet, and WiFi. While a standard DVD writer is available on the ION 330HT, the ION 330HT-BD has a Blu-ray Combo drive. ASRock also carved out the ION 330Pro, a lite version that is aimed to provide the bare essentials. It lacks the WiFi controller. The pricing and availability of these three models are yet to be known.

Industry leading flash memory manufacturer, Silicon Power today unleashes SDHC Class 10 16GB memory card. Aimed at HD quality photo capacity, instant and continuous photo shots, the SDHC Class 10 16GB memory card will bring out the best in your digital camera and you will never miss any important moment. With modern day digital cameras becoming smaller in size, the CF card is no longer the only storage solution. Silicon Power's SDHC Class 10 16GB memory card offers users an extra choice when choosing the digital camera's memory card.

With an eye on the digital camera market, Silicon Power saw the change in the main stream digital camera market where SDHC card has become the main storage choice. Along with the digital camera put more emphasis on the features such as continuous shooting mode, the demand on fast write speed and large storage capacity has become critical for memory card. Should the memory card not write data fast enough, the camera will haul and it is during these few precious seconds that one may miss "the moment". The demand for write speed is faster and the need for storage capacity is greater. Silicon Power's SDHC Class 10 16GB has both of these characteristics, high speed to allow users to snap away continuously at will and need not worry about having not enough storage capacity.

RAM cooling is crucial for maintaining high clock rates as well as to avoid any damages caused by overheat. In order to offer an efficient tool to lower RAM temperature, the Swiss IT cooling solution provider ARCTIC COOLING today launched the new ARCTIC RC PRO, an advanced RAM cooler designed for DDR2 and DDR3 SDRAM modules.

Following the design concept of the award-winning ARCTIC RC, this Pro version also features long aluminium fins as well as highly conductive thermal pads. The fins are extended to 5cm which lead to a significant increase in heat transfer area and optimized natural convection.

A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd., the worldwide leader in DRAM memory and Flash application products, announced today its industry-leading SSD S596, a 2.5" SATA 3 Gb/s SSD designed specifically for PC enthusiastic, multi-task and heavy-graphic users to perform assorted applications five times faster.

Delivering sequential read and write speed up to 250 MB/sec and 180 MB/sec, the S596 eases the bottleneck conventional HD causes. The S596 utilizes the next generation of Flash technology and DDR2 SDRAM cache buffer to provide an amazingly fast boot-up time at 20 seconds on platforms running Windows 7, a 40% performance improvement compared to platform equipped with ordinary SSD.

The MSI Classic notebook series charm and elegance appear once again. The new large-screen CR610 offers high-performance audio/video while being fashionably light and slender. Specialized craftsman-like techniques give the 45-degree angled edges a smooth, flowing appearance. The case's profile integrates an optical drive and I/O port configuration and design that creates an uninterrupted outline. With a brilliant finish that features a transparent, engraved color film print, the CR610 emits varying color patterns and variations when exposed to light from different angles. The CR610's fashionably expressive exterior radiates a classic sensation.

The CR610 uses AMD's newest Tigris notebook computer platform and comes with Microsoft's latest operating system, Windows 7, to provide highly efficient and low power consuming operational capabilities while being capable of outstanding image processing performance. Not only does it possess a strong and powerful image processing core, but the CR610 is fitted with a 16:9 cinematic HD (1366×768) display with high resolution LED backlight so you can enjoy the latest first-class visual feast.

MSI, a leading high-performance mainboard company, unveil its first gaming series mainboards in Intel P55 platform featuring awe-inspiring graphics and audio functionality to offer serious gamers immersive gaming experience.

The state-of-the-art gaming line is inspired by the mighty Big Bang. Unique and innovative, the all-new Big Bang series will deliver the shock and awe of unprecedented experiences and expand into its own collection of galaxies.

The first Big Bang branded mainboard, Trinergy is designed with eye-catching features such as NVIDIA SLI technology and QuantumWave audio processing with the latest THX TruStudio PC and Creative EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 plus exclusive performance boost design from MSI.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, is excited to add liquid cooling to the world's fastest single GPU: the PowerColor Liquid Cooling Solution (LCS) HD5870 1GB GDDR5. Equipped with the award-winning EK cooling solution, the LCS HD5870 offers outstanding thermal performance in a single slot design, enhancing overclocking and allowing optimum stability.

The PowerColor LCS HD5870 has a full water block mounted on the card, fully covering the memory and power regulator chip. With a copper base design, it is able to reduce temperatures in the most efficient way possible. PowerColor packages a high-flow 3/8" and 1/2" fittings (barbs) to maximize water flow with captured o-rings to prevent leakage. Gamers can easily customize their own liquid cooling system using these two fittings.

Intel Corporation and Numonyx B.V. announced a key breakthrough in the research of phase change memory (PCM), a new non-volatile memory technology that combines many of the benefits of today's various memory types. For the first time, researchers have demonstrated a 64Mb test chip that enables the ability to stack, or place, multiple layers of PCM arrays within a single die. These findings pave the way for building memory devices with greater capacity, lower power consumption and optimal space savings for random access non-volatile memory and storage applications.

The achievements are a result of an ongoing joint research program between Numonyx and Intel that has been focusing on the exploration of multi-layered or stacked PCM cell arrays. Intel and Numonyx researchers are now able to demonstrate a vertically integrated memory cell - called PCMS (phase change memory and switch). PCMS is comprised of one PCM element layered with a newly used Ovonic Threshold Switch (OTS) in a true cross point array. The ability to layer or stack arrays of PCMS provides the scalability to higher memory densities while maintaining the performance characteristics of PCM, a challenge that is becoming increasingly more difficult to maintain with traditional memory technologies.

Intel's Core i7 LGA-1366 performance segment processors is in for another update, past the recent introduction of the Core i7 960 (3.20 GHz). The newest entry replaces the popular Core i7 920, and leverages the company's socket LGA-1366 platform as the ultimate high-performance desktop platform. The Core i7 930, like all processors in the Core i7 900 series, runs on motherboards with the Intel X58 Express chipset. The processor comes with a clock speed of 2.88 GHz. Assuming it retains the base frequency of 133 MHz, we're not entirely sure how 2.88 GHz is worked out with a bus multiplier value that is a whole number. Since the Core i7 930 replaces the i7 920, it is expected to seat itself at the same price point of $299. Since this release comes slightly ahead of that of Intel's "Gulftown" 6-core processor, in Q1 2010, it remains to be seen if this processor continues to be built on the 45 nm HKMG process, or the newer 32 nm one.

ASRock also introduced the M3A785GM-LE/128M, a value socket AM3 motherboard, supporting AMD Phenom II and Athlon II series processors. Built in the micro-ATX form-factor, the M3A785GM-LE/128M is based on the AMD 785G + SB710 chipset. The CPU is powered by a simple 4 phase circuit, and is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots to support up to 8 GB of memory. The AMD 785G northbridge embeds an ATI Radeon HD 4200 class DirectX 10.1 compliant integrated graphics processor, with 128 MB of onboard DDR3 memory across its SidePort memory interface. It makes use of the chipset's features. The expansion slots on this board include one each of PCI-Express 2.0 x16, PCI-E x1, and two PCI slots. The SB710 southbridge provides six internal SATA 3 Gb/s ports. Display connectivity options include DVI-D and D-Sub. 6 channel audio, and gigabit Ethernet make for the rest of the package. Availability and pricing are yet to be known.

Sharkoon has optimized their Dolby-certified 5.1 headset "X-Tatic Digital" and in the process simplified its particular operation. Instead of previously utilizing two power supply units, the X-Tatic Digital requires only one power supply to provide power to the headset and the Sound Control Unit. The compact power supply is also accompanied with a travel adapter for use in the U.S. and UK. Owners of the X-Tatic Digital Revision III, which was shipped with two power supplies, can purchase the newly designed power supply separately and refrain from having to use two bulky power adapters in the future. In addition, Sharkoon has also simplified the headset connection to the X-box controller and no longer comes in its former heat-sealed Blister, but rather in a quick and easy to open re-sealable package.

Whether a PC, Mac, Home-theater System, DVD player, X-box, or Playstation: The Sharkoon X-Tatic Digital can be connected to virtually all analog and digital audio sources. The headset cable ends in a nine-pin analog connector, which is then connected into the enclosed cable adapter to the Sound Control Unit and other digital audio devices. In addition to the optical digital input, the control unit has a USB port that connects to a PC or Playstation. The X-box is connected to the microphone via a 2.5mm headset jack located on the cable port.

Sharkoon introduces two all new high-performance, and quiet, Tower-coolers for the AMD- and Intel-processors. The Sharkoon Silent Eagle CPU cooler options are the Model C92 with a 92mm fan and Model C120 with a 120mm fan. Both provide four U-equalizing 8mm cooling heat pipes and premium aluminium fins for efficient heat dissipation. This is further strengthened by the Direct-Touch-Technology: The heat pipes rest directly on the processor, so that the heat is released directly without having to detour through an extra plate to the cooling fans.

Sharkoon's popular Silent Eagle models utilize an innovative Golf ball surface texture application. The round dimples on the rotor blades minimize air turbulence and provides a boost in air output at the same rotational speed and noise emission. The fans are equipped with a 4-pin PMW connector to automatically regulate over the provided mainboard. The 92mm fan of the C92 model rotates between 350 to 1600 r/min, with a maximum sound volume of 24,8 dB(A) and motion air flow up to 72,9 m³/h. The heat sink, including fan, measures 120 x 92 x 77 mm (H x W x D) and weighs 550 g. The 120mm fan of the larger C120 model rotates between 359 to 1200 r/min and conveys a sound volume under full load of 20 dB(A) with a motion air flow of 83 m³/h. The C120 measures 157 x 125 x 86 (H x W x D) and weighs 755 g.

Acer today introduced the T23H LCD monitor with multi-touch touchscreen capabilities. With a screen area of 23 inches, the monitor provides a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, with a contrast ratio of 80,000:1, maximum brightness of 300 cd/m², and 2 ms response time. The panel provides a viewing angle of 160/160 degrees. It embeds a 1.5 W stereo speaker set. Its input connectivity options include DVI and HDMI.

Buffalo Japan rolled out its newest NAS server offerings: the LinkStation WXL/R1. This 2-bay NAS comes with drives pre-installed, with capacities of 1 TB, 2 TB, and 3 TB. The storage controller supports RAID 0 and RAID 1 modes. Basic DLNA support that makes it friendly with other consumer electonics devices at home. With its gigabit Ethernet interface, it supports transfer speeds of around 40 MB/s. The NAS is also DTCP-IP compliant that lets you store DTCP-IP copyrighted content. It measures 86 (W) x 127 (H) x 204 (D) mm. A USB 2.0 port provides for further expansion of storage by connecting USB mass storage devices (flash drives, external HDDs, etc). Prices start at around $350 for the 1 TB variant, $460 for the 2 TB, and $580 for the 3 TB variants.

Expanding its line-up of premium quality quiet fans, Noctua today introduced its first 140mm model. Following in the footsteps of the successful NF-P12, the new NF-P14 FLX employs a nine blade impeller with Vortex-Control Notches in order to achieve superb quietness and outstanding aerodynamic efficiency. Other features include metal reinforcements for ultimate manufacturing precision as well as Noctua's premium grade SSO-Bearing and SCD2 technology.

"As more and more cases and coolers support 140mm fans, we've been receiving an increased amount of customer requests for a premium grade quiet fan in this size", explains Mag. Roland Mossig, Noctua CEO. "After more than 18 months of development and optimisation, we're proud to respond to this demand with the new NF-P14 FLX. Supporting both 120mm and 140mm mounting, the NF-P14 FLX will not only satisfy those looking for a reference class 140mm fan but also forms an ideal upgrade for 120mm case and CPU fans."

Power Quotient International Co., Ltd. (PQI) announced a new 2.5" portable hard drive, the H560. Breaking traditional rectangular plastic / metallic looks, PQI H560 utilizes special rubber material and unique internal shock-absorption suspension technology; it provides the hard drive with the ultra protection. H560 has endured US military grade drop test, MIL-STD-810F 516.5 procedure IV (transit drop test), proving its durability and sturdiness. PQI H560 has a 2.5 inch SATA interface hard drive, compatible with USB2.0 specifications and is backwards compatible with USB 1.1.

PQI H560 comes with a convenient design where the USB cable is attached and can be stored as one with the drive. It saves the user from always having to bring a USB cable with the drive to establish connection.

Verbatim introduced a new USB/eSATA combo portable SSD. What looks like just another USB stick, which pops its USB connector out with a push of a slider, pops an eSATA connector out from the other side, with the push of the same slider, the other way. Measuring 80 (L) x 23 (W) x 9 (H) mm, and weighing 19 g, the USB/eSATA combo SSD offers 32 GB of storage, with the eSATA interface offering high-performance wherever an eSATA port is available, while the USB 2.0 interface ensures high compatibility. In eSATA mode, the drive offers speeds of 60 MB/s (read) and 25 MB/s (write), which goes down to 26 MB/s (read) and 16 MB/s (write) in USB 2.0 mode. The bundled EasyLock software provides 256-bit AES data encryption. Backed by a 2-year warranty, the Verbatim USB/eSATA Combo SSD sells for 159 EUR.

ASRock introduced a new entry-level, low-cost P55DE3 socket LGA-1156 motherboard, based on the Intel P55 chipset, supporting Intel Core i5 and Core i7 "Lynnfield" processors. Its simple design employs a 4+1 phase power circuit for the CPU VRM, four DDR3 memory slots to support up to 16 GB of memory, that boast of support for DDR3-2400+ by overclocking, two PCI-Express x16 slots, of which the second (orange) slot wired to the P55 PCH and provides electrical PCI-E x4 connection, and two each of PCI-E x1, and PCI. Two of the chipset's six SATA 3 Gb/s ports are permanently assigned as eSATA, with four available internally. The CPU socket area provides mounting holes for LGA-1156 and LGA-775 coolers. Gigabit Ethernet and 8-channel HD audio make for the rest of it. The ASRock P55DE3 is selling for as little as 87 EUR.

Intel has retracted the recently released 02HA Firmware Update for its X25-M solid state drives, in view of the firmware causing the drive to malfunction on systems with Windows 7. Reports suggest that a bug in the firmware causes the drives to stop working. To investigate the issue further, and possibly release a corrective firmware, Intel retracted the software from its website. This is not the first time such a thing has happened. Soon after its release in July, the X25-M Gen 2 54 nm SSDs were diagnosed with a problematic firmware, to which the company had to release corrective firmware two weeks later.

First spotted soon after AMD's release of its flagship ATI Radeon HD 5870 accelerator, Sapphire's HD 5870 Vapor-X has finally taken shape. From the looks of it, the final iteration seems to be slightly different from the CGI drawing that made for the older report. Sapphire's design methodology seems to be revolving around giving AMD's reference PCB better cooling than AMD's own cooler. Perhaps owing to lavish use of high-grade digital-PWM circuitry, there is very little room for improvement, leaving room only for cost-cutting, which surprisingly, doesn't form part of Sapphire's new card.

Unlike an older prototype in which the cooler shroud doesn't seem to be fully covering the PCB, the redesigned shroud fits the PCB like a glove, enhancing its aesthetics. The Vapor-X cooler uses a vapor-chamber design, that accumulates and distributes heat to the cooler better. Aluminum fin blocks on either sides of the GPU block disperse heat under the fan's air-flow. The AMD Cypress GPU that powers it is DirectX 11 compliant, which features 1600 stream processors, and a 256-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface to connect to the 1 GB of memory onboard. Sapphire uses overclocked parameters, 870 MHz core (vs. 850 MHz reference), and 1250 MHz / effective 5.00 GHz memory (vs. 1200 MHz / 4.8 GHz reference). Sapphire's HD 5870 Vapor-X should be out in time for X-Mas.

Mushkin Enhanced is out with a pair of new DDR3 dual-channel and triple-channel memory kits utilizing the the company's new Blackline PC3-12800 high-density 4 GB module. These kits operate at 1333 MHz, with timings of 7-7-7-20, with DRAM voltage of 1.65V. In dual and triple channel kits, they offer 8 and 12 GB of memory, respectively. Below are the details of the kits as listed by the company:

• 996776 - Mushkin Enhanced Blackline PC3-12800 8192 MB Dual Channel Kit CL 7-7-7-20 1.65V
• 998776 - Mushkin Enhanced Blackline PC3-12800 12288 MB Triple Channel Kit CL 7-7-7-20 1.65V

Close to an year after Danamics released its so-perceived revolutionary LM10 liquid-metal CPU cooler, which was shelved a mere two months after its launch, the company is back with its successor. The new Danamics LMX looks bigger, meaner, and more compatible. The principle involves circulating liquid metal through heatpipes in an aluminum fin array. The liquid metal is circulated using an electromagnetic pump, though the unit has a shielded magnetic field that does not interfere with components outside it. The flowing liquid metal disperses heat to parts of the cooler better, resulting in higher cooling performance compared to other forms of air-cooling.

The unit measures 158.2×170.5×90 mm, weighing 1180 g. The heatsink fins are made of nickel-plated aluminum. Two 120 mm fans strapped on to either sides, are made by SilenX. This completely monolithic cooler has snap-on assembly, meaning it's as easy to install as almost any other air-cooler. It supports Intel sockets LGA-1366, LGA-775, and AMD AM3/AM2(+). It is priced at 159 EUR, significantly lower than its predecessor which went for 280 EUR. A flash animation of how the cooler works, among other details, can be accessed here.

HighPoint Technologies - an industry pioneer of innovative SATA and SAS RAID host adapter manufacturing, today unleashes the Rocket 600 series - the industry's first SATA 6 Gb/s host adapter based on PCI-Express 2.0 technology. The Rocket 600 series delivers the next generation of SATA performance with robust SATA connectivity and will be available at the beginning of November 2009.

The Rocket 600 series brings a new level of cost effective pricing and will help drive mass adoption to the next generation of SATA 6 Gb/s technology. They are fully industry standard AHCI (Advanced Host Controller Interface) compliant and deliver Out-of-Box Ready installation for the majority of operating systems. The Rocket 600 series are backward compatible to PCI-Express 1.0 technology and (SATA 3 Gb/s & 1.5 Gb/s) devices. They use the same cable and connectors as previous SATA generations to ease integration.

Both the latest games and 3D applications have stricter requirement on the graphic performance than before and the integrated graphics solution is not powerful enough. AXLE GeForce GT 220 packs 48 processing cores into a compact power efficient design delivering up to 30x the performance* of Intel integrated solutions.

Get all the video processing power that your digital lifestyle requires. Clean up home video 4x faster and post it on Facebook with the AXLE GeForce GT 220 or GeForce 210. Convert your video and put it on your iPod in minutes instead of hours or make your DVDs look like HD. AXLE GeForce GT220 and GeForce 210 can playback any Blu Ray Movie with any modern CPU.

Gigabyte's embracing new technologies such as USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gbps in making motherboards has taken the shape of an entire series of motherboards, which intends to cover every price point the company was eying with its large socket LGA-1156 motherboard lineup. The series is designated by GA-P55A before the model identifier. The series is lead by the high-end GA-P55A-UD6, followed (in order) by GA-P55A-UD5, GA-P55A-UD4P, GA-P55A-UD4, GA-P55A-UD3P, GA-P55A-UD3R, and GA-P55A-UD3. All of these are ATX motherboards. Some of these, such as the UD4s, UD5, and UD6, are multi-GPU friendlier with PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots that split into x8, and share 8 lanes with the next slot, while in lower models, the second PCI-E x16 slot is electrical x4, and wired to the P55 PCH. In all these motherboards, the SATA 6 Gb/s ports are two in number, and are color-coded white. Similarly, USB 3.0 ports on all these models are two in number, and color-coded blue, located on the rear-panel. These motherboards support socket LGA-1156 processors from Intel, currently available as the quad-core Core i5, and Core i7 "Lynnfield" series. It remains unclear whether all of these new models replace the existing GA-P55 series motherboards (that lack USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s) from the market, or somehow coexist at slightly higher price-points. What is certain however, is that you need to pay attention to the model names, and look out for P55A in the model names, since the rest of the nomenclature is identical. Detailed specifications are found in the specs sheets below.

ASUS, in collaboration with NVIDIA and the National Chao Tung University of Taiwan, has introduced the ESC 1000 desktop-sized supercomputer, that harnesses the power of GPGPU, to give out 1.1 TFLOPs of computational power. Enclosed in a 445 x 217.5 x 545 mm chassis (the size of tower server/workstation chassis,) is a system powered by an Intel Xeon W3580 "Nehalem" 3.33 GHz processor, aided by 24 GB of system memory. As many as three NVIDIA Tesla c1060 GPGPU cards are installed, with an NVIDIA Quadro FX 5800 handing graphics. These emphasize that the system is meant for highly complex visual computing, such as in the fields of highly complex modeling, and scientific research. The pricing and availability of the ESC 1000 is not known as yet.

Intel's formidable enterprise-grade solid state drive (SSD) lineup has received an important feature update, which includes a new firmware that adds support for the "Trim" feature on Windows 7, which enhances the drive's stability and extends its service life. This is the second major update for the company's breakthrough 34 nm NAND based X25M Gen.2 SSDs. The first one corrected a major stability issue. These stress the importance for users to keep the drive's firmware up to date. Not only do they correct major issues, but also add to the feature-set. The new firmware update promises an up to 40% increase in sequential write speeds, which will now top 100 MB/s.

For users of older versions of Windows, Intel is providing the SSD Toolbox and SSD Optimizer software, which intend to provide similar levels of reliability, as Windows 7 Trim brings about. The new firmware, with relevant information can be found here, while the SSD Toolbox, and SSD Optimizer can be found here.

Third quarter shipments of graphics processors jumped an amazing 21.2% over Q2, which was already a great quarter clearly signaling the holidays will be robust for PCs and the industry in general. AMD showed the biggest jump in quarter-to-quarter growth at 30% followed by Intel at 21%. Intel shipped the most parts at 63 million, over twice as many as its nearest competitor NVIDIA.

"A total of 119.45 million units were shipped in the third quarter, exceeding the record 111 million units that shipped in Q3, 2008," said Dr. Jon Peddie, president of Jon Peddie Research in Tiburon, California. "So the market has caught up with, and exceeded, last year's highs. The crash of fall 2008 is now behind us."

Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash and computer technology, today announced the release of their new high capacity Class 10 SDHC cards, the LX Series.

Engineered to support the SD Association's new Class 10 specification, the LX will provide dramatic performance improvements in today's new digital devices. Never before have camera enthusiasts been able to capture high speed, sequential images; previously, those shots were lost due to the limitations of the preceding generation of SDHC cards. Patriot's LX Series allows for increased storage and more pictures per second. In addition to the cutting edge improvement on continuous photo taking, the high speed transfer rate of Class 10 also makes video recording in high resolution an option that video enthusiasts can appreciate.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the release of the Kingston SSDNow V Series 40GB Accelerator Drive, the latest addition to its SSDNow V 'Value' family of solid-state drives (SSD). The Kingston SSDNow V Series 40 GB Accelerator Drive is one of the best and most cost-effective ways to accelerate any desktop's start up, shutdown and application load times.

"The SSDNow V Series 40GB Accelerator Drive offers instant performance enhancement and lower power consumption on existing systems at a fraction of the cost of a new system," said Ariel Perez, SSD business manager, Kingston Digital. "In real-world numbers this means that by upgrading with an SSDNow 40GB drive, you can speed up open and close times of web browsers such as Internet Explorer or Firefox, and programs like iTunes or Photoshop by almost 4 times over existing regular desktops hard-disk drives*".

Scythe Group is announcing two new entry-level versions of Katana 3 CPU Cooler. Both new models are offered at a lower price, and are equipped with dedicated mounting bracket and thermal grease. Katana 3 "Type A" (SCKTN-3000A) is compatible to AMD socket 754, 939, 940, AM2(+), AM3 whereas "Type I" (SCKTN-3000I) is compatible to Intel socket 775, 1156 and 1366.

Katana 3 TYPE A & I CPU Cooler is equipped with a genuine Scythe 92 mm fan which supports the PWM feature for flexible fan control by motherboard. Fan speed can be adjusted between 300 to 2,500 rpm which provides airflow of 12 to 95 m³/h respectively 6.7 to 55.55 CFM. By adopting the S.P.S. (Slant Pipe Structure), generated airflow is furthermore effectively used to cool various components such as RAM, Chipset as well as Voltage Regulators.

The inclusion of USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s into the feature-sets of mid-thru-high end motherboards, have sparked off a mini wave of motherboard SKUs carved out on the basis of these features alone. Gigabyte, which recently unveiled its P55A family of socket LGA-1156 motherboards, has just done the same for its high-end socket LGA-1366 motherboard, with the introduction of the GA-EX58-Extreme2. Unlike other motherboards by the company that simply slipped in USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s while retaining essentially the same component layout, the GA-EX58-Extreme2 is a completely new design, that does not look similar to that of its predecessor, the GA-EX58-Extreme.

Gigabyte made use of not one, but two Marvell 88SE9123 2-port 6 Gb/s controllers, to give out four 6 Gb/s ports (color-coded white), all internal. Furthermore, two USB 3.0 controllers have been included to provide four ports. Unlike its predecessor, the GA-EX58-Extreme2 provides four PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (electrical x16, NC, x16, NC; x16, NC, x8, x8; or x8, x8, x8, x8, depending on how they're populated.) The CPU is powered by a 24-phase circuit, and is wired to six DDR3 DIMM slots to support up to 24 GB of memory across a triple-channel interface. The chipset and VRM cooler supports water-cooling. The rest of its feature-set remains in tune with its predecessor: six SATA 3 Gb/s ports, dual gigabit Ethernet, 8-channel audio, and support for both ATI CrossFireX and NVIDIA SLI technologies. Gigabyte may include this into the wave of products it plans to launch ahead of the winter shopping season. A video preview can be watched at the source.

pureSilicon Inc. is now shipping Renegade R2, its latest generation of ruggedized solid-state drives (SSD), designed to deliver uncompromised performance in the harshest conditions. Renegade R2 Series SSDs offer enhanced read and write speeds (sequential read: 255 MB/s; sequential write: 180 MB/s), improved IOPS (random read: 18,000 IOPS @ 4K; random write: 1,200 IOPS @ 4K) and proprietary SiPher data security technology. The drives are available immediately in a wide range of densities (4GB, 8GB, 16 GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB) with SATA II configuration, in a low profile (9.5mm height) 2.5-inch form factor. 256GB, PATA, 1.8-inch form factor, and encryption versions will start shipping in Q1 2010.

"pureSilicon is dedicated to providing high-performance, rugged storage solutions to the defense, military, industrial, and government markets," said Jason Breakstone, founder and CEO of pureSilicon. "While many SSD manufacturers are focusing their efforts on the mass consumer markets, pureSilicon is committed to designing and delivering technologies that will provide significant benefits to our customers such as full-disk encryption and data declassification methods. Renegade R2 is designed to operate in the harshest conditions."

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of world class NAS servers, NVR Video Surveillance Systems, and Network-based Multimedia Players today expanded their Turbo NAS lineup with the addition of the TS-410U rack-mounted NAS server targeted specifically at the SMB and workgroup market segments. The TS-410U features 4 hot-swappable SATA hard drives with up to 8TB of total capacity (with 2TB drives) packaged in a compact 1U rack-mounted chassis. The TS-410U supports 2.5" or 3.5" hard drives, giving users more flexibility in selecting hard drives for installation. The TS-410U features a Marvell 800MHz CPU and 512MB DDRII memory which provides sustained high performance with low power consumption. The TS-410U can be configured for RAID 0/1/5/6/5+ spare, and JBOD with online RAID capacity expansion and online RAID level migration for high data redundancy. The TS-410U also supports iSCSI Target service with Thin Provisioning and dual Gigabit LAN ports with failover and load-balancing, features generally found on much higher end NAS servers. The TS-410U also features 4 USB ports (1 front, 3 back panel) and 2 e-SATA ports for expanding the storage capacity or backing up the TS-410U. The front USB port incorporates a unique "Auto-copy" feature that is activated by a button on the front panel of the TS-410U and will copy the contents of a USB device connected to the front USB port to the NAS.

Trailing the European Union's record 1.45 Billion Dollar penalty against silicon giant Intel for antitrust malpractice in Europe, American antitrust regulators are on the verge of filing their own set of charges against the company, emanating out of similar findings of investigations carried out by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Sources tell BusinessDay that three out of four commissioners on the FTC were in favor of filing a complaint against Intel. FTC's own inquiry opened in June, last year. It could be a matter of weeks, or even months before a vote formalizing FTC's stand on the issue happens.

"Our business practices are lawful and [work] to the benefit of consumers," said Intel spokesperson Chuck Mulloy, in response to the BusinessDay report. "We certainly have been working closely with the FTC as they conduct their investigation. We would hope that the speculation is incorrect ," he added. The US antitrust investigation follows similar investigations that have concluded against the favor of Intel, by the European Union, South Korea, and Japan. Japan's trade commission concluded in 2005 that Intel violated the country's anti-monopoly act. In June last year, South Korea fined Intel about $26m, finding it offered rebates to PC makers in return for not buying AMD microprocessors. EU's investigations yielded similar findings, where the company was fined 1.06 Billion EUR for paying computer makers to postpone or cancel products that use microprocessors made by smaller competitor AMD.

Sapphire's newest mid-range offering is also one of the first non-reference designs of the ATI Radeon HD 5700 series. The company brings the popular Vapor-X cooling technology to the mid-range Radeon HD 5750, along with 1 GB of GDDR5 memory. From the limited visuals of the PCB, we can make that Sapphire has come up with entirely its own PCB design, which is slightly shorter than the AMD reference Radeon HD 5700 board. The center of attraction, the cooler, consists of a sporty cooler shroud, under which, is a Vapor-X GPU cooler. A GPU contact block with a Vapor chamber acts as a large heatpipe, uniformly conveying heat to the heatsink above it, which is cooled by a fan. The connectivity cluster is standard: two DVI-D, and one each of DisplayPort, and HDMI (with 7.1 channel audio). Under the hood, the Radeon HD 5750 packs 720 stream processors, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface. Sapphire gave its Vapor-X accelerator slightly overclocked settings: core running at 710 MHz (core, reference: 700 MHz), 1160 MHz (memory, reference 1150 MHz). Slated for early November, the Sapphire HD 5750 Vapor-X 1 GB will be priced slightly higher than the reference-design accelerators already available.

After releasing a wave of socket LGA-1156 motherboards under the P7P55D series, ASUS is ready with its newest socket LGA-1366 offering, based on the Intel X58 Express chipset, supporting Core i7 "Bloomfield" processors. The P6X58D Premium first surfaced back in July, but hit development roadblocks due to industry-wide issues with the SATA 6 Gb/s controller it used, which now seem to have been ironed-out. It brings to the table support for new technologies such as USB 3.0, and SATA 6 Gb/s, along with making use of the company's Xtreme Phase motherboard component design. The two SATA 6 Gb/s ports are color-coded white, and placed next to the SATA 3 Gb/s ports color-coded blue, provided by the ICH10R southbridge. The white ports are driven by a Marvell SATA 6 Gb/s controller. The two USB 3.0 ports on the other hand, are color-coded blue, and are placed next to the PS/2 connectors on the rear-panel. They are driven by an NEC-made controller.

The LGA-1366 socket is powered by a 16-phase circuit. The six DDR3 memory slots support up to 24 GB of DDR3 memory across a triple-channel (192-bit) memory interface. Components, heatsinks, and slots on the board stick to the blue/white/black color-scheme. Heatsinks over the VRM, northbridge, and southbridge are connected by heatpipes. Expansion slots include three PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrically x16, x8, x8, or x16, x16, NC, depending on how they're populated), two PCI, and one PCI-Express x1. Connectivity includes two gigabit Ethernet interfaces, USB 3.0, FireWire, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. ASUS-exclusive features include Precision Tweaker 2 (that provides voltage control with a fine-resolution), Stepless Frequency Selection, and ASUS CPU Parameter Recall. The new motherboard should reach markets this November.

S3 Graphics　announced the latest addition to its power-efficient embedded graphics processor family, with the unveiling of the OpenCL 1.0 capable Chrome 5400E GPGPU processor. The S3 Graphics 5400E will be unveiled at the Electronic Manufacturer Exposition (eMEX), October 22nd - 25th, in Suzhou, China at the Suzhou International Expo Center, Hall 4A, Booth No. 4K08.

OpenCL is an open, cross-platform standard used to harness the power of a GPUs internal shaders to accelerate parallel computations in applications ranging from scientific, medical, and other high performance computing (HPC) markets. The native OpenCL engine in the 5400E GPU enables our partners to go beyond graphics and video, and penetrate these diverse HPC markets.

Acer released its newest PC display, the S243HLbmii. This 24 inch widescreen LCD display sports a futuristic design, and is only 14.5 mm thick. Some of its biggest selling points apart from the design include LED illumination that consumes a mere 17.2W during normal operation, a 65% reduction in energy consumption, compared to LCDs with conventional CFL illumination. The illumination isn't the conventional LED backlit either. The W-LED technology it uses provides a dynamic contrast ratio of 8,000,000:1 (static remains at 1,000:1), with a maximum brightness of 250 cd/m². The native screen resolution is 1920 x 1080, with a response time of 2 ms (GTG). Concealed in the frame, are the two 1W speakers. Display input connectivity includes D-Sub, and two HDMI connectors. It has started selling in Japan for 33,000¥ (240€).

DFI releases the new ES951 fanless embedded system equipped with the 3.5" subcompact NP951-B16C SBC. Featuring an Intel Atom N270 Processor and Intel 945GSE / ICH7M chipset with low power consumption, the ES951 is ideal for embedded computing applications requiring a compact passively-cooled platform.

The NP951-B16C SBC features up to 2GB of system memory using one 200-pin DDR2 400/533MHz SO-DIMM, VGA display port, and 24-bit HD audio with S/PDIF I/O support. The compact embedded system is constructed of electro-galvanized cold-rolled steel and aluminum, with provision for use in wall mount or desktop applications. It is supplied with a universal 60-watt power adaptor for use with 100-240 VAC at 50-60Hz line input.

World-class IT manufacturer MSI, a consumer-focused company, is devoted to making products of the highest quality with the most innovative technologies. MSI is the first manufacturer to offer Windows 7 pre-installed in its all-new G Series GT640 and GT740 gaming notebook models. Using the latest Intel Core i7 quad core processor and upgraded hardware & software packages allows consumers to immediately appreciate the robust functionality, efficiency, appearance, and user-friendly interface of the new operating system.

MSI is the first to release pre-installed Windows 7 in its new models. With newly evolved hardware and software, consumers have a chance to be the first to appreciate the advantages of the Windows 7 operating system. Not only do the GT740, GT640 and the Classic Series model CR610 come pre-installed with Windows 7, MSI has preemptively had its entire range of notebook computers undergo WHQL testing in order to receive Windows 7 X86 and X64 compatibility certification. These certifications guarantee 100% stability and ensure consumers can safely upgrade to the newest Windows OS.

Staying ahead of NVIDIA and its own series of similar software, EVGA released the 18th edition of its SLI Enhancement Patch. The SLI Enhancement Patch is a piece of software that adds SLI profiles of usually new games to the NVIDIA GeForce driver. SLI profiles optimize help applications take advantage multiple NVIDIA GPUs installed in an SLI setup. Version 18 of the software is based on NVIDIA GeForce 191.07 drivers. It adds or enhances SLI support for the following games. Registered EVGA users (registration is free) can download the software from here.

• Enables SLI support for Borderlands
• Enables SLI support for Painkiller: Resurrection
• Enables SLI support for Wolfenstein Demo
• Enables SLI support for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
• Enables SLI support for G-Force
• Enables SLI support for FIFA Soccer 2010
• Enables SLI support for League of Legends: Clash of Fates
• Enables SLI support for NHL 2009
• Enables SLI support for Order of War
• Enables SLI support for Race On
• Enables SLI support for Star Trek: D-A-C

NZXT expanded its Classic Series of PC cases with the Gamma. This all-black ATX mid-tower intends to provide the essentials of casing the PC of today, while attempting to be creative with its bezel design to the extant possible. It measures 190 X 449 X 508 mm (W x H x D), and weighs 6 kg. The case material is steel, including a dash of meshed steel in the front-panel. The front-panel includes four 5.25" drive bays, audio, USB, and eSATA connectors, and perforated steel to cover the front intake fan.

The interiors are all-black, with seven internal 3.5" drive bays. Apart from openings that help in cable management, the motherboard tray has an opening that makes working with CPU coolers with back-plates easier. The ventilation system provides a lot of room for expansion: a 120 mm intake fan, two side 120 mm fans, a rear 120 mm, and another two 140 or 120 mm fans on top. Ports for water-tubing are included. It is available in Europe, for a price of 39.90 EUR.

Today Microsoft Corp. announced the worldwide availability of its new Windows 7 operating system. Windows 7 delivers on a simple premise: make it easier for people to do the things they want on a PC. The new operating system offers a streamlined user interface and significant new features that make everyday tasks easier and allow people to get the most out of computers of all styles and sizes.

"With Windows 7, there's never been a better time to be a PC," said Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer. "Together with our partners, we're bringing more choice, flexibility and value to the market than ever before. With Windows 7, you're sure to find a PC that fits your life."

AMD released the latest version of its ATI Catalyst software suite. Version 9.10 WHQL brings with it official support for the company's newest ATI Radeon HD 5800 series graphics processors, adds features that enhance usability under Windows 7, along with the usual list of bug fixes. The driver also adds support for Super Sample Anti-Aliasing, for Radeon HD 5800 GPUs. A complete list of changes can be read in the release notes document. The most important of them are listed below:

• ATI Catalyst 9.10 now includes full GPU support for the award winning ATI HD Radeon 5800 series GPUs.
• Provides support for a new Anti-Aliasing method on the ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series. Users can now experience the high level of anti-aliasing image quality using Super Sampling anti-aliasing while maintaining good performance levels
• Adds GPU acceleration for the Windows 7 Drag and Drop video converting application

DOWNLOAD: ATI Catalyst 9.10 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 32-bit | Windows 7/Vista 64-bit | Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit

PC water-cooling components specialist Danger Den is almost ready with its water-block compatible with AMD's upcoming dual-GPU accelerator codenamed "Hemlock". Almost, since the base-plate of the water-block has already been designed and molded, which makes for most of the product in itself, requiring only the top, its sealing, and fittings. The monolithic, full-coverage block base is made of copper. Its top portion reveals its intricately carved water channels. The copper grooves over the areas of the block which make contact with some of the most important components such as the GPU, memory, and bridge chip, increase area of heat dissipation. The block is CrossFire certified, and weighs about 3.00 lbs / 1.37 kg. Danger Den is waiting for an engineering sample from AMD, so it can complete running tests, and name its block after getting clarity on what AMD ends up naming Hemlock. AMD's new flagship graphics accelerator is expected to arrive in time for the crucial X-Mas shopping season.

Following the success of its VPC100 All-in-One PC, ViewSonic Corp., a leading global provider of visual display and computing products, today introduced its VOT132 PC mini. A smarter and greener computing solution, the VOT132 uses up to 80% less energy and up to 45% less plastic than traditional tower PCs, offering consumers a viable alternative computing solution.

Weighing just over a pound, the VOT132 PC mini comes standard with the latest Windows 7 Home Premium operating system and Intel Atom 330 processor. Teamed with 2GB of internal memory and built-in Wi-Fi, the VOT132 is ideal for efficient, home office computing. For those seeking enhanced display performance, the VOT132 also comes equipped with the latest NVIDIA ION GPU, making it an excellent device for ensuring smooth, 1080p HD display quality for the ultimate multimedia entertainment experience.

A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd., a worldwide leading manufacturer in high-performance DRAM modules and flash application products, today announces that its A-DATA standard DRAM modules are now adopting the latest DNA authentication technology, in order to protect its intellectual property of DRAM modules against counterfeiting and fraud.

The DNA authentication technology involves the embedded sequence of a unique DNA in the product label. In addition, A-DATA uses this technology in conjunction with advanced identification systems, to provide an effective solution in cause of protecting consumers' rights, and the intellectual property of A-DATA as a quality manufacturer of DRAM modules.

VisionTek Products announced a technology partnership with Bigfoot Networks today in conjunction with the North American launch of the VisionTek Killer Xeno Pro Gaming Network Card. The introduction of this revolutionary gaming network card takes gaming to the next level with performance designed to enhance the online multiplayer experience. This new hardware caters to the growing online PC gaming audience and includes custom bandwidth controls to tailor the game play experience to the user's needs. When the dedicated Network Processing Unit (NPU) was born in the labs of Bigfoot Networks, VisionTek made plans to join forces for their next technology launch.

"My technology roots are grounded in the GPU, as the quintessential PC gaming hardware upgrade," said Michael Innes, COO & EVP of VisionTek Products, LLC, "It's too early to say that the NPU will overcome the GPU, but I do know it feels a lot like the advent of the PC graphics card. One thing is certain, online gaming is the dominant factor keeping the PC gaming platform alive."

Mionix, manufacturer of professional high-end gaming gear today announced their new gaming mousepad Mionix Sargas, an uncoated gaming mousepad with a unique micro fibre technology that gives more control over the movements without compromising tracking performance. Mionix Sargas comes in 3 sizes, to meet the requirements from all type of gaming styles and desktop size.

The Mionix Sargas is made of a durable cloth material with slightly more friction than coated mousepads. A special micro fibre surface counteracts data loss and improves the sensor tracking performance. The underside is made of a rubber-based material offering a firm grip irrespective of the surface under the mousepad or extensive movements.

EVGA and NVIDIA are readying a unique multi-GPU graphics accelerator this Halloween, slated for October 30. To celebrate its launch, the two have organized a launch party for 300 lucky participants who will go to the NVIDIA Plaza in Santa Clara, CA and witness the launch of the new GeForce product. The accelerator packs two GPUs: a G200b, and a G92b. That's right, a GeForce GTX 200 series GPU, with a GeForce GTS 250 GPU. This is perhaps the first graphics accelerator to pack two entirely different GPUs. How it works, however, is interesting: the G200b GPU handles graphics, while the G92b is dedicated to PhysX processing. The accelerator could have 896 MB of graphics memory, with 512 MB of dedicated memory for the PhysX GPU. You can sign up for the event here.

Flash memory leading manufacturer Silicon Power, officially released a "Stylish USB Reader & M2 Combo Pack" to the masses. The combo pack is designated for the needs of modern day digital handheld devices. The M2 card is available in several capacities and the inclusion of the USB reader allows users to access all recorded data from the M2 card. Whether the data is recorded by your mobile phone, PDA, camera, etc., users can conveniently access all data on it.

Silicon Power's M2 card & USB reader combo pack offers users flexibility and storage space to capture their favorite snapshot, record their exciting moment or simply just store everyday data. The stylish USB reader needs not use any cables, just plug in the M2 card, plug the reader into your PC and you're good to go! Use the M2 card for your digital hand held devices or plug it into the USB reader and use it like a USB flash drive but once unplugged, the milky-white reader turns into a decorative accessory with its simple and elegant looks. Just attach it to your purse or keychain, it is easy to carry and serves a decorative purpose.

Flash memory manufacturer Silicon Power, follows their success of the Armor A10, a silicon rubber protected portable hard disk drive with an ultra protected portable hard disk drive that derived from similar concepts, the Armor A50. Set to be unleashed on Oct. 21, the Armor A50 further expands the concept of the A10. The result is a shock proof and ultra rugged portable hard disk drive with an elegant aluminum construction. It adds more option to the existing portable hard disk drive lineup.

In compliance with US MIL-STD-810F (transit drop test), it was tested for product dropped directly onto a concrete floor (or harder surface); on a drop-test machine, the product freefalls from a height of 122cm and from the freefall; there are 26 contact points (8 corners, 12 cut surfaces and 6 major surfaces) that were tested.

Acer America today announced its new Aspire 5738DG - an innovative notebook with 3D viewing technology. Featuring advanced display capabilities, high-definition graphics engine, premium Intel Core 2 Duo processor and Dolby Surround sound, the Aspire 5738DG delivers cinematic images that literally pop from the screen, while maintaining the performance and productivity features of a desktop replacement notebook.

Introduced with the exciting new Windows 7 Home Premium operating system, the new Acer Aspire 5738DG 3D notebook will be available this week at select retailers. "This holiday season, we are seeing 3D content become more prevalent in popular films and games," said Ray Sawall, senior manager of product marketing for Acer America. "The new Acer Aspire 5738DG notebook enables consumers to enjoy exciting new 3D entertainment on a mobile PC that can also replicate a 3D experience from standard 2D content. This product upholds Acer's strong tradition of combining innovation with value by delivering leading-edge technology at an affordable price that makes it accessible to the average consumer."

Intel's socket LGA-1156 quad-core processors are closely trailed by the company's first processors based on the 32 nm manufacturing process: Core i5 and Core i3 "Clarkdale" dual-core processors. Engineering samples of these processors were evaluated as early as Q2 2009, but one of the first attempts to show the processors' overclocking potential using air-cooling was made very recently. Even prior to that, a low-voltage overclocking feat by Coolaler showed how engineering samples didn't particularly struggle reaching clock speeds close to 4.00 GHz with vCore as low as 0.832V. Romanian tech community Lab501. Lab501 community leader "Monstru" tested the overclocking headroom of a Core i5 650 LGA-1156 dual-core processor (engineering sample) with air-cooling.

The test-bed included a Gigabyte P55 motherboard, the Core i5 650 processor was cooled by a Noctua NH-U12P, onto which a Coolink SWIF 2 120P fan was strapped. A clock speed of 4.70 GHz (25 x 188 MHz) was achieved (nearly 50% over the stock clock speed of 3.20 GHz). A core voltage of 1.424V was used. A point here to note however, is that the retail Core i5 650 will come with an upwards-locked bus frequency multiplier of 24 (24 x 133 MHz = 3.20 GHz). The processor at 4.70 GHz, was Prime95-stable for over 30 minutes. With an ambient temperature of 24 °C, the two cores heated up to 77 and 68 °C, not to forget that the processor was being air-cooled. Although with the use of an engineering sample (since the retail launch of this processor is tentatively three months away), the scope for inference of this feat is limited, it gives you a coarse indication that Intel is keeping the trend of ferociously fast dual-core processors alive. High(er) overclocking headroom on air-cooling is the fruition of the 32 nm process. Slated for Q1 2010, the siblings (and cousins) of the Core i5 650 include Core i5 660/661 (3.33 GHz, HTT), Core i5 670 (3.46 GHz, HTT), Core i3 540 (3.06 GHz, no HTT), Core i3 530 (2.93 GHz, no HTT), and Pentium G6950 (2.80 GHz, no HTT). Details of the series can be found here.

Albatron Technology recently released 42-inch Albatron Optical Touch Monitor (OTM). Adopting optical touch technology that put a camera on the screen above left and right to detect the movement of fingers, Albatron OTM has no problem for the limit of touch panel size. Compared to the traditional resistive touch screen, Albatron OTM is more sensitive, accurate and durable and, of course, its price is very competitive. Furthermore, with advantages of Microsoft Windows 7 support, Albatron 42-inch optical touch monitor will bring consumers excellent multi-touch experience.

ASUS CrossLink Cable syncs data, allows optical disc drive sharing and makes file management easy. The new easy-to-use and lightweight ASUS CrossLink cable offers a highly efficient way of transferring and synchronizing data, as well as sharing Internet access and optical disc drive (ODD) functions. With its flexible and customizable file management system, users can organize their data with minimal effort, as well as synchronize their emails, contacts, calendar entries, journals, tasks and notes. Doubling as a removable flash drive, the CrossLink cable comes in two colors-black and white. The black version is equipped with 2GB storage and features a full suite of PC functions, while the white option is available in 2GB or 4GB storage, and can be used on both PC and Macintosh platforms.

Cooler Master is ready to ship the HAF 932 AMD Edition case. This case combines the popular case by the company with AMD Dragon Platform branding, which includes a fixed case-badge of the Phenom II processor on the front panel, fire-engine red front bezel, and AMD Dragon graphics printed on the window pane, which is now larger, and lacks the 230 mm fan. The intake and top fans are illuminated red. Besides these, the specifications remain the same as the original design: 243 by 560 by 564 mm full-ATX tower, with six 5.25" drive bays, detachable HDD racks, "high air-flow" ventilation that includes fan intakes on the front and bottom, with exhausts on the rear and top. Fans include 230 mm fans on the front and top, 140 mm exhaust on the rear. The Cooler Master HAF 932 AMD Edition has started to appear in the EU for around 165 EUR.

Dell's recently released SX2210T monitor is one of the first standalone HD monitors to come with multi-touch capabilities. The 21.5 inch display comes to rescue of anyone who wants multi-touch capability several recent all-in-one PCs are mushrooming up with, on their existing PCs. Its display features include a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, 2 ms grey-to-grey response time, 1000:1 contrast ratio, and display input connectivity that includes DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. With its built in USB hub that connects to the PC, the monitor provides three USB ports, drives the 2 megapixel fixed webcam, and drives the multi-touch touchscreen component. Available for US $469 on Dell's online store, the monitor provides support for multi-touch panning and zooming when attached to a machine with Windows 7.

NVIDIA, inventor of the graphics processing unit (GPU), and mental images, world leader in rendering technologies, introduced today the NVIDIA RealityServer platform for cloud computing, a powerful combination of GPUs and software that streams interactive, photo-realistic 3D applications to any web connected PC, laptop, netbook and smart phone.

NVIDIA RealityServer - the culmination of nearly 40 collective years of hardware and software engineering by NVIDIA and mental images - enables developers to create a new generation of consumer and enterprise 3D web applications, all with remarkable levels of photo-realism.

Patriot Memory, a global pioneer in high-performance memory, NAND flash and computer technology, today announced the release of GearBox; a device that can make any USB 2.0 flash device an instant NAS resource.

GearBox is a simple and convenient way to connect, share and stream your multimedia files in a small economical form factor. Armed with two USB 2.0 connections and boasting features like FTP, Print Server and UPnP support, GearBox has the functionality of larger NAS devices but at the fraction of size and more importantly, cost. Just plug in any USB flash device and instantly get access to your files through your network at your home, work or even across the globe.

In the run up for Intel's Core i5 and Core i7 "Lynnfield" socket LGA-1156 processors, it was known that Intel will be trailing the launch with a few energy-efficient variants, that come with lower rated TDPs. Two of these, namely Core i5 750S, and Core i7 860S have made it to Coolaler's lab for a quick check up. Unlike other energy-efficient variants from Intel, in the past, such as Core 2 Quad Q9550S, these parts feature lower clock-speeds compared to their standard counterparts.

The Core i5 750S comes with a clock speed of 2.40 GHz (19.0 x 133 MHz) with a Turbo Boost speed of 3.20 GHz, and the Core i7 860S runs at 2.53 GHz, with 3.46 GHz of Turbo Boost speed. Both processors as a result, have lower TDPs of 82W, compared to 95W on the Core i5 and Core i7 "Lynnfield" processors currently in the market. They are slated for Q1 2010. Coolaler used the Turbo Boost mode to overclock these chips. The Core i7 860S with its Turbo Boost multiplier of 26.0, reached 4.536 GHz (26 x 174.47 MHz, vCore at 1.32V), while the Core i5 750S reached 3.441 GHz (24 x 143.4 MHz, vCore at 1.32V). Both were seated on an ASUS P7P55D Deluxe motherboard, with one 2 GB DDR3 memory module.

Transcend Information, Inc., a global leader in storage and multimedia products, introduces its first portable CD/DVD writer, offering customers a slim and stylish choice to go with their thin-and-light laptops-or even netbooks-for more diverse entertainment and enhanced productivity.

As notebook computers become increasingly smaller and lighter, built-in CD or DVD drives and writers are often not included. Transcend's new 8X slim portable CD/DVD writer was created specifically for use with compact notebooks, and features an ultra-thin and sleek design, making it stylish, compact and easy to carry around. No external power adapter is needed, as the CD/DVD writer is entirely USB powered, drawing its electric power directly from the computer's USB ports. Whether relaxing at home or traveling abroad, notebook users now have the freedom to enjoy DVD movies, install essential software or create data backup discs anytime, anywhere.

Lenovo today unveiled five new ThinkVision monitors that advance "green" design and usability while providing an unmatched visual-rich experience. The new line-up includes Lenovo's flagship ThinkVision L2251x Wide monitor, the company's most environmentally-responsible monitor for its use of recycled plastics, low power consumption and first PC monitor to be TCO Certified Edge. As Lenovo's greenest monitors yet, the new ThinkVision L1711p, L1951p Wide, L2250p Wide, L2251p Wide and L2251x Wide extend Lenovo's environmental product commitment to "Reduce. Reuse. and Recycle." All the new monitors are TCO Certified, EPEAT Gold Rated and are more than 50 percent more energy-efficient than previous models, exceeding the Energy Star 5.0 criteria.

"By establishing high standards for environmental responsibility and usability for PC monitors, TCO Certified Edge is helping encourage manufacturers to produce and customers to adopt greener technology," said Tom Shell, vice president, Visuals Business Unit, Lenovo. "TCO Certified Edge products like the ThinkVision L2251x Wide monitor illustrate how designing for energy and materials efficiency helps the environment and customers' IT budgets."

Apple gave its flagship desktop computer, the iMac a healthy specifications update that warps the iMac right back into competing with the PCs of this generation. The update involves introducing two new models, a 21.5-inch one, and another massive 27-inch model, to replace the existing 20 and 24-inch offerings, respectively. The major update aims to achieve giving the iMac a true widescreen display that is at least full HD capable, powerful hardware including the advent of quad-core processors to the iMac, and a host of changes to the hardware and peripherals. Prices start at $1199.

To begin with, the 21.5-inch model features a 16:9 full HD display with a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, while the 27-inch model comes with 2560 x 1440 pixels resolution. The displays on both use IPS panels that provide a viewing angle as wide as 178°, with high color fidelity. The displays use LED backlit for uniform, instant-on illumination. Such technologies we previously found on Apple's high-end Cinema displays. Both feature enclosures that are distinctively "wide-screen", and slim at that. Both feature all-aluminum backs.

Lexar Media, a leading global provider of memory products for digital media, today announced it will offer the Lexar Professional 600x CompactFlash (CF) card, a new memory card that provides enhanced speed and performance for professional photographers and advanced photo enthusiasts capturing high-definition images and videos on digital SLRs. The Lexar Professional 600x CF memory card will offer increased speed and performance, with a guaranteed minimum sustained write speed capability of 600x (90MB/s) when paired with a UDMA 6 enabled device. In addition, the Lexar Professional 600x CF memory card increases workflow with minimum sustained read speeds of 533x (80MB/s), or faster when paired with a UDMA 6-enabled reader such as the new Lexar Professional ExpressCard CompactFlash Reader.

Available in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities, the Lexar Professional 600x CF card will significantly improve in-camera performance by rapidly clearing a camera's buffer and making fast cameras even faster so photographers can keep shooting. In addition, increased image transfer speeds from card-to-computer will help reduce post-production time and enable shooters to focus on the business of photography. For additional information about the Lexar Professional 600x CF card or Lexar Professional ExpressCard CompactFlash reader, visit Lexar.

Japanese firm Iiyama announced the ProLite E2210HD S Series 21.5 inch full HD monitor. It comes with a native resolution of 1920 x 1080 pixels, with a maximum brightness of 250 cd/m², response time of 2 ms, static and average contrast ratios of 1,000:1 and 20,000:1, respectively. The Eco Panel feature decreases energy consumption by up to 41.5 percent. Its input connectivity options include the usual DVI-D (HDCP capable), HDMI, and D-Sub.

Bringing affordability to the ultraportable notebook platform, Acer America today announced the new Acer Aspire AS1410 Series. These new notebooks integrate enough power for enjoying digital entertainment in a very sleek, stylish design for just $US399.

"With the rising popularity of social networking, consumers are more connected than ever to the online world," said Ray Sawall, senior manager of product marketing for Acer America. "When it comes to selecting a notebook, they're increasingly concerned with size, weight and style. The AS1410 Series is small enough to be carried in a backpack or even a large purse but with enough power for spreadsheets and presentations. Aggressively priced, the AS1410 is an affordable mobile solution for checking Twitter updates, viewing YouTube videos and handling productivity applications on a plane, at school or a coffee house. Those in the market for a netbook should consider this notebook as an option, due to the step up in processing power."

AMD expanded its value processor lineup under the Athlon II banner, with as many as eight new models. The list includes energy-efficient quad-core models, inexpensive triple-core ones, and budget dual-core offerings. All models are based on socket AM3, and are compatible with AM2(+) sockets. The dual-channel memory controllers on these chips support both DDR2 and DDR3 memory standards. This expansion clearly demarcates the target market of the Athlon II series: sub $150.

The quad-core Athlon II X4 parts are based on the Propus die, which has 512 KB of dedicated L2 cache per core, and a HyperTransport 4.0 GT/s system interface. The new Athlon II X3 triple-core models are most likely produced by disabling one of the four cores on the Propus die. The energy efficient Athlon II parts come with the "e" suffix for the model number, and offer lower rated TDP. Following are the details of these new parts:

• Athlon II X2 235e: 2.70 GHz, 2 MB (2 x 1 MB) L2 cache, 45W TDP, US $69
• Athlon II X2 240e: 2.80 GHz, 2 MB (2 x 1 MB) L2 cache, 45W TDP, US $77
• Athlon II X3 400e: 2.20 GHz, 1.5 MB (3 x 512 KB) L2 cache, 45W TDP, US $97
• Athlon II X3 405e: 2.30 GHz, 1.5 MB (3 x 512 KB) L2 cache, 45W TDP, US $102
• Athlon II X3 425: 2.70 GHz, 1.5 MB (3 x 512 KB) L2 cache, 95W TDP, US $76
• Athlon II X3 435: 2.90 GHz, 1.5 MB (3 x 512 KB) L2 cache, 95W TDP, US $87
• Athlon II X4 600e: 2.20 GHz, 2 MB (4 x 512 KB) L2 cache, 45W TDP, US $133
• Athlon II X4 605e: 2.30 GHz, 2 MB (4 x 512 KB) L2 cache, 45W TDP, US $143

CoolIT Systems, of the Domino A.L.C. CPU cooler fame, has detailed plans of another turnkey water-cooling system, this time for the ATI Radeon HD 5870 graphics card. The water-cooling system is factory-assembled, requiring you to merely install the water-blocks on the graphics cards, and placing the radiator, which triples up as the reservoir and pump, in an appropriate location.

From the CGI drawings that the company released, it looks like a single unit of this water-cooling system will be able to cool two Radeon HD 5870 cards. The radiator unit looks to be as big as most radiators that can hold two 120 mm fans per side. The water-blocks look to be full-coverage (on the obverse side of the PCB), and monolithic, while the reverse side of the PCB seems to need to rely on AMD's back-plate. In the upcoming 2 GB variant of the Radeon HD 5870, the back-plate will find greater utility. Water-cooling typically provides higher overclocking headroom, and lower effective noise output. CoolIT's Radeon HD 5870 WC system will be unveiled today at the AMD Technical Forum & Exhibition 2009 in Taipei.

Intel silently made its newest addition to the Core i7 desktop processor family official: the Core i7 960. This socket LGA-1366 processor is designed to work on motherboards with the Intel X58 Express chipset. After Intel's gradual replacement of the Core i7 965 Extreme Edition with the Core i7 975 Extreme Edition, there remained a scope for a non-XE Core i7 model with the same clock-speed as the i7 965 XE, albeit with an upwards locked bus frequency multiplier.

The Core i7 960 comes clocked at 3.20 GHz (24.0 x 133 MHz), with a maximum Turbo Boost speed of 3.43 GHz. It has four processing cores, and with the HyperThreading Technology, provides the operating system with eight logical CPUs. It comes with a QuickPath Interconnect speed of 4.8 GT/s, and supports up to 24 GB of memory with its triple-channel (192-bit wide) DDR3 memory interface. Each processing core has a dedicated L2 cache of 256 KB, while an 8 MB L3 cache is shared between all four cores. It is built on the 45 nm HKMG process, with a TDP of 130W.

The Core i7 960 is touted to displace the Core i7 950 from its existing price-point of around US $562 (in 1000 unit tray quantities). As evidence of that, popular American retailer Newegg.com has listed the OEM part (chip-only) at $589.99, a mere $10 higher than the retail box of the Core i7 950 listed on the same store.

Active Media Products, manufacturer of SSDs and innovative USB drives, today announced imminent arrival of a line of Predator-X7 2.5-inch SATA-II 3Gbps Windows 7 compatible SSDs built with the new Jmicron JM612 controller.

Predator X7 SSDs will be offered in capacities from 32GB to 256GB. At the heart of these SSDs is the JMF612 controller, which boasts numerous advances in features and performance. The 8-channel flash controller combined with 128MB of DRAM cache achieves sequential read speeds up to 230MB/sec and sequential write speeds up to 180MB/sec. "One big advantage of this controller is its support for a USB 2.0 port, which can be used for cloning the contents of your old hard drive onto the Predator X7. The mini USB port makes installation and setup a lot faster and easier." stated Active Media Products' VP of Sales, Jerry Thomson.

The new Gateway EC Series notebook PCs debut today in two of the most popular sizes for today's busy computer users - 15.6-inch mainstream size for productivity maximizers and the 11.6-inch ultraportable size for road warriors - both delivering up to eight hours of battery life. The new Gateway EC Series models will both be available this week in retail stores nationwide with the launch of Windows 7.

The new Gateway EC58, EC54 and EC14 notebook PC lines deliver all-day productivity, reliable wireless connectivity and 6-8 hours(1) of battery life, so customers can get more done while away from their home or office. Plus, the Gateway EC models let customers go longer without having to recharge, reducing energy consumption and making them very environmentally friendly.

When designing solid-state storage for enterprise applications, standard SLC NAND has been the technology of choice because of its reliability and endurance. But customers are often challenged on how to cost-effectively reach their capacity requirements. Micron Technology, Inc. is meeting customers' requirements by announcing today that it has leveraged its award-winning 34nm NAND process to manufacture an MLC Enterprise NAND device, which provides enterprise organizations a way to cost-effectively and reliably double their flash-based enterprise storage capacity (since MLC provides twice the capacity in the same die size as SLC). Micron's new MLC Enterprise NAND device achieves 30,000 write cycles - a 6x increase in endurance when compared to standard MLC NAND. And for enterprise applications that are more performance driven, Micron today also introduced a 34nm SLC Enterprise NAND device that achieves 300,000 write cycles - a 3x increase in endurance when compared to standard SLC NAND.

Additionally, leveraging the full performance capability of NAND, Micron's newest Enterprise NAND products also support the ONFI 2.1synchronous interface, delivering a 4- to 5x improvement in data transfer rates when compared to legacy NAND interfaces. Micron's 34nm Enterprise NAND portfolio includes a 32Gb MLC NAND chip and a 16Gb SLC NAND chip that can be configured into multi-die, single packages supporting densities up to 32GB MLC and 16GB SLC, respectively. Micron is now sampling its Enterprise NAND products with customers and controller manufacturers, and is expected to be in volume production in early 2010. For further explanation on Micron's Enterprise NAND products, visit Micron's Innovations blog to catch a video that describes how Micron leveraged its mature 34nm NAND process to achieve these levels of reliability.

Antec is readying the newest member of its Hundred series gaming PC cases, the Six Hundred. This is the sixth case in the series, following the Nine Hundred, Twelve Hundred, Nine Hundred Two, Three Hundred, and Two Hundred. This mid-sized ATX tower case is expected to fill the gap between the Three Hundred and Nine Hundred. It measures 491 (H) x 212 (W) x 492 (D) mm, and weights 6.9 kg. There are three exposed 5.25" drive bays, one exposed 3.5" bay, and five internal 3.5" bays. The front bezel provides enough breathing-room for its two front 120 mm fans. The side panel is windowed, and the window is perforated to hold a fan over the expansion slot area of the motherboard. One 120 mm fan ventilates the case from the rear-panel, while a large 200 mm TriCool blue LED-illuminated fan ventilates it from the top. The utility panel that holds buttons, and front-panel connectors is located at the top. The PSU bay is in its rightful place, at the bottom, and two ports for water-cooling tubing are located next to the seven expansion brackets. The Six Hundred is listed for pre-order in Europe, priced at 60.80 EUR.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of world class NAS servers, NVR Video Surveillance Systems, and Network-based Video Players today expanded their Turbo NAS lineup with the addition of the TS-110 desktop NAS server for home and SOHO users. The TS-110 supports a single 3.5" SATA hard drives with up to 2TB of total capacity and features a Marvell 800MHz CPU and 256MB DDRII memory which provides solid performance with low power consumption. The TS-110 can be configured with QNAP's exclusive Q-RAID 1 for high data redundancy. The TS-110 also supports advanced features such as iSCSI Target service with Thin Provisioning and a Gigabit LAN port and policy based IP blocking, S.M.A.R.T hard disk health monitoring, email and SMS notifications if there are problems with the unit, features generally found on much higher end NAS servers. The TS-110 also features 3 USB ports (with unique auto-copy feature on the front port) for expanding the storage capacity, printer sharing, or backing up the TS-110. The TS-110 also features an e-SATA port.

The TS-110 is a smart choice for installation in home or home-based business as it's fully compatible with Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and UNIX networks and features a built-in UPnP/ DLNA media server (with TwonkyMedia enabled) supporting a wide range of DLNA media players such as Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming consoles. By installing the DLNA/ UPnP application on your iPhone or iPod touch, users can access the TS-110 on the home network and play videos, music, and photos from the server over the network. In addition, the high-speed PC-less Download Station with the unique QGet utility enables users to manage the BT/ FTP/ HTTP download tasks (fully BitTorrent compatible) remotely over the local network or the Internet. The TS-110 can perform centralized backups of all computers attached to the network to protect valuable paid downloaded music & video content, digital pictures, and documents.

Ultra Products, the global leaders in PC component and peripheral design that pioneered the invention of the modular power supply, is proud to announce its latest lineup of PSUs, the X4. With the below features, Ultra's innovative series aims to satisfy even the most power hungry PC enthusiast.

• Modular Design - Patented technology helps reduce clutter by using only the cables needed. This not only increases airflow within the case, but it gives the inside of the computer a clean and professional look that is easier to manage and service.
• 80 Plus Certified - The X4 line received the coveted 80 Plus Bronze certification meeting a stringent energy efficiency performance specification. This optimization ensures that that less energy is wasted by the computer and heat and noise generated by the PSU are minimized.

With continuous innovation, msi Wind NetTop received many excellent reviews last year. Not satisfied with numerous awards, msi continues to make break though this year by launching smaller and more powerful Wind Box DE200 and DC200 mini computers.

The Wind Box offers the high resolution and multi-media HDMI function, so you can choose to enjoy the widescreen experience at anytime. The accuracy of colors and images will leave any viewer totally speechless. (for DE200)

The multi-award winning 120mm GELID WING 12 UV Blue case fan for gamers and modders featuring a unique Nanoflux bearing is now available in a 4 pcs - multipack. The motor bearing is not only water - and dustproof but also allows the impeller to be detached for cleaning. The fan blades winglets were designed to achieve larger airflow, greater static pressure and are UV reactive. Beside the 4 fans the set includes 16 mounting screws and two 4 Pin Molex cables.

The patented Nanoflux bearing (NFB) incorporates a clever magnetic design, very high precision manufacturing and runs friction-free and operates noiseless. Electromagnetic fields are exploited to keep solid parts from touching. The load is carried by a magnetic field. The Nanotechnology composite ensures lowest abrasion and extreme durability (MTBF 100,000 hours). Compared to other magnetic bearings this technology allows the impeller to be detached and thus the fan blades can be cleaned easily. The nano-composite material is self lubricating and even waterproof. Compared to sleeve and ball bearing the high precision self-lubricated material of GELID's Nanoflux bearing eliminates oil leakage.

Gigabyte is readying a new socket LGA-1156 motherboard, the GA-P55A-UD4. Bearing resemblance with the GA-P55-UD4, the motherboard features upgraded connectivity, with support for USB 3.0, and SATA 6 Gb/s. The new model also features an upgraded CPU VRM, with a 12+2 phase design compared to the 8+2 phase design on the GA-P55-UD4. USB 3.0 and SATA 6 Gb/s features are provided using additional controllers on board. A Marvell-made SATA 6 Gb/s two-port controller replaces the familiar Gigabyte GSATA2 controller, while an NEC-made controller provides two USB 3.0 ports on the rear-panel. The USB 3.0 ports are color-coded blue, and share the port cluster with the lone gigabit Ethernet connector, while the SATA 6 Gb/s connectors are color-coded white, next to the usual six SATA 3 Gb/s ones the P55 PCH provides.

The rest of the feature-set remains largely same, with four DDR3 DIMM slots to support up to 16 GB of memory, two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (electrically x8 when both are populated) supporting ATI CrossFireX and NVIDIA SLI, Dolby Home Theater supportive onboard audio, among other standard issues. The Gigabyte GA-P55A-UD4 will not replace GA-P55-UD4 from the market, it will coexist, albeit priced higher. It remains to be seen if this is the only "P55A" motherboard Gigabyte sells.

Acer's flagship nettop, the Aspire Revo, received a specs update with the company embracing Windows 7 Home Premium as the operating system the unit ships with. As part of the latest press release where Acer unveiled AspireRevo R3610-U9012 to the US market, Acer detailed a list of hardware updates alongside changing the operating system. It includes WiFi 802.11b/g/n, 2 GB of DDR2 memory (the older version had 1 GB), and dual-core Intel Atom 330 processor. Standard specifications include NVIDIA ION platform technology, which integrates NVIDIA GeForce 9400M graphics, a HDMI port, six USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA port, gigabit Ethernet, 160 GB of storage, media card reader, and wireless keyboard and mouse. The new AspireRevo R3610-U9012 sells for $330 in the US.

Developed in cooperation with the very best eSports professionals, the CM Storm Sniper offers an unprecedented focus on the unique needs of gamers, and comes packed with innovative solutions for the gamer lifestyle. Now, the Sniper returns fully loaded with Storm Tactics to provide more strength, security and control than ever before.

Launched in late 2008, the original CM Storm Sniper chassis quickly received worldwide acclaim from the global technology and gaming press. While the Sniper has been enjoying rave reviews around the world bringing in over 60 awards from the media, the CM Storm Labs have been working full steam on improving the Sniper even further.

NEC's newest ultraportable jumps onto the CULV bandwagon. The chic LaVie M ultra-thin laptop is a tiny but capable machine in the 13.3 inch form-factor. The screen has a native resolution of 1366 x 768 pixels. It is powered by an Intel Celeron SU2300 1.20 GHz processor aided by 2 or 4 GB of memory, and provides 320 GB of storage. Connectivity options include Bluetooth V2.1+ EDR, WIFI BGN, HDMI Out. The fruition of the CULV technology here is its battery life of up to 8.5 hours. The LaVie M is expected to debut in Japan in early November, it comes with Windows 7 Home Premium pre-installed. Chassis colour options include red, black, and white.

Roccat is preparing its second gaming-grade mouse, the Kova. The company made its debut in the field with the Roccat Kone. Slated for market availability next month, Roccat Kova features a chiseled ambidextrous design. It has a maximum unit length of 12 cm, and maximum unit width of 6.5 cm, and weighs 90 g (excl. cable). The USB cable measures 2 m long. Apart from the main three buttons and the scroll-wheel, the mouse has two programmable buttons on either sides. The sides have GRIPTECH non-slip stabilization surfaces for better grip, and the scroll-wheel has a rubberized surface. It has a multi-color (configurable) illumination system which also provides feedback if mouse settings are changed. Under the hood is a 3200 dpi optical sensor. The Roccat Kova is expected to be priced around the 50 EUR mark.

Toshiba today introduces the Satellite L450 and the Satellite L555 laptops - a duo of new Satellite models aimed at consumers looking for affordability without compromising on style and performance.

Combining power and ease-of-use, both Satellite models are equipped with Toshiba LifeSpace software, a new application suite exclusively for Toshiba laptops featuring Windows 7. Designed to help consumers keep desktops free from clutter, Toshiba LifeSpace facilitates the organisation of tasks such as personal appointments, and reminders, making it easier for users to keep track of important dates and documents. A virtual and customisable 'Bulletin Board' enables users to create instant thumbnail shortcuts, keeping desktops organised and offering one-click access to important files and folders. 'ReelTime' also accelerates file searching by automatically adding a shortcut to the timeline of recently used files, which can list up to 5,000 items visually.

Thecus Technology is always pushing the boundaries of what NAS devices are capable of. Today, Thecus is proud to introduce the N7700PRO, the follow up to the award winning N7700. While the original N7700 made its mark by being the world's first seven-bay NAS device, the N7700PRO raises the stakes with breathtaking performance, unmatched reliability, and maximum flexibility.

With the N7700PRO, blistering performance is the name of the game. At its core is an Intel Core 2 Duo CPU and a whopping 4GB of high-speed DDR2 800 memory, making it the most powerful NAS unit available. In fact, with its PCI-e slot, the N7700PRO can reach data transfer speeds of over 300 MB/s by adding a PCI Express 10 Gbps Ethernet adapter. All of this raw power easily manipulates large amounts of data - perfect for the N7700PRO's seven 3.5" SATA drive bays that can accommodate up to 14TB of storage. Need even more storage at your disposal? With its stackable feature, you can connect up to five N7700PROs together and easily manage them all via a master unit. The N7700PRO is even compatible with iSCSI initiators and supports iSCSI thin provisioning for added performance and flexibility.

AMD today reported revenue for the third quarter of 2009 of $1.396 billion. Third quarter 2009 revenue increased 18 percent compared to the second quarter of 2009 and decreased 22 percent compared to the third quarter of 2008.

In the third quarter of 2009, AMD reported a net loss attributable to AMD common stockholders of $128 million, or $0.18 per share, which includes a net favorable impact of $54 million, or $0.08 per share, primarily from a $66 million gain from the repurchase of debt as described in the table below. AMD's operating loss was $77 million.

In the second quarter of 2009, AMD had revenue of $1.184 billion, a net loss attributable to AMD common stockholders of $330 million and an operating loss of $249 million. In the third quarter of 2008, AMD had revenue from continuing operations of $1.797 billion, a net loss attributable to AMD common stockholders of $134 million and an operating income of $122 million.

Introducing the newly arrived High-end VGA Graphics Array cooler, Slimod. This cool VGA Card cooler is brimming with technology and innovation. Applicable to the latest NVIDIA GeForce and ATI Radeon GPUs, the Slimod will deliver optimum cooling for today's hot GPUs.

Equipped with 3 all copper 6mm Direct Touch heat-pipes for swift and efficient heat transport to the 30 aluminum, nickel coated heat-sink fins which are cooled down by two silent and PWM controlled 8mm DC fans.

Danger Den continues to extend their broad line of full coverage video card blocks with the new ATI 5870 water block. The DD-5870 block is a single slot solution cooling all of the major heat components including the GPU, RAM, power mofsets, and more.

The DD-5870 block is designed to have superior cooling performance while minimizing the pressure loss across the block. This combined with other Danger Den blocks maintains a high flow rate through the entire system maximizing the cooling performance of all the components.

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today announced a line of 4GB dual channel DDR3 kits for Intel P55 based Core i5 and Core i7 systems in speeds ranging from DDR3-1600 to DDR3-2200.

These nine new kits were designed to deliver excellent performance in the new breed of P55 based motherboards, supporting clock speeds up to 2200MHz in the fastest Core i7 systems. Each kit is hand tested in Super Talent's factory at tuned latencies that further enhance performance.

Valve, creators of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced details and timing for the demo of its upcoming zombie thriller, Left 4 Dead 2.

The Left 4 Dead 2 demo will feature gameplay taken from "The Parish" campaign, set in the New Orleans French Quarter. Playable by 1 to 4 players over local or Internet connections on both the Xbox 360 and PC (with two-player split screen available on the Xbox 360), the demo features all the new boss infected zombies and all the new melee weapons included in the full product.

Samsung Electronics is releasing a new energy-efficient version of its Story Station external hard drive. Adhering to the European Union's EuP (Energy Using Products) Directive for Standby Regulation, effective January 2010, the new Story Station draws a mere 0.09W of power when in standby, down from its current 2.5W standby power draw. "User requirements for external hard drives now include eco-friendliness and lower power levels in addition to performance, reliability and exceptional design," said C.H. Lee, vice president, Storage sales & marketing, Samsung Electronics. "Samsung's STORY Station, which has been praised for its appealing external-drive design, takes a huge step forward in setting the stage for the timely introduction of environmentally-conscious hard drive technology," he added. The Story Station external hard drive comes in capacities of 500 GB, 1 TB, and 2 TB. Included are features that automatically backup data on to it, encrypting, and password-protecting it. It uses USB 2.0 for connectivity. The new drives will reach stores next month.

"ZOTAC is the leader when it comes to performing mini-ITX platforms. With the addition the new ZOTAC ION ITX Synergy Editions, we have the largest line up of high-performance mini-ITX motherboards with over a dozen different models," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International. "We see the demand for small form factors increasing and the future of computing will be mini-ITX platforms."

The new ZOTAC ION ITX Synergy Editions bring a full high-performance experience and features that has won the ZOTAC ION ITX platforms many awards, including the NVIDIA ION graphics processor with NVIDIA PureVideo HD technology for full HD 1080p Blu-ray video playback and high-performance video processing and editing capabilities with NVIDIA CUDA technology.

G.Skill International Co. Ltd., manufacturer of extreme performance memory and solid-state storage with solid quality, has today released its ECO low voltage, 1.35V dual channel DDR3 memory for Intel Lynnfield Core i5 and Core i7 platforms.

Compared to the current DDR3 standard voltage of 1.65V, G.Skill's ECO memory modules require 18% less VDIMM. This can have a great contribution to power efficiency, environmental friendliness and ultimately saves G.Skill customers money. In addition, the lower voltages decreases a system's operating temperature, resulting in improved stability. G.Skill's own internal lab tests have revealed, 1.35V memory modules produce 16% lower temperatures than standard 1.65V memory.

Acer America, the world's second largest notebook PC vendor and third largest PC vendor1, today announced U.S. availability of the Aspire One AOD250 netbook featuring a dual-boot operating system including Android and Windows XP Home. The open design of Android gives Aspire One users faster connections to the Internet and increased access to productivity and entertainment applications. Continuing to push the envelope on mobile computing solutions, Acer is offering the 10.1-inch Aspire One AOD250 with Android and Windows XP to U.S. customers with prices beginning at $349.99.

The Aspire One AOD250 netbook includes a dual-boot feature allowing users to switch between Android and Windows XP Home operating systems with just a click of a mouse. Designed specifically for mobile devices and applications, Android allows the Aspire One netbook to boot up and shut down quickly with "instant on" Internet connectivity, saving time and boosting productivity.

Corsair, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer memory, power supplies and flash memory products, including solid-state drives, today announced the new 64GB Flash Survivor USB drive, the most rugged high-capacity flash drive on the market.

Corsair's ultra-durable Flash Survivor USB drives have proven extremely popular with consumers thanks to their super-strong, CNC-milled, aircraft-grade aluminum casing, which makes them practically indestructible. Each drive is also fitted with a molded, shock-dampening collar and EPDM seal, which provides water-resistance to a depth of 200 meters. In independent reviews, the Flash Survivor has been dropped, baked, boiled, encased in ice, zapped in a microwave and even run over by an SUV, yet it still came back for more!

Acer, the third largest vendor in the worldwide PC market, today announced the Acer Aspire Z5610-U9072, a truly elegant, no-compromise all-in-one desktop PC featuring intuitive multi-touch technology and Windows 7 Home Premium. A powerful entertainment hub for the home, the Z5610 packs first-class performance and feature-rich functionality in a striking design. It will be available this holiday season at online retailers for an attractive price of $899.99.

Engineered to eliminate clutter and maximize workspace, this practical all-in-one streamlines the home or office with a flash of style and offers a unique blend of features and architecture. Boasting a stunning 23-inch HD display, ATI Mobility Radeon graphics and Intel Pentium Dual Core processing, the Aspire Z5610 offers world-class digital prowess.

When you're ready to step up your game, the Logitech Gaming Keyboard G110 gives you just what you need to personalise your setup, communicate more effectively, and execute complex commands easily. Backlighting with customizable colours lets you locate the right keys - even in the dark. Plus, you can configure up to 36 single key-presses or intricate macros per game on the programmable G-keys, and use the MR key to record new macros on the fly.

Integrated USB audio makes it easy to strategise with team-mates or trash-talk enemies; while the Hi-Speed USB 2.0 hub port lets you connect your favourite gaming mouse or other peripherals directly to the keyboard. And, to avoid accidentally exiting your game, you can disable the Windows/Context Menu keys with the game/desktop mode switch. The Logitech Gaming Keyboard G110 is expected to be available in EMEA in January, for a suggested retail price of £79.99. For more information, visit the product page.

The third in its series of SLI profile updates, NVIDIA further expanded the list of games that benefit from its SLI multi-GPU technology, while improving support for some games that are already supported. This release comes over a month after its previous release. The software adds and updates to the driver's SLI Profiles. SLI support is added for the following games:

• Borderlands
• Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs
• G-Force
• FIFA Soccer 2010
• League of Legends: Clash of Fates
• NHL 2009
• Order of War
• Pro Evolution Soccer 2010
• Race On
• Star Trek: D-A-C

SLI support is improved for the following games that already support it: Champions Online, and Dragon-Age: Origins.
DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA SLI Profile Update 3

Today TechPowerUp presents version 0.3.6 of GPU-Z, our graphics sub-system diagnostic utility that provides information on the computer's installed graphics hardware, their various specifications, and provides real-time updates on their parameters such as clock-speeds, temperatures, voltages, and fan-speeds. The utility is backed by our overclock validation system, and an extensive video-card BIOS database. This release brings with it a few important changes that improve compatibility with the latest graphics processors, and enhance usability.

To begin with, GPU-Z introduces an infotip feature that makes understanding graphics hardware easier. Hovering the mouse over an information field shows concise information related to that field. Along with polished support for ATI Radeon HD 5850, and HD 5700 series, version 0.3.6 introduces preliminary support for AMD's newer GPUs. Also introduced is support for several of NVIDIA's GeForce 100 and 200 series GPUs, and some Tesla GPGPU processors. A number of stability issues have also been fixed.DOWNLOAD: TechPowerUp GPU-Z 0.3.6

A list of changes according to the change log is as follows:

Mushkin is preparing a new lineup of flash drives under the banner of Mulholland Drive. These generic-looking USB flash drives come with a black main-unit and transparent cap. It comes in five variants based on capacity: 2 GB (MKNUFDMH2GB), 4 GB (MKNUFDMH4GB), 8 GB (MKNUFDMH8GB), 16 GB (MKNUFDMH16GB), and 32 GB (MKNUFDMH32GB). Beyond this, the company hasn't given out any more information, except for boasting of "incredible read/write speeds" on offer.

Overclocker/Gamer and all enthusiasts will be happy about these 2x2GB DDR3 high end memory kits with high clock rate for the P55 platform. EXCELERAM stands out due to its unrivalled price for high end memory - also for these new high end kits.

EXCELERAM offers 10 years warranty for his memory throughout Europe. Fast and direct RMA processing for endcustomers is warranted through Ironstone Distribution GmbH. Handling time normally is 5 working days. All memory is 100% hand-tested on mainboards - thereby the DOA rate (Dead On Arrival) would be almost 0%.

Georgios Kopanidis - COO of EXCELERAM says: "A couple of months we weren't in the limelight. In this time we set the course to strengthen our team of memory specialists in Germany. In the next months we will announce many new great products with our well known quality. Know-how and man-power is abound. We also will put more effort into the Overclocking segment."

Intel Corporation today reported third-quarter revenue of $9.4 billion. The company reported operating income of $2.6 billion, net income of $1.9 billion and earnings per share (EPS) of 33 cents.

"Intel's strong third-quarter results underscore that computing is essential to people's lives, proving the importance of technology innovation in leading an economic recovery," said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. "This momentum in the current economic climate, plus our product leadership, gives us confidence about our business prospects going forward. As we look ahead, Intel's game-changing 32nm process technology will usher in another wave of innovation from new, powerful Intel Xeon server platforms to high-performance Intel Core processors to low-power Intel Atom processors."

Highlights include:

• Third-Quarter Revenue $9.4 Billion, Strongest Second-to-Third-Quarter Growth in over 30 years
• Gross Margin 58 Percent, Up 7 Points Sequentially
• Operating Income $2.6 Billion
• Net Income $1.9 Billion
• EPS 33 Cents

To read the complete earnings release, visit this page.

Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (Hitachi GST) today announced worldwide availability of two new 15,000 RPM Ultrastar hard drives for Tier 0/1, mission-critical, enterprise storage applications. The new drives include the Ultrastar C15K147, Hitachi's first 15,000 RPM, 2.5-inch 6 Gb/s Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) hard drive, and the new 600GB Ultrastar 15K600, the company's fourth generation 3.5-inch drive with either 6 Gb/s SAS or 4Gb/s Fibre Channel Arbitrated Loop (FCAL) interfaces. To help enterprises protect sensitive data and comply with privacy and data protection regulations, Hitachi now offers industry-compliant, self-encrypting, enterprise-class hard drives as an option across all of its 10,000 and 15,000 RPM Ultrastar drives.

While enterprise operating costs continue to escalate, most IT budgets are either flat or trending downward. At the same time, enterprise data is proliferating at an unabated rate and sensitive data must be protected. These factors combine to make storage efficiency, data protection and return on assets (ROA) among the most pressing concerns for today's data center managers. In these environments, every possible technique must be applied to achieve maximum value, efficiency and security. This could mean applying tiered storage methods, implementing encryption technologies, reducing power, maximizing cooling while minimizing space requirements, or obtaining maximum performance out of individual components and systems.

Today, Logitech unveiled the Logitech Notebook Kit MK605 - making it easy for you to use your laptop, your way. Around the house or at your desk, the Notebook Kit MK605 gives you everything you need for a comfortable, organized space. You'll enjoy precise cursor control with the wireless laser mouse, and the pivoting riser lets you elevate your laptop to one of three angles for a height that's just right for you.

Plus, you can place the compact, wireless keyboard where it feels best - and connect both the mouse and keyboard through one tiny Logitech Unifying receiver that stays in your notebook and can be paired with up to four more compatible mice and keyboards. The Logitech Notebook Kit MK605 is expected to be available in the U.S. and Europe in November for a suggested retail price of $99.99 (U.S.).

AMD released its fourth beta of the ATI Stream SDK version 2.0, that provides the first complete OpenCL development platform. The release is certified to be fully compliant with OpenCL 1.0 by, the Khronos Group. A wide range of AMD GPUs as well as any x86 multi-core CPU supporting SSE3 instruction set are supported. For more information on this release, and to download, visit this page.

An interesting discovery by TechConnect Magazine shows that in these OpenCL drivers, are identifiers for a yet to be announced "Radeon HD 5900 Series", with the device IDs 689C and 689D, both marked under "Evergreen", like other members of the Evergreen family, such as Radeon HD 5700 and Radeon HD 5800 series. The most plausible explanation for "Radeon HD 5900 Series" could be that it is the name of the graphics cards based on the Hemlock GPU architecture, which pairs two Cypress GPUs onto one board. The driver also gives away device IDs, if not product names of GPUs based on the upcoming entry-level Redwood and Cedar GPUs.

HIS unleashed the revolutionary new HIS Radeon HD 5770 & HD 5750 1GB GDDR5. Loaded with innovative DirectX 11 and Eyefinity support, these GPUs have the power and premium features you need for fully immersive gameplay.

HIS Radeon HD 5770 1GB GDDR5 accelerates PC gaming with 1 teraFLOPS computing power! Running at 850MHz core clock speed and 4.8 Gbps memory clock speed, the HIS Radeon HD 5770 ensure extreme game play at high resolutions and maximum settings. The HIS Radeon HD 5750 supplies with the same 1GB GDDR5 with memory running at 4.6Gbps and core clock at 700MHz. You can now experience the speed, responsiveness and performance of ultra-high bandwidth GDDR5 memory.

Now, more people than ever can experience real innovation in DirectX 11 gaming with the Club 3D HD5700 graphics card series. Loaded with advanced technology, this graphics card has the power and premium features you need for fully immersive gameplay. Expand your visual real estate across up to three displays and get lost in the action with revolutionary ATI Eyefinity technology. Using ATI Stream technology, accelerate even the most demanding applications and do more then ever with our PC. Enable realistic visual effects and an explosive HD gaming performance to dominate the competition.

Enjoy an incredibly immersive HD gaming/computing experience with ATI Eyefinity Technology. This revolutionary multi-display technology allows you to expand your visual real estate across up to three displays with innovative "wrap around" capabilities to maximize your field of view with incredible sharpness and clarity. Perform tasks on a PC faster with ATI Stream technology, speed up demanding everyday applications and get more done in less time. The first fully Microsoft DirectX 11-compatible GPUs, Club 3D HD5800 Series is designed to deliver ultimate HD gaming performance for the latest games and DirectX 11 applications so you can dominate the competition.

Adding to its suite of scalable storage solutions for small business, Seagate today announced availability of the BlackArmor NAS 110 network storage server. This new offering is the first of the Seagate BlackArmor NAS family to include additional capabilities designed to meet the specific needs of small/home offices and prosumers who crave the latest NAS technology. Available immediately through Seagate.com and leading retailers and e-tailers such as Best Buy, Staples, Amazon.com and Newegg, the BlackArmor NAS 110 server can be purchased for a manufacturer's suggested retail price (MSRP) of $229.99 for 1TB and $349.99 for 2TB.

MSI is readying a new socket AM2+ motherboard based on the AMD 790X + SB710 chipset. The MSI 790X-G45 is an ATX motherboard that makes use of the chipset's feature-set. The CPU is powered by a 4+1 phase circuit which makes use of MSI's APS (Active Phase Switching) function that turns of redundant phases when the load is low. Supporting most socket AM3, AM2+, and AM2 processors, the motherboard's four DDR2 DIMM slots support DDR2-1066 memory for the K10 generation of AMD processors, and DDR2-1200 by overclocking. Its two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots (electrical x8, x8, when both are in use,) provide support for ATI CrossFireX. The SB710 southbridge takes care of six internal SATA 3.0 Gbps ports, an IDE connector for two devices, 8-channel HD audio, and support for Advanced Clock Calibration. Gigabit Ethernet, six USB ports and a serial port, make for the rest of its connectivity. The MSI 790X-G45 will be available in the weeks to come.

After launching the powerful R5800 series graphics card which successfully get global overclocking enthusiasts' attention, MSI, leading graphics cards and mainboard brand-manufacturer, today introduces the latest R5700 series graphics card, MSI R5770-PM2D1G and R5750-PM2D1G. With the advanced 40nm GPU, DirectX 11 support, high speed GDDR5 video memory, and ATi Eyefinity technology, the MSI R5700 series graphics card can fully provide stunning gaming experience by DirectX 11 to gamers. In addition to better performance/power ratio compared to popular HD 4870 of last generation product, MSI R5700 is the premium high performance graphics card that you must have! Now get it with a free DirectX 11 support racing game "Dirt2" and MSI exclusive VGA overclocking utility "Afterburner"!

The brand new MSI R5700 series is the same as its R5800 series, using the advanced 40nm GPU to implement decisively more transistors within the same amount of space and thereby reaching a new level of performance. In addition the modern 40nm process reduces power consumption and brings about a more efficient overall electrical utilization. Compared to popular HD 4870 of last generation product, the power consumption of MSI R5770-PM2D1G is significantly improved. The performance per watt result is 20% better than last generation.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, today releases the latest gaming video cards: the HD5700 series. Designed for demanding DirectX 11 games at HD resolutions and high settings, PowerColor HD5700 series offers the intense gaming performance and unrivaled image quality.

PowerColor HD5700 series supports ATI's exclusive Eyefinity Technology, with dual DL-DVI / HDMI / Display Port onboard design, it can run up to three displays from a single card and let all gamers enjoy the "wrap-around" gaming experience like never before. Also, the latest HD5700 series is compatible with ATI Stream technology, enables demanding data parallel compute tasks from the CPU to GPU, accelerate the daily application and do more with your PC.

Following the storming success of the recently introduced SAPPHIRE HD 5800 series, SAPPHIRE Technology now introduces the HD 5700 series, setting new standards for performance, value for money and features.

Only the second product line to fully support the forthcoming DirectX 11 from Microsoft, the new HD 5700 series brings many of the exciting architectural and performance features of the HD 5800 series to users on lower budgets. The HD 5700 series is based on a new GPU from the ATI division of AMD built in low power 40nm technology. This new series includes support for the new instruction set of DirectCompute 11, hardware tessellation, accelerated multi-threading capability, support for ATI Stream and the ability to display across up to three monitors simultaneously with ATI Eyefinity.

Apart from being the industry's leading 3D graphics benchmark application, 3DMark has had a long history of 3D graphics hardware manufacturers cheating with their hardware using application-specific optimisations against Futuremark's guidelines to boost 3DMark scores. Often, this is done by drivers detecting the 3DMark executable, and downgrading image quality, so the graphics processor has to handle lesser amount of processing load from the application, and end up with a higher performance score. Time and again, similar application-specific optimisations have tarnished 3DMark's credibility as an industry-wide benchmark.

This time around, it's neither of the two graphics giants in the news for the wrong reasons, it's Intel. Although the company has a wide consumer base of integrated graphics, perhaps the discerning media user / very-casual gamer finds it best to opt for integrated graphics (IGP) solutions from NVIDIA or AMD. Such choices rely upon reviews evaluating the IGPs performance at accelerating video (where it's common knowledge that Intel's IGPs rely heavily on the CPU for smooth video playback, while competing IGPs fare better at hardware-acceleration), synthetic and real-world 3D benchmarks, among other application-specific tests.

Fujitsu Japan introduced its stylish new FMV LOOX C 11.6 inch netbook series. These are powered by Intel's CULV Core 2 Duo and Celeron processors depending on the variants. The specifications include a 11.6 inch display with 1366 x 768 pixel native resolution, the Intel GS45 Express chipset houses Intel GMA 4500MHD integrated graphics. The higher-end LOOX C/E70 sports a Core 2 Duo SU9400 1.40 GHz processor, while the C/E50 has a Celeron SU2300 1.20 GHz processor. While the former comes with a rated battery life of 9.2 hours, the latter has 6.2 hours of it. Both come with 2 GB of DDR2 memory, and 320 GB of storage.

Connectivity options on the LOOX C include Ethernet, 802.11b/g/n Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR, and D-Sub to connect to displays. The card-reader is its only removable storage, while three USB ports allow for more storage devices. The C/E50 goes on sale in Japan this 22nd, for 80,000 JPY (around US $890), while the C/E70 comes a little later on the 29th, priced under 100,000 JPY (US $1,113).

BFG Technologies, manufacturer of the stunning high performance gaming/home theater system - Phobos, is excited to announce the new Deimos X-10 SLI Gaming Notebook. Deimos X-10 delivers super fast frame rates similar to an SLI desktop rig, but offers gamers the convenient portability of a notebook. Deimos X-10 can be configured with dual NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280M 1GB (SLI) graphics cards, which pump out ultra-lifelike graphics on the gorgeous 18.4" full 16:9 HD (1920x1080) LCD screen.

The Deimos X-10 notebook allows gamers to take full advantage of NVIDIA SLI technology in a portable form factor. With proprietary software algorithms and dedicated scalability logic in each NVIDIA graphics processing unit (GPU), NVIDIA SLI technology delivers up to twice the performance (with 2 cards) compared to a single graphics solution.

AMD today released its ATI Radeon HD 5700 series of mid-range graphics processors aimed to increase the company's competitiveness in the sub-$200 market, and present a mainstream graphics card series compliant with the DirectX 11 API. The series makes use of AMD's 40 nm Juniper graphics processor, that packs 1.04 billion transistors, 800 stream processors, 40 texture units, and 16 raster operation units. The 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface provides up to 76.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth.

The higher-end product of the two on offer, Radeon HD 5770 is priced around the $150 mark, and has all its 800 stream processors and 40 texture units enabled. It comes with clock speeds of 850/1200 MHz (core/memory), while the Radeon HD 5750 looks to cash in on the $120 point. It has 720 stream processors, 36 texture units enabled from its kitty, with clock speeds of 700/1150 MHz (core/shader). While the Radeon HD 5770 comes with 1 GB of memory, the Radeon HD 5750 comes in variants of 1 GB and 512 MB. Some of the other big selling points of these cards are low rater power consumptions of 16~18 W at idle, and 86~108 W at load. The connectivity options include two DVI-D, and one each of DisplayPort and HDMI. The cards support AMD's Eyefinity technology which allows combining three 2560x1600 pixel display-heads for a single large display head. Each of these can pair with up to three more of its kind for 4-way CrossFireX multi-GPU performance upscaling.

All major AMD board vendors, such as ASUS, Sapphire, HIS, PowerColor, Gigabyte, MSI, VisionTek, XFX, among others, have their offerings based on these GPUs ready to sell from today. Pictured below (in order) are Radeon HD 5770 and Radeon HD 5750.

Corsair, a worldwide leader in high-performance computer and flash memory products, today announced a revamped Flash Voyager GT product lineup. The new product suite includes USB flash drives, with capacities of 16GB, 32GB, and 64GB, packaged in the Flash Voyager's trademarked ruggedized rubber housing with signature red "GT" highlights.

"Users of high capacity flash drives need fast transfer speeds, as they are typically moving large amounts of data," said Jim Carlton, VP of Marketing at Corsair. "The Voyager GT combines a highly efficient controller with high density MLC flash to provide excellent bandwidth at a very attractive price."

EVGA is proud to announce the latest cards in the GeForce product lineup: the EVGA Geforce 210 and GT 220. Good graphics processing is a required ingredient in the modern PC. With DirectX 10.1 support, NVIDIA PhysX technology, HDMI 1.3a output and NVIDIA CUDA technology the 210 and 220 products are essential additions to your PC. Whether you are doing video or photo editing, gaming, HD video playback, or just looking for a Premium Windows 7 experience, the EVGA GeForce 210 and GT 220 brings incredible processing power, at an incredible price.

Modern games and 3D applications demand more graphics performance than ever before and integrated graphics simply aren't good enough. The NVIDIA efficient designs can deliver up to 30x the performance of integrated solutions! If you want to play popular games like World of Warcraft, Spore, Sims3, Left 4 Dead or Fallout3, the Geforce 210 or GT 220 is an essential addition to your PC.

Club 3D, European graphics cards specialist today announces the availability of the GT220 & 210 graphics card series line-up. Graphics processing has become an essential ingredient to the modern PC. Nowadays, we simply demand more from our PCs to deliver gorgeous graphics, fantastic video, crisp responsive photo editing and a Premium Windows 7 Experience. The Club 3D GT 220 & 210 graphics cards bring impressive graphics processing power to your PC at an affordable price.

POINT OF VIEW, premier NVIDIA partner for GeForce Graphics cards, is launching today the GeForce G210 and GT220.

These respectively entry level-to-midrange graphics cards from the innovating GeForce 200 series are carved from the same wood as their big brothers and sisters. Critically acclaimed technologies such as PhysX, CUDA and PureVideoHD are standard supported for the best image quality possible. Some small changes were made in the GPU functionality to add support for Microsofts' DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.0, for future-proof support of all upcoming games and software. Also as an update, the PCB added integrated HDMI audio so no additional SPDIF cable is needed for rerouting the sound to the HDMI cable.

Both the models G210 and GT220 are equipped with the three-way graphics output Dual Link DVI, VGA and HDMI. This makes these small and energy efficient graphics cards perfectly suitable for Office PC, Gaming PC and off course media center PC use.

The new ZOTAC GeForce GT 220 and 210-based graphics cards take 3D performance and home theater integration to a whole new level with new technologies for superior performance, visuals and audio. 3D performance is enhanced with support for DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 3.1 technologies for realistic visuals and unmatched performance.

ZOTAC GeForce GT 220 graphics cards feature 48 lightning-fast processing cores while the more affordable ZOTAC GeForce 210 features 16 processing cores. Despite the high-performance of the new ZOTAC GeForce GT 220 and 210 series graphics cards, the new graphics cards are energy efficient and consume little energy thanks to a new manufacturing process.

MSI, leading global graphics card and motherboard manufacturer, just announced the launch of the N220GT/N210 graphics cards series to meet users' demands for top-notch quality at an ideal price-performance level. These all-new graphics cards series implement advanced 40nm GPUs with full support for the latest DirectX 10.1 multimedia gaming standard, sport MSI Military Class components for greatest stability and even support native HDMI output offering the most crisp audio-visual experience available on the market today. This is the ideal solution for price-performance conscience users with high demands.

Making it possible to enjoy latest technology within in users budget, Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), the world's leading motherboard, graphics card, barebone system, and notebook manufacturer, today announced latest ECS GT220 and G210 Series graphics cards built with an NVIDIA GeForce GT 220 and NVIDIA GeForce G210 graphics processing units (GPU) respectively. ECS NGT220-1GQS-F also known as ECS GT 220─ATX Form Factor features astonishing 512/1024MB DDR2 with 128-bit Data Bus, Supports Microsoft DirectX 10.1 to meets users' requirement of those latest gaming titles. It is designed with All-Solid-Capacitor to decrease graphics cards temperature and further improve the stability offering better product durability and reliability for users to enjoy unique gaming experience.

All ECS GT220 and G210 graphics cards are embedded HDMI connector which can transfer video & audio signals via a single cable making top performance and power efficiency. It uses NVIDIA CUDA technology to unlocks the power of the GPU's processor cores to accelerate the most demanding system tasks - such as video transcoding in order to delivering incredible performance improvements over traditional GPUs. ECS GT220 and G210 is excellent choice for mainstream as well as entry level gamers to enjoy excellent graphic performance under user's budget.

Hynix Semiconductor, Inc. has announced the second generation 1Gb (Gigabits) DDR3 using 54nm process technology. Hynix's new 1Gb DDR3, offered in x4 (H5TQ1G43TFR) and x8 (H5TQ1G83TFR) organizations, has innovative design modifications that significantly reduce power consumption of the device.

The new product operates at 1.5V (volts) power supply as the existing 1Gb DDR3 product and further reduces power consumption by 30% over the existing one. This second generation product is the highest performing memory in the industry among 1Gb density category which is the mainstream of the products. According to the iSuppli, a market research firm, the portion of the world wide 1Gb DDR3 is currently estimated to be 87%. The iSuppli estimates that higher densities will become the mainstream when it is expected to account for more than 50% in 2011.

Inno3D are excited to launch the Inno3D GeForce GT 220 & GeForce G210 that brings impressive graphics processing power to your PC for everyday applications and at an affordable price. Graphics processing has become an essential ingredient to the modern PC. Nowadays, we simply demand more from our PCs to deliver beautiful graphics, fantastic video, crisp responsive photo editing and a Premium Windows 7 Experience.

The new Inno3D GeForce GT 220 and G 210 surpass their predecessors with astonishing 3DMark Vantage benchmarks while achieving optimised performance with all the latest features in the market. These two new entries to the 200 series pack quite a punch when comparing the shaders. GT220 has around 50% more shaders than 9500GT, and 210 100% more than 8400 GS.

Silicon Power released its second edition eSATA/USB SSD II flash-drive. With a capacity of 64 GB, the drive provides support for both USB 2.0 and eSATA interfaces, so the user can choose between the broadest compatibility (using USB), or maximum performance (using eSATA). Both connectors are located on either sides of the drive, and pop out by moving a retractable slider. The unit measures 76.4 mm x 27 mm x 11.4 mm, and weighs 20 g, on par with most 64+ GB flash drives. In eSATA mode, the drive offers read speeds of 90 MB/s and write speeds of 50 MB/s, while in USB 2.0 mode, the read-write speeds are 30 MB/s and 20 MB/s, respectively. The drive also comes in a 32 GB variant with the same specifications, otherwise. The 64 GB variant costs 138 EUR, while the 32 GB one costs 62 EUR.

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of world class NAS servers, NVR Video Surveillance Systems, and Network-based Video Players today expanded their Turbo NAS lineup with the addition of the TS-210 desktop NAS server targeted specifically at the SOHO and Prosumer market segments. The TS-210 supports up to 2 3.5" SATA hard drives with up to 4TB of total capacity (using 2TB drives) and features a Marvell 800MHz CPU and 256MB DDRII memory which provides sustained high performance with low power consumption. The TS-210 can be configured to RAID 1 for high data redundancy. The TS-210 also supports iSCSI Target service with Thin Provisioning and a Gigabit LAN port, features generally found on much higher end NAS servers. The TS-210 is equipped 3 USB ports (1 front, 2 back panel) for expanding the storage capacity, printer sharing, or data backup to an external storage device.

The TS-210 is a smart choice for installation in home or home-based business as it is fully compatible with Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and UNIX networks. It features a built-in UPnP/ DLNA media server (with TwonkyMedia enabled) supporting a wide range of DLNA media players such as Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming consoles. By installing the DLNA/ UPnP application on your iPhone or iPod touch, users can access the TS-210 on the home network and play the videos, music, and photos from the server over the network. In addition, the high-speed PC-less Download Station with the unique QGet utility enables users to manage the BT/ FTP/ HTTP download tasks remotely over the local network or the Internet. The TS-210 can perform centralized backups of all computers attached to the network to protect valuable paid downloaded music and video content, digital pictures, and documents.

TechPowerUp's Folding@Home and World Community Grid teams, both among the top 100 teams in their own merits, have decided to give back to the community by announcing the TechPowerUp Community Crunching/Folding Contest. Organized entirely by the community, the contest gives one lucky winner, a pre-assembled, turnkey PC with optimal hardware for distributed computing (DC-PC). For starters, the PC has an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 accelerator to run GPU-accelerated distributed computing applications of the likes of Folding@Home GPU, while its Pentium Dual-Core handles CPU-driven distributed computing applications, such as World Community Grid. With 500 GB of handy storage, Windows XP SP2 OS, Antec BP-550Plus 550W PSU to power it all, and In Win X-Fighter as its housing, the prize would make a perfect addition to any distributed computing enthusiast's armory.

Now open to everyone, the contest is a purely community funded and organized. It involves achieving 60,000 BOINC points and 100,000 F@H points within a contest time frame of 60 days, starting from 11:59PM EST on 10/14/09. The contest ends on 11:59PM EST on 12/12/09. Participants must 'crunch' (score) for WCG Team #22175 and 'fold' (scoring) for Folding@Home team #50711 only. The winner will be selected within five days of contest closure, and contacted by e-mail. TechPowerUp doesn't partake as the organizers of this contest, and hence do not hold any liabilities. We do however, like to commend our Folding@Home and World Community Grid teams for organizing this contest, that symbolizes goodwill and team-spirit, and wish everyone associated with it good luck. For more information, please visit this page.

Scythe presents the new product, Kama Stay (Model Nr.: SCKST-1000). A simple very flexible product for mounting additional fans into an unused PCI Slot. The set also includes a manually regulated 120 mm Slip Stream Slim fan. Kama Stay is a highly-adjustable cooling platform that can be mounted onto an unused PCI Slot. Improved stability is granted by screwing the frame to a case like a common PCI expansion card. Once installed, Kama Stay allows you to mount all kinds of fans in many different positions. Even 140 mm fans can be used with this new accessory. Due to its high flexibility, Kama Stay helps you to adapt and improve the existing Airflow in your PC case.

Keeping your system cool is not the only task Kama Stay can handle. Optionally, you can also mount up to three 2.5" HDDs or SSDs. Just set the frame to the matching height and fix the drives with screws. Supplied 120 mm Slip Stream Slim fan works in an operating-speed range of 800 to 2,000 rpm. The fan speed can be controlled by using the pre-attached potentiometer located in the PCI bracket. Scythe Kama Stay is now available for EUR 12.25 (MSRP, excl. VAT) or US$ 19.00 (MSRP, excl. TAX.)

Lexar Media, a leading global provider of memory products for digital media, announced today the launch of the Lexar JumpDrive SAFE S3000 FIPS and JumpDrive SAFE S3000 USB flash drives. The FIPS 140-2, Level 3-validated, enterprise-class drives, co-developed with Gemalto, are the first to protect critical data with smart card-based security featuring continuous AES 256-bit hardware encryption and a waterproof composite metal housing that meets military 810-F waterproof standards. These security features offer unparalleled data protection without requiring driver or software installation and are an ideal data storage solution for military, government, and enterprise organizations.

"The JumpDrive SAFE S3000 line of secure USB flash drives safeguard information with unsurpassed data protection technology and enterprise-class features that can be easily integrated into any business environment," explained Jyh Chau, senior product marketing manager, Lexar Media. "The receipt of the FIPS 140-2 Level 3 validation is further proof that the advanced data security capabilities, coupled with the smart card technology, make the JumpDrive SAFE S3000 line among the most secure USB flash drives available today."

There was a time when for the Intel platform, you could choose between motherboards based on chipsets from four or more vendors. With the weakening and discontinuation of chipset development for the Intel platform from the likes of VIA, and SiS, and NVIDIA facing a technical and legal blockade with further development of Intel chipsets with the latest Intel processors having integrated memory controllers and the Quickpath Interconnect system interface, consumer choice is reduced to platform core logic coming only from Intel, while motherboard vendors are able to use additives such as the NVIDIA nForce 200 PCI-Express bridge chip, or even the latest LucidLogix Hydra controller, among additional SATA, SAS and Ethernet controllers, to enhance the motherboards' feature-set beyond what the chipset can provide.

Following NVIDIA making the right noises about the future of its chipset division and development of chipsets that drive Socket LGA-1156 processors, it is becoming increasingly clear that its development has hit a possible legal or technical hurdle. Until those issues are ironed out completely, NVIDIA will not invest in further development of that chipset. In a statement, NVIDIA expressed its official position of its chipset division, and where things stand specific to the products it makes. Speaking of which, NVIDIA's chipset division currently sells chipsets for Intel's FSB-driven processors, AMD's latest processors, and the ION platform, which forms the foundation of a more capable ULPC platform based on the Intel Atom processor.

Valve, creator of best-selling game franchises (such as Half-Life and Counter-Strike) and leading technologies (such as Steam and Source), today announced Scavenge, the fourth game mode to be included in its upcoming zombie thriller, Left 4 Dead 2.

Scavenge mode challenges players to compete in round-based games of up to 8 players (Survivors vs. Infected). The Survivors must battle both the Infected and the clock as they collect gas cans to refuel a generator located in each map. Every can the Survivors pour into the generator scores their team a point and adds time to the clock.

On defense, the Infected team plays as the boss Infected (including the new Spitter, Jockey, and Charger). They must keep the Survivors from fueling the generator by attacking them, destroying the gas cans, or running out the clock. During a round, each team gets an opportunity to play both sides, with the round going to whichever team successfully delivers the most cans.

AMD today announced the appointment of Thomas Seifert as senior vice president and chief financial officer. Seifert, 46, will report to Dirk Meyer, AMD president and chief executive officer, and will have responsibility for leading the company's global financial organization. Seifert succeeds Robert Rivet, who was previously promoted to chief operations and administrative officer.

"Thomas is a talented industry veteran with a wealth of knowledge and experience managing the operations and finances of companies in the most difficult and competitive sectors of the semiconductor industry," said Meyer. "This knowledge and experience will enable him to further strengthen AMD's financial foundation and help accelerate our transformation into a product design and marketing leader."

Elpida Memory, Inc., Japan's leading global supplier of Dynamic Random Access Memory (DRAM), today announced that it had finished development of the smallest high-speed low-power 40nm 2-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM in the DRAM industry.

The new 2-gigabit DDR3 SDRAM uses a smaller chip size to achieve a 44% higher chip yield per wafer compared with Elpida's 50nm DDR3 SDRAM and a 100% yield for DDR3 products that operate at 1.6Gbps, the highest speed standard for current DDR3. Compared with 50nm products, it uses about two-thirds less current and supports 1.2V/1.35V operation as well as DDR3 standard 1.5V, thus reducing power consumption by as much as 45%.

Scythe extends its product portfolio by adding a new CPU Cooler for the entry level market. Samurai ZZ (Model No. SCSMZ-2000) is a top-flow CPU Cooler weighing 16.6 oz, respectively 495 g (incl. Fan), and it is equipped with 3 u-shaped Copper-Heatpipes as well as a 92 mm Fan. Supplied fan is supports the PWM-Feature which allows the fan speed being controlled in a range from 300 up to 2,500 rpm. The fan can generate airflow of 12 up to 95 m³/h, respectively 6.7 up to 55.55 CFM at a noise level between 7.2 and 31.07 dBA.

Samurai ZZ CPU Cooler is specified for cooling of CPUs with a TDP (Thermal Design Power) of up to 130 W, and it is compatible to Intel socket 478, T / LGA775, LGA1156, LGA1366 as well as AMD socket 754, 939, AM2(+), AM3, 940. By using the improved V.T.M.S (Versatile Tool-Free Multiplatform System) mounting mechanism, Samurai ZZ can be easily installed within just a few minutes, which doesn't necessarily require the detachment or the removal of the motherboard. New F.P.S. (Fast-Phase Structure) technology uses the generated airflow for cooling of upper and lower heatsink structure as well as surrounding motherboard components and VRs. Samurai ZZ has the overall dimensions of 3.62 x 3.62 x 0.98 inch (W x D x H), respectively 94 x 122 x 94 mm, and it is available for a 16.75 EUR (MSRP, excl. VAT) or US$ 31.80 (MSRP, excl. TAX).

Following a recent exposé of pictures and performance figures of the Radeon HD 5750, another one covering that of the ASUS Radeon HD 5770 has surfaced. Using a test bed powered by an AMD Phenom II X4 945, 4 GB of DDR3-1333 memory, and Windows 7 64-bit, a member of the Chinese PC enthusiast portal community MyMyPC.com put an ASUS Radeon HD 5770 accelerator through 3DMark Vantage Performance preset (to yield its GPU score), 3DMark06, and FurMark (to check temperatures). It was compared to other popular graphics accelerators in (or around) the sub-$200 league, including Radeon HD 4890, GeForce GTX 260, and GeForce GTX 275. While in the 3DMark06 test the Radeon HD 5770 edges past the GeForce GTX 260, with 3DMark Vantage (GPU score), it lags behind the rest of the league, by at least around 1000 points. This gives an indication that as far as performance goes, the Radeon HD 5770 could be comparable to the Radeon HD 4870, at least in these applications.

Iomega, an EMC company and a global leader in data protection, today announced the next generation of its popular double-drive desktop NAS appliance with the worldwide launch of the new Iomega StorCenter ix2-200. Based on industry-leading enterprise-class EMC storage technologies, the versatile yet affordable StorCenter ix2-200 wraps ease-of-use around big business data management functionality and advanced media serving and other consumer features that make it the ideal NAS appliance for small business users and home users.

Available in 1 TB, 2 TB and 4 TB capacities, the new ix2-200 utilizes a very simple four-step setup to be operational in a matter of minutes - be it in a business setting or in the digital home.

PC water-cooling specialists Swiftech presented its newest CPU water block, the Apogee XT. A result of extensive competitive testing, the Apogee XT comes across as a completely redesigned block that goes beyond redesigning the retention mechanism alone. The block is made entirely of copper and brass, and has a brass housing with black chrome plating. The cold plate surface is topographically mapped to provide an optimized TIM contact with socket LGA 771, 775, 1156 and 1366 compatible processors. The inlet plate which is at the center of the block, is detachable. It supports high flow 1/4" BSPP x 1/2" fittings. Supporting Intel sockets LGA-1366, LGA-1156, and LGA-775, the Apogee XT water block sells for US $79.99.

MSI, a world-wide leading manufacturer of computer components and systems, today in conjunction with THX and Creative announced its new Big Bang gaming motherboard, the first ever to implement THX TruStudio PC with Creative EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 audio technology.

Big Bang features QuantumWave audio processing, combining THX TruStudio PC with Creative EAX ADVANCED HD 5.0 to deliver the most powerful and realistic gaming audio performance available from any motherboard.

THX TruStudio PC provides groundbreaking PC audio technologies, the result of collaborative research and development from Creative and THX. Together, these technologies deliver the fullest audio experience for music, movies and games, while remaining true to the intention of the artists who created it.

The beans are spilled on the final specifications of AMD's "Juniper" mid-range GPU architecture, and the two SKUs based on it, namely the ATI Radeon HD 5770 and Radeon HD 5750. Leaked alleged company slides on XtremeSystems Forums, reveal exactly how Juniper is a 50% downsizing of Cypress' machinery, in having half of nearly all its vital-statistics, if you may. Juniper features 10 SIMD engines physically, amounting to 800 stream processors. It holds 40 texture memory units (TMUs), and 16 raster operation units (ROPs). With a 128-bit memory interface churning out up to 76.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth by utilizing 4.8 GT/s GDDR5 memory chips, the fact that Juniper is half of what Cypress stands for specs-wise, becomes clear.

In the next two slides are pictured and detailed the two SKUs based on the GPU. The ATI Radeon HD 5770 is the top-end implementation, which makes use of all the components present on the GPU. With a core clock-speed of 850 MHz, and memory speed of 1200 MHz, the GPU churns out a shader compute power of 1.36 TFLOPs. The idle and max board powers are rated by AMD at 18W and 108W, respectively. It becomes clear that AMD is eying the US $150 price point with this part. The Radeon HD 5750 on the other hand, has one SIMD engine disabled, and eds up with 720 available stream processors. It comes with 1 GB or 512 MB of GDDR5 memory, and clock speeds of 700 MHz core, and 1150 MHz memory (4.6 GT/s). With these, the Radeon HD 5750 manages a shader compute power figure of 1.008 TFLOPs. The rated board power consumption figures have also come down on this one, with 16W idle, and 86W max. This one targets the $109 (512 MB) and $129 (1 GB) price points. Both accelerators are DirectX 11 compliant, and support ATI Eyefinity technology supporting up to three 2560 x 1600 pixel display heads. According to the slides, they should be unveiled this Tuesday the 13th.

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced the release of the MobileLiteG2 card reader. The MobileLiteG2 is the second generation of the popular MobileLite Flash card reader, which allows easy data transfer between Flash memory cards and PC or Mac. Supported card formats include SD, SDHC, microSD, microSDHC, Memory Stick PRO Duo, Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo and Memory Stick Micro (M2).

"The MobileLiteG2 is a small, portable reader that makes managing content quick and convenient between a device like a mobile phone, digital camera or MP3 player, and a host device with a USB connection such as a PC," said Wendy Lecot, Flash card business manager, Kingston. "For consumers and business users, the compact size and simple plug-and-play ability makes it an essential part of one's mobile gear."

NVIDIA has the launch of its GeForce GT 220 graphics processor lined up for next week. Aimed to be a sub-$100 lower-mainstream offering, the GPU is one of NVIDIA's first GPUs to be built on the 40 nm manufacturing technology, which [finally] include DirectX 10.1 support. MSI already has a factory-overclocked graphics card based on the GPU, the MSI N220GT-MD1G-OC. Powered by the GeForce GT 220, it packs 48 shader processors, 1 GB of GDDR3 memory across a 128-bit wide interface, and connectivity that includes DVI-D, D-Sub, and HDMI. While the overclocked speeds isn't known as yet, expect it to be over GeForce GT 220's reference speeds of around 615/1335/1580 MHz (core/shader/memory). The card draws all its power from the PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot, and uses a simple heatsink with spirally-projecting aluminum fins and a fan, to cool the GPU, and the memory surrounding it. It is expected to be priced under 80 EUR.

Here's the first sighting of what the reference-design AMD Radeon HD 5770 could really end up looking like. Unlike a previous set of pictures of the engineering sample showing a cooler design that resembles that of the Radeon HD 4770 (AMD reference), and Radeon HD 3870, this accelerator by Gigabyte is retail-grade, as it was pictured at a store, and carries an AIB's branding. The card design in many respects looks like a further shortened version the Radeon HD 5800 series owing to essentially the same cooler design. It retains the black PCB pictured earlier, and the connectivity cluster of two DVI, and one each of DisplayPort and HDMI. This picture follows a recent photo-shoot of the Radeon HD 5750, and its reference design, showing a simpler GPU cooler design which is loosely based on that of the Radeon HD 4770 (AIB popular reference design).

Gateway rolled out two new all-in-one PCs that boast of multi-touch capable displays. The Gateway One ZX6800 (23-inch), and Gateway One ZX4800 (20-inch) PCs come with everything expected from PCs in this quickly growing category. While the ZX6800 offers a full-HD screen resolution of 1920 x 1080, the ZX4800 give 1600 x 900. Under the hood, the ZX6800 packs an Intel Core 2 Quad 2.33 GHz processor, 8 GB of memory, and ATI Radeon HD 4670 1 GB powering the graphics, DVD Writer, 64 GB SSD to store the OS and installed applications, 1 TB hard drive for storage, gigbit Ethernet and WiFi b/g/n, a hybrid TV-tuner, and 5.1 channel audio (outputs).

The ZX4800 on the other hand, is powered by an Intel Pentium Dual-Core 2.10 GHz, 4 GB memory, Intel GMA X4500 integrated graphics, a 750 GB hard drive (no SSD here), the rest of its specs is identical to its sibling, except that it doesn't pack the TV-tuner. Both come with Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit pre-installed. The multi-touch capabilities may come of use thanks to Windows 7's finger enhancements, and the various applications the company will be bundling. Slated for a time-frame between late October and early November, the Gateway One X6800 will carry a price-tag of US $1399, while the X4800 will sell for $749.

TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, is proud to announce the collaboration with award-winning liquid cooling solution provider, EK. The partnership brings a liquid cooling solution to the most powerful single GPU on the market today, the HD5870 series. EK cooling offers exceptional thermal performance and enhances gaming performance in a cool and stable operating environment.

The Liquid Cooling Solution (LCS) can completely dispel excessive heat within an airtight environment, enabling the heat to be dissipated in a quiet setting. The cooperation with EK allows PowerColor to bring another attractive option to the HD5870 series. This soon to be part of the Liquid Cooling Solution (LCS) product lineup, with full water block mounting on the card, helps deliver the perfect heat dissipation in a silent setting; allowing a perfect user experience like never before.

Less than a week away from launch, graphics cards based on AMD's newest ATI Radeon HD 5700 series mid-range GPUs have began to surface on European retailers, only to be retracted hours after being listed. Such acts from retailers isn't particularly new, but what it does is give away the price, and sometimes pictures and specifications. One such set of listings from German retailer Mindfactory.de, pits the price of the upper mid-range PowerColor Radeon HD 5770 at 149.99 €, including 19% applicable tax, and the mid-range PowerColor Radeon HD 5750 at 119.99 €, including 19% tax. Both cards, as listed by the retailer, feature 1 GB of GDDR5 memory. AMD is expected to unveil the Radeon HD 5700 series this October 13. With it, it plans to expand its lineup of next-generation DirectX 11 compliant graphics cards, and breach the mainstream market segment. What is also planned is to establish performance leadership over competing products at those price-points.

EVGA released timely updates to two of its frontline performance control software utilities, the Precision overclocking and monitoring tool, and GPU Voltage Tuner. Version 1.8.1 of the EVGA Precision adds support for newer NVIDIA GPUs, an updated OSD component, among other interface updates that enhance usability. The following are details as listed by EVGA:

• Added NVIDIA GeForce G210, GT220 and GT240 series graphics cards support.
• EVGA On-Screen Display Server has been updated to version 3.5.0. Floating injection address hooking technology, which has been introduced in the previous version, is now disabled by default and can be enabled via the "Stealth mode" option in the server's properties.
• Added hotkeys cross-links checking, Precision no longer allows defining the same hotkey for two different actions at the same time.
• Added "Browse" button to "Screen capture" tab to allow users to change target folder for screenshots.
• Added inegration with external overclocking stability testing applications.

The EVGA GPU Voltage Tuner got its update to version 1.1.2.2 in the form of support for EVGA's new GeForce GTX 285 Classified graphics accelerator. Registered EVGA users (registration is free) can download both the utilities from the EVGA website.

LaCie, in collaboration with world-famous designer Philippe Starck, announced the LaCie Starck Desktop Hard Drive and the LaCie Starck Mobile Hard Drive. The new products showcase more than just Starck's iconic signature; there is an intellect revealed throughout each component of the design.

From Philippe Starck: "Technological genius explodes exponentially, each time with incredible power whose limits are yet to be known. The power remains, never abating, symbolically characterized by the sculptural magma that one attempts to cleave, to master within this geometrically perfect strongbox. A symbol of strength mastered, of freedom guided, of incandescent magma heeding to the form of its cast. The interpretation is free. But the mystery remains."

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory and flash-based storage as an alternative to hard disk drives (HDDs), today announced the Z-Drive m84, a PCI-Express Solid State Drive (SSD) designed to offer the performance of OCZ's Z-Drive product line to enthusiasts for a more affordable price point and availability in the mainstream market segment versus the enterprise channel. The Z-Drive m84 is the answer to the demand from end-users to have access to this state-of-the-art storage solution.

"The OCZ m84 Z-Drive is the newest addition to our line of PCI-E solid state drives and is designed to offer consumers a high performance yet aggressively priced solid state solution," said Eugene Chang, Vice President of Product Management at the OCZ Technology Group. "While the previously released p84 and e84 Z-Drives were intended specifically for enterprise applications, the m84 delivers much of the same performance but at a price point that is competitive with standard SSD drives. This is the first time that such a high performance PCI-E based SSD that is optimized for media editing, gaming, and workstation productivity, has been so within the reach of power users."

Corsair, a worldwide leader in high performance memory and computer products, today announced the launch of the Corsair TX950W power supply unit (PSU), the latest addition to the award-winning TX-series of high-quality PSUs.

The TX950W has been designed to meet the demanding requirements of PC enthusiasts, creative professionals and gamers. The TX950W is built using industrial-grade components to ensure clean and stable voltages, and has been qualified to operate at 100% load at an ambient temperature of 50°C for unmatched reliability.

WD, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its new My Book Elite desktop external drives featuring a customizable e-label that's always visible, even when the drive is unplugged, making it easy to know what's on the drive and how much space is left. The new My Book Elite also features automatic and continuous backup with WD SmartWare software and 256-bit hardware-based encryption. Available now at select retailers and shopwd.com, the new My Book Elite drives are offered in capacities of 1 TB, 1.5 TB and 2 TB.

The e-label smart display on the spine of the My Book drives can be changed easily and as often as desired. It utilizes e-paper technology which reads like ink on paper. With the included WD SmartWare software, users can easily create a label to name their drive or remind themselves of its contents. The e-label also shows available capacity and whether the drive is locked via WD SmartWare software's powerful password protection and hardware-based encryption. Utilizing e-paper technology, the information on the display remains clearly visible, even when the drive is unplugged, and the customized label can be changed easily as often as desired.

Combining a high-performance NVIDIA ION graphics processor with a choice of energy-efficient dual-core Intel Atom 330 or single-core Atom 230 processors, the ZOTAC MAG delivers an eco-friendly computing experience that still packs a performance punch in a compact 186mm x 189mm x 38mm package.

"As users start equipping every room in their house with computers for a true networked digital home experience, space and power conservation becomes an issue, especially for larger houses," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International. "With the ZOTAC MAG series, we're providing users with a system suitable anywhere inside a house. The compact size, performance and energy efficiency makes the ZOTAC MAG perfect for all computing uses."

WD, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its new ultra-portable My Passport Elite external hard drives featuring an illuminated capacity gauge and drive lock indicator so users can see at-a glance how much space is left on their drive and whether their data is secure. The convenient grab-and-go USB dock frees up valuable desk space and eliminates the search for USB ports, making it ideal for professionals who take their data back and forth to the office.

Like the previously announced My Passport Essential drives, the My Passport Elite portable drives feature automatic and continuous backup with WD SmartWare software and 256-bit hardware-based encryption. My Passport Elite drives are available now in 3 appealing metallic colors - Metallic Red, Metallic Blue and Charcoal Metallic - and are offered in capacities of 320 GB, 500 GB and 640 GB.

WD, the world's leader in external storage solutions, today introduced its new high-performance My Book Studio desktop external drives with a customizable e-label that is always visible, even when unplugged, so it's easy to know the contents of the drive. Designed for Mac users and creative professionals, the new My Book Studio drives are equipped with a FireWire 800 interface to give users the speed they need for demanding tasks like photo and video editing and graphic design.

The new My Book Studio drives are TimeMachine compatible, offer automatic, continuous backup with WD SmartWare software, and include 256-bit hardware-based encryption to provide a high level of security. Available now at select retailers and the WD online store, the new My Book Studio drives are formatted for Mac and offered in capacities of 500 GB, 1 TB, 1.5 TB and 2 TB.

Creative Technology Ltd. today introduced the Creative Sound Blaster Easy Record which helps users effortlessly convert their favourite music from cassettes, LP records, CDs or MDs to digital form via a convenient plug and play USB connection. The Creative Sound Blaster Easy Record comes bundled with Smart Recorder software which guides users step by step in recording music and has the option to import recorded tracks directly to their iTunes libraries. Together with a myriad of line-in connectors for external audio equipment such as CD players and turntables, the Creative Sound Blaster Easy Record provides users unrivalled convenience and ease in recording their personal music collections.

The Creative Sound Blaster Easy Record works with desktops, notebooks and even netbooks. Users only need to connect it via a USB port with no drivers required for basic recording, and it is compatible with Windows 7 / Vista / XP. Besides the Stereo RCA inputs, there is also a 3.5mm Line-In connector for MP3 players or mobile phones, and a Headphone-Out for monitoring the audio during recording. The compact design of the Creative Sound Blaster Easy Record makes it convenient to carry around, granting users easy and portable recording on the go.

ARM and GLOBALFOUNDRIES today announces a long-term strategic relationship to provide their mutual customers with an innovative SoC enablement program. To support the long-term relationship, GLOBALFOUNDRIES and ARM have signed a broad agreement on processor implementation and circuit optimization to provide mutual customers with a robust enablement program geared towards next-generation applications.

The SoC enablement program, built around a full suite of ARM Physical IP, Fabric IP and Processor IP, will deliver customers unparalleled design flexibility on GLOBALFOUNDRIES' most advanced HKMG semiconductor manufacturing capabilities. The collaborative efforts of the partnership will initially focus on enabling SoC products which use the low power and high performance ARM Cortex -A9 processor on GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28nm HKMG process. The characteristics of GLOBALFOUNDRIES 28nm "Gate First" HKMG technology is optimized for high performance processing with minimal leakage making it an ideal choice for advanced mobile solutions.

Traditionally, a specialists in aluminum/copper fin 'ring' type CPU coolers, Zalman maintained a performance leadership till aluminum fin tower type CPU coolers took over as the better performing design. Zalman was forced to keep up with the trend, which it did with the introduction of its CNPS-10X series coolers, namely CNPS-10X Quiet, and CNPS-10X Extreme. The third one in the series, which Zalman recently made available to European stores, is the CNPS-10X Flex. This is basically a tower-type heatsink that uses a block of 56 aluminum fins (some of which are anodized black), to which heat is conveyed by five copper heat-pipes. While it does not include a fan of its own, it gives you the flexibility of using your own 120 mm fan, and allows for two fans in all. The retention module supplied supports all current CPU sockets, including LGA-1366, LGA-1156, LGA-775, and AM3/AM2+/AM2. Priced at €40, it is €10 cheaper than the CNPS-10X Quiet, enough price difference to allow you to buy a decent-quality 120 mm fan of your choice, be it performance-oriented, or quiet.

Super Talent Technology, a leading manufacturer of Flash storage solutions and DRAM memory modules, today announced the new co-branded UltraDrive DX SSDs that offer two levels of security to prevent unauthorized data theft or loss. Co-branded Toshiba, the new UltraDrive DX SSDs will be sold through Super Talent's North American retail and distribution channel starting this week.

As a first level of security the UltraDrive DX supports password protection with an encrypted password. This blocks malicious hackers from accessing the data stored on the SSD. As a second level of protection the DX incorporates new hardware data randomization technology. Data randomization happens automatically with every write to the drive to prevent unauthorized copying of blocks of data. Both encrypted password protection and data randomization are standard features that do not affect performance.

For NVIDIA's PhysX technology, it has been a roller-coaster ride since NVIDIA's acquisition of the technology, and its makers. As much as PhysX quickly became one of the important selling-points of NVIDIA's consumer graphics line GeForce, it also had its small share of controversy, linked to market dynamics more than anything. With the technology's port to the GeForce GPU, enthusiasts fancied having the freedom of choice with a primary GPU that is dedicated to rendering 3D graphics, and a second GPU that is just about powerful to assign as a dedicated PhysX GPU.

Although having a powerful ATI Radeon GPU aided by a less-powerful NVIDIA GeForce GPU for PhysX was possible on Windows XP, the succeeding Windows Vista restricted this, by making sure two active display drivers couldn't coexist. Windows 7 removed this restriction, but before you could rejoice, NVIDIA quickly released a driver-level code with its 186 series drivers, that disables NVIDIA PhysX altogether when a GPU from another vendor is coexisting and enabled, even an IGP for that matter. If that wasn't bizarre enough, with the latest drivers, you can't even pair an Ageia PhysX PPU card with an ATI Radeon GPU going about its business. To the rescue comes a soft-modder's nifty bit of software that overrides this restriction from NVIDIA's drivers, so you can use dedicated GeForce PhysX cards on machines with ATI Radeon primary GPUs again. The corrective driver patch comes from tech portal NGOHQ.com community member GenL.

Keeping up closely with its recent release of the Balder SD1213 CPU cooler, Xigmatek also introduced the Bifrost VD1065 VGA cooler. The Bifrost is a twin-fan aluminum fins based GPU cooler, that makes use of the company's popular Heat-pipe Direct Touch feature. The fairly-simple construction of this cooler includes a GPU contact block with mount-hole spacings of 43 mm, 53 mm, and 51 mm, to maintain a board list of compatibility. Here, five nickel-plated copper heat-pipes make direct contact with the GPU. These then convey heat to the cooler's aluminum fin array, which is cooled by two 100 mm ball-bearing fans that spin at speeds of around 2,000 rpm, with a noise-level of 20 dBA.

The Xigmatek Bifrost VD1065 is compatible with most current single-GPU graphics cards, including Radeon HD 2000/3000/4000 series, NVIDIA GeForce 8-series, 9-series, GTS 200, and GTX 200 series. It is expected to arrive in stores soon, priced at 36.90 EUR.

The internationally-renowned championship gaming team Fnatic.MSI has traversed the globe competing and winning competitions with a dominant weapon－MSI G Series notebooks. The newest fully-evolved G series extreme gaming notebook, the GT740, is the latest in the series to feature the newest Intel Calpella platform, the advanced Intel Core i7 quad core processor as well as Microsoft's newest operating system, Windows 7. With a 17" cinema grade display, the nVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M 3D discrete graphics card (DDR3 1GB VRAM) and 5 Hi-Fi speakers with authentic SRS Premium Sound, gaming, watching video, and listening to music are all exciting and true-to-life experiences.

The GT740 runs on Microsoft's new Windows 7 operating system and uses the latest-generation Intel Core i7 processor. The high grade nVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M 3D discrete graphics card (DDR3 1 GB VRAM), and the GT740's outstanding software specifications provide gamers with highly efficient operations and the world's strongest gaming notebook computer.
Through a complete hardware evolution, the GT740 offers Intel's advanced Intel Hyper-Threading technology, which gives its quad core processor the ultimate in processing power. When used in conjunction with Turbo Boost technology, flexible distribution of system resources in concert with the Windows 7 operating system deliver smooth execution and efficiency. With a simple user interface and the nVIDIA GeForce GTS 250M 3D discrete graphics card's high performance video processing capabilities, this notebook is the ultimate representative of high-speed performance and a specialized, must-have weapon for gamers!

Kingston Digital, Inc., the Flash memory affiliate of Kingston Technology Company, Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced it has partnered with SPYRUS, Inc., the leader in the development and manufacturing of advanced hardware-based encryption, authentication, and digital content security products. Under the partnership, Kingston Digital will incorporate patented Secured by SPYRUSâ"¢ technology into its Kingston DataTraveler USB Flash drives to deliver unsurpassed levels of security and encryption to government bodies and enterprises worldwide.

"SPYRUS hardware-based security was specifically designed to protect sensitive Department of Defense data, and we are proud to join with Kingston to introduce the strongest security protection available for government and enterprise markets in over 100 countries," said, Burt Tregub, Vice-President of Corporate Development for SPYRUS. "Our proven technologies surpass all others to protect customer data against the proliferation of cyber crime, cyber attacks and data loss."

A little over two weeks after releasing its previous 190.62 WHQL version of its GeForce drivers, NVIDIA released its brand new GeForce 191.07 driver suite, signed by Windows Hardware Quality Labs (WHQL). The suite provides driver and system software support for all current NVIDIA GeForce graphics products, GeForce 6-series and above. This release is aimed for provide application-specific performance enhancements, numerous bug-fixes related to the drivers, and included software, and improved game support for NVIDIA's SLI multi-GPU technology. As listed by the company, important changes are as follows. For a broader list of changes, please refer to the Release Notes document (for Windows 7, Vista, and XP):

• Adds support for OpenGL 3.2 for GeForce 8, 9, 100, and 200-series GPUs and ION GPUs.
• Accelerates performance in several gaming applications. The following are examples of improvements measured with version 191.07 drivers vs. version 190.62 drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
  o Up to 12% performance increase in ARMA 2
  o Up to 8% performance increase in Batman: Arkham Asylum with GPU PhysX enabled
  o Up to 50% performance increase in Call of Juarez: Blood in Bound with SLI enabled
  o Up to 14% performance increase in Fallout 3 (indoor scenes) with antialiasing enabled
  o Up to 10% performance increase in Far Cry 2 (DX9 version) with antialiasing enabled
  o Up to 34% performance increase in Prototype with antialiasing enabled
• Adds SLI support for Aion, Darkfall, Dawn of Magic 2: Time of Shadows, Dreamkiller, Fuel, Majesty 2: The Fantasy Kingdom Sim, Need for Speed: Shift and more.
• Includes numerous bug fixes, including the following key fix (additional bug fixes can be found in the release notes on the documentation tab): For graphics cards supporting multiple clock states, 3D clocks correctly return to 2D clocks after exiting a 3D application.

DOWNLOAD: NVIDIA GeForce 191.07 WHQL for Windows 7/Vista 32-bit | Windows 7/Vista 64-bit | Windows XP 32-bit | Windows XP 64-bit

QNAP Systems, Inc., a leading manufacturer of world class NAS servers, NVR Video Surveillance Systems, and Network-based Video Players today expanded their Turbo NAS lineup with the addition of the TS-410 desktop NAS server targeted specifically at the SOHO and Prosumer market segments. The TS-410 features 4 hot-swappable SATA hard drives with up to 8 TB of total capacity (with 2TB drives) and supports 2.5" or 3.5" hard drives, giving users more flexibility in selecting drives for installation. The TS-410 features a Marvell 800MHz CPU and 256MB DDRII memory which provides sustained high performance with low power consumption. The TS-410 can be configured for RAID 0/1/5/6/5+ spare, and JBOD with online RAID capacity expansion and online RAID level migration for high data redundancy. The TS-410 also supports iSCSI Target service with Thin Provisioning and dual Gigabit LAN ports, features generally found on much higher end NAS servers. The TS-410 also features 4 USB ports (1 front, 3 back panel) and 2 e-SATA ports for expanding the storage capacity or backing up the TS-410.

The TS-410 is a smart choice for installation in home or home-based business as it's fully compatible with Windows, Macintosh, Linux, and UNIX networks and features a built-in UPnP/ DLNA media server (with TwonkyMedia enabled) supporting a wide range of DLNA media players such as Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 gaming consoles. By installing the DLNA/ UPnP application on your iPhone or iPod touch, users can access the TS-410 on the home network and play videos, music, and photos from the server over the network. In addition, the high-speed PC-less Download Station with the unique QGet utility enables users to manage the BT/ FTP/ HTTP download tasks remotely over the local network or the Internet. The TS-410 can perform centralized backups of all computers attached to the network to protect valuable paid downloaded music & video content, digital pictures, and documents.

Active Media Products, manufacturer of SSDs and innovative USB drives, today announced the Aviator 312 line of SuperSpeed USB 3.0 external SSDs. SuperSpeed USB 3.0 supports transfer speeds up to 4.8Gbits/sec -- ten times faster than USB 2.0. A312 SuperSpeed USB 3.0 external SSDs take advantage of USB 3.0's massive bandwidth, delivering unprecedented transfer speeds in an extremely compact mobile flash storage device. Measuring less than 3 inches long and only 0.2 inches thin, the A312 is smaller than a credit card and is designed to fit in a pocket. A312 SSDs can save a 25GB full-length HD movie in about two minutes. What used to take an hour to save will take only seconds with the A312 thanks to its scorching write speeds of up to 160 MB/s and read speeds up to 240 MB/s.

Aviator 312 SSDs are designed for external use, and include a carrying pouch and a USB 3.0 Micro-B cable for connection to any USB port. The 312 is fully backward compatible; it works in any USB 2.0 or 1.1 port, but requires a SuperSpeed port to reach its full performance capabilities. Unlike many other high speed external storage devices, the A312 does not require a separate power source. It draws all the power it needs directly from the USB bus. The A312 will be offered in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities.

The Dutch techsite tweakers.net set a new world record for 3Dmark03. While the old record (180,349) was set using four 4890s the new record uses only three 5870s and a Xeon W3540 clocked at 5231 MHz. The 5870s ran at 1200 MHz with only slightly overclocked memory at 4900 MHz.

A-DATA Technology Co., Ltd., the worldwide leader in DRAM memory and Flash application products, unveiled today the industry's first ever waterproof and shock resistant portable HDD SH93, a super strong hard disk drive designed specifically for students, road warriors, and sports enthusiasts.

Incorporating rubber-plastic mix and special cushion materials, the SH93 sustains 1M waterproof test for 30 minutes and military standard MIL-STD-810F drop test. The MIL-STD-810 test addresses a broad range of environmental conditions to generate confidence in the overall durability of a system design. With the USB cable cord tucking into the slit that goes around the side of the HDD, the SH93 is beautifully designed with finish paint in racing car yellow. It is easy for users to conveniently carry around massive documents without the fear of damaging files stored in the HDD in the incident of accidental drop or water spills.

"ZOTAC is always leading the way with our graphics cards. As new displays are shedding old connections, it's the perfect time for us to move ahead do the same," said Carsten Berger, marketing director, ZOTAC International.

By eliminating the legacy TV output port, all newly manufactured ZOTAC graphics cards feature HDMI, dual-link DVI and VGA outputs for high-resolution connections to monitors and televisions. ZOTAC GeForce GTS 250, 9 and 8400GS series graphics cards with HDMI output also have a S/PDIF audio input to route audio from a sound card or onboard high-definition audio for simultaneous audio and video output over a single HDMI cable for simplistic connectivity to the latest displays and audio receivers.

Cooling specialist Xigmatek announced its latest CPU cooler, the Balder SD1283. The Balder maintains a design similar to most other tower coolers. The design consists of a base from which three heat pipes of 8 mm diameter making direct contact with the CPU, convey heat to a dense array of aluminum alloy fins. The CPU base has a mirror finish to ensure better surface contact.

The main unit measures 120(W) x 50(D) x 159(H) mm, and weighs 700 g with fan. The 120 mm fan spins at speeds between 1000 ~ 2200 rpm, with a maximum noise output of 28 dBA. The Xigmatek Balder supports all current sockets, including LGA-1366, LGA-1156, LGA-775, and AM3/AM2+/AM2. The package includes a bolt-thru kit for the LGA sockets, and enough rubber rivets to let you attach two fans. It is priced at 32.90 EUR.

Cooling solutions OEM Akasa's newest offering is the AK-968 X4 CPU cooler. This value offering is designed to oust your stock CPU cooler for better performance at a low price. Measuring 135 (H) x 109 (W) x 90 (D) mm, and weighing 458 g, the AK-968 X4 resembles similar coolers in its category such as the Arctic Freezer 7 Pro. Its design involves a copper base plate from which three u-shaped copper heatpipes pass, conveying heat to an aluminum fin array, which is actively cooled by a 92 mm PWM-controlled fan that spins at speeds between 600 ~ 2500 rpm pushing up to 47.7 CFM of air, with a noise output of 17.0 ~ 29.5 dBA. It supports all current desktop CPU sockets, including Intel LGA-1366, LGA-1156, LGA-775, AMD s939, and AM3/AM2/AM2+. It is currently listed for £20 at a popular British etailer.

Apacer, one of the world's leading brands of memory modules, has announced its brand-new "Giant II DDR3 Overclocking Memory Module series" in response to the global trend of gaming economics, helping fervent gaming players build their ultra-speed gaming PC. Apacer's "Giant II DDR3 Overclocking Memory Module series" inherit the huge heatspreader design of the Giant Series and further adopt the unique "air-fall" vents for quick heat dissipation even at overclocking high temperature, maintaining great operation stability while the player can enjoy the sensational gaming experience.

Apacer's "Giant II DDR3 Overclocking Memory Module Series" selects the best-performing Elpida's 1Gbit, 128x8 particles suited for overclocking, which are screened in the triple channel test environment using the advanced test fixture and programs under diversified parameters of voltage and time sequences. Stricter than other brands' screening standards, the particles are further tested in the high temperature and high pressure environment for 72 hours to wash out unstable ones and ensure best overclocking performance and stability. The much-tested "Giant II DDR3 Overclocking Memory Module Series" has four models: DDR3-1600MHz, 1866MHz, 2000MHz, and DDR3-2133, the most stable and performing model in the market, with two capacity choices: 3GB (1GBx3) and 6GB(2GBx3), to meet the different requirements of professional players who demand ultra game performance.

In response to Intel's recent official release of its latest quad-core processors Core i7-800 series and Core i5-700 series, Apacer Technology Inc., the leading memory module manufacturer, unveils two DDR3 dual-channel overclocking memory modules-Golden and Aeolus series. They target desktop and overclocking users to by delivering extreme performance and fully support Core i7 and Core i5 processors that use Intel's Nehalem microarchitecture for optimum platform compatibility for mainstream desktop computers. Excellent overclocking performance thus comes realized.

To support P55 chipset-based Intel Core i7 and Core i5 platforms, Apacer's new DDR3 overclocking memory modules can be powered by 1.65V low voltage supply. When running under the dual-channel mode, Golden series can achieve bandwidth up to 1800 MHz. Aeolus series featuring unique Dual-layer Heat Spreader can reduce the temperature by as much as 20°C and also support maximum frequency of 2200 MHz. Exclusively designed for hardcore gamers and overclocking users, the overclocking memory modules allow users to experience the extreme overclocking performance.

ASUS is preparing an addition to its EeeBox family of nettops with the EeeBox EB1501. The new EeeBox is based on the NVIDIA ION platform, and is powered by an Intel Atom 330 1.60 GHz dual-core processor, aided by NVIDIA ION chipset, 4 GB of DDR2 800 MHz memory, and a GeForce 9400M graphics processor embedded in the chipset, which makes it full HD capable. On the storage front, is a 250 GB hard drive, and a slot-in DVD writer. The front-bezel holds this, alongside a 5-in-1 card reader, a couple of USB 2.0 ports, and audio connectors.

The rear panel holds four more USB 2.0 ports, D-Sub and HDMI for display connectivity, gigabit Ethernet, an antenna for the 802.11b/g/n WLAN, and eSATA. The EeBox EB1501 comes with Windows 7 Home Basic pre-installed, and is expected to be launched at the earliest after October 22. It is expected to be priced around 400 EUR.

Intel Labs Europe (ILE), unveiled the latest Innovation Open Lab located at the Intel Ireland campus in Leixlip Co. Kildare. This is Intel's second European Innovation Open Lab, which will foster cooperation between Intel, industry and academia through joint research and innovation programs. The Lab's mission is to facilitate and enhance open research and innovation opportunities in Europe that can be converted into various broadly based and value-driven technology solutions. The Ireland Innovation Open Lab is part of the ILE initiative which was announced in January 2009.

The official opening was attended by special guests including Conor Lenihan T.D., Minister for Science, Technology & Innovation; Brian Crowley, MEP; Rick Echevarria, Vice President, Digital Enterprise Group and General Manager, Digital Office Platform Division, Intel; Dr. Martin Curley, Global Director, Intel IT Innovation and Director, Intel Labs Europe; and Jim OHara, General Manager, Intel Ireland and Vice President, Technology Manufacturing Group, Intel.

A Chinese tech community MyMyPC.com member pictured, and tested a Radeon HD 5750 graphics accelerator, which is intended to be AMD's flagship product in the sub $150 market segment. Unlike the Radeon HD 5770, which is pictured with a different cooler that resembles that of the Radeon HD 4770 (AMD reference), and Radeon HD 3870, this card makes do with a GPU cooler essentially similar to that of the more common Radeon HD 4770 cooler design, except for a few changes with the fan and the cooler shroud. Under the black, egg-shaped shroud is a heatsink with radially-projecting fins, in which is nested a red 80 mm fan. Everything else on the card, relies on its air-flow.

Fujitsu proudly introduces the Fujitsu LifeBook P8110, the latest notebook in the P Series that promises to inject remarkable beauty and power into every professional's life. Built to deliver true mobile freedom, distinctive style and effortless efficiency into your hands, the P8110 is just what you need for work and play in the mobility-obsessed age.

Ms. Irene Tan, Director of Sales, Fujitsu PC Asia Pacific Ltd, says, "With the Fujitsu LifeBook P8110, professionals can now have a companion that not only meets increasingly demanding needs but also one that realises an ambulatory lifestyle. The stress of constant traveling, multi-tasking and connection on-the-go will be dissipated with the performance and design of this machine."

ASUS, the leader in innovative motherboard solutions, today unveiled the first motherboard in its newly-developed "TUF" (The Ultimate Force) Series, the SABERTOOTH 55i. The TUF Series is specially developed to meet the heavy computing demands of power users and perform well even under extreme conditions. Such computer enthusiasts often demand high-quality motherboard components and the most stable computing platforms. To achieve uncompromising stability, TUF Series motherboards have undergone a more stringent testing program than what most motherboard producers currently undertake. Solidly constructed and equipped with resilient components that have passed demanding military-style testing, the TUF Series triumphs over the harshest operating conditions to deliver robust performance. The debut SABERTOOTH 55i model, designed around a "Marine Cool" concept, incorporates the Intel P55 chipset and "tough" features to give users a supremely solid and stable computing platform.

Unveiled at the footnote of the GPU Technology Conference 2009, by none other than NVIDIA CEO Jen-Hsun Huang, NVIDIA's Fermi architecture looks promising, at least in the field of GPGPU, which was extensively discussed upon in his address. The first reference board based on NVIDIA's newest 'GT300' GPU is a Tesla HPC processor card, which quickly became the face of the Fermi architecture. Singapore HardwareZone, and PCPop caught some of the first closeup pictures of the Tesla accelerator, and the GPU's BGA itself. Decked in a dash of chrome, the Tesla HPC processor card isn't particularly long, instead a great deal of compacting by its designers is evident. It draws power from one 8-pin, and 6-pin PCI-E power connectors, which aren't located next to each other. The cooler's blower also draws air from openings in the PCB, and a backplate further cools the GPU (and possibly other components located) from behind. From the looks of it, the GPU package itself isn't larger than that of the GT200 or its predecessor, the G80. Looks like NVIDIA is ready with a working prototype against all odds, after all, doesn't it? Not quite. On close inspection of the PCB, it doesn't look like a working sample. Components that are expected to have pins protruding soldered on the other side, don't have them, and the PCB seems to be abruptly ending. Perhaps it's only a dummy made to display at GTC, and give an indication of how the card ends up looking like. In other words, it doesn't look like NVIDIA has a working prototype/sample of the card they intended to have displayed the other day.

Here is what four AMD Cypress GPUs can achieve with some careful overclocking, without needing any third-party cooling. Renowned overclocker Kinc sent us details of his latest achievement using four ASUS Radeon HD 5870 1 GB cards installed in a 4-way CrossFireX setup, all overclocked, and cooled by AMD's reference cooler, taking a shot at 3DMark Vantage (Extreme Preset). The four cards returned a score of X26,332 points, with an average frame-rate of 79.49 fps in GT1, and 74.83 fps in GT2.

To begin with the cards were overclocked to 1035/1290 MHz, up from reference speeds of 850/1200 MHz (core/memory). This was supported by raising the vGPU to 1.330V using GPUTool, from 1.015V. The platform to drive this feat comprised of an Intel Core i7 965 XE processor, cooled by Intel's reference (boxed) cooler, clocked at 4257 MHz. To seat them all was an ASUS P6T7 WS SuperComputer motherboard. The feat serves as a prelude to what the future holds in two "Hemlock" accelerators, which make use of two Radeon HD 5870 GPUs each.

NEC Display Solutions, a leading stand-alone provider of commercial LCD displays and projectors, announced today the addition of three new desktop monitors to its AccuSync Series. With two widescreen displays and one standard-aspect display, this series offers small-to-medium-sized business users a reliable, environmentally-conscious and technology-rich desktop monitor solution.

The energy-efficient 19" AS191, 19" widescreen AS191WM and 22" widescreen AS221WM monitors consume up to 48% less energy than their predecessors. All three models offer an EPEATTM Silver rating, and ENERGY STAR 5.0 and TCO 5.0 compliance, giving users confidence that these displays are environmentally preferable purchases. ECO ModeTM technology allows users to maneuver between two energy-savings modes. Additionally, the tilt functionality provides flexibility and enhanced comfort for AccuSync users.

The world-leading graphics card and mainboard manufacturer, MSI, today announces all-in-one graphics card tweak utility "Afterburner". All MSI graphics card users can download it for free on Afterburner website today. The powerful overclocking, tweaking, and monitoring features of Afterburner are incomparable among competitors. The MSI graphics card users can immediately enjoy the overclocking performance and tweaking pleasure brought by Afterburner now.

Afterburner fully supports the GPU/Shader/Memory clock adjustment of NVIDIA and ATI graphics cards. Beside general overclocking features, Afterburner has the exclusive over-voltage technology, which supports NVIDIA and ATI high-end product-line and MSI award-winning Lightning series. With these graphics cards, the extra over-voltage function will be activated, and can highly boost the graphics card overclocking capability and make the games runs more smoothly. According to the internal test result, MSI N275GTX Lightning core clock can be overclocked to the awesome 1175MHz and reached the unprecedented 85% overclocking capability.

Today LaCie announced high-end speakers, modeled after Cabasse's renowned loudspeaker technology - the LaCie Sound2 Speakers, design by Neil Poulton. LaCie has partnered with famous acoustic engineering company Cabasse to bring high-quality sound to any computer system or A/V device.

Coupled with Cabasse's loudspeaker driver support, the LaCie Sound2 Speakers provide premium sound quality to computers. Additionally, users can use the line-in connection to experience the same high-quality sound from audio/video devices like iPods and portable multimedia players.

Creative Technology Ltd. today announced the Creative Inspire S2 Wireless, a compact speaker system which grants users wireless music freedom for new generation compact notebooks, PCs or mobile devices with wireless music playback via its built-in wireless receiver or any notebook or PC with a USB port by means of a plug and play USB Bluetooth transmitter. Users can also play and control music on the Creative Inspire S2 Wireless speaker system from other Bluetooth-enabled devices anywhere within a maximum range of 10 metres.

The Creative Inspire S2 Wireless speaker system continues to retain the Creative Inspire tradition of "best in class" performance, this time with superior wireless playback for unrivalled performance. Incorporating apt-X technology, the high-performance audio codec from APTX, the Creative Inspire S2 Wireless speaker system provides Bluetooth transmission with minimum delay and outstanding sound quality. It also possesses a compact form factor, minimising its footprint without any compromise on component and sound quality, ideal for discerning users who shy away from bulky or low-grade speaker systems. With each palm-sized satellite speaker measuring a mere 7.4cm x 7.3cm x 10.3cm, the Creative Inspire S2 Wireless speaker system blends perfectly into small spaces, making it the perfect companion for notebooks, PCs or mobile devices.

NVIDIA Corp. today introduced NVIDIA Nexus, the industry's first development environment for massively parallel computing that is integrated into Microsoft Visual Studio, the world's most popular development environment for Windows-based solutions and Web applications and services.

"NVIDIA Nexus is going to improve programmer productivity immediately," said Tarek El Dokor at Edge 3 Technologies. "An integrated GPU and CPU development solution is something Edge 3 has needed for a long time. The fact that it's integrated into the Visual Studio development environment drastically reduces the learning curve."

NVIDIA Corp. today introduced its next generation CUDA GPU architecture, codenamed "Fermi". An entirely new ground-up design, the "Fermi" architecture is the foundation for the world's first computational graphics processing units (GPUs), delivering breakthroughs in both graphics and GPU computing.

"NVIDIA and the Fermi team have taken a giant step towards making GPUs attractive for a broader class of programs," said Dave Patterson, director Parallel Computing Research Laboratory, U.C. Berkeley and co-author of Computer Architecture: A Quantitative Approach. "I believe history will record Fermi as a significant milestone."

Scythe expands its portfolio of audio devices. The new 5.25" mountable active speaker is now available in silver (Model Number: SCBS-2000S-S) and black (Model Number: SCBS-2000S-BK). Luxury appearance is provided by the aluminum finished front panel and meshed speaker cover to enhance your PC system. The switchable LED backlight turns the decent panel into a real eye-catcher in elegant blue LED illumination as needed.

On the technical side, Kama Bay Speaker ACE comes with 4 x built-in 1,25" concaved shape speakers with a real output of 2x 1,5 Watt. This provides high quality stereo sound for home and office PCs. By using the easy to access operating elements, users have full control whenever one requires to. If you need to shut down the sound or turn up/down the volume, one can do this directly by accessing the panel.