At IDF, motherboard vendors got to show off their near-complete socket LGA2011 motherboards based on the X79 chipset. Many of these were half-built and straight out of R&D at this year's Computex event, back in June. Gigabyte showed off its first X79 motherboards, the GA-X79-UD5, GA-X79-UD7, and G1.Assassin 2. Unlike previous generations of high-end Gigabyte motherboards, the UD7 isn't a beefed-up UD5 with added features and better cooling. The two are entirely different right from the PCB, to the features they offer.

The UD5 targets premium users, with eight DDR3 DIMM slots, geared for 3-card SLI/CrossFire, while the UD7 is bleeding-edge with just four DDR3 DIMM slots, but a wealth of overclocking features and support for 4-card SLI/Crossfire. Then there's the G1.Assassin 2, which targets the gamer-overclocker market with neat features such as hardware-accelerated Creative X-Fi audio and Bigfoot Killer NIC, with support for 3-card SLI/Crossfire.

European company EKL's Alpenfohn unveiled the first pictures of its Triglav tower-type CPU cooler. Its heatsink makes use of 'massive' 10 mm thick heat pipes. To put that into some perspective, 4~6 mm thick heat pipes are common, 8 mm thick ones have till now been considered thickest, for round heat pipes. The three 10 mm thick heat pipes are made of nickel-plated copper, and pass through 46 aluminum fins that are arranged in a turbulence-inducing pattern (improves heat dissipation, so fan speed can be lowered at its expense). Ventilation is care of a 120 mm Hydro Bearing fan that features PWM control, spins between 800 and 1500 RPM, with up to 21.4 dBA noise output. The Alpenfohn Trigav is priced at €39.90.

OCZ Technology Group, Inc., a leading provider of high-performance solid-state drives (SSDs) for computing devices and systems, today unveiled the Indilinx Everest SATA 3.0 SSD platform. The Everest platform features support of 6Gbps interface speeds, high transactional performance that is optimized for compressed files, and maximum capacities up to 1TB.

"The new Indilinx Everest platform is a complete customizable solution that delivers superior storage performance, features, and capabilities designed to exceed the needs of the most demanding SSD applications," said Bumsoo Kim, President of Indilinx. "Combining a 6Gbps SATA Revision 3.0 host interface, a dual-core CPU, and support for the latest, most advanced NAND Flash memory technology available, Everest offers SSD manufacturers unparallel flexibility in optimizing their designs for both performance and cost."

Sandia National Laboratories has developed a new technology with the potential to dramatically alter the air-cooling landscape in computing and microelectronics, and lab officials are now seeking licensees in the electronics chip cooling field to license and commercialize the device.

The "Sandia Cooler," also known as the "Air Bearing Heat Exchanger," is a novel, proprietary air-cooling invention developed by Sandia researcher Jeff Koplow, who was recently selected by the National Academy of Engineering (NAE) to take part in the NAE's 17th annual U.S. Frontiers of Engineering symposium.

Japanese cooling expert Scythe is announcing today the successor of popular Mugen 2 CPU Cooler. Mugen 2 CPU Cooler was awarded many times and is well known world-wide to mainstream users, Overclocker and Enthusiasts. During the development process main focus was set on improvement of performance and mounting mechanism as well as shrinking the heatsink dimensions. New Mugen 3 CPU Cooler is ready to take on the legacy.

While optimizing the performance the whole heatsink design of Mugen 3 CPU Cooler was re-worked which resulted in creation the improved fin-structure M.A.P.S. (Multiple Airflow Pass-Through Structure). Enhancements were achieved by reducing the aerodynamic resistance as well as improving of the overall heatsink stability. Furthermore Mugen 3 is equipped with total of six high-quality copper-heatpipes where the predecessor had only five. Typical for Scythe is the excellently processed and flat surface of the copper base which was refined by a thin nickel layer to prevent corrosion.

Shuttle Computer Handels GmbH, the European subsidiary of Shuttle Inc., one of the leading developers and manufacturers of compact PC solutions such as the world-renowned XPC Mini-PC Barebones, today announces the launch of the first model of a new product line. With a volume of approximately 3 litres, the compact XG41 fills a gap in the company's product range. It offers significantly more performance than a nettop, while taking up much less space compared to the typical Shuttle shoebox format.

The XG41, measuring 24.2 x 20 x 7.3 cm (DWH), sports HDMI and DVI-I, two Gigabit network interfaces, 6x USB, 2x COM (RS-232 + RS-232/422/485), S/PDIF and audio ports at the front and rear. The mainboard also offers 1x Mini-PCIe and 3x SATA 3 Gbit/s. This means that up to three drives can be accommodated in the case (3x 2.5" HDD or 1x Slimline ODD and 2x 2.5" HDD).

PNY Technologies, Inc. ("PNY"), a global leader in flash memory cards, USB flash drives, solid state drives, High Speed HDMI cables, computer memory upgrade modules, as well as consumer and professional graphics cards, today announced the debut of an innovative product line of Liquid Cooled Graphics Cards. PNY's new Liquid Cooled Graphics solution will be showcased at E3 2011 from now until June 9th.

PNY and Asetek, a leader in CPU thermal management, have combined forces to launch a high-end Liquid Cooled Graphics solution geared towards gaming enthusiasts. Consumers will receive a fully integrated XLR8 GeForce GTX liquid cooled graphics system, with a combination GPU/CPU cooling version available as well. Engineered with a closed loop system, and built with an Asetek sealed water cooler already attached, the PNY design offers consumers an out-of-the-box ready, simple to install and reliable product.

Sony Computer Entertainment Inc. (SCE) announced PlayStation Vita (PS Vita) (PCH-1000 series) as the official platform name for the next generation portable entertainment system at E3 2011. With an RRP of €249 for the Wireless model and €299 for the Wireless/3G version, PS Vita will launch in the global market starting at the end of 2011.

"Vita", which means "Life" in Latin, was chosen as the most appropriate name for the next generation portable entertainment system as it enables a revolutionary combination of rich gaming and social connectivity within a real world context as SCE aims to transform every aspect of a user's daily life into an entertainment experience and an opportunity to play.

During the first day of Computex 2011, three legendary overclockers, Shamino, Fredyama and Young Pro smashed the super Pi 32M record at the G.Skill booth. They achieved incredible Super Pi 32M time of 5min 33.172s with amazing ram speed of DDR3 2340MHz CL6-9-6-25 1T. This is the fastest Super Pi 32M record recorded using the latest Intel LGA 1155 platforms. This amazing score was achieved with top in-line hardware, G.Skill DDR3 2400MHz CL8 4GB (2GBx2) PI memory, ASUS ROG Maximus IV Extreme motherboard and Intel 2600K CPU.

Meet the X79A-GD80 from MSI, where active component cooling is making a comeback to motherboards. The Sandy Bridge-E LGA2011 socket dwarfs everything around it, in the upper-half of the board. Typical of LGA2011 motherboards,the X79A-GD80 has two DDR3 DIMM slots on either sides of the CPU socket, supporting quad-channel DDR3 memory. The VRM area is above the socket, MSI used a 40 mm fan-heatsink to cool the VRM. Further, a fan-heatsink is used to cool the X79 PCH. With the PCH heatsink the use of fan is more of an effort to keep the heatsink small in size, so active air-flow can compensate for its size. That aside, expansion slots are all-PCIe, including three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (x16/x8/x16), and four PCI-E x1 in middle. All 10 of the SATA 6 Gb/s ports from the PCH are internal ports, with just the one eSATA. Other connectivity includes 8+2 channel HD audio, dual gigabit Ethernet, and USB 3.0.

Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced Vengeance LP, the latest addition to the award-winning Vengeance Series high-performance DDR3 line.

Vengeance LP memory features heat spreaders with a reduced height of 1.03" (26.25 millimeters), compared to the standard height of 1.87" (47.37 millimeters). These modules are designed for high-performance systems with extra-large CPU coolers, small form factor system builds, or other space-constrained applications that prevent the use of standard Vengeance memory.

When Intel's Sandy Bridge platform was launched, P67 Express was perceived as the top of the line discrete graphics chipset that gives performance segment users everything they'll ever need. ASUS hence based its prestigious ROG Maximus branded motherboard based on it, and came up with the Maximus IV series. With Intel releasing a higher-end chipset with the Z68 Express, ASUS decided to redo its socket LGA1155 ROG motherboard lineup, with the Maximus IV Extreme-Z. The new motherboard gives users access to the processors' embedded graphics via a HDMI port, and gives them the benefit of Intel Smart Response technology that P67 lacks.

The Maximus IV Extreme-Z looks similar to its P67-based cousin. Based on the Intel Z68 chipset, the motherboard uses an NVIDIA nForce 200 bridge chip to ensure PCI-Express connectivity to up to four graphics cards, supporting NVIDIA SLI and AMD CrossFireX. The CPU is powered by ASUS Digi+ Extreme VRM, backed by high-grade components and proadlizers to condition power. There are four DIMM slots supporting dual-channel DDR3-2000 MHz memory by overclocking. Expansion slots include four PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (x16/NC/x16/NC or x8/x8/x8/x8), there's also a PCI-E x1 and open-ended PCI-E x4.

Here are the first figures made public of the market prices of AMD's upcoming two lines of desktop processors. AMD will approach the desktop PC market with two platforms, the A-Series "Llano" accelerated processing units (APUs), and the FX-series "Zambezi" processors (CPUs). APUs are functionally similar to Intel's Sandy Bridge processors, in having processor cores, a graphics processor, memory controller, and PCI-Express switch packed into a single piece of silicon. AMD is apparently relying on its powerful GPU architecture to make Llano a more wholesome product. Zambezi functionally resembles Intel Westmere/Bloomfield, in having a number of processing cores, a high-bandwidth memory controller, and a large cache packed into a single die, making up for a performance part.

By mid-June, AMD will launch the FX-Series with two a 4-core, a 6-core, and two 8-core parts. The series will be led by eight-core AMD FX-8130P priced at US $320, trailed by FX-8130 at US $290. The former probably is a "unlocked" part. Next up is the six-core FX-6110, priced at $240. Lastly there's the quad-core FX-4110, going for $220. You will notice that the price per core isn't as linear as it was in the previous generation.

A Swedish online store early-listed two of Corsair's unheard of upcoming CPU coolers in the Hydro series, the Hydro H80 and Hydro H100. The Hydro series includes pre-assembled, closed-loop CPU water-cooling kits that are relatively inexpensive compared to full-fledged custom-made loops. Corsair sources these kits from OEMs such as CoolIT and Asetek. Both new models are positioned above the existing single-fan slim H50, single-fan bigger radiator H60, and double-fan (push-pull) bigger radiator H70.

The Hydro H80 uses a thick 120x120 mm area radiator that's roughly as big as that of the H70, but has a bigger block unit, probably amounting to higher water flow. The block unit also appears to have a control knob. The Hydro H100, on the other hand, uses a large 240x120 mm area radiator that can hold two 120 mm fans on either sides, but comes with two fans. It seems like H100 has the same exact block unit as the H80, with its control knob. The Hydro H100 is listed at 1,075 Swedish Krona (US $172.5), while the Hydro H80 is listed at 965 Krona ($154).

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated graphics chip shipments and suppliers' market share for Q1'11. We found that shipments during the first quarter of 2011 behaved according to past years with regard to seasonality, and was nominal on a year-to-year comparison for the quarter. The situation changed over the course of the year and Q4'10 did not conform to the normal seasonal cycle, but was down a bit compared to previous years, so the growth in Q1 was a welcomed change. Our forecast for the coming years has been modified since the last report, and is less aggressive on both desktops and notebooks.

When it comes to power supplies be quiet! already realised the brand's name. So, why not even take it further and try to silence and improve other parts of a computer? Among the power supply the CPU-cooler is the part, which fabricates most of the noise in a PC. So be quiet! Took the challenge to develop a cooler which offers excellent cooling and a near silent operation. As the company stands for maximum performance, they put a lot of effort into the development process. It took them over one year, to work out the perfect combination between performance and noise. Until the finished product there were over 40 prototypes produced and numerous scenarios were simulated.

Scythe Corporation, a renowned cooling manufacturer, today announced the release of its third version of the Universal Retention Kit. This enhanced version comes with several improvements and wide multi-socket compatibility for both AMD and Intel sockets. The list of compatible sockets contains Intel Socket T / LGA775, LGA1156 LGA1366 and the brand-new socket LGA1155. It furthermore supports the AMD Sockets 754, 939, AM2, AM2+, AM3 and 940. Universal Retention Kit 3 is once again based on a backplate mounting system and allows firm contact pressure as well as secure mounting of even big and heavy CPU Coolers.

Commonly supplied retention bracket of AMD Mainboards are made of plastic which has a downside of giving risk of breaking when using with an on-market High-End CPU Cooler. This problem doesn't accrue with the supplied retention bracket of the Universal Retention Kit 3 which is made of solid steel and thereby provides the necessary sturdiness even for big High-End CPU Coolers. For Intel architecture this kit allows pushpin mounting to be converted to backplate mounting, thereby providing high mechanical stability hence also providing the necessary sturdiness even for big High-End CPU Coolers with a pushpin solution. In order to ease the detachment process of Push-Pins, a convenient Push-Pin Removal Tool is supplied along in the accessory.

EVGA is known for several of its wacky accessories for overclockers using its motherboards. It's living up to its reputation with its latest one: an analog CPU clock-speed meter. By the looks of it, the device fits onto the case with its dial facing the user, latched onto the case using the side-panel screw. It connects to the system probably over the EVBot interface. Another possibility is that the device connects to the motherboard over USB (front-panel) headers. The meter's dial uses a GHz scale with starting unit at 1 GHz, going up to 6 GHz, with no distinct divisions between. So there it is, another means for you to show some momentary love to EVGA.

SAPPHIRE Technology, the world's largest manufacturer and supplier of graphics systems based on technology from AMD has just announced its first mainboard based on the exciting new APU (Accelerated Processing Unit) architecture from AMD. As a result of close collaboration with AMD, SAPPHIRE will introduce the SAPPHIRE Pure White Fusion E350M1W mainboard through its Global channel - heralding a new generation of low-power, fully featured PC solutions.

The SAPPHIRE Pure White Fusion E350M1W is a mini-ITX mainboard featuring the E350 (Zacate) APU from AMD. Zacate is the first generation of APU - a combination of CPU and GPU computing technologies onto a single die to improve the performance of both visual and data-intensive tasks. For the first time it combines high-performance serial computing and parallel graphics processing cores on a single chip. The SAPPHIRE Pure White Fusion E350M1W also uses the companion Hudson-M1 (A50M) Chip from AMD.

Asetek Inc., the world's leading supplier of liquid cooling solutions for computers, today announced three new liquid CPU coolers for OEMs and system builders, designed for chassis utilizing 92mm exhaust fans. The products include: a single exhaust port, single-CPU cooler; a dual exhaust port, single-CPU cooler; and a dual exhaust port, dual-CPU cooler. These new Asetek products provide superior overclocking for compact gaming systems, and ultra-quiet computing and improved productivity for 3U servers and mainstream workstations.

"Our OEM and System Building partners are telling us space saving design is increasingly important in commercial applications as businesses seek to increase productivity without adding real estate," said Steve Branton, Director of Marketing at Asetek. "Consumers, particularly outside North America, also appreciate compact design. Asetek's new 92mm liquid CPU coolers enable companies such as BOXX Technologies to help their customers achieve these goals."

Zalman announced the CNPS 9900 Max. The new CNPS 9900 Max comes with Zalman's outstanding heat transfer solution by utilizing 'composite heatpipe'(Q Max 300W), along with switching noise eliminated 135mm quiet LED fan for ultra quiet operation and broad compatibility for both Intel 1156/1366/775 & AMD AM3/AM2+/AM2. This new awesome CPU cooler should be more than enough to satisfy overclockers and users who want to look for ultra powerful cooling performance in silent operation.

The Portland Group, a wholly-owned subsidiary of STMicroelectronics and a leading supplier of compilers for high-performance computing (HPC), today announced it is developing a CUDA C compiler targeting systems based on the industry-standard general-purpose 64- and 32-bit x86 architectures. The new PGI CUDA C compiler for x86 platforms will be demonstrated at the SC10 Supercomputing conference taking place in New Orleans, LA, November 13-15, 2010.

The NVIDIA CUDA architecture was developed to enable offloading computationally intensive kernels to massively parallel GPUs. Through function calls and language extensions, CUDA gives developers explicit control over the mapping of general-purpose computational kernels to GPUs, as well as the placement and movement of data between an x86 processor and the GPU.

In the view of the demand for an ultra-low power platform with fan-less design strongly inquired from customers, MSI IPC debuts the IM-PV-N based on thelatest Intel Pineview-D D525/D425 processor and the Intel ICH9R chipset to provide the latest ultra-low power platform. With a compact 6.7"x6.7" size, IM-PV-N is designed with rich I/O functionality and has the new levels of performance and graphics for customer's demanding in network security applications such as VPN (Virtual Private Network ), VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol ) and NAS (Network Attached Storage ). Powered by the Intel Pineview-D D525/D425+ICH9R chipset, consisting of the Intel Integrated Graphics GMA 3150 Engine, MSI IM-PV-N delivers high performance and powerful graphics.

MSI IM-PV-N supports 4 Gigabit LAN, and 2 LAN support Bypass function relay modes. With two DDR3 800 MHz So-DIMM sockets up to 4GB system memory, IM-PV-N is for better memory supply. For the storage application, it supports 4 SATA ports. Onboard I/O advantages include 10 COM ports and 6 USB 2.0 ports. Moreover, it features one compact flash slot, two PCI, one PCIex1 slot and one mini-PCIe slot for easy expansion.

Shuttle Inc., a leading developer and manufacturer of multi-form-factor solutions such as the world-famous XPC Mini-PC Barebones, today announces the official European sales launch of the XS35 series. There are in total eleven versions of the new model available, which all boast a compact format of just 38 mm in width, high connectivity and a completely passive (fanless) cooling system.

As the smallest-ever Mini-PC from Shuttle (25.2 x 3.85 x 16.2 [cm, DWH]) the XS35 offers particularly low energy consumption. The series is based on efficient technologies and uses the Intel Atom D510 dual-core processor (2x 1.66 GHz), SO-DIMM memory, 2.5 inch hard disks and slim-line drives. Since no fans are used at all, any models work virtually silently even under heavy load. Using no fans also means less maintenance is required.

Rouchon Industries, Inc. dba Swiftech today announced the release of the H20-X20 EDGE series of "all-in-one" liquid cooling kits. The kits are composed of a patent pending heat exchanger combining pump and reservoir, and a CPU waterblock, which considerably simplifies the task of installation for the users. The patent pending heat exchangers called MCR Drive (Rev2) come in two sizes: for dual 120mm fans and for triple 120mm fans; they incorporate a new high power pump with variable speed control managed by the motherboard. The Apogee XTL CPU water-block included in the kits is derived from Swiftech's award winning Apogee XT.

Swiftech is counting on the versatility and performance superiority of their kits 'design to attract an expanded range of users. A key factor with respect to versatility is the kit's ability to easily support additional devices such as liquid cooled graphics coolers or extra radiators which is a must-have among power users; the extremely broad performance range of the H20-X20 kits is of equal importance in terms of competitive advantage, as the kits can be tuned to satisfy both ends of the users 'spectrum: from silent operations to extreme cooling; and finally the ease of installation is expected to appeal to quality oriented first-time users.