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 third generation of its award-winning and completely fanless XS35 model from their slim PC series.

"Even our dealers keep telling us how impressed they are with the quietness of this model," says Tom Seiffert, Head of Marketing & PR at Shuttle Computer Handels GmbH. "It's very rare that the elimination of a particular component has been greeted with such positive comments. However, we've certainly achieved this by doing away with the use of fans."

Leading mainboard and graphics card maker MSI has just announced the release of the N680GTX Lightning, the new king of the graphics card world equipped with the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 680 GPU. The N680GTX Lightning utilizes proprietary Unlocked Digital Power architecture to unleash the full performance of the graphics card without any extra modifications. The innovative patented GPU Reactor power supply back plate also reduces power supply noise and improves overclocking stability. the N680GTX Lightning is kept cool by the Twin Frozr IV cooling solution with Dust Removal technology, dual temperature-controlled fan setup and SuperPipe.

Eurocom Corporation, a developer of High Performance Mobile Workstations and Hardcore Mobile Gaming Rigs is adding the AMD Radeon HD 7970M GPU to the Neptune 2.0 and Racer 2.0 high performance notebooks. The addition of the MXM 3.0b spec AMD Radeon HD 7970M offers gamers and enthusiasts a new level of ultra high performance GPU computing with AMD Enduro for insane battery life by taking advantage of AMD's existing ZeroCore Power and Power Gating battery-saving features.

"Hardcore gamers, enthusiasts, your dreams have come true! The AMD Radeon HD 7970M is the best graphics GPU in terms of overall price and performance on the market . The AMD Radeon HD 7970M, combined with Intel XTU and Intel XMP gives gamers and power users full control of their powerful EUROCOM super-notebooks " Mark Bialic, Eurocom President.

Intel released a new beta driver for processors with integrated graphics, for the Windows 8 Release Preview. Carrying the version number 15.28.0.64.2770, the driver supports Windows Display Driver Model Version 1.2 (WDDM 1.2), and enables features such as stereoscopic 3D, optimized screen rotation detection, and DirectX 11 (on select graphics controller models). It supports Intel HD Graphics 4000/3000/2500/2000 (Core "Sandy Bridge" and Core "Ivy Bridge"). Intel recommends use of its Windows 7 driver for reliability with OpenGL 3.3 applications.

DOWNLOAD: Intel HD Graphics Beta Driver for Windows 8 Release Preview

S3 Graphics' future hung in the balance since June 2011, when its parent company VIA Technologies announced sale of its stake in it. Since then, it's been a word on the wires, that smartphone maker HTC has been in the fray to buy it out, since it is facing IP turbulence with Apple. HTC and Apple used S3 Graphics (September 2011) and AMD (November 2011), respectively, as proxies in their patent infringement battles. It emerged out of the patent spat, that S3 Graphics holds a handy bouquet of graphics IP, and HTC announced that it is now back on track to acquire it.

Smartphone giant HTC backed S3 Graphics' claims to certain graphics-related patents in the patent infringement case against Apple. "We think S3's patent portfolio is valid and strong, and we have decided to complete the purchase of S3 after cautious assessment," HTC's general counsel Grace Lei said, at an annual shareholders' general meeting. S3 Graphics currently owns about 270 patents, some of which are licensed to Sony Corp., Nintendo Co. and Microsoft Corp., Lei added.

2012 COMPUTEX will take place from 5th to 9th of June 2012. The world leading graphics card company Sparkle will introduce the latest technologies and products in COMPUTEX. Pay a visit at booth L1318 in 4th floor of TWTC Nangang Exhibition Hall, you will get the latest product update from Sparkle.

PNY Technologies, Inc. ("PNY") today announced the release of the Verto GeForce GT 640 1024MB DDR3 graphics card. This new entry-level NVIDIA 28nm Kepler card features dedicated graphics performance from this powerful next-generation GeForce architecture.

The GT 640 delivers premium multimedia performance and reliable entry-level gaming, for a faster, more immersive experience. Harnessing PhysX technology, bring your HD videos, photos, web, and games to life; edit your photos and videos; or play the latest DirectX 11 games with GPU-accelerated tessellation. Accelerate your desktop's performance with cutting-edge features, such as CUDA technology to handle the most demanding system tasks -- such as photo editing -- and delivering incredible performance improvements over traditional CPUs. Adding to the incredible performance and power efficiency of the GT 640 is the new -- built from the ground up -- SMX unit, available only on Kepler. The revolutionary Kepler GPU has taken graphics to the next level and allows the GT 640 to simultaneously run up to three monitors with NVIDIA Surround technology -- expanding your viewing perspective and increasing productivity.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated graphics Add-in Board (AIB) shipments and sales' market share for Q1'12. The JPR AIB Report tracks computer graphics boards, which carry discrete graphics chips. They are used in desktop PCs, workstations, servers, and other devices such as scientific instruments. They may be sold as after-market products directly to customers or they may be factory installed. In all cases, they represent the higher-end of the graphics industry as discrete chips rather than integrated processors.

We found that AIB shipments during Q1'12 did not behave according to past years with regard to seasonality, and was lower on a year-to-year comparison and on a quarter-to-quarter comparison for the quarter. Overall, and for the PC market in general, 2011 has turned out to be an anomalous year as businesses and consumers take their own path to recovery.

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 Q1'12. The news was not good. AMD was able to grow shipments over last quarter by 0.3%, in a down quarter. Intel slipped 1.3% and Nvidia declined 4.5% from the last quarter.

Although this did not shape up to be a great quarter for the suppliers, it actually wasn't as bad as it could have been. We found that shipments during the first quarter of 2012 behaved according to past years with regard to seasonality, declining from the previous quarter; however, this quarter's decline (of 0.8%) was less than the ten-year average of 3.1%. If we use graphics as an indicator, the industry seems to be recovering from the floods in Thailand.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 doesn't need a brand new game engine to improve the graphics over previous games in the series, Treyarch has insisted. Black Ops 2 is built using the latest, most advanced version of the engine that Call of Duty developers have used to build the first-person shooter series since 2005's Call of Duty 2: a heavily modified version of the id Tech 3 engine. Some fans have called on Activision to invest in a brand new graphics engine in order to spruce up Call of Duty's visuals. But Treyarch chief Mark Lamia said continuing to upgrade the current engine was enough to meet the development team's design goals. "People always ask me, 'Is this a new engine?' he told One of Swords. "I liken it to people who live in an older house that has been remodelled. Just because you're remodelling the house and it will look new or it will have a new kitchen, you don't tear out the foundation, or break out some of the framing. You might even go as hardcore as replacing the plumbing, and we will do that sort of thing, as an analogy. It's a gross simplification, but it's one way to say that. There's a lot of good still in that foundation that you wouldn't get rid of, and we don't. We look to advance in the areas that support our game design.

"Engines, each time they get touched, they change. The creators alter them; they don't modify what they don't need to, and then they alter what they need to. You can't make a competitive product if you're not upgrading that engine along the way." He added: "I think the whole thing about a new engine... sometimes that's a great buzzword. Well, I have a new graphics engine - is that a new engine? Where does it start and stop? Elements of the code, you can trace back for a very, very long time... but whole parts of the code are entirely new. Two areas we did focus on for this game were the graphics and the lighting - a pretty significant amount of work is going into that."When Activision announced Black Ops 2 earlier this month it promised a "visual overhaul", with graphical upgrades a mix of "tech and technique". In a demo to press played on an Xbox 360 build of the game, an unpopulated level set on Socotra Island in Yemen showed HDR lighting, bounce lighting, self-shadowing and a new texture technique called reveal mapping - all running at 60 frames per second.

GIGABYTE Technology Co. LTD, a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, is pleased to introduce the world's fastest graphics cards - GV-N690D5-4GD-B. It combines the innovative new GeForce architecture with raw dual-GPU power to provide truly game-changing performance. GV-N690D5-4GD-B utilizes the latest 28nm fabrication process, GDDR5 memory and 3072 CUDA cores, and supports Microsoft DirectX 11, and PCI-Express 3.0.

It not only improves the processing ability but provides gamers a faster, smoother and richer gaming experience. Supporting NVIDIA 3D Vision Surround, 3D Vision, PhysX, and 3-way SLI, GV-N690D5-4GD-B guarantees an ultimate extreme experience. Equipped with the innovative Kepler GPU Dynamic Clocking technology, GV-N690D5-4GD-B has different clock rate - Base clock and Boost Clock. Boost clock dynamically adjusts clock speeds to bring out the best performance.

KFA2, Galaxy's European brand, launched two new GeForce GTX 680 graphics card models today, the GTX 680 EX OC Series, and the GTX 680 Limited Edition OC. The two are essentially re-brands of Galaxy GTX 680 GC and Galaxy GTX 680 Hall of Fame, respectively. Pictured below, the GTX 680 EX OC will be available in 2 GB and 4 GB variants, will pack clock speeds of 1110 MHz (core base), 1176 MHz (core boost), and 6.00 GHz memory; and will utilize an in-house design dual-fan cooling solution.

The GTX 680 Limited Edition OC, as its name suggests, will be available in limited quantities. It will utilize a unique white-colored PCB, and a triple-fan cooling solution that Galaxy and KFA2 have used on some of their most premium graphics cards, in the past. This card packs stellar factory-overclocked speeds of 1202 MHz (core base), 1267 MHz (core boost), and 6.00 GHz memory. It packs 2 GB of memory. Unlike what the picture shows, this card, according to KFA2, will include a display output layout of two dual-link DVI, and one each of HDMI and DisplayPort.

Intel released Intel Media SDK 2012 R2, now supporting Blu-ray MVC, stereoscopic (two-view) video. The new SDK also includes an Open CL sample, allowing developers to make the most of resources available on Intel platforms by supporting the newly released Intel SDK for OpenCL Applications 2012 on both Intel processors and Intel HD Graphics.

Providing developers with a simple API to create media applications using Intel Quick Sync Video, the SDK can enable hardware acceleration to significantly speed up media conversion on 3rd generation Intel Core processors. Developers can download a free copy of Intel Media SDK 2012 R2 here.

AMD revealed performance numbers of its key product for mainstream notebooks, the A10-4600M, in an infographic for the Korean market. Besides detailing the part, it reveals some performance numbers. To begin with, A10-4600M is based on the 32 nm "Trinity" silicon with all its components enabled. It has four x86-64 cores spread across two "Piledriver" architecture modules, 4 MB of total cache (2x 2 MB), CPU clock speeds of 2.30 GHz (3.00 GHz TurboCore), and integrated Radeon HD 7660G graphics that has 384 VLIW4 stream processors, and GPU core speed of 685 MHz. The chip integrates a PCI-Express 2.0 root complex, and dual-channel DDR3-1600 MHz integrated memory controller.

Moving on to performance numbers, and as expected, the infographic doesn't touch comparative CPU performance with a barge-pole. Instead the focus is on graphics performance, with an emphasis on Dual GPU feature, where the integrated graphics can work in tandem with a discrete GPU of the same class, resulting in up to 75% performance increase. Based on data from this infographic, and its own testing data of other notebooks, NordicHardware compiled relative performance of the IGP and Dual Graphics setup involving the A10-4600M and Radeon HD 7670M discrete GPU.

Dell's newly redesigned portfolio of Dell Precision tower workstations announced today delivers superb performance, accessibility and best-in-class¹ chassis design to help creative and design professionals deliver results faster. Dell engineered its tower workstations to enable engineering, product design, animation, and other graphics and compute intensive professionals increased productivity and minimized downtime so they can focus on their innovations.

From creating the 854 stereo 3D VFX shots featured in the award-winning movie "Hugo" to designing unique architectural spaces to analyzing seismic data to accelerate exploration of natural reserves, companies around the world rely on Dell Precision workstations to design and deliver superb results fast.

Japanese company ELSA, which specializes in NVIDIA-powered graphics cards, known more for selling Quadro professional graphics, finally unveiled its Gladiac GeForce GTX 680 graphics card. This launch comes nearly 15 days after NVIDIA unveiled the new GPU, and even as Japanese PC enthusiasts queued up outside stores at midnight to get their GTX 680 graphics cards sold by other AIC partners (NVIDIA NDA went up at midnight March 23, in Japan).

ELSA's Gladiac GeForce GTX 680 brings just the NVIDIA-reference design card to the table. It even sticks to NVIDIA's reference clock speeds of 1006/1056/1502 MHz (core-base/core-boost/memory-actual). Making use of a 28 nm GK104 GPU based on the "Kepler" architecture, the GeForce GTX 680 packs 1536 CUDA cores, and 2 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 256-bit wide memory interface, with 192 GB/s memory bandwidth. ELSA GeForce GTX 680 goes for 64,800 JPY (US $787.4), while graphics cards from other AIC vendors are typically priced around 57,000 JPY in the Akihabara shopping district.

Matrox Graphics Inc. announced today the introduction of three new fanless MuraTM MPX Series video wall controller boards that build upon the line's revolutionary design. Mura is the first PCI Express (PCIe) x16 Gen 2 board class to feature both HD resolution inputs and outputs. The new fanless SKUs make use of the same high-performance, single-slot design with 64 Gbit/sec duplex data transfer and feature four HD outputs and either zero, two, or four HD inputs for maximum I/O flexibility. The fanless Mura boards have no moving parts, helping to further increase Matrox's industry-leading reliability. With the ability to create quieter systems and a jump to three-year warranties, Matrox expects a relatively quick OEM adoption of these new Mura cards.

Mura boards can be scaled from just one board to create small video wall controllers to multi-board medium-sized and even very large-sized video wall controllers in order to support a wide range of applications from presentation systems in conference rooms, auditoriums, control rooms, and classrooms to collaboration systems used in surveillance and process control systems. With support for HDCP capture and output, the Mura line is also now very popular in advanced digital signage solutions.

Hightech Information System (HIS) today announced the launch of HIS 7850 Fan 2 GB. The card offers outstanding graphics quality and excellent cooling technology for enthusiastic users. With core and memory clocks at 860 MHz and 4800 MHz, the card ensures the highest graphics enjoyment during hardcore gaming. Equipped with HIS outstanding cooler, the card provides a quiet environment for daily tasks and movies.

The card also comes with the innovative overclocking software by HIS - iTurbo. User can control the temperature, speed and power in their hands!

Joystiq is reporting that CCP Games, the developer behind EVE Online, has struck a deal with NVIDIA for players to use in-game currency -- PLEX -- to purchase GeForce 560 GTX graphics cards, which run almost $200 at retail. That's fake money for real items, folks. NVIDIA and CCP will start by selling 100 graphics cards (limit one per EVE account) to test the demand. After CCP announced its NVIDIA deal, the in-game price of PLEX jumped "significantly," CCP said. PLEX (Pilot License Extension) is an in-game currency that can be used to pay for 30-day EVE subscriptions. PLEX can be purchased with ISK, EVE's main currency that can be earned throughout the game, meaning some dedicated players end up with a free subscription each month. Now they may end up with a "free" graphics card as well.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated mobile devices graphics chip shipments for 2011. Mobile devices include smartphones, tablets, cameras, vehicles, and game consoles.

The market for smart mobile devices is soaring. Mobile devices are not necessarily replacing the PC, but they are outselling PCs. Increasingly mobile devices have a graphics processor and those processors are integrated in the device's system on a chip (SoC) application processor.

World's Top3 motherboard maker, ASRock Inc, presented its multidimensional products at CeBIT 2012, including a wide range of motherboard, HTPC and IPC mobo series. For AMD section, the most shining motherboard would be the A75 Pro4/MVP. This is the first AMD motherboard supporting Lucid Virtu Universal MVP technology in the world. It allows gamers to take advantage of this new technique and enjoy the amazing performance boost from HyperFormance and Virtual Vsync.

SAPPHIRE Technology has just introduced a passively cooled card in its new HD 7700 series - the SAPPHIRE HD 7750 ULTIMATE is the first totally silent card to embody all the features of this new generation of products based on the revolutionary new graphics GCN (Graphics Core Next) architecture from AMD.

The SAPPHIRE HD 7750 ULTIMATE is the first card in this generation to use a passive heatpipe and heatsink cooler to deliver totally silent cooling, and increased reliability as it has no mechanical moving parts. It shares all the features of the HD 7700 series and the highly acclaimed GCN graphics processing architecture making it ideal for HTPCs and any general purpose PC where operational noise needs to be kept to a minimum.

Jon Peddie Research (JPR), the industry's research and consulting firm for graphics and multimedia, announced estimated graphics Add-in Board (AIB) shipments and sales' market share for Q4'11. The JPR AIB Report tracks computer graphics boards, which carry discrete graphics chips. They are used in desktop PCs, workstations, servers, and some other devices such as scientific instruments. They may be sold as after-market products directly to customers or they may be factory installed. In all cases, they represent the higher-end of the graphics industry as discrete chips rather than integrated processors.

Overall shipments of graphics AIBs for the quarter came in above the last quarter at 16.1 million units compared to 17.2 million for Q3'11.

The evolution of the graphics market has resulted in two camps - suppliers of graphics AIBs: those which carry NVIDIA graphics chips and those which carry AMD chips. NVIDIA GPU-based boards increased by 3.7% from Q3 while AMD-based boards decreased 3.6% for the same period. Sales of AIB products have been directly impacted by the rise in economic growth in the BRIC countries, and in particular in China where there is a strong preference for discrete graphics AIBs.

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 Q4'11.

We found that shipments during the fourth quarter of 2011 behaved according to past years with regard to seasonality, the new seasonality that has developed since the economic crash of 2008. Prior to that shift, Q4 was a seasonally up quarter, since 2008 it's been a seasonally low to down quarter-and this year it was down the most since 2008. A lot of it was blamed on the floods in Thailand, but general economic malaise still permeates the industry.

MAINGEAR, an award-winning PC system builder of custom desktops, notebooks, and workstations, now offers PC enthusiasts the AMD Radeon HD 7750 and HD 7770 graphics solutions in their award-winning desktop systems.

MAINGEAR will offer the option of choosing AMD Radeon HD 7700 series cards, which is AMD's latest mainstream variant of their 7000 series GPUs, on their desktops. The new AMD Radeon HD 7700 series graphics cards offer the world's most advance graphics with the industry's very first 28 nm GPU design at an affordable price point.

Similar to the AMD Radeon HD 7900 series, the AMD Radeon HD 7770 also offers 1 GB GDDR5 video memory, 1 DVI, 2 mini-display ports, and 1 HDMI output, as well as superior performance with dual card configurations thanks to AMD CrossFire technology. The AMD Radeon HD 7750 sports a single slot design, sips a mere 55W, and supports 1 DVI, 1 HDMI, and 1 DisplayPort output. Both the AMD Radeon HD 7900 and 7700 series graphics supports DirectX 11 and with AMD Eyefinity, and gamers and creative professionals can enjoy support for up to 6 displays for immersive entertainment and enhanced productivity.