HardOCP

"One of the more anticipated video cards of this year is finally here, AMD is launching the ATI Radeon HD 3870 X2. What will two 3870 GPUs on one board do for you in gaming? We are going to find out exactly that in Crysis, UT3, COD 4 and HL2.

... What you will notice from the model name is that “3870” remains; indicating the use of the 3870 GPU but what has been added is “X2.” X2 indicates the use of two 3870 GPUs on board one PCB. So what we have are essentially two 3870 GPUs on a single board with a hardware bridge chip that allows CrossFire to be enabled at all times with both GPUs out-of-the-box. In fact, CrossFire works without any user input, just simply install the video card and benefit from CrossFire, you do not have to enable it. "

LINK

VR-Zone

"Following the spate of price cuts by CPU manufacturers last year, finding an Intel Core 2 Quad in a system as of late is becoming common. Yet, with the additional firepower brings more heat and additional noise as the fan on the stock heatsink tries to keep up with the heat load. For overclockers who thought they found the bargain bin, it seems more likely that the heat has been turned on. Short of going for water cooling, perhaps the most economical way of cooling down that chip would be to invest in a heatpipe heatsink. That and maybe some Delta Focus Flow fans along with a pair of ear plugs. Enthusiasts are accustomed to the noise generated by these monsters; it's the missus' nagging that mandates the use of ear-plugs.

As we observe the trend of heatpipe heatsinks of late, having more heatpipes seems to be the way to go. Today, we have a new heatpipe heatsink in the labs that seems like it would perform well without causing too much of a racket. Ladies and Gentlemen, we present the Scythe Zipang to you. (According to Wiki it's the anglicized version of an old chinese name for Japan)

LINK

DailyTech 

"Recent NPD Group sales data would suggest that the Warner Bros. Blu-ray Disc announcement just before CES 2008 had an immediate and dramatic impact on the sales of high-definition movie players, but new information shows that Blu-ray Disc may not be tipping the scales as heavily as originally thought.

Last week, Digital Bits published NPD numbers showing that 93 percent of new high-definition hardware sold was for Blu-ray Disc. According to BetaNews, however, NPD is not supporting those figures, saying that they were not an official release from the firm and not a long-term indicator of the industry.

While HD DVD did suffer some lost momentum due to the loss of Warner’s support, Blu-ray Disc’s overwhelming command in the new hardware split was potentially due to free player deals rather than new sales.

Stephen Baker, vice president of industry analysis for NPD, explained that Blu-ray Disc players part of bundle deals with sales of new HDTVs were included in the sales figures.

Sony, Panasonic and Sharp all offered free or heavily discounted Blu-ray Disc players with purchase of new televisions, driving up the hardware numbers. Samsung, on the other hand, did not offer any such Blu-ray Disc hardware bundle promotion, and thus sales of Samsung players were almost non-existent.

NPD receives its sales data from multiple retail point-of-sale systems in the U.S., but does not include online sales."

LINK

Digitimes

"Asustek Computer has set an internal goal to achieve revenues of NT$340 billion (US$10.5 billion) for its own-brand business in 2008, an increase of 50% compared to NT$220 billion in 2007. The notebook segment is expected to contribute over NT$170 billion, accounting for around 50% of total revenues in 2008, on a shipments growth of around 30-40%. If the targets are met the company will grab 6% of the worldwide market and become the sixth largest vendor in the world, according to Jonney Shih, chairman of Asustek, speaking at the company's end-of-year banquet.

Although the motherboard and graphics card segments did not perform as expected last year, Asustek still expects both branded and OEM shipments in 2008 to see growth of 10-15% on year.

Asustek is confident it will achieve its goal of shipping five million Eee PC before the end of 2008, with the low-cost notebooks occupying 10% of the total worldwide notebook market, according to Jerry Shen, president of Asustek."

LINK 

CPU3D Review: Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 Motherboard (P35)

Energy efficiency will be a big thing for 2008. And Gigabyte has done its "Green" deed for the world by introducing an energy efficient motherboard, the GA-EP35-DS4. It features their innovative Dynamic Energy Saver and utilises Intel's P35 chipset. It supports 45nm Penryn processors, as well as 1600FSB and DDR2-1200 (via overclocking).

           

 "... the D.E.S. feature does an excellent job of reducing power consumption and lowering the temperature of the motherboard. It will definitely appeal to both mainstream users and enthusiasts alike. "

Read the rest of the review ... HERE

The INQ

"NVIDIA found a small percentage of GeForce 9600 GT boards exhibiting a voltage transient on the NVDD power supply during certain applications. They have reason to believe that this may cause a system hang under certain conditions. In order to provide the most robust and reliable solution possible to NVIDIA's customers they have decided to hold shipments in order to make some minor modifications to reduce the transients.

NVIDIA's engineering team has identified the necessary modifications and they are in the process of verification. I will communicate the exact modifications to you as soon as they have been verified and we will communicate the new shipping schedule in the next few days.

Since we are now running into the Chinese New Year holiday NVIDIA have decided to move the launch date out a week in order to ensure that our partners have enough time to get product on shelves at the time of launch.

***New GeForce 9600 GT launch date is Feb. 21st***

Please make sure that all partners are aware of the new launch date and let me know if you have any questions."

LINK

BBC

"First-person-shooter Call of Duty 4 was last year's biggest selling game, according to sales figures. It has sold more than seven million units since its launch in November, says its publisher Activision.

The claim is based on sales figures from research firms The NPD Group, Chart Track and The GFK Group. The game was just one of a raft of high profile releases in 2007 including the third instalment of the Halo series for the Xbox 360.

Halo 3 earned more than £84m ($170m) in sales in its first 24 hours on release, according to Microsoft. The game sets the record for the most money earned in a day by an entertainment product, topping figures set by film Spiderman 3. "

LINK

Do-It-Yourself Roll-Up Keyboard

Tim From [H] Says:
"As I was perusing Engadget, I came across this little do it yourself article about how to make your own "fancy" roll-up keyboard. Have you ever wanted one of those pricy roll up keyboard but didn't want to spend the money? Here is a quick and dirty way to make your own.

Although, if it were me, I would just go with the touch-type method. Now where are those spare Dell keyboards I have lying around?"

LINK