Legit Reviews

"S3 Graphics today announced the S3 Graphics Chrome 400 Series discrete graphics processors, designed to provide the latest gaming experience for energy-efficient desktop systems and portable notebook PCs coupled with outstanding HD content playback at the highest performance-per-watt ratio ever.

Using proven low power 65nm process technology, S3 Graphics Chrome 400 Series processors will support the latest Microsoft DirectX 10.1 game engine and the PCI Express 2.0 bus technology, bringing superb performance and improved 3D gaming image and texture rendering in a remarkably power-efficient, low heat package. Using the breakthrough ChromotionHD 2.0 fully programmable video architecture for true HD quality 1080p playback for Blu-ray and HD-DVD content, the Chrome 400 Series graphics processor will offer a state-of-the-art cinematic experience while remaining cool under the hood. The ChromotionHD engine will support the latest HD standards including H.264, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, VC-1, WMV-HD, and AVS."

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Digitimes

"Thermaltake announced recently that three new products in its PC case, power supply and cooling system lineups have recently received Nvidia ESA (enthusiast system architecture) hardware platform certification from Nvidia.

The three items are Thermaltake's Armor+ PC case, Toughpower 850W power supply and Bigwater 780e cooling system, the company said.

Buoyed by strong sales of Armor+ and another enthusiast PC case, the Xaser VI, the company's revenues hit a record high of NT$336 million (US$10.6 million) in January 2008, up 30.8% on month and up 53.6% on year, the company said"

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Legit Reviews

"It works like an Intel chip, but looks like the Cell processor. That's one way of describing the energy-efficient multiple core processors being devised by secretive Montalvo Systems. The Santa Clara, Calif.-based company has come up with a design for a chip for portable computers and devices that--when finished and manufactured--will theoretically be capable of running the same software as chips from Intel or Advanced Micro Devices

By merging asymmetrical cores onto the same piece of silicon, Montalvo can cut power consumption by dishing applications that don't require a lot of computing firepower onto less-powerful, more energy-efficient cores. Applications could conceivably also be shuttled to low-power cores after their need for high-performance elapses: Microsoft Outlook, for instance, requires a burst of performance during the launch phase but far less once it's running."

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CPU3D Preview: Powercolor HD3870 512Mb DDR4

Thanks to our resident hardware guru @ CPU3D, we've just received a sample of the Powercolor Radeon HD3870. It features an impressive, all copper GPU cooler by ZEROTherm, and what's more the RV670 GPU is slightly overclocked @ 800Mhz.

           

This graphics card should compete very well against others in its class, and we expect it to produce some good scores during our benchmarks. In the meantime feast your eyes in our photo gallery below.

Ever since some genius asked ‘what’s happened to the ice caps?’ there has been a push to reduce computer power consumption. And with the desktop already having done the logo thing many years ago, it’s now the server’s turn to lose weight.

The draft zeroes in on power supplies, what happens in idle mode, benchmarking and thermals. Respondents have a month to provide feedback, which isn’t a long time for a government-backed agency draft, but then the energy situation is deemed pretty mission-critical by influential folks like Al Gore."

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Yahoo urges shareholders not to sell the company

"As reported some days ago, Microsoft is considered likely to try taking its buyout offer directly to Yahoo's shareholders. The move might push shareholders to oust the company's board and run with the takeover offer, which board members have deemed too low and refused.

Apparently, Yahoo also thinks this move is a possibility, because it has issued a letter to shareholders urging them not to fold to a potential direct offer from Microsoft. In the letter, InfoWorld says Yahoo CEO Jerry Yang reiterates that Microsoft's offer is too low, adding that Yahoo is "is the most visited site in the United States, held the top position in online display advertising, and counted almost one out of two of the world's Internet users as its members." Yang doesn't cite numbers, but according to InfoWorld, his assertion regarding online display ads checks out.

The letter also shows signs of hope for Yahoo's future, with Yang saying his company plans to increase visits to its domains "by 15 percent per year over the next several years." Yang adds that Yahoo will improve its advertising services thanks to a new search marketing system dubbed Panama and two acquisitions carried out last year.

You may be thinking why Microsoft wants Yahoo so bad, maybe because it is as said the most visited site in the United States, but are there any other reasons that will soon be unveiled?"

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"Nvidia's recent introduction of the APX 2500 applications processor indicates that the company is getting serious about its offerings in the smartphone market. However, the company faces stiff competition from established players, including Texas Instrument (TI), Broadcom and Qualcomm, and so will need to leverage its strengths in graphics chip development to carve its own niche in the market. Digitimes recently had a chance to talk to Michael Rayfield, general manager of Nvidia's mobile business unit, to discuss Nvidia's outlook and plans for the smartphone market.

Q: Nvidia has always focused on GPU technology. Why cut into the applications processor market?

A: We see a clear trend in the smartphone industry of devices becoming more like multimedia-rich handheld computers. In effect, this means that the applications processor market for smartphones has moved towards Nvidia's core strengths, making this an obvious direction for us to branch into.

According to data from Gartner, the applications processor market is expected to see double-digit annual growth all the way to 2012 to reach an estimated overall worth of US$6 billion.

What is Nvidia's next move going to be?!"

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Able to read data at 100MB per second and write data at 80MB per second, Samsung's SATA II SSD is up to 60% faster than SATA I drives and performs two to five times faster than conventional hard disk drives (HDDs), according to the company. It also consumes nearly 75% less power than typical HDDs (1.45W compared to 2.1W) and at 73 grams, SSDs are much lighter than HDDs.

The SATA II SSD is comprised primarily of single-level-cell NAND flash memory."

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CPU3D Review: Super Talent DDR3-1800 PC3-14400 2Gb Kit

At the moment DRR3 1800MHz is among some of the fastest offerings for the platform. And thanks to Super Talent, our CPU3D review team takes a look at their DDR3-1800 2Gb kits. The modules are rated to run at 900Mhz with super low memory timings of 7-7-7-21, they also feature Super Talent's Project X extreme heatsinks for improved stability.

" Super Talent PC3-14400 CL7-7-7-21 W1800UX2GP High-Speed DDR3 1800MHz 2x1GB RAM kit offers great performance and longevity. "

Readthe rest of the review ... HERE.

CPU3D Review: MSI K9A2 Platinum Motherboard

AMD's Spider platform hasn't taken off as AMD had hoped. But this hasn't stop manfacturers like MSI producing their latest K9A2 Platinum motherboard. It uses AMD's lastest 790FX chipset, supports Phenom processors and features 4 x PCIe slots for 4-way Crossfire X configuration.

"... The MSI K9A2 Platinum is specifically designed to work and run on AMD Phenom processors and has support for 4-way Crossfire X capability. "

Read the rest of the review ... HERE.