Tech News

• AMD Phenom II X4 965 - 125W TDP Processor

  Published: Wednesday, November 4, 2009 | By: Will

  With all of the i5 and i7 talk here recently it is sometimes hard to remember the other guys have processors as well. So to be fair we have a link to a review on the newest revision of the now growing to be a classic Phenom II X4 956 Black Edition processor.

  Today AMD is releasing a revised Phenom II X4 965 Black Edition processor. The TDP has been lowered from 140W to 125W, and also happens to be the new C3 stepping. Along with this new processor launch the prices for the 965's have been lowered to an expected price of $195 USD, a savings of about $20.

  Enjoy!

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• SATA 6G Implementation Preview - Ironing Out The Creases

  Published: Tuesday, November 3, 2009 | By: Will

  With the SSD drives putting out some amazing performance that even fills up the SATA 3.0 specs. It is time to push out the next level of performance to keep up with these new drives. So SATA 6G is born, and getting ready for the limelight.

  "SATA 6G is the next big drive transfer standard. As it stands right now Marvell is the only company with an available controller. Because of this we see them being hastily added to motherboards. In their first run the controllers failed to provide the anticipated performance and caused stability issues on the P55 boards they were placed on. These were quickly removed and the P55 was launched without SATA 6G.
  
  However, the issue was and still is one of implementation. You see, the P55 Express chipset only has PCI-e Gen 1 lanes in it. All of the PCI-e Gen 2 lanes were moved to the Lynnfield CPU. This is normally okay as the only AIB (add in boards) that need this much bandwidth are graphics controllers. Not a problem, right? - Actually, it is a big problem."

  Very Interesting, indeed.

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• ATI Radeon HD 5970 Performance Preview with Benchmarks

  Published: Monday, November 2, 2009 | By: Will

  The review needs a good translator in order to understand it. Still the pics do paint the picture and the numbers are pretty much universal.

  The Radeon HD 5970, the AMD "X2" Radeon 5000 family card, will come to market. How fast will it be?

  Is this the real thing or just a hoax? Time will tell soon enough.

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• NL: PC Game Reviews Roundup

  Published: Monday, November 2, 2009 | By: Will

  Times to take a look at a few new games out on the PC.

  Cities XL (PC) Review @ Gamingheaven

  "Most of us love a good strategy game - the problem however is working out the ones really worth playing and those which need to be filed away to the ‘bargain basement' option for a later date. Today we are looking at Cities XL - a game by French developer Monte Cristo which is targeting the SimCity 4 audience. Is it worth a look?" 

  Left 4 Dead 2 Demo Impressions @ OCModShop

  "Last night I got a nice little surprise. I managed to score a copy of the demo for Left 4 Dead 2. I don't think I could have been happier if I had found the lost city of Atlantis. Okay, maybe that's an overstatement, but still, it's an awesome find. Xbox 360 owners supposedly have to pre-purchase the full game to download the demo, but that may not be so for PC gamers. Since OCModShop has a press account for Steam we were able to download it when it was available, but I'm not sure if it's available for everyone. So I installed and played the content that was available. And I liked what I saw."
  

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• EVGA GTX275 CO-OP PhysX

  Published: Sunday, November 1, 2009 | By: Will

  EVGA is proud to announce the EVGA GTX 275 CO-OP PhysX graphics solution. This card takes a GTX 275 dedicated for graphics, and a GTS 250 dedicated for PhysX® and combines them on a single card.
  
  The EVGA GTX 275 GPU with CUDA technology delivers astonishing gaming performance with dazzling gaming effects along with incredible GPU computing performance for everything from video transcoding to video and photo editing. Pair that with the raw PhysX power of the GTS 250 PPU and you have a card ready to take on any of the latest games with full power!
  
  NVIDIA PhysX technology adds an element of realism never before seen in gaming. With an EVGA GPU and PPU in your PC, experience dynamic PhysX effects like blazing explosions, reactive debris, realistic water, and lifelike characters.

  
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• FIRST LOOK - USB 3.0 in the PCSTATS Labs (ASUS U3S6)

  Published: Thursday, October 29, 2009 | By: Will

  The new USB 3.0 is about to be sprung upon the masses and it sounds like it is going to give eSATA a very good run for it's money. Well from the specs side of this USB 3.0 could very well kill eSATA right in it's tracks.

  "USB 3.0 comes via a new PCI Express x4 drop in card called the ASUS U3S6. It features two USB 3.0 ports powered by the NEC D720200F1 USB 3.0 host controller, a PLX Technology PEX8613-BA50BC PCI-E bridge chip and two SATA 6G ports care of the Marvell 88SE9123-NAA2 chip. The new name for the USB 3.0 standard is "SuperSpeed USB " and it is backwards compatible with Hi-Speed USB 2.0 ports. Data transfer speeds are being spec'd at 5000 Mbps for USB 3.0, a significant speedboost from 480 Mbps for USB 2.0."

  I love the smell of new technology in the air.

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• Intel Core i7-930 Arriving Q1 2010

  Published: Thursday, October 29, 2009 | By: Will

  Well, well I guess Intel is not going to let the 1156 socket kill off the lower end Core i7 1366 socket. This is great news for us 1366 socket guys out there.

  Intel Core i7-930 arriving Q1 2010
  
  Intel's Core i7 930 will become the new low-end LGA1366 chip next year.
  Intel may be set to discontinue its excellent Core i7-920 chip within the next few months, but we've just heard confirmation that its replacement will arrive in Q1 2010.
  
  It'll be called the Core i7-930.

  Where are the Core i9 12 core 1366 processors at?

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• Buying Upgrades: When to Save or Spend on HDTVs, PCs, Digital Cameras and More @ Digital Trends

  Published: Thursday, October 29, 2009 | By: Will

  A good read for the not so techie type people on new hardware purchases. It would even be a good way to help us guys that love to grab new hardware to have some kind of reasoning. Our wallets might like us if we read this little guide.

  "A pair of white gold cufflinks, a fine Swiss watch, and a set of stainless cutlery will last a century. An HDTV, a laptop, and an iPod will not - which makes knowing when to break out the high-limit American Express and invest in something nice, and when to make a trip to Wal-mart and buy the cheapest box on the shelf, a tricky game. On one hand, everyone would like to own a Dell Adamo, a Sonos music system, and a 50-inch Pioneer Kuro. But then again, most of us would love mansions and Ferraris, too. So unless you're reading from a teak deck on your sailboat in the French Riviera, it might be wise to figure out where to spend and where to save."

  Well over that little moment come wallet time to be tortured.

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• 20 Essential Outlook Tricks Every User Should Know @ Maximum PC

  Published: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 | By: Will

  Being a huge fan of Thunderbird maybe reading a few of these tricks might make me go back to Outlook. Yep these tips and tricks would most likely make me change.

  "Are you stuck using Outlook at work? We feel your pain. Compared to the alternatives, like Mozilla's light-weight and customizable Thunderbird client, Outlook is slow, bloaty, and downright unwieldy. Add to the fact that it isn't free and Outlook doesn't appear to have much going for it.
  
  But whether you use Outlook because you have to or have grown accustomed to its interface and are reluctant to switch (or maybe you just want to justify the cost of Microsoft Office), we have some tricks to help you manage your email and contacts like a pro. After all, if you're going to use Outlook, no matter what the reason, you might as well get the most out of it, and we're here to help you do just that."

  Sarcasm is so lost in writing on the internet.
  

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• Nvidias DX9 ION LE is DX10 after all @ eTeknix

  Published: Wednesday, October 28, 2009 | By: Will

  Windows 7 launch has gone off with a bang, and most everything this time is ready to deal with the new OS. NVidia has also made sure to prepare the ION platform to take full advantage of Windows 7. 

  "In order to capitalise on Windows 7s improved performance on lower specification machines, Nvidia have recently released the ION platform, which includes the Intel Atom processor and a GeForce 9400M graphics based MCP79 chipset. The ION is fully DirectX 10 compatible, something that Windows XP can't support, and this would be something that Microsoft and Nvidia will be using to help push Windows 7 netbook sales."

  This beats the "Vista Ready" situation a while back.

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