Hardware Post: 03/18/11

Friday, March 18, 2011

PC Accessories: Full HD Display, BenQ, high connectivity

The screen with a diagonal of about 60 centimeters, is equipped with a VA-panel LED ("Vertical Alignment"): Through a special arrangement of the liquid crystal display gives a very wide viewing angle. To 178 degrees to the monitor to be viewed by the manufacturer. With the 1920x1080 of EW2430 is in full-HD domain.

BenQ brings the screen a joyful connection model on the market: In addition to a VGA connector for signal transmission are two HDMI, one DVI-D and four USB interfaces, multiple connection options. Inputs and outputs for connecting external audio devices to complete the equipment of the EW2430.

Action game for PS3 and Xbox 360: Silent Hill - Down Pour: Details on the horror game

In "Silent Hill - Down Pour" Konami sends a new victim in the same city with creepy fog guarantee. The convict Murphy Pendleton lands after an accident, his prison bus in the haunted village. About his escape, he can be happy for long: He that is not only the investigators of the police in hot pursuit - even monstrous creatures he attempts on his life.

The developers promise a break with, because of its superficial violence controversial predecessor title. Part 8 of the series is to reflect on the playful virtues of the first two cuttings. That means more atmosphere and less fighting. Set the mood again, of course, makes the fog, so the empty streets seem even scarier monster attacks seem more surprising.

Navigation: TomTom launches online service "traffic reports"

The HD Traffic service offers information on the current traffic situation or location. Colored markers (yellow, orange, red) are for traffic problems, such as traffic jams or accidents. Grey symbols indicate possible delays. The digits within a color wheel indicate the number of problems in the area.

Hold for a moment the mouse over a marker, a box. It provides information on the length and duration of the delay and calls the affected streets. TomTom updates all messages in the two-minute intervals. Furthermore, the service includes a route planner.

TomTom (homepage) TomTom (wikipedia)

Lifespan of SSD: SSD tested other 7

In our articles on the life of the SSD, we focus on a specific model that we use. But on the other SSD used in the writing, what is usury? We regularly use two SSDs, the first device used for storing music, video and photos, so with little paperwork. It was installed to replace the SSD with 128 GB which is being tested, so it has been operating for about 3 months.

Wear, in view of its use, is logically quite low: it is an average of 18 cycles. The secondary disk system in a personal computer, used about 5 hours a day. The operating system does not support the TRIM and DSS has been operating for about 6 months. The average wear is 277 cycles. As shown, the write amplification is high enough on models based Indilinx used "normal", although it is quite small sequential write.

Alvia Gigabyte K8100 keyboard gets the prize for the red dot design "

Gigabyte is proud to announce that its gamingAlvia K8100 keyboard has won the first award "red dot" design that is given to the Taiwanese brand. The keyboard has been awarded the red dot design award thanks to its unique design, based on the concept of racing cars. The K8100 has won the award, running over more than 4,000 participants from over 40 countries worldwide.

K8100 Alvia design was inspired by sports cars-the-range, whose appearance and performance are well above the rest. Performance, durability and quality of features for gaming the K8100 Alvia have been designed to have similar characteristics to those of these super high-end cars. The K8100 Alvia solve the challenge of designing a keyboard to simulate the dashboard of a sports car where all elements are at hand and the view, while keeping the keyboard in a size and ideal ergonomics for gaming.

Micron's SSD C400 for sale

SSD C400 Micron has just made its appearance in some shops in the United States and should therefore further delay to do the same on this side of the Atlantic. This is the opportunity to discover the prices of different versions of the SSD. At present, it will cost you $ 130 to buy the 64GB model, against $ 245 for 128 GB version and $ 950 for a few RealSSD C400 512 GB Recall that the C400 is theoretically capable of reaching speeds the order of 415 MB / s sequential read and 260 MB / s sequential write, except the 128 GB version which is limited to 175 Mb / s.

The two components of the iPad estimated at 235 €

While it is only available for a few days, the iPad 2 has already had the "chance" to pass into the hands of analysts from research firm iSuppli. The latter are addressed on the second tablet from Apple to study its entrails. Thus, the firm was able to establish an estimate of the integrated components: the iPad 2 GSM / HSPA will embark on 326.60 worth of electronic components, the equivalent of about 234.50 euro.

BoomBlaster JVC with iPod docks

Four amplifiers with a total of 40 masks in the portable sound system. The placement of the woofer at the ends of the tubular device according to the manufacturer provide for a consistent tone. The design also prevents the sound waves pile up inside the case. This minimizes distortion. Two bass reflex ducts on the front enhance the depth performance of the system.

The large front speakers output the mid and high frequencies. The boom of the blasters is compatible with the current version of the Apple iPhone smartphone 4th To go: behind a transparent door remain well protected player or mobile phone. The inserted device can be operated via a separate button for the sound system.

Test: racing game for PS3 and Xbox 360: Moto GP 10/11

The background noise is reminiscent of a swarm of hornets on Ecstasy. But there are only wild guys on adrenaline, the fight its audacious machines in slope at full throttle through tight bends. In such situations, even had the multi-time Formula 1 world champion Michael Schumacher to painfully that rubber on asphalt is a thing limited company.

With no broken bones and bruises, but full of fascination with the motorcycle racing world is raging in the video game "Moto GP 10/11". The current stage of a virtually unrivaled biker series asks again to hunt for best times and lap records. On faithful reproductions of real tracks and against competitors in the scene have a big name - such as Valentino Rossi.

GTX 590, moved to the March 24 launch?

XFastest points - with this news - the intention to move to nVidia's March 24 launch of the GeForce GTX 590, from the date of March 22 initially indicated. The site does not specify the reasons for the referral of only 2 days and as usual, missing the official confirmation from the company concerned.

The GeForce GTX 590 is a solution which combines two GPUs GF110 built with 40-nanometer manufacturing technology on a single card PCI-Express x16. A first look at the cooling system adopted by nVidia on this model is available here.

Crysis 2: Set the patch "stopgap" to the day-one

Crytek cashing criticism from the community on the PC demo of Crysis 2 and announced that the retail version of the game will contain a patch that addresses and corrects problems. To begin the auto-targeting system has been removed. The message 'Press Start To Begin' has been replaced with 'Press Enter to begin'.

Fixed the display of the table in the server browser. Improved compatibility with USB headset. Removed from the default chat TextFilter. Fix list of friends. Solved the problem of account is not authenticated and forced disconnection. Remember that the game will be released March 22.

Crysis 2 (gamerevolution) Crysis 2 (wikipedia) Crysis 2 Nanosuit 2 Wireframe Trailer (youtube) Crysis 2 - Crynet Systems - Nanosuit 2 HD (youtube)

Available for bookings Xoom the Motorola Wi-Fi

After the first rumors about Motorola and the confirmation of the availability of a version of Wi-Fi tablet Xoom, some U.S. retail chains have started booking the device. Amazon is currently accepting reservations for full price, amounting to $ 599: Customers will still have to wait until next March 27 when the tablet will be available in all other chains such as Best Buy, Costco, Walmart and Radio Shack.

Western Digital: 6 TB of external storage

The manufacturer Western Digital has announced the launch of a new version of its external storage solution My Book Studio Edition II. Aimed at professionals, external hard drive is now available in 6 TB through the use of two hard drives 3 TB each, configurable as RAID. Showing the dimensions of 166 x 154 x 98 mm and weighs 2.63 kilograms, this external hard drive features USB 2.0 connectors (but not 3.0), FireWire 400/800 and eSATA.

Price of RAM shaken by the earthquake?

Since late last year, observers agree in predicting a rise in prices for memory rebound from the second quarter. The outbreak of the crisis in Japan is also feared a shortage of components and therefore higher prices. What about today? Our surveys show that average prices of kits of 2 x 2 GB of DDR2 and DDR3 have stabilized since mid-February when they were in steady decline since June 2010.

Foxconn: P67 for the Quantum Force Rattler

The manufacturer Foxconn is expected soon to market the Quantum Force Rattler, an ATX motherboard based on Intel P67 chipset and therefore designed to Sandy Bridge processors on socket LGA 1155. With a power stage to 14 phases PWM, this motherboard has four DDR3-2133 connectors, two PCI-Express x16 CrossFireX compatible, three PCI-Express x1 and one PCI slot.

There are also two SATA 6 Gbps ports, four SATA 3 Gbps, one PATA port (yes, the PATA is not dead yet) and two Gigabit Ethernet controllers. Two eSATA connectors, two USB 3.0 and 7.1 and FireWire audio controllers complement the whole. The Quantum Force Rattler has finally dedicated functions to overclocking, especially buttons located directly on the PCB.

ONDA: 1.5 GB of GDDR5 on a GTX 550 Ti

The various graphics card manufacturers are endlessly to "have fun" with the new GeForce GTX 550 NVIDIA Ti. ONDA has just announced a model overclocked GTX 550 Ti plant and shipping 1.5 GB of GDDR5 memory, against only 1 GB for the reference model. Enjoying a cooling system owner rather large, composed of aluminum radiators crossed by several copper heatpipes and two fans, the GTX 550 Ti uses a graphics chipset so GF116 clocked at 1000 MHz (2000 MHz for the 192 CUDA cores) and the GDDR5 memory running at 1100 MHz on a 192-bit bus.

Screenshot Program: Software Tip of the Day: Climsy

With "Climsy" create screenshots that can publish directly on the web. The free software moves the shot image either to a folder on your computer or write it on the server of Climsy on the photo platform "imageshack" or in your account at the cloud-service ". If necessary, you spice up the created screen photos with the built-in editing function.

Android faster IOS: Apple responds

Fairly unusual, Apple was kind enough to comment on the results of a study showing the smartphone Android browser faster to load web pages that Safari integrated in IOS. As you said yesterday, this study is partly distorted by a bug (or a voluntary restriction) IOS. Apple has confirmed to our colleagues at CNet and Ars Technica that the application used by Blaze to measure the load time of pages do not take advantage of improvements that benefit iOS Safari 4.3.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 590 delayed

Originally scheduled for March 22, the launch of the GeForce GTX 590 has been slightly delayed and would now set for March 24. Shipping point for two graphic chipsets GF110 priori clocked at 612 MHz, a total of 1024 CUDA cores (at 1224 MHz?), Interconnected via an internal PCIe bridge, the GeForce is using a 12 layers PCB and a power stage to 10 phases.

The GeForce GTX 590 also has 1.5 GB of GDDR5 memory - operating at 855 MHz according to the latest rumors - for graphics chipset. Two power connectors PCI-Express 8-pin is required to power this card with a 365W TDP reached. The cooling system is finally composed of two steam rooms and a single central fan.

TDJ: Intel 510 120 GB SSD

Our fellow Cowcotland recently posted a review of Intel SSD 510 in its 120 GB version, a model equipped with a 6 Gbps SATA interface. 2.5-inch classic, this SSD embeds chips MLC NAND flash memory etched into 34 nm and a controller Marvell 9174-BKK2 and 128 MB of DDR3 memory. Level performance, the manufacturer announced proudly speeds of around 450 MB / s read and 210 write-Mos.

Verdict?

Solid-state drive (wikipedia) Intel Corporation (geolocation) Intel (homepage) NASDAQ: INTC (googlefinance) SEHK: 4335 (googlefinance) Intel (INTC) (wikinvest) Intel (crunchbase) Intel Corporation (wikipedia) Intel Corporation (youtube)

G. Skill launches new series of reports Sniper Gaming sector oriented

G. Skill has announced the new concept and development of the new series of reports Sniper, designed specifically for the gaming and modding enthusiasts. Have made extensive compatibility testing in a wide range of Intel and AMD platforms to ensure the best performance, quality and reliability to meet the needs of all users.

Sniper The new series is designed to operate at a very low voltage of only 1.25V. This kit can save up to 10% of power necessary, while allowing gamers to enjoy games without overheating problems, and meeting energy efficiency requirements. As the Gaming consumes large amounts of memory, needed kits, high-capacity memory.

His Mac in his iPhone through NFC

A source revealed plans for Apple's iPhone NFC. Beyond the rumor uncertain, it is interesting information on what is possible with this technology. NFC (Near Field Contact) is a technology that can transfer information wirelessly at very short ranges (see "The NFC: France launches in the contactless).

It is already used in the Navigo card and Moneo. The fact that Apple is experimenting with NFC is really not a surprise in itself. Nokia has already announced the technology embedded devices (see "From a Nokia NFC). To say that the iPhone 5 will be compatible with this communication system, there is not that we do not cross it.

Intel moves closer to Silicon Hive SoC and its

Intel has teamed up with Silicon Hive, a subsidiary of Philips specialized in manufacturing SoCs. With 65 employees, the smelter would use his talents to enhance its offerings and better compete against Atom with ARM chips. Silicon Hive is known for its multimedia chip for smartphones and it is easy to imagine that Intel will use its know-how as he tries desperately to compete in this market that has eluded them.

What is the most powerful processor?

New spearhead of the Intel display at 1000 €, the Core i7 processor 990x promises to be the most powerful moment. But he surpasses the Core i7-2600K in all cases and at what level rises there exactly?

Mandriva 2011 beta surfaced

The first beta version of Mandriva 2011 has just made its appearance on the Web. It contains the Linux kernel 2.6.37 with a promise to use version 38 as soon as possible. Using KDE 4.6.1, key improvements include the addition of free drivers for Broadcom wireless modules and new graphics drivers X. org and Mesa.

Finally, Mandriva has made some adjustments to the graphical interface and has optimized its media player Clemetine. The publisher has also integrated the RC of Firefox 4 in software packages.

Mandriva (homepage) Mandriva (wikipedia)