Hardware Post: 04/12/11

Tuesday, April 12, 2011

Ivy Bridge Intel: 22nm for the first half of 2012

Intel will launch its first 22nm microphones during the first half of 2012, Ivy Bridge expected. Fortunately socket will remain in 1555 and will be compatible with existing chipsets Cougar Point. Besides the reduction in the 22nm manufacturing process, no major differences between Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge, as expected.

Among the few changes we can highlight the new memory controller (still dual channel), which officially supports DDR3 1600MHz speeds. Turbo Boost is maintained TDPs be 2.0 and 95, 65, 45 and 35W. Integrated graphics in micro will be enhanced to include support for DirectX 11, while the processor communication have PCIe 3.0 with discrete graphics.

MSI launches FX420, FX720 and FR720

The manufacturer MSI has recently added three new notebook models in its catalog already well stocked: the FX420, FX720 and FR720. The first is a model 14-inch (1366 x 768 pixels) while the other two are equipped with a screen of 17.3 inches diagonal, capable of displaying a resolution of 1600 x 900 pixels.

All, however, embed a processor Sandy Bridge and enjoy the Cinema Pro Technology, and Turbo Battery + MSI. The FX420 has therefore a Core i3 or i5 depending on the version, and a Radeon HD 6470M along with 1 GB of memory and a 750 GB hard drive There is also a DVD (or Blu-ray) Controllers Gigabit Ethernet, WiFi 802.11n and Bluetooth 2.1, a memory card reader, webcam 720p and two USB 3.0 ports.

Roadmap Intel platforms current and future

A new roadmap for the current Intel platforms (LGA 1155, LGA 1366) and future (LGA 2011) has just made its appearance on the site mydrivers. com. So the opportunity to confirm previous information but also to discover some unusual ... It turned out that the Sandy Bridge-E LGA-2011 should make its appearance in the fourth quarter of 2011 and that it will be positioned within the ranges "Extreme" but also "Premium Performance," which would place him in the latter case the same as the Core i7-2600.

Formalizes the new Intel Atom CPU Z670 Tablet

Intel announced yesterday the new Intel Atom processor systems for use with the Tablet platform known by the code name "Oak Trail." The new CPUs will be available starting in May and will be used by Evolve, Fujitsu, Lenovo, Motion Computing, and Razer Viliv to achieve more than 35 tablets, and hybrid devices that will be sold throughout 2011.

The Intel Atom Z670, provides support for full HD 1080p video playback even on the HDMI port, support for Flash content, low fuel consumption and less physical occupation through a die 60% smaller than previous generations while continuing to integrate graphics controller and memory and providing the opportunity to use even without fans.

AMD and NVIDIA like to turn the technology Lucid QuickSync

While waiting for the debut of Intel Z68 should be the end of May, at Computex Taipei 2011, AMD and NVIDIA seems to have been put to work to develop a free software that can activate the Intel QuickSync even on systems that, Sandy Bridge as well as a CPU, using a discrete graphics card. As we all know the technology of home video decode acceleration Intel uses the integrated GPU in the second generation of Core processors, but only when the system is used exactly the same graphics chip.

Crysis 2 will have its DirectX 11 patch!

From the official forum of discussion on Crysis 2, comes the denial to the previous reports that there was no DirectX 11 patch for the PC version of the game. In the post says that the software company has been busily working to update to get the most from the new API but is not spread news about an official release date.

The patch 1.2, available from a few days, let alone support for DirectX 9 API and a lot of gamers in a feverish anticipation for a new patch on which the expectations of an improvement in the quality graphics are not lacking.

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

Memory cards 1 TB Sony

Sony just announced a new card "SRMemory" with a unique ability: 1 TB Designed for professional cameras that film in 4K, the cards are imposing SRMemory (105 x 60 x 9.5 mm, about 100 grams) and do the same size as a 2.5-inch hard disk. Adapters, as Sony makes clear, in fact incorporate a conventional internal SSD.

Several models are available with capacities of 256 GB, 512 GB and 1 TB Sony announces speeds of 3 gigabits / s constant on base models and 5 gigabits / s versions of "S" (available in 256 and 512 GB only). To get an idea of needs, a 1 TB model is capable of storing 50 minutes of video in 4K (RAW 16 bit to 24 fps), indicating a minimum rate of 330 Mb / s or so.

Club 3D introduces the first NVIDIA GTX OC with 2Gb CoolStream 550Ti

Club 3D is proud to announce that it is the first manufacturer that launches the NVIDIA GeForce GTX OC Edition CoolStream 550Ti with 2 GB of dedicated memory. This chart supports DirectX 11 technology, NVIDIA CUDA and PhysX to provide the best visual experience for users' favorite games, with up to three times more performance than previous generations of graphics.

With the NVIDIA 3D Vision tegnologias now be using two GeForce GTX OC Edition 550Ti CoolStream NVIDIA SLI settings to display games and movies on three different monitors with NVIDIA 3D Surround Vision. This new graph is equipped with CoolStream dissipation technology so they can run the most demanding games and applications without compromising performance.

30 years ago: an 8086 space

30 years ago, the first U.S. space shuttle go into space. This spacecraft was supposed to be reused many times, but problems have prevented the shuttle from achieving its original goals, with for example the inability to reuse the boosters. The shuttle interests us, because the early models - there were 10 years between the first flight of Columbia and the Atlantis, the most recent - used 8086 processors from Intel in some adjuncts.

Nokia updates Symbian

Nokia has tried to reassure its loyal clients attached to the Symbian operating system by launching two high-end smartphones and a new ambitious update of the OS, called Anna. Anna intended to call at Symbian Android, IOS, BB OS 6 or WP7 with several new features: This update will be available on smartphones N8, E7, C7 and C6-01 "soon" and will be installed base on X7 and E6 announced today.

Tom's Guide: The Game shelves

Our colleagues and neighbors at Tom's Hardware recently put online a dossier on touch pads, products whose market is enriched a little more each day. From Apple to Dell, Motorola and Toshiba Archos Viewsonic: almost all manufacturers to begin shelves. To see more clearly, our colleagues have done the sorting for you ...

NVIDIA GeForce GT 520, 3D Cinema at 50 €

Faced with the Radeon HD 6450, Nvidia will launch a new map input range, designed for use as media center over to play. This new card has a single block shaders (48 CUDA Nvidia cores in the jargon), and a single 64-bit memory controller. It is of course compatible with DirectX 11, and can read Blu-ray technology via 3D active glasses dear to Nvidia.

Asus has already announced a low-profile passive model, ideal for a home theater PC. Nvidia this card up at a rate similar to that of the Radeon HD 6450, just above 50 €. Immediate availability is announced.

GeForce (wikipedia)

SilverStone Raven RV03 unveils housing

The manufacturer SilverStone Raven RV03 recently unveiled a tower chassis with a steel frame 0.8 mm and showing dimensions of 235 x 522 x 570 mm and weighing up to 11.4 kg on the scale. Compatible motherboards to Extended ATX format, this box has 7 x 5.25 inches, 3.5 inches 10 locations (including 6 via adapters) and two locations at 2.5-inches.

The classic USB 3.0 connectors (x2) and audio are placed on top, while the motherboard ports will be positioned upward. Two 180 mm fans (1200 rpm) are finally delivered with the RV03. Expected next week, Raven RV03 should be offered at a price of about $ 140, or 110 euros.

An 8 GB SD card with WiFi

Eye-Fi has unveiled a new model equipped with an SD card controller integrated WiFi. Called X2 Mobile, the model in question shows a storage capacity of 8 GB and is designed for digital cameras. The manufacturer says that through technology "Direct Mode" built into this card, you can connect the camera to a smartphone or a touch pad running Android or iOS (via a dedicated application), the then acting as X2 Mobile WiFi access point.

Apple first on the shelves until 2015

If one believes the forecasts of Gartner, Apple is expected to remain the market leader in touch pads until at least 2015. IOS operating system should also remain during this period the main platform for this type of product. Also according to Gartner, 68.7% of the tablets sold in 2011 should be running IOS.

This share should gradually decline, until no longer reach "only" 47.1% in 2015. Meanwhile, the Tablet running Android should gradually take market share, reaching 38.6% in 2015. Among other platforms, only QNX (RIM) is expected to succeed at the game with 10% market share in the same maturity.

Thunderbolt: the general public

Sonnet, specialist accessories, Thunderbolt offers products that might interest the general public. Recall that Thunderbolt is the official name of Lightpeak technology from Intel and it is ultimately not of the optical fiber is used, but the conventional copper cable. Thunderbolt is in fact proposing to carry a signal and a signal DisplayPort PCI-Express (4 lines) in the same cable.

For now, only Apple uses the standard, but other manufacturers should follow, like Sony. Sonnet products are four in number. The first two are fairly straightforward: they are external boxes that accept PCI-Express. Both offer PCI-Express 16x (physically) wired 4x - Thunderbolt limit - but there are some differences remain.

Club 3D: a GTX 550 overclocked Ti 2 GB

Club 3D the manufacturer has unveiled a new factory overclocked GeForce GTX 550 Ti. Called GTX 550 OC Edition CoolStream Ti, this graphics card has a system owner and cooling loads 2GB of GDDR5 memory. The GPU is clocked at 920 MHz as well, against 900 MHz for the reference model. The 192 cores running CUDA on their side to 1840 MHz, while the GDDR5 memory works at 1025 MHz on a 192-bit bus.

Master Overclocking Arena 2011: Challenges in Istanbul.

The event organized by the manufacturer MSI Turkey reaches 15 and 16 April, an international event organized by MSI where 16 teams from across Europe will compete to become the European champions in 2011. The Master Overclocking Arena is considered one of the most prestigious competition which brings together the best of Europe overclokers compete to become the number one.

The objective of this contest is to increase the stock speed processors and graphics cards to reach record levels this year the event features Spanish participation in the hands of Team OC Traxtore MSI team, consisting of Draco and Vak92, who will try achieve world records MSI's hand. Performance, sound and vision: Big Bang Marshal (B3).

TDJ: CPU dual, tri, quad-core and hexa

Our fellow Cowcotland just update its comparative processors dual, tri, quad and hexa-core, bringing the total to 44 CPUs tested. Core i7-990x (3.46 GHz), Core i3-2100 (3.1 GHz) and Core i3-2120 (3.3 GHz) are therefore join the models already present in this comparison ...

Central processing unit (wikipedia)

The app store for Windows 8 has an air of Mac App Store

Microsoft has decided to integrate a Windows app store 8 to like what is already found in Mac OS X since version 10.6.6. This is shown by the Chinese site that published EnBette screenshots that were taken up by several sites. The service is currently named Windows App Store. Microsoft might still have to change their name if Apple wins the case and convinced the judges that the term App Store is not a generic term, but part of trademarks in Cupertino.

The 1st smartphone platform from Intel will be Chinese

ZTE, a Chinese manufacturer, had received an Intel platform for smartphone that could give rise to the first terminals marketed with Atom chip. ZTE projects are still unclear. The most optimistic talk of a bet on the Chinese market, which would be a world first. The most pessimistic claim that the platform does not exceed the manufacturer's laboratory doors.

We only know that Intel is the author of a design based on one of its Atom SoC. If Intel is so far refusing to comment, we remember that he promised a smartphone Atom before the end of the year. ZTE announced that it was in talks with the founder, without giving further details.

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

Intel addresses the shelves and AMD's Fusion

Intel has kicked off its IDF in Beijing, officially launching its Atom Z670 Oak Trail, which is the SoC of the firm intended to compete with ARM processors on the field from the shelves. The first products using this platform are expected to arrive next month. After a false start (see "Intel launches (almost) the Atom Z670" Oak Trail "), Intel uses his Chinese Room to start the processor with great fanfare, but we doubt that this is enough to make the shade for ARM platforms.

Windows 8: what we know

Following the release of alpha releases and presentations under embargo, we synthesized in this paper the main information known about Windows 8. Roadmap, new features, interface ...

History of Microsoft Windows (wikipedia)