Elite Bastards' News Feed

Thursday news round up

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 15:35:02 BST

Posted by: Hanners
Posted: Thu 2nd Jul 2009

Video cards, CPUs and motherboards
- nVidia GeForce 186.18 Driver Test at Alien Babel Tech
- ECS Black Series X58B-A Nehalem Motherboard review at Future Looks
- ASUS Radeon HD 4890 Voltage Tweak review at Tweak Town
- Sapphire Radeon HD 4730 review at PC Games Hardware
- EVGA X58 3X SLI Classified Motherboard review at Hot Hardware
- Galaxy GeForce GTX 260+ OC review at Tech ARP
- Gainward GTX 295 Graphics Card with 1792MB Memory review at Tech Reviews
- GeForce 9500GT and 9600GT on a Diet review at VR-Zone
- GIGABYTE MA790FXT-UD5P AM3 Motherboard review at Tweak Town

Cases, cooling and power supplies
- Rocketfish 550 W Power Supply review at Hardware Secrets
- Seventeam ST-750P-AF Power Supply review at Hardware Secrets
- Antec ISK300-65 Mini-ITX HTPC Computer Case review at Benchmark Reviews
- Thermaltake Litepower 450W review at Pure Overclock
- Cooler Master Sileo 500 Mid Tower Chassis with 500W Power Supply review at Think Computers
- Cooler Master HAF922 Chassis review at Driver Heaven
- Arctic Cooling Freezer XTREME Rev.2 CPU Cooler review at Tech Reviews
- Setting Up A Split Loop Water Cooling at Bjorn 3D
- Antec CP-850w review at XS Reviews
- OCZ FATAL1TY 550w PSU review at Tech-Reviews
- Corsair CX400W Power Supply review at Hardware Secrets
- Thermaltake DH101 HTPC Case review at Overclockers Online
- NZXT Panzerbox Mid Tower Case review at Hardware Canucks
- Evercool Buffalo review at Pure Overclock
- NZXT Khaos Aluminum Full Tower Gaming Chassis review at TechWare Labs
- Nexus TDD-9000 Liquid Cooling Pad Laptop Cooler review at Tech Reviews
- CoolIT Domino A.L.C Watercooling Kit review at Tech Reviews
- Thermaltake Element G Case review at Hardware Secrets
- Coolit Domino A.L.C. DM-1000 CPU Cooler review at Overclock 3D
- Domino Advance Liquid Cooling System review at Hi-Tech Reviews

Storage and memory
- Macbook Pro Kingston SSDNow 80 GB SSD + RAM Upgrade review at Motherboards
- Stabilizing your memory overclock on Core i7 platform at Mad Shrimps
- A look at SSD performance in Windows Vista at The Tech Report
- OCZ Vertex 120GB SSD review at HEXUS
- Synology Disk Station 409slim review at IT Pro
- Kingston SSDNow M-Series SSD Upgrade Kit review at Tweak Town

Systems, communications and input devices
- Razer Salmosa Gaming Mouse review at Phoronix
- Acer DX900 Dual SIM Windows Smartphone review at Verdis Reviews
- Acer Aspire Revo R3600 - NVIDIA ION Nettop review at Mod Reactor
- Lenovo ThinkPad T500 Laptop review at Driver Heaven
- Rosewill RM-8500 review at Bjorn 3D
- PC World Advent AIO-101 review at IT Reviewed
- Antec Veris Multimedia Station Premier review at Overclock 3D

Audio and video reviews
- Dell 2145cn MFP printer review at IT Pro
- Nanovision MIMO UM-710 USB Monitor review at OC Mod Shop
- Radius Atomic Bass Earphones for iPhone review at Think Computers
- Maximo iM-590 iMetal Earphones review at techPowerUp

Gaming and software
- Top Spin 3 - 360 review at Game Pyre
- iPhone Firmware 3.0 review at OCaholic
- eMedia Guitar Method v4 review at IT Reviewed
- Nyko Metal Drum Pedal review at OC Mod Shop
- Call Of Juarez: Bound In Blood review at Driver Heaven
- Mozilla Firefox 3.5 review at IT Reviewed
- Nyko Charge Station for Wii review at OC Mod Shop

NVIDIA ION 2 to launch later this year?

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 06:31:45 BST

Posted by: Hanners
Posted: Thu 2nd Jul 2009

After a slightly slow start and plenty of tit-for-tat arguing between Intel and NVIDIA, the latter's ION platform appears to have been something of a success for the company. Now, Fudzilla brings news that we might be seeing an improved "ION 2" platform for Intel's Atom CPUs before the year is out.

Our industry sources have told us that the new, shrunk version of ION, probably branded as ION 2, should have much faster graphics and much more shaders. We don't believe that the thermals will change that much, but we've heard that ION 2 will have more than double the number of shaders of the original Geforce 9400M /MCP79 /ION chip.

Since ION has 16 shaders , or processors as Nvidia calls them these days, you should expect that the new one has more than 32. This will get much better gaming to netbooks and nettops based on ION 2 which is definitely something you cannot say no to and at the same time Cuda applications might run faster, in case you found one that matter to you.

You can find the story here.

TSMC hit by yield issues, says analyst

Thu, 2 Jul 2009 02:47:12 BST

Posted by: Hanners
Posted: Thu 2nd Jul 2009

Despite hopes that it would all be resolved by now, it appears that TSMC's 40 nanometre yield issues are still rumbling on, with reports suggesting that yields are as low as 20%.

''In fact, not only do our checks suggest 40-nm yields but, to our surprise, these have remained below 30 percent, affecting shipments in 2H09,'' he said in the report. ''We believe yields are as low as 20 percent to 30 percent, which may explain the recent management change. We think some key customers who are increasing 40-nm tape-outs have already started to evaluate other foundries (UMC) in case yields do not improve soon.''

TSMC recently acknowledged that it had 40-nm yield issues, but claimed those problems were largely fixed. The ''management change'' involved a recent shake-up at silicon foundry giant TSMC.

EE Times.

Tuesday news round up

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 15:10:00 BST

Posted by: Hanners
Posted: Tue 30th Jun 2009

Video cards, CPUs and motherboards
- Inno3D GeForce GTX 295 Platinum (Single PCB) review at techPowerUp
- ZOTAC IONITX-A-U Atom N330 WiFi N Motherboard Kit review at Benchmark Reviews
- Gigabyte GA-EX58-UD4P Motherboard review at Hardware Logic
- Gigabyte G31M-ES2C Motherboard review at Hardware Secrets
- Changing the Game - A Brief History of CPUs at TechWare Labs
- AMD Phenom II TWKR Black Edition Processor review at Hot Hardware

Cases, cooling and power supplies
- NZXT Cryo S Notebook Cooler review at Virtual Hideout
- Cooler Master Hyper TX3 and N620 review at Alien Babel Tech
- Cooler Master SNA 95 Slim Notebook Universal Power Adapter review at Tweak News
- Hipro K1 580W PSU review at Mod Reactor
- Thermal Paste round-up at Bjorn 3D
- Cooler Master ATCS-840 Case review at Verdis Reviews
- Coolermaster Hyper TX3 review at RB Mods
- In Win X-Fighter Case review at Hardware Secrets
- Coolermaster Hyper N520 CPU Cooler review at Tech Reviews
- Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound Video review at eTeknix
- Kingwin Mach 1 1000W PSU review at Jonny Guru
- Corsair Hydro Series H50 review at HEXUS
- Kingston HyperX (KHX-FAN) Memory Cooler review at Tweak Town

Storage and memory
- Synology DS-409+ Network Attached Storage Device review at Think Computers
- Synology Disk Station DS409slim review at IT Reviewed
- Synology DS209 NAS review at CCE Reviews
- Rosewill RX81-MP-US External SATA Enclosure review at Tech Reviews
- Synology DS209, Budget Alternative to DS209+ review at Bjorn 3D
- Vizo Saturno 2.5" External HDD Enclosure review at Tech Reviews

Systems, communications and input devices
- Why You Should Buy a Netbook at Future Looks
- Logitech G19 Gaming Keyboard review at Tweak Town
- ASUS Eee PC 1008HA Seashell Netbook review at Tech Gage
- MSI GX723 Gaming Laptop review at Driver Heaven
- NZXT Avatar Gaming Mouse review at TechWare Labs
- Acer Aspire Timeline 4810T-8480 Notebook review at Tweak Town
- Nokia N97 review at IT Pro
- Alienware Interview with Frank Azor at Driver Heaven
- Choosing the Right Graphics Tablet at OC Mod Shop

Audio, video and imaging devices
- Samsung SyncMaster T240 review at Pure Overclock
- Epson WorkForce 600 MFP review at The Tech Zone
- Acoustibuds Earphone Adapters review at Big Bruin
- Olympus E-620 Digital SLR review at Hot Hardware
- Samsung LN55A950 120HZ 55 inch 1080P LCD TV review at Tweak News
- Speedlink Vento 2.0 Speaker Set review at Verdis Reviews

Gaming and software
- Light Of Altair (PC) review at Driver Heaven
- ArcSoft PhotoStudio 6 review at IT Reviewed
- My Sims Racing (Wii) review at OC Mod Shop
- Wheelman (PC) Game review at OCaholic
- Grand Slam Tennis (Wii) review at Driver Heaven
- Invelos DVD Profiler 3.5.1 review at IT Reviewed
- Infacta GroupMail v5.2 review at IT Reviewed

Sapphire HD 4730 512MB review

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 13:21:08 BST

Posted by: Hanners
Posted: Tue 30th Jun 2009

Despite Sapphire's Radeon HD 4730 being announced a while back, we haven't seen any sign of review samples of this board thus far (possibly due to continuing 40 nanometre yield issues) - However, techPowerUp have gone out and bought a board of their own to see how it stacks up. Is it as good a bargain as it sounds?

The card looks very similar to Sapphire's HD 4850 and HD 4830 even though a different PCB seems to be used. With the cooler the card requires two slots in your system.

The card has one analog port, one DVI port and one HDMI port. Having an analog port is important for a lot of low-end and midrange cards because users don't want (or know how) to use DVI adapters. If you want to connect the card to your big TV screen you can use the native HDMI output which supports HDMI Audio as well.

You may combine up to four HD 4730 cards in CrossFire for increased performance or higher image quality settings. There is no official statement whether you can mix the HD 4830 with other RV770 based cards. I tried with the HD 4830, HD 4850, HD 4870 and HD 4890 using Catalyst 9.6 under Windows Vista and could not get a CrossFire setup established.

Read the full review here.

Mozilla Firefox 3.5 available for download

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 10:29:55 BST

Posted by: Hanners
Posted: Tue 30th Jun 2009

Need I say more? A brand new version of Mozilla Firefox launches today, bringing the ever-popular browser up to version 3.5 with a host of enhancements.

You can grab Firefox 3.5 for yourself from the usual place at Mozilla's web site, while Slate and c|Net are amongst the web sites covering what's new this time around.

The Pirate Bay sold to Global Gaming Factory?

Tue, 30 Jun 2009 06:12:11 BST

Posted by: Hanners
Posted: Tue 30th Jun 2009

I'm really not sure whether or not to be surpised at anyone's willingness to buy the site, but this is certainly an interesting move for the infamous BitTorrent tracker nonetheless...

The Pirate Bay is now owned by Global Gaming Factory and will start to introduce new, legitimate services.
The Pirate Bay, one of the world's most well known file-sharing websites, has been sold to a Swedish firm called the Global Gaming Factory for just 60 million Swedish Krona (roughly $7.8 million USD or £4.6 million GBP).

According to a post on The Pirate Bay blog the current team behind the site recognise that the figure was a lot less than the site was actually worth, but claimed it was more important to find the right buyer than the right price.

According to a comment in the official press release Global Gaming Factory intends to make The Pirate Bay as legitimate as possible and "intends to launch new business models that allow compensation to the content providers and copyright owners."

bit-tech carry the full story, while you can also find more on The Pirate Bay's 'Blog.

Intel brings forward schedule for Clarkdale CPUs

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 11:52:54 BST

Posted by: Hanners
Posted: Mon 29th Jun 2009

It wasn't originally anticipated that we'd be seeing any CPUs manufactured on a 32 nanometre process until 2010 from Intel, but the latest speculation suggests that the production of the company's "Clarkdale" codenamed parts has now been shifted forward to the final quarter of this year...

Intel has brought forward the mass-production schedule of its new 32nm processor codenamed Clarkdale to the fourth quarter of 2009 from the originally planned first quarter of 2010, according to sources from motherboard makers.

The company's 32nm Clarkdale CPUs will account for 10% of Intel's total OEM desktop CPU shipments in the fourth quarter, while 45nm Core i7 processors will account for 1%, Lynnfield-based processor 2%, Core 2 Quad processors 9%, Core 2 Duo E8000/E7000 series processors 35%, Pentium E5000/E6000 series 31%, Celeron E3000 and Atom series together 8%, and 65nm-based Pentium E2000 and Celeron 400 together 4%.

DigiTimes has the story.

Phenom II X4 965 coming soon?

Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:04:11 BST

Posted by: Hanners
Posted: Mon 29th Jun 2009

Fancy a faster Phenom II? Then wishes may come true very soon...

Sampling is set to start on AMD's fast new Phenom II X4 965 next week and we're being told the new offering is 200MHz faster than the 955 at around 3.4GHz - straight out of the box.

The move will continue to put pressure on Intel which has already slashed prices of its Core 2 chips by about $33.

The chips are apparently being aimed squarely at 'O'clockers on a budget', especially if one considers this chip coupled with the new 785 chipset DDR3 mainboard, a pretty winning combination.

Tweak Town has the full story.

Weekend news round up

Sun, 28 Jun 2009 14:58:49 BST

Posted by: Hanners
Posted: Sun 28th Jun 2009

Video cards, CPUs and motherboards
- ATI Radeon HD 4770 review at Alien Babel Tech
- ASUS P6T7 WS Supercomputer Motherboard review at Motherboards
- ASRock M3A780GXH/128M review at Phoronix
- Core i3, Core i5, Lynnfield: Intel interviewed at PC Games Hardware
- Evga Geforce GTX 285 FTW review at PC Games Hardware
- Asus Radeon HD 4770 Formula Edition review at Bjorn 3D

Cases, cooling and power supplies
- Spire TherMax II review at techPowerUp
- Five Premium CPU Coolers In Tests at Digit Life
- Cooler Master Real Power M1000 PSU review at Mod Reactor
- Enermax REVOLUTION 85+ PSU review at HEXUS
- BFG ES-800 Power Supply review at Hardware Secrets
- Noctua NF-S12B FLX review at RB Mods
- Nexus XiR-3500 Copper Edition CPU Cooler review at Overclock 3D
- Evercool Transformer 4 review at Overclockers Online
- Seventeam V-Force ST-750P-AF PSU review at Mod Reactor
- IN-WIN Comander 650/750 watt PSU review at Bjorn 3D

Storage and memory
- 2TB Hard Disk Drive Battle: Seagate Barracuda LP vs. Western Digital Caviar Green at Hardware Secrets
- Highpoint RocketRAID 3510 SATA II RAID Controller review at Overclockers Online
- Kingston SSDNow V-Series review at Pure Overclock
- Verbatim BD-R and BD-RE BluRay Media review at OC Mod Shop
- ICY DOCK MB877SK-B review at Bjorn 3D
- iStar xAGE-N99 Hard Drive Docking Station review at OC Mod Shop

Systems, communications and input devices
- NYC Digital Experience: NVIDIA ION, Tegra Netbooks and More at Hot Hardware
- Apple iPhone 3GS 16GB Smartphone review at Tweak Town
- CyberPowerPC Gamer Xtreme Si review at TechWare Labs
- Thrustmaster T.16000M Joystick review at Think Computers
- HTC Touch Pro2 review at IT Pro
- Apple iPhone 3GS review at IT Pro

Audio and video devices
- Monster Turbine Headphones review at TechWare Labs
- Plantronics .Audio 655 review at IT Reviewed

Gaming and software
- Virtua Tennis 2009 - Xbox 360 review at Game Pyre
- CyberLink PowerDVD 9 Ultra review at IT Reviewed
- EA Sports Active (Wii) review at OC Mod Shop
- World of Warcraft Mega FAQ at OC Mod Shop
- Terminator Salvation PS3 review at Tweak Town
- Guitar Hero: Smash Hits review at OC Mod Shop