Tech News
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ASUS Crosshair IV Formula (AMD 890FX) Motherboard
Published: Tuesday, May 25, 2010 | By: WillThe choice for high end 890FX motherboards is very limited to only a few. The Asus Crosshair is one of the best choices of the bunch though. Then again about all of them are able to push the X6 pretty well.
"As everyone knows, AMD just recently pushed their hexa-core Phenom II X6 out the door. This new CPU is a $300 six core piece of silicon that promises performance at a low price. The opinions were mixed about how well it managed this feat, but there is no question that AMD has pushed out the top end chipset for this CPU in the form of the 890FX.
The 890FX brings a few extras to the table and offers enthusiast performance and overclocking options. We have the ASUS Crosshair IV Formula in the lab (we used it for our Phenom II X6 review) and found that it has more than a few nice features to offer. With features such as Core Unlocking with the press of a button, Turbo Key II "push button" overclocking. X-Fi audio, and much more, all for about $230 over at Newegg, it makes for a good deal if you either already own an AMD CPU or are thinking of investing in the new Phenom II X6."I do love the colors of the Crosshair.
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3DMark 11 Announced, Trailer and Images Released
Published: Monday, May 24, 2010 | By: DennisIt took awhile but 3DMark 11has finally been released. And will also be shown at the Computex show.
Deep Sea is a demonstration of DirectX 11 technologies created using an early development build of the 3DMark 11 engine. The Deep Sea trailer features submersibles exploring the sea floor. Volumetric lighting illuminates the seabed with tessellation used to add rich detail to the rock, coral and manmade structures. Post processing delivers depth of field and other lens effects. The music is an original composition.
Now we just need a copy for the HWBot Team
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EVGA P55 FTW @ Hardwareoverclock
Published: Monday, May 24, 2010 | By: WillThis is still one incredible board that just rocks. I loved doing the review on it and clocking a Core i5 750 to 4.2GHz without looking back. I will have to admit I have not even looked at the newer BIOS to see what it improves on.
Hardwareoverclock.com has reviewed the EVGA P55 FTW mainboard. The P55 FTW has released 7 month ago. Many bios versions has been published since the release date. Many settings have been improved and optimized. Now we have reviewed the Board with a Core i5 650 and take a look at the new settings and Overclocking performance.
I might have to look at these new BIOS now.
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Seagate Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid Preview @ HotHardware
Published: Monday, May 24, 2010 | By: WillCall it predictable, but as soon as I heard Seagate had something awesome up there sleeve I said Hybrid. Then after that is when I didn't see it being a notebook drive. I was really hoping for a serious beast with 32gigs of SSD and 1TB disc drive. Oh well dream is shattered, but it might still be good let's read and see.
"Although there has been some noise over the years about hybrid drives that somewhat bridge the gap between hard drives and solid state drives, short of getting installed in a handful of notebooks, they haven't had a significant impact on the overall market. Hit your favorite on-line retailer and you'll find a slew of SSDs and hard drives available, but nothing in between. If you need massive amounts of storage space, a hard drive is a necessity (unless you've got an unlimited budget). But if it's maximum performance you crave, only an SSD will do. Today, however, Seagate aims to change that with the release of the new Momentus XT Solid State Hybrid.
The Seagate Momentus XT mates 4GB of solid state storage with a traditional 2.5" hard drive in an attempt to bridge the current gap between hard drives and SSDs. Seagate claims the Momentus XT can offer the same kind of enhanced user experience as an SSD, but with the capacity and cost of a traditional hard drive. That's a pretty tall order. Does the Momentus XT deliver? Let's find out..."Mark this on the not interested list.
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Four-way Gaming Mouse Roundup: G9X, XAI, Abyssus and SideWinder X8
Published: Thursday, May 20, 2010 | By: WillI love these kind of roundups for they are very hard to ever show which one is the best for the product depends on the person. Still it is a good round up to get an idea of which one you might like to game with.
"When it really comes down to it, a $20 generic optical mouse is going to deliver what you expect from your mouse even in heavy gaming sessions to the point where you won't really think about it too often, but then a pair of $20 joggers will probably offer the same sort of product satisfaction - that doesn't mean a $80 pair won't possibly be more comfortable, durable and offer just that tiny bit more of performance for the occasional recreational activity.
What it comes down to is in not knowing what I was missing - humans after all are masters at adapting and it really isn't until you try something new and improved that this becomes evident for yourself. With that said, when I was tasked to produce a roundup review of a few of the top gaming mice offerings on the market today, I was humbly introduced to the world I was missing out on - the world of the gaming mouse."I'm on the G9X series side.
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AMD 6 Core 1090T CPU Overclocked with LN2 and Benchmarked @ Madshrimps
Published: Thursday, May 20, 2010 | By: WillBeen playing with a Phenom II X6 1055T here and I can say this is a pretty impressive chip. With the right amount of cooling it is a beast ready to unleashed. So why not look at an article with LN2 being put to the test.
"This was one of the most eagerly awaited releases at the latest CeBIT show 2010. Sadly for the Shrimps reviewers we didn't see much Thuban or GTX 480 in real life at the fare. But now finally AMD's new core is amongst us. AMD released 2 brand new CPUs: the 6 core 1055T model running at 2.8Ghz and the flagship the 1090T version at 3.2Ghz with unlocked multiplier. Time to explore how it performs compared to the older 4-core as well as Intel i7 competition."
Enjoy.
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Noctua NH-C12P SE14 @ techPowerUp
Published: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 | By: WillThe heatsinks have hit the fan at Ninjalane with lots of reviews from us. So it is time to share the wealth on heatsinks with posting someone elses review of a heatsink we just recently looked at. Remember to compare the reviews and post your thoughts about our in our forums.
"Noctua has taken the high performance NH-C12P, which already offers excellent performance, and added a 140 mm fan. Noise level are still at a minimum and push the envelope in silent high performance cooling for modern processors. They all say size matters - let's see if that holds true with the NH-C12P SE14 as well."
So many heatsinks so little time.
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AMD Athlon II X4 960T OEM CPU Review @ Motherboards
Published: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 | By: WillThe rumormills have gotten the masses up in arms over this new puppy. The potential Phenom II X4 that could be unlocked to a X6 is something everyone wants. Still it might only be for the OEM market and that is not setting well with enthusiasts out there.
"In terms of performance, the AMD Phenom II X4 960T is right in-line with the expectation of a CPU that is clocked at 3.0GHz with four cores. Where this CPU really shines is when the end-user unlocks the extra two CPU cores on the die and runs this as a 6-core CPU except in the Sisoft Sandra test which is interesting. The extra cores come into play with multi-threaded apps in most cases and It works with a supported motherboard. The benefit of the AMD platform is that while the CPUs are released older motherboards still are generally compatible. Many AM2+ motherboards are certified to work with the new CPUs meaning that all you have to do to install the new CPU is update the BIOS. As the CPU is not available as of yet online I imagine the 960T will retail below the price of the 1055T making it a great competitor against the Core i5-650 CPU. More cores, more performance at the same price."
I'm sure some retailer is going to sell OEM versions of this chip soon enough.
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SandForce showdown: Corsair's Force F200 and OCZ's Agility 2 and Vertex 2 SSDs
Published: Wednesday, May 19, 2010 | By: WillThe SSD storm is not over yet. The ball keeps rolling for better and faster controllers and the flavor of the month is now SandForce SF-1200 controller. As these get better we hope to see prices fall on the older SSD drives that are just as capable as the new technology.
"A solid-state drive's controller chip largely determines its destiny. SandForce's SF-1200 is the latest controller to hit the market, and we've taken it for a spin in Corsair's Force F200 and OCZ's Agility 2 and Vertex 2 SSDs. Keep reading to see if all the hype is deserved."
Everyone is getting the itch to get an SSD the way these things keep coming out.
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AMD chipsets in tight supply
Published: Tuesday, May 18, 2010 | By: WillIt looks like the new AMD processors have put a real strain on the rest of there chipset production. With making some of the chipsets in short supply during high demand times.
"Supply for AMD chipsets is running tight as the company has agreed to allow foundry partner Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) to allocate part of the 55nm capacity reserved for chipsets to GPU production in order to ease current GPU shortages, according to sources at motherboard makers.
In the second half of 2009, AMD's 40nm ATI Radeon HD 5000 series faced a serious shortage due to low yields on TSMC's 40nm process, as a result, graphics card makers turned to placing orders for 55nm ATI Radeon HD 4000 series GPUs. However, since AMD took a conservative attitude toward future 55nm GPU sales after the launch of 40nm GPUs, both the company's 40nm and 55nm GPUs ended up suffering from shortages, according to previous reports."This could go very bad for AMD if they do not fix it quick.
