CITY OF INDUSTRY, CA – July 8, 2008 – MSI Computer, a leading manufacturer of computer hardware products and solutions, has begun shipping all the pre-ordered Wind U100 notebooks. The Wind, with its speedy new Intel Atom™ 1.6GHz processor, is also on sale at Fry's and online at www.newegg.com, www.amazon.com, www.frys.com, www.zipzoomfly.com, www.mwave.com, and www.buy.com. These first notebooks sold will feature Microsoft Windows XP Home Edition and a 3-cell battery.


In September, MSI will begin selling a Windows version of the Wind with a 6-cell battery , as well as the Linux version with a 3-cell battery. MSI will also carry a 6-cell battery for customers who wish to upgrade their 3-cell battery in late September.

MSI

El Monte, CA – July 1st, 2008 – NZXT, a company built on realizing the dreams of gamers worldwide, is proud to announce the Sentry LX, a high-performance aluminum fan controller. Sentry LX boasts a robust feature set providing gamers and PC enthusiasts with the optimal setup for monitoring and adjusting temperatures throughout the PC.


“For power users and silent users alike, Sentry LX is a phenomenal way to achieve full control and monitoring capabilities for your PC’s entire cooling system , ” said Johnny Hou, Chief Designer at NZXT.

Retailing for $59.99 (RM200), the new Sentry LX high-performance fan controller will be available in July.

NZXT

Sunnyvale, CA—July 7, 2007—OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced the all-new DDR3 SODIMM modules as its next generation notebook memory to support the impending Intel® Centrino® 2 mobile platform. These latest memory offerings for notebooks help reduce power consumption and increase speed and bandwidth, resulting in a higher performing laptop. As next-generation laptops are introduced in the upcoming weeks, OCZ is prepared to deliver high-performance DDR3 for these advanced gaming and professional systems.


The benefits of DDR3 memory now extends beyond desktop systems to laptops, offering increased frequencies at lower voltage requirements. OCZ’s PC3-8500 and PC3-10666 SODIMM kits support enthusiast-grade performance and bring speeds to notebook systems that were previously unimaginable. Early-adopting gamers and professionals will benefit from the more productive computing experience that the combination of the new Centrino 2 technology and OCZ DDR3 modules can provide.

OCZ

HONG KONG – Jul. 9, 2008 – ZOTAC International, a leading NVIDIA partner, today announces a new high-performance value platform for AMD Socket AM2+ processors – the ZOTAC GeForce 8100. The ZOTAC GeForce 8100 unleashes the full potential of AMD Phenom processors with HyperTransport 3.0 compatibility, allowing AMD Phenom processors to operate with maximal performance.

A programmable Shader Model 4.0 compatible graphics processor empowers the ZOTAC GeForce 8100 with DirectX 10 support for compatibility with the latest 3D games and applications. NVIDIA CineFX 4.0 architecture and Intellisample AA technologies enable the ZOTAC GeForce 8100 platform to render brilliant, life-like 3D visuals in DirectX 10 and OpenGL 2.1 enabled titles.


Zotac

Point of View GeForce GTX 260 Assassins Creed Edition @ techPowerUp
AMD 780G/780V/740G Integrated Socket AM2+ Chipsets @ ixbt
MSI P45 Neo3 Motherboard @ biosmagazine
Sapphire HD3870 Ultimate Video Card @ Pro-Clockers
In Win B2 Stealth Bomber Mid Tower ATX Case Review @ Bigbruin
Dynapower USA TP-LINK (TL-WR543G) 54Mbps and (TL-WR642G) 108Mbps Routers @ Virtual-Hideout
igma SP-700 700W Power Supply Review @ ThinkComputers
HIS HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 Video Card @ 3dgameman
XtremeMac Tango X2 @ Techgage
DFI Lanparty UT X48 T3R Preview @ Ninjalane
Sapphire 1024MB Radeon HD3850 Graphics Card Review @ Bigbruin
Intel Core 2 Extreme CPU Cooler Review @ Madshrimps

Today, AMD (NYSE: AMD) released the AMD Phenom™ X4 9950 Black Edition quad-core processor featuring Clock Multiplier Control. Combined with AMD OverDrive™ software – the industry’s most comprehensive Windows-based performance tuning utility – the latest Black Edition processor enables customizable platform performance and tunability. For energyconscious users, the energy-efficient AMD Phenom X4 9350e and AMD Phenom X4 9150e processors are now available. These processors, under the most extreme operation, consume no more than 65 watts, delivering the performance of four independent cores at a low wattage – ideal for development of small and sleek form factors that can help cut down on energy consumption, take up little space, and operate with low noise.


With regards to the AMD Black Edition Phenom X4 9950 unlocked processors. It also outlines AMD's energy efficient AMD Phenom X4 9350e and 9150e processors which provide great performance whilst keeping power consumption levels at a mere 65 watts. AMD would also like to remind media about the coming price drop for Phenom X4 9850 Black Editions. For now their prices will remain at $235 for one week, but will be reduced, as promised, to $205 (RM676) on July 7th.

Recommended Retail Price
AMD Phenom X4 9950 Black Edition - 2.6GHz; $235 (RM775)
AMD Phenom X4 9350e - 2.0GHz; $195 (RM645)
AMD Phenom X4 9150e - 1.8GHz; $175 (RM577)

Hong Kong 25th June, 2008 - Force3D are excited to launch industries first GDDR5 graphics card, the Force3D Radeon HD 4870 and the GDDR3 graphics card Radeon HD4850 bringing the power of graphics "super computing" to gamers, setting a new standard for visual computing.




Force3D

SANTA CLARA, CA—JUNE 16, 2008—Imagine instead of taking over five hours to convert a video for your iPod, it only takes 35 minutes. Imagine using your PC to simulate protein folding to help find a cure for debilitating diseases. Imagine that your PC can dramatically accelerate everyday tasks, and deliver an exciting visual experience in the process. Today that imagination becomes a reality now that the leader in visual computing technologies, NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA), has introduced its new family of GeForce® GTX 200 graphics processors (GPUs)—which includes the GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce GTX 260 GPUs—taking graphics beyond gaming and gaming beyond anything that’s ever been possible before on a consumer computing platform.



Additional features of the GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce GTX 260 GPUs include:

• 2nd Generation NVIDIA Unified Architecture: Delivers 50% more gaming performance over the Company’s previous NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Ultra GPU through 240 enhanced processor cores that provide incredible shading horsepower at resolutions as high as 2560 x 1600.
  
• 3-way NVIDIA SLI® Technology: Industry leading 3-way NVIDIA SLI technology offers amazing performance scaling by implementing 3-way alternate frame rendering (AFR) for the world’s fastest gaming solution under Windows Vista.
  
• NVIDIA PureVideo® HD Technology: The combination of HD video decode acceleration and post-processing delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate color, and precise image scaling for movies and video.
  
• NVIDIA CUDA Technology: With the power of NVIDIA CUDA™ technology and the new CUDA runtime for Windows Vista, programmers can now offload the most intensive processing tasks from the CPU to the NVIDIA GPUs, putting the power of up to 240 multi-threaded processor cores to work.

Graphics cards featuring GeForce GTX 280 GPUs will be available starting 17th June 2008 from global leading add-in card manufacturers, such as: ASUS, BFG, Emtek, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Innovision, Leadtek, MSI, Palit, PC Partner/Zotac, PNY, Point of View, Unika, Unitek, and XFX. Graphics cards featuring GeForce GTX 260 GPUs will be available starting on Thursday, June 26, 2008. Suggested retail pricing for the GeForce GTX 280 and GeForce GTX 260 GPUs are $649 (RM2,150) and $399 (RM1320), respectively.

Click HERE for detailed features of the GeForce GTX 280.

NVIDIA



NVIDIA GeForce GTX 280 Review Roundup

AnandTech
CPU3D
Driver Heaven
FiringSquad
Guru3D
[H]ard|OCP
HotHardware
Legit Reviews
Neoseeker
nV News
Overclockers Club
PC Perspective
Tom's Hardware
VR-Zone

Taipei, Taiwan, May 23, 2008 – ASUS condemns the defamatory and false accusations raised by our competitor, Gigabyte. Gigabyte, without a full understanding of ASUS´ engineering design and methods, has made false accusations against ASUS motherboards´ EPU features and the quality of ASUS´ motherboards´ components.

Also, in a press briefing presentation, Gigabyte used a photograph with blown-up (exploded) capacitors and led the audience to believe it was an ASUS product, to support its false allegations that ASUS uses questionable quality components. However, the image was found to be taken from a photograph of a VGA card manufactured by another vendor. The action of misrepresenting a third party product to be an ASUS product is truly defamatory and clearly outside the realm of decent competition.

[ Read the rest... ]

The guys at PC Perspective reports from an NVIDIA meeting in San Jose, as word just got passed to the world that NVIDIA will be announcing the acquisition of a ray tracing software company called RayScale. This is an incredibly interesting move and clarifies more of NVIDIA's stance on merging traditional rasterization and ray tracing techniques.

RayScale was a startup based out of the University of Utah and has built a hybrid renderer that merges the two techniques - all of the reflections in the image they showed were indeed done with ray tracing alone. The engine was not up to real-time frame rates on the images but they said they have spent the last two weeks working on adding features, not performance, and that it should be "no problem" to get his running in real-time. For the record, NVIDIA has yet to announce the details in an official press release.

PC Perspective

OCZ Technology Group, Inc. unveiled their pioneering Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Gaming Notebook Program. Under this program, users ranging from hardware enthusiasts to mainstream gamers can partake in configuring and building their own gaming-grade mobile solution. The OCZ DIY program enables users to purchase an unconfigured notebook and ultimately customize the system to their needs with the help of guides and direct support.

Thanks to competitive performance and enhanced portability of today’s notebooks, opting for a notebook as a serious gaming option has become increasingly the norm; the focus is also shifting in the DIY sector. OCZ has validated a complete range of components to ensure excellent component compatibility and quick and easy configuration the notebook, allowing consumers to configure the DIY gaming notebook in a shorter period of time than it actually takes to construct a regular desktop. Catering to these new demands of enthusiasts and gamers who have found benefits and enjoyment in building personal desktops, the OCZ DIY program is setting out to provide them the advantages of building their own gaming notebooks.


OCZ’s first DIY notebook solution delivers an optimal balance of gaming performance and portability. Featuring an Intel® Core™ 2 Duo platform, the OCZ DIY notebook can accommodate the latest CPU technology including the all-new 45nm processors. In conjunction with this state-of-the art mobile processing power, the 15.4-inch DIY notebooks come equipped with NVIDIA® GeForce™ 8600M GT high performance graphics to provide a premium mobile gaming experience that lets gamers rip through all of today's most advanced and graphic-intensive games and applications.

OCZ

Catering to users who desire a motherboard that provides the highest performance, minimal power loss and the longest-lasting durability, ASUS has released the new P5Q Deluxe motherboard. ASUS has broken new ground with its motherboard designs for the new Intel P45 chipset with the introduction of 16-phase power regulation technology. Increasing the number of phases in the VRM (Voltage Regulation Module) components gives the ASUS R&D team the tools it needs to control the power supplied to the CPU, and this revolutionary power design provides the ultimate in enhanced power efficiency, reducing power loss and temperatures – thereby extending the durability and lifespans of components and the motherboard itself.

ASUS’ revolutionary 16-phase power design utilizes real hardware power regulation to guarantee genuine power efficiency. When the CPU load increases, the P5Q Deluxe automatically switches to 16-phases. As the CPU is idling, the P5Q Deluxe uses a responsive 4-phase system to power the CPU – which raises the VRM efficiency. A power design that does not have auto phase switching will be unable to increase power efficiency. Thus, lower VRM efficiency will still drop off the Output Current and result in wasted power and increased heat. The new 16-phase design now maintains a power efficiency of up to 96%+ that cannot be matched by the competition. The results are clear to see as the P5Q Deluxe draws less power, lowers temperatures and delivers excellent performance in comparison to competing models. This power efficiency saves money for the user, reduces temperatures inside the PC case and extends the life of key components such as the CPU and motherboard.

The following are pictures of the actual launch held at the Pavilion, Kuala Lumpur on 14th May, 2008. Holding the motherboard is (from right) Jane Lie (Channel Management Specialist ASUS Malaysia) and Phoebe Cham (Marketing Specialist ASUS Malaysia).



[ Read the rest... ]

OCZ Technology Group announced the Special Ops Edition DDR3 Series, available in both PC3-8500 and PC3-10666 kits featuring the high densities and stability gamers demand. These DDR3 kits are ideal for users advancing to the next generation of memory platforms, offering the speeds, density, and reliability required for the latest DirectX 10 PC titles. Featuring a unique camouflage motif heatspreader design, the DDR3 Special Ops Edition Series was designed for gaming systems in need of a reliable upgrade as well as some extra style.

The PC3-8500 and PC3-10666 SOE will be available in 1GB and 2GB modules, and 2GB and 4GB dual channel kits for the high densities demanded by graphic-intensive games, operating systems, and applications. With today’s games requiring a minimum of 2GB of system memory, the Special Ops Edition is the ideal solution for gamers who need high density options in addition to superior reliability and bandwidth management without the hefty price point. These modules offer the stability and speed to give gamers the performance edge with a highly reliable, future-proof system that takes advantage of all high-speed DDR3 has to offer.

OCZ