AMD Sneak Peeks Phenom II, Overclocks To 5+GHz

News / Hardware News   21-11-2008 by KillerSneak   (0)

We’ve been spending some quality time with the folks at AMD today in sunny Austin, TX. The team here has been giving us a run-down on their upcoming Phenom II processor along with the enthusiast platform they’re calling “Dragon”. In short, the Dragon platform is a combination of an AMD Phenom II X4 processor, Radeon 4800 Graphics cards and an AMD 7 series chipset based motherboard.

However, today’s discussion was keenly focused on AMD's upcoming Phenom II X4 processor, two models of which will launch in early January that will be socket AM2+ compatible. In addition, some time in Q1, AMD will launch new AM3 socket Phenom II X4 processors with support for DDR3-1333 memory. In the short term, (read CES ’08 time frame release) specifically, there will be two chips available with clock speeds starting at 2.8GHz but with a lot of headroom for future clock speed ramps as well as some heavy duty overclocking. In addition, with the transition to 45nm fab process technology for Phenom II, AMD is claiming a 30 – 40% power consumption reduction under full load and up to a 50% reduction under idle conditions.


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World of Warcraft®: Wrath of the Lich King™ Shatters Day-1 Sales Record

News / Games News   21-11-2008 by KillerSneak   (0)

With More Than 2.8 Million Copies Sold in Its First 24 Hours, Blizzard Entertainment®'s Second World of Warcraft Expansion is Now the Fastest-Selling PC Game Ever

Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. today announced that World of Warcraft®'s second expansion, Wrath of the Lich King™, has sold more than 2.8 million copies in its first 24 hours of availability*, making it the fastest-selling PC game of all time. This eclipses the previous record of nearly 2.4 million copies sold in 24 hours, set in January 2007 by Blizzard's first World of Warcraft expansion, The Burning Crusade®.Wrath of the Lich King was simultaneously released in North America, Europe, Chile, Argentina, and Russia on November 13; Australia, New Zealand, Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand on November 14; and South Korea and the regions of Taiwan, Hong Kong, and Macau on November 18.

In celebration of the launch, more than 15,000 stores throughout the world had their doors open at midnight to welcome thousands of expectant players. Several of these locations were attended by Blizzard Entertainment representatives, who met players and signed copies of the game.


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DELL Q3 FY09

News / Financial News   21-11-2008 by KillerSneak   (0)

�� Our direct model affords us the benefit of reading and reacting to demand
signals faster than any other company in our industry

�� We are in the midst of a challenging global IT demand environment

�� Against this backdrop, we are pleased with our performance this quarter
‒ We achieved this in part by having a better balance of products and
services
‒ And in realizing the benefits of our cost initiatives to improve our
competitiveness

�� Our goal continues to be, over time, to drive balanced performance with
liquidity, profitability and growth and optimize cash returns – regardless of
the macro economic cycle


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FABCHANNEL GOES HD

November 2008 we launched our very own HD recording facility, situated at the Paradiso in Amsterdam. This studio enables us to produce HD concert recordings on a daily basis!

Recording in HD not only keeps our own products up to standard for many years to come. It also allows us to act as a producer of content for third parties. With 1200 concert recordings of experience and a team of enthusiastic professionals we have grown to be one of the most experienced and efficient video production companies when it comes to concert recordings.


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VIA Collaborates with OpenChrome on Open Source Video Driver

News / Software News   21-11-2008 by KillerSneak   (0)

Taipei, Taiwan, 20 November 2008 - VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator of power efficient x86 processor platforms, today announced the next step in its ongoing cooperation with the Free and Open Source Software (FOSS) community.

Building on the recent release of the VIA graphics driver available on the VIA Linux Portal (http://linux.via.com.tw), VIA is actively collaborating with the OpenChrome development team on their Open Source graphics driver – initially assisting with multi-head support and RandR function.


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S3 Chrome 530 GT - A Sensible Solution for DirectX® 10.1 and Hi-Def™ Video Performance

News / Hardware News   21-11-2008 by KillerSneak   (0)

S3 Graphics combines best-in-class performance with the latest 3D graphics, Hi-Def™ video, and digital display technologies in the Chrome 530 GT for desktop PCs. Supporting the latest Microsoft® DirectX™ 10.1 and OpenGL 2.1/3.0 graphics architectures for smooth, realistic 3D rendering and amazing PiP Blu-ray playback, the Chrome 530 GT offers mainstream users incredible value for home, work, and multimedia PCs. In addition, the simplicity of installing a Chrome 530 GT card makes it a great choice for PCs requiring the best upgrade ROI (return on investment) since no power supply upgrade or additional power connectors are required.

Using the latest Fujitsu Foundry low leakage process technology, the Chrome 530 GT features industry leading power conservation to help keep cooling costs to a minimum with the industry’s leading performance per watt product. Powerwise™ architecture allows dynamic adjustments of core and memory clock frequencies and voltage to ensure further energy efficiency without degrading performance.


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IBM Seeks to Build the Computer of the Future Based on Insights from the Brain

News / Hardware News   21-11-2008 by KillerSneak   (0)

SAN JOSE, Calif. - 20 Nov 2008: In an unprecedented undertaking, IBM Research and five leading universities are partnering to create computing systems that are expected to simulate and emulate the brain’s abilities for sensation, perception, action, interaction and cognition while rivaling its low power consumption and compact size.

The digital data explosion shows no signs of slowing down -- according to analyst firm IDC, the amount of digital data is growing at a mind-boggling 60 percent each year, giving businesses access to incredible new streams of information. But without the ability to monitor, analyze and react to this information in real-time, the majority of its value may be lost. Until the data is captured and analyzed, decisions or actions may be delayed. Cognitive computing offers the promise of systems that can integrate and analyze vast amounts of data from many sources in the blink of an eye, allowing businesses or individuals to make rapid decisions in time to have a significant impact.







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Thermalright Ultra Extreme Copper CPU Cooler Review

News / Hardware News   21-11-2008 by KillerSneak   (0)

Being number one is often a good place to be in business, unless the business is technology. More often than not it seems when a company is the best in its respective field it tends to sit back on its laurels. Don’t believe me? Just look a few short years ago at Intel’s Prescott blunder. Another example is NVIDIA’s rehash of the venerable 8800 GTX in the form of the 8800GT/GTS and 9800 GT/GTX. It seems when technology companies hold the crown in it field; it tends to get a bit lazy on the innovation side of things. Where am I going with all of this? Thermalright has held the top spot when it comes to air coolers for well over a year in the form of their Ultra-120 Extreme which has shown its mettle in many of our cooling tests. Heck, if you run it outside of a case with a constant ambient temperature air flow like many water cooling radiator setups enjoy, it will even rival a $400 water cooling system. No matter what other cooler companies came out, none have dethroned this king of coolers.

Has Thermalright fallen into the same lazy, business as usual, mindset? Not content to sit back and wait for someone to challenge it, Thermalright has decided to challenge itself. In an attempt to push the boundaries of thermodynamics, Thermalright is bringing to market an all copper version of their very best cooler called the Thermalright Ultra Extreme Copper, or as we will be referring to it from here out, the “TRUE Copper.”


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ASUS ROG CG6190 – The Latest and Highest Performing Intel X58 Gaming PC

News / Hardware News   21-11-2008 by KillerSneak   (0)

Taipei, Taiwan, November 19, 2008 – Synced with the launch of Intel’s latest generation Core™ i7 processor and X58 chipset, ASUS is presenting the ROG CG6190 Gaming PC. This outstanding piece of hardware features Intel’s latest platform and provides top-notch solutions to deliver the ultimate in gaming experience—catering to the most demanding gamers who are constantly seeking the best in gaming PC features, performance, and stability. Furthermore, the unique exterior design is inspired by ancient and modern armor with both Eastern and Western influences, and presents an aesthetic appeal that exudes pure power!

ROG CG6190: Sheer Performing Power with a Core™ i7 and X58 Platform
The ASUS ROG CG6190 is the world’s first highest performing consumer desktop platform that features the most advanced Intel® Core™ i7 CPUs and X58 chipsets to allow gamers to experience even higher levels of speed and performance. In comparison to the previous generation Quad Core platform, the Core™ i7 delivers 52% faster processing speed in 3D gaming applications.


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Lively no more

News / Software News   21-11-2008 by KillerSneak   (0)

After careful consideration, we have decided to shut down Lively.

Since Lively's launch, we have been delighted to see the creative ways you've used the product. We enjoyed hanging out in Jen's coffee house, and checking out the Brasil Party room. We got a kick out of the YouTube videos in a variety of languages telling stories about your avatars. And we've been awed by the elaborate rooms that you've constructed, using mosaic tiles and photo gadgets in novel ways.

We will shut down Lively on December 31, 2008. Embedded rooms in blogs and other web pages will continue to show an image, but users will no longer be able to enter Lively rooms and interact.


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Samsung Now Producing 256GB Solid State Drive; Substantial Performance Gains Make it Best Overall Performing SSD for PCs

News / Hardware News   20-11-2008 by KillerSneak   (0)

SEOUL, South Korea--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced semiconductor technology, announced today that it has begun mass producing 256 gigabyte (GB) solid state drives for use in notebooks and desktop PCs. With the addition of the high-speed 256GB drive, Samsung now offers the most extensive line of SSDs in the industry with 8, 16, and 32GB SSDs for low-density designs and 64, 128 and 256GB alternatives for the higher densities.

The new 256GB SSD more than doubles the performance rates of Samsung 64GB and 128GB SSDs to become the SSD with the highest overall performance in the personal computer industry, combining sequential read rates of 220MB/s (megabytes per second) with sequential write rates of 200MB/s. This sharply narrows the performance gap between read and write operations to only 10 percent, compared to a read-write speed difference of between 20 and 70 percent for other SSDs. In addition, erase cycles are a rapid 100GBs per minute, allowing the entire drive to be re-written much faster, when needed.


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'Grand Theft Auto' yields road to the 'Lost and Damned'

News / Games News   20-11-2008 by KillerSneak   (0)

The upcoming episode of the video game Grand Theft Auto IV looks to be a wild one.

GTA IV, which was released in April for the Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3, focused on former Eastern European soldier Niko Bellic and his escalating life of crime in the boroughs of Liberty City. This new episode, available Feb. 17 via download exclusively for those who own the Xbox 360 version (no price yet), stars Johnny Klebitz, a member of Liberty City biker gang The Lost.

"Johnny is a very different character than Niko, with a very different background," says Dan Houser, vice president of creative development for Rockstar Games. "I can't go into too much detail on the story, because we try not to give away too much plot before the game is released. But I can say that the story will show you a different side of Liberty City."


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Novafora to Acquire Transmeta

San Jose, California – November 17, 2008 – Novafora, Inc., a developer of video processors, today announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire Transmeta Corporation (NASDAQ: TMTA) for $255.6 million in cash subject to certain adjustments. Transmeta stockholders are expected to receive between $18.70 and $19.00 for each outstanding share of Transmeta’s common stock, subject to working capital and other adjustments.

“Transmeta’s innovative technology and the expertise of its employees are valuable additions to Novafora,” said Zaki Rakib, CEO of Novafora. “Adding Transmeta’s power management technology to our video processor will advance our vision of making our products applicable across the broadest range of video-oriented devices and help Novafora’s mission to fulfill the promise of the digital video revolution – the highest quality video, anywhere, on any device and at any time.”


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Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6) Due in 1st Quarter of 2009?

News / Software News   20-11-2008 by KillerSneak   (0)

Apple's Director of Engineering of Unix Technologies Jordan Hubbard spoke at LISA '08 last week. LISA (or Large Installation System Administration Conference) is a technical conference targeted at engineers and system administrators. This year's conference invited Apple's Jordan Hubbard to speak about the evolution of Mac OS X from large servers to embedded platforms. While technical readers may find the content of Hubbard's presentation slides (PDF) quite interesting, the most surprising revelation is a more specific target date for Apple's Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard): 1st Quarter 2009.

When Apple first previewed Snow Leopard at the Worldwide Developers Conference 2008, they simply stated that Snow Leopard would ship "in about a year" from the announcement. A Q1 release would deliver it earlier than most had expected and makes it conceivable that we could see a demo or announcement at Macworld San Francisco 2009.


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Official 180.48 WHQL Released

News / nVidia GeForce driver   19-11-2008 by Malonn   (0)

Nvidia has released the 180.48 driver for Geforce 8,9 and 200 series boards. Below is a list of highlights:

Exciting New Features:

* Enables NVIDIA SLI technology on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards with the following GPUs: GeForce GTX 280, GeForce GTX 260, GeForce 9800 GX2, GeForce 9800 GTX+, and GeForce 9800 GTX. Learn more here.
* Enables NVIDIA PhysX acceleration on a dedicated GeForce graphics card. Use one card for graphics and dedicate a different card for PhysX processing for game-changing physical effects. Learn more here. (Note: GPU PhysX is supported on all GeForce 8-series, 9-series and 200-series GPUs with a minimum of 256MB dedicated graphics memory. This driver package automatically installs PhysX System Software version 8.10.13).

Blazing Fast Performance:

* Boosts performance in numerous 3D applications. The following are some examples of improvements measured with Release 180 WHQL drivers vs. Release 178 WHQL drivers (results will vary depending on your GPU, system configuration, and game settings):
o Up to 10% performance increase in 3DMark Vantage (performance preset)
o Up to 13% performance increase in Assassin's Creed
o Up to 13% performance increase in BioShock
o Up to 15% performance increase in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
o Up to 10% performance increase in Crysis Warhead
o Up to 25% performance increase in Devil May Cry 4
o Up to 38% performance increase in Far Cry 2
o Up to 18% performance increase in Race Driver: GRID
o Up to 80% performance increase in Lost Planet: Colonies
o Up to 18% performance increase in World of Conflict

And More:

* Supports single GPU and NVIDIA SLI technology* on DirectX 9 and OpenGL.
* Supports CUDA.
* Supports Folding@home distributing computing application. Download the high performance client for NVIDIA GPUs here and join the NVIDIA team: #131015.
* Supports GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing NVIDIA System Tools software.
* Includes numerous 3D application compatibility fixes. Please read the release notes for more information on product support, features, driver fixes and known compatibility issues.
* Users without US English operating systems can select their language and download the International driver here.

*Note: The following SLI features are only supported on Windows Vista: Quad SLI technology using GeForce 9800 GX2, 3-way SLI technology, Hybrid SLI, and SLI multi-monitor support.

Download the 180.48 drivers here.



Do Not Argue - October - Steam Games Giveaway

Winners !!:
1x Crysis Warhead - blurayrocks
1x Multiwinia - antikythera
1x LEGO Batman - JimPanse

Congratulations,
you will be contacted as soon as possible to arrange and receive the Steam Gifts. Thanks for participating in the Competition.

Kind regards,
Wandert "KillerSneak" van bruggen

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