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:: PC Perspective . News Archive
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.:News Archive ( 1/2010 )
Allyn Malventano | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Storage
Intel and Micron had planned on a Monday morning release, but a leak resulted in the cat being out of the bag so here's a tidbit for those curious. Intel and Micron will be announcing a die shrink of their flash memory. What used to be so-called '2x nm' flash as a future stepping stone is now officially 25nm. This puts Intel and Micron significantly ahead of the competition in terms of die shrink and capacity.
A new 25nm die. Live and in the flesh. Capacity is 64Gbit or 8 Gigabytes (!) per die. This is not just a press release with pretty die shots. A handfull of reviewers and analysts were recently invited out to Lehi, Utah for a tour of the IM Flash Technologies facility, where we were briefed on the new product and oversaw volume production of this flash taking place.
I did my best to make off with a 300mm wafer full of over 2TB of 25nm
flash goodness, but was tackled by Troy Winslow of Intel :) I'm working on a full article covering my fab tour experience and detailing what this new 25nm technology means to you. That piece is set to go live on Monday morning (in parallel with the official Intel / Micron official press release). *Much* more to follow then.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: General Tech
At the PC Perspective Forums there is really no such thing as a dumb question, the world of tech is large and everyone will run into things they've never seen. Taking a two week holiday you run a good chance of missing a generation change in some sort of component. For instance, how many of you knew about this little piece of kit from Lucid and could answer questions about it? The point of our forums is to offer you a place where not only can you ask a question you wish you didn't have to ask we also answer that question, not just for you, but for all the others who are need help now and in the future. Even our long time members stumble into problems or are just looking to see if anyone out there knows a trick that they do not.
The magic of search, right? Plus, if you are looking to catch up on the tech world after the holidays or you have solved all the problems in you current kit and can't tweak it any further, you can catch all the latest news (even that Apple thing) on the weekly PC Perspective Podcast.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: iXBT Labs | Subject: Processor
The days of the ridiculously easy to overclock Celerons may have passed but the Celeron line does live on. Take the Intel Celeron E3300 for instance, at $66 it is not expensive and it runs at a decent 2.5GHz on an 800MHz FSB but iXBT Labs gave it a bump to a 1066MHz FSB for an overclocked speed of 3.33GHz. You miss out on a lot of new features and the performance suffers for it, but if you know what to expect it is a handy start to a very inexpensive PC.
"There are two angles to comment the performance of the Celeron from. On the one hand, we can see it's not that bad. It's the level of dual-core Athlon X2, not the lowest-end at that. However, from the other point of view, you can get much more in the low-end segment for a similar price." Here are some more Processor articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: TweakTown | Subject: Graphics Card
Tweaktown took a look at the new Catalyst from AMD, technically the 10.1 driver but actually labelled 9.12. It seems AMD might have been a bit rushed trying to get a new driver for the users of their graphics cards and instead of offering big changes and new features they set up a few bug fixes and marched it out the door. The performance differences are barely noticeable unless you are using the beta Hemlock driver for the HD5970 there is no real reason to update. Hopefully February will be a better month for AMD's graphics driver crew.
"Let's not kid ourselves. Just days before the end of the month comes to a close, ATI squeezes out a Catalyst driver, I think it's safe to say that this driver is more so to keep the flawless monthly release record than to bring massive improvements or new features. The driver seems so rushed out that someone forgot to update the Catalyst Control Center to actually say 10.1. Instead it still says 9.12. Terry Makedon @ CatalystMaker even said on Twitter that this is just a standard release driver to fix some bugs." Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Neoseeker | Subject: Storage
The OCZ Agility 60GB tries to straddle two worlds of SSDs. At $200 for 60GB it is rather inexpensive and thanks to the use of the Indilinx controller it is not crippled for speed or features. When Neoseeker ran it through their battery of tests they found that while the drive did not live up to the advertising it came close and the difference between it and a platter based drive were marked. Drop by if you can't quite afford Intel's offerings, but still want an SSD that flies.
****Update**** Mail in rebates aren't our favourite here at PC Perspective, but knocking another $30 off to make the drive $170 is impressive! "With the Agility, OCZ has the most affordable SSD built around the Indilinx controller, which nets you the all important TRIM command under Windows 7, and the currently available $30 mail-in-rebate only sweetens the deal." Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: AnandTech | Subject: General Tech
We are seeing a move towards the core when it comes to computers, where once even heavy duty floating point math was handled by a separate coprocessor, we now see controllers for memory and PCIe buses merged into a single chip. AMD pulled it off well when they moved the memory controller on board and Intel's Westmere has dropped the price on motherboards with its new integrated bus controller. The one place we did not see an improvement was on the mobile end, with the Atom. In practice, abandoning the FSB and moving the memory controller onto the CPU offers big improvements but the new Pine Trail Atoms aren't much faster than the previous generation. AnandTech offers an explanation as to what happened, and why Intel would chose to go that route.
"In 2008 Intel introduced the Diamondville platform. This was the Atom platform that was used in the vast majority of netbooks and nettops. You had an Atom processor (codename: Diamondville) and Intel's 945GSE chipset. The memory controller was located on the chipset which was built on a 90nm process that ended up eating quite a bit of power. At the end of last year, Intel brought forth Pine Trail. Pine Trail used a new version of the Atom processor (codename: Pineview) and Intel's NM10 Express chipset. The memory controller was moved off the external chipset and on-die with the Atom processor. Graphics also made their way on die and the resulting 45nm chip consumed far less power than the old Atom + 945GSE combo." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Overclock3D | Subject: Motherboard
EVGA hit the motherboard market with nVIDIA's chipset but they are not suffering from nVIDIA's licensing woes. Newest is their W555, set up to handle two LGA1366 processors on a board designed for overclocking, not server applications. Now, this may cause some problems as consumer level dual processor board are not always the most forgiving and stable platforms, but they are worthwhile once set up. Drop by Overclock3D for a preview.
"Was the Classified a bit weedy for your requirements? Got a few grand kicking about and a need for speed? EVGA have your answer." Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: [H]ard|OCP | Subject: Case and Cooling
The kilowatt PSU market, which didn't even exist until very recently is getting quite crowded and unfortunately a lot of that crowd is really not good at their jobs. ABS has entered the fray with the humbly named ABS Majesty MJ1100-M 1100W PSU, with a claimed 87% efficiency. It has six 6+2pin PCI-E 2.0 and twelve 5-Pin SATA connectors which ought to keep most enthusiasts happy especially with 996W on the 12V line. [H]ard|OCP has seen a pair of units from ABS previously so they had some preconceptions about this PSU, some of which were right and others that were not. Overall they decided that if you consider it an 800W PSU then it does a stellar job.
"ABS has a long history in the do-it-yourself computer components market. ABS was the company that spawned the creation of Newegg. ABS has had its own computer power supply line for some time, but overall the products have been weak. Is the latest ABS Majesty true royalty at 1100 watts, or another PSU court jester?" Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Case and Cooling
Steve Grever has just finished up a review of the Zalman MS1000-HS2 Mid-Tower a mid-tower case that will set you back about $175. Preinstalled are two 120mm fans and one 92mm fan space left to double that amount, or mount a radiator if you choose watercooling. There are extra features like sound dampening panels, dust filters, spring loaded removable HDD covers and tool-less installation. It does not have a removable motherboard tray but with a nice hole cut in the back to allow easy access to the back plate of your heatsink it really doesn't need one. Overall it is a very functional, if not particularly flashy case which you should definitely
take a peek at.
"The case itself is beautifully designed and goes away from many modern PC case designs that include tons of windows, LED fans, LED lights, and other flashy features. I actually prefer a case like the MS1000-HS2 that puts performance and functionality over flashy and cheap design elements. The included sound dampening material was definitely a bonus, but it would have been better to have all the interior walls covered in this material to make the case more silent." Here are some more Cases & Cooling reviews from around the web:
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Graphics Card
Ever had the need for a cable or adapter that you thought for sure you had but simply couldn’t find anymore? Or just need another HDMI cable and could use some extras along with it? The gang at Galaxy has obviously had that feeling just like the writer’s at PC Perspective have and decided to offer a solution for it.
Galaxy is now offering a couple of sets of cable combo packs that will help you should that need arise. For the online market you’ll get a decent collection of “might need” cables including a 5-ft HDMI cable, S-Video cable, two SPDIF to SPDIF internal audio cables and even a fixed size SLI bridge. The adaptors included help you convert from DVI-to-VGA, DVI-to-HDMI, S-Video to component HD and even S-Video to composite. 
Galaxy will also have an option for the retail user shopping at Best Buy that has some of the items: SLI bridge, SPDIF cables, component HD adapter, DVI-to-VGA and DVI-to-HDMI. 
The online pack will run you $29 at stores like Newegg.com while the retail pack will cost about $39 at Best Buy and Fry's stores. Obviously the online pack is going to be a better deal for our readers considering the inclusion of a good length HDMI cable (Best Buy doesn’t want to kill sales of their own branded HDMI cables obviously). Yes, you can likely find individual cables separately but with the convenience of these VGA accessory packs, that might not be necessary.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: PCStats | Subject: Processor
When Josh looked at AMDs new CPUs, he emphasized
the value they offer. They aren't the fastest, but new silicon that is under $100 is great news. PC Stats took a different take, examining the highest end of the new releases, namely the AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition. It is the fastest going @ 3.2GHz and since it is a Black Edition CPU you can expect that the unlocked multiplier is going to be used. Drop by and see how it did in their testbed.
"AMD is kicking off 2010 by introducing new low-power versions of some its most popular processors and bumping up the speed of a select few Phenom II and Athlon II CPUs. Today PCSTATS is looking at the 3.2GHz AMD Phenom II X2 555 Black Edition processor, which amongst other things has the distinction of being AMD's fastest socket AM3 dual-core processor ever." Here are some more Processor articles from around the web:
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Processor
Yesterday I theorized that Apple would be using its first in-house computing architecture for the just announced Apple iPad (tablet device) after learning that Apple was definitely NOT using the NVIDIA Tegra technology. Well that did in fact come to pass:
Image from gdgt.com What do we know about the processor other than it runs at 1.0 GHz and is based on the proprietary technology Apple purchased with PA Semiconductor in April of 2008? Not much. PA Semi was previously known for its own design of CPU called the PWRficient processor and while we don't know how much of that was worked into the Apple A4, we have to assume a lot. It would seem unlikely that in a time span as short as a year and half Apple's new team would have been able to make a completely custom design; though anything is possible.
A lot of rumors are circulating, including one from the guys at iFixIt.com, saying that the A4 is a new ARM-based design, but I haven't heard anything to corroborate this. (UPDATE: iFixIt.com sent me to this link which seems to indicate that PA Semi was a "secret" licensee of the ARM processing technology. If this is the case, how different can the A4 be than other ARM-based designs?) In my research, PA Semi wasn't know for utilizing ARM designs at all. They also were able to spy a shot of the chip: 
Image from iFixIt.com - Processor markings: 1SB009A 0940; H8M8T00V0MTR-OEM; VTJK00782 There isn't much else we can learn from the chip or the design from this picture other than the one used for this photo was manufactured in September of 2009. We'll be sure to let our readers know as more information is revealed!
Jonathan Hung | Source: Matrox | Subject: Graphics Card
It wasn't long ago that if you wanted to use three or more displays at a time, Matrox was the professional's weapon of choice. But with AMD's Eyefinity on the scene, suddenly the consumer has more choice on which vendor they selected for multiple display systems. AMD even showed off an Acer netbook running triple monitors using an external GPU during CES 2010 earlier this month (read the story here) which leaves Matrox competing on two fronts.
Not to be outdone, today Matrox is announcing the DualHead2Go and TripleHead2Go Graphics eXpansion Module (or GXM) which connects to your system's existing VGA, DVI, or Display Port and effectively doubling the output. This would mean that for both mobile and desktop systems, all you need is at least a single VGA connection to get a 2x1 or 3x1 display - making it more flexible than AMD's model which requires either a propietary interface (mobile solution), or a display port monitor (3 monitor desktop solution). You can also add another DualHead2Go or TripleHead2Go to drive even more displays as long as the two XGPs are of the same type (Dual or Triple, no mixing).
Multiple versions are available now (Display Port editions to be released in February 2010) and at various price points:
 
 ISE 2010, Montreal, Canada, January 27, 2010—Matrox Graphics Inc., the leading manufacturer of specialized graphics solutions, today announced multiple DualHead2Go and TripleHead2Go Graphics eXpansion Module (GXM) support to drive up to four or six monitors, respectively, from a single system. A second GXM can now be connected to the secondary output of a supported dual monitor graphics card so two DualHead2Go GXMs can power up to four outputs in 2x2 or 4x1 modes, while two TripleHead2Go units can be combined to connect six displays to produce either a 3x2 or 6x1 set up.
"Multi-GXM support offers a tremendous amount of flexibility by simply having to connect the GXMs externally to your system or workstation," says Ron Berty, Business Development Manager, Matrox Graphics. "Business professionals for example, can now conveniently upgrade to a four- or six-monitor workspace to run additional applications for real-time viewing. Additionally, AV specialists can effortlessly build six-screen presentation or digital signage platforms to drive dynamic, digital messaging while benefiting from the natural synchronization of the screens being driven by a single GPU." Matrox currently offers multi-GXM support with the 2.06 (or above) GXM software suite. A maximum of two GXMs—of the same make and model—can be connected to a supported graphics card with two available outputs of the required type. Multi-GXM stretched desktop mode is available with Matrox M-Series cards, while independent desktop support is available with supported M-Series, ATI, and NVIDIA graphics cards. For complete details, visit the Multi-GXM page. Matrox partners will be showcasing this technology, alongside a wide range of Matrox digital signage graphics solutions, at Integrated Systems Europe 2010, RAI, Netherlands, from February 2-4. Visit Matrox for more Details.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Vimeo | Subject: General Tech
Back in the days when pen and paper were king and LCDs were limited to your watch, the sound of people gaming involved dice rolling not keyboards clicking. Then came the days of Origins and SSI and gamers started migrating to a new platform. For those who miss those days when role playing meant a bit more than clicking dialogue options, Microsoft Surface and the boys at SurfaceScape have a little something for you. Surface, if you do not recall is a new bit of tech from Microsoft, a combination of display and input device. It can handle multi-touch interface from more than one person at a time and is easily networked to give you control over what is shown and what various touches mean, either from people or from objects place on the Surface.
SurfaceScape's new demo is up on Vimeo; just over 7 minutes of pure D'n'D jealousy. "The objective of the SurfaceScapes project is to create a proof-of-concept for playing tabletop role-playing games on the Microsoft Surface Table. We will be using Dungeons and Dragons as a basis for our prototype, with the option for future expansion to other role-playing games. SurfaceScapes will provide Game Masters and players with a set of features to enhance the combat and role-playing aspects of tabletop games. This will include the ability to interact with the digital environment using real objects such as miniatures and provide automated calculations and visual and audio feedback for actions performed by the player and non-player characters. We are taking traditional tabletop role-playing games to the next level, adding a new layer of immersive and intuitive gaming to the Microsoft Surface Table and assisting both GMs and players in enjoying exciting and engaging adventures. SurfaceScapes… what lies beneath." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: 3DCenter | Subject: General Tech
The new mobile graphics chipset from AMD, the 5830 has a small problem with the circuitry on its PCB according to DigiTimes. This explains the delay in its launch as the scheduled date of release was earlier this week; they are now hoping for a February launch. The problems source seems a bit of a surprise, the 5830 is a 40nm process chip after all. This is not going to apply to discreet graphics cards, it is only the mobility boards based off of the new chip that are having issues.
"A last minute issue discovered during the validation of ATI Radon HD 5830-based reference boards has prompted AMD to postpone the cards from their scheduled launch on January 25 to a later date, sources at graphics card makers have revealed." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jonathan Hung | Source: EVGA | Subject: General Tech
Today EVGA has done the PC gaming community a service by launching a site dedicated to just that - PC gaming! Right now they are hosting a TF2 tournament where you will be able to win (presumably) EVGA gear and other good stuff.
They also host game servers playing TF2, L4D 1 and 2, CS:Source, and Shattered Horizon. For your voice chat needs, they also have Ventrilo and Team Speak servers. Visit http://www.evga.com/gaming/ for all the information. 
Other PC gaming news:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Bjorn3D | Subject: Motherboard
Don't let the name fool you, the Asus P6X58D is nought
but a P6T with support for USB 3.0 and SATA3 as well, not much else has changed. There are a few extra features but the main reason to want this board is native support for the new transport buses. Bjorn3D did some benchmarking with a SATA 2 SSD so the differences in file transfer performance do not stand out as much as they would with a SATA 3 drive; they are still very rare. The board might not be worth replacing an existing X58 board but if you were worried about being limited to a P55 because of the new features, you now have several choices to go with.
"The X58 chipset is currently the flagship of Intel's chipset line, but it was lacking a couple of key features due to its launch date. These where of course SATA 3 and USB 3. This is no longer true thanks to Asus. They have put a SATA 3 Controler onboard as well as adding two USB 3 ports on the back of the motherboard. This gives the X58 chipset a much needed modernization, since its little brother the P55 already has these features. If you happen to not be an Asus fan then you will have other options as well. Gigabyte plans to have a new X58 board out that will also support these features. Other than the adding of these two features there is not much else thats different from the P6T, but lets take a look at the features to give you a refresh of what Asus has to offer." Here are some more Motherboard articles from around the web:
Jonathan Hung | Source: MSI | Subject: Mobile
MSI is commemorating the millions of Wind netbooks sold worldwide by announcing a special edition Wind U135 Special Edition netbook. This new netbook is unique in that it features a raised keyboard giving keys 20% more surface area which will help improve user accuracy and generally make your computing more pleasant.
The U135 comes with the latest Intel Atom N450 , a 160GB or 250GB HDD, 1 GB DD2 memory, and Windows 7 Starter edition. There will be a choice of four colours (Silver, Charcoal, Ruby, and Sapphire) and will start at $309. For me, the raised keyboard is very interesting since netbooks are notoriously bad for ergonomics and painful during long typing sessions. The U135 is available now at popular stores like Fry's Electronics, Comp USA, Amazon, and NewEgg.
MSI Wind U135 Specs:
Ryan Shrout | Source: Jon Peddie Research | Subject: Graphics Card
In what can only be described as a win for NVIDIA, the research firm operated by Jon Peddie is reporting that even with a very strong increase in overall GPU sales in 2009, AMD was unable to capitalize on a great product release with the Radeon 5000-series to take marketshare away from NVIDIA. To quote from the report:
AMD gained in the notebook integrated segment, but lost some market share in discrete in both the desktop and notebook segments due to constraints in 40nm supply. Nvidia picked up a little share overall. Nvidia's increases came primarily in desktop discretes, while slipping in desktop and notebook integrated.
This table actually shows both AMD and NVIDIA losing marketshare to Intel but this includes ALL segments, not just the discrete market.
Why is this news interesting? For one, we expected AMD to do much better based solely on having a better product portfolio than NVIDIA in Q4. The Radeon HD 5870 was launched in September of 2009 and thus had the entire quarter, along with releases of the HD 5850, HD 5770, HD 5750 and even the HD 5970, to gain ground on the aging and often criticized NVIDIA GeForce graphics cards. That didn't happen according to JPR and the reasons for it are likely two fold. First, JPR rightly blames the horrible 40nm transition that TSMC (both AMD's and NVIDIA's primary fab) went through in 2009. With severe product shortages during the key months of October and November, there were a lot of sales lost for AMD's Radeon 5000-series of cards. How many of those potential customers decided to wait versus the number that bought the widely available NVIDIA cards built on the TSMC 55nm process is difficult to calculate but that was obviously happening to some degree. 
Despite architectural, performance and feature benefits provided by AMD's new Radeon 5000-series, the company was unable to gain discrete graphics marketshare in Q4 2009. Another potential reason for the inability for AMD to gain ground in discrete marketshare could be the consumers lack of desire to upgrade or to upgrade to features like DirectX 11 and Eyefinity that were unique to AMD during Q4. While we at PC Perspective were fawning over the new features the Radeon HD 5000-series of cards offered it would appear that the mass audience either didn't read our site (what???) or didn't care either way. For NVIDIA's management this is likely a great vindication - they have weathered the first half of the storm; the other half coming in Q1 2010 until their Fermi products are released. Even with inferior products at most price points (in this editor's perspective at least) the company was able to not only hold off AMD but actually move forward in the world of discrete graphics. In more general news, it was great to see that the market had significant growth in 2009 - up 14% compared to just 6% in 2008. And according to the projected growth for 2010 and 2011, graphics will become the hottest topic in computing once again. 
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Pro-clockers.com | Subject: General Tech
The bgears Vibro USB Speaker is an odd little beast, a $30, 1/2lb cube with a USB plug that claims to be a set 2.1 speakers. Looking at it, there is no power cord, no audio plugs and most strange of all is the lack of any speakers. You use it by plugging in the USB cord to your PC, letting your computer recognize it, and placing it on a flat surface like your desk. The interior speaker then vibrates that surface that is how it produces sound. It is compact and tough, so if you want portable sound take a peek at the review over at Pro-clockers.
"Vibro is born, a small USB-powered speaker, requiring no drivers or power cord. There are only two necessities: a USB port and a sound card. According to bgears, we are promised great sound playback with no need of anything, but this little speaker and a flat surrounding. We will be giving the Vibro a try and see just what we get from this little booger." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: hardCOREware | Subject: Storage
Call it SATA 3.0, or you could call it SATA 6Gbs if you want, but what you will be referring to is the newest SATA interface, faster than the previous though not quite 6Gbs. The newest drive to take advantage of this update is the 2TB Seagate Barracuda XT. Its size does make it fairly expensive compared to most platter based drives but it still sits in a lower price bracket than most SSDs. hardCOREware ran this huge drive through a battery of tests with the help of a Gigabyte motherboard with a Marvell SE9128
controller to be able to utilize SATA 3.0. This comes at a cost, the extra bandwidth needed for the SATA bus comes from your second PCIe slot, so no dual graphics with SATA 3.0 if you use Gigabyte's board. ASUS uses a different solution, but it will cost you more pocket change.
"Check out our full review to find out of the XT really benefits from SATA 3.0 connectivity, and how it performs on standard 3 Gbps SATA 2.0 in comparison. We also put it up against the drive it has supplanted as Seagate’s top-end desktop drive: The 1 TB Barracuda 7200.12. They are more similar than you would expect, so it makes for an interesting review." Here are some more Storage reviews from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: [H]ard|OCP | Subject: General Tech
For $140 you can pick up the 1GB ASUS EAH5750 Formula and BattleForge over at Newegg, not the cheapest of the HD5750s but certainly worth a look. The Formula portion of its name denotes the fact that it sports a large cooler, supposedly 13% better than the stock parts. The card is not factory overclocked, the frequencies are stock; when [H]ard|OCP tried pushing the card they managed a 155MHz gain on the GPU and 560MHz on the memory, with no volt modding whatsoever. It is worth noting that the card hit 92C at that speed, and that [H] noticed the temperature at idle speed with no overclocking is higher than that of a stock card.
"Today we have the ASUS EAH5750 Formula video card on our test bench and we put it through its paces. The ASUS EAH5750 Formula offers a big custom heatsink and fan unit, but the big question is does it offer any advantages to gamers or is it just a lot of hot air?" Here are some more Graphics Card articles from around the web:
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Processor
Intel has posted a video on its YouTube channel that attempts to demonstrate the advantages of the multi-threading improvements in Windows 7 compared against Windows Vista. If you remember with the launch of Nehalem some time ago, Intel re-introduced HyperThreading to double the number of concurrent threads that could be run on a processor with X number of cores. Intel also claimed to have worked diligently with Microsoft to fix issues with the Windows operating system so that it took better advantage of HyperThreading as opposed to multi-core processing - the differences of which are fairly important from a programming and CPU resource management perspective.
A demo that Intel showed recently used a version of Intel's "Smoke" multi-threaded gaming and physics engine and a real-time simulation of horses to put in perspective how these changes made in Windows 7 could affect gaming. Since the engine attempts to maintain a fixed frame rate (rather than a fixed horse / AI count), the number of horses will vary depending on the performance of the overall system. Intel claims that with Windows 7 the system sees anywhere from 10-20% more "horses on the screen" - which is going to become my new favorite performance metric. One caveat I'll note though - when watching the screen it looks like the Windows 7 system actually has some hard stutters going on - so while there might be more horses, would the theoretical gaming experience be any better?
Feel free to discuss in our forums!!
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Ars Technica | Subject: General Tech
Google Chrome has turned 4 (.0.249.78) and Ars Technica tried it out so they could tell you what's new. An Extension Manager now exists for keeping track of and modifying your installed instructions; you can pick some up here if you haven't. The extensions may seem limited compared to Firefox now, but it will grow as people develop more, for both Google's browser and its operating system as the extensions will work on both. You should also see a speed boost, at least according to the results of the benchmarking that has been done.
"Google has announced the official release on Windows of Chrome 4, an updated version of the company's Web browser. It offers a handful of significant improvements, including support for extensions and bookmark synchronization. Due to Chrome's rolling development model, these features have been widely used by testers for quite some time. The official release means that the new functionality will be rolled out to regular end users through the stable channel. In addition to the major feature enhancements, Chrome 4 also brings a performance boost. Its score in the Dromeo DOM benchmarks is a 45 percent improvement over the previous version." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Ryan Shrout | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: Mobile
While I don't profess to know as much about this major Apple product line revision as I did in the previous instance where NVIDIA invaded the entire mobile product line, what I DO know this time might be just as interesting. After checking with quite a few sources I can say without a doubt that the upcoming Apple tablet device being announced on Wednesday will not have any version of the NVIDIA Tegra product powering it.
Late last year and during CES, rumors were circling that NVIDIA could have another big win on its hands powering the "uber-gizmo" that will be the Apple holy-grail tablet but that is obviously no longer the case. 
The image that had many people wondering, then not, then wondering again. Of course it didn't hurt NVIDIA's case (or its stock) that there were quite a few tablet devices shown in the first week of January at CES that were in fact Tegra powered. I even demonstrated one on TWiT Live with Leo Laporte on This Week in Computer Hardware - the very one pictured below: 
If you haven't already about Tegra or the upcoming changes to the architecture and what it could possibly mean to the world of mobile computing, you should definitely do so:
If this is indeed the case, it provides an interesting application note: the Apple tablet will very likely not be a "Mac without a keyboard" as some are speculating. Without an x86 processor such a system would not be able to easily run programs and applications available on Mac OS X today and thus we will very like see a system using an iPhone-like OS or something completely new from the company.
Jonathan Hung | Source: PC Perspective | Subject: General Tech
It's the night before the big announcement, and what if Apple's product development was managed like my old student projects? I suppose this is why I'm not working for Apple.
I sincerely hope whatever is announced is better than the outcome of the above scenario. From a PC perspective (pun not intended), it'll be interesting to see how the rest of the industry reacts to this event.
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Tech Spot | Subject: Mobile
The new Eee PC 1101HA sports an 11.6" screen at 1366×768 and is powered by an Atom Z520 @ 1.33GHz, 1GB of DDR2 memory and a 160GB hard drive, relatively common for smaller sized mobiles. Interestingly, it supports overclocking; Tech Spot had it running at 1.74GHz stably. You still shouldn't expect huge results from an Atom processor but including overclocking in a Seashell, or any other notebook for that matter, is going to garner you some fans. "The Eee PC 1101HA was Asus' first netbook to go beyond the 10-inch display size, sporting an 11.6- inch panel capable of a 1366×768 resolution -- they also have the 12.1-inch Eee PC 1201HA now. These larger screen netbooks provide a user experience that comes very close to that of a standard laptop, in fact, a few years back you would've had to pay a hefty premium for an ultra-portable notebook if you wanted the kind of mobility and flexibility a current generation netbook can provide." Here are some more Mobile articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: Digital Trends | Subject: System
Whether you are setting up an HTPC, upgrading your stereo or picking up a new TV, it is a good idea to think about connections before you start. The chances are you will have multiple inputs to worry about; as an example a PC with a TV tuner may output the sound to a TV via an HDMI connection, while using an S/PDIF or optical connection to send audio directly to the stereo receiver. Digital Trends includes and goes beyond such matters in their new article with suggestions on matching your receiver to the requirements of your Blu-ray player and ensuring that the speakers you purchase match as well. That and more advice can be had by following the link.
"As if it weren't bad enough having to shell out thousands for a hot home theater system, here's the hidden catch so many often overlook. Sometimes it can be even tougher figuring out what equipment is compatible with other components when you are putting together your living room setup. Thankfully, in this short guide, we provide several handy tips for assembling a home theater that will make you feel like you're at the movies without blowing a fuse during installation." Here are some more Systems articles from around the web:
Jeremy Hellstrom | Source: techPowerUp! | Subject: General Tech
At a hair over $40 the SteelSeries Kinzu
gaming mouse could be considered a gateway mouse. Not too expensive to scare people off, but with just enough features to have them glancing at the more expensive mice with their fancy macro buttons and other features. It is totally driverless and its sensitivity ranges from 400 - 3200 DPI and it has three buttons which can be assigned to three different profiles. It was a bit small for the reviewer at techPowerUp!, so be warned if gloves that claim to be 'one size fits all' are too tight on your hands.
"SteelSeries' all new optical gaming mouse is put to the test. The Kinzu mouse features the latest generation optical sensor, but can it even begin to compete with the new generation of laser sensor powered mice? We put the mouse to the test and see how well it fair against more modern offerings." Here is some more Tech News from around the web:
Jonathan Hung | Source: engadget | Subject: Mobile
 A month ago, Ryan posted an interesting news article on the Broadcom Crystal HD, and raised the question what Broadcom meant by stating: "software support for Adobe Flash Player (v10.1), Windows Media Player (v12)". Ryan's concern was that Broadcom's acceleration only applies to these supported applications.
Today we have our answer thanks to Engadget taking a look at the Dell Mini 10 loaded with a Broadcom Crystal HD (read it here). Essentially Broadcom's Crystal HD will only work if the software is enabled for it - currently this means Flash 10.3 (with a driver update), Windows Media Player 12, and an unreleased Arc Soft Blu-ray player. For 80% of the netbook buying population this combination is probably sufficient for their needs, but if you're hoping to use a different software combination, you may be out of luck. The article also points out that the Dell Mini 10 does not have HDMI output, despite it having HD decode capabilities. Hit the article for the details!
"As for downloaded HD content, a 1080p WMV video of dolphins and the Iron Man 2 trailer from Apple's site played smoothly in Windows Media Player 11 -- something we'd hoped Pine Trail netbooks would do on their own. However, because Broadcom only supports Windows Media Player, that same MOV was like watching a slide-show in QuickTime. We're pretty happy we figured that out before we went and purchased Iron Man in HD from iTunes. In turn, because Windows Media Player 11 doesn't support Blu-ray playback, and Broadcom's other software partners haven't released players yet (we're told ArcSoft is working on one), playing a Blu-ray disc if you happen to have an external drive isn't an option at the moment."
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