AMD Radeon Memory Goes Beyond Enthusiasts Memory, Brings OverDrive Support

While AMD is in the news for all the wrong reasons such as the Bulldozer launch and a 12% layoff, AMD is making an entrance into the completely new market: memory.

AMD partnered with Patriot Memory to bring this type of products to the global market, while VisionTek is selected to be the North American retail partner. AMD will offer three lines of system memory, all in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB capacities: "Entertainment Edition", "Performance Edition" and "Radeon Edition". The line is fairly standard - DDR3-1333, DDR3-1600 and DDR3-1866.

DDR3L is making an appearance inside the "Performance Edition" with modules operating at 1.35V, while "Radeon Edition" operates at 1.5-1.65V at 1866MHz and supports overclocking via AMD Overdrive software.

While Patriot is the manufacturer of memory modules, those modules feature AMD branded memory chips and the company did not disclose who the manufacturer of those memory chips is. System DIMM memory is not the only thing AMD silently launched. The company also launched its own brand of graphics memory, and it wont be long before we see a vendor from Mainland China pairing an NVIDIA GPU with AMD GDDR3 or GDDR5 memory.

Apple's new iPad draws 2A, charges from Gigabyte Z77 motherboard

One downside of Apples many hand held devices is that they draw a lot of power when charging and the latest iPad is even more power hungry, especially when the battery is running low. As such its getting to the stage where most computers will no longer be able to charge Apples portable devices, although for DIY:ers its less of an issue as many motherboards can deliver more power to the USB ports and in in the case of Gigabytes new Z77 boards, the new iPad is no match.

As you can see in the video below, the iPad in question only had seven percent battery life remaining and at this point its sucking 1.98A. Thats a lot of power and we were told by Gigabyte that theyve seen it hitting just over 2A. That said, as you mightve noticed from the picture above, this quickly drops once the iPad begins to charge, but considering a standard USB 2.0 port only delivers 500mA and even a USB 3.0 port will only deliver 900mA, you have to wonder how much Apple cares about PC owners.

In all fairness, Gigabyte isnt the only company to deliver extra power to mobile devices that sucks extra juice to reduce their charging time, but many laptops and brand name desktops doesnt offer this ability and if they do, they wont be able to do it at close to 2A. The power draw is dynamic as you can hear mentioned in the video, but even so, charging new Apple devices from a standard USB port might soon be a memory of the past.

In this specific case we used the On/Off Charge port on the Gigabyte motherboard, as the port auto detect Apple devices and will deliver as much power as the device requests. For a laugh, once wed shot this little video, we also tested with a few smartphones, but none of them drew in excess of 600-700mA.

Asus Maximus III Formula Sneak Peek

The folks at Tweaktown were kind enough to post up lovely pictures of Asus's upcoming ROG series - Maximus III Formula.

Hardware specs were not confirmed but those pictues were enough to give us a little satisfaction.

PS: that's alot of caps around the CPU socket

The board is made of a simple yet cool red and black and a lil nice ROG logo. We see some interesting text on the board, marking "CPU power up" and "Speeding HDD". Of course, the on-board Start and reset button is available as well.

Lovely inputs. eSATA, Firewire, bunch of USBs, etc.

This is not a finalized or official design yet and hardware specifications were not mentioned.

Credits to Tweaktown for the pictures.

ASUS MW221U 201U LCDs Are Vista Certified

With the newly released Microsoft Vista™ operating system supportingwidescreens and the increasing multimedia requirements of users, the displaymarket trend is migrating towards higher resolutions and wider screens. ASUS’sMW221U and MW201U widescreen monitors have passed the WHQL tests and are bothcertified for Windows Vista™ Premium version. Both monitors will bring a moreplentiful graphic experience to users and ASUS will launch more LCD monitorsthat will meet the Windows Vista™ Criteria in the future.

MW221U - The Fastest 2ms Response Time and HDCP Supported 22” Widescreen

The ASUS MW221U 22” widescreen monitor, which delivers a high resolution of1680 x 1050 and wide viewing angles, can fit two A4 size pages side by side onscreen. This means that there is ample space for displaying multiple windowssimultaneously and perfectly complements the new functions of Windows Vista™such as Windows Sidebar and Internet Explorer 7.0. Users can customize theWindows Sidebar on the side of the Windows Vista™ desktop to offer at-a-glanceinformation with gadgets such as the weather, calendar, clock, calculator – allwithout information overload. The new Internet Explorer 7 features, like tabbedbrowsing and live previews, make it easier to get to your favorite websites. TheMW221U 22” widescreen can be fully utilized for these new features.

New Standard for High Definition

Microsoft is also building support for HDCP (High-Bandwidth Digital ContentProtection) into Windows Vista™ as its OCPM (Output Content ProtectionManagement). Both the MW221U and MW201U support HDPC and have built-in DVIinput; which is one of requirements for being certified for Windows Vista™Premium version. Coupled with built-in stereo speakers and earphone jacks, theMW221U and MW201U will bring multimedia enjoyment to users with ease.

Accelerated Response Times

The MW221U and MW201U both incorporate ASUS’s exclusive Trace Free Technology,which accelerates response time to 2ms to enable smooth video quality withoutghosting and video delays. The MW221U is currently the fastest and mostresponsive 22” widescreen in the market. Both monitors display 16.7 millioncolors and adopt ASUS Splendid Video Intelligence Technology for morespectacular Vista™ experiences making the MW221U and MW201U the best choices forvisually upgrading the system.

Apple to adopt Light Peak soon

According to reports by CNet, Apple is set and expected to announce a "new high-speed connection technology" soon. Apple is speculated to rebrand Intels Light Peak and use another name for it.

Apple is expected to adopt this Intel technology in the near future--but likely use a name other than Light Peak, a source familiar with this aspect of Apples plans said. Intel has said in the past that the first products using Light Peak should appear in the first half of 2011.

While USB 3.0 is considered fast in todays pace, Light Peak is significantly faster. So why would Apple adopt USB 3.0 now if Light Peak is going to debut soon enough?

We are expecting Sandy Bridge processors to make an appearance in the upcoming MacBook Pros and reports point that there would be additional enhancements. Light Peak? Hmmmmm...

Source: CNet

E3 Rift Storm Legion annoncé

Voilà plus d'un an que Rift, le MMORPG de Trion Worlds, est sorti et il se porte toujours aussi bien, merci pour lui.

Mais les développeurs ne l'ont pas laissé en plan pour autant et annoncent officiellement l'arrivée prochaine de la première extension du jeu. Baptisée Rift : Storm Legion, elle promet d'ajouter de longues heures de jeu à ce titre à succès. On y découvrira deux nouveaux continents appelés Dusken et Brevane. Ce qui triplera la surface de jeu totale ! De plus, de nouveaux donjons et deux raids sont prévus. Le niveau maximal des joueurs passe de 50 à 60. Enfin, on sait également qu'une ville accueillant les deux factions du jeu promet quelques échauffourées entre les joueurs.

Pour bien faire, le développeur nous livre deux petits screenshots dans lesquels on découvre un nouvel ennemi gigantesque et un environnement. Terminons avec la vidéo teaser qui nous laisse entrevoir une invasion du monde de Telara passant par la mystérieuse Infinity Gate.



Rift : Storm Legion devrait sortir en fin d'année sur PC.

· Forum Rift : Storm Legion

2012-12-21-109

[Rumour] GeForce GTS 450 in late-August; based on GF106

Nvidia's next Geforce 400 series release is set to be the Geforce GTS450. Turkish website Donanimhaber report that the GTS 450 will be basedon GF106, containing 1GB of GDDR5 on a 128-bit memory interface. It isset to release by the end of August, presumably targeting ATI's RadeonHD 5770.

Not much else is known about the GF106. To compete with the HD 5770, though, it has to be 240 SP product (if the SMs are arranged like GF104). Price is also unknown, but $150-$170 is likely. Interestingly, Donanimhaber also mention that Nvidia's AIC partners will be free to make their own non-reference designs at release.

Two other GTS 400 products have been rumoured in the past - a GTS 445 based on a crippled GF106 and a GTS 455 based on a heavily crippled GF104.

The Geforce GTS 450 is likely to be the first in line, though, but it is still over a month away. The GF106 releases will be followed by GF108, which will fit in the under-$100 market.

Reference: Donanimhaber