ASRock Unleashes 870 Extreme3 Motherboard

ASRock has launched the 870 Extreme3 motherboard, jumping onto the AMD 870 + SB850 bandwagon. It features AM3 support, 5-phase power PWM, four DDR3-1800 slots, twoPCI-e x16 slots (CrossFireX-ready), one eSATA, five SATA IIIconnectors, Gigabit Ethernet, 7.1 channel audio, 1394a, two USB 3.0ports (courtesy of integrated NEC MPD720200 controller), a debug LED,UCC (Unlock CPU Core) chip function, as well as onboard Power, Resetand Clear CMOS buttons. Pricing has not been announced yet but theASRock 870 Extreme3 is expected to start shipping in end April.


News via [Techconnect]

Antec Preps LanBoy Air ATX Case for Launch at CES 2010

LanBoy Air

Antec, a name synonymous with perfomance PSU and chassis, is announcing the launch of its LanBoy Air ATX Case at CES 2010. The case’s modular designfeatures 9 drivebays (6 x 3.5” bays & 3 x 5.25” bays), 8 expansionslots (for Tri-SLI configurations) and a top-side panel with 2 x USB2.0, 1x eSATA and audio connectors, and has support for up to 12 x120mm fans.


LanBoy Air - Front


LanBoy Air - Rear


LanBoy Air - Actual


LanBoy Air - 120mm Fans Galore


LanBoy Air - Front side panel

To further minimize noisegeneration, Antec had incorporated suspension mounts in the chassis toreduce HDD vibrations. Fully compatible with micro, mini and standardITX motherboards, the LanBoy Air is to be launched at CES 2010 nextJanuary. It is expected to be sold at a MSRP of 200 EUR.

News via [Casandcooling.fr]

ARM announces the Mali-T658 GPU core

Its somewhat amusing when you consider how far ahead of actual product availability that ARM announces upcoming solutions, although as an IP only company ARM might not have a lot of direct competitors when it comes to its CPU cores, but todays upcoming GPU announcement is an entirely different kettle of fish. As ARM allows its partners to use whatever components and building blocks they want, ARM is competing with several companies when it comes the GPU cores in ARM based SoCs and as such the company needs to try and stay ahead of the competition.

Its latest GPU related announcement is of a product that were not likely to see in products until 2013, as ARM has another GPU core that will arrive ahead of the Mali-T658 called the Mali-T604 which is the replacement of the current Mali-400. The Mali-T604 is likely to end up in the first quad core Cortex-A9 SoCs built on 32 and 28nm and is based on a new architecture that ARM calls Midgard (based on Nordic mythology) whereas the Mali-400 was part of the Utgard architecture.

ARM claims that the Mali-T658 will offer up to 10 times the graphics performance compared to "mainstream Mali-400 MP implementations" although the company doesnt go into any greater explanation as to which kind of implementation its referring to. The problem here is that the Mali-400 comes in single, dual and quad "core" configurations and if the Mali-T658 is 10 times as fast as what were seeing in something like Samsungs implementation of the Mali-400 MP in its Exynos then were looking at an incredibly powerful GPU, but if its compared to a simpler implementation, then it wont be quite as impressive.

Furthermore, ARM is claiming four times the GPU compute performance compared to the Mali-T604 which is said to offer 68GFLOPS of compute performance in whats presumed to be a four core design at high clock speeds. That said, the Mali-T658 will be scalable to up to eight cores which looks pretty impressive right now, but we shouldnt forget the competition. Imagination Technologies PowerVR Series5XT GPU which is already available can scale to 16 cores, its just a matter of someone implementing into an ARM based SoC.

As far as software support is concerned, ARM is claiming that the Mali-T658 will support DirectX 11, OpenGL ES, OpenVG, OpenCL, DirectCompute and Renderscript. Thats most of the major APIs and as far as software developers are concerned the good news here is that the Mali-T604 and Mali-T658 will use common drivers of which the end result should be better software compatibility and a quicker and easier transition to the new GPU core. ARM has listed Fujitsu, LG, Nufront and Samsung as its launch partners, although others are likely to follow once we get closer to actual products.

In related news, Samsung has announced that it has licensed Imagination Technologies PowerVR SGX MP core technology. As to what this means in the long term will be interesting to see, but it suggests that Samsung is trying to make sure it can offer the best GPU core possible with whatever next generation ARM based SoC the company is working on. Theres no doubt that the ARM space is where its happening at the moment and with Windows 8 expected to end up on quite a few ARM powered devices, it looks like were got quite an interesting future ahead of us when it comes to low power mobile computing.

Source: ARM, Anandtech

ASUS Unveiled Dual CPU, Crossfire Capable Board

Catering to users who need a powerful motherboard with high speeds and greatexpansion slot interface support, ASUS, worldwide leader in motherboard designand production, has today released the Z7S WS workstation motherboard. Thisinnovative motherboard is equipped with dual socket 771 and utilizes the latestIntel® 5400 chipset for vigorous performance. It also supports fully bufferedDDR2 800MHz dual-channel memory, dual PCI Express 2.0 x16 lanes; and comes inthe compact CEB form factor. With this innovative motherboard, users will enjoyconvenient slot expansion and enjoy fast and efficient work efficiency.

High Efficiency with Multiple High Speed Expansion Slots

The multiple slot interfaces increase expansion choices and allows users toobtain high data transmission speeds. Supporting dual PCIe 2.0 x 16 for doublethe normal bus bandwidth from 2.5 Gb/s to 5.0 Gb/s, users will truly be able toaccomplish more tasks in a much shorter time; while enjoying backwardcompatibility with previous PCIe 1.1 standards. The Z7S WS also showcases PCI-Xslots for more convenience on slot expansion, and is able to bring about fullspeeds for Gigabit Ethernet, SCSI RAID and other PCI-X devices.

Compact Board Size with Dual CPU Support and Rich I/O

The Z7S WS is well equipped with dual CPU sockets, 6 FB-DIMMs, and rich I/O; andstill fits into the compact CEB form factor (12” x 10.5”) – allowing users andenthusiasts to build up a small and compact whilst extremely powerful dual CPUworkstation system with great performance.

Heat-pipe Solution for Noiseless Environments

Equipped with ASUS’ innovative heat-pipe solution, the Z7S dissipates heatefficiently. The Z7S’s particular heat-pipe design is made to increasedurability, life spans and enhance thermal capacity. It also provides highlyefficient operations with less heat than traditional heat sink designs.

Discrete Audio MIO Card for Improved Sound

The MIO audio card offers great sound quality to complement the robust videopower. This card offers enhanced signal-to-noise ratio in a 7.1 surround channelsetup – delivering exhilarating surround sound for professional andentertainment usage.

Exclusive MemCoolTM Support for Enhanced Thermal Solutions

The optional ASUS Patented MemCool Kit maximizes Fully-buffered DIMM performanceby eliminating the potential risk of system memory throttling fromover-temperature; as well as minimizing the system integration effort of SI forthermal & acoustic solutions.

Easy and Convenient Installations

Users will also enjoy the specially designed “extra” features that come with theZ7S WS. With Q-Connector, users can connect and disconnect chassis front panelcables in one easy step with just one complete module. This unique adaptereliminates the trouble of plugging in one cable at a time – making connectionsquick and accurate. Secondly, ASUS’ Q-Shield does without the usual "fingers" oftraditional gaskets – making it convenient, easy and safe to install without thescratches and cuts like before. The Q-Shield also has better electricconductivity to ideally protect the motherboard against static electricity andshield users against harmful Electronic Magnetic Interference (EMI).

Specifications

Processor / System Bus

2 x Socket LGA771

Dual-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor5100/5200
Quad-Core Intel® Xeon® Processor 5300/5400 Sequence

Dual-Core/Quad-Core

FSB 1600/1333/1066 MHz

Digital power solution

Support HyperThreading, EIST, VT,EM64T, XD, TM/TM2

Core Logic

Intel® 5400 Memory Controller Hub (MCH)
Intel® ESB2E I/O Controller Hub (ICH)

Form Factor

CEB form factor, 12" x 10.5' ( 30.5cm x26.7 cm )

Memory

Total Slots

6 (4-channel)

Capacity

Maximum up to 24 GB

Memory Type

Fully-Buffered DIMM DDR2 800/667/533Reg. ECC

Memory Size

512 MB, 1 GB, 2GB, 4GB

Expansion Slots
(follow SSI Loacation #)

Total PCI/PCI-X/PCIe Slots

6

Slot Location 2

MIO PCIe x1 (ASUS proprietary)

Slot Location 3

PCIe x16 slot (x16 link)

Slot Location 4

PCI-X

Slot Location 5

PCIe x16 slot (x16 link)

Slot Location 6

PCI

Slot Location 7

PCIe x16 slot (x8 link)

Storage

IDE Controller

Intel® ESB2E ICH:
1 * Single Channel Bus Master IDE support UltraATA 133/100/66/33

SATA Controller

Intel® ESB2E ICH:
6 SATA2 300MB/s ports
Intel® Matrix Storage (for Windows only)
(Support RAID Software 0, 1)

Networking

LAN

2 x Marvell 88E8056 Dual Gb LAN
Support teaming function

Onboard I/O Connectors

Floppy Connector

1

PSU Connector

24-pin ATX power connector + 8-pin ATX12V power connector + 4-pin ATX 12V power connector

USB 2.0

1 x USB 2.0/1.1 ports for 2 USB
1 x USB 2.0/1.1 slot

Fan Header

8 x 4-pin Fan

Chassis Intruder

1

Rear I/O Connectors

External Serial Port

2

External USB Port

5

IEEE1394

1

RJ-45

2

PS/2 KB

1

ATI prepping a new mid-range AGP part

Taiwanese insiders revealed to DigiTimes last month that NVIDIA was preparing AGP versions of its GeForce 7600 graphics cards for a release some time this quarter. NVIDIA has yet to make any such announcement, but The Inquirer now has word that ATI may also be planning to refresh its mid-range AGP lineup. The site says ATI is readying a new AGP graphics card based on its upcoming RV560 GPU, which other sources suggest will be introduced at $ 199 as the Radeon X1700 later this year.

According to The Inq, the AGP RV560 variant will have a 450 MHz core clock and 256 MB of 650 MHz GDDR3 memory pumping data through a 128-bit memory bus. Previous info from X-bit labs suggests the vanilla RV560 will sport 24 pixel shader processors as well as eight texture units, and DigiTimes heard last month from its graphics card manufacturer moles that the chip will be one of ATI's first 80 nm parts. X-bit labs's sources said the RV560 will launch during the back-to-school season, but The Inq believes the AGP flavor won't show up until October.

Antec Unleashes KUHLER Shelf CPU Cooler

Antec, a name synonymous with performance PSU and PC chassis, has announced the KÜHLER Shelf CPU Cooler. Measuring 127 x 124 x 120mm and weighing 700g, it features seven copperheat-pipes, aluminum fins, and is bundled with a 120mm PWM fan. TheKÜHLER Shelf, fully compatible with all Intel LGA 1366, 1156, 775 andAMD Socket AM2, AM2+, AM3 processors, can now be purchased from authorizeddistributors and resellers in Australia at a MSRP of AUD 75.


News via [Techconnect]

ASUS Maximus V Extreme is a Time Machine - Pause and Un-Pause Benchmark Runs!

Imagine having the ability to pause a prolonged WR benchmark attempt halfway and walk off for a smoke/snack, carrying on where you left off later. The latest beta BIOS update for theMaximus V Extreme(our own review coming soon) does just that, which is a godsend to hungry or breathless extreme overclockers around the world.

Procedure (OCKey must be installed):

CTL + F1 = Pause
CTL + F1 = Unpause

If reboot during a pause phase, shutdown and use OCKey to unpause and turn on again to make sure it boots properly without being paused.

This latest development on the Maximus V Extreme comes after a host of other innovations on the recently released motherboard which includes Subzero Sense (integrated thermometer with subzero support) and VGA Power Control (i2c access to control voltage and OCP/LLC settings). We will update this section again after weask ASUS engineers about how this time machine works.

Source: Kingpincooling