Computers Hardware

on gaining market share.

The Phenom and Phenom FX series will probably come out in November (1S FX series) and December (2S FX series). That is if we were to speak "officially". The first Phenom FX series will be 1S FX-80 clocked at 2.2-2.4GHz. Soon a 2S FX-90 clocked at the same speeds will follow and at about the same time AMD will also roll out its fastest FX CPU, the FX-91 clocked at 2.4-2.6GHz.
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Nvidia on Wednesday announced its highest-performance DirectX 10 GPU for notebooks. The new GeForce 8700M GT graphics processing unit (GPU) for notebook PCs extends its GeForce 8M Series product line to include high-performance notebooks. As with the GeForce 8M Series notebook GPU lineup, the GeForce 8700M GT delivers the fastest DirectX 10 gaming performance as well as compatibility with Windows Vista and high-quality HD DVD and Blu-ray video playback. The GPU delivers support for Microsoft DirectX 10 games and a more efficient, unified architecture that delivers up to a 70 percent performance improvement compared to previous generation GPUs.

The company also touted its NVIDIA PureVideo HD video processing engine for high-quality playback of HD DVD, Blu-ray and HD movie downloads and its NVIDIA PowerMizer technology that balances the user’s need for longer battery life and performance. As with its other mobile 8M chips, the new 8700M GT can accelerate the entire H.264 video process, making it easy to play Blu-Ray, HD DVD, and other 1080p-native movies on a notebook without siphoning away CPU and memory resources.
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 NVIDIA has recently unveiled some spicy info on their latest G92 developments. This is the successor of the current G80 GPU and according to Michael Hara, vice president of the "green" company, the chip will be ready by Christmas 2007. This means that NVIDIA will try to update their high-end graphics card sector every fourth semester in the years to come. This release cycle was adopted with the G80 GPU last year, leaving the mid-range and low-end products for a spring release.
While ATI postponed their high-end R600 GPU series in order to be released with the mainstream and entry level models (this did not work according to plan, as the HD2600 and HD 2400 cards have been postponed for a June release), NVIDIA doesn’t see the benefit in releasing all three ranges of cards together. This is quite awkward for NVIDIA, considering that the mainstream and entry-level products yield the greatest income for the company.

However, this accelerated release cycle puts AMD/ATI in a delicate position. Although AMD is readying the Barcelona quad-cores for a Q3/Q4 2007 release, ATI is supposed to release the R650 GPUs in Q3 this year. This gives NVIDIA a one year advantage over ATI, because, as I mentioned before, the GeForce 9800 series should hit the market in Q4 2007.
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"For the past few years, we have highly anticipated DDR3, since it is everything DDR2 should have been from the very beginning," said Michael Schuette, vice president of technology development at OCZ, in a statement. "Being part of the task group defining the serial presence detect and extended feature set of DDR3 has further increased our commitment to the third generation of double data rate memory and we are ready to break some new performance records."
These new products will be available in 2x512MB and 2x1024MB dual channel kits and OCZ mentioned that, in the initial phase, these products will stick to JEDEC’s specifications for third generation Double Data Rate memory. Thus, the high-end solution represented by the PC3-10666 Gold Series modules features 1333MHz clocks with CL9-9-9-24 latencies. However, recent tests have demonstrated that latencies could be lowered to 7-7-7-21, while memory clocks could go as high as 1500 MHz or even 2000 MHz in dual channel mode.
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Gigabyte’s PSU line-up bears the name of the Norse Supreme God Odin. All these PSUs come in Pro and GT variants, featuring total outputs of 550W, 680W and 800W. Gigabyte regards the Odin GT as its flagship series and claims that the design and testing for the new line-up took more than a year to
complete. The Taiwanese designers did not forget about Microsoft’s new OS Vista, the new generation of dual or more PCI-express display cards and the Intel almighty multi-core processors when they started making these PSU models.

Although the new Odin GT PSUs don’t boast +1KW capacities, Gigabyte included a bunch of interesting features that set these models apart. For instance, take the software management solution embedded in the GT family. This feature allows users to play with many characteristics such as output voltages and load on each rail, power fan speed tweak, localized or preset temperature monitors, power supply lighting control or proximity warning bells. Moreover, users may even preset their own performance modes, managing all those variables for a near-silent operation.
Odin integrates as much as four 12V rails of power output and this adds up for improved overall stability. The Odin PSUs are also designed to be modular models. This means that the devices feature advanced cable management options, which eliminate the possibility of untidy cable interiors and impeded airflow issues.
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