Tidbits on DFI's Upcoming Motherboards

Below are some slides which show the upcoming DFI Motherboards, basically a shift from DDR1 chipsets over to DDR2.

We will be receiving the DFI LAN Party nF590 SLI AM2 Motherboard in the coming week for testing!

SiS PCI-E Southbridges In Mass Production

SiS has begun volume production of its latest south bridge chipsets, the SiS 965 and the SiS 965L, with the aim to compete with Intel’s forthcoming PCI Express-based 915 chipsets. SiS 965 and the VT8251 both will be paired with north bridge chipsets that are compatible not only with Intel’s 915 architecture but also existing platforms. Motherboards built using the SiS 965 are expected to hit the shelves in July. SiS also plans to launch the SiS 966 south bridge in the fourth quarter. The SiS 966 will provide support for four PCI Express x1 slots, compared with just two of the SiS 965. VIA and ALi plan to start marketing their PCI Express-compatible south bridge chipsets, the VT8251 and M1573, respectively, in the third quarter.

Shuttle announces the launch of XS35 - the ultimate slim PC

Shuttle Press Release

(Taipei, Taiwan- 13 August, 2010) Shuttle Inc., the world's leading designer and manufacturer of small form factor (SFF) computers today announced the launch of the its next generation slim PC- the Shuttle XS35- that pushes the limits of the desktop in terms of size, functionality and design, setting a new benchmark for slim PCs.

The ultra-compact Shuttle XS35 is a mere 38.5mm (1.5 inches) thin, which distinguishes itself from other desktops much larger in size. The slim design makes it easy for users to save space and with the ability to be mounted behind a LCD TV or LCD monitor, it can slip easily into any environment. Inspired by the concept of a 'starry night', the XS35 is architected with a unique design featuring a multitude of small silver holes on a black case to resemble a night sky. Besides making a chic and stylish enclosure, the design does double duty to help dissipate heat, allowing the XS35 to be the only one in its class to be completely passively cooled unlike other slim PCs. Engineered as a fanless PC, it’s not only quiet and low in energy consumption, but also dust-free and virtually maintenance free.

In spite of the tiny size, the dual-core Intel Atom D510 powered nettop comes with full PC functionality and manages to pack in features like integrated Intel graphics or next generation NVIDIA ION graphics with true 1080p HDMI output (optional) and a slim optical drive bay for your choice of DVD drive (optional). Others features include 5 USB ports, a 4-in-1 card reader and D-sub connector.

Designed to fit seamlessly into your lifestyle, the XS35 is ideal for everything from home entertainment to more business-centric industrial applications such as digital signage, healthcare and thin clients. It's a power-packing slim PC that's unmatchable in size and performance – and is made for more than just entertainment.

Seagate 500GB Barracuda 7200 Series

Driving next-generation storage performance, capacity and portability forhome and office computing, Seagate Technology today announced a capacityincrease to 500GB for its Barracuda 7200 disc drive family, as well as apowerful 3 Gigabit/second Serial ATA (SATA) interface targeted at high-performance applications such as digital video workstations, nearline storageand PC gaming systems. Seagate also announced the new half-terabyte capacity anda new FireWire 800 (IEEE 1394b) interface for its family of External HardDrives, and a new 120GB Portable External Hard Drive with FireWire (IEEE 1394a)interface that gives consumers an easy way to expand and carry Mac and PCstorage.

On The Desk

The new Barracuda 7200.9 internal disc drive will combine 3Gb/s SATA throughput-- double that of first-generation SATA -- with 500GB of capacity, 16 Mbytes ofcache and Native Command Queuing (NCQ) for even higher performance, and thequietest operation in a desktop PC hard drive. Seagate will also begin offering3Gb/s SATA across all Barracuda drives, from 40GB to 400GB capacities.

The new Seagate External Hard Drive will offer a whopping 500GB for easy storageexpansion with push-button backup and a huge speed increase with the newFireWire 800 interface. FireWire 800 offers a significant advance in the speedof external hard drives -- it gives consumers an easy way to install storagethat's fast enough not just for backup but for real-time applications running onthe external drive.

On The Go

For those looking for on-the-go storage, the hand-held Seagate Portable ExternalHard Drive will come with an impressive 120GB capacity and fast FireWireinterface option.

"Seagate remains the recognized leader of the hard drive industry, with strengthin both technology and product portfolio," said John Buttress, IDC's researchmanager for hard drives. "The company's focus on consumer markets includesleading-edge products that are enabling new mobile and high-performance consumerstorage applications. By every key metric -- capacity, speed and reliability --Seagate's new hard drives rank among the best the industry has to offer."

Barracuda 7200.9

Barracuda 7200.9 disc drives, the newest generation of the world's most popularPC hard drive family, will feature a 7,200-rpm spin speed and an 8.0-msecaverage seek time. With 3Gb/s SATA performance, these drives are ideal forbandwidth-hungry digital video workstations, mainstream PCs, low-cost servers,souped-up PC gaming systems, home media PCs and other high-performanceapplications. Additionally, the Barracuda 7200.9 is a great choice for storageof secondary data - a fast-growing storage sector as more businesses turn tocost-effective SATA drives for easy-to-access bulk storage.

Seagate's SATA interface with NCQ supports Intel Hyper-Threading to increase theperformance of workstations and entry-level servers for computationallyintensive applications such as financial, engineering and scientific digitalmedia, gaming and special effects. NCQ also increases reliability in heavyworkloads by significantly reducing the drive's mechanical wear. And withSeagate's patented SoftSonic fluid dynamic bearing motors, Barracuda 7200.9 isthe quietest desktop PC drive available.

Seagate External Hard Drive

The new Seagate External Hard Drive is the first to herald a massive 500GBcapacity and the speedy new FireWire 800 interface on an external hard drive forPCs and workstations. The new FireWire 800 interface is the fastest FireWireever -- and the fastest interface available on any external PC hard drive; it'scapable of supporting data rates up to 800Mbps (megabits per second) on manyFireWire 800-capable systems available today. Seagate's drives also continue tooffer high-speed USB 2.0 and Firewire (IEEE 1394a) interfaces.

With a wide range of capacities from 80GB up to 500GB, the Seagate External Harddrive is the perfect solution for storing hours of video memories, volumes ofmusic, years of digital pictures, and thousands of vital business files. Itsmassive capacity and speedy interfaces give consumer or professional videoeditors and producers the performance and capacity needed to work in real timewith massive amounts of compressed and uncompressed digital media files, as wellas archiving them. With its simple push-button backup and plug-and-play storageexpansion, the drive makes it easy for users to archive, backup, retrieve andprotect huge amounts of data -- hundreds of hours of high-quality video andthousands of multimedia and business files and digital photos.

Seagate Portable External Hard Drive

Seagate's newest cool, rugged Portable External Hard Drive will offer FireWire(IEEE 1394a) and USB 2.0 interfaces and up to 120GB of capacity -- the most inits class -- in a package small and light enough to carry in a briefcase, purse,backpack or pocket. Weighing less than one pound (300 grams), the drive's lowpower consumption, shock-absorbing aluminum enclosure and small size make itperfect for consumers and business travelers needing convenient, safe, on-the-gostorage for volumes of personal and business files, presentations, digitalphotos, video and music. The Portable External Hard Drive also offerseasy-to-use BounceBack Express backup software to protect valuable data.

The new Barracuda and External Hard Drives are among 10 new notebook, desktopand consumer electronics products Seagate announced today. The Seagate Barracuda7200.9 and the Seagate 120GB Portable External Hard Drive will start shippinglater this summer. The Seagate 500GB External Hard Drive will ship this fall.

The Daily VR-Zone News Summary - 12 April 2011

Hardware news

Antec Kuhler H20 920 CPU Water Cooler Review @ Legit Reviews
Description: Of the self contained kits we have tested the Corsair Hydro H70 is what we would consider the Antec Kuhler H2O 920 water coolers closest competition. The Corsair Hydro H70 is the second generation self-contained water cooling kit that was designed in part by Asetek. The Antec Kuhler H2O 920 is the third generation self-contained water cooling kit that was also just happens to designed by Asetek. Due to the fact that Asetek helped design both CPU coolers it makes sense that their newer product cools better than the previous model. The Antec Kuhler H2O 920 on the extreme setting out performed the Corsair Hydro H70 at every clock frequency that we ran the Intel Core i7 930 processor at...

XFX Radeon HD 6870 1GB Black Edition Video Card Review
Description: Who wouldve thought wed ever be looking at XFX cards based on an AMD GPU? Its been a long time since weve looked at something from XFX. Going through our content archive, it was August of 2007 and the victim was the 9800 GTX+. So much has happened since then, though, and in that time weve seen the Black Edition series created from the company; a series that has had some of the best looking cards around. I say best looking as I havent had the chance to look at one until today. Today we see if the Black Edition is all bark and no bite, or if its bark is just the entrée to a menacing bite for main

Antec Kuhler H2O 920 Liquid Cooler @ Benchmark Reviews
Description: Since Corsair popularized their version of Asetecs "LCLC" (low cost liquid cooling) system back in 2009, it seems that every time you look, another variation on the theme appears. Other manufacturers have leapt into the fray, and Antecs initial entry into the market, the Kühler 620, impressed us with its amazing performance. Now Antecs introduced a new product, the Kühler 920. At first glance it seems very similar to Corsairs Hydro H70 product, but Antec distinguishes their offering with exceptional performance and features.

Cubitek HPTX Tank Review @ Vortez
Description: The Tank series features 3 different designs, we will be taking a look at the biggest of the 3 today - HPTX Tank. As with all the cases in this series, the HPTX Tank is fully aluminium. It is wide, allowing up to 190mm tall CPU coolers to be installed and can house XL-ATX motherboards such as GIGABYTEs G1 Assassin and EVGAs SR-2. Being able to house such big hardware also means long graphics cards can also be installed within the HPTX Tank, in fact up to 340mm of clearance is available! With lots of cooling, lots of space and lots of features Im expecting some good results from this case, Lian Li ought to be very afraid.

Intel seeks "relevancy" with Oak Trail tablets, talks up Cedar Trail instead
Description: Intel has admitted that it has significant ground to catch up in its aim to become “relevant” in the tablet market this year, with hopes pinned on the release of its Oak Trail platform, for now, at least.

Cyberpower Gamer Xtreme 4000 Sandy Bridge System Review @ Legit Reviews
Description: What can be said about a full system that does exactly what we expected it to do? More specifically, what cant we say! In short, this system pretty much rocked the socks off of everything I am currently using in my main system. Time for an upgrade. Well, first Ill have to convince the wife that a shiny new CyberPower Gamer Xtreme 4000 is worth skipping a few meals. Im not saying that the CyberPower Gamer Xtreme 4000 is expensive; quite the contrary. If you were to purchase all of the parts to build a comparable system at Newegg.com, you may just be surprised...

Patriot Supersonic 32GB USB 3.0 Review @ XSReviews.co.uk
Description: Supersonic is the name and… probably, going fast and stuff, its it’s… Anyway, here’s a review of another Patriot flash drive. It’s got a 32GB capacity, USB 3.0 functionality and its Quad Channel. Read on to find out how it performs.

Memory module firms enjoy rebound in March revenues
Description: Taiwan-based memory module houses Transcend Information, Power Quotient International (PQI) and Apacer Technology have reported sequential growth in revenues for March 2011 of 54.1%, 43.2% and 33.9%, respectively, joining fellow company Adata Technology that also enjoyed a substantial rebound in March sales compared to the prior months levels.

Consumer Electronics and Software news:

Microsoft Bing Controls 30% Of Search Market, Google Slowly Sinking
Description: Microsoft has secured 30% of the search market, largely at Google’s expense, according to data from Experian Hitwise.

Mophie iPhone 4 Juice Pack Plus Review @ OCIA.net
Description: We had the opportunity to review the Mophie Juice Pack Air for the iPhone 3GS back in 2009. The model we will be looking at today is the Juice Pack Plus, but they also offer a slightly cheaper Air version. The difference being the Plus model has a 2000 mAh battery capacity vs. the 1500 mAh of the Juice Pack Air. The Juice Pack Air for the iPhone 3GS sported a 1200 mAh batter capacity. This additional capacity does increase the overall size slightly, though it seems to be fairly minimal.

Study: Smartphone Users Wasting Hundreds Of Dollars Per Year On Unnecessary Contracts
Description: A new study says that smartphone users are overpaying for their service by several hundred dollars each and every year. The study, put together by Billmonitor, notes that people are overspending primarily because they’re on contracts that wildly overshoot their needs. People have a habit of signing up for contracts with far more voice minutes than they use, and it’s primarily for this reason that smartphone users are paying much more than they need to. In other words, double-check your statement to make sure you’re on the right contract.

GIGABYTE T1125N 11.6-inch Tablet Convertible Notebook Unboxing
Description: The GIGABYTE T1125N is an 11.6" convertible notebook with a docking station. It comes in two varieties - a Core i3 U380 with the CF1 designation at $1,099 and the CF2 with the i5 U470 for $1,249. Both sport discreet graphics featuring NVIDIAs GeForce 310M DDRIII 512MB with support for NVIDIA Optimus Technology. Weve managed to get our hands on the Core i5 version for an unboxing which features a nice added extra - a very high quality neoprene sleeve and of course the docking station.

Garmin Forerunner GPS watch gets a touchscreen
Description: Garmin has just announced the launch of a new GPS watch – the Forerunner 610, and it sports a touchscreen. Since it’s meant to be taken outdoors for serious running it won’t be just any touchscreen but a waterproof one. It is also responsive enough so that it can be operated with running gloves on. With features such as a pace, distance and time meter, a heart rate monitor, and the ability to race with friends who aren’t even in the same country, the Forerunner 610 is designed for the serious runner.

Cisco kills Flip camera business to refocus on networks
Description: Cisco today axed its Flip camera division in a bid to bring the company back into shape. The company provided few details but said its new "network-centric platform strategy" meant the former Pure Digital group had to be closed. Those on the FlipShare service would be supported through a "transition plan," though Cisco didnt say what that was.

Google acquisition of PushLife could teach Android to sing
Description: Google has acquired media synchronization software developer PushLife in a deal that reportedly cost the search giant $25 million. Its likely that PushLifes technology will be used in Googles upcoming music service for Android.

Gaming news

AIKA SEA Goes Live Today
Description: Following the closed beta test a fortnight ago, Asiasoft is finally putting the official tag on AIKA SEA. That’s right, the game is launching today, in fact now. AIKASEA will also be featured at the upcoming Asiasoft Games Festival 2011 (ASGF 2011) to be held in conjunction with Licence 2 Play 2011, Suntec City Hall 401 from May 27-29.

Free-to-Play Games Headed to Xbox 360
Description: Free-to-play games are already a very successful business model on PC (particularly in Asia) and soon they might become even more successful by expanding to Xbox Live. IGN reports that free-to-play games are headed to Xbox 360 next year, opening the door for games like FarmVille and Battlefield Heroes to come to Xbox Live.

Ocarina of Time 3Ds Release Date Revealed
Description: Its the news that so many have been waiting for. Nestled gently just inside a press release sent out by Nintendo of America this morning was the official release date for The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, the highly anticipated portable remake of Links first polygonal adventure.

Vantec Piano 101 Review

NoteBook Cooling Solutions are one of the least explored area,mainly because of the necessity of it (Notebooks shouldn't really get too hot!),and the extent of it, due to the heat producers being so internally woven withnthe Notebook shell itself. Therefore, to improve the value of such an accessory,Vantec's Piano 101 integrates a compact and portable Notebook cooler with aspeaker/subwoofer combo, to serve as a Notebook Cooler and a pair of decentspeakers at the same time.

As seen, the Piano 101 series come in white and black color,and we received a black color sample of it:

There you go! The glossy black coating on the "mostly-plastic"Notebook Cooler plays a fine tune with the Piano Model name. Looks-wise, itis definitely slick and being mostly made of plastic, the weight is light soyou can bring it about with you quite conveniently.

As seen above, the Piano 101 offers it's key functions alongthe front panel, and you can fine tune the audio functions such as volume andbass, and even offers a fan speed control on it for the fan cooler for the Notebook.It also integrates within it a USB 2.0 Hub.

Philips launches new Moda monitor with LightFrame technology in Singapore

MMD, the brand license partner for Philips monitors, has announced their new Moda monitor, the latest addition to the companysX-Line of consumer monitors which aredesigned to offer healthier visual experience to users. The Philips LightFrame Moda 248X3LFHSB sports a 23.6-inch screen and features an aluminum die-cast base with two-toned glossy finish. Incorporating the proprietary LightFrame technology, the monitor emits a gentle blue light that soothes and refreshes the eye, hence reducing eye fatique and improving concentration. The Moda also features dual HDMI ports and a VGA connectors that allow you to connect to multiple devices. Other features include SmartColor that extends visual color range for rich and vibrant images; SmartTxt which can improve clarity of text-based applications including Word and PDF documents; and SmartResponse for fast transitions between moving frames. The Philips Moda is priced at S$399 and is available from todaythrough MMD partners.