Component

Asmedia and Intel Corp. have started to reduce prices of their USB 3.1 controllers in a bid to gain market share. Intel Corp.’s “Alpine Ridge” chip offers Thunderbolt 3 in addition to USB 3.1, but Asmedia’s controller is significantly cheaper to make and can be sold a very low price. …

The first-generation high-bandwidth memory provides extreme performance, but is clearly not perfect for high-end graphics cards due to capacity limitations. A good news is that second-gen high-bandwidth memory is on the way and is due in 2016. Advanced Micro Devices may get it faster and in higher volumes than its …

For some while now CableMod has been happy to provide a kit of cables for your modular power supply. They cover specific models of BeQuiet!, Corsair, EVGA and SeaSonic at a cost about £70 with the idea is that you bin your dull black cables for a braided set in …

Western Digital has quietly started to sell its new WD Blue solid-state hybrid drives with ‘self-learning’ NAND flash cache. The drives are designed to offer solid-state drive-like performance in select applications, but are not expected to be too expensive since they belong to WD’s mainstream family of products. Initially Western …

Seagate Technology, the world’s second largest maker of hard disk drives, on Monday slashed its forecast of hard disk drives sales in the fourth quarter of its fiscal year 2015. Seagate expects shipments of its HDDs to hit a five-year low, a bad news for the whole high-tech industry. Seagate …

Apparently, the problems of Advanced Micro Devices with its latest Radeon R9 Fury-series graphics cards may be significantly more serious than whining cooling system or limited overclockability. If a new media report is to be believed, then the company cannot supply enough boards to its partners. It is not a …

GlobalFoundries on Monday introduced a family of fully-depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) manufacturing technologies designed for customers seeking high performance and low design costs. The new fabrication processes promise to deliver performance of next-generation technologies with FinFET transistors, but at costs comparable to those of existing processes. GlobalFoundries calls its new family …

Asustek Computer is working on an add-in-card that will add Thunderbolt 3 support to its mainboards. The platform will be based on Intel Corp.’s “Alpine Ridge” controller and will significantly expand input/output capabilities of modern personal computers. The add-in-board from Asus featuring Intel “Alpine Ridge” chip will come with one …

Intel Corp. has cancelled release of its code-named “Cannonlake” processors and will introduce “Kaby Lake” chips instead in 2016. Intel’s first 10nm central processing units will be code-named “Ice Lake” and will be available only in 2017. Moreover, “Ice Lake” CPUs will re-introduce fully-integrated voltage regulator (FIVR). All Intel’s processors …

One glance at the Mini ITX Deepcool GamerStorm Tristellar makes it clear this isn't a run-of-the-mill PC case. In fact you might struggle to tell it is a PC case at all. Watch our video and you'll see there is a degree of confusion ‘the motherboard goes here – wait, it …

A web-site has published what it claims to be the first fully-fledged review of Intel Corp’s yet unannounced Core i7-6700K central processing unit code-named “Skylake”. As it appears, Intel’s forthcoming flagship chip for enthusiasts will be up to 29.1 per cent faster than the company’s current Core i7-4790K central processing unit. …

If the semiconductor market rumours are correct, then Intel Corp. might not be the only chipmaker, which plans to delay mass production of chips using 10nm manufacturing process. Apparently, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. postpones risk production using 10nm fabrication process by two quarters. “TSMC will start risk production in its …

MicroStar International this week introduced its new premium mainboard based on the Intel Z170 core-logic. The platform represents the best that the new Intel 100-series “Skylake” platform offers, including input/output capabilities. To make it more appealing for PC modders, MSI equipped its product with white heat-spreaders. The MSI Z170 Krait …

Today we take a look at AMD's second graphics card based on the 28nm ‘Fiji' Silicon. The Sapphire Fury card is the first to hit our labs, and it features a new version of their highly acclaimed ‘Tri-X' cooling solution. To reduce the retail price against Fury X – the …

Today we look at the new OCZ Trion 100 drive, in 240GB and 480GB capacities. These drives are designed to deliver excellent all round performance while being very cost effective at £60.99 and £124.99 inc vat respectively. This is also the first 100% Toshiba based OCZ SSD featuring a Toshiba …

For many years Intel Corp.’s “tick-tock” strategy has been a perfect example of firm execution, wise innovation and timely product-launches. In the recent years the “tick-tock” cadence essentially broke down, but the method of step-by-step innovation in different directions have been inherited by other companies. For example, Nvidia has its …

MSI has officially released its new flagship motherboard based on the X99 chipset. The X99A Godlike Gaming motherboard takes on the familiar red and black colour scheme we are used to seeing on MSI's gaming products while also packing in plenty of features for enthusiasts to make use of. Key …

Asustek Computer will use its own printed circuit board design as well as its own high-performance cooling system on its upcoming Strix R9 Fury graphics card based on AMD’ Radeon R9 Fury graphics processing unit. The custom PCB and the massive cooler are designed to improve overclocking potential of the …

Despite of the fact that personal computer makers are now buying dynamic random access memory in a bid to support demand during the back-to-school season, DRAM prices continue to drop. Not only weak demand impacts DRAM prices negatively. All memory makers are transiting to thinner manufacturing technologies and Samsung even …

Advanced Micro Devices on Wednesday introduced its FirePro S9170 accelerator for high-performance computing applications. The new card not only boasts with extreme performance, but is also equipped with 32GB of GDDR5 memory. The product will be available later this quarter at a rather moderate price. The AMD FirePro S9170 is …

When the 2013 Tomb Raider reboot launched on the PC, AMD gave its new hair technology feature, TressFX, its début. Since then, the feature has been implemented on the Xbox One and PlayStation 4 re-releases of Tomb Raider early last year and now, Crystal Dynamics has revealed that it will …

We have reviewed many GTX980 Ti partner cards in recent weeks and today the MSI GTX980 Ti Gaming 6G makes a somewhat belated appearance in our labs. This high end board is actually one of the cheapest flagship, overclocked Ti's currently available – hitting the £599.99 inc vat point – …

Advanced Micro Devices this week formally confirmed that it would not produce any of its chips using 20nm process technology at Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. Instead, the company will focus on development of its chips to be made using various FinFET process technologies. As a result of the cancellation, the …

Phanteks has released a budget PC case with a model code that suggests it is a junior version of the Enthoo Pro. In fact the Pro M (M for mid-tower) is a hybrid of the Pro and the recent Enthoo ATX, with a number of changes to keep the price …

A web-site has published the first images of Sapphire Technology’s Tri-X R9 Fury graphics cards. The adapters will use reference printed circuit boards developed by Advance Micro Devices as well as massive cooling systems designed by Sapphire. AMD Radeon R9 Fury graphics cards will be based on a version of “Fiji” …

Asutek Computer is working on three more graphics cards based on the GeForce GTX 980 Ti graphics processing unit. The new boards will feature powerful cooling systems, custom multi-phase voltage regulator modules (VRM), increased clock-rates and great overclocking potential. Asustek’s Strix GeForce GTX 980 Ti with DirectCU III cooling system …

Intel Corp.’s “Kaby Lake” central processing units will be released exactly a year after the company’s “Skylake” chips due this August and September. The introduction of chips in late third quarter means that the company will further postpone the roll-out of microprocessors made using 10nm fabrication process. As reported, Intel’s …

Today we look at one of the most exciting graphics cards to hit our labs this year – the new Asus STRIX Gaming GTX 980 Ti featuring the latest Direct CU 3 cooling system. This 3 fan cooling system uses a new patented wing blade fan to provide greater air …

Advanced Micro Devices on Monday lowered its revenue guidance for the quarter citing slow demand for its accelerated processing units by end-users and PC makers. The company expects its revenue and profitability to be lower than originally anticipated. AMD claims that its sales in Q2 will be approximately 8 percent lower …

Solid-state drives have higher performance compared to hard disk drives, but when it comes to storage capacities HDDs are unrivalled. High-capacity SSDs are usually very expensive and are not considered as replacement for hard drives. However, Samsung on Monday introduced its new 850 Evo and 850 Pro solid-state drive that …