As reported earlier this year, Intel Corp.’s highly-anticipated code-named “Devil’s Canyon” family of chips designed for overclockers consists of three microprocessors: a Core i7, a Core i5 and a Pentium. The latter was named the Pentium “anniversary edition”, but its specifications remained a complete mystery until today. Chinese version of …
Read More »Nvidia holds discrete GPU market lead as shipments decline
Sales of discrete graphics processing units (GPUs) for both desktop and laptop computers were down in the first quarter because of seasonality, according to Jon Peddie Research, a leading market tracker. Nvidia Corp. managed to remain the king of discrete GPUs, whereas AMD remained the No. 2. As mainstream PCs …
Read More »AMD loses graphics adapters market share as shipments drop – JPR
Since shipments of personal computers in the first quarter of the year dropped again both sequentially and annually, it is not surprising that sales of graphics adapters (both discrete and integrated) also contracted in the Q1 2014. Advanced Micro Devices suffered most from the declines and its overall share of …
Read More »MSI A88X-G45 Gaming Motherboard Review
The MSI A88X-G45 Gaming is a handsome AMD A88X motherboard that sports a long list of features including triple graphics slots. That explains the ‘Gaming' part of the name and as you would expect the A88X chipset means this MSI board supports the latest FM2+ range of Kaveri APU. There …
Read More »Marvell unveils PCIe SSD controller with SATA Express support
Marvell, one of the world’s leading developers of SSD controllers, on Wednesday unveiled the industry’s first controller for solid-state drives that officially supports SATA Express interconnection technology. The Marvell 88SS1083 controller supports PCI Express 2.0 x2 as well as SATA Express interconnection and thus can power solid-state drives with up …
Read More »VisionTek cuts prices of liquid-cooled R9 290 graphics cards by $100
VisionTek this week announced a $100 (€73, £59) discount on its CryoVenom R290 and CryoVenom R290LE graphics cards that come with water-blocks and are designed for enthusiasts, who assemble custom cooling solutions. With a $100 discount, the custom-built graphics cards look rather attractive. From now on and until the 3rd …
Read More »The Titan Z has not been cancelled or delayed
Nvidia revealed the $3000 Titan Z graphics card all the way back in March, which was some time ago. Since then, the company has been pretty quiet on its dual graphics solution, which sparked rumours of cancellation or an indefinite delay. However, it seems the rumours weren't true as Nvidia's …
Read More »Crucial preps SSDs powered by 16nm NAND flash memory
Crucial, a division of Micron Technology, plans to introduce the world’s first solid-state drive based on Micron’s NAND flash memory made using 16nm process technology early next month. The new SSD will reportedly be showcased at Computex Taipei 2014 trade-show. The fresh drives promise to be significantly less expensive than …
Read More »AMD licenses SATA Express technology for 2015 chipsets
Perhaps, the first-generation SATA Express (SATAe) implementation that relies on the PCI Express 2.0 technology is not truly revolutionary and does not bring a dramatic performance boost compared to Serial ATA-6Gb/s. Nonetheless, SATAe is a part of the future, which is why companies like AMD need to support it in …
Read More »ASRock Fatal1ty Z97X Killer Motherboard Review
Sitting in the middle of ASRock's current Z97 gaming motherboard line-up, the Fatal1ty Z97X Killer targets the fierce sub-£130 marketplace. Can its feature set, overclocking capabilities, and general performance allow it to stand out in a hotly-contested segment of the market? ASRock supplies its Z97X Killer with a number of popular …
Read More »AMD debuts embedded ‘Bald Eagle’ APUs, CPUs with HSA capabilities
Advanced Micro Devices on Tuesday introduced its new family of embedded accelerated processing units (APUs) and central processing units (CPUs) with heterogeneous system architecture (HSA) capabilities. The new chips code-named “Bald Eagle” are based on the design known as “Kaveri”, which is already available for desktops. The fresh family of …
Read More »BitFenix Shadow Tower Case Review (Midnight Black)
Some system builders will want to create a new PC with up to 7 hard drives, have it booting from an SSD with tool-free accessibility and yet won't want to spend more than £55 for the experience. If that sounds like you, then BitFenix has been working on a case …
Read More »AMD’s ‘Mullins’ APU fails to win designs with tablet makers – report
While Advanced Micro Devices was late to market with its chips for netbooks, the company’s accelerated processing units for inexpensive low-power laptops are quite popular nowadays thanks to relatively high performance, rich functionality and low cost. Unfortunately, AMD’s APUs designed for tablets still have not become any popular. Although AMD …
Read More »Toshiba and SanDisk license technologies for next-gen memory
Toshiba Corp. and SanDisk Corp. on Monday announced that they had licensed intellectual property from Intermolecular. The technologies, which were developed under the collaborative development program (CDP) as well as Intermolecular's background intellectual property, are believed to be crucial for next-generation memory. The companies' CDP with Intermolecular, specifically aimed at …
Read More »Intel promises ‘Broadwell’-based PCs in stores by Christmas
Chief executive officer of Intel Corp. said in an interview that personal computers powered by the company’s next-generation code-named “Broadwell” central processing units would reach stores by Christmas, but may not be available during the back-to-school (BTS) season. The new processors will boost performance and cut-down power consumption of the …
Read More »CLUB3D R9 290X RoyalAce Superoverclock Review
With the price of Ultra HD 4K screens dropping this year there has never been a better time to upgrade your system. Today we look at the latest high end graphics card from Club3D – the R9 290X RoyalAce. This card ships with a custom cooler design and a healthy …
Read More »Samsung to boost performance of 28nm chips using FD-SOI
Samsung Electronics and STMicroelectronics this week inked a licensing agreement on 28nm fully depleted silicon-on-insulator (FD-SOI) technology. The deal grants Samsung rights to produce chips on FD-SOI wafers using a 28nm process technology developed by STMicroelectronics. The FD-SOI wafers will allow chip designers to get better performance or to cut-down …
Read More »First GeForce GTX Titan Z preview: fast, but not fast enough
A Hong Kong-based magazine has tested the highly-anticipated Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan Z graphics card ahead of other media outlets. The review was done on currently available drivers, not the final drivers for the dual-chip graphics card. Even with pre-release software the new flagship solution from Nvidia Corp. delivers remarkable …
Read More »AMD ‘Tonga’ graphics chip to emerge in two or three months
Advanced Micro Devices is reportedly on the finish line with its new graphics processing unit (GPU) code-named Tonga. Actual graphics cards based on the chip are now projected to hit the market in the next two or three months. But while the arrival of almost every new GPU is an …
Read More »Retail pricing for Radeon graphics cards has normalised
Shortly after the launch of AMD's most recent R9 GPU's, retail prices went through the roof thanks to demand from digital currency miners. However, prices are currently back to normal and AMD is promising stability from now on, which will be good news to those looking to build a new …
Read More »be quiet! Dark Rock 3 CPU Cooler Review
We have already seen the be quiet! Dark Rock Pro 3 stamp its authority on the high-end air cooler market. Now the company is aiming for another fight with its single tower Dark Rock 3 CPU cooler. Can a balance between cooling performance and noise make the Dark Rock 3 a worthy contender? Using …
Read More »Nvidia GeForce GTX Titan Z launch delayed by inefficient drivers
Nvidia Corp. has already begun to ship its GeForce GTX Titan Z graphics cards to various distributors and stores, but it does not let them start sales before the official launch. The latter is postponed by the lack of drivers which enable the graphics card to show its full performance …
Read More »Asrock boosts bandwidth of M.2 SSDs with ‘Ultra M.2’, but there is a catch
Sometimes mainboard makers come up with rather interesting solutions that truly leap performance of desktop personal computers forward by overcoming limitations of mainstream PC platforms. Unfortunately, in many cases elimination of one bottleneck just leads to creation of another… In a bid to boost performance of solid-state drives, Intel Corp. …
Read More »Win one of three Biostar Hi-Fi Z97WE motherboards!
Its giveaway month! To celebrate Intel's recent launch of the Z97 platform we have another great competition for our readers – the chance to win one of three Biostar Hi-Fi Z97WE motherboards! The Biostar Hi-Fi Z97WE includes the usual high-end motherboard features like USB 3.0, HDMI and PCI-E slots, as …
Read More »Rambus joins JEDEC committee to co-develop next-gen server memory
History always repeats itself. Rambus and JEDEC have a history that began in the early nineties and greatly influenced the whole dynamic random access memory (DRAM) industry in the 2000s and 2010s. That history is about to repeat itself. Rambus, a developer of high-speed interfaces and owner of multiple standard-essential …
Read More »Computer memory prices to remain stable for now, but future is unclear
Despite of expectations that Micron Technology will increase computer memory prices this month because its rivals cannot meet all demand, the actual increases were not significant and average contract prices of DRAM [dynamic random access memory] in May are projected to remain generally on the same level as in April. …
Read More »Toshiba to build a new fab to produce 3D NAND flash memory
Toshiba Corp. on Wednesday said it would demolish one of its fabs in Yokkaichi, the company's NAND Flash memory manufacturing complex in Mie prefecture, Japan, and build an all new factory specially to produce 3D NAND flash. The new fab is expected to be complete next Summer and will go …
Read More »Palit GTX780 Jetstream 6GB SLi (Ultra HD 4K) review
Nvidia have always said that the GTX Titan and GTX Titan Black graphics cards were never released to target the gaming audience, however that hasn't stopped demanding enthusiast gamers buying them by the bucket load. As the GTX780 Ti is ‘only' equipped with 3GB of GDDR5 memory the move to …
Read More »Phanteks Enthoo Pro Review
Last summer Phanteks won our hearts with the Enthoo Primo aluminium case – which claimed a ‘Must Have' award despite a price tag of £199.99. This success led to a huge amount of anticipation for the upcoming Phanteks Enthoo Pro as we were promised a case that carried over the …
Read More »SanDisk unveils its first fully-encrypted solid-state drives
SanDisk Corp. on Tuesday announced its first family of solid-state drives that support all the certified encryption technologies. The new drives are designed for corporate laptops, so expect to see them in the upcoming Lenovo ThinkPads and HP EliteBooks. The drives will be made in 2.5”/7mm and M.2 versions. The …
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