Microsoft has revealed that it has completed its acquisition of the Havok Physics engine and animation software from Intel. You will likely recognize the Havok logo from many games, the engine has been used in more than six hundred titles over the years and now it is in Microsoft's hands. Recent …
Read More »Intel ‘Cannonlake-E/EP’ for desktops and servers to sport up to 8 cores
Even though Intel Corp. has been gradually increasing the number of general-purpose processing engines inside its microprocessors for servers, the company’s high-end chips for client PCs feature no more than eight x86 cores, whereas mainstream central processing units sport up to four cores. Apparently, Intel has no plans to change …
Read More »Apple iPhone 6S Plus costs $236 to manufacture – Teardown
Apple iPhone 6S Plus costs the company about $236 to manufacture, a new teardown analysis has revealed. The new smartphone from Apple is $16 more expensive than its predecessor because the developer implemented several new functions, added more advanced components and used higher quality materials, according to IHS. “3D Touch …
Read More »TAG Heuer to demo luxurious smartwatch in November
TAG Heuer, a maker of luxury watches, has decided to slightly change the price and the launch schedule for its smartwatch, which it co-developed with Intel Corp. and Google. The company intends to demo the timepiece on the 9th of November, which is a tad later than expected. TAG Heuer also decided …
Read More »Boxx unveils tiny mini-ITX workstation with 18-core Intel Xeon
Boxx Technologies, a well-known maker of workstations from the U.S., has introduced its new Apexx 1 mini-ITX workstation that can integrate an Intel Xeon microprocessor with up to 18 cores or a factory-overclocked Intel Core i7 chip with up to eight cores. The system comes with a specially-designed cooling solution …
Read More »Intel Pentium ‘Skylake’ processors make it to retail
The most affordable microprocessors based on the “Skylake” micro-architecture have finally managed to reach the market. The new Intel Pentium G4500T is now sold in select stores in Tokyo, Japan, and is expected to become available in other parts of the world, making low-cost PCs featuring the latest micro-architecture from Intel …
Read More »HP unveils entry-level workstation with Xeon Skylake, DDR4, fast SSDs
Hewlett-Packard has introduced its new-generation entry-level Z-series workstations that use a variety of new technologies, including Intel Corp.’s latest microprocessors. The new machines can run serious tasks, yet they feature compact sizes and relatively affordable price-points. The HP Z240 Tower and Z240 SFF [small form-factor] workstations are based on Intel’s …
Read More »Intel: Usage of DDR3 at default voltages can damage “Skylake”
Intel Corp.’s latest “Skylake” processors officially support only DDR3L and DDR4 memory, but there are motherboards for the new chips that can also use DDR3. While the chips can work with previous-gen memory, prolonged usage of such dynamic random access memory (DRAM) can damage microprocessors, according to Intel. DDR4 memory …
Read More »OCUK introduces ‘Marvel’ 4K and 1080p gaming systems
Overclockers UK have just launched two new gaming systems in a new line of special edition ‘Marvel' gaming rigs, one being their cheapest system aimed at 4K gamers, coming in at just £799.99. The other is aimed at those who are happy with 1080p and comes in at £329.95. Let's …
Read More »Asrock Fatal1ty Z170 Gaming-ITX: Tiny mobo with 8-phase CPU VRM
Asrock has introduced its new Fatal1ty-branded mini-ITX high-end motherboard for gaming PCs. The new system board is designed for Intel “Skylake” processors and sports numerous advanced features that modern PC platforms can offer. Among the highlights are unique voltage regulator module, extreme overclocking capabilities, HDMI 2.0 connector that supports 4K …
Read More »Makers of tablets eager to get cheap Atom ‘Bay Trail’ while discounts last
Manufacturers of inexpensive tablets recently increased orders for Intel Corp.’s previous-generation Atom “Bay Trail” system-on-chips before the company cancels discounts and starts to gradually phase-out production of such microprocessors. Going forward Intel will cease to offer heavy price cuts on mobile SoCs. At present, the average price of an Intel …
Read More »Intel DC P3608 SSD: Up to 4TB capacity, up to 5GB/s bandwidth
Intel Corp. has quietly introduced its new family of solid-state drives designed for datacentres. The new Intel DC P3608 SSDs feature up to 4TB capacity as well as up to 5GB/s sequential read speed, they are among the highest-performing solid-state drives in the industry right now. The drives are designed …
Read More »Gigabyte Z170X-SOC Force LN2 for extreme overclockers is closing in
Earlier this year it transpired that Gigabyte Technology was working on a new ‘Super Overclock’ motherboard designed for extreme overclocking and setting records in benchmarks. As it appears, the release of the platform is getting closer. The Gigabyte Z170X-SOC Force LN2-CF platform was designed from the ground up to offer …
Read More »Oculus VR initiates ‘Oculus Ready’ PC program
It is not a secret that far not all personal computers are able to run video games with virtual reality headsets. At the Oculus Connect 2015 conference, Oculus VR introduced its “Oculus Ready” PC program, which is designed to help those, who want to get a new PC, which can …
Read More »G.Skill readies Trident Z DDR4 modules with 4.40GHz clock-rate
G.Skill is working on new Trident Z memory modules, which will hit unbelievable 4.40GHz frequency. The modules are designed for extreme enthusiasts and will be compatible with select Intel Z170-based platforms for overclockers. G.Skill’s Trident Z DDR4-4400 (PC4-35200) memory modules will feature 4GB capacity and will be based on hand-selected …
Read More »Asustek unveils ultimate mini-ITX mainboard for ‘Skylake’ CPUs
Asustek Computer this week introduced its Z170I Pro Gaming mainboard, which is desinged for Intel Corp.’s latest microprocessors code-named “Skylake” and provides ultimate feature-set. The platform not only uses high-quality/high-performance components and has rich expansion capabilities, but even features advanced overclocking functionality. The Asus Z170I Pro Gaming is based on the Intel …
Read More »Valve: DirectX 12 does not make a lot of sense, Vulkan does
Microsoft Corp.’s DirectX 12 application programming interface promises to significantly improve performance of video games in Windows 10 operating system thanks to efficient usage of modern hardware. However, Valve Software believes that it makes no sense to use DX12, but to utilize cross-platform Vulkan API instead. Modern application programming interfaces – …
Read More »Intel drained PC channel inventory to speed up transition to ‘Skylake’, Windows 10
Sales of personal computers have been sluggish in the recent quarters, which decreased revenue of PC makers and PC hardware manufacturers. Apparently, Intel Corp. has prepared for slow demand for PCs and significantly reduced shipments of its central processing units in the first half of the year, draining inventory at …
Read More »AMD engineer: Developers were given the total freedom with ‘Zen’
The “Zen” micro-architecture is a tremendously important project for Advanced Micro Devices. If the new technology is successful, AMD will become a viable developer of central processing units again. If not, the company will have troubles with surviving. Fortunately, “Zen” is a completely new micro-architecture that promises to be very …
Read More »Nvidia to fetch second-gen HBM memory from Samsung and SK Hynix – Report
As developers of graphics processing units start to use high-bandwidth memory (HBM), manufacturers of graphics cards cease their ability to buy memory directly from DRAM makers. A good news is that Nvidia Corp. intends to buy second-gen HBM from two suppliers, which potentially means flexible pricing. Nowadays manufacturers of graphics …
Read More »Intel, partners to finalize universal stylus standard in December
Intel Corp. and its partners from the Universal Stylus Initiative (USI) plan to finalize the first specification of an active stylus compatible with a variety of devices already this December. The first products featuring the USI 1.0 standard are expected to become available already in late 2015 or early 2016. Different …
Read More »Intel will retain “Broadwell-C” as the best LGA CPU with built-in GPU
Even though Intel Corp.’s future “Skylake” processors with integrated graphics cores are expected to offer very high performance in applications that demand graphics processing horsepower, the company’s current-generation Core i7-5775C and Core i7-5665C “Broadwell” chips will remain the firm’s best offerings for desktops with sockets for quite a while. Intel’s …
Read More »MSI starts to sell its top-of-the-range Z170A Xpower Gaming Titanium
Although makers of mainboards tend to start selling their high-end products right after developers of microprocessors introduce their new central processing units, some unique products take longer time to develop. MicroStar International on Friday said that its top-of-the-range Z170A Xpower Gaming Titanium Edition mainboard – which features an distinctive silver colour – …
Read More »MSI unveils Night Elf: Inexpensive Intel B150 mainboard for gamers
MicroStar International has unveiled its new mainboard for Intel Corp.’s latest code-named “Skylake” processors that belongs to its Gaming family of platforms designed for gamers, but which costs significantly less than higher-end solutions. The MSI B150M Night Elf mainboard does not support overclocking or other advanced capabilities of modern motherboards. …
Read More »Intel Xeon E5, E7 “Broadwell” CPUs with up to 24 cores due in 2016
Intel Corp. has slightly re-scheduled release dates for its upcoming Xeon E5 v4 and Xeon E7 v4 central processing units for servers. Instead of late 2015, the world’s largest maker of microprocessors will launch its new server CPUs in the first half of 2016. The reasons for the delay are …
Read More »ARM ups expectations: ARMv8 to be in 25% of servers by 2020
ARM Holdings admits that large-scale deployments of servers based on chips powered by its technologies will start only in 2016 or 2017. But while there are almost no commercial ARM servers today, the company is increasing its target market share for 2020. In fact, ARM hopes that in five years …
Read More »Lenovo to merge its servers product lines, drop IBM brands by 2017
Lenovo Group plans to unify its server product lines under one brand in about 1.5 years from now, the company revealed in an interview. The unification of the product lines will result in drop of all IBM brands from all devices the company currently offers. Back in early 2014 Lenovo …
Read More »Intel will begin to sell mainstream ‘Skylake’ CPUs in late September
Even though Intel Corp. has formally introduced code-named “Skylake” microprocessors for desktop computers, many of such central processing units are still not available. Apparently, Intel only intends to start their sales to end-users in late September. It is not a secret that Intel’s latest CPUs for enthusiasts that feature unlocked …
Read More »Intel: Skipping ‘Broadwell’ CPUs for desktops was a mistake
Due to issues with yields, Intel Corp. had to delay mass production of central processing units made using 14nm fabrication process by almost a year. Instead of releasing enthusiast-class processors based on the “Broadwell” micro-architecture in 2014, the company decided to launch new “Haswell” chips with higher clock-rates. Right now, …
Read More »Asrock unveils mainboard for ‘Skylake’ with DDR3 and DDR4 memory slots
Asrock has quietly unveiled a unique mainboard for Intel Corp.’s latest processors code-named “Skylake”, which features both DDR3 and DDR4 memory slots. The motherboard is an affordable platform, but it can be used to build rather high-performance personal computers for gaming. The Asrock B150M Combo-G mainboard for Intel “Skylake” processors in …
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