Renesas Now Shipping Tiny, 1080p-Capable Cell Phone Processor

Just this week Renesas Technology Corp. announced
their SH7370, a SH-Mobile HD1 application processor for mobile phones.
The tiny processor is the first to support full 1080p (1920 x 1080)
video playback and recording potential, and can support H.264/MPEG-4
video compression at 30 frames per second.

This processor also
has two 24-bit dedicated audio digital signal processors that help
lower the CPU’s load, while lowering power consumption. This allows for
audio to stream at up to 5.1-channel Dolby Digital quality.

The
whole thing is currently shipping with 512Mbits of synchronous DRAM,
integrated onto a single package. Said package measures in at a
compact, 10nm x 11mm.

Registering for the StarCraft II Beta

It’s true.
If you missed out on Blizzcon ’08 or hawked your beta code because you
(wisely) anticipated that Blizzard might pull something like this,
now’s your chance to register for StarCraft II’s upcoming beta test.

“The StarCraft II beta-test period is coming in the months ahead!
If you’d like a chance to participate, now’s the time to let us know,”
reads the World of Warcraft website.
   
Just sign-in over at Battle.net,
wow Blizzard with your PC’s bleeding-edge specs (or even
middle-of-the-road specs; really – this is Blizzard we’re talking
about), and start F5-ing your inbox. Better still, even if Blizzard
doesn’t deem you worthy of participating in this beta, the opt-in
process still nabs you a spot in line for future Blizzard betas.
Opportunity is knocking. Are you just gonna stand it up? Go on now. Go!

One semi-major stipulation, though: You must have at least one game
registered under your Battle.net account in order to opt-in for
StarCraft II’s beta. But hey, it could be worse. At least you didn’t
have to fly out to California for a geek-tastic weekend of game-filled fun like those other suckers. Who in their right mind would want that?

Increase your Integrated Intel IGP speed of with GMABooster tool download

The world's first and only performance boost solution for Intel®
Graphics Media Accelerator series (currently supported chipsets: Intel®
945GM/GME/GMS/GSE and 943/940GML/GU Express featuring GMA 950).

Offering
up to an astonishing 2.4x of extra processing power for Your computer's
integrated graphics engine, the GMABooster is a must-have tool for
every user interested in advanced 3D gaming, truly flawless Windows®
Vista and Mac® OS X experience, smoother operation of Google® Earth,
improved video playback, and perfomance gain in a variety of
professional applications!

One might ask: 2.4x boost without adjusting the voltage (right, Your hardware will not be exposed in any way!)

Download

RipNAS Launches SSD-Based NAS with Built-In CD Ripping

RipNAS this week announced two new storage devices, the Statement SSD and Statement HDD. Both come capable of ripping CDs, leading the company to claim the former as the "world's first Solid State Drive Ripping NAS." And as far as we know, they're right.

The
aptly named Statement series also challenges traditional NAS design in
aesthetics. Instead of a bulky box, RipNAS chose a svelte silver
enclosure that would fit right in with a home theater setup. Combined
with its media streaming capabilities and dead silent operation (SSD
version), RipNAS might be on to something.

On the hardware front,
both boxes come an Intel Atom dual-core processor, 2GB of RAM, and four
USB 2.0 ports. The SSD version will come configured with 500GB
(2x250GB), and 3TB (2x1.5TB) of storage in the HDD version.

No word yet on pricing or availability.

SolidLogic Launches GS-L10 Fanless Mini-ITX System

SolidLogic’s latest release, the GS-L10 is completely covered in heat sinks. Why? Well, to put it simply, it features no fans whatsoever.

The GS-L10 is built off of a Serener case and features an MSI
MS-9818 motherboard. It’ll also support up to three different Intel
Montevina processors, with the highest available model being the
2.53GHz Core 2 Duo T9400, can pack up to 4GB of RAM, gives you the
option of HDD or SDD storage, and provides the choice of Windows XP,
Vista or Ubuntu.

The base model will only run you roughly $860, but if you’re
looking to deck this bad boy out with all the fixings, it can go up to
$1,900.

 

Image Credit: SoundLogic

Patent Application Reveals Google's Mysterious Book-Scanner

While book scanning has become a pretty common process, one problem
that still remains is that the scanned images are slightly distorted
where the spine of the book meets the page. It looks like Google has
done their very best to fix this error, with a pretty nifty camera
setup.

Their book scanner, which was recently revealed in patent pictures,
paints a book with infrared light, and then two infrared cameras
generate a 3D model of the book, which can be used to correct scans. On
top of this, Google has implemented camera technology that detects the
three-dimensional shape and angle of the book’s pages when the book is
in the scanner. This is then transmitted to the OCR software, which
adjusts for any distortions, and allows the OCR software to read the
text more accurately.

Compatible with Windows 7 Logo

This "Compatible
with Windows 7" logo was apparently leaked to some members of the
press. Obviously it makes sense that this logo can be slapped on
computer hardware and software, compatible with Windows 7. Obviously
you'd need to get your hardware of software certified by Microsoft and
spend some serious cash to be able to use the logo, but yeah .. that's
Microsoft.

DDRdrive Hybrid PCI-E x1 Solid-State Drive SSD

Both solid-state technologies work in concert to provide the superior characteristics of DRAM (speed, reliability, and longevity) with the NAND part used for backups. In terms of read/write speeds, the DDRdrive X1 is not that spectacular. Limited by the PCIe x1 interface it can "only" do about 250 MB/s in reads and 155 MB/s in writes. But it's the Input/Output Operations Per Second (IOPS), where X1 really shines.

A single drive can hit 300,000+ IOPS Random 512B Reads and 200,000+ IOPS Random 512B Writes. That's a massive bump in operation speed compared to practically all other solid-state drives currently in production. For comparison Fusion IO's enterprise drives are estimated at 200,000 IOPS 512B read, while other consumer SSDs are rated at about 100,000 IOPS 512B read. And those 300,000+ IOPS can be achieved with a maximum power draw of only 9.91 Watts. DDRdrive X1 can also be configured to work in striped (performance) RAID 0, mirrored RAID 1, or RAID 5 regimes.

Swiftech Komodo Water Block for GeForce GTX 285 Cards

Swiftech
released a new single-slot waterblock solution for NVIDIA reference
design GeForce GTX 285 graphics cards named Komodo.

The Komodo water-block is a single
slot, liquid cooling solution for nVidia® reference design GeForce™
GTX285 graphics cards. This "full cover" waterblock cools the GPU,
Voltage Regulators, I/O chip, and memory modules.

The Komodo water-block offers superior
thermal performance at the GPU level thanks to an embedded thin-pin
matrix located directly above the GPU area. Flow restriction is
moderate by design in order to take into account multiple water-blocks
in the same loop, and is similar to that of the classic MCW60 (See
pressure drop vs. flow rate curve below).

The base is made of chrome plated
electrolytic copper, and the top is machined in black Delrinl. High
thermal conductivity grease pads are pre-applied in the memory and
mosfet areas for user convenience. Short barb fittings are included
with the block for 3/8" or 1/2" tubing and compatible with dual or
triple SLI setups.

Total weight of the block is 772 g and if you purchase it directly from Swiftech it'll cost you $134.95.

More info at Swiftech.

Inno3D GeForce 9 E-Save graphics cards

Inno3D
today launched new e-Save edition GeForce 9 graphics cards that should
use up to 60 percent less power in idle mode and 40 percent less in
load.

Inno3D® launches the energy efficient
Inno3D® GeForce 9 series E-save edition build ready for CUDA™
technology and delivers a best-in-class gaming experience. The effects
of Global warming are concerns to people all over the world and now it
is time for PC users to also save energy. The outstanding benchmark
performances for the Inno3D® GeForce 9 series E-save edition will
continue to outwit competition while consuming less power energy.

Speakers made from paper

Well
here's something new alright. All alone in the desert or on an island?
And by any chance got a newspaper made out of Flexspeakers?

Industrial Technology Research
Institute from Taiwan has made paper-thin speakers called Flexspeakers.
They will be currently sold in the dimensions of 8.5 x 11 inches sheets
costing $20. They will be available in much larger sheets or even
rolls. The speakers are made by layering thin electrodes and a
prepolarized diaphragm between two thin sheets of paper.

The first application is to use Flexspeakers in cars and next as movie theater posters. Check out the video.

 

Radeon HD 4770 40nm GPU spec & test Review vs Nvidia GTS250 vs 9800GT & HD4830

Introducing the new HD 4770, the worlds first 40nm desktop GPU

The
Radeon R700 is the engineering codename for a Graphics Processing Unit
series released by AMD Graphics Product Group, sold under the ATI
brand. The foundation chip, codenamed RV770, was announced and
demonstrated on June 16, 2008 as part of the FireStream 9250 and Cinema
2.0 Media launches, with official release of the HD4800 series on June
25, 2008. Further products including mainstream RV730 and entry-level
RV710 products were released throughout 2008.

The
new RV740 is the world first 40nm desktop GPU, and although mobile GPUs
derived from the RV740 were announced back at CeBIT, this is the first
time we've got a chance to see the new architecture in action. ATI
claims the RV740 is designed to hit the 'sweet spot' and offer the best
bang for buck. It is targeting the sub-$100 market and offering
performance on par with the HD 4850 and GTS 250. Sounds reasonable, so
let's take a look at the specs and what it offers compared to current
ATI products in a similar price range.

R700 inter-GPU communications architecture :

This
generation of dual-GPU design retains the use of a PCI Express bridge,
PLX PEX 8647 with PCI Express 2.0 support, allowing two GPUs on the
same PCI Express slot with doubled bandwidth over the past generation
of product (Radeon HD 3870 X2). Current generation of dual-GPU design
also features an interconnect for inter-GPU communications through the
implementation of a "CrossFire X SidePort" on each GPU, giving extra 10
GiB/s inter-GPU bandwidth (5 GiB/s each direction). These two features
increase total bandwidth for dual-GPU designs to 21.8 GiB/s. At this
point, the CrossFire X Sideport isn't enabled by default in the drivers.

Specifications :

GPUZ

	GTS 250	9600 GSO	9600 GT	8800GT 512MB	HD 4830	HD 4850	HD 4870	HD 4770
Processing Cores	128	96	64	112	640	800	800	640
Core Clock	738	550	650	600	575	625	750	750
Shader Clock	1836	1375	1625	1500	575	625	750	750
Memory Clock (effective)	2200	1600	1800	1800	1800	1986	3600	3200
Memory Interface	256 bit	192 bit	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	256 bit	128 bit
Memory	1GB GDDR3	384MB GDDR3	512MB GDDR3	512MB GDDR3	512MB GDDR3	512MB GDDR3	512MB / 1GB GDDR5	512MB GDDR5
Fabrication Process	55nm	65nm	65nm	65nm	55nm	55nm	55nm	40nm

Benchmark & Test :

3Dmark 2006 default

3Dmark Ventage

HAWX



Crysis Warhead

Radeon HD 4770 VS Nvidia GTS 250 & difference :



Radeon HD 4770 VS Radeon HD4830 & difference :



Power consumption :

Pricing and Availability

• Radeon HD 4770 512MB - $99 (after rebate)
• Radeon HD 4850 512MB - $129 (one available for $99 as of today!)
• GeForce 9800 GT 512MB - $95 (after rebate)
• GeForce GTS 250 1GB - $119
  

That
is a lot of gaming performance in small window of budget and the
decision could get complicated. For me, the best/worst part of it
really is the price on the HD 4850 - probably the best card of the
bunch, if you can find it for the same $99 price as the HD 4770, it
just makes NO sense to stick with the new card. With price fluctuations
and rebates the truth is by the time you read this it could be very
different.

The Radeon HD 4770 is already showing up at Newegg:

• HIS - $99
• Sapphire - $99
• Gigabyte - $109
• PowerColor - $99

Intel Nehalem-based Xeon processors

These new processors support HyperThreading and a Turbo Boost feature that increases clock speeds and shuts down unused cores, allowing for a serious boost in overall performance.

The Xeon 5500 ranges in price from $188 for the 1.86GHz dual-core to $1,600 for the 3.2GHz quad-core. There is also a Xeon 3500 available in three different models that range from 2.66GHz to 3.2GHz. Pricing for these ranges from $284 to $999. These Xeon processors are now available in Dell Precision systems and the HP Z800.

NEW Battlefield: Bad Company 2 Debut Video Trailer

the first trailer for Battlefield: Bad Company 2 was revealed yesterday

Sony Bluetooth noise-canceling headphones

 

Looking for a new pair of headphones?, you might just be interested in these latest offerings from Sony called the DR-BT100CX and the DR-BT101, which offer Bluetooth 2.1 and noise-cancellation technology.

The DR-BT100CX model are in-ear earbuds that can last up to 8 hours on a single charge and feature 9mm Neodymium drivers. They come with three different silicon earbud sizes to ensure you find the perfect fit. The DR-BT101, on the other hand are a set of headphones that can last up to 12 hours on a single charge and feature a 30mm speaker.

Both models can be used for taking calls with the built-in microphone. They offer support for HFP, AVRCP, A2DP and HSP Bluetooth profiles and sport music controls for easy adjusting. We don’t know when the earbuds or headphones will be released or how much they’ll cost, but we’ll be sure to keep you posted.

Intel And Nvidia Dominate Q1 2009 GPU Sales

Two days ago, Jon Peddie Research (JPR), published the new numbers regarding the graphic card manufacturers' market share for the first quarter of 2009. According to their research, both Intel and Nvidia were able to gain, while AMD/ATI lost market shares. Intel is current market leader with 49.7% and 37.20 million sold untis, Nvidia is second with 31.1% market share and 23.26 million untis, and AMD/ATI was only able to sell 12.81 million units, bringing their market share down to 17.1%. Another interesting observation was that after eight consecutive years, for the first time, the negative sales from Q4 to Q1 turned into positive sales, with a 3.29% change from Q4 2008 to Q1 2009.

All in all and compared year to year, things didn't look so good, though - which had to be expected, considering the current economical crisis. In raw numbers this means that "shipments dropped to 74.9 million units, -21.1% from this quarter last year."

 

Jon Peddie Research estimates that "the cleaning out of old inventory, both in the electronics, automotive, and real-estate markets should be pretty well completed by the end of the summer (and some amazing deals will be available if you are happy with 2008 technology)."

ASUS Launches Graphics Cards with Super ML Caps

 

ASUSintroduced the world’s first graphics cards to utilize Multilayer Polymer Capacitors (Super ML Caps) with the self-designed ENGTX285 and EAH4890 Series.

Both equipped with the Super ML Cap, the ASUS designed ENGTX285 Series allows users to enjoy up to 3.3 times GPU overclocking margins and up to 15°C cooler GPU temperatures when compared to reference designed boards; while the ASUS designed EAH4890 is equipped with the Super ML Cap, Voltage Tweak Technology and a specially designed fansink to offer up to 3 times GPU overclocking margins and 10°C cooler GPU temperatures. Additionally, with the inclusion of the EMI Shield, covered chokes, low RDS(on) MOSFETs, and solid capacitors, users can achieve extreme performances while enjoying total peace of mind.

Up to 3.3 Times Overclocking Margin and 15°C Lower GPU Temperatures with ASUS ENGTX285
The ASUS designed ENGTX285 and EAH4890 Series are the world’s first graphics cards to be equipped with the Super ML Cap. With the high capacitance inherent in Super ML Caps, guaranteed stable system operation even under a sudden increase in load current will deliver the most reliable power and the best overclocking margin ever. Additionally, the low Equivalent Series Resistance (ESR) of the Super ML Caps enable higher ripple current with better power efficiency to help lower the temperature of the GPU and memory modules by up to 15°C and 8°C respectively on ENGTX285. The Super ML Cap also exhibits superior low-temperature impedance, allowing PCs to be switched on even at temperatures of under -15°C. Furthermore, the low height of Super ML Cap allows it to be placed closer to the GPU without interfering with the heatsink, allowing it to respond faster with a reduced lower voltage noise for even better stability (the GPU power noise can be reduced from 246mv to 210mv, an amazing 15% drop on ASUS designed ENGTX285). With the Super ML Cap present on the ENGTX285 Series, the overclocking limits of the GPU/shader/memory clock can be dramatically boosted from 670/1550/2700 MHz up to 720/1656/2920 MHz—an astonishing 3.3 times in terms of GPU overclocking margin.

Easy and Extreme Overclocking via Voltage Tweak with ASUS EAH4890
Besides the Super ML Cap mentioned above, the ASUS EAH4890 Series also comes with the exclusive Voltage Tweak technology and a specially designed fansink to provide users with the best possible tweaking options. With Voltage Tweak, users can boost GPU voltages from 1.312V up to 1.4V easily with just a few clicks in the SmartDoctor application, and along with the luxurious Super ML Cap, the overclocking limits of the GPU/memory clock can be dramatically boosted from 900/4000 MHz up to 1000/4800 MHz—an astonishing 3 times in terms of GPU overclocking margin. Additionally, the specially designed fansink on the EAH4890 Series comes with six 230mm heatpipes to maximize heat dissipation efficiency, which combined with the low-ESR Super ML Cap (the GPU power noise is reduced from 143mv to 114mv, an amazing 20% drop on the ASUS designed EAH4890) can generate 10°C cooler GPU temperatures when compared with the reference designed boards.

The ENGTX285 TOP’s default core, shader, and memory clock performances are boosted from 648 MHz up to 670 MHz, 1476 MHz to 1550 MHz, and 2484 MHz to 2600 MHz respectively, while the EAH4890 TOP’s default core and memory clock performances are elevated from 850MHz up to 900 MHz and 3900 MHz to 4000 MHz. These extraordinary performance upgrades help raise the ENGTX285 TOP and EAH4890 TOP’s 3DMark Vantage Extreme Preset scores from 6003 to 6298 and 4612 to 4980—an astonishing 5% and 8% improvement in speed respectively when compared to any other reference designed board. With such overwhelming performance boosts, get ready to feel the adrenaline rush of gaming like never before—only with the ASUS ENGTX285 TOP and EAH4890 TOP.

Windows 7 minimum System Requirements Revealed

• * 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
• * 1 GB of RAM (32-bit); 2 GB of RAM (64-bit)
• * 16 GB of available disk space (32-bit); 20 GB of available disk space (64-bit)
• * DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Download Cryostasis Game Demo

Cryostasis makes full use of GPU-accelerated PhysX features on your GeForce graphics card with impressive environmental effects, here you can download this new demo.

Download

Cryostasis: Sleep of Reason puts you at the Arctic Circle, drifting Russian North Pole station “Pole 21”. The main character, Alexander Nesterov, is a meteorologist, incidentally caught inside an old nuclear ice-breaker North Wind, frozen in the ice desert for decades.

The Titan of steel, once desperately struggling for its life and freedom, capitulated to the dark and ominous power of the eternal Cold. With his bare hands, improvised means and World War I and II era historically accurate bolt-action rifles and machineguns, Nesterov has to fight the spawn of the Cryostasis - the undead former crewmen which under some strange metamorphosis had not only lost their natural looks, but the very right to rest in peace. Nesterov’s mission is to investigate the mystery of the ship’s captain death – or, as it may well be, a murder, that caused the entire tragedy.Cryostasis appears to be something more than just a thrilling game. It is a kind of interactive crossbreed of a detective story and a horror novel. But unlike the regular book, the reader (in our case the player) here is able to contribute to the story and even affect its outcome.

Due to the character’s ability to penetrate the memory and take control over the bodies of the participants of dramatic events (the system of Mental Echo), the player gets not only what every book detective would dream about – the ability to travel to the past and eyewitness the crime scene, but also what every book reader sometimes desires – avoid the predetermined course of actions by a chance to participate in the story and change its end as the player wants!

Download