TCMagazine

CPU & Motherboard

- EVGA X58 SLI - First Look @ AnandTech
- Gigabyte EP45-DS3R Motherboard @ DriverHeaven
- Asus P6T Deluxe (Intel X58) @ Bjorn3d
- Gigabyte MA78GM-S2H Motherboard @ Hardware Secrets

Memory

- OCZ SLI Edition DDR3 2000Mhz @ ProClockers
- G.Skill Pi Black 4GB DDR2-800 Memory @ HardwareLogic
- Crucial Ballistix Tracer PC3-12800 @ XSReviews

Storage

- Thermaltake BlacX External Hard Drive Docking Station @ Tweaknews
- Kingston 4GB DataTraveler Mini Slim flash drive @ Hardware Bistro

Graphics cards

- Sapphire Radeon HD 4550 @ Hexus
- Zotac GeForce 9800 GT 512MB AMP Video Card @ TheTechLounge
- XFX 9800GTX+ Black Edition and Nvidia GTX-260 Core 216 VS ATI 4870 1GB 5 Game Shootout @ Bjorn3d
- Sapphire HD 4850 X2 @ OC Online
- ASUS EN9800GT Matrix 512MB @ PC Perspective
- MSI GeForce 9800GT 512MB @ Phoronix
- Top 10 games Radeon 4870 1 GB & GeForce GTX 260 Core 216 test @ Guru3D

Enclosures & PSUs

- Thermaltake TR2 QFan Series power supplies @ AnandTech
- Cooler Master HAF 932 Case
@ Virtual-Hideout
@ Elite Bastards
- Topower TOP-1100P10 Power Supply @ Hardware Secrets

Displays

- HannsG HG221AP 22" widescreen monitor @ bit-tech
- LG 19LG3000 19in LCD TV @ TrustedReviews

Cooling and modding

- Cooler Master V8 CPU Cooler @ Legit Reviews

PCs

- Velocity Micro Edge Z55 Intel Core i7 Gaming System @ HotHardware

Photo and video cameras

- Nikon Coolpix S710 compact camera @ RegHardware

Other

- Samsung Omnia i900 @ InsideHW
- Blackberry Pearl Flip 8220
@ Digital Trends
@ TrustedReviews

Introduced in September, Seagate's FreeAgent Go portable hard drive has went color crazy and, in addition to ruby red, royal blue, tuxedo black and titanium silver it is now available in pink, solar orange, spring green, forest green, sky blue and champagne gold. Featuring USB 2.0 connectivity, the FreeAgent Go 2.5-inch drives measure 12.5 x 80 x 130 mm, weight some 160 grams and are bundled with a black leatherette carrying case. To provide even more value with each purchase, Seagate will also kick off the Load Me Up promotion which is set to provide those who register their FreeAgent drive from November 28 to January 31, 2009, with 50 free songs from eMusic and 50% off the first-year's subscription to SmugMug, the leading professional photo-sharing destination on the web.

"Now, we've made the FreeAgent Go portable hard drive an even more attractive gift for this holiday season with colors and free access to digital entertainment," said Pat King, senior vice president of Consumer Solutions Division of Seagate Technology. "Seagate realizes that the value of an external hard drive correlates directly to the emotional connection people have with the content they store on the drive. Your photos, music and movies are a reflection of who you are. This is why we've partnered with some of the leaders in the digital content industry to provide our customers with a premium package of multimedia for their new drive. This along with the new colors should put the FreeAgent Go portable hard drive at the top of many wish lists this season."

Seagate's 250, 320 and 500GB FreeAgent Go are available for purchase at about $120, $150 and $200 respectively.

Nvidia has now released a new WHQL certified graphics card driver, the GeForce 180.48. This new version is dated November 12, it includes the version 8.10.13 PhysX software, has support for the GeForce 8800, 9 and GTX 200 series cards as well as for the GeForce 9300 and 9400 IGPs and comes with the following features:

- Enables Nvidia SLI technology on SLI-certified Intel X58-based motherboards with the following GPUs: GeForce GTX 280, GeForce GTX 260, GeForce 9800 GX2, GeForce 9800 GTX+, and GeForce 9800 GTX.
- Enables Nvidia SLI Multi-monitor support, giving you the ability to use two monitors with your GeForce graphics cards in SLI mode.
- Enables Nvidia PhysX acceleration on a dedicated GeForce graphics card. Use one card for graphics and dedicate a different card for PhysX processing for game-changing physical effects.
- Support for single GPU and Nvidia SLI technology on DirectX 9, DirectX 10, and OpenGL, including 3-way and Quad SLI technology.
- CUDA support.
- Support for the Folding@home distributing computing application.
- Support for GPU overclocking and temperature monitoring by installing Nvidia System Tools software.
- Numerous 3D application compatibility fixes.
- Boosts performance in numerous 3D applications. Compared to 178 series drivers, the 180.48 brings:
Up to 10% performance increase in 3DMark Vantage (performance preset)
Up to 13% performance increase in Assassin's Creed
Up to 13% performance increase in BioShock
Up to 15% performance increase in Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts
Up to 10% performance increase in Crysis Warhead
Up to 25% performance increase in Devil May Cry 4
Up to 38% performance increase in Far Cry 2
Up to 18% performance increase in Race Driver: GRID
Up to 80% performance increase in Lost Planet: Colonies
Up to 18% performance increase in World of Conflict

You can now download the GeForce 180.48 drives by following the 2Many links below:

- GeForce 180.48 WHQL (Windows XP 32bit)
- GeForce 180.48 WHQL (Windows XP 64bit)
- GeForce 180.48 WHQL (Windows Vista 32bit)
- GeForce 180.48 WHQL (Windows Vista 64bit)

Hot slasher GELID Solutions has now unveiled the WING UV Blue series of gaming and modding-oriented case fans. Coming in 80, 92 and 120mm versions, the new spinners feature UV reactive blades, self lubricating and waterproof Nanoflux bearings, a MTTF (mean time to failure) of 100,000 hours and are backed by a five year warranty.

Bundled with 4 anti-vibration mounts, the 80, 92 and 120mm WING UV Blue fans have top working speeds of 2000, 2000 and 1500 RPM respectively and recommended price tags of $12.50 / 8.35 Euro, $13.50 / 9 Euro and $16.40 / 11 Euro.

The CPUID team has released an updated version of its low footprint hardware monitoring program, HWMonitor. The new 1.12 version comes with support for more sensor ICs and for Nvidia ESA compliant watercooling systems.

To get the new HWMonitor 1.12, in either 32 or 64bit flavor, visit this page.

Following Asus and MSI, Gigabyte has now revealed a preliminary list with AM2(+) motherboards that support AMD's 45nm AM3 and AM2+ Phenom II processors, planned for an early 2009 debut. As seen below there aren't many models powered by Nvidia chipsets to have AM3 support but it's likely that Gigabyte will fix that with new BIOS versions in the coming months.

MySpace rival and well-known social network Facebook has been showing third party developers quite a bit of love and will continue to do so but not all is unconditional. With a great number of Facebook applications being added constantly, the company is set to help some of them get more visibility via an Application Verification program which, if passed, will provide the apps with a verification badge.

The badge, which is to be an indicator that applications are respectful, transparent and compliant with the guiding principles for trustworthiness, won't be free though as each verification will cost $375 (lower prices for students and non-profits do apply) and the fee is non-refundable. Developers can already submit their apps to the Application Verification program. Facebook will start rolling out the badges in early 2009.

Continuing to bend its own rules regarding driver releases, AMD is now serving early adopters of Intel's new Core i7 + X58 platform a Catalyst 8.11 hotfix. Coming for both Windows XP and Vista, the hotfix supports everything from the Radeon X1600s to the Radeon HD 4000 series cards and provides:

- Improved performance in various Direct3D and OpenGL applications on the X58 platform.
- Improved performance for the DirectX 9 version of Far Cry 2 on CrossFire compatible systems.
- Improved performance for the DirectX 10 version of Far Cry 2 on both single and CrossFire compatible systems (only for Vista).
- Improved performance for the DirectX 10 and DirectX 10.1 version of Stalker Clear Sky on both single and CrossFireX configurations at higher resolutions (Vista only).
- Brothers in Arms - Hell's Highway no longer displays corruption on the 'Black Friday' level.

To download the new Catalyst 8.11 hotfix check out this page.

Now that the GeForce 9600 GT, 9800 GT and Radeon HD 4850 Matrix cards are out, Asus is preparing to add a new model to its red pill-loving product line-up. Seen below is the EAH4870 Matrix/HTDI/512M, a bullet-dodging (BEd: Not really) Radeon HD 4870 which features a black PCB, higher than stock frequencies and a newly-designed dual-slot Hybrid Cooler that has two fans of different sizes.

The upcoming card comes with DirectX 10.1 and CrossFireX support, a 256-bit memory interface, has a 55nm RV770 GPU set to 770 MHz (750 MHz stock), 512MB of GDDR5 memory clocked at 3680 MHz (3600 MHz) and also boasts:

- Integrated hardware and software for total graphics card control
- Accurate adjustments of the GPU and memory voltages
- Complete monitoring of the GPU/memory/Power IC/ambient temperatures
- Complete monitoring of the GPU/memory/board power consumption
- Automatic control of fan speeds according to advanced GPU loading detection
- Power savings that surpasses generic boards
- Customizable functions to add a new level of control for gamers

The Matrix series Radeon HD 4870 currently lacks a price tag and a retail availability date.





Pictures courtesy of Matbe.

Acer's PC business has been doing very well these last few quarters with the company actually surpassing its arch-rivals, HP and Dell in the worldwide consumer notebook market in Q3. Acer's sales topped 5.04 million units in Q3 with those of HP reaching 4.85 million but the two have swapped places when it comes to total notebook shipments - 8.12 million for HP and 7.89 million for Acer.

On third place in the Q3 notebook podium, Dell only managed to sell 5.24 million units.

Those looking for some digital content depicting more or less important events in mankind's history can now browse through Google Image Search for the newly-added images from the Life photo archive. Some 2 million Life photos dating back to the 1750s are now available for search and viewing with the entire archive, which adds up to 10 million photos, set to brought online in the next few months.

To view the first batch of Life pictures check out this page.

The original Big Blue has announced its intention to acquire California-based Transitive Corporation, a provider of cross-platform virtualization solutions and a pioneer in the development of technologies which enables applications made for specific platforms to run on other setups with minimal or no modifications.

By adding Transitive to its empire, IBM will help clients optimize the efficiency and productivity of their computing infrastructure and improve the utilization of the servers that run them. IBM has not disclosed the financial details of the acquisition deal.

Microsoft has just released a new version of the Zune PC software and the Zune player firmware. Updating both to version 3.1, the update adds three more games to the portable player - Sudoku, Space Battle and Checkers, thus bringing the number of games available to five, and also adds a 'Like Minded Listeners' section to Zune Social which will offer users a list of people who listen to more or less the same music as them.

Last but not least, the 3.1 update includes a few tweaks to increase stability and improve performance, something that's always nice to get. To download the new 3.1 Zune software check out Zune_d0t_net.

With the X58 Platinum and Eclipse already reaching stores, MSI is preparing the release of its third X58 motherboard, the Eclipse+. As previously revealed, the motherboard will feature pretty much everything the Eclipse has but will also boast Nvidia's NF200 chip and have four PCI-Express x16 slots.

The Eclipse+ has yet to get a release date but, the board has been showcased at a Core i7 launch so at least we have a first picture of it (seen below). Both the southbridge and NF200 chip are most likely hiding under the big bad black heatsink. Those interested in getting an Eclipse+ will have to wait a while longer but will be able to buy it before the holidays.




Photo courtesy of XFastest.

First seen about a month ago, Foxconn's Quantum Force series X58 motherboard, the 'Blood Rage' has yet to reach stores but it is closing in fast. Seen below from almost every angle, the Blood Rage has support for Core i7 CPUs and triple channel DDR3 1800 MHz memory, boasts a 14 phase Hybrid PWM and DirectFET MOSFET technology and features four PCI-Express x16 slots delivering SLI and CrossFireX.

The new motherboard will be bundled with the 4-in-1 Quantum cooler which provides unique modular NB/SB/VRM cooling with inter-changeable NB cooling adaptors for air, water or extreme setups and also comes with six SATA, two SAS and two eSATA ports, dual Gigabit Ethernet, one SONAR X-Fi audio card, and the QF Panel, a 5.25-inch device that enables quick and easy overclocking. Foxconn has yet to put a price tag on the Blood Rage but you can bet it won't make you say "Hey, that's cheap!"

The corporation named TDK is preparing to release a few new storage solutions aimed for industrial applications - the CFG8A series CompactFlash (CF) cards and SDG8A series solid state drives (SSD). Making use of TDK's GBDriver RA8 memory controller and SLC (single-level cell) NAND flash memory chips, the CF cards and SSDs have a MTBF (mean time before failure) of 500,000 hours and provide read and write speeds of up to 50 MB/s.

Set to enter mass production next month, the CFG8A CF cards go from 128MB to 16GB in capacity while the SDG8A SSDs will be available in 1, 2, 4, 8 and 16GB models. No word on pricing.

In an effort to help Firefox users get the most out of their browser Mozilla has now launched Fashion Your Firefox. Available at fashionyourfirefox.com, the new site provides a category-based list of Firefox add-ons that will enhance the user's browser experience. Arranged under categories such as Shutterbug, Rock Star, News Junkie, Shopaholic, Digital Pack Rat, Social Butterfly and others, the add-ons that can be quickly and easily installed right from the website.

"One of the best parts about Firefox is the amazing richness of our 5,000-plus free add-ons," said Mike Shaver, vice president of engineering at Mozilla. "We're excited to introduce Fashion Your Firefox because it makes it even easier for people to discover useful add-ons that make the browsing experience better and more personal."

To give your Firefox a little add-on makeover visit fashionyourfirefox.com.

HP has now expanded its TouchSmart line-up with a little something that is claimed to be the "industry’s first convertible notebook PC with multi-touch technology designed specifically for consumers." Named TouchSmart tx2, the new portable computer weights under 4.5 pounds, features a 12.1-inch LED backlit BrightView screen, an AMD Turion X2 or Turion X2 Ultra processor, a webcam, and comes with Windows Vista plus HP's MediaSmart digital entertainment software suite.

"Breezing through websites and enjoying photos or video at the tap, whisk or flick of a finger is an entirely new way to enjoy digital content on a notebook PC," said Ted Clark, senior vice president and general manager, Notebook Global Business Unit, Personal Systems Group, HP. "With the introduction of the TouchSmart tx2, HP is providing users an easier, more natural way to interact with their PCs, and furthering touch innovation."

Thanks to integrated multi-touch technologies, the TouchSmart tx2 enables the use of gestures as pinch, rotate, arc, flick, press and drag, and single and double tap. Available in the US, the HP TouchSmart tx2 has a starting price of $1,149.

As just announced, Toshiba is readying a new line-up of 2.5-inch hard drives which are said to be quieter than the average spinner. Going from 120 through 160, 250, 320 and 400 to 500GB, the upcoming 5400 RPM (rotations per minute) drives are halogen-free, SATA 3.0 Gbps interfaces, 8MB worth of buffer and an average seek time of 12ms.

According to Toshiba, the 120, 160 and 250GB models have a seek sound output of 20 dBA while the rest top 25 dBA. The drives are set to be showcased at CES 2009 in January but they'll enter mass production next month.

Microsoft and Google-dumped Yahoo has just been invited to court by DivX due to a major problem with the advertising services agreement signed by the companies last year. According to DivX's complaint, which was filed in the California Superior Court in Santa Clara County, Yahoo is breaching the deal with the announcement that it will stop making the payments stipulated by the contract.

While Yahoo has declared itself disappointed with the decision to take the matter to court, DivX is going all the way and is seeking an unspecified amount of cash money in damages. The deal with Yahoo has brought DivX $1.1 million in Q3, a quite significant sum as the total revenue for Q3 was of $5.3 million.