Wikimanly

LCD Projector

2012-01-10T21:13:00.000-08:00

Description

An LCD projector is a type of video projector for displaying video, images or computer data on a screen or other flat surface. It is a modern analog of the slide projector or overhead projector. To display images, LCD (liquid crystal display) projectors typically send light from a Metal halide lamp through a prism that separates light to three poly silicone panels -- one each for the red, green, and blue components of the video signal. As polarized light passes through the panels (combination of polarizer, LCD panel and analyzer), individual pixels can be opened to allow light to pass or closed to block the light. The combination of open and closed pixels can produce a wide range of colors and shades in the projected image.

LCD Projector Diagram

Graphics tablet

2012-01-10T20:43:00.000-08:00

Description

A graphics tablet (or digitizing tablet, graphics pad, drawing tablet) is a computer input device that allows one to hand-draw images and graphics, similar to the way one draws images with a pencil and paper.
A graphics tablet consists of a flat surface upon which the user may "draw" an image using an attached stylus, a pen-like drawing apparatus. The image generally does not appear on the tablet itself but, rather, is displayed on the computer monitor.

Intel Desktop Board D5400XS

2012-01-10T20:13:00.000-08:00

Features and benefits
Form Factor

Extended ATX (eATX) (12.00 inches by 13 inches [304.80 millimeters by 330.2 millimeters])
Processor

* Support for 45nm Intel® Core™2 Extreme processors in an LGA771 socket with a 1600 MHz system bus
* Support for both 45nm & 65nm Intel® Xeon® processors in an LGA771 socket with a 1600, 1333, or 1066 MHz system bus

Memory

* Four Fully Buffered DIMM (FBDIMM) DDR2 Module sockets
* Support for FBDIMM DDR2 800MHz, 667 MHz, DIMMs
* Support for up to 8 GB of system memory
* Support for ECC and non-ECC memory

Chipset Intel® 5400 Express Chipset
Audio

Intel® High Definition Audio subsystem in the following configuration:

* 8-channel (7.1) Dolby Home Theater Audio subsystem with five analog audio outputs and two S/PDIF digital audio outputs (coaxial and optical)

Nvidia SLI* and ATI CrossFire* multi-GPU platform support

Nvidia SLI and ATI CrossFire technology enables two graphics cards to work together for ultimate 3D gaming performance and visual quality
I/O Control Legacy I/O controller for diskette drive, serial header, and PS/2 ports
LAN support

Gigabit (10/100/1000 Mbits/sec) LAN subsystem
Peripheral interfaces

* 10 USB 2.0 ports (6 external ports, 2 internal headers)
* Six Serial ATA 3.0 Gb/s ports, including 2 eSATA port with RAID support supplied by a Marvell* controller
* Two IEEE-1394a ports (1 external port, 1 internal header)
* Consumer IR receiver and emitter (via internal headers)
* One Parallel ATA IDE interface with UDMA 33, ATA-66/100 support (2 devices supported)

Expansion capabilities

* Two PCI Conventional* bus add-in card connectors (SMBus routed to both PCI Conventional bus add-in card connectors)
* Four primary PCI Express* 1.1 x16 (electrical x16) bus add-in card connector

Microsoft Windows Vista Premium* Ready

With a PC built with Intel® processors and an Intel® Desktop Board, you can experience a more responsive and manageable environment of Microsoft Windows Vista including a new visual sophistication of the Microsoft Windows Aero* interface.
Related products
Processors

* Intel® Core™2 Extreme processor
* Intel® Xeon® processor

Chipsets

* Intel® 5400 Express Chipset

ViewSonic E70fB 17"

2012-01-10T19:43:00.000-08:00

Features

ViewCaresm Warranty & Service Programs
ViewCare Extended Protection When you need us most we're there for you. Get extra protection for your ViewSonic CRT monitorwith an Extended Warranty.
Buy Now

0.20mm horizontal dot pitch
0.25mm diagonal dot pitch
This ultra-fine dot pitch produces clear, crisp images with precise picture definition, even at the highest resolutions.

PerfectFlat® screen for distortion-free images
ViewSonic's award-winning PerfectFlat screen is absolutely flat, providing exceptional precision for video, graphics and engineered imaging.

SuperClear® technology
SuperClear screen technology incorporates enhanced phosphor treatment and optimized glass filter to deliver vivid colors and image clarity.

OnView® controls plus ViewMatch® color for superior screen adjustability
Screen adjustments are made via an on-screen menu using simple controls. This user-friendly control system easily adjusts image quality, size, position and geometry for optimal viewing.

OSD lock secures your settings
When activated, user-controlled OSD lock function prevents changes to monitor settings, maintaining an optimized image.

Three-year limited warranty
24/7 free technical and customer support.*

MSI N9800GTX-T2D512

2012-01-10T19:13:00.000-08:00

Specifications

Core/Memory
675 MHz Core
512MB GDDR3 2200 MHz Memory

GeForce® 9800 GTX graphics cards running on NVIDIA nForce® 7 series Motherboards Unlock Next Generation Platform Features
- Three GeForce® 9800 GTX graphics cards running in 3-way NVIDIA SLI® mode on the new NVIDIA nForce® 780i and 790i motherboards enable up to 2.8x performance increase over a single GPU for the ultimate gaming upgrade.
- NVIDIA HybridPower™HybridPower™ technology delivers graphics performance when you need it and low-power operation when you don’t. HybridPower technology lets you switch from your GeForce 9800 GTX graphics card to your motherboard GeForce GPU when running less graphically-intensive applications for a silent, low power PC experience.
- The GeForce 9800 GTX graphics card is designed for the new PCI Express 2.0 bus architecture featured in nForce 7 series motherboards offering the highest data transfer speeds for the most bandwidth-hungry games and 3D applications.
- The new ESA-enabled NVIDIA control panel provides a state-of-the-art interface for performance tuning and monitoring of your GeForce 9800 GTX graphics cards on nForce platforms.

Geforce 9800GTX Chipset Features

*NVIDIA unified architecture
*Full Microsoft DirectX 10 Support
*PCI Express 2.0 Support
*Giga Thread Technology
*NVIDIA Quantum Effects Technology
*Edge Enhancement
*Noise Reduction
*NVIDIA ForceWare unified Driver Architecture (UDA)
*128-bit floating point High Dynamic-Range (HDR) Lighting
*16x Anti-aliasing Technology
*OpenGL 2.1 Optimizations and Support
*Dual 400MHz RAMDACs
*Dual Dual-link DVI Support
*NVIDIA PureVideo HD Technology
*Discrete, Programmable Video Processor
*Dual-stream Hardware Acceleration
*Dynamic Contrast Enhancement & Color Stretch
*HDCP Capable
*Advanced Spatial-Temporal De-Interlacing
*Hardware Decode Acceleration
*High-Quality Scaling
*Bad Edit Correction
*NVIDIA Lumenex Engine
*Inverse Telecine (3:2 & 2:2 Pulldown Correction)

Video Output Function
*Dual-link DVI-I x 2
*TV-Out x1(via S-Video to Composite)
*HDTV-out
*VGA (via DVI to D-Sub adaptor)
*HDMI (DVI to HDMI adaptor)

AnandTech giving away a X79-UD5 board…any comment?

2012-01-10T19:00:00.000-08:00

For the sake of a simple comment, you can be the proud owner of a GIGABYTE X79-UD5 motherboard. Yep…you heard me correctly. Just head over to AnandTech.com, make a suitable comment below and your name will be put in the hat for the prize draw. The competition runs until 11AM EST on December 2nd, which is TOMORROW!

AnandTech X79-UD5 give away!

note: US residents only

Sound Card

2012-01-10T18:43:00.000-08:00

Example image: Sound card

Example image: Sound card

Description

A sound card (also known as an audio card) is a computer expansion card that facilitates the input and output of audio signals to/from a computer under control of computer programs. Typical uses of sound cards include providing the audio component for multimedia applications such as music composition, editing video or audio, presentation/education, and entertainment (games). Many computers have sound capabilities built in, while others require additional expansion cards to provide for audio capability.

Onboard sound card connector

‘Hardware Secrets’ see outstanding value in the GIGABYTE X79-UD3

2012-01-10T18:30:00.000-08:00

Gabriel Torres writing for Hardware Secrets has just published an in-depth first look at our entry-level X79 offering, the GIGABYTE X79-UD3. Obviously the X79-UD3 model is aimed more cost conscious X79 platform builders, but as well as offering great value, we’ve also tried hard to offer a board with a complete range of features. Here’s a sample of what Gabriel had to say:

“Today there are only three socket 2011 motherboards cheaper than the Gigabyte X79-UD3, the ASRock X79 Extreme-4M (USD 220), the MSI X79MA-GD45 (USD 230), and the ASRock Extreme4 (USD 235), and all of them have fewer features and don’t come with four PCI Express x16 slots. True competitors from MSI and ASUS cost more, making the Gigabyte X79-UD3 your best option if you want to save money while building a PC based on a Core i7 “Sandy Bridge-E” processor with four video cards and yet have a high-quality motherboard with lots of extra options.”

You can catch the full article here on Hardware Secrets.

More details about the GIGABYTE X79-UD3 can be found here.

DDR2 SDRAM

2012-01-10T18:13:00.000-08:00

DDR2 SDRAM is a double data rate synchronous dynamic random access memory interface. It supersedes the original DDR SDRAM specification and the two are not compatible. In addition to double pumping the data bus as in DDR SDRAM, (transferring data on the rising and falling edges of the bus clock signal), DDR2 employs an I/O buffer between the memory and the data bus so that the data bus can be run at the twice the speed of the memory clock. The two factors combine to achieve a total of 4 data transfers per memory clock cycle.

With data being transferred 64 bits at a time, DDR2 SDRAM gives a transfer rate of (memory clock rate) × 2 (for bus clock multiplier) × 2 (for dual rate) × 64 (number of bits transferred) / 8 (number of bits/byte). Thus with a memory clock frequency of 100 MHz, DDR2 SDRAM gives a maximum transfer rate of 3200 MB/s.

Since the memory clock runs at half the external data bus clock rate, DDR2 memory operating at the same external data bus clock rate as DDR will provide the same bandwidth but with higher latency, resulting in inferior performance. Alternatively, DDR2 memory operating at twice the external data bus clock rate as DDR may provide twice the bandwidth with the same latency (in nanoseconds). The best-rated DDR2 memory modules are at least twice as fast as the best-rated DDR memory modules.

Guru3D give the GIGABYTE X79-UD7 some Dutch love…

2012-01-10T18:00:00.000-08:00

Hilbert Hagedoorn just gave our X79-UD7 motherboard stamp of approval in his latest review for Guru3D.com. Designed to offer overclockers all the tools and features needed to break serous records on Intel’s new Sandy Bridge-E processors, the GIGABYTE X79-UD7 wears our OC badge with pride. After having put the board through its paces, here’s a sample of what Hilbert had to say:

“The X79 UF7 is an impressive motherboard. It's feature rich, a great overclocker and has downright gorgeous looks. If you are a novice overclocker and go for easy, flick the OC button at the rear IO backplate and it will get you an instant performance boost. Overclocking itself with the new 3D BIOS is fun as well, it really is an easy to work in environment. Gigabyte implemented two uEFI BIOSes by the way, you can can switch in-between them (say a normal and high performance profile), good stuff.

For overclocking itself we reached 4800 MHz in a matter if minutes and 5 GHz after a while. That last step did need some fine-tuning though. Mind you though that we work with vanilla picked engineering sample CPUs, we can never guarantee you'll achieve the same results at home. It works vice versa as well, we've seen end-users with much higher overclocks then we have ever achieved, good on ya ;)”

The UD7’s dashing orange paint job gleaned some additional love, which is not so surprising - coming from the heart of a Dutchman.

“Now I live in the Netherlands, we dig Orange as its our national color, as such I adore the looks of the motherboard, but that won't be the same for everybody though. The color is very out there. If you like it, then you're in luck as it's one of the best X79 motherboards out there on the market that matches your style, looks, features and options.”

Check out the full review here on Guru3D.

Details about the GIGABYTE X79-UD7 can be found here.

Wi-Fi Card

2012-01-10T17:43:00.000-08:00

PCI Card WiFi

Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance for certified products based on the IEEE 802.11 standards. This certification warrants interoperability between different wireless devices.

In some countries (and in this article) the term Wi-Fi is often used by the public as a synonym for IEEE 802.11-wireless LAN (WLAN).

Not every IEEE 802.11 compliant device is certified by the Wi-Fi Alliance, which may be because of certification costs that must be paid for each certified device type. The lack of the Wi-Fi logo does not imply that a WLAN-device is incompatible to certified Wi-Fi-devices.

Wi-Fi is supported by most personal computer operating systems, many game consoles, laptops, smartphones, printers, and other peripherals.

Sandy Bridge plus Z68 on a budget? eTeknix choose the GIGABYTE Z68AP-D3

2012-01-10T17:30:00.000-08:00

Andy Ruffell, writing for UK techies eTeknix, yesterday published his in-depth review of our Z68AP-D3 board, a motherboard that’s aimed squarely at those of us who want to taste the pleasures of Intel’s latest Sandy Bridge CPUs coupled with the latest Z68 chipset, without causing injury to our bank balance. At a smidgen over 80 British Pounds, Andy saw plenty of evidence to warrant a ‘Bang for Buck’ award, however he was actually impressed enough with the board’s overall performance to wheel out the more prestigious ‘Editor’s Choice’ award:

“Having a quick talk about the rating, which we don’t normally delve into, I wanted to clarify why this board earns our prestigious Editor’s Choice Award. It was destined to gain the Bang For Buck Award but the performance results showed us that it can rival some of the bigger, more expensive boards on the market, and the icing on the cake was how well it overclocked. The board really did meet, exceed and literally fly past our expectations, and we have to congratulation Gigabyte on making such a fantastic board.”

High praise from Andy. Cheers. Catch the full review on eTeknix here.

Find out more about the Z68AP-D3 motherboard here.

ATX MidTower Computer Case

2012-01-10T17:13:00.000-08:00

A computer case (also known as a computer chassis, cabinet, tower, box, enclosure, housing or simply case) is the enclosure that contains the main components of a computer. A computer case is sometimes referred to metonymously as a CPU, referring to the primary component housed within the case; this was a more common term in the earlier days of home computers, when peripherals other than the motherboard were usually housed in their own separate cases.

ATX Midle Tower Computer Case

Video: GIGABYTE G1.Assassin 2 unboxed on Newegg TV…

2012-01-10T17:00:00.000-08:00

You know, I just cannot resist a good unboxing video…all that plastic wrapping and crisp packaging…you can almost smell the fresh PCB scent. So you can imagine how I felt when I saw that Paul from Newegg TV had just uploaded a new video showcasing our top-of-the-line G1-Killer board, the X79-based G1.Assassin 2. Take a look.

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Check out more details on the G1.Assassin 2 on our GIGABYTE website here.

Newegg pricing here.

Mousepad

2012-01-10T16:43:00.000-08:00

Mousepad

A mousepad is a surface for enhancing the usability of a computer mouse. Modern mousepads are typically made of lesser density rubber composites with fabric bonded to the upper surface. However, many other types of material have been used, including fabric, plastics, recycled rubber tires, silicone rubber, leather, glass, cork, wood, aluminum, stone and stainless steel. High-quality gaming mats are usually made from plastic, aluminum or high-tech fibers.

HardwareZone just put up their GIGABYTE X79-UD7 review – “Raising The Bar Higher”

2012-01-10T16:30:00.000-08:00

HardwareZone just did a review of the GIGABYTE X79-UD7. They pitted it against the MSI X79A-GD65 (8D) and used an Asus Rampage 3 Extreme as a comparison only to find the UD7 steam roll its competition in spectacular fashion.

Performance Unleashed

The series of tests that we employed on the Gigabyte X79-UD7 was the same as the one that we had used on the MSI X79A-GD65 (8D). Below is a rundown of the components and benchmarks that we had. We also compared the X79-UD7's scores to those of the ASUS Rampage III Black Edition to see the former's advantage over an X58-based platform like the latter.

By and large, we can see that the X79-UD7 fared better than the X79A-GD65 (8D), and, logically, much more than the X58-based Rampage II Black Edition motherboard. On Futuremark's PCMark Vantage, it is obvious that the X79-UD7, coupled with a powerful graphics card like the Gainward GTX 580 Phantom 3 1536MB, got a very high score on the Gaming category of the benchmark. Such an impressive gaming performance remained consistent with the scores that the X79-UD7 garnered on the game benchmarks of Warhammer 40000: Dawn of War II – Retribution and Metro 2033, wherein the Gigabyte overshadowed the MSI and the ASUS boards.

DDR3 SDRAM

2012-01-10T16:13:00.000-08:00

In electronic engineering, DDR3 SDRAM or double-data-rate three synchronous dynamic random access memory is a random access memory interface technology used for high bandwidth storage of the working data of a computer or other digital electronic devices. DDR3 is part of the SDRAM family of technologies and is one of the many DRAM (dynamic random access memory) implementations.

DDR3 SDRAM is an improvement over its predecessor, DDR2 SDRAM, and the two are not compatible. The primary benefit of DDR3 is the ability to transfer at twice the data rate of DDR2 (I/O at 8× the data rate of the memory cells it contains), thus enabling higher bus rates and higher peak rates than earlier memory technologies. There is no corresponding reduction in latency, as that is a feature of the DRAM array and not the interface.[citation needed] In addition, the DDR3 standard allows for chip capacities of 512 megabits to 8 gigabits, effectively enabling a maximum memory module size of 16 gigabytes.

With data being transferred 64 bits at a time per memory module, DDR3 SDRAM gives a transfer rate of (memory clock rate) × 4 (for bus clock multiplier) × 2 (for data rate) × 64 (number of bits transferred) / 8 (number of bits/byte). Thus with a memory clock frequency of 100 MHz, DDR3 SDRAM gives a maximum transfer rate of 6400 MB/s.

It should be emphasized that DDR3 is a DRAM interface specification; the actual DRAM arrays that store the data are the same as in any other type of DRAM, and have similar performance.

The advantages of Bluetooth 4.0

2012-01-10T16:00:00.000-08:00

As you m ay already know, three of our new X79 series motherboard models are currently sold with a bundled Wi-Fi / Bluetooth PCIe card (model No: GC-WIFI), something that more and more DIY builders are keen to see, especially on our high-end models. However, one thing that you may not be aware of, is that this exclusive GIGABYTE PCIe card offers support for the latest Bluetooth 4.0 standard which is a new low power, high-speed standard that is supported by devices such as the new iPhone 4S.

Backwards compatible with previous Bluetooth revisions, Bluetooth 4.0 brings some clear advantages to the table. These include fast device pairing, low latency communication and low power consumption. This means that your iPhone 4S, or Bluetooth 4.0 device can more easily connect to your PC via the motherboard’s PCIe adapter and take advantage of the low latency connection to move data from the iOS device and the PC much faster than previously possible.

I’m sure many of you have tried using your smart phone as a remote control for PC. Well, imagine taking that one step further. One such scenario with Bluetooth 4.0 is that you could not only use you iOS device as a remote control for your PC, but that the Bluetooth 4.0 connection would be resilient and fast enough to even let you use the device as a game controller, just like a wireless PS3 controller. This is possible because the lower latencies provided by the Bluetooth 4.0 specification, mean that the response time between the PC and the device would be virtually instant, with almost no delay. Fast enough to play video games.

According to reports in the media, Apple is also talking about offering AirPlay support to Bluetooth 4.0 devices too. This exciting technology would allow you to play any audio from your iPhone 4S through the speakers of your PC. If you had more than one Bluetooth 4.0 capable PC in your home, you’d even be able to select which machine or machines to pump the audio through. Pretty cool stuff.

Also, as I mentioned, Bluetooth 4.0 also has lower power demands than previous revisions which means that if you are connected to your PC using the Bluetooth 4.0 connection, it shouldn’t drain your device’s battery. This should make a big difference compared to say, a regular Wi-Fi controller, which typically require substantial power.

While Bluetooth 4.0 is still very much a new technology, we certainly expect to see more compatible devices emerge early next year. But if you’re thinking of the best way to connect to your PC, Bluetooth 4.0 clearly offers some real advantages, making it easier than ever to connect to and share data between your mobile device and your PC.

The exclusive GIGABYTE GC-WIFI PCIe card is currently bundled with GIGABYTE G1.Assassin 2, X79-UD7 and X79-UD5 motherboards.

RS-232

2012-01-10T15:43:00.000-08:00

In telecommunications, RS-232 (Recommended Standard 232) is a standard for serial binary data signals connecting between a DTE (Data Terminal Equipment) and a DCE (Data Circuit-terminating Equipment). It is commonly used in computer serial ports. A similar ITU-T standard is V.24.

The standard does not define a maximum cable length but instead defines the maximum capacitance that a compliant drive circuit must tolerate. A widely-used rule-of-thumb indicates that cables more than 50 feet (15 metres) long will have too much capacitance, unless special cables are used. By using low-capacitance cables, full speed communication can be maintained over larger distances up to about 1,000 feet. For longer distances, other signal standards are better suited to maintain high speed.

Since the standard definitions are not always correctly applied, it is often necessary to consult documentation, test connections with a breakout box, or use trial and error to find a cable that works when interconnecting two devices. Connecting a fully-standard-compliant DCE device and DTE device would use a cable that connects identical pin numbers in each connector (a so-called "straight cable"). "Gender changers" are available to solve gender mismatches between cables and connectors. Connecting devices with different types of connectors requires a cable that connects the corresponding pins according to the table above. Cables with 9 pins on one end and 25 on the other are common. Manufacturers of equipment with 8P8C connectors usually provide a cable with either a DB-25 or DE-9 connector (or sometimes interchangeable connectors so they can work with multiple devices). Poor-quality cables can cause false signals by crosstalk between data and control lines (such as Ring Indicator).

Gigabyte’s X79 Plug-Fest: A Bloggers Perspective

2012-01-10T15:30:00.000-08:00

I just came across a really cool account of our X79 plugfest even in Kula Lumpur last month published by bartman1973. In good old fashioned blogger style, bartman treats us to a detailed blow-by-blow account of his trip from Singapore to KL, including tons of photos of the event, the city, the food, the people and more. A real taste of what went down in KL that weekend….Awesome.

I love the way the photos take you on a journey, giving you a taste of what kind of fun overclockers get up to on a Saturday night in the Malaysian capital. Cheers bartman1973. Great coverage. Check out bartaman’s full blog entry on his blog here.

Mobile modems and routers

2012-01-10T15:13:00.000-08:00

Modems which use mobile phone lines (GPRS, UMTS, HSPA, EVDO, WiMax, etc.), are known as cellular modems. Cellular modems can be embedded inside a laptop or appliance, or they can be external to it. External cellular modems are datacards and cellular routers. The datacard is a PC card or ExpressCard which slides into a PCMCIA/PC card/ExpressCard slot on a computer. The best known brand of cellular modem datacards is the AirCard made by Sierra Wireless.[citation needed] (Many people just refer to all makes and models as AirCards, when in fact this is a trademarked brand name.)[citation needed] Nowadays, there are USB cellular modems as well that use a USB port on the laptop instead of a PC card or ExpressCard slot. A cellular router may or may not have an external datacard (AirCard) that slides into it. Most cellular routers do allow such datacards or USB modems, except for the WAAV, Inc. CM3 mobile broadband cellular router. Cellular Routers may not be modems per se, but they contain modems or allow modems to be slid into them. The difference between a cellular router and a cellular modem is that a cellular router normally allows multiple people to connect to it (since it can route, or support multipoint to multipoint connections), while the modem is made for one connection.

Most of the GSM cellular modems come with an integrated SIM cardholder (i.e., Huawei E220, Sierra 881, etc.) The CDMA (EVDO) versions do not use SIM cards, but use Electronic Serial Number (ESN) instead.

The cost of using a cellular modem varies from country to country. Some carriers implement flat rate plans for unlimited data transfers. Some have caps (or maximum limits) on the amount of data that can be transferred per month. Other countries have plans that charge a fixed rate per data transferred—per megabyte or even kilobyte of data downloaded; this tends to add up quickly in today's content-filled world, which is why many people are pushing for flat data rates.

The faster data rates of the newest cellular modem technologies (UMTS, HSPA, EVDO, WiMax) are also considered to be broadband cellular modems and compete with other broadband modems below.

Anandtech select GIGABYTE motherboards in Seasonal Buys Guide 2011

2012-01-10T15:00:00.000-08:00

Anandtech has just published their buyer’s guide for the forthcoming holiday season. Zach Throckmorton sketches out a bunch of systems tailored for a mainstream high-end user. We are of course deeply flattered to see that Zach has opted for GIGABYTE motherboards for both the ‘Gamer’s Delight’ and the ‘Productivity Powerhouse’ builds.

Gamer’s Delight: The GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3

“Gigabyte's GA-Z68XP-UD3 is an ATX form factor motherboard with all of the bells and whistles. It is a very capable overclocker and in my experience very reliable as well. While it's definitely not in the highest echelon of LGA 1155 motherboards, it is a solid higher-end mainstream motherboard. Perhaps of most interest to gamers, it supports both SLI and CrossFire….”

Productivity Powerhouse: The GIGABYTE X79-UD3

“Gigabyte's GA-X79-UD3 is an ATX form factor motherboard that represents a good value amongst X79 chipset boards. If your applications benefit from GPU acceleration, it has two PCIe x16 and two PCIe x8 lanes....”

Check out the full guide at Anandtech here.

GIGABYTE Z68XP-UD3 motherboard webpage.

GIGABYTE X79-UD3 motherboard webpage.

Toshiba-Made MacBook Air SSD Hardware Now Available to All

2012-01-10T14:43:00.000-08:00

If you were wanting to get your hands on some of the Toshiba-made SSD hardware that found its way into the latest MacBook Airs, you’re in luck. Toshiba has announced that their Blade X-gale SSDs are now available for the masses. Offering up speeds of 220MB/s read and 180MB/s write, the X-gale hardware will certainly add some pep to your computer’s step. Though not the fastest SSD on the market, they are certainly faster than your standard platter-based drives.

The X-gale SSD drives will come in 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB capacities. Pricing is not yet available.

Source: http://gadgetsteria.com/2010/11/08/toshiba-made-macbook-air-ssd-hardware-now-available-to-all/

A PC for musicians: Orange OPC

2012-01-10T14:30:00.000-08:00

A friend pointed the Orange OPC out to me as a neat little system that uses a GIGABYTE motherboard. It’s an awesome looking portable amplifier PC designed by musicians for musicians with features like a 24 bit guitar/instrument interface, JBL speakers, post-processing EQ, 7.1 surround sound outputs and quick USB charging for an iPad (if you use Apple Garage Band for example).

It also comes with a whole raft of full version software including Amplitube3, PreSonus Studio One, Acoustica Mixcraft 5 and EZdrummer Lite.

They don’t mention what GIGABYTE motherboard they are using, but judging from the features, size of the case and the Intel Core i3 CPU, it looks to be an H67N-USB3-B3 (I may be wrong though).

Check out the Orange OPC website for product introduction and demo videos, as well as info on how to buy it.

New Marvell Quad-Core CPU Is Aimed at HPC and Servers

2012-01-10T14:13:00.000-08:00

After a fairly long time during which ARM stated its intention to power processors aimed at the enterprise market, Marvell seems to have finally turned this goal into a reality with the ARMADA XP.

So far, the x86 architecture has practically owned not just the consumer, but the enterprise market as well.

This is quite obvious from the fact that servers, data centers and HPC (high-performance computing) systems, supercomputers as it were, use either AMD or Intel chips.

Now, Marvell has issued a press release to announce that it has completed the very first ARM-based chip that is to be used in the making of such applications.

It is known as ARMADA XP and, on just 10 watts of power, provides a performance of 16.600 DMIPS.

It is a quad-core chip whose frequency can go as high as 1.6 GHz and which has 2 MB of L2 cache and a memory interface of 64 bits, with support for DDR3, DDR3 and DDR3L memory, plus ECC.

Said chips also has the benefits of four PCI-e Gen 2.0 units, multiple USB ports, up to 16 high-speed multi-functional Marvell SERDES lanes (PCI-e, SATA, SGMII, QSGMII) as well as four Gigabit networking ports.

The Marvell ARMADA XP is already sampling to customers.

"Marvell's introduction of a powerful solution for enterprise-class cloud computing applications is a very important milestone in the mobile Internet revolution - cloud computing mobile servers like those powered by the ARMADA XP are the key link in what I envision to be a seamless, unified ecosystem of mobile connected devices, information appliances and smart 'furnishings,'" said Weili Dai, Co-Founder of Marvell.

"Marvell's leadership in mobility, consumer, storage, enterprise networking and Wi-Fi products completes the circuit, delivering a powerful end-to-end total solution to anyone connected to the new global mesh, from consumers to small business and the enterprise," Dai added.

Source: http://news.softpedia.com/news/New-Marvell-Quad-Core-CPU-Is-Aimed-at-HPC-and-Servers-165338.shtml