Lenovo
has recently released the IdeaCentre A720 and B540p all-in-one
computers in Japan and other Asian countries. Both all-in-one computers
feature an 8GB DDR3 RAM, a 1TB hard disk drive, an nVidia GeForce GT
630M graphics card, a Blu-ray drive and a webcam.
The Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 is equipped with a 27-inch multitouch
display (10-finger support) and a 2.3GHz Intel Core i7-3610QM processor,
while the Lenovo IdeaCentre B540p has a 23-inch multitouch display
(10-finger support) and a 3.4GHz Intel Core i7-3770 processor. The
Lenovo IdeaCentre A720 and B540p all-in-one computers are priced at
$1,995 and $1,620, respectively.
Antec is preparing to release a new chassis variant of its SOLO II chassis. The SOLO II-G as TPU reported today:
The case dons a gunmetal front, with matte black panels. Like the
original, the SOLO II-G's USP is its noise insulation, which consists of
1 mm-thick steel sheets and active noise dampening material. The rest
of the SOLO II-G specifications are identical to those of the original.
Measuring 470 x 205 x 440 mm, it weighs 9.1 kg. The ATX mid-tower
includes two 5.25" drive bays, in addition to three ventilated 3.5"/2.5"
bays that are ventilated. Most joints in the case, including the drive
cages, and the fan joints, are cushioned by rubber to dampen vibrations.
The case is ventilated by TrueQuiet low-noise fans. The SOLO II-G is
expected to cost 13,800 JPY (US $172) in Japan, where it hits the stores
on May 12.
ADATA
Technology today announces the launch of a complete lineup of expanded
capacity solid state drives. The new SSD range includes the Premier Pro
SP900 and Premier SP800, both which use new optimized firmware to
utilize greater storage capacity of the NAND Flash components.
Premier Pro SP900Boasting impressive performance
numbers, the Premier Pro SP900 also offers a competitive price
advantage. Maximum sequential read and write speeds are 550/520 MB per
second, with maximum random 4k write speeds of 85,000 IOPS. Capacities
of 64, 128 and 256 GB make the SP900 an outstanding option for upgrading
notebooks that are compatible with the SATA 6 Gb per second
specification.
Premier SP800The Premier SP800 is a SATA II
compliant SSD that also makes efficient use of the Flash storage
capacity, allowing for capacities of 32 GB and 64 GB. Max sequential
read and write speeds are 280/260 MB per second, and max random 4k write
speeds are up to 44,000 IOPS. It enters the market as a high value
entry-level solid state drive for those who are just now making the
transition from mechanical drives.
The Premier Pro Series features high-quality and high-performance
products at a competitive price point. ADATA's high value products in
the Premier Series are designed for those looking for a balance between
price and performance.
The
Leetgion El’Druin gaming mouse is made for role-playing video games
(RPGs). Measuring 126mm x 80mm x 44mm, this ambidextrous mouse features
twelve programmable hotkeys including a 5-directional thumb S-pad, 12
fully programmable hotkeys.
The Avago 9500 has laser sensor (adjustable from 100 to 5000dpi), two
micro switches and a patent-pending Omni Tuner for dpi micro tune and
profile management. Unfortunately, there is no info on pricing so far.
[Leetgion]
More
and more rumors surface that AMD may be preparing to launch a GHz
edition of its Radeon HD 7970. Current stock models are clocked at
925MHz, but recent chips seem to be able to hit 1.25GHz without
struggling.
According to Australian site Atomic MPC, the company has revealed
that the manufacturing process of its next-gen GPUs has improved to the
point where the same average voltages can yield much higher clock
speeds. Recent chips can reach 1.25GHz without struggling, which means a
conservative "GHz Edition" of the 7970 can now safely be rolled out, of
course with scope for much higher overclocking on third-party boards
with more robust coolers. By the time the battle between Red and Green
reaches full-swing, it might not be so easy to call a winner.
The new HD 7970 GHz Edition will come with reference core clock speed of 1050 MHz.
the Palit GeForce GTX 680 JetStream edition with 2GB graphics memory. A
really awesome graphics card that has all variables right. Basically
they took the reference based PCB and started fine-tuning it with
exquisite cooling.
The end result was an impressive looking beast, the customized GTX
680 has a big three fan cooler applied to it. And it's not just three
fans, it's also three slots wide -- eating away a good chunk of space
inside the chassis.
The benefits of that big cooler are copious though, this is a card
you will not hear whilst retaining really good temperatures, yeah it
works pretty darn well in both performance and silence. Palit had
another trick up their sleeves though, a 4GB graphics memory version of
this card. Interestingly enough the 2GB version base clock frequency is
set higher at default for you, at 1084 MHz with a dynamic turbo that
clocks up-to 1150 MHz. And then the memory it runs stock at 6300 MHz
meaning that both the GPU core and thus memory have been factory
overclocked for you.
The 4 GB version however is left completely reference clocked ... so
its a good notch slower then the 2GB version and really performs at the
reference baseline. Why 4 GB ? Well some of you like to game at
extremely high resolutions or have 8xAA as a bare minimum. If a graphics
card runs out of graphics memory it'll starts swapping frames back and
forward in that framebuffer which decreases the overall framerate.
So today we'll look at the 4GB model, we'll specifically place a
focus at some tests at 2560x1600 with a good chunk of AA enabled to see
what difference the extra 2GB graphics memory will bring us in terms of
performance.
 |
| Geforce GTX 690 |
A
couple of days ago NVIDIA announced a new graphics card, correct, the
GeForce GTX 690 has surfaced. A bit unusual as at first the product was
announced, and then later on released in stores and submitted to the
press. The all new dual-GPU beast called GeForce GTX 690.
So albeit the product really doesn't need any introduction, in a
nutshell, NVIDIA took two of their best (Kepler GK104) GPUs, placed them
onto one card, topped it off with a very nice and dandy cooler and
called this symbiosis of components a single solution graphics card.
Internally on that card a small PLX chip functions as a PCI Express
bridge in-between the two GPUs and sure, that means SLI is in full
effect. The release today is very interesting as the GTX 690 is amongst
the most silent multi-GPU solutions , the
performance really is quite seriously staggering and despite all that
brute force the power consumption remains very acceptable.
The end result is a beast of a graphics card that renders games
atrociously fast, even with the most stringent image quality settings.
Obviously the GeForce GTX 690 will break massive records in 3D
performance as the performance is nearly equal to a pair of GeForce GTX
680s in SLI. The two PLX bridged Kepler GK104 GPUs provide 3072 Shader
cores. They are paired with two 2GB memory clusters at 6 GBPs (4GB in
total).
The GPUs on the GeForce GTX 690 have a boost clock of 1019 MHz, and
that's less than 3% away from the GeForce GTX 680 at 1058 MHz, so that
sounds pretty terrific. All other specs are identical; the number of
shader processor cores, memory speed, and memory bandwidth per GPU are
the same on both cards.
The first impressions of the board are really good, a nice sturdy
design, the cooler is nearly a work of art -- we'll talk about it guided
with some photos though as there is much to talk about. Looking at the
printed circuit board (PCB) we spot a vigorous 10-phase digital PWM
design for the cores themselves while the memory will likely receive its
own 2-phase grid allocated. Two 8-pin PCI-E connectors feed the card.
NVIDIA is giving the GTX 690 a maximum power target of +35%, which given
the card’s default power target of roughly 265W means it can be set to
draw up to ~350W, and that means you'll be able to overclock nicely as
well.
Display connectivity then; NVIDIA uses the same 3x DL-DVI and 1x miniDP port configuration that is used on the GTX 590. That will allow for three connected monitors over DL-DVI.
