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Latest AMD FirePro card has six display outputs, costs $3,499
by Cyril Kowaliski — 12:47 AM on September 9, 2010

Say hello to the new king of AMD's professional graphics lineup: the FirePro V9800. This freshly announced offering boasts 4GB of RAM, six display outputs, the highest overall performance of any FirePro desktop card released to date... and an appropriate $3,499 price tag.

Under the hood, the FirePro V9800 sports the same Cypress chip as the FirePro V8800 we wrote about in April. In fact, the two cards have a lot in common: 1600 stream processors, 147.2GB/s of memory bandwidth, and even identical clock speeds. The new card purportedly reaches slightly higher scores in SPECviewperf 11, however, and it actually has a lower thermal envelope despite packing twice as much memory. (AMD quotes a TDP of 199W, about 9W below that of the V8800.)

Of course, the V9800 also sets itself apart with six Mini DisplayPort outputs—for which AMD supplies six Mini DisplayPort to DVI adapters in the box. The card supports frame lock and genlock for syncing up displays, and it will serve up stereoscopic 3D graphics, as well.

Some folks might consider this a tardy launch for a Cypress part. Yes, we've all heard the rumors about the imminent arrival of next-gen AMD GPUs, but product cycles for professional parts follow a different schedule. AMD tells us there's a lot of time-consuming internal testing and certification involved, and professional customers just don't upgrade as often.

On a semi-related note, AMD notes that it's hard at work on a new professional graphics driver update that will bring about substantial performance improvements. Expect gains of 15-80% in SPECviewperf 11, the company says. Those gains should appear in the upcoming 8.76 beta driver.

5 comments —
Last by Meadows at 2:16 AM on 09/09/10

iOS 4.1 arrives with proximity sensor, Bluetooth fixes
by Cyril Kowaliski — 2:37 PM on September 8, 2010

For those who haven't been spending their day clicking "Check for Update" in iTunes, Apple has finally released iOS 4.1 for the iPhone and iPod touch. The free update includes new features like Game Center, iTunes TV show rentals, iTunes Ping support, high-definition video uploads, and the ability to take high-dynamic-range photos with the iPhone 4. Perhaps more importantly, though, the update includes bug fixes for the iPhone 4's proximity sensor and Bluetooth problems, not to mention a much-needed performance tune-up for the iPhone 3G.

Our intrepid Editor in Chief Scott Wasson installed the update on both his iPhones. As Scott tweeted earlier, he no longer sounds like he's underwater when talking over his Bluetooth headset, and vigorously mashing his face against the iPhone while on a call doesn't do anything—finally, no more pictures of Scott's ear in our TR staff inboxes. Scott also says the iPhone 3G performance tune-up worked, although he questions whether Apple has restored full pre-iOS 4.0 performance.

For my part, I decided to give the new HDR functionality a shot:

The iPhone's camera app doesn't provide a whole lot of control, but it does save both non-HDR and HDR shots at the same time, and it does a reasonably good job of evening out wide differences in luminosity.

30 comments —
Last by ClickClick5 at 1:09 AM on 09/09/10

Poll: How important is USB 3.0?
by Geoff Gasior — 1:38 PM on September 8, 2010

After making its debut on high-end motherboards, USB 3.0 is quickly trickling down to more affordable boards and making its way into notebooks. It's easy to see why. USB 2.0 has been around forever and lacks the bandwidth to keep up with today's external storage devices. External Serial ATA never really took off, likely due to the fact that early implementations required auxiliary power connectors. SuperSpeed USB 3.0 offers plenty of power and gobs of bandwidth with a single cable, making it a far more convenient solution.

But do you care? That's the subject of this week's poll, which asks for your thoughts on USB 3.0. You can cast your vote over on the right column on the front page or after clicking on the comment link below.

Last week's poll asked for your thoughts on AMD's decision to get rid of the ATI brand. Nearly half of those who voted (48%) are indifferent. 28% think it's a good idea, while only 24% believe that AMD should have kept the ATI name alive. The Radeon name will live on, of course.

60 comments —
Last by Jambe at 12:18 AM on 09/09/10

Google begins rolling out instant search
by Cyril Kowaliski — 12:08 PM on September 8, 2010

If results start popping up instantly the next time you type into the Google search box, don't be alarmed. You're looking at the new Instant Search feature, which Google has begun rolling out to some users signed into Google accounts.

The new feature basically lets you forgo hitting the enter key (or clicking the search button, if you're that kind of person), although it works only on newer browsers: Chrome 5, Firefox 3, Safari 5, Internet Explorer 8, and anything more recent. You also need to be checking the U.S., British, French, German, Italian, Spanish, or Russian version of the Google portal. At least with the U.S. portal, a bigger version of the Google logo heralds the change.

Lest you think Google is merely catering to the lazy, the search giant claims Instant Search can save two to five seconds per search. Extrapolating, it adds, "If everyone uses Google Instant globally, we estimate this will save more than 3.5 billion seconds a day. That's 11 hours saved every second." Too bad I usually initiate searches straight from my browser's address bar—I could use a few seconds of saved time.

37 comments —
Last by swampfox at 8:04 PM on 09/08/10

New barebones Zbox has Blu-ray drive, USB 3.0 connectivity
by Geoff Gasior — 11:24 AM on September 8, 2010

We're particularly fond of Zotac's Zbox barebones nettops for their low prices, ease of assembly, and sensible baseline hardware specs. A couple of key ingredients have always been missing, though; the Zbox systems we've tested have lacked optical drives and USB 3.0 connectivity. The former is rather important for anyone looking to put together a home-theater PC capable of playing Blu-ray movies, and the latter is a much needed step up from the painfully dated USB 2.0 standard.

Zotac has addressed both omissions with a couple of fresh Zbox offerings that come wrapped in an all-new enclosure. Behold, the Zbox Blu-ray HD-ID33 in all its slender, brushed aluminum sexines:

As you might have guessed, that's a slot-loading Blu-ray drive up front. The optical drive can also burn CDs and DVDs, and you'll find one SuperSpeed USB 3.0 port along the front edge and another at the rear. Under the hood, the HD-ID33 features a dual-core Atom D525 CPU, a next-gen Ion GPU, Gigabit Ethernet, and 802.11n Wi-Fi. As with other Zbox systems, you add your own memory, hard drive, and operating system. The ID33 has two DDR2 SO-DIMM slots, a 2.5" hard drive bay, and Mini PCIe slot if you want to toss in a TV tuner. An ID34 model is also available with 2GB of memory and a 250GB hard drive already installed. Both versions come with Blu-ray playback software from Cyberlink.

The press release doesn't mention when we can expect these new systems to hit store shelves or how much they might cost. However, we will be taking a closer look at the ID33 very soon. Stay tuned.

30 comments —
Last by MadManOriginal at 10:29 PM on 09/08/10

Samsung predicts memory oversupply
by Cyril Kowaliski — 9:14 AM on September 8, 2010

We applauded the recent drop in memory prices in our new system guide yesterday. Apparently, prices could be headed down further still. DigiTimes says Samsung semiconductor chief Oh-Hyun Kwon stated at a media conference that DRAM supply may start outstripping demand later this year:

Kwon pointed out that total DRAM output worldwide will certainly grow sequentially in the third quarter, as suppliers ramp up their production using more advanced processes. However, if PC sales continue to slow, the DRAM sector will see an oversupply through the first quarter of 2011, according to Kwon.

Oversupply is precisely what caused the rock-bottom memory prices we enjoyed throughout 2008 and 2009. Memory makers were hit pretty hard by that episode, with one of them, Qimonda, even filing for insolvency in January of last year.

As a consumer, a return to $50 4GB DDR3 memory kits wouldn't be unwelcome. That said, memory manufacturers going bankrupt probably doesn't help anyone in the long run. Let's hope prices can become more attractive without the memory industry collapsing into itself this time.

18 comments —
Last by ronch at 9:10 PM on 09/08/10

Wednesday Shortbread
by Ronald Hanaki — 8:28 AM on September 8, 2010

Eight is Enough

1. Fudzilla reports Nvidia preparing to lose millions
2. AMD: No more legacy driver (in German)
3. VR-Zone reports Intel to announce USB 3.0 support in Cougar Point chipset
4. Fudzilla reports AMD VP uses netbook word and
   Nvidia's GeForce GTS 450 shows up in more shops
5. TorrentFreak reports police in file-sharing raids across Europe, WikiLeaks host targeted
6. Softpedia has new Internet Explorer 9 beta UI video sneak peek
7. Firefox 3.6.9
8. Ars Technica reports Sony releases mandatory PS3 update in response to jailbreak

Read more...

15 comments —
Last by Goty at 5:36 PM on 09/08/10

Spy shots show next-gen Radeons
by Cyril Kowaliski — 6:00 AM on September 8, 2010

Fresh GPU rumors ahoy! This time, images of two purportedly unannounced graphics products from AMD have appeared in a pair of threads in the Chiphell forums. You'll need to register to see them... or you can just hit VR-Zone, which grabbed the pictures and posted them for everyone to see.

The shots show an alleged "Cayman XT" card, which may make it into stores as the Radeon HD 6870. As VR-Zone points out, that card looks quite a bit like the current 5870, but it has more display outputs—five in total. Based on that blurry photo, I'm guessing those outputs are dual DVI, dual Mini DisplayPort, and a single HDMI.

Next up: Caicos, which could debut as the Radeon HD 6350. That part is a little less exciting, being a low-end product and all, but VR-Zone has relayed a surprising amount of details about it. Word is that this card will have a larger, faster graphics chip than AMD's existing Radeon HD 5450, although said chip will still have to make do with a 64-bit memory interface and DDR3 memory.

Besides the obvious, these leaks may be hints that AMD has a top-to-bottom lineup of Radeon HD 6000-series graphics cards up its sleeve. Nvidia, meanwhile, still hasn't released the lower-end elements of its GeForce 400 series.

10 comments —
Last by dragmor at 3:48 PM on 09/08/10

Fifth Firefox 4 beta enables Direct2D by default
by Cyril Kowaliski — 5:12 PM on September 7, 2010

The final release of Firefox 4.0 is drawing closer and closer. Earlier today, Mozilla outed its fifth beta version of the browser, which enables Direct2D acceleration by default and includes a handful of other, miscellaneous changes. You can grab the new beta through this page.

Direct2D acceleration was already present in the fourth beta, but enabling it required digging through the about:config page and flipping obscure settings. This time, according to the release notes, the browser offers hardware acceleration right out of the box for everyone running Windows 7.

Other changes include a new "Firefox" menu with more options, support for a new audio application programming interface, and support for the HSTS security protocol. More details are available on the Mozilla blog. (Thanks to TR reader SH SOTN for the tip.)

42 comments —
Last by aggybong at 11:21 PM on 09/08/10

$7,669 gaming PC has integrated Xbox 360
by Matt Trinca — 3:59 PM on September 7, 2010

Origin PC announced a new gaming desktop called "The Big O" today. If you're one of countless gamers wishing you could play Halo 3 and StarCraft II on the same rig, then Origin PC has your back; "The Big O" boasts an integrated, liquid-cooled Xbox 360 Slim.

The most expensive configuration costs $16,999 and sports dual Xeon X5680 processors overclocked to 4.3GHz, quad GeForce GTX 480 graphics cards, 12GB of Corsair memory, dual 1-kilowatt power supplies, 200GB of solid-state storage, and a pair of 2TB WD Caviar Black hard drives handling mass storage duties. A lower-end model that rings up at mere $7,669 dials back the specs considerably, most notably cutting the dual Xeons in favor of a single Core i7-930, while still maintaining the integrated Xbox goodness.

51 comments —
Last by paulWTAMU at 11:14 PM on 09/08/10

New optical film could dramatically improve LCD efficiency
by Geoff Gasior — 3:51 PM on September 7, 2010

Although modern LCD panels typically consume much less power than the CRT monitors they've replaced, current technology is still quite inefficient. According to MIT's Technology Review, even today's best LCDs only deliver 8% of the luminance generated by their backlights. However, a new optical film developed by a research group at the University of Michigan could boost that number to 36%. Sounds intriguing, but how does it work? Technology Review explains:

The color filter is a three-layer sandwich of an insulating material in between two layers of aluminum; the entire stack is less than 200 nanometers thick and is etched with periodic slits, like a grate. The distance between the slits and their width determines the color they'll produce when illuminated by a white backlight. This is because the grating patterns are on the same size scale as the wavelength of visible light.

Red, green, and blue subpixels can reportedly be created with these tiny grates more easily than traditional methods, which use individually deposited pigments to color subpixels. The grates also reflect polarized light that would otherwise be absorbed by the polarizing films used in contemporary displays. With the aid of mirrors, this reflected light can be directed back toward the user, further increasing display brightness.

With the technology proven, researchers are now working to make this new optical filter amenable to mass production for current displays. There's no word on how long that process might take, but I'm eager to see what this technology can do for battery life in mobile devices like laptops, tablets, and smart phones.

9 comments —
Last by Shining Arcanine at 11:02 AM on 09/08/10

Metro 2033 and MSI Big Bang winners... claim your prizes!
by Cyril Kowaliski — 1:43 PM on September 7, 2010

Good news, everyone. We've drawn the seven winners from last month's Metro 2033 and MSI Big Bang Xpower giveaway.

Let's start with our grand prize winner. RickyTick, you get to take home the MSI Big Bang Xpower motherboard. Just send a private message to Adam "Inkling" Eiberger in the forums with your postal address, and we'll get this $300 monster of a motherboard shipped out to you, free of charge.

Our other winners are normalicy, Prestige Worldwide, MrBojangles, morbidthought, evilbabygenius, and Darkmage. All six of you are entitled to free digital copies of 4A Games' post-apocalyptic shooter Metro 2033. Here, too, you'll want to send a private message to Inkling to claim your prize—no need to give us your postal addresses, but we do want to be sure you haven't fallen down a hole or something.

Again, we'd like to give a big shout-out to MSI for making this contest possible—and to our participants for playing fair and making these giveaways fun. (By the way, if your name isn't listed above, keep in mind that we still have another contest going until later this week.)

17 comments —
Last by slugbug at 3:26 PM on 09/08/10

USB 3.0 controllers from ASMedia, Via, and Eton still not certified
by Geoff Gasior — 11:00 AM on September 7, 2010

Perhaps no PC interface is in more dire need of an upgrade than USB. USB 3.0 has come to the rescue, but it's thus far only been available courtesy of a controller chip from NEC. Neither AMD nor Intel have added SuperSpeed connectivity to their core-logic chipsets, and although rumors suggest that the latter will embrace the new standard on its Cougar Point reference motherboard design, it's unclear who will be providing the silicon.

According DigiTimes' sources at Taiwanese motherboard makers, Intel's options may be limited. Eton, Via, and Asus subsidiary ASMedia are each developing USB 3.0 controllers, but none of the designs have been certified by the USB Implementers Forum, or USB-IF. These chips were expected to start popping up in motherboards before the end of the year. However, samples being tested by motherboard makers reportedly still have issues that need to be ironed out. DigiTimes suggests that "technical difficulty" with the hardware and the additional burden of writing USB 3.0 drivers for Windows 7, which lacks native support for the interface, are responsible for the delays.

Rumors have suggested that Intel is developing a stand-alone USB 3.0 controller of its own. That could be the device providing SuperSpeed connectivity on the Cougar Point reference motherboard. Given the lack of officially certified competition, there's certainly seems to be an opportunity for Intel to carve out a nice slice of the USB 3.0 controller market.

9 comments —
Last by UberGerbil at 9:40 PM on 09/07/10

Bobcat-based Fusion chips to peak at 9-18W
by Cyril Kowaliski — 10:10 AM on September 7, 2010

As the Intel Developer Forum looms, AMD is already out spilling the beans about its upcoming products at the IFA 2010 show in Berlin. The chipmaker posted pictures and specifications of its first "Fusion" accelerated processing units this morning, starting with this die shot:

Captioned "Low Power AMD Fusion APU Die Shot," the image above shows AMD's first chip to combine processor cores and graphics on the same die. Specifically, the chip includes two CPU cores based on the new Bobcat microarchitecture, one DirectX 11 graphics processor component, and a UVD video decoder capable of handling 1080p video. Here's a size comparison next to some European coins:

The biggest news here is the revelation of power envelopes for this chip. There will be two variants of this silicon: Zacate, which will have an 18W power envelope, and Ontario, which will have a TDP of only 9W. The company will aim Zacate at ultraportables and all-in-one desktops, while Ontario will be geared more toward netbooks and nettops. AMD expects the first products based on these chips to debut in the first quarter of next year.

82 comments —
Last by NeelyCam at 1:31 AM on 09/09/10

Report: Next Intel reference mobo to have USB 3.0
by Cyril Kowaliski — 9:22 AM on September 7, 2010

Recent stories have suggested that Intel might not release a chipset with built-in USB 3.0 support until 2012. That may be so, but according to DigiTimes, Intel will still embrace the new interface in its next reference motherboard design.

Citing a report by the Commercial Times, DigiTimes says Intel is "expected" to announce a Cougar Point reference motherboard with an included USB 3.0 controller at the Intel Developer Forum in San Francisco later this month. This move "is expected to speed up the standardization of USB 3.0 and benefit USB 3.0 chip makers," the site points out.

In case you're wondering, Cougar Point refers to Intel's 6-series chipsets—you know, the ones that'll team up with the next-gen Sandy Bridge architecture early next year. We've already booked our flights for IDF San Francisco, so we'll be sure to bring you the news as it develops. The show will take place on September 13-15.

2 comments —
Last by FuturePastNow at 5:38 PM on 09/07/10

GeForce GT 420 sneaks onto Nvidia.com, gets chased out
by Cyril Kowaliski — 9:05 AM on September 7, 2010

As I commented last week  when Nvidia's new mobile GPUs came out, low-end GeForce 400-series desktop cards can't be too far off. Not only has the rumor mill been grinding on about them for the past few weeks, but Nvidia has now put up (and hastily taken down again) a product page for one of 'em. Google's cache immortalized the slip-up.

The card you see above is the GeForce GT 420, an "OEM" product that will probably only materialize inside pre-built computers. Immediately obvious from the image are the low-profile design, which implies a small, low-power chip, and the small, active cooler, which hints the reference card may start emitting a shrill whine after a few months. Tiny fans are just the best.

The spec sheet provides more details. Apparently, the GeForce GT 420 is a DirectX 11 design with 48 stream processors, a 128-bit memory interface, and 2GB of 900MHz DDR3 memory. That's not a typo on our end, by the way—the spec sheet really does say 2GB. Top rated power consumption is 50W. Based on what we learned last week, I would assume this card is based on the same pint-sized GPU as the GeForce GT 415M, 420M, 425M, and 435M. (Thanks to TR reader Vasilis for the heads up.)

32 comments —
Last by Wintermane at 1:40 AM on 09/08/10

Salami Day Shortbread
by Ronald Hanaki — 2:20 AM on September 7, 2010

Eight is Enough

1. Fudzilla: AMD's decision to kill ATI was a bad idea
2. DigiTimes: Intel to announce addition of USB 3.0 into new motherboard reference
   design, says paper and Nvidia & AMD ready to launch new GPUs in October
3. SemiAccurate: What is AMD's Northern Islands?
4. VR-Zone: AMD Cayman and Caicos pictures leaked
5. Donanim Haber: Alleged AMD Radeon HD 6870 picture and
   EVGA GeForce GTS 450 and GTS 450 SuperClocked revealed (in Turkish)
6. TC Magazine reports AMD Radeon HD 6300 card pictured too, apparently
7. Engadget reports Windows Phone 7 ad promises 'the revolution is coming' (video)
8. Joystiq reports free Borderlands update will raise level cap, rebalance main game

Read more...

14 comments —
Last by Deanjo at 2:21 PM on 09/07/10

Labor Day Shortbread
by Ronald Hanaki — 3:31 AM on September 6, 2010

Eight is Enough

1. VR-Zone reports Nvidia GeForce GTX 460 prices cut
   and Nvidia GeForce GTS 450 release slides leaked
2. ATi-Forum's exclusive: AMD plans to rebrand? (in German)
3. X-bit labs: Rasterization method of rendering will live on for another decade - Nvidia
4. Engadget: ExoPC preorders open to all from CAD $649, tablet loses GPS but gains SanDisk SSD
5. TC Magazine reports Fujitsu LifeBook T580 tablet PC coming with four-finger multi-touch
   and VIA said to be prepping quad-core CPU, DX11 IGP for 2011
6. Threatpost reports nasty data-stealing bug haunts Internet Explorer 8
7. TUAW reports Parallels Desktop 6 appears on store shelves
8. VR-Zone reports PlayStation 3 'jailbreak' now workable with tethered smartphones

Read more...

23 comments —
Last by OneArmedScissor at 10:11 AM on 09/07/10

National Cheese Pizza Day Shortbread
by Ronald Hanaki — 1:39 AM on September 5, 2010

Eight is Enough

1. Techdirt reports huge push in Brazil to legalize file sharing
2. VR-Zone shares rumor: "Blackcomb" is AMD Mobility Radeon HD 6000 series flagship
3. Engadget reports Sony shows off Google TV (or a video of it, anyway) at IFA 2010
   and iOS 4.1 confirmed for September 8th on Apple's UK website
4. ESET NOD32 update to v.5418 causing problems
5. 9 to 5 Mac: iPad video calling debugger
6. Any truth to the rumor about Elemental: War of Magic on Shacknews? (an official response)
7. Hardware Canucks and Shacknews cover PAX 2010
8. Joystiq's hands-on with the new Xbox 360 controller with transforming D-pad

Read more...

7 comments —
Last by oldDummy at 9:27 AM on 09/07/10

Newspaper Carrier Day Shortbread
by Ronald Hanaki — 6:10 PM on September 4, 2010

Eight is Enough

1. Evolving the AMD brand portfolio (on dropping the ATI brand name)
2. [H]ard|OCP reports BFG Tech goes the way of Diamond and Best Data
3. AMD developing 8-core Bulldozer-based CPU for 2011 release
4. Hardware-Infos has AMD Zacate (APU) specs, pics, and many more (in German)
5. VR-Zone: AMD Ontario TDP is 9W, die shots revealed
   and Nvidia lists GeForce GT 420 for OEMs
6. Ars Technica reports Ubuntu 10.10 beta arrives with new netbook UI
7. Make group video calls with up to 10 people with the new beta version of Skype for Windows
8. Shacknews has Duke Nukem Forever hands-on preview

Read more...

6 comments —
Last by jdaven at 10:09 AM on 09/05/10

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