Sparkle may not be the first manufacturer that comes to mind if you're considering a new video card from Team Green, but the company is hoping its GeForce GTX 275 series can score it some mindshare in the sub-$250 segment. It's been a few months since the first wave of GTX 275 and ATI 4890 cards hit the market, and more mature drivers may shed a different light on relative performance.
Fudo over at Fudzilla has managed to dig up some more information on NVIDIA's ION 2 chip that is expected to come sometime in the last few months of the year. The ION 2 is said to have at least double the shaders of the ION. We were impressed with the original ION test platform, so ION 2 will be amazing!
Our industry sources have told us that the new, shrunk version of ION, probably branded as ION 2, should have much faster graphics and much more shaders. We dont believe that the thermals will change that much, but weve heard that ION 2 will have more than double the number of shaders of the original Geforce 9400M /MCP79 /ION chip. Since ION has 16 shaders , or processors as Nvidia calls them these days, you should expect that the new one has more than 32. This will get much better gaming to netbooks and nettops based on ION 2 which is definitely something you cannot say no to and at the same time Cuda applications might run faster, in case you found one that matter to you.
NZXT announced the Sentry 2 today, a full system fan controller with an advanced touch screen interface. Sentry 2 easily installs in a 5.25 bay and is compatible with any fan that uses voltage control. The Sentry 2 will be available this month at an MSRP of 29.99.
The innovative touch screen features ultra fast selection and response time and displays all pertinent info including temperature readout in both Celsius and Fahrenheit. Sentry 2 allows users to control up to 5 fans with the option for manually tuning individual fan speeds or letting the automatic controls take over to correspond to a specific temperature. The controllers advanced functionality sounds an alarm to alert the user should the temperature exceed a preset amount and stores saved settings even after it is turned off. Designed to maximize efficiency, the Sentry 2 supports 10W per channel and creates less heat than traditional temperature displays.
Atlona Technologies announces the release of their most ambitious and cost-effective HDMI 1.3b Matrix Switcher, the AT-HD88M-SR. This one of a kind 8X8 HDMI 1.3b switch runs over CAT5 Matrix with an IR pass-through. The AT-HD88M-SR provides the most flexible and cost effective solution in the market for users today for routing high definition video plus multi-channel digital audio of up to 7.1-channels from any 8 HDMI sources to High Definition displays simultaneously. Atlonas AT-HD88M-SR is currently available with an MSRP of $5499.
Through low cost CAT5/5e LAN cable, not only will high quality video and audio transmit to HD displays, but users can also switch among 8 HDMI sources manually or via remote control. Atlonas 8X8 HDMI Matrix Switchers IR function allows users to access their HD sources such as DVD players, Blu-Ray, PS3, Xbox 360 or any other HDMI devices directly, from the location of HD display. Installation is quick and easy without a needed power supply.
AMD created a small number of limited edition TWKR processors expressly for the extreme overclocking community in appreciation for their record performance feats with Dragon platform technology and AMD Phenom II processors. These processors are designed to reach the utmost performance barriers of the AMD Phenom II processor and operate beyond the specifications of typical production level processors. As speculated, its a high current chip that can take the extreme stresses of Liquid Nitrogen overclocking. Our testing of the TWKR procesor showed that we could reach ~6.6GHz on Liquid Nitrogen. It would be a shame if only the top overclockers and media would be able to use these, so we have teamed up with AMD to give away one of these overclocking monsters.
The contest will be held sometime on July 7th, 2009. We will be tweeting one question. The first person to answer the question correctly via a reply will win. If for some a number of people answer at exactly the same time and we cannot determine from Twitter who actually answered first, the name will be randomly chosen from those who tie for first place. To be able to win the processor you MUST be 1) following us on Twitter @ http://www.twitter.com/legitreviews, and 2) RT (retweet) our contest status update for the contest. You must do this BEFORE July 7th to be eligible for the drawing.
You know, it’s not often we actually get a little giddy around here about something new but when it comes to something (or someone) brand-spanking new like this, we just can’t help our occasional over-exuberant ways. World, say hello to HotHardware’s latest addition to the family, Baby IKC with on-board TurboCute (TC) technology! Isabella Kathleen Chiappetta – Baby IKC UnveiledAt 8lbs 1oz, Baby IKC is just a tad heavier than your average netbook but she’s most decidedly more good-looking and powerful.
Some game companies have already made the statement that the iPhone is the future of gaming. With the addition of a PowerVR chip to the new iPhone 3GS, we are bound to see more, and better games come to Apple’s hot device. Here’s an example of a game that will work decently with any version of the iPhone, and any version of the OS 2.0 or higher.It’s called Raving Manor. Yes, it’s an adventure game. No, it’s not text-based (a la Zork), nor is it as complex as say Myst. Rather, this game
Featuring Balanced MicroSpeakers, these sound isolating earphones deliver optimized audio for a rich, lifelike listening experience. Assorted sleeves and a modular cable provide unmatched comfort and customization. This deal ends 7/2/09 at 12:00pm ET.
Mozilla announced a major update to its popular Firefox browser. Firefox 3.5 features performance improvements, privacy enhancements, support for new Web standards, and greater customization options. According to Mozilla, Firefox 3.5 is the best performing browser it has ever released. This latest version is more than two times faster than Firefox 3 and ten times faster than Firefox 2 on complex websites. Some of this performance increase comes as a result of the powerful new TraceMonkey JavaScript engine, which
A new survey by Best Buy Mobile reveals some interesting ways in which users interact with and value their mobile phones. For example, according to the survey, one in three Americans would give up television in order to keep their mobile phones and 60% of those surveyed would be willing to abstain from alcohol for a week rather than give up their mobile phone. The poll of 1,000 Americans, half men and half women over the age of 18, also revealed some barriers to smartphone ownership, including confusion about