While AMD’s new Phenom II chips support DDR2 and are compatible with existing AM2+ boards, their full potential is only realized when equipped with a few sticks of fast DDR3. Unfortunately, so far, the pool of available AM3 / DDR3 capable boards has been rather small with only a few choices. The majority of available DDR3 equipped AM3 boards also lack the multiple PCI-E x16 slots necessary to support full CrossFireX, beyond just two cards. One of the few boards with both DDR3 and full CrossFireX support

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced that it has released Windows Vista / Windows Server 2008 Service Pack 2 (SP2) to manufacturing. The new service pack, combined for both Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008, will be released sometime in Q2 2009, Microsoft indicated. Highlights of the changes, many of which have already been delivered separately, include: Windows Search 4.0 for faster and improved relevancy in searches Bluetooth 2.1 Feature Pack supporting the most recent specification for Bluetooth Technology

Researchers at GE have made a major breakthrough in holographic storage technology that will help to usher in the next generation of optical storage. The researchers have developed a DVD-size disc that can hold 500GB of data. This is roughly equivalent to the capacity of 20 single-layer Blu-ray discs, 100 DVDs, or the hard drive of a desktop computer. GE’s discs use a recording technique called micro-holographic storage, which is an optical format similar to DVDs and Blu-ray discs. What’s unique about holographic

Darkest of Days is a historically-based first-person shooter (FPS) where gamers will travel back and forth in time to experience some of historys darkest days and fight through some of the most epic battles in history. To ensure the battles are as realistic as possible, developer 8monkey Labs turned to NVIDIA PhysX technology in order to create environments that were interactive, expressive, and as natural as possible.

It was critical to the success of Darkest of Days that these epic moments in world history are experienced in eerily accurate detail, and NVIDIA PhysX technology helped us achieve that goal, said Mark Doeden, Art Director at 8monkey Labs. Our Marmoset Engine brings these battles to life with a completely unique look, and the PhysX technology was instrumental in making the game feel alive and real.

iBUYPOWER, one of the largest gaming system manufacturers in the world, is excited to announce its first small form factor (SFF) system LAN Warrior. Unlike previous attempts at SFF gaming systems, the LAN Warrior offers enough firepower to stand toe-to-toe with even the most advanced gaming systems, with room for up to two full-sized dual slot video cards, up to 24GB of Triple Channel DDR3, and a 1000W power supply. The LAN Warrior starts at just $999 MSRP and is available now.

We designed the LAN Warrior for gamers that need more power than a gaming laptop can provide, said Darren Su, Vice President of iBUYPOWER. With the space for 2 dual-slot video cards and a liquid cooled Intel Core i7 Processor, the LAN Warrior is just as powerful as systems twice its size.

ZigBee may still be foreign to many consumers, but it’s a growing wireless transmission technology that has especially taken hold in the home automation realm. To that end, ARM has decided to hitch its wagon to one Ember in order to delve gently into what could be a promising partnership.Announced today, Ember will rely on ARM’s own Cortex M3 processor for its next generation ZigBee semiconductors, and considering the goals of each company, the match truly is one that’s made in heaven. ZigBee needs a low-power

Capcom Entertainment, Inc., the publisher of Dark Void, an upcoming science fiction action adventure that combines aerial and ground-pounding combat for a thrilling third-person shooter experience, are reaching for the skies in the way they have adopted NVIDIA PhysX and APEX technologies to deliver stunning in-game physics effects. In fact, when it ships in the fall of 2009, Dark Void will have the distinction of being the first game to use dynamic, accurate smoke effects and smoke trails for the games innovative jetpack, UFOs, and spaceships, all of which will be hardware-accelerated by GeForce GPUs when played on compatible desktop PCs.

The extensive capabilities that NVIDIA PhysX and APEX technologies provide to developers is colossal, said Jim Deal, President at Airtight Games. For example, the new APEX turbulence module that NVIDIA recently introduced allows us to have infinite artistic freedom in the way the game looks, plays, and feels. We hope that gamers will appreciate these fine touches when they play Dark Void later this year.

Without NVIDIA PhysX technology, John Connor and the rest of mankind battling the metallic armies of Skynet doesnt stand a chance. Luckily for all of us, GRINthe Sweden-based developers of the upcoming video game Terminator Salvationchose NVIDIA PhysX technology to help them deliver a compelling, interactive, action-packed, third-person shooter video game that will be released in conjunction with the highly-anticipated Halcyon film, which opens nationwide in the U.S. on May 21, 2009.

The game Terminator Salvation offers players the chance to assume the role of John Connor, a soldier in the resistance, battling for survival against the far superior forces of Skynet. Featuring third-person action adventure, with concentrated armed combat against all of the Skynet enemies from the film as well as new enemies designed specifically for the game, NVIDIA PhysX technology allowed GRIN designers and artists to bring the futuristic world of 2016 to life. From realistic weapon effects to destructible environments, Terminator Salvation will deliver wholly interactive and immersive gaming environments to satisfy even the most discriminating players.

In what some might consider the most visible Internet-based prank to date, frequenters of the 4chan image-based bulletin board site’s “/b/ – Random” imageboard claim to have rigged Time Magazine’s Top 100 online poll, so as to render 4chan’s founder, “moot,” the winner. And even though some fairly convincing circumstantial evidence points to a hack of epic proportions, Time Magazine is accepting the poll’s results as official, and has declared moot as the “new owner of the title World’s Most Influential Person.”

Ever since NVIDIA acquired Ageia’s PhysX technology last year, the company has been aggressively working to drum up additional developer support. While NVIDIA has had a lot of success in recent months and a number of high-profile developers have begun integrating PhysX technology into their games, today NVIDIA–in conjunction with a number of partners–is announcing that support for PhysX is coming to a number of hot, upcoming games. The announcements come by way of GRiN, Sega, 8monkey Labs, Capcom and Biart