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may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone vr-zone.com stuff for the geeks vr-zone stuff for the geeks is a bi-weekly publication covering the latest gadgets and stuff for the geeks seagate announces 1tb per platter hard drives source http vr-zone.com/articles/seagate-announces-1tb-per-platterhard-drives/12046.html may 3rd 2011 if you ve been waiting for a triple-platter 3tb hard drive then we have good news your wait is over as seagate has as the first hard drive manufacturers announced 1tb per platter drives the new barracuda xt series will the home for the new 347gb per square inch 1tb platter disks if you ve been waiting for a triple-platter 3tb hard drive then we have good news your wait is over as seagate has as the first hard drive manufacturers announced 1tb per platter drives the new barracuda xt series will the home for the new 347gb per square inch 1tb platter disks the barracuda xt series does of course feature sata 6gbps interface 64mb of cache a 7,200rpm spin speed and all the usual features you d find on a modern high-end hard drive seagate claims a sustained data transfer of 138mb/s with a random read seek time of 8.5ms hardly impressive compared to modern ssds but bear in mind that the largest model can store a massive 3tb seagate is asking for $299.99 s$369 for the 3tb version while the two platter 2tb is priced at $199.99 s$246 seagate also announced that it will have a 1.5tb and 1tb version of the barracuda xt although no pricing was announced retail pricing is already a lot lower than seagate s asking price and we ve spotted the 3tb drive for $229.99 s$283 and the 2tb model for $159.99 s$197 although the difference is that the drives seagate sells directly comes bundled with a sata cable a power splitter mounting screws and some software that said we don t really think that s worth the extra money compared to buying a bare drive but even the retail kits can be had for a lot less than the msrp razer goliathus mouse mat redesigned and reinforced source http vr-zone.com/articles/razer-goliathus-mouse-matredesigned-and-reinforced/12045.html may 3rd 2011 razer announces that the razer goliathus has been redesigned and reinforced with a dense anti-fraying and long-lasting stitched frame price omega ­ us $14.99 eu 14.99 standard ­ us $19.99 eu 19.99 alpha ­ us $24.99 eu 24.99 extended ­ us $34.99 eu 34.99 availability may 2011 full press release 1

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may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone with its anti-fraying stitched frame the edges last longer giving you the freedom to tear your opponent to shreds and not your mouse mat price omega ­ us $14.99 eu 14.99 standard ­ us $19.99 eu 19.99 alpha ­ us $24.99 eu 24.99 extended ­ us $34.99 eu 34.99 availability carlsbad calif ­ 3 may 2011 ­ razer the world s leading high-end precision gaming brand is proud to announce that the razer goliathus has been redesigned and reinforced to ensure your soft mouse mat swiping experience is more hardcore than ever before maintaining the same well-loved speed-enhancing and control-precise features the redesigned razer goliathus mouse mat delivers maximum performance to propel you to gaming stardom now imbued with a dense anti-fraying and long-lasting stitched frame your mouse mat stays sharp for consistent tournament ownage the only thing wearing down should be your enemy said robert razerguy krakoff president razer usa the razer goliathus is our pride and joy when it comes to soft mats designed with professional gaming-validated weaves for an exceptional mouse swiping experience now with anti-fray edges you can go forth and frag even harder worry-free about the razer goliathus control edition mouse mat razerzone.com ­ may 2011 worldwide ­ may 2011 product features heavily textured weave for maximum mouse control anti-fraying stitched frame extends mat durability pixel-precise targeting and tracking rubber base for a secure grip on smooth surfaces mat dimensions mm space-efficient omega 270 x 215 x 3 mid-sized standard 355 x 254 x3 large-sized alpha 444 x 355 x 3 desktop length extended 920 x 294 x 3 msi s 990fx and 970 chipset boards make brief european appearance source http vr-zone.com/articles/msi-s-990fx-and-970-chipset-boardsmake-brief-european-appearance/12044.html may 3rd 2011 the razer goliathus control edition gaming-grade mouse mat takes your mouse s superb precision up a notch by having it matched with the mat s specially textured weave capable of registering even the smallest of movements this gives gamers an unprecedented level of targeting and tracking accuracy while maintaining a perfectly controllable yet consistent glide details of three of msi s upcoming am3 motherboards have appeared on a european price comparison website and some of the specifications of three different models have turned up on top of that we now know what these three models will cost at least in euroland and for what it s worth the boards seem to be pretty competitively priced especially against intel based motherboards details of three of msi s upcoming am3 motherboards have appeared on a european price comparison website and some of the specifications of three different models have turned up on top of that we now know what these three models will cost 2

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may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone may 3rd 2011 at least in euroland and for what it s worth the boards seem to be pretty competitively priced especially against intel based motherboards starting from the bottom we have the 970a-g45 which should be one of the more basic am3 boards from msi with the 900series chipset as the name gives away this board sports the amd 970 northbridge and the sb950 southbridge the board has two pci express x16 slots although as far as we re aware the 970 chipset doesn t support split pci express lanes so we d guess the second x16 slot only has four lanes worth of bandwidth there are also two pci express x1 slots and two pci slots as with the sb850 the sb950 supports six sata 6gbps ports and various raid modes around the back we re apparently looking at six usb 2.0 ports two usb 3.0 ports gigabit ethernet and 7.1-channel audio but that s all we know so far internal connectors are meant to add two more usb 3.0 ports and another six usb 3.0 ports sadly we don t have any pictures of any of the boards so we can only go with what s been listed by the price comparison site cost wise the 970a-g45 is listed at 82.10 s$159 in germany next up we have the 990fx-gd65 which again as the name gives away is based on the 990fx northbridge and again the sb950 southbridge this board has two full pci express x16 slots three pci express x1 slots and two pci slots again we re looking at six sata 6gbps ports with raid support the rear i/o is the same with two usb 3.0 ports six usb 2.0 ports gigabit ethernet and 7.1-channel audio internally the board has pin headers for four additional usb 2.0 ports but we have a feeling there will be at least one for a pair of additional usb 3.0 ports as well this board is listed at 124.43 s$227 again in germany finally we have the 990fx-gd80 which is the top of the range board and it too has the 990fx/sb950 chipset setup however this board has no less than four x16 slots and we d dare to wager that when all are in use they operate at x8 mode there s also a pair of pci express x1 slot and a single pci slot once again we have six sata 6gbps ports with raid support although at least this time around we know that there s support for two internal usb 3.0 ports as well as four usb 2.0 ports and a firewire port around the back we re looking at two usb 3.0 ports six usb 2.0 ports a firewire port gigabit ethernet and 7.1-channel audio this is also the most expensive of the three boards at 171.97 s$314 we did find a fourth model as well the 990fx-gd70 but we haven t managed to track down any kind of specifications for this model however we did find a price and it ends up between the gd65 and gd80 price wise much as expected at 158.13 s$288 so far it looks like msi has a pretty decent line-up of am3 boards coming and we ll make sure to bring you all the detail of the new boards from computex if not before these days there are four major taiwanese motherboard makers and then we have biostar and jetway somewhere down the bottom-end of the market that said biostar has had some success with the overclocking crowd and now details of its first z68 based motherboard and although we can t say that this is a board we d rush out to buy these days there are four major taiwanese motherboard makers and then we have biostar and jetway somewhere down the bottom-end of the market that said biostar has had some success with the overclocking crowd and now details of its first z68 based motherboard and although we can t say that this is a board we d rush out to buy the tz68a is so for the most spartan z68 we ve seen to date in fact we have a feeling we won t see another z68 board that has so few features from anyone else that said we re hopefully looking at a really affordable z68 board and it should be more than adequate for most users on a brighter note biostar has at least added a trio of display connectors around the back which consists of an hdmi dvi and vga port the only other ports around the back is a ps/2 port two usb 2.0 ports two usb 3.0 ports via an asmedia host controller a gigabit ethernet port and three audio jacks for 5.1-channel audio the board layout is pretty clean if somewhat uninspiring with a pair of x16 pci express slots where the second one is a x4 slot rather than being a switchable slot a single x1 pci express slot and two pci slots to biostar s defence this does at least mean there are no blocked slots nor any shared bandwidth from the chipset so anything you plug in will work as intended without on-board features being disabled the board has the standard four sata 3gbps and two sata 6gbps ports but these are sadly not angled although it s not likely that any of them will be blocked by an add-in card the board also has a power and reset button oddly high-end features on what is otherwise looking like a fairly basic board there are also three headers for an additional six usb 2.0 ports as well as a serial and parallel port header on the board one of the more disappointing features or lack thereof is the fact that biostar has only fitted a single 4-pin pwm fan header and it s for the cpu fan and even so there are only two other fan headers on the board which seem stingy the power regulation circuitry is also very basic which what appears to be a 4+1phase design in as much as this is good enough it doesn t inspire a lot of confidence in the overclocking potentials for this board still at the end of the day it all comes down to cost and this better be a cheap board is it s not going to do well biostar s tz68a motherboard leaks ahead of launch source http vr-zone.com/articles/biostar-s-tz68a-motherboard-leaksahead-of-launch/12043.html 3

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may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone onfi 3.0 forces intel to move to bga nand packaging source http vr-zone.com/articles/onfi-3.0-forces-intel-to-move-to-bganand-packaging/12023.html may 3rd 2011 if you ve ever seen a picture of an opened ssd or the inside of an sd card you ll have noticed that the nand flash chips used are of the tsop thin small-outline package variety i.e an oblong chip with small pins of the short ends tsop is a fairly standard packaging for a wide range of computer ics but it seems like more advanced technology will soon see it passed into the history books as far as nand flash is concerned if you ve ever seen a picture of an opened ssd or the inside of an sd card you ll have noticed that the nand flash chips used are of the tsop thin small-outline package variety i.e an oblong chip with small pins of the short ends tsop is a fairly standard packaging for a wide range of computer ics but it seems like more advanced technology will soon see it passed into the history books as far as nand flash is concerned according to intel s nand flash roadmaps we re looking at a move towards bga ball grid array packaging as tsop isn t advanced enough to handle the higher speeds required by new nand flash interfaces such as onfi 3.0 open nand flash interface as such all of intel s enterprise level nand flash is already being transitioned to bga packaging both slc and mlc products for now the consumer intel refers to it as client end of the market remains at tsop as it s far cheaper to produce but we d expect things to look different come next year it s possible that by the time that intel moves to onfi 3.0 for its lower-end nand flash products we ll see an entirely different kind of packaging used for the nand flash something that s a bit more affordable than bga cost is of the essence and intel knows that but with increasing demands for faster nand flash the chip makers don t have a choice but to move to faster nand flash interfaces such as onfi 3.0 which offers chip level speeds of up to 400mb/s intel s current products use a ddr-200 interface while onfi 3.0 uses an nv-ddr2 interface which has been designed to work better with nand flash it s just a shame that in the ssd market space it s the enterprise section that gets the fast new toys to play with first and not the consumers but if you have enough cash you could always splash out on some enterprise grade hardware for home gigabyte s z68x-ud5 and z68x-ud4 motherboards detailed source http vr-zone.com/articles/gigabyte-s-z68x-ud5-and-z68x-ud4motherboards-detailed/12042.html may 3rd 2011 we re definitely getting close to the launch of intel s z68 chipset and more details of gigabyte s upcoming boards have turned up on the internet not only have we found pricing of the three high-end boards but the z68x-ud5 and z68x-ud4 have been given a thorough going over in a detailed preview of course without benchmarks as intel don t condone benchmark figures ahead of a launch intel is planning to move its 20nm nand flash slc and mlc products to onfi 3.0 towards the end of this year but as you can see from the slide this is likely to be its enterprise products that said the same roadmap also has a 20nm onfi 2.2 product on it but this is likely to also be a tsop package intel is also looking at increasing the capacity per chip in the enterprise nand chips but the consumer level products remains at the same capacity at least for now we re definitely getting close to the launch of intel s z68 chipset and more details of gigabyte s upcoming boards have turned up on the internet not only have we found pricing of the three high-end boards but the z68x-ud5 and z68x-ud4 have been given a thorough going over in a detailed preview of course without benchmarks as intel don t condone benchmark figures ahead of a launch 4

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may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone the z68x-ud5 is pretty much the same motherboard as the p67a-ud5 with the exception of the chipset of course in fact the boards are so similar that if it wasn t for the red ports around the back on the z68x-ud5 and the silk screen on the board with the model name we wouldn t be able to tell the two boards apart if this is a good or a bad thing is a matter of what you re after in terms of features but it s pretty clear that there s no real reason to get the p67a-ud5 any more especially as the price difference appear to be minimal in fact the z68x-ud5 has already appeared on an australian online retailer priced at au$319 s$427 and the same company stocks the p67a-ud5 for au$305 s$408 in as much as this is a price premium we re sure it won t last for long at the rear the z68x-ud4 has a ps/2 port seven usb 2.0 ports two usb 3.0 ports one esatap usb/esata combo with power one esata a gigabit ethernet port firewire port and 7.1-channel audio with optical and coaxial s/pdif out the same australian retailer is listing this board for a pretty affordable au$239 s$320 which looks like a much better deal compared to the z68x-ud5 despite the somewhat peculiar board layout and lack of one expansion slot that might not be to everyone s liking for those of you that are looking at going for the high-end z68x-ud7 we can let you know that the price of this board is au$399 s$534 once again from the same australian retailer we d expect these boards to be slightly cheaper in the us of course and it s worth keeping in mind that the us dollar is now worth less than the australian dollar for detailed pictures of all three board models hit the link below more pictures lab501 the daily vr-zone news summary 3 may 2011 source http vr-zone.com/articles/the-daily-vr-zone-news-summary 3may-2011/12038.html may 3rd 2011 the z68x-ud4 on the other hand is nothing like the p67aud4 instead this looks like the p67x-ud4 which was shown off at cebit but never launched we can t say we re overly keen on the board layout as gigabyte has made a few peculiar choices here for starters the 16-phase vrm is taking up an unusual amount of space on the pcb and this means you end up losing the first expansion slot the slot layout consists of a pair of x16 slots in a dual x8 configuration when both are used two x1 pci express slots and two pci slots on the other hand the z68x-ud4 has an additional two sata 6gbps ports beyond the two supplied by the intel chipset which is also two more than the z68x-ud5 which seems very odd gigabyte has also fitted a pair of etron usb 3.0 host controllers to the board rather than using vli usb 3.0 hubs and a single renesas chip as per the z68x-ud5 this means that you ll actually be able to get better performance out of each of the four usb 3.0 ports although you do lose out on an additional four ports compared to the z68x-ud5 in today s news roundup nvidia s geforce gtx 590 gets pitted against amd s radeon hd 6990 to determine which company s hardware is capable of offering the better tripledisplay gaming experience amd s phenom-ii x4-980 be processor gets reviewed apple has updated its imac line of all-in-one pcs to include intel s sandy bridge platform new graphics cards and the recently announced thunderbolt port rim s latest blackberry 7 os has been confirmed to lack legacy support which means that older blackberry handsets have officially reached a dead end with regards to software updates videos of atelier meruru s prologue and parts of the title s gameplay has started showing up on major video streaming sites such as youtube and rumour has it that nintendo is ready to launch a wii select line of heavily discounted bestselling titles for its video game console hardware news sandforce sf-2141 controller intel z68 chipset destined to be together description today we are going to play a brief game of connect the dots with information that is publically available we are going to mix two parts of facts and one part speculation the pinch of speculation has been verified by two sources and in the media world that gives it enough validity to go to print so to speak the overall picture will be a little cloudy but i think enough of a silhouette will pass through to give us a close representation of what s to come the good ole things that might be happening but what do i know triple monitor gaming geforce gtx 590 vs radeon hd 6990 description by utilizing three monitors games can become roughly 3x more demanding as the graphics card is required to 5

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may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone render an overwhelmingly higher number of pixels whereas we commonly test graphics cards at single monitor resolutions of 1680x1050 22 1920x1200 24 and 2560x1600 30 today we are taking these and adding two more lcd monitors for effective resolutions of 5040x1050 5760x1200 and 7680x1600 amd phenom-ii x4-980 be processor benchmark reviews description as is common with amd cpus the next in the phenom-ii x4 black edition series is being released the phenom-ii x4-980be hdz980fbk4dgm the x4-980be will take over as amds flagship quad-core processor and guess what it is 100mhz faster than the current quad-core king at 3.7ghz without surprise the phenom-ii x4-980be will be released at the same price the x4-975be was released in january 2011 with an msrp of $195 and because we are just that reliable benchmark reviews is here to give you the run down on the phenom-ii x4-980be to show you how it stacks up against its younger brothers and the similarly priced though slightly more expensive core i5-2500k gigabyte h67a-ud3h atx review ocia.net description the majority of users that select an h67equipped board do so to take advantage of intel hd graphics built into sandy bridge processors and thus won t be using a high-end graphics card or really any other add-in cards builds where a micro atx board would be suitable include home theater pcs and small form factor builds where a small footprint is needed a quick check at newegg revealed only three full size atx h67 boards one of them being the board we are taking a look at today the gigabyte ga-h67a-ud3h his radeon hd 6790 1gb iceq x turbo video card review description just before the launch of the hd 6790 his emailed us and asked if we wanted to get a sample of the normal version or if we were happy to wait a couple of extra weeks for the iceq x turbo one since we had a reference clocked card already on the way and the iceq x and turbo series being two great ones it was a no brainer and we chose to wait well the card finally arrived and we got a chance to put it through its paces to see what this new mid-range card was able to offer being part of the iceq x and turbo series means we ve got both an upgraded cooler and an overclock on offer antec kuhler h2o 920 liquid cooling cpu cooler review description since i caught wind of the h2o 620 i assumed the fat radiator version was already in the works why not keep up with the jones if you are already basically mimicking a product already on the shelf is my take and i was right well sort of antec did release the thicker radiator design with the 920 moniker and we are about to take an up close look at not only the cooler but the software that comes shipped along with this new cooler from antec thermaltake toughpower grand 850w power supply review real world labs description the latest addition in thermaltake s toughpower series called the grand comes with an 80 plus gold certification high quality components rock solid rail stability elegant design and a rich bundle asus maximus iv extreme p67 motherboard review @hi tech legion description the asus maximus iv extreme is the latest republic of gamers motherboard for the intel socket 1155 mainstream platform the asus maximus iv extreme features an updated sleek heatsink design extreme engine digi ddr3-2200 oc support and 3-way sli/cfx the maximus iv extreme also boasts a wealth of overclocking options including onboard debugging tools and switches as well as remote overclocking controls via bluetooth devices or through a laptop in order to achieve 3-way sli/cfx support the asus maximus iv extreme is equipped with an nvidia nf200 chip located where the northbridge is typically placed the new b3 version of the maximus iv extreme has 10 usb 3.0 ports including two at mid-board for front panel support as well as four sata 6gb/s ports for high speed connectivity options consumer electronics and software news apple updates the imac thunderbolt i/o quad-core and more description apple s desktop lineup has typically pushed users requiring plenty of fast i/o towards the mac pro but the latest imac refresh has broken the tradition while quad-core sandy bridge cpus and faster ati radeon hd gpus are welcomed it s the addition of thunderbolt ports one in the 21.5-inch and two in the 27-inch that really ups the ante for a number of professional users adobe cs5.5 available for download now description adobe has just broken the seal on creative suite 5.5 the latest installment of its design and development software of course the new release brings the usual round-up of improvements and tweaks but the fireworks in cs5.5 lie in the suite s new html5 and mobile app-specific capabilities cooler master notepal infinite evo duo silent fan notebook cooler review @hi tech legion description cooler master is ready to release their newest line of notepal coolers starting with the notepal infinite evo duo silent fan notebook cooler the infinite evo adds a bit of style and high performance and an excellent price the design uses a unique u-shape airflow method that intakes with two 80mm fans fans can be controlled by a speed control wheel on the side by the usb power connection the top of the evo is made of a high quality aluminum pad that has a sand-spray finish it is usb powered and includes a 3 port usb 2.0/1.1 hub there is also an ergonomic design angle for optimal viewing and typing there is support for 12 to 17 laptops plantronics gamecom x40 xbox headset review xsreviews.co.uk description recently we visited gadget show live 2011 and while our article on that event did quite well this one did a lot better despite that however the real highlights of the event are checking out the hardware and one company was kind enough to let us test a lot of it not only that but plantronics were such fans it seems that they plied us with their entire range of xbox headsets needless to say we had to find bigger bags that aside though today we test the first of this lineup the gamecom x40 blackberry 7 os abandons old handsets description rim has two blackberry smartphones on the way under the banner of the blackberry bold 9900 and the 6

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p. 7

may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone blackberry bold 9930 they ll sport its new os blackberry 7 which will not be available as an upgrade to customers with older devices the long-rumoured mobiles will sport an iconic design with a touch screen rim predictably says shipping with blackberry s new operating system blackberry 7 blackberry 7 does not have legacy support so users with older handsets will be stuffed if they want to run the improved system os x lion to bring ios-style uninstalls for mac apps description if you thought that the ios method of uninstalling apps was awesome you re going to love os x lion the latest developer version of the operating system revealed that it features the same uninstalling method as ios for apps purchased from the mac app store users just click and hold onto an app s icon and it will start to wobble just like how it does on ios then users can click on the x icon that appears on the top left corner to delete the app google nexus one gets android 2.3.4 early description android 2.3.4 software for the nexus one smartphone is now available for download as an early build that will require some bug fixes zip it will also arrive in a more finished version over the air anytime now however unlike the version of the software for the nexus s no support exists for the google talk video and voice chat features gaming news hector badge of carnage review at pc game examiner description hector badge of carnage marks a turn for the ruder and cruder for telltale games although good for a few laughs for the boob and fart joke crowd the game s bleak and soulless story doesn t quite hold up to telltale s other offerings put the kids to bed before you play this one folks atelier meruru prologue and gameplay videos released description have a look at gust s atelier meruru through this prologue and gameplay videos the prologue which is four minute long tells the background story of of the arland series starting from rorona and totori the gameplay video shows some world exploration though there is no battle rumor wii select budget line launching this month description after only four and a half years it looks like nintendo is finally ready to introduce a line of budget titles in north america kotaku reports that the wii select line will launch alongside the newly discounted wii which is rumored to drop to $150 two weeks from now the first titles reported to be part of the $20 lineup include the legend of zelda twilight princess super smash bros brawl mario super sluggers and wii sports joining the intel z68 club is msi s z68a-gd80 we take a peek at the features with which msi hopes to make its board stand out from the rest several of the msi z68a-gd80 s features are prominently advertised on its box including of course the assurance that you are getting the trouble-free stepping of the chipset the z68 pch is passively cooled which should come as no surprise given that the tdps of intel s recent chipsets have all come in under 10 watts the cpu power delivery system on the other hand gets a more elaborate cooling solution the msi z68a-gd80 provides 12-phase power to the cpu using msi s drmos system drmos uses integrated circuits that combine the mosfet and its driver into a single chip which msi claims achieves 96 efficiency by reducing the number of phases active when the system is not under load power consumption can also be reduced the number of active phases is indicated by a row of leds along the top edge of the motherboard first look msi z68a-gd80 source http vr-zone.com/articles/first-look-msi-z68a-gd80/12035.html may 3rd 2011 the memory and chipset each get 2-phase power there is also an additional pcie 6-pin power connector which msi claims 7

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may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone will improve the overclocking capabilities of installed graphics cards next we ll be looking at the onboard features and expansion options offered by this motherboard gigabyte shows off new entry-level powerock psus source http vr-zone.com/articles/gigabyte-shows-off-new-entry-levelpowerock-psus/12036.html may 3rd 2011 known as the kx 370 kx 420 and kx 470 gigabyte claims that the kx series of psus are compliant with the atx 12v v2.0 specifications set forth by intel and feature a 120mm cooling fan along with protection from over-voltage over-current and short-circuits to ensure system stability in addition the kx series of psus are reportedly capable of providing over 78 efficiency and a mtbf of over 100,000 hours need an entry-level psu for use in building a cheap pc well leave it to gigabyte to deliver the goods once again with a new addition to its value-oriented powerock line of power supplies known as the powerock kx series these psus are available in three different ratings all of which happen to be lower than 500w after all we did mention that these psus were designed to be used on entry-level pcs no when it comes to having an extensive lineup of psus available for the enthusiast with an entry-level pc few can match what gigabyte has offer with its powerock and powerock ex lines of psus however it would seem that gigabyte is not content with merely having two product lines for the entry-level market for the taiwanese company has silently introduced three new additions to its lineup of entry-level psus all of which will be sold under the powerock kx branding the hardware specifications of the psus are as follow powerock kx 370 powerock kx 420 8

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may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone platform will take place two weeks after the asia release on 26th june powerock kx 470 judging by amd s hectic schedule for june the fx-series and lynx platform a-series for desktops will release sometime in july after several years of anticipation fusion and bulldozer are finally about to release in the next 2 months june and july will undoubtedly be two of the most important months in amd s history lg launches new xnote notebooks in korea once again we should point out that the powerock series of psus are designed to be used only by entry-level systems and the just-launched kx-series is no exception to the rule therefore if you are in need of a psu to power a sibling s pc that sees most of its uptime performing tasks such as gunning meatbags down on crysis 2 the kx-series of psus are definitely not the ones you are looking for source http vr-zone.com/articles/lg-launches-new-xnote-notebooks-inkorea/12034.html may 3rd 2011 report amd to announce aseries fx-series in june source http vr-zone.com/articles/report-amd-to-announce-a-series-fxseries-in-june/12037.html may 3rd 2011 now that high-performance ultra-thin notebooks are fast gaining popularity among consumers for their portability and visual appeal it would make sense that oems are starting to funnel more of their resources into churning out such notebooks in a bid to gain a greater share of the notebook pie of course lg is not about about to let itself get left behind in the competition the korean company has just announced in a press release that it has launched two new additions to its xnote line of ultra-thin notebooks the p430 and p530 series and yes they are powered by intel s sandy bridge platform if lg s new notebooks could talk we d wager that the first words they would probably say will be something along the lines of move over macbook air and for good reason after all ultra-thin notebooks boasting full-power processors are starting to gain popularity among road warriors who need portability and performance bundled together in a single package an offering which only apple s macbook air could fulfil back then however times have since changed and lg is seemingly keen to wrest back marketshare from the competition with two new introductions to its ultra-thin xnote line of notebooks namely the p430 and the p530 series amd s extraordinary schedule for june kicks off at computex 2011 taipei where amd a-series will be announced alongwith the vision 2011 branding amd 900 series chipsets will also be announced these three announcements will be held on june 1st fast forward to the next week and e3 2011 amd will announce the fx-series brand and logo alongwith the am3 platform on june 7th these announcements will be shortly followed by the asia release of the sabine platform a-series for notebooks around the same time as the amd fusion developer summit llano will be formally announced for the rest of the world on june 14th at amd s 2011 client launch event both the sabine notebook and lynx desktop platforms for a-series will be announced finally the the worldwide release of the sabine 9

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may 3rd 2011 may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone according to the press release issued by lg the p430 will be available in three different models each with differing hardware specifications at the top end of the scale is the p430-ke7bk which boasts an intel core i7-2620m processor clocked at 2.7ghz 3.4ghz under turboboost 8gb of memory and a 720gb hard disk the mid-range configuration is provided by the p430-ke4bk which utilizes a slightly weaker core i5-2410m processor clocked at 2.3ghz 2.9ghz under turboboost 4gb of memory and a 500gb hard disk lastly the p430-ke3uk offers users a core i3-2310m processor clocked at 2.1ghz 4gb of memory and uses the same 500gb hard disk found in the p430-ke4bk in addition all three models of the p430 will feature a 14-inch widescreen capable of a native resolution of 1366 x 768 a gigabit ethernet port an 802.11bgn compliant wifi card and an nvidia geforce gt520m graphics card which supports the optimus switchable graphics technology okay maybe equating a mundane device such as a tablet pc to the principle known as love might be stretching it a little bit but it is quite hard to see it any other way especially when the company responsible for marketing this little device has a name which makes a reference to the word love that being said does anybody fancy a five-inch acho tablet all decked out in a brilliant white plastic body just when one thought that the tablet wars could not have gotten any fiercer out comes oems with a new breed of tablets that skirt the fine line between that of a smartphone and a tablet pc with screens no smaller than the three-inch displays used by most smartphones but also no larger than five inches such mini-tablets can either be seen as the best or worst of both worlds and are mostly aimed that users who want the versatility of a tablet in a pocketable form factor and apparently the idea of having a pocketable tablet has seemingly started to catch on on china indeed reports have confirmed that a new mini-tablet device has been reported to be making its rounds in china s domestic tablet market and is currently being sold under the acho brand name with a model number of c902 on the flip side the 15-inch p530 series of notebooks have not been officially unveiled yet although lg claims in its press release that the p530 series will be made available at a future date after the p430 hits retail shelves some time in the early parts of may this year lastly we are as clueless about pricing details as you are simply because lg made no mention of such details on its press release so we can only wait and see in china love comes in the form of a five-inch tablet source http vr-zone.com/articles/in-china-love-comes-in-the-form-of-afive-inch-tablet/12032.html as it was for the case of the seven-inch c901 released before it in the later part of 2010 acho is making no attempt to produce an ipad/iphone/galaxy insert name of device lookalike a trait seldom found in most chinese domestic designs in addition to its original design the acho c902 is also fitted with a rockchip rk2818 processor which is reportedly clocked at 1ghz utilizes a five-inch touchscreen display capable of a native 800 x 480 resolution and will come with version 2.2 of the android operating system pre-installed into the it also word has it that the c902 will feature built-in support for 3g and wifi along with hardware accelerated hd movie playback at up to 720p unfortunately no price for the c902 has been revealed although it is speculated that acho may price the c902 anywhere between 399 499 yuan approx us$61-75 10

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may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone hp partners with branded ltd to bring music matters live with hp to singapore source http vr-zone.com/articles/hp-partners-with-branded-ltd-tobring-music-matters-live-with-hp-to-singapore/12030.html may 3rd 2011 hp s vice president for marketing in asia pacific and japan robin seow claimed that hp has always been taking a strong interest into the music and digital entertainment segments hp has a very simple mission to connect with our target audience out there music plays a very important role in connecting to the audiences two years ago we started a partnership that has resulted in the creation of beats audio a technology which delivers studio-quality sound for users to enjoy music the way songwriters and composers intend it to be he said seow also claimed that music matters live with hp event will be a very meaningful platform where talents from all over the world can utilize hp s technology and create music for others to enjoy to that end he cited success stories such as alicia keys and jj lin both of whom are users of hp s beats audio technology last but not least universal music group international s president for south east asia sandy monterio spoke about the importance of talents familiarizing themselves with the trends of digital entertainment that will be touched upon in two companion events digital matters and music matters not to be confused with music matters live with hp do the words music matters ring a bell if it does chances are you will have much to look forward to come 26 28 may this year an asia pacific s pioneer music industry event has been confirmed to be heading down to clarke quay at sunny singapore to bring digital entertainment music and live music industries together under one roof for the first time in asia and to top things off hp is going to be a major player at music matters the company has partnered up with branded ltd to offer its expertise in high-quality audio to aspiring talents and artists mmusic lovers will probably be looking forward to what is about to take place in singapore come 26 may this year for branded ltd has announced that singapore will be playing host to the popular music matters live with hp music industry event this year in addition to that hp is also hopping on board the event to expand its beats audio technology to bands and music enthusiasts to pursue and achieve their passion for music every change in the music industry was actually pre-empted in digital matters and music matters universal is surviving because we paid attention to these changes those executives who didn t pay attention well they are no longer in the business he quipped the music matters live with hp music event is organised by branded ltd and is slated to be held at various venues all over clarke quay for three days starting from 26 may this year branded ltd has also confirmed that more than 40 bands will be taking part in this year s music matters live 11

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may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone with hp along with local talents such as 53a jack rai and typewriter music fans interested to know more about music matters live with hp can hit up the music matters home page here logitech launched ultimate ears 100 200 and 200vi earphones and headsets source http vr-zone.com/articles/logitech-launched-ultimateears-100-200-and-200vi-earphones-and-headsets/12028.html may 3rd 2011 keeps your earphones looking and sounding good whether you re exercising or commuting to work and the new ultimate ears earphones come with a carrying pouch that easily fits into your pocket or your bag while you re on the go plus you can use your earphones with your ipod mp3 player or any laptop with a 3.5 mm jack to express your personal style the ultimate ears 200s are available in purple grey or blue logitech has launched their new ultimate ears 100 and 200 earphones and headset that claim to deliver secure noiseisolating fit with distinctive patterns and colors for the trendy users the ultimate ears are available in stores now today ultimate ears a product unit of logitech has introduced the ultimate ears 100 noise-isolating earphones the ultimate ears 200 noise-isolating earphones and the ultimate ears 200 vi noise-isolating headset in five distinctive patterns and three colors ultimate ears 200vi noise-isolating headset for your iphone or blackberry the new ultimate ears 200vi noise-isolating headset offers an integrated microphone and a 3.5 mm jack volume control functionality not available with blackberry devices for iphone users the on-cord controls let you switch seamlessly between music and phone calls with the push of a button and give you the ability to pause songs adjust volume and take phone calls all without taking your smartphone out of your pocket pricing and availability the suggested retail price for all variations of the ultimate ears 100 noise-isolating earphones is s$25 the suggested retail price for the ultimate ears 200 noise-isolating headphones and ultimate ears 200vi noise-isolating headset is s$39 and s$49 respectively samsung launches galaxy s wifi 4.0 and 5.0 and hmx-q10 camcorder ultimate ears 100 noise-isolating earphones ultimate ears latest earphones offer 24dbs of noise isolation giving comfortable secure fit that helps block outside noise and envelop you in sound plus every set of ultimate ears 100 noise-isolating earphones comes with four soft ear cushions from xxs to m to guarantee a comfortable fit featuring artwork from well-known graphic album artist chuck anderson and images from established rock star photographer greg watermann the ultimate ears 100 noiseisolating earphones five new genre-based styles allow you to express your musical style ultimate ears 200 noise-isolating earphones the ultimate ears 200 noise-isolating earphones deliver 26 dbs of noise isolation so you can really get in the zone with five pairs of soft silicone ear cushions you won t have to worry about getting the right fit a durable sweat-resistant design source http vr-zone.com/articles/samsung-launches-galaxy-s-wifi-4.0and-5.0-and-hmx-q10-camcorder/12027.html may 3rd 2011 samsung korea has announced their new galaxy s wifi 4.0 and 5.0 smart players that offer users entertainment on the move in addition the company has also launched the full high definition hmx-q10 camcorder which is retailing in stores now samsung today launched galaxy s wifi 4.0 and the galaxy s wifi 5.0 featuring 4 and 5-inch screen sizes respectively both can deliver the powerful application experiences as the original galaxy s the two versions give 12

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may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone users an unrivalled entertainment experience through a clear display a swift 1ghz processor and the android 2.2 froyo platform the galaxy s wifi 4.0 will be first available in russia and will be gradually rolled out in other countries the galaxy s wifi 5.0 will be first available in switzerland the galaxy s wifi 4.0 and 5.0 claim to deliver rich smartphone experiences of the galaxy s smartphone with video communications via voip services and rich video and music entertainment with multi-codec support the samsung galaxy s wifi 4.0 and 5.0 will keep users constantly entertained hd video images a camera lets you shoot and share your life capturing high-quality video or still images the samsung galaxy s wifi 4.0 and 5.0 support divx hd allowing highdefinition video playback support for various codec standards including mpeg4 h264 divx xvid wmv codecs ensures you can enjoy huge catalogues of content from all over the web key features display the clear display makes web surfing and multimedia viewing a joy enjoy movies favourite tv shows photos and web-browsing anywhere samsung s latest mdnie image engine technology ensures that video and images look stunning android 2.2 froyo the galaxy s wifi 4.0 and 5.0 feature the android operating system with possible upgrade option to 2.3 gingerbread audio excellence the samsung galaxy s wifi 4.0 and 5.0 smart player put entertainment at its core designed to deliver the best possible audio and video experience samsung soundalive technology provides unrivalled sound quality with deeper bass and greater tone articulation enhanced memory capability packed with generous 8/16 gb memory plus mircosd slot and powered by a powerful 1ghz for an industry leading performance the galaxy s wifi 4.0 and 5.0 are equipped to handle any user demand sony hit by hackers again source http vr-zone.com/articles/sony-hit-by-hackers-again/12025.html may 3rd 2011 application customization with access to over 150,000 apps available on android market the samsung galaxy s wifi 4.0 and 5.0 are fully customizable smart devices integrated gps support further expands the capabilities of the device letting you benefit from google s map services and directory applications in addition to the theft of over 70 million account details from sony s playstation network and qriocity services hackers have also stolen the personal information and credit card details of users from another sony network read on google mobile services enjoy premium google services such as gmail google talk and youtube utilize voice recognition technology to search with google faster than ever on the internet samsung social hub your entire social life in your hand simultaneously post messages and pictures on flickr facebook and twitter using samsung s social hub the integrated address book provides the ultimate command control station for the most popular sns services synchronize your personal calendar with friends family and the latest events voip voice video calls the galaxy s wifi 4.0 and 5.0 utilize cost-effective video and voice communications services the qik application allows video chat which can be shared over social network services while sony is still recovering from the fallout of its playstation network and qriocity services being compromised there is more bad news sony has just announced that hackers may have stolen the personal information of 24.6 million sony online entertainment soe users sources claim that 12,700 credit card details were stolen in this attack all of sony online entertainment s games services have been taken offline an advisory on the soe website has stated that the stolen credit card information are from an oudated 2007 database 13

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may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone the notice assures consumers that the main database has not been compromised sony online entertainment is best known for its mmorpgs massively multiplayer online role playing games such as everquest everquest ii and dc universe online it is official honeycomb s successor will be known as ice cream sandwich source http vr-zone.com/articles/it-is-official-honeycomb-s-successorwill-be-known-as-ice-cream-sandwich/12026.html may 3rd 2011 unfortunately little else about ice cream sandwich has been revealed save for the information that had been previously announced months ago that ice cream sandwich will feature the best of both worlds by incorporating elements of both gingerbread and honeycomb also word has it that ice cream sandwich will be the first version of android that is designed to work well with both smartphones and tablets with larger displays but we shall wait for the final build to be released before making any judgements that being said we cannot help but feel the need to satisfy a certain craving for ice cream right now we have danced around the issue for quite some time but nothing beats having the official word or endorsement to confirm or deny what we have already suspected as it turns out google has unintentionally confirmed that the next android release will go by the name of ice cream sandwich after sending off an email about various bugfixes in the linuxbased operating system for smartphones and tablets the daily vr-zone news summary 2 may 2011 source http vr-zone.com/articles/the-daily-vr-zone-news-summary 2may-2011/12016.html may 3rd 2011 it has long been speculated that the first version of the android operating system to be released after honeycomb will be named after the ice-cold dessert that many people from all over the world know and love and for good reason after all hints about an ice cream-based release have been dropped by various developers working on the operating system and ice cream does start with the letter i which as we all know is directly after that of honeycomb s h and as it turns out it seems that the speculations were correct after all for an internal email sent by android developer romain guv has essentially confirmed what everybody had been suspecting all this while that the next version of android will indeed be known as ice cream sandwich in today s news roundup amd has lanched a new embedded mcm video card the amd radeon e6760 which is reportedly derived from the company s mobile 6700m series gpus gigabyte has introduced yet another factoryoverclocked version of the radeon hd 6970 graphics card the gv-r697oc2-2gd otherwise known as the hd 6970 windforce-3x oc2 research in motion rim has officially unveiled its latest addition to the blackberry line of corporatecentric smartphones the blackberry bold 9900/9930 nokia has announced that its flagship symbian smartphone the nokia n8 will soon be made available in a pink version and is said to come bundled with the anna upgrade for the operating system pre-installed sony is taking steps to resume its playstation network services after it has been taken offline due to security compromises and gamespy talks about its experience with two classes in the upcoming star wars the old republic mmorpg the bounty hunter and the imperial agent hardware news msi geforce gtx 560 ti hawk video card review description as much as i love the recently looked at lightning cards from msi their high price tag continues to let us know that they re not for everybody this is ultimately where the hawk series comes in to the picture essentially the hawk series is very similar to that of the lightning when it comes to what msi want to achieve but instead of aiming for the fastest card overall like they do with the lightning they aim for the fastest at the easier to swallow mid-range price point intel core i7 990 x review ocaholic 14

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may 3rd 2011 published by vr-zone description with the core i7 990 x intel has a new flagship in its portfolio therefore they decided to increase the multiplyer by one step which results in a clock speed of 3.46 ghz thanks to this cpus six cores and twelve threads one can expect it to get the performance crown diy guides how to install/remove intel socket 1366 cpu pcstats description pcstats receives a good deal of questions from readers who don t know how to install an intel core i7 cpu into a fresh motherboard or upgrade a socket 1366 processor to a faster model we thought we d run off a quick diy guide illustrating the procedure for installing a socket 1366 cpu for the benefit of our readers xigmatek loki sd963 heatsink review frostytech.com description on the test bench today is xigmatek s midcompact loki sd963 heatsink the xigmatek loki sd963 stands 134mm tall weighs 430 grams comes equipped with a 92mm fan mounted on rubber vibration absorbing fan posts and will support a second 92mm fan if desired not included over the next few pages frostytech will tell you if the xigmatek loki sd963 heatsink is worth its weight in aluminum or junk for the recycling bin let s begin enermax hoplite midi tower pc case review real world labs description with an impressive range of features high build quality and a very tempting price tag the latest hoplite midi tower by enermax is proof enough that they ve got what it takes to also dominate the pc case market amd launches radeon e6760 the next embedded radeon description lately we ve been working on expanding our gpu coverage to include more gpus that aren t directly sold to consumers discretely or as part of a package up until now we ve mostly focused on 4 classes of gpus desktop mobile igp high performance computing hpc and we ve spent some time dabbling with system on a chip soc gpus for smartphones/tablets/netbooks this range of products mostly covers the different gpus seen in consumer products and in commercial supercomputing but there is still a large gap in there for non-consumer business uses this is the embedded market and today we re expanding our gpu coverage to include those gpus elpida drops some 30nm ddr3 info description elpida just announced that their 30nm dram process is ramping up and the release has a bunch of goodies buried in it 30nm production has been in process for a while now but the details have not been widely dispersed gigabyte intros faster hd 6970 oc2 windforce3x graphics card description gigabyte rolled out its second factoryoverclocked custom-design radeon hd 6970 graphics card model the gv-r697oc2-2gd or the gigabyte hd 6970 windforce-3x oc2 the card makes use of the same exact ultra durable vga pcb used on the gv-r697oc-2gd as well as the windforce-3x cooler but comes with higher clock speeds of 920 mhz core and 1375 mhz 5.50 ghz gddr5 effective memory compared to 900/1375 5500 mhz on the gv-r697oc-2gd and 880/1375 5500 in all three cases gigabyte didn t tinker with memory clock speeds consumer electronics and software news apple to roll out new imacs description at last apple will refresh its line of imac allin-one computers adding the latest intel core i5/i7 sandy bridge architecture and that new thunderbolt port according to reliable sources thermaltake tt esports shock spin gaming headset review @hi tech legion description thermaltake has a new addition to the gamer audio market with the tt esports shock spin gaming headset the shock spin puts a bit of style in the mundane headset market amongst the shock spin s looks are some good features as well driving the sound are two neodymium magnet speakers for enhanced performance there is an optional in line volume controller instead of an attached mic on the shock spin it is included separately for comfort there is an auto adjusting rubber head strap and ergonomic shaped velvet ear cushions the input is a 3.5mm connector which means it can be used with compatible devices as well as the computer thermaltake offers 3 colors shining white diamond black an royal red logitech g27 racing wheel review real world labs description higher quality materials improved dual forcefeedback motors 900-degree wheel rotation improved response and rpm/shift indicator leds are just some of the improvements found on the latest g27 racing wheel by logitech compared to its predecessor the award winning g25 beginners guides understanding and creating batch files description batch files can save time by automating specific actions taken on the computer down to one simple click they can also potentially hide damaging code so a good understanding of what they are how they work and how to create your own is crucial to today s it force watch how the police raid a cellphone description everyone knows the cops have tools to get inside your phone but what do they do they suck your iphone s entire soul in 15 minutes with one single click this is what it looks like blackberry bold 9900/9930 officially unveiled description rim has officially unveiled the latest addition to their lineup of blackberry bold phones called the blackberry bold 9900/9930 it will be rim s thinnest blackberry phone to date the bold 9900/9930 will finally make the transition to a touchscreen phone for all you dedicated qwerty keyboard lovers don t worry rim hasn t gotten rid of them the bold 9900/9930 will still have one and this time rim claims it s their best keyboard to date nokia n8 to come in pink with symbian anna update description nokia has announced a pink version of its flagship symbian phone the nokia n8 it will come preloaded with the symbian anna update at around the same time as the update will become available to all other n8 users gaming news sony to resume playstation network services says no evidence credit card info stolen description sony will resume some playstation network services and beef up its security nearly two weeks after a hacker 15

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