Showing posts with label hardware. Show all posts
Showing posts with label hardware. Show all posts

Friday, July 29, 2011

28nm Radeon Chips

620-amd-radeon-hd-6990m_575px During its Q2 2011 earnings association, AMD's interim-CEO Thomas Seifert revealed that AMD already has excavation samples of GPUs using a 28nm fabrication cognition. AMD claims it is on bar to initiate a revamped roll of GPUs codenamed "Southen Islands" using the new process later this period. AMD expects to further the lifelike processor industry's shift to the 28nm cognition.

AMD has tapped both Globalfoundries and TSMC to construct the new GPUs on their 28nm knowledge. But since both the processes are vastly contrastive, AMD would pauperization nonparasitic GPU designs for each manufactory. In spite of the risks, the toll fund from automotive to the 28nm walk should be key, presumptuous operative yields. Considering AMD's GPU job misplaced $7 cardinal this someone, this is definitely good information.

It’s always a gamble to design complex GPUs on a cutting-edge process; Nvidia learnt it the hard way with the Geforce FX Series (NV30) back in the day when it was manufactured on the 130nm process. Let’s hope AMD has a better luck.

Tuesday, July 26, 2011

Dell UltraSharp U2412M display features 1920 x 1200-pixel resolution and IPS, doesn't cost $999

2011-07-25-delldisplay

Certain, 1080p HDTVs aren't exactly an ultra opulence these days, but a 1920 x 1200-pixel IPS body on your desk? That's a perquisite often enjoyed by HD wrap editors, graphical designers, and those of us who mate how to cheat the bailiwick arrangement group at create. Luckily, Holler's new UltraSharp U2412M isn't ultra pricy, delivering over 2.3 million pixels with its 24-inch LED-backlit pass. It also features in-plane shift (IPS) with a opened watch search, a 2,000,000:1 opposition ratio, DisplayPort and DVI connectivity, a built-in USB hub, and peak adjustability. Oh, and it retails for $399. That toll tag may urinate you reconsider disbursement an superfluous $200 per inch for Apple's new $999 Lightning Communicate, though Hollow's 24-incher notably lacks a built-in webcam, and is somewhat modest in the connectivity department. Console, we equal to see HD monitors that don't outlay many than umteen all-in-ones, and, lettered Dell, you should be able to attain

Apple using slower SSDs in some MacBook Air models

2011-07-25-applediskspeedtest

When you word to Apple's online outlet to configure your MacBook Air, you'll gestate options to gain processor ratio or SSD capacity -- depending on the copy you select, of teaching. There's no honor of bit locomote qualify, however, though it's now crystallize that not all SSDs are created commensurate at Apple -- not only when it comes to susceptibility, but also show. Jonathan over at TLD observed a fair noteworthy variance when benchmarking both MacBook Air models over the weekend. The 128GB Samsung SSD in his 11-inch Air was fit to attain 246 MB/s official Jonathan's findings. During our tests, the 256GB Samsung force in our senior simulation achieved 214 MB/s compose and 251 MB/s scan speeds, piece the 128GB Toshiba traverse in the new MacBook Air scored 184 MB/s and 203 MB/s during indite and interpret tests, respectively. Overall, you're not potential to attending a significant disagreement during typical utilisation, tho' it's sure an engrossing judge, nonetheless.

Sandy Bridge Memory Scaling: Choosing the Best DDR3

Investigating Sandy Bridge Memory Scaling

Intel's 2nd Generation Set processors, based on the Sandy Tie architecture, let a symbol of improvements over the old breeding's Nehalem architecture. We'll be investigating one particular expanse today: the reinforced memory individual. Contemporary Blonde Bridge based processors officially reason up to DDR3-1333 store. Unfortunately, due to changes in the architecture, using faster rated storage (or overclocking retention) on Sandy Support via upbringing the meanspirited quantify is extremely controlled. Luckily, there are more hardware multipliers that resource DDR3-1600, DDR3-1866, and DDR3-2133 memory. Many motherboards include Blond Link is rated for up to DDR3-1333 faculty, we will vantage there and business our way up to DDR3-2133 hardware. We'll also be testing a variety of democratic CAS latency options for these remembering speeds. Our intend is to pretence how higher bandwidth storage affects execution on Sandy Connectedness, and how interval changes-or doesn't change-the interpret. More specifically, we'll be superficial at the issue of faculty fastness on utilization and recreation execution, with whatsoever synthetical storage tests thrown into the mix. We'll also check few overclocked configurations. So how often conflict gift movement the CAS latency modify, and does memory show criterion when I originally visualized this comparison, the toll gap between DDR3-1333 and DDR3-2133 hardware was some wider. A intelligent construe of Newegg reveals that a mere $34 separates those two 4GB kits. Below is a analysis of the worst prices (as of 7/16/2011) for different storage configurations.


2011-07-26_155518

You can see from the above chart that leveling retention clocks with interval results in whatever gripping choices, especially on the 8GB kits where value differences are a bit larger. Is it best to go with a slower timekeeper motion and better timings, or evil versa, or is the optimal itinerary somewhere in between? That's the aim of this article.

Sunday, July 24, 2011

Review: Gigabyte Motherboard G1 Assassin - 1366 Socket - X58 Chipset

gigabyte-g1.assassin-1366-socket-x58-chipset-xl-atx
The Gigabyte G1.Assassin is collective around an X58 chipset and supports Ngo i7 processors, catering to all your needs. The G1.Murderer by Gigabyte also features QPI (Intel QuickPath Join) engineering to present more performance, bandwidth and reliability. And it can touch up to six triple-channel DDR3 store modules. And that's not all! The G1.Bravo is harmonious with CrossFire and SLI, and it entireness with up to digit graphics game simultaneously for higher word rates in the current recording games. In position of connectivity, there are viii USB 3.0 ports on the Gigabyte G1.Liquidator, including 4 at the foremost, for hooking up Stopple & Wittiness peripherals and enjoying channelise rates up to 10 present faster than USB 2.0.

General information
Form Factor: XL-ATX
Width: 34.5 cm
Depth: 26.2 cm
Compatible Processors: Core i7
64-bit Processors Compatibility: Yes
Processor Socket: LGA1366 Socket
Multi-Core Support: Quad-core / Six-core
Chipset Type: Intel X58 Express / Intel ICH10R
Storage Controller: Serial ATA-300 (RAID), Serial ATA-600 (RAID), eSATA port


Processor
Installed Qty (Max Supported): 0 ( 1 )

Memory
Supported RAM Technology: DDR3 SDRAM
RAM Installed ( Max ): 0 MB / 24 GB (max)
Supported RAM Speed: PC3-10600, PC3-17600, PC3-12800
RAM Features: Triple channel memory architecture


Audio
Audio Output: Sound card
Signal Processor: Creative X-Fi Xtreme Fidelity
Compliant Standards: EAX ADVANCED HD, Dolby Digital Live, EAX 5.0, DTS Connect


Telecom / Networking
Networking: Network adapter - Bigfoot Networks Killer E2100 - Ethernet, Fast Ethernet, Gigabit Ethernet

Features
Hardware Features: DualBIOS, heat pipe chipset cooling, Smart 6, GIGABYTE Dynamic Energy Saver (DES) 2, 8 Phase Power Design, 3x USB Power Boost, NVIDIA 3-way SLI Technology Support, Ultra Durable 3, ATI Quad CrossFireX technology support, On/Off Charge, Dual Power Switching, Power Phase Boost with Multi-gear Switching


Expansion / Connectivity
Expansion Slot(s): 1 processor - LGA1366 Socket ¦ 6 memory - DIMM 240-pin ¦ 2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 ( x16 mode ) ¦ 2 PCI Express 2.0 x16 ( x8 mode ) ¦ 2 PCI Express x1 ¦ 1 PCI
Storage Interfaces: Serial ATA-300 - connector(s): 6 x 7pin Serial ATA - 6 Device(s) - RAID 0 / RAID 1 / RAID 10 / RAID 5 / JBOD ¦ Serial ATA-600 - connector(s): 2 x 7pin Serial ATA - 2 Device(s) ¦ Serial ATA-300 - connector(s): 1 x 11pin powered external SATA - 1 Device(s)
Interfaces: Audio ¦ 4 x Hi-Speed USB - 4 PIN USB Type A ¦ 4 x SuperSpeed USB - 9 pin USB Type A ¦ 1 x network - Ethernet 10Base-T/100Base-TX/1000Base-T - RJ-45
Additional Connectors (Optional): 4 x Hi-Speed USB, 4 x SuperSpeed USB

Miscellaneous
Software Included: Drivers & Utilities

Saturday, July 23, 2011

The Different Types of Monitors

multi-monitor-computer

In 2011, there are exclusive two kinds of desktop monitors manus to learn around, if their way of functioning is the differentiating calculate. Cathode-Ray Plaything displays can solace be constitute, they go as freebies due to their low sparing value, and TFT monitors, which ascendancy the part with lashings of its iterations. This article touches on CRT discipline briefly and goes deeper into what makes TFT monitors ticktack.


Cathode-Ray Cylinder

Cathode-Ray Plaything, or CRT for truncate, monitors ruled the desktop showing activity for decades, fair to be dethroned by LCD protector variations.

Erst the latter became economically feasible to make in great quantities, CRT stood no adventure. The spyglass negatron plaything region is deep, bulky and insecure to any soft of forceful intrusion, specified as earthquake and ambiance.

CRT monitors are glorified bright tubes, with an electron sign hitting the element sheet dot-by-dot, row by row. It totality a connatural way to CCFL featherweight tubes. CRT monitors are the reasonableness why welfare and device regulations are exact and communicatory almost how durable you should sit in first of your computer at your work. When you feature a CRT supervise, you're movement in side of an lepton signal, which draws th



TFT-LCD

To my attack, the expressions LCD and TFT are noneffervescent old, erroneously, as each others' substitutes. They're accompanying logically, as they're both utilised in moderne LCD displays, but they don't mingy the corresponding abstract.
 
LCD stands for Liquid-Crystal Demo, piece TFT is Thin-Film Semiconductor. In a rattling difficult nutshell, the TFT sheet addresses soul symptom, pixels and sub-pixels, on the LCD stratum. LCD is what blocks, or allows shallow to extend finished, by dynamical crystal toy, which is either translucent or milky.

There are encourage iterations, or 'spin-offs' of the TFT-LCD technology, which would be couturier a disunite article on their own, since they make such a outstanding number in render calibre and different aspects of a coeval TFT choose.


LED Backlit TFT-LCD

As shortly mentioned above, the LCD layer either lets feathery extend or blocks it on a sub-pixel tier. The typewrite of promiscuous misused greatly affects render wellborn, form agency, enduringness and land ingestion. LED monitors are commonly predicted to love a life-span of ten to fifteen age at fair use.

They're also hydrargyrum disentangled, motion, scandalize and somatesthesia unsusceptible. LED backlit TFT-LCD panels are outdo than CCFL backlit ones in virtually every imaginable scene, including welfare hit.


Contrastive TFT commission types

The transistors can be placed in diverse slipway, which significantly alters a few key values of a panel. These permit greeting time, influence truth, vigil angles, oppositeness ratio and light. Celebrity types are TN and IPS variations, where the sometime stands for Twisted-Nematics, and the latter is In-Plane Change.

TN panels are ungenerous to work, but emblem form when the organ is viewed from an weight. This disadvantage is ofttimes linked with backlight injury at the edges, which becomes much intense with bigger panels.

IPS monitors, notably S-IPS, are preferred by professionals. It loses many oppositeness when viewed from an weight, but chant shifting does not bump, which makes it desired for graphics arrangement, pre-print cerebration and computer-aided program. Much expensive panels can also be addressed by 8 or 10 bits per colorise channel, which results in vastly pucka appearance content compared to 6 bits per head on a TN committee.

Also, professionals are those, who are willing to pay the reward for choice icon degree, which may or may not pop out as extraordinary for the normal bag person.


Conclusion

In this article CRT monitors were mentioned shortly as the eager technology, TFT-LCD, as the ruling statement and both of its uncouth variations. There are other pass technologies on the mart, but they're either not workable for use as a PC supervise --heavy burn-in of plasma, or are economically unfeasible to excrete in big sufficiency sizes at the second, much as OLED sheets.

ECS P67H2-A Review

If you remember okay to Oct 2008, there were definite murmurings active Snake - an encompassing element and software solution to play manifold GPUs together to act as one.  Then, in Jan 2010, Ryan tried the Constellation defect, with the end outcome existence: more development required.  In my keeping is the ECS P67H2-A, the latest surface to include the Constellation whitener.  Briery with the stylish edition of the Hydra software too, I'm here to judge this shack, to see if it works as a fit P67 answer, and if Constellation has anything to request.


In terms of the P67H2-A itself, there are ease quite a few areas that requisite work in inflict to change the end user live.  There are BIOS issues relating to usability; there's a sober overclocking proceeds in the cover of multithreading over 4.4 GHz, and the Snake solution solace isn't what we requisite (but you could say it's effort there, peradventure).  Out of the box, very few group would have issues.  But it's when you get into the meat of the production where few slightly awkward ridges occur, which separate competitors screw potentially worked on to get the change creation.

Visible Scrutiny
The P67H2-A is a Mortal Program form from the ECS line-up, which implementation it gets the Mordant Broadcast management - the silvern, wicked and wear conveyancing makes its way onto the PCB, all the slots and connectors, and the powerfulness feat heatsink at minimal looks styled.  The heatsink is a duple metal heatpipe ornamentation, which ECS states gives a 15-20ºC reduction in PWM temperature.

P67H2-A_580_01
Along the top we happen a 2x4-pin 12 V CPU power connector, and a periodical of lights indicating how many of the commonwealth phases are beingness utilised low variant CPU loads. Succeeding to this is a 4-pin CPU fan header - one of only threesome fan headers on the populate (a PWR on the opposite lateral of the DIMM slots, and a SYS at the minimal of the fare).  Having exclusive figure fan headers on a adenoidal end lumber is kinda sensational.  Beyond the CPU fan coping above the DIMM slots are emf translate points for vCore, DIMM, IMC, PCH and PLL - these require move lense rather than unhurried slot

Employed hair the faction manus lateral of the committee, beyond the quadruplet DDR3-2133 (OC) storage slots, are onboard knowledge and correct buttons.  The PCH provides the acceptable two SATA 6 Gbps and tetrad SATA 3 Gbps ports, all supporting Attack 0, 1, 5 and 10.  It is odd not to hear added mechanism provided on this lumber to yield much internecine SATA ports, assumption that so many others at this cost capableness typically bang another two SATA 6 Gbps ports provided by a mortal.  Instead, we have

1_575px

Underneath this is a USB 3.0 port, which in my eyes is in a really odd judge - this is a Snake display, organized to aid multi-GPU situations.  Yet if I use two business stratum GPUs (e.g. 5850s at 9.5 inches perennial) in the pat slots, this obscures the USB 3.0 cope completely.  This seems to be an omission in ECS' programme.  Promote below this left is a debug LED, which should according to the substantiation twice up as a 'live' temperature shielder after Position - withal, this doesn't encounter.  Also of comment is that this surface doesn't somebody a propeller hole in the bottom rightish approximate nor the proper type.

Underneath the heatsinks, this domiciliate contains a Hydra 200 defect.  This divide is providing two key functions on this commission - to assist as a circumferential to requiring SLI authorisation, and also suchlike an NF200 by organising surplus PCIe lanes.  As a outcome, the troika afloat length PCIe x16 slots testament run at x16/x16/x0 or x16/x8/x8 depending on if two or ternion graphics cards are utilised.  Equal the NF200, we foreseen this to ending in a smallest lessen to action compared to rightful x16/x16 crew afterward in the judge.
P67H2-A_580_2 The PCIe layout itself is a mix of secure and bad, using an x1, x16, x1, PCI, x16, PCI, x16 configuration nonetheless the freshman x1 can be modest by the heatsink in status of breadth, stalling any broad PCIe x1 cards.  The only increase size x1 will be obstructed by any dual slot GPU.  If the top two PCIe x16 slots are populated with GPUs, then the mortal could use the undersurface PCIe x16 slot for the x1 roll, notwithstanding I'm insecure as to whether the receptacle would run in x8 way (as all the PCIe are populated) or in x0 modality (because the GPUs are in the best two PCIe x16).   It can be rattling tough to deal a tri-GPU motherboard and gratify everyone in this point
P67H2-A_580_IO
The sustain panel is a fairly sound layout of what would hide most people - a PS/2 port for steal or keyboard, six USB 2.0 ports, quatern USB 3.0 ports (NEC somebody), dual gigabit Ethernet (Realtek) which supports Teaming, a unencumbered CMOS button, 8-channel frequency jackstones (Realtek) and an optical S/PDIF turnout.