Tech News From Around The Web

Intel to Launch First Mobile Quad-Core in Q3?

According to DigiTimes, mobile Quad-Cores are on their way, finally, but the initial batch are not going to be cheap. The new Quad-Core will come courtesy of Intel and debut as an Extreme part, similar to how new desktop models are debuted. If these rumors are fulfilled, the 2.53GHz part will cost $1,038 to system builders.

The chip will undoubtedly be targeted towards the serious enthusiast and also to those who need a mobile workstation. Besides carrying similar benefits of the 45nm desktop parts, the QX9300 will include 12MB of cache, have a TDP of 45W and a FSB of 1066MHz.

Despite this first offering being very expensive, it's good to finally see them en route. According to Intel, mainstream mobile Quad-Core adoption will not occur until the latter-half of 2009, so we may not see more affordable parts until sometime until Q1/Q2 2009. I am most curious about the cooling-solution, since Quad-Cores on the desktop side can get very hot... which is bad news for a notebook.

With the market demand for top-level notebooks still below average, Intel expects the quad-core notebook CPUs will not become standard in the performance/mainstream notebook market until the second half of 2009, and therefore should not impact the desktop PC market, noted the sources.

Source: DigiTimes

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EA Determined to Purchase Take-Two

Late last month, we posted about the desired takeover of Take-Two by EA, and since then, it hasn't left the news. At all. I refused to post more about it since it's rather boring, but now it's beginning to get more interesting.

EA is getting impatient and we are coming down to a "take it or leave it" situation. For Take-Two's shareholders, a take-over would be a good thing (especially on their pockets), but Take-Two themselves are remaining defiant. But EA is so determined, they have now gone straight-past Take-Two themselves and are targeting the shareholders directly.

EA's deal is simple... to purchase all shares from the holders for $26 a pop. That figure was more impressive a few days ago, but now TTWO's stock is almost at that point by itself, making the shareholders decision a little less easy. No one knows what will happen now, but EA is a powerful company are are unlikely to be defeated this easily. Either way, this is one show that's getting fun to watch.

EA states that the offer represents a 64 percent premium over Take-Two stock price on February 15, but now the $26 bid sits at around 4.4 percent above the current price. The tender offer is scheduled to expire April 11, 2008, unless the tender offer is extended. The release of Take-Two’s largest title of 2008, Grand Theft Auto 4, will be hitting stores two weeks after the close of EA’s offer.

Source: DailyTech

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Intel X48 Motherboards to Show Up This Week

According to industry-tracking website DigiTimes, Intel X48-equipped motherboards will soon be making their way into the retail channel. The first set of shipments are small, but full-throttle shipments should occur in the coming week.

X48 is an evolutionary upgrade over X48, with the prime difference being an upgrade in the systems FSB, which will sit at 1600MHz. Because of this, the upcoming QX9770 processor will be natively supported. That processor is mysterious, because we first previewed it way back in November. It's not often that we release reviews so far in advance of a product launch, so it's looking like the launch could be soon, thanks to the X48 launch.

We've yet to take a look at an X48 board, but have plans to soon. Our first review will be the ASUS P5E3 Premium board, which I expect to be a great performer and feature a splendid bundle (if previous generations are anything to go by). This board is likely to be included in the initial launch as well.

Although Intel has not yet officially announced its high-end X48 chipset, some first-tier motherboard makers started shipping boards in small volumes a few days ago. Mass shipping will start in the middle of March, according to sources in the channel. Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology both started shipping the motherboards this week.

Source: DigiTimes

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Windows Vista SP1 Ships Next Week

Now that Windows 7 has a tentative launch-date, does Vista's SP1 launch seem so meh now? No? Then you'll be happy to know that the official launch for the new service-pack will occur next week. It will not become available through Windows built-in updater until April, however.

The latter method is the one I'll take. Not that I don't trust SP1, but I'm sure many others will be jumping on the bandwagon early and noticeable problems will become evident quick, swaying me even further from upgrading. If that's not the case, then we can all feel more confident once it becomes available through Windows Update.

If you are at work or have some time to kill, you can read the lengthy page on what's new in SP1 over at the official site.

On March 18, Microsoft will post to its download site the manual installer for Vista SP1. This will be a big one, several hundred megabytes in size. On the Vista upgrade disk Microsoft sent me, it weighs in at over 400 MB. If you wait a month or so, Microsoft will deliver SP1 in April via Windows Update.

Source: TechBlog, Via: Download Squad

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Intel's D5400XS Should Hit E-Tailers In Coming Weeks

The other day, I posted about the lack of the Intel D5400XS motherboard on the market... the key piece in building a full Skulltrail system. Since that post, I've found out quite a bit, so much so that I'll be posting a brief article on it next week. For now, I can delve into the basics.

The reason no D5400XS motherboards are available right now is because Intel have allocated their inventory to system builders, which left e-tailers with none. Apparently, there were far more Core 2 Extreme QX9775 processors than the motherboards themselves. D5400XS availabilty at your favorite e-tailer should come within a few weeks, according to Intel.

For those who don't want to build their own Skulltrail rig, so far there are very few who are taking orders, but Maingear and Puget are there and waiting. You'd better have the cash and stomach for it, however, as their pre-configured systems both begin close to $9,000! Is building an affordable Skulltrail rig looking more tempting?

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March 14th Tech Roundup

Displays & Video Cards
• Foxconn GeForce 8800GT OC - TweakTown
• GIGABYTE GV-RX387512H HD3870 512MB - GamePyre
• Sapphire HD3870X2 CrossfireX - Technic3D
• Sapphire Radeon HD 3650 512MB - HotHardware

Memory & Storage
• QNAP TS-409 Pro 4-Drive SATA Gigabit NAS - Benchmark Reviews

Peripherals & Gadgets
• ASUS Xonar D2X 7.1 Channel PCI Express Sound Card - Big Bruin
• mStation 2.1 Stereo Orb - OCIA
• Saitek GM3200 Laser Mouse - Overclockers Club

Cooling
• ASUS Silent Knight II Heatsink - FrostyTech
• CoolJag Falcon 92-Cu Heatsink - Overclockers Club

Chassis & Power Supplies
• Aerocool Horsepower 1020 Watt Power Supply - Pro-Clockers
• Kingwin ABT-450MM Power Supply - Hardware Secrets
• Lancool Metal Boned K7 - techPowerUp!
• Thermaltake Max 4 Active Cooling HDD Enclosure - Hardware Secrets

Competitions, Complete Systems & Et cetera
• ASUS U6S Ultra Portable - T-Break
• Samsung BlackJack II - Digital Trends

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