Gigabyte Breaths New Life Into AGP

We all know of the song "that never ends", and that's immediately what I think of when I see an AGP graphics card. Despite the fact that the slot-type has been long ousted, some companies refuse to let go, and in reality, there has got to still be demand for such cards, which I find entirely interesting.

Here at Computex, Gigabyte is showing off a brand-new ATI Radeon HD 4650 AGP card, designed for those with old machines who either want a recent offering, or simply have the need to get a new card for whatever reason. As a mainstream graphics chip, the performance wouldn't be up to par with what we see with mid-range PCI-E cards, but at least the option is there for those who need it.

The card is available right now, although I'm unsure of the pricing. Like ATI's other 4000-series offerings, this card supports DirectX 10.1 and OpenGL 2.1, has 1GB of GDDR2 onboard, and also features HDMI and DVI connectors. Oh, and for some reason, it also supports CrossFireX. Try and figure that one out!

Corsair's Obsidian 800D Brings Many Unique Features to the Table

Just earlier, I mentioned that Corsair has been branching out quite a bit over the years with their products, and while memory is still their bread and butter, they're still actively supplementing that with various other products, such as cooling and power supplies. First shown at CeBIT, the Obsidian 800D is the company's first chassis, and what a chassis it is...

It's a rare occurrence when a company releases a new product-type for the first time and it become something incredible, but where the Obsidian is concerned, the only thing I can think of is "kick-ass". I'm in no way a chassis guy, and I tend to be one of those who couldn't care less about what's holding my components, but even I want one of these... big time.

First key feature is the size. This thing is massive, and as a result, "airflow issues" is a term that will suddenly cease from your vocabulary. It doesn't matter if you want an incredibly robust water-cooling setup... you're still going to have superb airflow. There's a lot more to the chassis than just the size though, and really, a simple news post wouldn't allow me to touch all of the features.

One of my favorite features are the rubber grommits that fill the "cable holes"... the holes that you will run your cables through from behind the motherboard area out to where you need to plug them in. Seems simple, but this does an unbelievable job of keeping things looking clean. It was noted by Corsair that some people from other meetings asked why the PC wasn't even complete... and it was simply because the cabling was kept so clean.

Then there's the unbelievable care given to water-cooling... which I won't even touch. Just take a look at this picture to get an idea of what I'm talking about. There's much more to mention, but for the sake of time, we'll have to leave the rest to our review upon the product's release. As it stands, the chassis is set to retail for around $300, and though high, it brings a lot to the table compared to other $300 chassis' on the market.

Intel Thrives to be Small, Enable Ultra-Thin Notebooks

Bigger may be better in some cases, but where our microchips are concerned, the opposite is true. Intel is one company to fully believe this, and they made it increasingly clear that their goals are to deliver small yet performance-efficient chips to help make notebooks even smaller, but still desirable. We've made mention of these in our news before, but a lot more information was given today.

In the launch of four new ULV processors, Intel stated that it's cool to be thin, and as I mentioned in a posting earlier today, computers are not only being designed around functionality nowadays, but also style. It's not fashionable to lug around a 10lb offering, but a sleek 4lbs notebook can be, if done right.

Processors that draw low power also tend to lack performance, and these CPUs aren't going to break that mold. However, it's Intel's and many other's ideas that most people who use a notebook on the go use it for simpler purposes, such as e-mail and writing. So in a scenario like that, how great it would be to have a 10" - 12" notebook that lasts close to 7 hours? It's been claimed that these new CPUs can make it happen.

In addition to the new processors, Intel also introduced the GS40 Express mobile chipset, which is required for these new CPUs to make use of their full power-saving potential. But it also enables robust HD playback (hopefully) and also native HDMI... a nice bonus. Past those features, Intel also touted WiMax as having grown vastly in popularity in the past year, and a new "My WiFi" technology for notebooks that will allow you to set up your machine as a wireless hub, for use with other PCs or peripherals.

All in all, not a bad showing on the mobile front from Intel. Decently-sized notebooks that last 7 hours? Sign me up.

EVGA's Swivel Dual Monitor to be Released Soon

As I found out first-hand this past CES, EVGA is very interested in branching out to cater to markets other than PC gamers, and that was obvious with the launch of their PCoIP. That product allows you to literally place your beastly machine somewhere far from where you plan to sit your monitor, and you can still use it via your home network. The product is currently very expensive, but it's certainly going to please anyone who picks one up (imagine playing your high-end games but  have no computer in front of you... pure silence).

At Computex, the company was showing off something that they originally had on display at CES 2008. I'm not quite sure of the name, but it gives new meaning to "dual display". Two modestly-sized monitors are placed side by side, and swivel to your liking - you can even turn one over completely. If you go that route, the picture will automatically flip to orient itself properly.

The purpose for the product is likely very specific, although for gamers, there's little doubt some titles could support the unique displays if someone, or some developer decided to design something. EVGA's primary audience in mind is business folk, especially those in the financial sector - one where it's not at all rare to have 6 displays at your desk.

It may seem a bit odd, but this product will actually cost less than the PCoIP product mentioned above. At $649, it's still going to be sold only to those with a specific reason for a purchase, although I'm very interested to see just where it will go upon release. The resolution (1440x900) will be another limiting factor at the moment for some, but EVGA stated that larger models are being considered, and whether they come to fruition will likely depend on how well these initial units sell. The current model should become available within the next month.

Gigabyte's Upcoming Software Makes Good Use of the BIOS

Out of all the motherboard vendors, the company who seems to care most about bundled software would have to be Gigabyte. While some others release software that's entirely clunky and not fun to use, Gigabyte tries to refine theirs as much as possible, in order to make them both look good, and easy to use. Such new software was shown off at Computex, and I have to say, if it's not all entirely useful, it is at least interesting.

A new software bundle in some upcoming motherboards is called Ultra6, and it's comprised of Smart DualBIOS, QuickBoost, QuickBoot, Recorder and TimeLock. One of the more interesting of the bunch would have to be DualBIOS. For this feature, Gigabyte expanded the physical size of the BIOS to about 16MB, in order to allow users to save additional information within.

What kind of information may change over time, but the demo they had gave an example of saving your collection of passwords. For example, when using the feature, you could type in your passwords and also the site names for each, then save it to the BIOS. If you happen to forget a password later on, you can use this feature and input the master password in order to see whatever is stored. This will undoubtedly be a niche feature, but it's neat nonetheless.

Then there is Recorder, which acts as a system logger. Here, the software can record a variety of information, including what was done on your PC recently, such as copying files to a thumb drive. We also have Recovery, which is set to compete with such technologies as Time Machine from Apple. If this software works well, it would prove to be a great addition to Gigabyte's boards.

There's also QuickBoot, which somehow improves both the boot speed of the POST process and also the Windows' loading. Aside from these, there were other software tools shown, such as updated and worthwhile overclocking tools, and we'll be sure to take a look at all of them when they hit upcoming P55 and revised X58 motherboards.

NZXT Has Numerous Chassis' En Route, New Fan Controllers

When I arrived for our meeting with NZXT at Computex, I was greeted with the fact that they had a lot to show off. That sounded great. Then I was told that none of it could be photographed... so, no, that white image below is a joke and not your monitor going funky.

What I can say though, is that NZXT has a lot of new products en route, and some are quite interesting. As we found out in our Beta review last week, NZXT is a company who values budget-oriented consumers, and they believe that people shouldn't have to spend a huge sum of money to get a decent chassis. While the Beta retails for around ~$50, you can expect to see an even lesser-expensive chassis soon (~$40).

One thing I found interesting about NZXT's line-up is that they literally have a chassis for every price-range. Things start out at $40, then there's a model for each multiple of $10, up to around $150, they have a different chassis. It's really cool to have such a wide product range, and makes picking out a model quite easy for the regular consumer.

Thanks to the overall good reception for the company's fan controller, Sentry LX, we'll be seeing some follow-ups in the coming months, with two new models. Each offers a touchscreen, and are very easy to use. Normally, touchscreen is equivalent to "expensive", but not here. The single-bay touchscreen Sentry will retail for around $30, which seems incredible at this point. It's a great way not to only spice up the front of your PC, but have full control over each fan in your machine. I look forward to seeing this come to market.

Corsair Reveals Hydro H50 Self-Contained Water CPU Cooler

Looking back a few years, I don't remember many companies branching out of their main product line too much, but things have certainly changed since then With Corsair in particular, we've seen various products come out, including their widely-successful PSU line-up, and also their cooling products, which range from the DOMINATOR air RAM fan to the memory water-block.

At Computex, the company has announced their latest entry to the CPU cooler market with the Hydro H50. For the sake of comparison, they're pitting the H50 to the Thermalright Ultra-120, and in their tests (and seen in live demos), their cooler can out-perform the Thermalright by around 15°C, and sometimes even higher.

While the Thermalright cooler is air-based, the H50 from Corsair is a self-contained water-cooling unit. At its core, it's an Asetek cooler, but Corsair worked with the company for over six months to get the H50 to where it is today, and it works very well. Compared to some air coolers, it's quite silent, and for the $80 price-tag, it's a great option for pretty-much anyone.

In the live demo, two identical machines (aside from the cooler) were running the i7-975 Extreme Edition processor at 4.0GHz, and while the CPU under the Thermalright crashed every half-hour or so, I saw that the H50 was running stable for over six hours, and at around 65°C. That's incredible for an $80 cooler!

EVGA Brings Super-Fast Graphics to the Mac

For enthusiasts, one of the biggest drawbacks to an Apple computer is the limitations of hardware. You can't purchase a Mac and throw whatever you want in there, and as a result, even models like the MacPro can leave a bit to be desired in certain areas. One of the most notable limitations is with the selection of graphics cards, but soon, that will change.

High-end cards on Macs is something humorous, because they simply haven't existed. To my knowledge, the last truly high-end GPU offering on the Mac was either the 7800 GTX or 8800 GTX, but within the next month or two, Apple gamers will be able to toss a very-fast GTX 285 in their rig, offering some incredible performance for any of today's games.

"Oh boy, here comes a huge price premium!" That's what I thought as well, but EVGA assured me that the pricing difference wouldn't be huge, but it'd certainly be a little bit higher than the PC variant. It's also important to note that while the game selection on Macs is undoubtedly lacking, anyone who runs a Mac with this card could experience PC-equivalent graphics in their games when running Windows through Bootcamp. It looks like you can finally be a Mac user and high-end gamer all at the same time!

For the time-being, this card is EVGA-exclusive, and I'd expect it to remain as such for a little while. And in case you are led to believe that this card would be identical to the PC version, only with a different BIOS, that's not the case. Believe it or not, the card's circuitry actually has to be adjusted in order to suit the Mac operating system. That's likely a good reason why we don't see more hardware support on that platform at this point in time.

Gigabyte's GM-M7800S Mouse Brings Luxury to Your Palm

Luxury means a lot of things to a lot of people. Fast cars, huge houses, sparkly jewels, complex timepieces, and so forth. With the growing trend of technology falling into the hands of those who never once cared about it, companies are pushing products in such a way that they not only work well, but become a fashion statement.

This was Gigabyte's thought when designing the GM-M7800S wireless mouse, an option for those who like to be noticed, or at least want their entire PC setup to look exquisite. The mouse size isn't as large as a regular desktop mouse, but it's much larger than a notebook offering, and also features similar design to Gigabyte's other desktop mice already released.

What makes the mouse special is the fact that it's comprised of both leather and soft plastic, not to mention 18K gold accents and Swarovski crystal elements. Yes, seriously. I never thought I'd see a mouse with mention of Swarovski on the box, but here it is. Surprisingly, the mouse's price is only going to hover around $80 USD, and to add to the exclusivity, only 10,000 will be built.

Tech Roundup - June 2, 2009

Motherboards & Processors
• AMD Phenom II X4 955 Black Edition - Legit Reviews
• Gigabyte GeForce GTX 275 and GTS 250 - iXBTlabs

Displays & Video Cards
• Gigabyte GV-N96TSL-1GI GeForce 9600GT SilentCell - Motherboards.org
• Sapphire HD 4890 Toxic - Hi Tech Legion
• Sapphire Radeon HD4770 512MB - Bigbruin

Memory & Storage
• Eye-Fi Explore Video 4GB - TechReviewSource

Peripherals & Gadgets
• i-Rocks Cherry MX Mechanical Keyboard - Red and Blackness
• Logitech MOMO Force Feedback Racing Wheel - GamePyre
• OCZ Behemoth Gaming Mouse - Overclock3D
• Plextor PX-610U USB DVD Burner - Hardware Logic
• Thrustmaster T.16000M PC Joystick - TestFreaks

Cooling
• 13 Intel Core i7 LGA 1366 CPU Coolers - Legit Reviews
• Kingwin XT-1264 Intel Core i7 CPU Cooler - ClubOC

Chassis & Power Supplies
• SilverStone Sugo SST-SG05B Mini ITX Chassis - PC Perspective
• Thermaltake Luxa2 LM300 Touch Pro - techPowerUp