- Qualcomm Launches Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 Mobile Platform
- AMD Launches Ryzen PRO 7000 Series Mobile & Desktop Platform
- Intel Launches Sleek Single-Slot Arc Pro A60 Workstation Graphics Card
- NVIDIA Announces Latest Ada Lovelace Additions: GeForce RTX 4060 Ti & RTX 4060
- Maxon Redshift With AMD Radeon GPU Rendering Support Now Available
Social & RSS Feeds
Latest Videos
Latest News
Tech News
VIA Pulling Out of Chipset Business
In a somewhat surprising move, Richard Brown, VIA’s VP of Corporate Marketing in Taiwan, told Custom PC that the company would be leaving the motherboard chipset business in order to focus on more important products, such as their Nano processor (which, as we’ve seen, is a serious competitor to Intel’s Atom).
Brown went on to say that the reason VIA moved into the x86 processor scheme of things to begin with is because they believed the third party chipset market would disappear, and that they’d need the capability to provide a complete platform. Fair enough. But I’m sure it also doesn’t help that AMD, Intel and NVIDIA are all offering great chipsets right now, and are more capable of pumping cash into constant development.
Regardless of this decision, VIA’s processors are on the up, as we’ve seen before. The Nano is seriously competitive with Intel’s Atom, so it makes all the sense in the world to shift more focus there and become even more so. Oh well, VIA will forever remain in my heart for providing a great chipset on my old MSI KT4-V Socket A board. Wasn’t great for overclocking, but was incredibly stable otherwise.
VIA’s previously had a rocky relationship with Intel over its third-party chipsets. Back in 2001, VIA released the Apollo P4X266 chipset, which brought DDR memory support to the Pentium 4, despite not having a license from Intel. To avoid the wrath of Intel, motherboard makers produced boards based on the chipset using VIA’s name rather than their own brands.
Time for Nostalgia: 101 Classic Computer Ads
Regardless of how old you are, it’s likely that you enjoy sitting back and reading through an old magazine, or a really old magazine, just for fun. I have many old EGM’s, GamePro’s, Nintendo Power’s and others, and it’s great fun looking through just to see how far we’ve come along. There is a certain simplicity about those old mags, when games were games, and graphics didn’t matter, but gameplay did.
Well, nostalgic reading aside, Boing Boing has posted a massive list of 101 different classic computer ads, and if these don’t bring back memories (some where released before my time), then I’m not sure what will. The best one in my opinion is the one shown below. “If personal computers are for everybody, how come they’re priced for nobody?” – You’d almost swear they were referencing current-day Apple’s!
Ok ok! I’m kidding, please no e-mails!
Seriously though, this is one MASSIVE list, and one very worthy of checking out regardless of how old you are. It’s still amazing to me how far we’ve come in twenty years… but really, that could be said over and over in five year intervals, because even comparing today’s computers to those of five years ago is incredible. Take a hard look at the ads out there today, because those same ads will be viewed again in twenty years in the same manner we are looking at these now… scary thought.
“Why Do You Pirate Games?”
Although it’s been said that PC gaming is on the downslope, piracy of PC games has been steadily increasing ever since it’s existed. It’s not too often (if it’s ever happened before) that a game developer has come straight out and asked, ‘Why?’. Why exactly do people pirate games? Is it the high cost? The difficulty in purchasing? Laziness?
Cliff Harris, an indie developer for Positech Games, came out and asked the question, not to whine like many large developers, but rather to gain an insight into what goes through pirates’ minds. Personally, most people I know who pirate software or games wouldn’t purchase the game even if it were a single dollar. It comes down to laziness and lack of care, and I’m sure they are not alone. It’s a sad reality, really.
Cliff wants pirates to e-mail him with their insight, and in return he promises to not expose them, nor even relay their e-mails to the public. Rather, he wants to contemplate each message he receives and see how he and other developers can work to decrease the abundance of piracy, but that thought in itself is an extreme one. Piracy has been rampant in the past few years, and to slow it down by any means at all would be one impressive feat. Definitely a commendable move though, without question.
 Starship Tycoon – One of Positech’s many titles |
I’ll just read them, nothing else. It will be entirely off-the-record and effectively anonymous. I won’t hand any email addresses to the RIAA, MPAA, BSA or anyone at all under any circumstances ever.” What he will do, however, is read every e-mail in an attempt to understand why pirates pirate and what developers can do to change the way that PC gaming is going.
Spicing Up Your OS with Amazing Free Icons
On Friday, I made a post about some Windows Vista themes that where not only great-looking, but completely free as well. Definitely check out that post if you haven’t already, if you are interested in spicing up your home PC a little bit. Over the weekend, I set up a fresh Linux computer for benchmarking purposes (stay tuned) and had a massive craving to upgrade some of the icons for the games installed there.
Well, in my travels, I stumbled upon a great site (minus the pop-ups) that offers a slew of free icons for any OS that supports .ico or .png files, which all three common OS’ on the market can easily do. You can see a sample of the gorgeous samples available, with the Crysis and Gears of War icons shown below, but those are just the beginning. Other game icons there take care of Diablo II, Half-Life 2, Oblivion, Quake I – IV, STALKER, and well, you get the idea.
Though I originally went there for gaming, the site offers a lot more than just that. There are categories for business, cartoons, computer, folder, funny (of course, gotta have ’em), people, TV and so forth. If you want to push your OS beyond the common theme, definitely check out the site to satisfy all your icon needs. I should say that I’m sure this is not the only good icon site out there, so if you have one to recommend, post in the thread!
The Icon Archive is a categorized collection of high quality desktop & web icon sets. We currently have over 19,200 icons in 696 sets from 166 icon authors. Icons can be used for Windows (XP, Vista, etc.), Macintosh (OSX, OS) and Linux (as PNG Files). Copyright of icons belong to original authors. Public usage license can be found on each icon set page. If you want to use icons commercially, please contact the author of the icons you want to use.
Intel Launches New Processor Models, QX9650 Gets Replaced
Back in May, I made a news post about the certain demise of the QX9650 Extreme processor – the very first 45nm-based offering out of Intel – which we first took a look at last October. Well, the time has finally come, as multiple e-tailers have its replacement in stock, the Q9650.
As mentioned in that news post, not a single thing changes between the two CPUs except for the name. The clock speed remains at 3.0GHz, the FSB at 1333MHZ, the L2 Cache at 12MB and the drool-factor at 10. As of now, the only 45nm Extreme Edition left is the 1600FSB QX9770, and it will remain as such until Nehalem’s launch in the months ahead. For those not in a Quad mood, Intel has also launched other products that were sitting in the pipeline, including the Q9400, E8600 and E7300.
The Q9400 is a step-up from the Q9300 and sits at 2.66GHz with a 1333MHz FSB. The L2 Cache is scaled down from the higher-end models to remain at 6MB. That’s the sole difference between this and the Q9450, as that processor runs with 12MB of L2 Cache.
Also new are two Dual-Core models, the E8600 and E7300. The former is a 3.33GHz offering very similar to the E8400, with the only difference being the overall speed. The same applies to the E7300 when comparing to the E7200, it’s a 2.53GHz vs 2.66GHz, essentially. Very lackluster difference, if I do say so myself.
Not all e-tailers are currently selling the new chips, but NewEgg and Mwave are carrying three: the Q9450, E8600 and the E7300. Canadian e-tailer NCIX is listed for all four mentioned above, but none are in stock. Any can be placed on a special 2 – 5 day order, however.
- Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 – Mwave ($143.00)
- Intel Core 2 Duo E7300 – NewEgg ($144.99)
- Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 – Mwave ($275.00)
- Intel Core 2 Duo E8600 – NewEgg ($279.99)
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 – Mwave ($550.00)
- Intel Core 2 Quad Q9650 – NewEgg ($559.99)
These are the lowest prices I could find, although other stores were selling them for much, much more. I’m sure as the week goes on, they will begin to creep up on many more e-tailers, so I’ll report later this week if things change.
Nehalem’s Official Branding: Intel Core i7
The news was first leaked this weekend, but will today be confirmed by Intel: the first Nehalem products launched will carry the ‘i7’ identifier, officially becoming the ‘Intel Core i7’ processor. As is the norm, each individual model will carry a separate model code (eg: Intel Core i7 E1xxx), although Intel hasn’t mentioned what the new scheme will be.
How this and future identifiers will be used is another question up in the air. The first launch processors will carry the i7 moniker, with “several new identifiers to come as different products launch over the next year“. Note that it mentions over the “next year”, not years, so i7 seems to be exclusive to a certain set of processors, most likely the higher-end of the bunch. The mid-range and lower-end processors, on release, will likely carry a different identifier, while Westmere, Nehalem’s 32-nm counterpart, will also carry another.
For those unaware what Nehalem is (and how that’s possible, I’m unsure), you might want to read through our look that took place a few months ago. Most notable will be a more refined micro-architecture that adds in an integrated memory controller and is very modular and scalable in design. Though Intel hasn’t confirmed products to be launched yet, the road map seems to list three differing models due out sometime this year.
The ‘Extreme Edition’ (which I’ve seen in person and can verify for it’s sheer speed and overclocking-ability) will debut at 3.2GHz and carry a price of $999 per 1,000. The high-end of the mid-range will be clocked at 2.93GHz and carry a price of $562 per 1,000, while the mid-range offering will come in at $284 per 1,000 and offer a clock speed of 2.66GHz. All launch processors will offer 256Kb of L2 cache along with 8MB of L3 cache, and of course will offer support for triple-channel DDR3.
It’s still unknown when the first products will be launched, but Intel’s stance is still that production will occur in Q4 of this year.
SANTA CLARA, Calif., Aug. 11, 2008 – Intel Corporation announced today that desktop processors based on the company’s upcoming new micro-architecture (codenamed “Nehalem”) will be formally branded “Intel Core processor.” The first products in this new family of processors, including an “Extreme Edition” version, will carry an “i7” identifier and will be formally branded as “Intel Core i7 processor.” This is the first of several new identifiers to come as different products launch over the next year.
AMD Launches FirePro Workstation GPUs
In an attempt to help fill out their workstation line-up a little better, AMD has just launched a brand-new series, called FirePro. Both the V3700 and V5700 cards are designed to give consumers a better choice, because as it was before, there was an $800 gap between the smallest card offered and the next-step up.
The V3700 becomes the least expensive GPU on the market, at $99, and is based on the RV620 chip, according to Ars Technica. Despite being a budget card, it still has respectable specs, such as 15.2GB/s bandwidth, 10-bit color support and 40 shader units. This GPU will in no way compare to the other cards in the line-up, but is a good solution for those on an extreme budget.
The V5700 fills the gap between the V3600 and V7600, which is where the $800 variance once occurred. This new card carries an SRP of $599, features 512MB of GDDR along with a 128-bit interface. The shaders are greatly increased to 120, while bandwidth also see a small bump, of 16GB/s. If one thing is for sure, it’s that AMD should have released these long ago, but at least now their line-up is a lot more robust.
Stats on the budget-model V3700 are quite modest, but the card’s $99 price point makes it the cheapest professional 3D solution on the market; even the G84-derived Quadro FX 370 is $119 over at NewEgg. It’s impossible to draw any meaningful performance data out of what we know thus far—AMD’s benchmark results show its winning, natch, and performance characteristics in 2D are very different from what we’d expect in 3D.
Upgrade Vista’s Look with Seven Free Themes
Vista might look mounds better than XP, but let’s face it, even the best interfaces can look boring after a while… it’s just something that happens, regardless of what it is. But did you know that Windows Blinds isn’t the only solution for skinning your Vista? The best part is, most of the themes out there that are user-developed are easy to apply and don’t require special software.
The Life Rocks 2.0 blog takes a look at seven different Vista themes that happen to be absolutely free. Some offer better color options, more advanced translucency, and there’s even one to make your Vista look like Windows XP MCE’s skin, only better. Definitely give the page a look if you are in bad need of a fresh UI.
Windows Vista has improved the UI and added lots of features like Aero effects when compared to XP. Vista is definitely a great looking OS (we are comparing only the looks here). You can customize Vista just like XP using visual styles. There are lots of styles available based on whether you have/enabled aero effects. So here is a list of seven good looking visual styles (themes) for Windows Vista.
Eight People Purchased Useless “I Am Rich” iPhone Application
On August 5, an application made its way to the iTunes App Store, created by Armin Heinrich, simply titled “I Am Rich.” The application did nothing – merely display a picture of a red ruby to serve as a reminder that the user could afford the $999.99 application. The program was approved by Apple and followed all of the store guidelines, making it fair game for the developer.
Despite the broken English in the description, and the promises of “no hidden function at all,” for some reason, eight people purchased the application to grace their home screens. The sales amassed to $5,600 in revenue for Heinrich, and $2,400 for Apple, who charges 30% of sales to manage the store. That is, until it was removed.
A flaw in the store’s design disallows applications to be placed into a cart. If the prompt for a password is not enabled for purchases, the program is downloaded and the customer is charged shortly after he or she pressed the “Buy App” button. One reviewer on the App Store said, “I saw this app with a few friends and we jokingly clicked ‘buy’ thinking it was a joke, to see what would happen. … THIS IS NO JOKE…DO NOT BUY THIS APP AND APPLE PLEASE REMOVE THIS FROM THE APP STORE.”
Unfortunately for the developer, Apple has yet to contact him about the removal of the application. He says that it is unclear whether or not this will effect his payment, which Apple normally delivers at the end of each month. Some are criticizing Apple for taking down applications without notice, even if they seem to comply with the store’s rules, but others are christening Heinrich a thief.
When the iPhone first hit the market in June 2007, those who paid the $499 entry price — and signed the two-year AT&T contract — owned a status symbol. A year later, we have the iPhone 3G, Apple’s speedier, sleeker and, most important, less expensive smart phone, which introduced a section for downloading third-party applications. Now that the phone is affordable enough for a wider audience, a new status symbol has emerged: a seemingly useless application called I Am Rich.
Warner Music Wants More Cash from Rhythm Games
It’s not much of a secret that the music industry is chocked-full of the greediest people on earth, and we’ve seen evidence of that time and time again, especially when talking about iTunes. Well, it seems like such rhythm games as Rock Band and Guitar Hero are no longer safe, at least if music execs have their way.
Since the execs now see the potential in these games (took them long enough), they feel like they should get their cut. You know, because $2.00 per song isn’t enough for consumers as is. The record company in the hotseat is Warner Music, who are quoted as saying, “The amount being paid to the music industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small”, which probably equates to, “We are clearly making enough off these songs as is, but can see potential to get even more.”
The solution to this problem is a rather simple one. Companies who produce the games could just say no way, because seriously, are these companies going to want no money? If their songs are selling well for the over-inflated prices as they are now, it’s going to be unlikely that gamers will pay even more. These developers need to start using publicly available songs, or songs that bands donate. All the record industry does is screw us.
We see a similar effect developing with rhythm games. The games now sell so well that inclusion in the track listing isn’t just good for the games, it’s good for the bands. As our own Ben Kuchera pointed out recently, new versions of both major series will ship with built-in music stores, and big-name classic rock acts stand ready to rake in the dough.
Has Gentoo 2008.0 Returned the Distro to Greatness?
As posted last month, Gentoo doesn’t see a new release all too often. The latest 2008.0 release promised vast improvements though, and a completely renovated installer, using Xfce as the front-end to help get things done. Although I haven’t yet taken a look at the latest release myself, our tuxmachines.org friend Susan did, and had quite a bit to say.
She installed the OS via the Live CD twice, with the second time being the charm. For those who don’t know, Gentoo is more of a power-user’s distro. It avails full control over the system and allows you to configure everything, which does become a hassle at times, but means you really have a system fine-tuned to your liking. It’s noted in the article that despite improvements made here, there are still some near-showstoppers that could turn some newer adopters away.
Gentoo is without question my favorite distro, but I do wish the installer was made more reliable in order to gain new users. Half the fun of the distro is to learn the ins and outs of Linux, but needless compile errors or bugs that cause root accounts to not be set up is not the most fun method of learning. It’s because of that, that I highly recommend any new user to install via the minimal CD. Once you install the OS by command-line, you’ll feel like a genius, even though once it’s done, you’ll realize how easy it was.
When I began using Gentoo in 2003, everything worked like clockwork. Results were practically guaranteed and always to my liking. I had stability and a slight but noticeable increase in performance. But the greatest thrill of running Gentoo was the sense of ownership. No other system in the world was exactly like mine, and mine was exactly as I wanted. That’s hard to achieve with binary distributions.
Fake CNN.com ‘Daily Top 10’ E-mails Link to Malware
I’m confident that most visitors of our site are net-savvy enough to know spam when they see it, but the latest round of CNN daily roundups is so real, even I thought it was legit at quick glance. I don’t subscribe to their newsletter, but when I saw it, I just threw it in the trash, figuring I somehow got on their list. All you need to do is look at the destination of the links though, which of course don’t go to CNN.com.
What’s interesting about these spam e-mails is that most of the links are indeed linkable to CNN.com, it’s just the news items that aren’t. Of course, clicking one will give you a prompt of some sort and go ahead and infect your machine with malware and who knows what else.
It might be a wise idea to warn your friends and families though, since CNN is generally a company that’s going to be trusted by the masses, and given the e-mails look so legit, it’s easy to fall into the trap, especially if you or someone else you know actually does subscribe to their newsletter in the first place.
If the user accepts the download of the fake Flash Player update, they don’t get an updated version of that but instead receive a Trojan with any of several names, including Cbeplay.a, which then “phones home” to a malicious server to download and install yet more malware, according to Bulgarian security researcher Dancho Danchev.
Ubisoft Sues Disc Manufacturing Company Over Leaking Assassin’s Creed
There are few PC developers who haven’t felt the effects of piracy, and it’s becoming a bigger issue each and every day. It’s even gone so far that Crytek, creators of Crysis, said that particular title would be their last exclusive on the PC, simply due to the vast amounts of piracy. What results in the desire to thwart pirates, is to release insane copy protection, and despite the fact it doesn’t work, it’s still there.
Well, it looks like Ubisoft needs something even better than copy protection, as the company has found out that the disc production company they used for duplication, Optical Experts Manufacturing, actually leaked the copy they received to the Internet. How did Ubisoft know? It was a rip of the exact copy the company was given, and also found out to be uploaded by one of their employees. Ouch.
Ubisoft is suing the company for $10 million for breach of contract, negligence and copyright infringement, and I seriously hope they win. I’m not huge fan of Ubisoft to begin with, but if the people you contract to duplicate your game actually have the nerve to go and release it to the Internet, they deserve the nice fine. Let’s see if others are still going to contract with these guys, because though I’m not up to par on disc manufacturing labs, I’m pretty sure Ubisoft has not been the only victim.
The publisher alleges that OEM had agreed to abide by–and thereafter ignored–an array of security procedures that could have prevented the leak. Ubisoft further alleges that OEM admitted to not following through on its security commitments and causing the leak. One such security procedure was to prevent copies of the game from ever leaving OEM’s premises.
Aurora Concept Browser Brings Internet Use to New Level
Let’s face it, as perfect as the web browser seems to be right now, it hasn’t changed that much since the first browsers of the mid-90s. What does our current browsers lack? Well, a high-tech interface and extremely-refined collaboration tools, of course, two things that the concept browser ‘Aurora’ by Adaptive Path delivers.
To better show-off what the concept is (or will be) capable of is explained in a few videos found on the Adaptive Path website, with two parts currently being online, and another two en route. I haven’t watched the second part, but I feel the first one informed me well enough. Aurora will be akin to interfaces we are used to seeing in high-tech movies, with clean design, incredibly intuitive and predictive interfaces and one that makes lots of advanced bleeps and bloops.
One example in the first video shows off the potential collaboration aspects of the browser. Two people are conversing, one says the rain isn’t bad while the other says it is. The guy on the other end essentially taps into the browser and shows the person exactly where it was that it said lots of rain was on the way. It’s definitely interesting, and if that intriques you, then the other videos are sure to please. The concepts right now seem far-fetched, but we didn’t imagine how things would have been today just ten years ago, either. Anything is possible.
The release of Aurora is part of the launch of Mozilla Labs’ browser concept series, an ongoing initiative to encourage designers and developers to contribute their own visions of the future of the browser and the Web. Over the next couple of weeks, we’ll be releasing more video segments, as well as background material showing just what went into imagining the future of the Web and translating that into a video.
OCZ Releases 16GB ‘P45 Special’ Memory Kit
When Techgage first launched three years ago, the common standard for a new PC build was the inclusion of 1GB of RAM. Most people at that time were still running a hearty 512MB. Later that year, it suddenly became the new standard to have 2GB in your rig, and it was even necessary in most cases for the best all-around gameplay experiences (especially with FEAR, which was truly hardcore at the time of its release).
It wasn’t until Vista’s launch that people began to really see the value in having 4GB of RAM, and it didn’t take long before the hardcore users slammed 8GB into their rigs. Even that is reaching overkill for most people though, as that much RAM is difficult to utilize unless you have incredibly specific needs. So… how can this be brought to the ‘asinine’ level? With a 16GB of course, courtesy of our friends at OCZ.
The ‘P45 Special’ (not to be confused with a sidearm) comes in a 4GB x 4 kit and is designed for Intel’s P45 chipset, since it’s the first desktop chipset to allow support for that much memory. The modules themselves come in at DDR2-800 speeds and utilize 5-6-6-18 timings and feature a fantastic-looking pure-black heat spreader. You can expect the kit to retail for around $450. Tempting, isn’t it?
The PC2-6400 4GB modules are ideal for enthusiasts, professionals, and DIY system-builders using 64-bit operating systems that can take advantage of high density memory configurations. As the ultimate challenge for hardcore gamers, the latest DirectX-10 games require large amounts of memory to minimize swapfile access and allow smooth game play.
AMD’s 790GX Chipset Offers Best Integrated Graphics Available
AMD might not have had the smoothest two years in the company’s history, but they’ve managed to release a few select products that haven’t only impressed, but have astounded. One recent launch to come to mind would be their ATI Radeon HD 4850 and HD 4870 cards, and I’m sure I’m not alone in that thinking. Another successful launch was for their 780G chipset, and to make sure the magic didn’t die, they’ve gone ahead and released an even better model: 780GX.
The chipset adds a brand-new south bridge, SB750, which adds RAID 5 and Advanced Clock Calibration, an option that somehow allows a Phenom to overclock higher. The most interesting addition might be the GPU clock boost, from 500MHz to 700MHz. Does it impress? According to our friends at the Tech Report, yes. Big time.
To quote them, ‘AMD’s 790GX is the fastest integrated graphics chipset on the market. Period.‘ Sure sounds good, right? Well, not so much. The board that the new chipset is found on retails for around $150. For that price, you could score a 790G board along with a modest HD 3650. Tough situation. AMD does offer the best integrated chipset out there, but the caveats will have to be debated before your purchasing decision.
 Credit: Tech Report |
At least the 790GX is more than just a hopped up integrated graphics processor. The most interesting element of the chipset for enthusiasts may be the Advanced Clock Calibration capabilities built into the new SB750 south bridge. AMD’s ATI acquisition pays big dividends here, allowing the SB750 to reprogram internal Phenom processor timings to improve overclocking. With our X4 9850 Black Edition, ACC is good for a 300MHz clock speed boost, and that’s not bad at all.
iPhone Developers Kept Quiet by Apple’s NDA
When the iPhone SDK was first released, Apple instituted an NDA which forced software developers to remain quiet which, at the time, made sense for the company to maintain secrecy – especially with the new 3G iPhone on the way. However, before the App Store was rolled out on July 11, word surfaced that Apple planned to do away with the requirement of secrecy, allowing developers to communicate with one another.
Unfortunately for many, the non-disclosure agreement did not expire. The legal wall that prevented developers from communicating, assisting one another and even creating GPL applications and examples was still visible. This prompted Justin Williams, a developer for Second Gear to create a site called ####ingNDA.com, which takes all tweets from the social micro-blogging site Twitter.com that contain the phrase “####ing NDA” (the expletive version), and congregates them.
William comments, “there is no legal way for developers to talk about they are developing. No way to post tutorials. No way to give code away. It’s hard to interact with other developers and to write code without reinventing the wheel. Normally, you could post [a coding question] on Twitter and get an answer within minutes.” This forces many to re-create the wheel and, in some cases, resort to using an implementation that isn’t as good as what could have been done if they had the help necessary.
Apple has yet to comment about the future of the NDA and whether or not it will be removed as a stipulation for development on the platform.
The iPhone development community is growing rapidly, but Apple’s treatment of some of its biggest supporters is drawing more ire than kudos.
Because of the company’s restrictive non-disclosure agreement (NDA), iPhone developers are legally banned from sharing programming tips, discussing code or asking questions of one another in forums or over e-mail.
AMD Enhances Support for GPGPU Software Development
In case you haven’t been paying attention, this week has been a good one where GPU computation is concerned. We posted our semi-in-depth look at Intel’s Larrabee earlier this week, and shortly afterward, followed-up with responses by NVIDIA regarding their CUDA architecture. Never one to enjoy being ignored, AMD today issued a release stating their adoption of industry standards in GPGPU (General-purpose GPU).
In order to improve the ease of development using AMD’s Steam processing, they have plans to release a substantial set up upgrades for their Stream Software Development Kit, also known as the SDK. The goal is of course to improve efficiency, and given that Intel boasts such simple development on Larrabee and NVIDIA is right there also with CUDA, AMD had to do something. The new upgrades will enhance support specifically for C and C++, something that seems required nowadays.
Also included in the updates is support for DirectX 11, which should show face within the next 18 months. DX10 has yet to truly catch on, but as Vista will only become more widely used within the next two years, DX11 might be the first version past DX9 that people might actually have installed on their PCs.
The improvements are designed to reduce the time and effort needed to produce GPU accelerated applications that run on multiple platforms, by expanding support for industry standard application programming interfaces (APIs) and providing enhanced support for C/C++.
First Nehalem Machine Built
Maximum PC was lucky enough to get the opportunity to head into a secret Intel lab which we can only guess was housed 20 floors below sea-level. In their feature, they attempt to build a rig using an unreleased Intel D58XSO motherboard and showcase the ease and potential snags of building a new system when the chips arrive.
They learned that the actual CPU is much bigger than the older LGA775 chips, and as a result, older heatsinks will not be compatible. Motherboard layouts will also be slightly revised, and some boards with six DIMM slots will be a tight fit for some builders. They reported that the move to tri-channel DDR3 didn’t give a huge performance increase, but since this is a preview board, these findings will likely be slower compare to what we’ll see when the new products are released to the public.
It’s the worst kept secret in the industry: Intel’s next-generation Penryn killer, codenamed Nehalem is just around the corner. We’ve been seeing leaked benchmarks based on early silicon for months, and Nehalem’s Wikipedia page is already packed with unconfirmed specifications. All indications – and this is with more optimizations to come, mind you – is that Nehalem may be a bad mother worthy of having Isaac Hayes pound out a theme song for it.
GTAIV PC Release Date Announced
With the release of Grand Theft Auto for the Xbox 360, many PC gamers were left waiting for the inevitable Windows release. We now know that the PC version will hit American and European shelves on November 18 and November 21, respectively. Rockstar was sure to add that the new version of the game will include “newly expanded multiplayer just for the PC.”
Among the improvements, PC Grand Theft Auto gamers usually receiver better aiming with gunplay, smoother frame rates with updated hardware, and an active modding community that cannot be attained with the console releases.
The long-rumored PC version of Rockstar’s open-world crime life simulator Grand Theft Auto IV will hit North America on November 18 and in Europe on November 21, the developer announced today.
Original Wii Plans Finally Realized
With the release of Wii Music and the Wii Motion Plus accessory, Miyamoto’s original vision of the Wii will have been realized and implemented, says Nintendo president Satoru Iwata. The first conceptions consisted of the Wii console itself, including Wii Sports, Wii Fit, Wii Play, and the recently released Wii Zapper and Wheel peripherals. Iwata also commented that “[Miyamoto] was saying that he needs to think up more ideas now.”
With this milestone, Satoru Iwata added that the company will slow down with releasing new accessories, and that no new ones are planned for the moment. Given Nintendo’s history, I’m sure they can make up for it by releasing new colors come the Holidays. He finally added that the Wii Motion Plus, though it does not have an official release date, will be priced ” very affordably.”
Celebrated game designer Shigeru Miyamoto’s original plans for the Nintendo’s motion-oriented Wii will be entirely realized with the fall release of Wii Music, Nintendo president Satoru Iwata revealed.
Brazilian Hackers Turn to Twitter
This may not seem like surprising news, considering hackers tend to hang out where they are sure to get the most eyeballs, but the issue itself is of enough concern to warrant forewarning. Dmitry Bestuzhev of Kaspersky Labs has done some research and uncovered a Twitter profile which promises a pornographic video, but links to a site with a fake Adobe Flash-looking update which is required to view the video. This update, of course, is malware in disguise which installs 10 trajans that are tailored to look like MP3 files.
The attack is dangerous because of a few key reasons. First, it’s inexpensive to do. Bestuzhev goes on to say that the bad guy only needs a server and a few purchased trojans. Second, public Twitter profiles can be seen on the main site and are indexed by Google and other search engines. This means that the the more popular the fake profile is, the more likely it is to be linked to one from a search result.
The concept of Twitter makes these security concerns more real. Because there is a 140 character limit, users often resort to avoid posting in proper English and use sites like TinyURL to share web pages with their followers, which increase the likelihood of someone clicking a link by mistake. Even if this example is one of the only attackers out there, the reality is this trend is one that can certainly continue.
Social websites like Facebook and MySpace have attracted a great deal of attention as targets of opportunity for phishing scams, but they are scarcely the only two social networking sites. New information suggests that hackers have tuned in to the newfound popularity of microblogging, and are at the very least evaluating Twitter as a potential target.
$12 Computer Based on Apple II in Development
A group of designers are developing an inexpensive computer for use in developing countries based on the now archaic Apple II computer. The idea which, according to the Boston Herald, was pitched by a handful of graduate students involves updating the old technology to provide an opportunity for unfortunate people to learn how to use computers.
Derek Lomas provided the explanation, “If you just know how to type, that can be the difference between earning $1 an hour instead of $1 a day.” Even if the computer manages to expose children to computers at an early age, the project would have already accomplished more than enough for future generations.
The team also hopes to allow Internet access through cell phones, and include memory so users are able to write and run their own programs. Other Apple II aficionados have been recruited to program for the computer, and nonprofit organizations in foreign countries have already expressed an interest in ordering them.
Derek Lomas, Jesse Austin-Breneman and other designers want to create a computer that Third World residents can buy for less than you probably spend on lunch.
“We see this as a model that could increase economic opportunities for people in developing countries,” said Lomas, part of a team that’s trying to develop a $12 computer at this month’s MIT International Development Design Summit. “If you just know how to type, that can be the difference between earning $1 an hour instead of $1 a day.”
NVIDIA Clears Up Common CUDA Misconception
NVIDIA, never being slow to issue corrections on behalf of others, cleared up some facts about CUDA and also Intel’s Larrabee, in an e-mail to DailyTech. First and foremost, for anyone who hasn’t taken a look at our Larrabee article from yesterday, definitely check it out, as it clears up a lot of what makes Larrabee the ‘killer’ solution in Intel’s eyes.
As has been the common misconception, Larrabee is supposed to improve on NVIDIA’s CUDA solution because it’s a true x86 solution, allowing simple C/C++ code to be written, without the need to learn another language, like CUDA. However, in the NVIDIA-issued statement, it was mentioned that CUDA is not another language, but is just like Larrabee in that it itself is still a C compiler, one based on the PathScale C compiler.
From my understanding, CUDA does require separate C-based libraries in order to utilize the the architecture properly, but at this point, I’m unsure if Intel’s Larrabee would work the same way. Intel does tout true ‘plug-in-play’, so to speak, and we may not know the true process of development for the architecture for a while. However, as it stands, NVIDIA’s CUDA is not as horrible as others make it out to be, and I’m sure we’ll see clear evidence of that in three weeks at NVISION.
NVIDIA’s approach to parallel computing has already proven to scale from 8 to 240 GPU cores. Also, NVIDIA is just about to release a multi-core CPU version of the CUDA compiler. This allows the developer to write an application once and run across multiple platforms. Larrabee’s development environment is proprietary to Intel and, at least disclosed in marketing materials to date, is different than a multi-core CPU software environment.
Five Applications that Don’t Suck to Replace Ones that Do
To be heard, you sometimes need to be blunt, and Download Squad is just that. According to them, the applications you use suck, but it’s alright, because they have five alternatives for the five said applications that reek of garbage.
Of course, moving to a free application doesn’t mean much if the application itself sucks, but their choice of five don’t. Run the ultra-bloated Nero? Ever consider CD Burner XP instead? I admit that Nero is a little bloated, but there are a few features found there not found in CD Burner XP, which is why I continue to use it. I admit though, CD Burner XP is tempting, in all it’s lightweight glory.
Another recommendation is replacing Adobe Reader with Foxit PDF Reader… and this is one I can whole heartily agree with. I don’t mind Adobe Reader for the most part (it’s even more of a pain when you are running the full-blown commercial version), but the incessant update nag screens is what causes me to move my chair back so I don’t throw a monitor. “Do you want to shut down all Adobe applications and continue with the update?” Yeah! In fact I was hoping for that! In all seriousness though, their five recommendations are great, and free, so check them out.
I’d wager that you can open and close Foxit about half a dozen times before Reader finishes launching once. It’s 92% smaller and still manages to render PDFs very accurately. What more can you say? A PDF reader should, well, read PDFs. It doesn’t need to do any other fancy crap.