Intel Haswell Fastest video chip for notebooks only?

Haswell, Intel's upcoming x86 architecture, will be based on the same 22 nm transistors as the current Ivy Bridge chips. For now, it seems that the laptop and desktop processors, slated for Q2 of 2013, will only be available in dual or quad-core versions, making it likely that the Sandy Bridge-E platform will remain the fastest for now.

The most important improvement that the Haswell chips bring about is the video chip. Earlier reports mentioned that the new GPU is up to three times as fast as Intel's current HD 4000 top model. For the Haswell generation, three video chips will be available, the GT1, GT2 and GT3. Oddly enough, the leaked information shows that neither of the desktop processors will feature the fastest GT3 video chip. Two laptop models, however, will feature the chip. One of these processors is intended for Ultrabooks and tablets, while the other is meant for high-end 'regular' notebooks.

Whether this is a big disadvantage for desktop users depends mostly on user preference. Normally, parts of the graphics chip are disabled to create slower versions. Intel does things a little differently, as the GT2 chips are created out of a different wafer as its GT3 models. Furthermore, dual-core and quad-core processors are made using different wafers as well. The advantage is that the chip loses less space and energy to the GPU, leaving more for other components. Perhaps most importantly though is that it allows the chips to be sold at a lower price point.

Platform	Cores	Video chip	Memory controllers	Socket	Max RAM
Desktop	4	GT2	2	LGA	32 GB
Desktop	2	GT2	2	LGA	32 GB
Mobile (performance)	4	GT3	2	BGA	32 GB
Mobile (mainstream)	4	GT2	2	BGA / rPGA	32 GB
Mobile (mainstream)	2	GT2	2	BGA / rPGA	16 GB
Mobile (ULT)	2	GT3	2	BGA	16 GB
Mobile (ULT)	2	GT2	1	BGA	8 GB

Source: http://uk.hardware.info

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New Logitech's Washable & Spillproof Keyboard

Logitech has unveiled a new keyboard designed to solve one of the oldest problems known to PC users everywhere: the dreaded soda splash. The PC accessory maker's new Logitech K310 washable keyboard is promising to alleviate your worries about dumping a cola, coffee, water or other beverage all over your precious typing space. With the K310, all you'll have to do is unplug the keyboard from your PC's USB port, wash it with mild soap and water, let it dry and resume typing -- assuming your PC or laptop didn't get splashed in the process.

The advantage of a washable keyboard is something I know about all too well. My heart sunk this year when a soda can slipped out of my hand and dumped its full contents all over my Lenovo X220. Thanks to the X220's spill resistant design, my computer came away unscathed, but I ended up spending $40 on eBay to replace the keyboard for my laptop.

ow for the same price as my keyboard replacement, Logitech is promising a keyboard you can soak without worrying about destroying it. The K310 is a full-size keyboard with number pad that features laser printed and UV coated keys that won't lose their lettering from repeated washings. The hand-wash only keyboard can be submerged in up to 11 inches of water and features drainage holes on the underside for faster drying times.

The K310 can stand up to water as hot as 120 degrees, but since you can't get the USB cable wet Logitech's new keyboard is definitely not dishwasher safe. You also don't want to wash the keyboard with anything other than a mild dish soap, Logitech warns.

The K310 is available for pre-order for $40 on Logitech.com.

Source: pcworld.com

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Invisible Bike Helmet For Your Head

Two Swedish women have invented a bicycle helmet that remains invisible unless you need the headgear which is designed to inflate in a fraction of a second.

The Hovding has been invented by Anna Haupt and Terese Alstin to solve the issues we all have with helmets like giving bad hair. The Hovding looks like a collar at first, worn around the neck. Inside it is an air bag, similar to the ones in your car.

The helmet also has a “black box”, similar to ones on airplanes, to record the movements of the cyclist, and recognise the acceleration and angular velocity during an accident. “It became mandatory for children to wear a helmet in Sweden and many people didn’t use them,” ABC News quoted Haupt as saying.

“We wanted to see if there was a way to change today’s helmets and wanted people to wear them by free will, not by law.

“We found out people wanted something that was almost invisible that didn’t destroy their hair or annoy them, something with the possibility to change the looks of the helmet like they can with mobile phone shells and wigs,” she said.

According to the company’s website, shaped like a hood, the air bag is triggered when sensors – a combination of accelerometers and gyroscopes, pick up “abnormal movements of a bicyclist in an accident”.

The air bag can inflate and surround your head in 0.1 seconds. A small gas inflator fills it with helium. It needs to be powered on for which there is a power button and when it’s on, LEDs light up to tell you how much electricity you have to work the inflator.

There is also a sound to tell you it is powered on in case you cannot see it around your neck. That means you also have to charge the invisible helmet. It uses a microUSB port and the company says a charge lasts about a month during normal use.

The data is stored in the Hovding so the company can then see what sort of accident it was. As with any wearable gadget, the women put effort into the design.

It is obviously more invisible than current helmets, and there’s an added bit to make it blend in even more. The collar has a removable liner so you can change it to match your shirt.

Source: firstpost.com

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Now Watch 3D films without glasses

A new technology has been developed that will make it possible for viewers to enjoy three-dimensional programmes without those bothersome 3D glasses.

Though prototypes of these TV screens already exist, consumers will not have to wait much longer for the market introduction of these autostereoscopic displays.

Nevertheless, the content might be a bit problematic - the 3D movies currently available on Blu-ray are based on two different perspectives, i.e. two images, one for each eye.

However, autostereoscopic displays need five to ten views of the same scene (depending on the type). In the future, the number will probably be even more.

This is because these displays have to present a three-dimensional image in such a manner that it can be seen from different angles – indeed, there is more than one place to sit on a sofa, and you should be able to get the same three dimensional impressions from any position

Researchers at Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications, Heinrich-Hertz Institute, HHI in Berlin recently developed a technology that converts a Blu-ray’s existing 3D content in a manner that enables them to be shown on autostereoscopic displays.

“We take the existing two images and generate a depth map – that is to say, a map that assigns a specific distance from the camera to each object,” Christian Riechert, research fellow at HHI said.

“From there we compute any of several intermediate views by applying depth image-based rendering techniques. And here’s the really neat thing: The process operates on a fully automated basis, and in real time,” he said

Previous systems were only capable of generating such depth maps at a dramatically slower pace; sometimes they even required manual adaption. Real-time conversion, by contrast, is like simultaneous interpretation: The viewer inserts a 3D Blu-ray disc, gets comfortable in front of the TV screen and enjoys the movie – without the glasses.

Meanwhile, a hardware component estimates the depth map in the background and generates the requisite views. The viewer is aware of nothing: He or she can fast forward or rewind the movie, start it, stop it – and all with the same outstanding quality.

The flickering that could appear on the edges of objects – something that happens due to imprecise estimations – is imperceptible here

The researchers have already finished the software that converts these data.

In the next step, the scientists, working in collaboration with industry partners, intend to port it onto a hardware product so that it can be integrated into televisions.

Nevertheless, it will still take at least another calendar year before the technology hits department store shelves.

The technology will be unveiled at the IFA trade show in Berlin from August 31 to September 5.

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Sony announces new PlayStation Vita games & Mobile gaming service

The service, previously known as the PlayStation Suite, will provide apps for a range of devices including the PlayStation Vita, Sony's smartphone and tablet range and some Android devices.

The service was one of several announcements made by Sony at the Gamescon video game trade show in Cologne.

As part of a range of measures aimed at boosting the PlayStation Vita, Sony announced that PlayStation 3 owners would be able to use the Vita as a controller from later this month, following a firmware update.

The company also previewed a service called Cross Buy, which would allow gamers to pay once for PS3 and Vita versions of the same title. Sony will also add the PlayStation Plus service to the Vita, as well as bringing the PlayStation One game catalogue to the portable console.

Two new PlayStation Vita games were announced at the German games show. Killzone Mercenary is a first-person shooter that utilises the Vita's touch controls, while Tearaway is a game from the makers of LittleBigPlanet and is set in a world made of paper.

In a recent interview a senior Sony executive said that the company was struggling to get third-party developers to support the PlayStation Vita. Shuhei Yoshida told PlayStation: The Official Magazine that he was having "a more difficult time than I anticipated".

He said: "We will continue to talk to development communities and publishing partners and tell them why Vita can provide a great experience for the IPs they have and I hope the Assassin’s Creed game will prove that."

Sony has not provided sales data for the PlayStation Vita, which was released in Britain in February, but last week said it had sold "an acceptable number".

Today's Gamescom announcements are likely to be seen as an attempt to sell more Vitas to PS3 owners.

Source: Telegraph.co.uk

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Maximus workstation platform launch by NVIDIA

The technology deployed in the Maximus will automatically assign visualisation and simulation or rendering work to the accurate processor

NVIDIA has launched a new Kepler GPU architecture featured Maximus workstation platform, which is offered with Quadro K5000 or with Tesla K20 GPUs.

The new Kepler architecture supported GPU platform is expected to enhance performance and efficiency of the workstation used by manufacturing, visual effects and oil exploration professionals.

The company has earlier launched a Maximus platform, which allows the workstation users to simultaneously perform complex analysis and visualisation on a single machine.

Initially, Maximus was a single system which would manage interactive graphics and the compute-intensive number crunching required to simulate or render them, further resulting in accelerated workflows.

In the new Maximus, compute work is allocated for running the new NVIDIA Tesla K20 GPU computing accelerator, which will free up the new NVIDIA Quadro K5000 GPU to handle graphics functions, the company said.

The technology deployed in the Maximus will automatically assign visualisation and simulation or rendering work to the accurate processor.
Features of NVIDIA's new Quadro K5000 GPU include bindless textures, which allow the users to access over 1 million textures directly in memory while reducing CPU overhead.

The FXAA/TXAA film-style anti-aliasing feature will enhance image quality, while its frame buffer capacity is increased to 4GB and a new PCIe-3 bus interconnect has been added which speeds up data movement by 2 times over PCIe-2.

A new display engine which can drive up to four displays at the same time with a single K5000 and a display port 1.2 supports resolutions of up to 3840x2160 @60Hz.

The another variant NVIDIA Tesla K20 GPU features SMX streaming multiprocessor technology which offers for up to a 3 times performance per watt advantage, while the dynamic parallelism and hyper-Q GPU technologies ease parallel programming and improve performance.

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Intel Haswell GPU chip 3x faster than Ivy Bridge

Sources of Fudzilla claim that Intel's upcoming Haswell processor will have an integrated GPU that is three times as fast as the current HD 4000 GPU, present in the Ivy Bridge chips. Confidential roadmaps have shown a comparison from which this conclusion was drawn. The fourth generation of the Core architecture and Intel's latest tick promises exceptionally fast 3D performance. Converting video material will allegedly also be twice to three times as fast.

If the rumours are true, Intel's Haswell could potentially outshine Nvidia's and AMD's entry-level graphics cards. In the mobile segment, the Haswell chip could also make a discrete graphics card unncessary for mainstream and entry-level notebooks.

Nvidia has responded to the news by stating that if Intel is capable of offering better performance with Haswell's integrated graphics chip, Nvidia will try to position faster graphics cards in the entry-level segment. AMD is likely to face the same decision, with the advantage being the APUs that AMD has to offer, which already feature relatively powerful graphics chips.

Intel's Haswell processors are expected to launch in the second quarter of 2013.

Source: hardware.info

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Windows 8 Packaging retail box revealed

A lot of people, including yours truly, have been vocal about their disdain for Microsoft’s new look. Sure, the simplistic look works, but it just doesn’t feel like Windows anymore. For those who feel like Microsoft is abandoning the classic Windows design, the packaging isn’t going to change your mind.

The Verge got an exclusive sneak peek at the packaging that you’ll see on store shelves when Windows 8 launches on October 26. While there’s something to be said about good design, it just feels a little too colorful and fun. I’ve always associated Windows with business and enterprise, not the consumer market.

Of course, this is a new direction for Microsoft and the design change was needed. Windows 8 is all about taking on the consumer market and kicking the post-PC era into high gear. While you can use Windows 8 on desktops, Microsoft is definitely hoping to become a leader in the tablet arena with the Surface tablet.

Putting my old man persona aside, I can definitely see the new Windows 8 packaging attracting the young people who like spiffy designs. I mean, just look at the Windows 7 packaging:


That packaging doesn’t look fun at all. I like it because it’s classic Windows, but we’ve already established that I’m the equivalent of an 80-year old man when it comes to Windows design. I’m resistant to change and that’s fine. It’s good to see that Microsoft has not become an old man with me. They’re willingness to change and put such a huge bet on tablets is going to make or break the company in the next few years.

It might seem weird to draw this much from just some simple packaging, but art really does say it all. The new packaging is a window into a crazy new world that’s entirely foreign to me. Besides, if Windows 8 fails, we can at least put the packaging up in some modern art museum.

Source: webpronews.com

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Ubisoft UPlay DRM exploit opens PCs to security risk

Paying customers frustrated and angry: 99%. Pirates thwarted: 0%. I'd say that about sums up Ubisoft's score when it comes to the studio's DRM tech and PC gaming, particularly with this latest bit of news: Cyber experts say Ubisoft's mandatory UPlay network features "really bad, easily exploitable" code that creates serious security risks for all who use it.

A step-by-step video now making the rounds on the internet shows how holes in UPlay can be exploited by hackers, allowing them to search your files and take control of your PC. Speaking with CVG, Trend Micro Director of Security Research Rik Ferguson said the UPlay security flaw creates a huge risk that Ubisoft must address immediately.

"Pushing out such easily exploitable code, to such an easily targeted platform as a web browser through such a huge gaming population presents a huge risk and will of course be of interest to online criminals," Ferguson told CVG. "Ubisoft should be patching this code as a matter of urgency and in the meantime, gamers should be disabling the plug-in."

The browser plug-in Ferguson describes is automatically created during the UPlay installation. Disable it immediately by following these steps:

Firefox: Tools – Add-ons – Plugins – Disable the Uplay and Uplay PC Hub plugins

Chrome: Visit About: Plugins and disable

Opera: Settings – Preferences – Advanced – Downloads – Search 'Uplay' and delete

We've reached out to Ubisoft for comment and will update this post with any response.

Any more reasons you want to give PC gamers to illegally download cracked versions of your games, Ubisoft?

Source: gamespy.com

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AMD FM2 socket Athlon II X4 processors

Although the exact details on AMD's upcoming generation of 32 nm A-series 'Trinity' APUs are unclear, several plans regarding budget models for the FM2 platform have already been unveiled. At least three Athlon chips will be released, which can be combined with the A85X chipset.

All three models will be based on the Piledriver architecture and are quad-core models with 4 MB of L2 cache. The reference clock frequency ranges from 2.8 Ghz to 3.4 GHz, although it's likely that a Turbo mode will also be available. The Athlon II X4 730 and 740 have TDPs of 65 watts, while the unlocked 750K chip has a TPD of 100 W.

For now, it's not clear whether the integrated GPU will be enabled or not. It's likely that this is not the case, as the 'Llano' Athlon chips for the FM1 socket also had their video chips disabled. Given the lack of an integrated graphics card on the A85X chipset, if that were the case, the cheap 'Piledriver' Athlon chips would always have to be combined with a relatively expensive discrete graphics card.

Processor	Cores	Clock frequency	L2-cache	TDP
Athlon II X4 730	4	2,8 GHz	4 MB	65 watts
Athlon II X4 740	4	3,2 GHz	4 MB	65 watts
Athlon II X4 750K	4	3,4 GHz	4 MB	100 watts

Source: Hardware.info

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GTalk goes down 'majority of users' affected

7.20 pm: Same story continues. Google’s latest message on the App Dashboard is We are continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by 7/26/12 8:20 PM detailing when we expect to resolve the problem.

Google Talk has now been out for nearly 4 hours.

6.25 pm Update Its getting obvious that this problem is going to take some time. Google just updated with this not-so-encouraging message:

Our team is continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by 7/26/12 7:20 PM with more information about this problem. Thank you for your patience.

The time gap for fixing the problem keep increasing.

Latest update: Some contacts are visible. Some users are receiving messages but are unable to send any. Hopefully Google will resolve the service soon. It is a world-wide problem as Google has confirmed.

Google’s popular chat-messaging service, GTalk seems to be down. Users are not able to see contacts or send messages. Even if you do see contacts, your message won’t get sent. In some cases, it does say that the contact did not receive your message.

At times, the typed message is not visible in the chat-box.

Twitter is already abuzz with people wondering why GTalk is down. It doesn’t seem to working on Android devices either. Logging into the Talk app either fails or the contacts don’t appear at all.

According to IBN-Live, there was still no official intimation from Google regarding the GTalk downtime at the time of posting.

We will keep you updated on Gtalk problems. It seems to have affected users worldwide.

Google’s App status page shows outage for Google Talk. Google has posted:

“We’re aware of a problem with Google Talk affecting a majority of users. The affected users are able to access Google Talk, but are seeing error messages and/or other unexpected behaviour. We will provide an update by 7/26/12 5:20 PM detailing when we expect to resolve the problem. Please note that this resolution time is an estimate and may change.”

Another update from Google: We are continuing to investigate this issue. We will provide an update by 7/26/12 6:20 PM detailing when we expect to resolve the problem.

Google talk is now out for nearly two hours.

Source: Firstpost.com

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Intel Lynx Chipset features 25 percent lower TDP

Intel is really serious about getting its TDP levels down with every generation. Despite the current enthusiasm for ARM tablets, Intel still has quite a lot to offer in mobile space, especially in notebooks and convertible ultrabooks.

The next generation scheduled for mid-2013 codenamed Haswell is a second-generation 22nm part with the Lynx chipset that has 25 percent lower TDP and 50 percent lower average power consumption than the current Panther Point chipset. These numbers are projected and not based on actual data measured in real life tests, so in the end they might deviate a somewhat from the projections.

Intel also brings a power optimizer CPPM part that should help to drive the power requirements further down. The most interesting part is that Lynx chipset also has support for 15nm Broadwell chipset that is expected by mid-2014 timeframe.

Intel advertises this chipset as the lowest power and the most feature rich one to date. It sure looks interesting and supports all the latest technologies you can imagine including 4 SATA 6Gb/s, 6 USB 3.0, up to 8 PCIe 1X Gen 2, the ability to interconnect easily with Intel Clarkwill GbE PHY, Wilkins Peak Wimax, Intel HD audio, VGA, a lot of RAID functionality, Intel Active Management Technology 9.0, Rapid start and smart response and many other goodies.

Ultrabooks and notebooks in the latter half of 2013 will sure look feature packed.

Source: fudzilla

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Intel ready to offer All-in-One desktop PCs in India

The world’s largest and highest valued semiconductor chip maker, Intel, is looking to partner original design manufacturers(ODMs) to offer All-in-One(AIO) desktop PCs in India. The AIO segment has been growing steadily in the country and across the globe, a company official said.

The Intel India director, Rajiv Bhalla, stated that AIO desktops are gaining traction in the desktop market, driven mostly by the consumer segment, where their share is expected to grow steadily and hit 33 per cent by the end of 2015.

He revealed that the shipments for AIOs have been growing steadily for the last five quarters with an average of 50,000 shipments per quarter in India.

The firm believes that the AIO segment will revive the desktop market which has witnessed a four percent growth year-on-year.

Last year 2,60,000 units of AIOs were reportedly sold in India. The company, which launched smartphones recently, is looking for new partners.

Intel has partnered Lava in India, Orange in Europe and Lenovo in China for the smartphones. The firm is looking for more partners globally.

Source: Bhaskar.com

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Apple iPhone 5 is available for pre-orders in china gray market

Don't get too excited but it looks like the Apple [AAPL] iPhone 5 (or is it iPhone 7*) release is closing in, as China's thriving gray market importers have begun offering the new phone for pre-release sale as the company prepares for the "biggest consumer electronics launch in history".

Buying on rumor

Logically it might make little sense, but reports this morning claim some Chinese online retailers have already begun offering the unannounced, unconfirmed and unrevealed smartphone for pre-release sale -- and orders are coming in.

Reuters tells us Chinese ecommerce website, Taobao is already hosting listings from jump-the-gun sellers, some of whom are even publishing mock-ups of what the new phone will look like, alongside lists detailing some of the claimed features (biometric recognition systems, anyone?).

Sellers are requesting deposits to secure the first units of the iPhone to be smuggled into the country of up to $1,100. They plan to purchase the device in Hong Kong or the US and then import them into China -- and it seems some people are already stumping up the cash to secure the freshly smuggled devices when the product ships, perhaps as soon as late September.

In a sense this is a fitting tribute to many months of furious iPhone 5 speculation. We've seen mock-ups, claimed images of parts of the device, and, most recently, claimed engineering pre-production mock-ups of the phone.

China is Apple crazy

China's market for iPhone imports is interesting. Partly that's because iPhones are presently manufactured in China; partly because the country is crazy for Apple devices. One Chinese teenager even sold a body part in order to raise the cash to get one. Sweating blood to get what you want is a noble thing, of course, but selling body parts seems a step too far, though it clearly reflects the mood in China where mini riots took place when Apple shut its retail store for iPhone 4S sales.

Demand for smuggled iPhones means the country's biggest carrier, China Mobile, already has over a million of the devices on its network -- even though it doesn't (yet) offer iPhones officially. It is expected to introduce the iPhone 5 later this year, when millions of Chinese nationals will doubtless purchase the officially supported version of the device.

The gray imports market also means Apple stores worldwide often see queues of folk waiting patiently in line when they open in the morning. These customers purchase their allotted maximum number of iPhones and send them back to China for resale in exchange for a fee.

Feature rumor 101

When it comes to the iPhone 5, what are people looking forward too?

• A 4-inch display
• An improved quad-core processor, likely manufactured using 32nm process tech
• Improved graphics and a better camera
• A new Dock connection, likely to be Thunderbolt or mini-USB
• Tougher glass
• A thinner chassis
• International support for those 4G/LTE networks which exist
• Much-improved iCloud integration
• iOS 6: Many improvements in Siri
• iOS 6: Apple Maps
• iOS 6: Passbook, potentially though not necessarily featuring NFC payment support
• iOS 6: Facebook and Twitter integration

Apple is putting a lot of hope into its new device. Not only is the company facing the imminent arrival of Microsoft Windows 8-powered smartphones, but it continues to face stiff competition from Android-powered devices (in particular those from Samsung). RIM, Palm and Nokia now appear to be spent forces in this sector.

The stiff competition is creating a challenging environment for the firm. More than this, economic weakness means many consumers are now opting to delay their iPhone purchases pending arrival of the new model. Mizuho Securities analyst Abhey Lamba claims Apple has: “Already started experiencing a slowdown due to the impending iPhone 5 launch.”

The analyst remains optimistic for Apple once the new smartphone ships, as well he might given Foxconn leader Terry Gou's somewhat belligerent statement that the iPhone 5 will "put Samsung's Galaxy III to shame" when it ships. That's fighting talk.

The moral of this tale? If you really want to get hold of an iPhone 5 and don't mind waiting for it to arrive, you can place your orders now if you happen to be in China.

Source: Computerworld.com

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Next Gen Intel Haswell Offers Wide Range of TDP and Performance Points

It looks like Intel's next generation 22nm Haswell 'tock' CPUs are going to be very interesting, offering a wide range of TDP and performance points, along with great overclocking potential. First up, we have the ULV parts for ultrabooks.

Current Ivy Bridge ULV parts are rated at a 17W TDP, plus a bit for the separate South Bridge chipset. The Haswell equivalent will consume 15W... with the chipset integrated! This will bring significant improvements to power use and performance, while saving on motherboard space which is at a premium in a portable device. These will be dual core parts, with a choice of one to three graphics units, all at the same 15W TDP.

Next we have higher performance parts. These will demand a different socket and won't have the chipset integrated, but will have the option of two or four CPU cores, with a TDP of 37W & 47W respectively.

Finally, we have the high performance class. These chips will offer GT3 graphics, L4 cache on a separate die in the CPU package, connected over a wide backside bus. These will be rated at a still frugal 57W TDP while offering high performance. Together with the overclocking potential of Haswell that we recently reported, it sounds like exciting times are ahead. Can't wait.

Source: legitreviews

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NVIDIA Readies GeForce GTS 650 Ti for August

NVIDIA is almost ready to launch their whole mid-range lineup. We all know that there’s GeForce GTX 660 coming in about a month, but it seems that there are at least two other cards being prepared as well.

GeForce GTX 660 / GTX 660 Ti and..
As far as the rumors go, there are three cards planned for release in August. From the mid-range segment we expect the GK106 based GeForce GTX 660 along with GTX 660 Ti, which is supposedly based on GK104 GPU. But according to the latest leaks, we might also see yet another card – GeForce GTS 650 Ti (it’s still not clear whether the card receives GTX or GTS naming).

GeForce GTS 650 Ti

Card will purportedly feature five streaming multiprocessors, which gives 960 CUDA cores in total. This model will likely not be equipped with the memory higher than 1.5 GB, not to mention 192-bit interface. This model should be available for around $150, but this is only the estimation.

NVIDIA refreshing GeForce GT 640

NVIDIA is also preparing a new version of GT 640, which is reported to feature GDDR5 memory. There is currently a GDDR3 version available, but it’s obviously not very fast. Card might cost a little more, since it will deliver higher memory bandwidth with some additional frames per second in few games. But still, this is not a gaming card.

NVIDIA’s Mid-range to High-end Lineup

There’s still a lot of discussion on multiple forums, people are speculating about specs of those cards, but the truth is nobody knows anything, and as long as there is no leak in some photographs we should always call those predictions. However, this gives you a quick look of how many cards are still missing from the mid-range segment of NVIDIA’s 600 series.

GeForce 600 Series	GPU	CUDA Cores	Memory	Memory Interface	Launch Price	Release
GeForce GT 640 D3	GK107	384	1GB / 2GB GDDR3	128-bit	$99	April
GeForce GT 640 D5*	GK107	384	1GB / 2GB GDDR5	128-bit	$120	August
GeForce GT 650 Ti*	GK106	960	1GB / 2GB GDDR5	192-bit	$120 – $160	August
GeForce GTX 660*	GK106	1152	1.5 GB GDDR5	192-bit	$200 – $250	August
GeForce GTX 660 Ti*	GK104	1344	1.5GB / 3GB GDDR5	192-bit	$300 – $320	August
GeForce GTX 670	GK104	1344	2GB / 4GB GDDR5	256-bit	$399	May
GeForce GTX 680	GK104	1535	2GB / 4GB GDDR5	256-bit	$499	March
GeForce GTX 690	2xGK104	3072	4GB GDDR5	512-bit	$999	May

Source: Videocardz.com

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Intel Haswell 22nm Processors Will Launch in March 2013

Even though Intel has yet to release its new 22nm Core processors based on the Ivy Bridge architecture, sources in Taiwan have already found out when the chip giant plans to introduce its next-gen Haswell CPUs.

According to DigiTimes, the outfit has scheduled the official introduction of these processors, and that of the accompanying Lynx Point chipsets, for March of 2013.

No specific date was mentioned as we are still a year away from the alleged launch, but this report seems to confirm a leaked Intel slide, which made its appearance about a month ago, revealing that Haswell is scheduled for a March-June release.

This previous report also mentioned that Intel would go for a multi-stage launch for Heswell, the first chips to arrive making part of the Core i5 and Core i7 product lines.

These will cover the mainstream and performance sector, while the lower-end Core i3 processors are expected to be launched later next year.

Haswell will be a “Tock” on Intel’s roadmap, meaning that it has an entirely new architecture built using the 22nm production node.

With Haswell, Intel plans to split its product range into two distinct groups.

The first group includes the company's desktop and notebook processors, while the latter is especially designed for Ultrabooks and drops the usual 2-chip platform approach that Intel has been using for quite some time in favor of a system-on-a-chip (SoC) design.

Desktop CPUs will feature either two of four processing cores with TDPs of 35, 45, 65 or 95 Watt, and will include a dual-channel DDR3/DDR3L memory controller, as well as GT2 or GT1 integrated graphics cores.

Mobile chips will be available in the same dual or quad-core configurations, but feature the more powerful Intel GT3 GPU, while the memory controller only supports DDR3L DIMMs.

Other features include support for the DirectX 11.1 API, support for the AVX2 instruction set, as well as a series of IPC improvements meant to increase single-thread performance.

Source: Softpedia.com

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Nvidia Tegra 3 Low-cost quad-core Tegra 3 handsets coming this year

If you’re in love with the recently announced Google Nexus 7 for the fact that it packs a top of the line processor in a very, very affordable package – good news. There’s more where that came from. A lot more, in fact.

Nvidia is expanding its Kai platform into smartphone territory. Kai is Nvidia’s low-cost refocusing of the Tegra 3 quad-core chipset. It’s basically a cheaper Tegra 3 that’s been made compatible with cheaper additional hardware components (such as memory and displays). That enables $199 tablets, like we’ve seen with the Nexus 7, without giving up on the 4-PLUS-1 CPU architecture and ’12-core graphics’ that Nvidia likes so much to brag about.

Kai will be in smartphones by the end of this year. That means that we should get ready for some pretty amazingly-priced quad-core devices in the coming months. The first partners for this endeavor are apparently a number of Chinese phone makers. That’s all the information we have for now, but do note that this wording doesn’t necessarily mean that these first low-cost handsets will be confined to the Chinese market. After all, Huawei and ZTE are also ‘Chinese phone makers’ and they’re selling their products globally.

ZTE has shown a quad-core smartphone having the Tegra 3 processor built-in at MWC in February, yet that’s not been launched yet. Perhaps it will be slightly retooled and arrive on the (international) market with this Kai platform inside. That could mean it may beat all its competitors in pricing. And that’s the good thing about Kai – it has the potential to enable another wave of competition (based on lowering prices) in the mobile world. Which is always good for consumers.

Depending on how low-cost Kai will be for smartphones, Nvidia may be starting to compete heavily at the lower end of the market with the likes of Qualcomm, ST, and perhaps even with MediaTek’s most expensive chips. This shows that Nvidia is very confident about its efforts in the mobile market, and at least so far it’s probably got all the reasons to be.

Source: unwiredview.com

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Apple's big-screen 27-inch desktop Mac awaits Ivy Bridge upgrade

With the last iMac update having arrived more than a year ago, third-party resellers are now starting to see limited availability of Apple's big-screen 27-inch desktop Mac.

As of Wednesday, AppleInsider noticed stock-outs of the 3.7-gigahertz 27-inch iMac at Best Buy and J&R, while only a handful of units remain available at Amazon, where it is advertised that more are on the way (Update: Amazon's listing no longer indicates limited stock). In addition, MacMall is currently sold out of the 27-inch iMac with a 2.7 gigahertz processor.

The lack of availability at Best Buy is particularly noteworthy as the retailer's website simply states the all-in-one computer is "not available" both online and in store, with no indication of a restock. In contrast, Apple's newly released MacBook Pro with Retina display is advertised as "backordered," with new orders expected to ship between 7 and 30 days from Best Buy.

Limited availability at Mac resellers is often one of the first signs that Apple is drawing down inventory ahead of a product update. And the iMac line is due for an update, with the most recent refresh released over a year ago, in early May of 2011.

However, it should also be noted that Apple's iMac desktops are a popular choice for education institutions. Last month, Apple kicked off its annual back to school promotion, offering a $100 iTunes gift card with the purchase of a new Mac, which could explain limited availability of the 27-inch iMac.

ust this week, a new report out of the Far East claimed that Apple's supply chain is currently gearing up to begin production of the next-generation iMac. However, that report suggested the updated all-in-one desktop won't become available until October.

The new iMacs are expected to feature Intel's latest-generation Ivy Bridge processors. Apple's MacBook Pro and MacBook Air lineups were upgraded to Ivy Bridge with a product refresh last month.

It remains unclear whether the next-generation iMacs will feature Retina displays like Apple's new MacBook Pro. Reports from earlier this year suggested the new iMacs would in fact have new high-resolution displays, though more recently doubt has been cast that the addition will make the cut for Apple's 2012 models.

Other rumors from this year claimed that the 2012 iMac refresh will feature new anti-reflective glass displays. That would be a first for the iMac, as Apple has until now only offered anti-reflective solutions as build-to-order options on its MacBook family of notebooks.

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Samsung creates first module of 16 GB DDR4 Ram

While DDR4 memory won't be available to consumers anytime soon, development on the standard and matching hardware has almost been completed.

Samsung was one of the first to produce a DDR4 module, in December 2010. Back then it was a 2 GB module, based on 30nm memory chips.

Since then, the technology has developed quite a bit, as the first 8 GB and 16 GB modules have been produced. The memory is of the RDIMM type and is designed for use in professional servers.

Samsung cooperates with processor manufacturers and system builders, who can use the DDR4 memory to increase the performance at a lower power consumption. Samsung wants to transition to 20nm memory chips, which - compliant to the DDR4 specifications - require a 1.2V voltage. This would make the modules up to 40 percent more efficient than the latest low-voltage DDR3 modules at 1.35V. The new DDR4 standard isn't just more energy efficient, but should also allow for increased performance and a more efficient data processing.

Samsung will continue to develop the DDR4 technology, to ensure JEDEC compliance. It's expected that the DDR4 standard will be finalized in August. If that is the case, it would take at least up until next year for mass production of DDR4 to start. By the time that 20nm memory chips can be used, the capacity of a single RDIMM module may have well been doubled to 32 GB.

The first processors with a DDR4 controller have yet to be revealed. The latest reports state that Intel's regular 'Haswell' chip is based on DDR3 memory, while the high-end Haswell-EP platform will use the new standard. It's expected that it will take a while for AMD to adopt DDR4.

Samsung has played a leading role in the development of new memory standards. In 2001, it first showed DDR2 memory, which was followed up by DDR3 in 2005. In both cases, the manufacturer revealed their modules long before the standards were implemented.

Source: Hardware.info

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