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Viewing 19 - 27 out of 45 Blogs.
Firefox 2.0 scores big on the Internets
There is definitely growing support for the browser and many have been anxious to see how Mozilla's latest and greatest stacks up to Microsoft's recently released Internet Explorer 7.0 web browser. Now if only the extension/add-on community would kick it into high gear and get all extensions up to 2.x compatibility. Source: Mozilla
Microsoft Corp. (MSFT.O: Quote, Profile, Research) this week will begin a coupon program for personal computer buyers to upgrade to the new Vista operating system when it premiers next year in an effort to avoid a drop-off in PC sales over the holidays and ahead of the software's release. Microsoft said on Tuesday the upgrade program will begin on October 26 for its much-anticipated Windows Vista operating system and Office 2007 software suite. The program allows customers who buy a PC running Windows XP to still be able to upgrade to Windows Vista when the new operating system becomes available in early 2007. A similar program is in place for Office 2007, also due out early next year to consumers. The Windows Vista upgrade may be free or sold at a discount depending on the manufacturer, Microsoft added.
Lite-On IT, the largest Taiwan-based maker of optical disc drives (ODDs), on October 25 reported its financial results for the third quarter of this year, posting a very small net earnings per share (EPS) of NT$0.033. The company also announced it has decided to stop production of consumer ODDs, mainly DVD recorders, to be sold under its Liteon brand in the global market, while keeping OEM/ODM production of such products. Lite-On IT's average gross margin dropped from 16.7% in the first half of this year to 13.2% last quarter. Three main reasons for this were the following: the ongoing integration of Lite-On IT's own operating resources with those of BenQ's ODD business unit (acquired by Lite-On IT in April 2006); delays in R&D works on Blu-ray Disc drives, slim-type ODDs and Xbox ODDs; losses due to consumer returns of own-brand DVD recorders sold through the Wal-Mart chain, according to company CEO Danny Liao. The case with Wal-Mart, Lite-On IT's largest client for consumer DVD recorders, shows the difficulty to make money on consumer ODDs, Liao pointed out explaining Lite-On IT's withdrawal from the global own-brand market. Sales of own-brand DVD recorders currently account for 5-6% of Lite-On IT's total revenues, Liao indicated. This quarter, Lite-On IT will continue amortizing losses from consumer ODDs, including those from returns of DVD recorders shipped through Wal-Mart, so the profitability will not significantly improve from last quarter, Liao noted. Planning to finish moving ODD production from BenQ's factory in Suzhou in eastern China to its own production base in Guangzhou in southern China by December, Lite-On IT expects its operating profitability to rebound in the first quarter of 2007, Liao said.
The $5.6 billion deal between ATI and AMD has sparked speculation that Nvidia would end up merging or partnering with No. 1 chip maker Intel Corp. (INTC.O: Quote, Profile, Research). "It reinforces our philosophy that we don't want to be tied up," Mike Hara, Nvidia's vice president of investor relations, told Reuters in an interview when asked if Nvidia felt the need to seek a similar deal. "I don't think anything changes. In fact, what we've already felt and seen I think gives us the energy to push faster. While AMD and ATI figure out what their future looks like, we know what ours looks like," Hara said. Source: reuters
Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 PC chassis
Manufacturer: Gigabyte (www.gigabyte.com.tw) Product: 3D Aurora 570 PC chassis (GZ-FA1CA-ATS/ATB – GZ-FA1CA-AFS/AFB)
Specs: Case type: Full tower Materials: Aluminum (1.0mm)/nickel plated (1.0mm) SECC Color: Silver or Black (ATS/AFS = Silver, ATB/AFB = Black) Weight: 8.5/10.8 Kg Dimensions: 205x522x560 mm (WxHxD) 5.25” external drive bay: 5 3.5” external drive bay: 2 3.5” internal drive bay: 5 Card slots: 7 Motherboard compatibility: ATX/ M-ATX/mini ATX/ Flex ATX System fans: 1x 12CM silent blue (900~1000 RPM) at the front, 2x 12CM silent blue (900~1000 RPM) Multimedia I/O: 2xUSB 2.0/1xIEEE1394 (FireWire)/ 1x mic input jack/ 1x phones output jack. &nb sp; Price: Expect it to be around $120 - $130
An Aurora Introduction
Gigabyte are keeping themselves quite busy aren’t they? Not just with motherboards & video cards, but also with cooling and PC chassis' as well. No matter how fast your PC is, it is the case (or chassis, which ever you prefer) that people see. For those that don’t know much about PCs it’s the case that informs them about the content inside. Or for others, it is just the box to hold the electronics in place!
This time around we are going to check out the 3D Aurora 570, which is the update if you like from the original Aurora chassis. So what is special about this case then? Well for starters, it is large and has a lot of space inside. It is sturdy, has two holes pre-drilled for watercooling so that you won’t have to use a PCI slot to pass the tubes out for your radiator. Did I mention that it is big? Also, the front bezel and the side panel can be locked. According to Gigabyte themselves, only keys from other Aurora cases can be used.
The case is the type with the door in front of the drives, and it doesn’t have plastic stuff on the front to give it a face or try to make it look extreme. It is more of the classic, elegant style (at least that is how I see it; I know that the styling issue is a subjective one).
No, the case is not crocket. It really is a rectangle rather than a trapezoid but for some reason I couldn’t get the perspective to be right. This is the case with the door unlocked and open. Yes, I know the black optical drives don’t match a lot, but I did have a black case for some years now. The front panel IO ports. IEEE 1394 (FireWire), 2 USB 2.0 ports, the HDD activity LED (bright), mic input jack and a headphone output jack.
La fel cum tehnologiile multi-GPU, precum SLI şi CrossFire, au luat amploare, AGEIA pregăteşte o tehnologie capabilă să ofere utilizatorilor posibilitatea introducerii în sistem a mai multor plăci PhysX. Practic, va fi vorba de o nouă versiune a driverelor, ele devenind capabile să împartă fiecare scenă 3D în aşa-numitele compartimente, urmând ca fiecare PPU (Physics Processing Unit) să prelucreze câte unul.
Din moment ce utilitatea unui singur PPU este extrem de discutabilă, numărul jocurilor optimizate pentru AGEIA PhysX fiind foarte redus, prezenţa a două plăci PhysX în acest moment nu poate fi decât şi mai inutilă. Însă, desigur, nu vorbim de prezent ci de viitor, şi probabil că va exista o dată la care piaţa va cere o astfel de soluţie sau măcar va fi dispusă să o accepte. Până atunci, este aşteptată o versiune PCI Express a plăcii de la AGEIA. Nu trebuie omis faptul că de două ori mai multă putere de procesare pe partea fizică va determina creşterea masivă a necesarului de putere din partea plăcii (plăcilor) grafice: dacă informaţiile fizice vor fi furnizate de către PPU de două ori mai rapid, fără o viteză foarte mare pentru alcătuirea informaţiilor grafice nu se vor obţine mai multe cadre pe secundă (este ca şi cum am dubla frecvenţa unui CPU Core 2 Duo şi ne-am aştepta să obţinem de două ori mai multă performanţă în jocuri, când placa grafică este un GeForce 6600).
Pentru notebook-uri, NVIDIA a lansat un nou chip ce poartă sufixul 7950 GTX, cu specificaţii puţin superioare modelului 7900 GTX: 575 MHz pentru GPU (faţă de 500) şi 1400 MHz pentru cei 512 MB de memorie GDDR3 (faţă de 1200), ce au o lăţime a bus-ului de 256 de biţi. Numărul de pipeline-uri este de 24/8, iar tehnologia de fabricaţie este de 90 nm, cu o putere maximă consumată de 45W.
NVIDIA se poate lăuda, pentru moment, cu chip-uri video mobile situate peste cele ale concurenţei, canadienii de la ATI fiind limitaţi la Mobility Radeon X1800 XT, un GPU cu performanţe inferioare. Cu toate acestea, veniturile din acest segment nu sunt extraordinare, producătorul având toate motivele să se concentreze în primul rând pe produsele destinate PC-urilor.
Ultima realizare remarcabilă a celor de la Matrox datează din anul 2002, când compania a lansat Parhelia, o placă grafică ce încorpora un GPU ce aducea numeroase inovaţii. Apoi, compania a intrat într-un con de umbră, cel puţin pentru segmentul entuziaştilor, soluţii precum G550 pentru PCI Express X1 fiind privite cel mult cu un zâmbet ironic de către pasionaţii de entertainment şi jocuri.
Acum, în pragul lansării lui Windows Vista, se pare că Matrox doreşte să revină pe piaţă cu un nou chip interesant, realizat în tehnologia de 90 nm şi care va avea la bază un controller de memorie marca Mosaid Memorize, capabil de frecvenţe de până la 1066 MHz. Nu este clar dacă GPU-ul va suporta Shader Model 2.0, cerinţa minimă pentru a fi complet compatibil cu Vista, dar acest lucru este foarte probabil.
Urmaşul seriei GeForce 7xxx se va numi - cum altfel - GeForce 8xxx. Mai exact, în top vom avea parte de GeForce 8800 cu diverse „arome”: GTX şi GTS (a se remarca revenirea la un sufix folosit pentru ultima dată în vremurile lui GeForce 2).
Numele de cod este G80, iar specificaţiile cuprind, pentru versiunea GTX, 768 MB de memorie GDDR3 tactată la 1800 MHz, un bus al acesteia de 384 de biţi (rezultând o lăţime de bandă de 86 GB/s, mai mult decât cea a unei soluţii SLI de top actuale), 575 MHz pentru core şi 1350 MHz pentru domeniul unificat de shadere, ce va conţine nu mai puţin de 128 de unităţi! Varianta GeForce 8800 GTS va avea câteva caracteristici reduse: astfel, tactul procesorului grafic va fi de 500 MHz, cel al unităţilor de shadere de 1200 MHz, iar numărul acestora de numai 96. De asemenea, bus-ul memoriei va fi redus la 320 de biţi, cantitatea acesteia la 640 MB, iar frecvenţa va rămâne neschimbată: 1800 MHz, rezultând o lăţime de bandă de 64 GB/s. După cum se vede, numărul inovaţiilor este impresionant, NVIDIA jonglând acum cu diverse cantităţi de memorie şi lăţimi de bandă. Lansarea este planificată pentru a doua săptămână a lunii noiembrie. |
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