Kingston has just released a new member to its flash drive family in the form the of DataTraveler G3. The drives are encased in a plastic body measuring 65.68 x 10.66 x 22.37mm and feature a variety of colors on the end to distinguish how much storage each one has. The drives feature a USB 2.0 interface that supports transfer rates up to 16MB/second for reading and 5MB/s for writing. The drives come in 2, 4, 8, 16, and 32GB versions and are covered by a five year warranty. The long warranty is nice to see since I typically keep a flash drive around for a long time so knowing it is covered by a five year warranty means I won't have to rush out to buy a new one if something happens to it.
The DataTraveler G3 should be available now with the 2GB costing $7.99, the 4GB costing $9.99, the 8GB at $17.99, the 16GB at $32.99, and the 32GB coming in at $59.99.
Panasonic was the first company to tout the world's first portable Blu-ray player at CES this past year, but an $800 price tag leaves a lot to be desired. That is where RCA comes in with its portable Blu-ray player that will cost $350. It still is expensive but compared to the Panasonic version, its massively cheaper. The RCA BRC3108 is a 10 inch portable Blu-ray player that comes with a rechargeable battery, integrated stereo speakers, a headphone jack, 1080p HDMI output, and a bundled car/AC adapter. It also comes with a carrying bag and an attachment to allow it to be connected to a car's headrest so you can get it off your lap during a long car ride.
The RCA BRC3108 portable Blu-ray player will be available at Target stores and at Amazon.com. Now, Amazon.com lists it as $349.99 while Target has it for $299.99 so if you want to save some cash, you know where to go. It is still fairly expensive at either location, but compared to an $800 Panasonic unit I would rather save the extra cash and go with the RCA.
As we wrap up another week of reviews today's roundup has a trio of articles covering solid state drives including OCZ's Agility 2 and Vertex 2 drives as well as the SandForce-based Force 120GB SSD from Corsair. The MSI GeForce GTX 465 Twin Frozr II graphics card sports a dual fan heatsink covering the entire card for greater cooling performance. You can read all the reviews here using the links below.
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| Posted at 04:02AM PST by premiumgfx
NZXT has priced and dated its Crafted series Phantom chassis. It will be available in three colors - white, red or black for a MSRP of US$139.99 in early September. The Phantom full-tower chassis was unveiled at Computex earlier this month. It is constructed out of steel and features a wide array of cooling features. It includes three 120mm and one 200mm fans with the option to add three more. An integrated fan controller for up to five fans, dual radiator support and quad watercooling cutouts come as standard. The case has five external 5.25" and seven internal 3.5"/2.5" drive bays with a screw-less design. It supports E-ATX, ATX, Micro-ATX and BABY AT form-factor motherboards. Top mounted USB, audio and eSATA provide quick connectivity. Founder and Chief Designer at NZXT, Johnny Hou said:
"This is the most intelligent and elegantly designed chassis we've ever conceived. The profoundly unique contours combined with a highly functional, robust feature set solidifies Phantom as one of the most innovative case designs on the market."
The Phantom Chassis measures 222x540x623mm (WxHxD) and weighs in at 11kg. If you want to see how the Phantom performs before its release in September, check out OCC's review here.
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| Posted at 08:34PM PST by CheeseMan42
At the Black Hat security conference, Barnaby Jack demonstrated two ways to get money from an ATM machine. These exploits can be done in person or remotely. One exploit requires a master key and to be at the ATM machine. The other involves connecting remotely to do your dirty work. In the latter method, the remote authentication is bypassed and a rootkit, named Scrooge, is installed. Another tool, Dillinger, allows him to keep track of compromised machines and the people who use them. Criminals can find the vulnerable machines through war-dialling, to find which machines respond. The hack had been discovered last year, but ATM vendors asked Jack to hold off until they were able to patch the vulnerability.
It has been a long time coming but it seems AMD has finally managed to take the upper hand in the graphics card battle by shipping more graphics cards than NVIDIA. NVIDIA has seemingly held the market ever since its GeForce 8000 series launched way back in 2006. AMD kept turning out products and getting the die size down and then when its HD 4000 series came out, NVIDIA saw some serious competition against its GeForce 200 series. NVIDIA still held the lead by aggressively pricing its products to compete against AMD even though the offering by NVIDIA had massive dies in comparison. With the current generation of HD 5000 and GeForce 400, AMD had nearly a half year lead to get its products out which only helped the company gain market share. For the second quarter of this year, AMD had a 51% market share while NVIDIA had a 49% share.
On the integrated graphics front, Intel still retains the market with 54.3% while AMD is at 24.5% and NVIDIA at 19.8%. NVIDIA does not seem to be doing so hot as even Apple has dropped its graphics cards from its iMac and Mac Pro line. Hopefully NVIDIA can see a turnaround with its GTX 460 being priced around the $200 mark and the upcoming launch of the GTS 450 to cut into the mid-range market held firmly by AMD. In any case, it seems NVIDIA has to weather this news and hopefully see a turnaround before long.
Cooler Master announced today that it will be launching its newest laptop cooler, the NotePal U3. The cooler measures in at 420 x 320 x 65mm and weighs 1.04 kilograms. It features an aluminum mesh panel to sit the laptop on, a USB 2.0 port, anti-slip rubber pads, a speed control clip for the fans, and three detachable 80mm fans. The 80mm fans can run up to 1800RPM while generating 18dBa and since the fans are detachable, you can move them wherever you like on the underside of the cooler to better fit where your laptop sits on it. All three fans are daisy-chained into each other so even though you have three fans, all three are run off of one cable that plugs into the USB port. On the back of the USB cable is a pass-through so you can still connect another USB device to it. You can fit any laptop on it so long as it is 19 inches or less in size.
No word on pricing or availability was announced at this time but expect that information to come shortly.
We made it past the release date of the new Starcraft II game and we finally get a review of the game's performance. In the storage arena we have a pair of reviews covering OCZ's RevoDrive 120GB PCIe solid state drive. Western Digital's traditional Scorpio Black 500GB 2.5" hard drive is also included in today's roundup. OCC just reviewed the NZXT Phantom full-tower case and we picked up another review that also rates the case quite highly. Take a moment to check out all the latest reviews using the links below.
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| Posted at 06:50PM PST by CheeseMan42
Amazon has introduced two new models of its best selling Kindle e-reader. A $139 model with Wi-Fi, and a $189 model with Wi-Fi and 3G. Amazon was once the only name in the e-reader game, but recent offerings from Barnes & Noble and Apple have kept it on its toes. The new models are smaller and lighter, and offer up to one month of battery life on a single charge. Sunlight reading has also improved, and so has page turning speed and resolution. Despite speculation from several analysts and experts, the Kindle has improved sales since the release of the Apple iPad. Sales have been kept strong due to a recent price reduction to $189. An even lower price should allow for strong sales to continue.
NVIDIA took the time today at SIGGRAPH 2010 to debut its newest Quardo cards. The new cards are all Fermi-based and come in both laptop and desktop versions. On the laptop side is the new Quadro 5000M which features 2GB of memory, 320 CUDA cores, and a 76.8GBps bandwidth. For the desktop users you will find the Quadro 4000, 5000, and 6000. The Quadro 4000 features 2GB of memory, 256 CUDA cores, and an 89.6GBps bandwidth. The Quadro 5000 features 2.5GB of memory, 352 CUDA cores, and a bandwidth of 120GBps. For the Quadro 6000 you will find 6GB of memory, 448 CUDA cores, and the same 120GBps bandwidth as the 5000 model. All the desktop cards feature one dual-link DVI port and two DisplayPorts. All the cards are OpenGL 4.0 and DirectX 11 compliant while also having support for Shader Model 5.0. The cards all use high-performance, double-precision ECC memory to help produce accurate and stable GPU rendering. For those demanding utmost performance you will find the Quadro Plex 7000 which features 896 CUDA cores, 12GB of memory, 144GBps of bandwith, four dual-link DVI ports, and a max FSAA of 128x.
No word on pricing or availability was announced from NVIDIA but when that information does get released, you know where to find it.
Super Talent has just launched its newest member of its UltraDrive family, the UltraDrive MX. The UltraDrive MX is a solid state drive but it features a dual-interface of SATA II and mini-USB. While not a new design since there are other drives that have both interfaces, it is good to see Super Talent catering to the market. The MX uses the new JMicron 616 controller which will enable read speeds up to 250MB/second and write speeds up to 180MB/s when used on the SATA II interface. No mention was made of the USB speeds but since it uses the USB 2.0 spec, it shouldn't be blazing fast. When you have the SSD connected via USB, you can mount it to your PC and transfer files over just like you would for any other external hard drive. Once you have everything backed up, you can simply put it in your desktop or laptop and get the great speeds offered by the SATA II interface.
No word on pricing but expect to find the UltraDrive MX in 60, 120, 240, and 480GB capacities on September 1st.
In graphics news today we get a chance to examine NVIDIA's Fermi-based Quadro 5000/6000 professional graphics cards by way of a pair of reviews from our affiliates. On the consumer side of the video card market we have Sparkle Nvidia GeForce GTX 470 with a custom cooling solution and we also get an opportunity to look at the ASUS Matrix 5870 card as well. Intel has released news on its research on a silicon photonics link where they've been able to hit the 50Gbps milestone in transmitting data. Today's roundup also includes a mix of the old and the new in storage technology with a look at several 1TB hard drives along with reviews on a pair of slid state drives.
Intel has shown off one of its latest projects that has some staggering speed numbers with it. Now, Intel has been trying for years to replace all that copper wiring in a computer with beams of lights. A few years ago it hit the 40Gbps mark and now Intel has just hit the 50Gbps mark which sets a new milestone for electronic signal transmission. The process is called Silicon Photonics Link and it uses integrated lasers to carry data. The link can move data over long distances and at much faster speeds compared to copper cabling. The 50Gbps speed would be the equivalent of an entire HD movie being transfered each second. The current copper cabling used in the construction of computers has a maximum length it can reach before data is degraded too much. With all the information being passed in beams of light, this will allow computers to be built using fiber optics to help carry data with no loss at long distances. One possible application is a wall-sized 3D display at such a high resolution that the people appear to be actually in the room with you. Another one is for datacenters to be spread out across longer distances, like throughout an entire university campus, instead of being confined to one room while still providing faster data access and less energy usage.
The technology is still years away from commercial applications but it is good to see so much progress in something that can play a vital role in shaping the construction of future computers.
Today Apple announced updates to the iMac, Mac Pro, and LED Cinema Display product families along with two new products. Both the the iMac and Mac Pro lineups have been expecting updates for sometime now, however the new systems did not receive USB 3.0 or the faster FireWire as recent rumors had suggested. The iMac family does however include the Intel Core i3, i5 and i7 processors which have been seen several times here on OCC. The Mac Pro, a customizable desktop aimed at audio and video professionals, now include quad and hexa-core Intel Xeon Processors with up to 32 GB of memory. To complement the power on the Mac Pro Apple also released a 27-inch LED Cinema Display with a 2560x1440 resolution and a 178 degree viewing angle.
The two new products introduced by Apple today include a trackpad designed for the desktop. The 'Magic Trackpad' is 80 percent larger than the standard trackpads found on the MacBook, and brings full multitouch gestures to the desktop.
Probably the most interesting of all the products released by Apple today is the new Apple Battery Charger. For $30 it includes 6 NiMH (nickel-metal hydride) batteries, which Apple says will maintain a high capacity for hundreds of charges and has a life of up to 10 years. Apple says the charger is compatible with NiMH batteries from other manufacturers as well. If you are the energy conscious type, you might like to know that the Apple Battery Charger only uses 30 mW of power on standby, compared to the average charger's 315 mW power draw.
The GF104 is a powerful chip that runs cooler and is much more efficient than the GF100. The GF104 is only used in the GTX 460 while the GF100 is used in the GTX 465, 470, and 480. Now it seems NVIDIA is gearing up to put the GF104 in the GTX 470 to make it run better, perform higher, and stay much cooler. Keep this under rumor for now as NVIDIA has not confirmed anything, but it does make sense to pack a GF104 chip into the GTX 470 since the 470 has relatively low clocks compared to the GTX 460. The GTX 460 has one full cluster disabled though even with the cluster enabled, a GF104-based GTX 470 would only have 384 SP and be on a 256-bit interface. The GTX 470 has 448 SP and is on a 320-bit interface, so a GF104 version would need to make up the deficit by having a higher clock speed. If this card does come to fruition, odds are that it will be called a GTX 475 and should easily outperform the current GTX 470.
There are also rumors that NVIDIA will replace the GTX 480 with a dual GPU card consiting of two GTX 460s on a single PCB. If that comes to pass, then NVIDIA is taking ATI's approach to video cards since the high end from ATI essentially has two HD 5850s on one PCB.
The GTX 460 has basically replaced the GTX 465 so I can see why NVIDIA wants to replace the existing GF100 products with new GF104 ones. Only question is if NVIDIA had the GF104 ready to go so quickly after the launch of GF100, why launch three cards with it when it could be replaced by a more efficient product mere months later?
When it comes to gaming news today, not much can top the release of the hotly anticipated StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty, but this comes close. The world's largest video game retailer, GameStop, has purchased online gaming site Kongregate for an undisclosed amount. Kongregate is one of the leading online gaming portals, offering thousands and thousands of free games (the current count, as of this writing, is 31,070 free games), along with great community features like badges, levels, and development tools. On the developer side of things, anyone can create and upload a game, with the best rated games making it to the homepage and eventually getting badges, which helps generate thousands to millions of plays. Furthermore, developers can earn money for their games, earning a share of advertising and microtransaction revenue, as well as competing for weekly and monthly prizes. Through it all, developers retain full rights to their game!
The announcement that a retail chain like GameStop is purchasing a site that thrives on offering free content is disconcerting for many, but Kongregate CEO Jim Greer assures us that when it comes to free games, nothing is changing. What the purchase does mean is that things should get done faster. GameStop has a lot more employees than Kongregate's five programmers, so a lot of the "cool stuff" Kongregate had planned for awhile may actually see the light of day a lot faster. Furthermore, Jim believes that they may even integrate GameStop's new PowerUp rewards program, providing even more benefits to members. And as far as developers go, partnering with a retail giant like GameStop should provide more exposure.
Change is a scary thing, especially when it's a buyout, but Jim assures us that this will be a good thing - only time will tell. I have been a member of Kongregate since 2007, and it's been my de facto site when I need a game to play during lunch, while watching television, or simply when I need a break and don't feel like firing up a "real" game. I hope, for the sake of Kongregate's employees, the indie developers, and of course, us gamers, that this will only be beneficial. In any case, congratulations to Jim and his crew for creating such a great site and for selling it, presumably, for a nice profit.
Choiix is a product division of Cooler Master and today we get a couple of chances to check out the Choiix Cruiser wireless laptop mouse (also reviewed by OCC here). Antec has introduced its Dark Fleet lineup of computer cases and we have two of the cases in our roundup today - the DF-85 full tower and its smaller sibling, the DF-30 mid-tower chassis. Today's consumer has lots of mobile devices which all have one thing in common - they all need a power source in the form of batteries to function. What happens when that power runs low and you don't have a convenient power outlet to charge things up? Take a look at a couple of mobile power options from Choiix and Arctic Cooling. We have more reviews in store which you can find using the inks below.
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| Posted at 03:14AM PST by premiumgfx
Dell today launched its latest notebook: the Inspiron M101z. The M101z features an 11.6" LED-backlit screen running at 1366x768 and is powered by a single or dual-core AMDAthlon II Neo processor. This is backed by up to 4GB of memory and integrated graphics. Ample storage is provided by a 320GB hard drive. Bluetooth 3.0 (optional), 10/100 LAN, a card reader, 1.3 megapixelwebcam and 2x1.5W speakers allow easy connectivity. The notebook runs on a 6-cell battery and will be available in four colours: Clear Black, Peacock Blue, Tomato Red and Lotus Pink. The Dell Inspiron M101z is pre-installed with Windows 7 64-bit and is available immediately from £379 (around US$588) in the United Kingdom.
It looks as though AMD is slowly gaining a foothold in what was once exclusive Intel territory. The meaning for you and me the consumer? More choice and lower prices.
If you're running an ATI card such as the Radeon HD 5870, then you will be interested to know that ATI has updated its drivers. Today ATI released version 10.7 which is said to have new features, fixes, and performance enhancements. According to the release notes, 10.7 fixes several issues with the different operating systems, new features such as Eyefinity and Hydra enhancements, Enhanced pull-down detection, Support for rotated displays with CrossfireX, and GPU acceleration for VLC 1.1.1 media player. ATI also included some performance improvements which according to its tests on Borderlands showed:
Performance increases 3-5% on ATI Radeon™ HD 5800 and ATI Radeon™ HD
5700 series single card and CrossFire™ configurations when anti-aliasing and
anisotropic filtering is enabled
Performance increases 3-8% on ATI Radeon™ HD 5970 single card and
CrossFire™ configurations when anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering is enabled
Performance increases 2-6% on ATI Radeon™ HD 5600 and ATI Radeon™ HD
5500 series single card configurations when anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering
is enabled
Performance increases 2-10% on ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 series single card and
CrossFire™ configurations when anti-aliasing and anisotropic filtering is enabled
A notable change is ATI included support for Ubuntu 10.4 which will make the Linux users out there happy. To download the new drivers head on over to the ATI Support Site and grab them while their hot. Why you're at it we would love to hear if you notice any performance improvements so be sure to let us know.
A-DATA is a leading manufacturer of nearly all things memory-related. The latest technology for flash drives is a USB 3.0 connection but what if you don't have the port on your computer? You could use a USB 2.0 flash drive but the speeds pale in comparison to the 3.0 spec. Now, many laptops have an eSATA/USB 2.0 combo port which can transfer data at fast speeds through the eSATA interface. A-DATA has taped into this market by releasing a flash drive that has an eSATA connector but is also backwards compatible with USB 2.0. The flash drive, model N909, uses a four-channel design to transfer files through an eSATA port at 90MB/second read and 50MB/s write. That speed will lower when its plugged into a USB 2.0 port, but if you have an eSATA port you will be getting extremely fast transfer speeds. The best part is that unlike older eSATA flash drives, this one doesn't require another USB port for power which helps to add to its portability.
No word on pricing or availability but expect to find the A-DATA N909 flash drive in 16, 32, and 64GB sizes.
When in doubt, simply go big. That is certainly what Thermaltake has done with its Massive23 LX notebook cooler. Supporting laptops ranging from netbook dimensions all the way up to 17 inches, the Massive23 LX features a whopping 230mm fan (much like the ones that have cropped up in a number of case designs and the previous Massive23 ST), with a rated voltage range of 4-5V and a speed of 600RPM (plus or minus 10%, so 540-660RPM). The fan can be turned on or off via the provided switch, while another switch controls the fan's blue LEDs. Thermaltake also aims to provide an ergonomic typing angle with the design and includes rubber feet, both top and bottom, to prevent your laptop or the cooler slipping. You also get carrying handles and two USB 2.0 ports thrown in (the fan itself is also USB powered). Weighing in at 900g and with dimensions of 376 x 300 x 51.5mm, the Massive23 LX comes with an MSRP of $19.99.
Acer is getting set to launch three new LCD monitors that should fit in at any size requirement you want. The three new screens are all sporting white LED backlighting and come in between 13 and 15mm thin. The new models will launch under the S1 series and come in a 20, 21.5, and 23 inch size. All three sizes feature a 12,000,000:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 5ms response time, 250cd/m2 brightness, and 16.7 million colors. The 21.5 and 23 inch models are both 1920x1080 resolution but no mention was made of what the 20 inch has, just that it is a 16:9 screen. All three have a VGA and DVI connection with the 23 inch model also adding in HDMI.
The monitors should be launching soon, possibly even before the month of July ends. The 20 inch S201HL will cost $169.99, the 21.5 inch S211HL will be $219.99, and the 23 inch S231HL will be $269.99.
Welcome to the start of a new week and another round of reviews from around the web. It looks like we have a pretty good mix in store for you today so let's take a quick sample of what we have. In the cooling department we have four CPU coolers for you to look at including the Thermaltake Frio (also reviewed by OCC here). If the slate/tablet PC concept has caught your eye, the folks at PC Perspective have assembled an article on what's out there and it's not all about the iPad anymore. As promised, there's a lot more in today's roundup, so get busy reading by using the links below.
Mozilla released two updates for the Firefox web browser last week. On Tuesday, Firefox 3.6.7 was released and is the largest security update for the web browser in several months, fixing a total of 14 vulnerabilities of which eight are listed as critical. According to ComputerWorld, five of the security holes were discovered by HP Tipping Point's Zero Day Initiative, while two others were discovered by researchers at Google.
After the release of Firefox 3.6.7 a number of bug and crash reports started appearing in the Mozilla support forums. Most of the reports indicated that Firefox 3.6.7 became unstable and crashed when Adobe's Flash Plugin was being used. To resolve the issue, Mozilla rushed out Firefox 3.6.8 on Friday. According to Mozilla, the 3.6.8 patch addresses a "dangling pointer crash regression from plugin parameter array".
Due to the number of high vulnerabilities addressed in this round of updates, Mozilla is recommending that all users update to the latest version.
What did the OCC community find to be the most popular stories this week? Apple, StarCraft II and new hardware from AMD, NVIDIA, and Intel top the list.
G.Skill has announced what it considers to be the ultimate workstation memory kit with the release of a 48GB (4GBx12) kit of 1,900MHz CL8 1.65V modules equipped with its popular Ripjaws series heatsink.
The memory kit was designed exclusively for use with the EVGA Super Record 2 (SR-2), a dual Intel Xeon LGA1366 CPU socket motherboard with 12 DDR3 memory slots. G.Skill has tested this kit on the SR-2 and says any competent enthusiast should be able to reach 2,000MHz CL8 with the G.Skill Ripjaws 48GB DDR3 kit.
Because 48GB 1,900MHz CL8 is pushing the upper limits of DDR3 technology for Intel's Xeon CPUs, all G.Skill 48GB DDR3 kits are 100% hand-tested by its most senior R&D team to ensure the ultimate in performance and reliability. The 48GB Ripjaws kits will become available worldwide in August although G.Skill did not announce a price yet.
As previsously reported, Apple announced that it would be giving away free cases to anyone with an iPhone 4 as a way to resolve the iPhone 4's reception issue. According to AppleRelated, Apple has begun the process for giving away the free bumpers and other cases. To claim your free case, you simply need to download the "Apple iPhone 4 Case Program" app from iTunes, enter your iTunes account information, and then select the case you want from the eight available. If you wanted an Apple bumper in a color other than black, you are out of luck, as that is the only color available.
Additionally for anyone that purchased an iPhone 4 bumper case, you are eligible for a refund. If the purchase was made through an Apple Retail Store, all you have to do in order to claim your money is nothing. That's right, no form to fill out or receipt to send back, the refunds are being handled automatically and for many have already been completed. You can check the status of your refund here. If you purchased with cash, gift card, or at a non-Apple store, you will need to take your receipt back to the store of purchase.
As AppleRelated points out, the two programs do not appear to be linked. Users have reported receiving a refund for previously purchased bumpers as well as being able to receive a free case from the program, effectively giving users two free cases.
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| Posted at 04:54AM PST by premiumgfx
Arctic Cooling today unveiled two new products: the ARCTIC Silentium T11 mid-tower chassis and the ARCTIC HC01-TC hard drive cooler. Both new products are built as silent cooling solutions.
First up is the Silentium T11, a steel-built mid-tower chassis. The Silentium features two USB and audio ports on the front along with four 5.25" external drive slots and one 3.25" internal drive slot. Its 7 expansion slots support graphics cards up to 35cm in length. The Silentium contains two pre-installed 120mm fans which change in RPM dynamically according to the case temperature. The chassis supports standard and micro-ATX motherboards. A unique feature of the Silentium is a VGA air hood to direct airflow onto the graphics card. The Silentium T11 chassis measures 49x43x19cm (LxHxW), weighs in at 5kg and will be available in black and white models.
Next up is the HC01-TC hard drive cooler. The HC01-TC supports 3.5" SATA hard drives and fits in standard 5.25" drive bays. It includes a temperature-controlled 40mm fan to extract hot air from the hard drive, ranging from 1600RPM to 4600RPM depending on the hard drive temperature. The hard drive cooler also includes absorption foam to reduce vibration and noise from the hard drive. The HC01-TC hard drive cooler measures 147x42x187mm (WxHxD) and weighs 508g.
The Silentium T11 case will be available in mid-October for US$59.95 and the HC01-TC hard drive cooler will be available at the end of August for US$22.95.
Scythe has unveiled its newest line of power supplies, the Chouriki 2 series. The new PSUs are 80 Plus Silver certified and measure in at 150 x 160 x 86mm while weighing 2.2 kilograms. Each PSU is finished in brushed stainless steel so each unit is quite the looker. Each unit comes with Over-Voltage, Over-Current, Over-Power, Short Circuit, Over-Temperature, and Under-Voltage Protections so you should be covered in case anything unforeseeable happens. The rear of the PSU has a "honeycomb mesh" pattern to allow for optimal airflow while a 135mm Scythe Kama Flex fan sits up top to cool everything down. The Chouriki 2 PSUs come in 650, 750, 850, and 1000 watt versions with each wattage being available in a modular or non-modular design.
The Scythe Chouriki 2 series can be purchased starting today. The non-modular 650, 750, 850, and 1000 watt PSUs will cost $121, $131, $163, and $175, respectively. The modular 650, 750, 850, and 100 watt PSUs will cost $132, $144, $176, and $185, respectively.
AMD has started a new campaign focused on PC gaming. AMD states on its information web page that "Gamers Come First" and that AMD is committed to those of us who value gaming on the PC platform. Surprisingly though the information is pretty vague, and it doesn't go into much detail about what this campaign really is about. Is it a new initiative on designing new gaming hardware? Is AMD starting an AMD Clan?
In the opening paragraph on the Gaming Evolved page it states: "AMD’s Gaming Evolved program represents our deep commitment to PC gamers, PC game developers, and the PC gaming industry to deliver innovative technologies, nurture open industry standards, and to help the gaming industry create the best possible gaming experience on the world’s best gaming platform—the PC."
The basics that I have been able to gather are that AMD is stepping up and becoming a firsthand partner to PC game developers. By offering developers tools and partnership support AMD is doing its part to strengthen PC gaming and help the continued growth of PC based games. AMD is also working with its partners to ensure that PC games run the best they can on new technologies such as DirectX 11. I recently shot off a message to one of AMD's marketing gurus for more information on AMD Gaming Evolved and will keep you updated as we find out more.
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