Overclockers Club news Feed

California Passes TV Power Consumption Regulation

Sat, 21 Nov 2009 09:52:20 -0800

The California Energy Commission has passed a new energy standard to apply to all televisions that will need to be followed fully by 2013. The regulation targets all televisions under 58 inches, and requires a 33 percent decrease in energy consumption by 2011, and 49 percent by 2013. The move to LED back lighting by LCD manufacturers has already put them on track to meet these new regulations. However, the more power hungry Plasma television may have a much tougher time meeting these requirements. Panasonic unveiled its NeoPDP technology at CES last year, which would allow for one third the energy use of older models.

Hardware Roundup: Friday Edition

Fri, 20 Nov 2009 20:32:15 -0800

AMD is dominating the videocard news these days with its 5000-series graphics cards and the recent release of its Radeon HD 5970 is just adding fuel to the flames. OCC just published a review of the Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 OC and our roundup also includes a look at HD 5970 CrossFireX performance along with a review on the Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 card (also reviewed by OCC here). There's more video news surrounding the latest AMD cards with the Eyefinity Challenge coverage and a word on the shortages that have been plaguing the 5000-series cards. AMD's Athlon 2 X3 435 processor also gets covered (you can check out the OCCC review here).

CPUs
AMD Athlon 2 X3 435 CPU @ Rbmods

Gaming
League of Legends (PC) @ GamingHeaven
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 @ Techgage

Memory
OCZ DDR3 PC3-12800 Intel XMP LV 4GB @ Neoseeker

Mobile
Cooler Master SNA95 Slim Universal Notebook Adapter @ ThinkComputers

Motherboards
MSI NF980-E65 Motherboard Review: SLI for AM3 @ PC Perspective

Notebooks
Novatech X16 HD Pro Notebook @ DriverHeaven

Operating Systems
Unearth Region-Specific Windows 7 Themes @ TechSpot

Storage/Hard Drives
AXUS FiT 500E Five-Bay RAID DAS Server @ TweakTown

Video
Eyefinity Challenge in Dallas, TX @ [H]ardOCP
ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB in CrossFireX @ TweakTown
Sapphire Radeon HD 5850 @ XSReviews
AMD speak to Heaven Media (DriverHeaven) regarding HD 5000 shortages @ DriverHeaven

Chrome Operating System Unveiled

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 13:14:20 -0800

While it has been talked about for some time since the release of the Google Chrome browser, the Chrome operating system has not been heard about much until now. Google is just today revealing its Chrome operating system to the general public, though no release time or much information at all is being brought forward, besides a possible completion of the project sometime last next year. Awkwardly enough, the operating system runs mainly on a cloud system, with the Google browser being the main interface that users access everything from, including email to word documents. Even regular hard drives will not be supported, and only solid state drives will make it on the list of storage mediums that can be used. Hardware wise, the search engine company is limiting what hardware the new OS will run on, though since it will be open source, it will not be long before mass amounts of different processors, video cards, and sound cards are supported by code edits, though x86 architecture and ARM CPUs are being supported initially. The demo was run on an ASUS Eee PC, even though Google will be selling its own approved hardware when the operating system comes to the masses. Flash is being heavily used throughout the new operating system; however Microsoft Silverlight was not discussed much at all at the unveiling.

Hardware Roundup: Thursday Edition

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 04:41:10 -0800

After yesterday's round of reviews on the latest graphics card from AMD, the Radeon HD 5970, we managed to turn up a couple more reviews. Nvidia also released its GT 240 cards this week and we have a look at the Palit GT 240 Sonic videocard (also reviewed by OCC here). Although new videocards always generate lots of excitement, we do have reviews on other items in today's roundup including an unboxing video of the Sapphire 950w/1250w Pure PSUs (OCC reviewed the Sapphire Pure 1250W here) and more, so be sure to use the links below to read all the latest from around the web.

Media Players
Patriot Box Office HD Media Player @ Legit Reviews

Monitors
Samsung SyncMaster LD190G 19-inch Lapfit USB LCD Monitor @ ThinkComputers

Motherboards
ASUS P7P55D Pro @ Techgage

Power Supplies
Sapphire 950w/1250w Pure PSU Unboxing Videos @ Motherboards.org (YouTube link)

Speakers/Headphones
Sharkoon XTactic Digital Surround Sound Headset @ DriverHeaven

Storage/Hard Drives
A-DATA SH93 Waterproof and Shock Resistant Portable HDD @ TweakTown
OCZ Agility 60GB SSD (SLC) @ Bjorn3D

Video
AMD's Radeon HD 5970 graphics card @ Tech Report
Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 2GB Overclocked @ TweakTown
Palit GT 240 Sonic @ Neoseeker
NVIDIA Pushes 3D Vision Outside the Gaming Box @ TweakTown

First Working NVIDIA GF100 Video Card Pictured

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:37:11 -0800

NVIDIA's Senior PR Manager Brian Burke has uploaded the first picture of a working GF100 video card on the company's Facebook page. For those of you in the dark, GF100 is the codename for the first GeForce GPU based on NVIDIA's Fermi architecture. The card is running Unigine Corp's DX 11 "Heaven" benchmark on a Dell monitor. It seems as though NVIDIA is trying to reassure consumers that Fermi cards are on track for release early next year in light of last month's revelation that the Fermi Card used in Jen-Hsun Huang's presentation was a mock-up. Whatever stage of development Fermi is in, I think NVIDIA should be concerned with the recent launch of ATI's top-end behemoth, the 5970.

NVIDIA GeForce 195.55 WHQL-candidate Drivers Unveiled

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:10:08 -0800

NVIDIA has unveiled its newest driver, GeForce 195.55. This new driver is NVIDIA's first driver to support the GT 240 video card and GPU acceleration of HD videos in Adobe Flash 10.1 Beta, in line with the recently released ATI Catalyst 9.11. SLI support for new games such as Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, Borderlands and FIFA Soccer 10 is also included in conjunction with many minor fixes. You may download the NVIDIA GeForce 195.55 WHQL-candidate drivers for Windows 7, Windows Vista or Windows XP here.

ATI Catalyst 9.11 Drivers Available

Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:46:36 -0800

ATI has released the latest version of Catalyst drivers, version 9.11. The new release is compatible with the ATI Radeon HD 2000, 3000, 4000 and 5000 series of video cards. Catalyst 9.11 brings support for hardware acceleration of H.246 videos in Adobe Flash Player 10.1 Beta and enhanced conversion of high quality content to a lower resolution (by ATI Video Converter), along with numerous fixes in Windows 7, Windows Vista and Windows XP. The release notes for ATI Catalyst 9.11 are available here and you can download the driver from AMD's website here.

Patriot PS-100 Series SSDs Announced

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 19:47:48 -0800

Patriot Memory today announced the PS-100 series, a new line of solid state drives targeted at consumers looking for the high-performance and reliability of a SSD at an affordable price.

"Our PS-100 is a great option for consumers that want all the reliability and performance of an SSD, but are looking for aggressive pricing," say Eric Ackerson, Patriot's Director of Marketing. "We are excited about getting this product into the market just in time for the holiday season, and with capacities from 32GB to 256GB, the PS-100 family brings improved system performance and longevity with a broad range of capacities and price points."

The PS-100 drives are based on a 2.5” form factor and utilize a 64MB cache and boast power consumption of 5.3W when operating, and .5W when in standby mode. Performance numbers for the PS-100 show sequential read speeds of up to 210MB/s and sequential write speeds up to 150MB/s. While Patriot has said the new drives will be available in time for the upcoming holiday season, specific dates and pricing were not disclosed.

Pandemic Studios to Close

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 11:49:06 -0800

Pandemic Studios, the game developer purchased by EA 2 years ago, will be shutting its doors. This is the result of EA's plan to lay off 1500 people to cut costs. About 200 people will lose their jobs from this closure, with about 25 people being transferred to other studios. Pandemic was started by former Activision Blizzard employees in 1997, and produced games such as Mercenaries and Full Spectrum Warrior. Its last game, Saboteur, will be released next month.

Hardware Roundup: Wednesday Edition

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:51:35 -0800

In the shadow of AMD's launch yesterday of its dual GPU HD 5970 card, Nvidia quietly launched another card of its own in the form of the GeForce GT 240. Targeted at the more budget minded user the cards offer the opportunity for upgraded performance in the $90-$100 range. Kingston's SSDNow V series 40GB solid state drive (reviewed by OCC here) offers you the chance to test out the new drive technology for only $115. While expensive on a per gigabyte basis when compared to traditional hard drives, the price is certainly within the range of enthusiasts who want the increased performance and Kingston makes the upgrade an easy process.

Cases
Sunbeamtech Automaton ATX Case @ Madshrimps

Mediaplayers
Raidsonic Icybox IB-MP305A-B Mediaplayer @ Rbmods

Motherboards
7-Way Intel P55 Motherboard Round-Up @ TechSpot
Intel DP55WG Motherboard @ Motherboards.org

Mousepads
Coolermaster Mouse Mat Roundup @ XSReviews

Optical Drives
ASUS SBC-04D1S-U External Slim Blu-ray Combo Drive @ ThinkComputers

Storage/Hard Drives
Kingston SSDNow V Series 40GB Desktop Bundle Review (with RAID!) @ PC Perspective
Two Kingston 40GB V Series Boot Drive SSDs in RAID 0 @ Legit Reviews
Thermaltake BlacX Duet Dual Hard Drive Docking Station @ Tweaknews
Kingston SSDNow V 40GB @ Bjorn3D

Video
NVIDIA GeForce GT 240 Video Card Preview @ Legit Reviews
MSI GeForce N240GT 512MB GDDR5 OC Video Card @ TweakTown
Zotac GeForce GT 240 AMP! Edition @ HotHardware

Hardware Roundup: AMD Radeon HD 5970 Edition

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 05:18:06 -0800

In the past two months AMD has been busy launching new videocards in it 5000-series lineup and today marks the fifth entry in the hit parade with the official release of the Radeon HD 5970. As suspected, the HD5970 is going to be priced around $600 so it's definitely a top of the line card in terms of price. So what are you getting for that price? Well, as you probably know, the HD 5970 packs dual GPUs onto a single PCB that combined offer 3200 stream processors and 2GB of frame buffer with a standard core clock of 725MHz. If you want to see what you're getting for your $600 in terms of performance and real-life game play, be sure to check out all the reviews we have lined up for you.

AMD ATI Radeon HD 5970 Video Card @ [H]ardOCP
Powercolor Radeon HD 5970 2GB Graphics Card @ Driverheaven
AMD Radeon HD 5970 2GB Review - AMDomination @ PC Perspective
ATI Radeon HD 5970 Dual-GPU Powerhouse @ HotHardware
Sapphire Radeon HD 5970 2GB Video Card @ TweakTown
ATI Radeon HD 5970 Review: Dual-GPU Graphics @ TechSpot
ATI Radeon HD 5970 Dual-GPU Video Card @ Legit Reviews
Radeon HD5970 @ Bjorn3d

Antec Adds TPQ-1200 Unit to TruePower Quattro Series

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 18:00:09 -0800

Antec today announced the TPQ-1200, the latest addition to its TruePower Quattro line of high-performance power supplies. The TPQ-1200 is Antec’s first 1200-watt model and the first to feature Antec’s new PowerCache technology. With PowerCache, the TPQ-1200 provides an extra power reserve through a high-performance capacitor to ensure an extra margin of stability during even the most sudden changes in system demand. The TPQ-1200 also boasts 80 PLUS Silver certification, meaning the unit is at least 85% efficient at a wide range of operating loads. The unit also comes with Advanced Hybrid Cable Management, Antec's modular cable system that reduces cable clutter and helps improve performance by keeping all necessary cables hardwired. It also features six +12V output circuits to spread power evenly throughout the system, DC to DC voltage regulator modules and high-quality Japanese brand capacitors. Antec backs the TPQ-1200 with a five-year warranty and you should be able to find the unit now at a MSRP of $299.99US.

NZXT Offers Tempest EVO Mid-tower Gaming Chassis

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 17:15:23 -0800

The original Tempest computer case has been one of NZXT's best sellers and now the company is announcing an upgraded version called the NZXT Tempest EVO. While keeping the good cooling performance of its predecessor, the Tempest EVO sports four 120mm fans with resdegned blades that deliver more air and lower noise levels. The upgrade keeps the bottom-mounted PSU design and offers better airflow and separation of the heat from the CPU. Although it's a mid-tower chassis, the new case focuses on expandability with support for motherboards up the E-ATX size and compatibility with newer high-end graphics cards. The interior of the case is painted black in the upgraded version and comes with room for up to 8 hard drives. You'll also find cable management features, room for water cooling and cutouts on the motherboard tray from easy heatsink unstallation and removal. NZXT is offering the Tempest EVO at a suggested retail price of $99.99US with immediate availability

OCZ Officially Announces Colossus 3.5" SSDs

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 12:55:06 -0800

OCZ Technology, manufacturer of computer parts has officially announced their first 3.5” Colossus Solid State Disks. The new drives will come in capacities of 120 GB, 250 GB, 500 GB and 1 TB, will use MLC NAND flash technology with an internal RAID 0 architecture and 128 MB of Cache. It will have an aluminium casing, a SATA 3.0 Gbps interface, read and write speeds of up to 260 MB/s and a 1.5 million hour mean time between failures (MTBF). It comes backed by a 3 Year warranty and dedicated technical support from OCZ themselves. It can be found for $437.99 for the 120 GB variant, while the 1 TB variant has yet to be listed and no exact RRPs by OCZ has been announced. “The new Colossus Series is designed to boost desktop and workstation performance and is for high power users that put a premium on speed, reliability and maximum storage capacity.”

New Microsoft Office Shows Up

Tue, 17 Nov 2009 05:33:46 -0800

Besides the copies of the new Office that were found on a few torrent sites that were rumored to be loaded with viruses, Microsoft has officially put up Office 2010 on Technet in beta form of course. This means that the first beta will soon become available to some users, and the product will be worked on consistently until release. The product will hopefully take to consumers better than the 2007 version did, though the ribbon is a key component to blame on that release when it made its debut. Not much information is known on any fixes, changes, improvements, or additions that have been made to the suite, but soon Technet users will be able to plunge in and take the new Office software for a personal spin and critic it along the way.