Whats new in computer Technology? [Updated October 24\09] :: Ultimate MMORPG Gaming Community & Trading Zone

Posted: 07/11/09 - 08:26

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Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

This thread is available for any member. Please contact me or moderators (admins included) to add technology articles. So don't be shy, this thread isn't meant for me only.

DirectX 11 avaliable for Vista users. Copy the link below to find how with step by step instructions.

Source
tomshardware.com/picturestory/518-directx-11-vista.html

Engineers Create 1TB Fingernail-Sized Chip

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NC State engineers created a new material that could provide 1 TB of storage in a fingernail-sized chip.

Imagine cramming 1 TB of data on a fingernail-sized chip. That's around fifty times the capacity of today's high-end silicon-based chips, and apparently engineers from North Carolina State University have mattered such a feat and developed a new material capable of handling incredibly large amounts of storage--the equivalent of 20 high-def DVDs--in an extremely small space.

Read more at...
Source
tomshardware.com/news/1TB-Fingernail-Chip-NC-State,8925.html

Last edited by Panic! on 10/24/09 - 11:36; edited 42 times in total

Posted: 07/11/09 - 08:28

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Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

Asd - To have this more organized I'll have this locked and update news on the first post and always add it on the last post as well. N

Quote:

Nvidia Desktop GPUs Hit 40nm

Last month Nvidia announced a handful of new mobile 200M series GPUs based on the still-current G200 architecture and built on the 40-nm process. It was only a matter of time before the 40-nm process would make it to the desktop parts, and today those products appeared on Nvidia's website.

Newly emerged are the GeForce GT 220 and GeForce G210, which are on the more modest side of speed and also carry an "OEM Product" tag clearly displayed – so don't expect to see this product in retail stores. It'll likely be packed in with new-built computers, as the tag-line below the product model name reads, "Every PC needs good graphics."

Read more at....

Source
tomshardware.com/news/Nvidia-Desktop-GPUs-40nm-Geforce,8219.html

Last edited by Panic! on 07/17/09 - 21:19; edited 1 time in total

Posted: 07/11/09 - 08:39

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Panic!
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Posts: 2874

Asd- Best graphic cards from $50-$450+ so read on!

Quote:

Best Graphics Cards For The Money: June '09

Detailed graphics card specifications and reviews are great—that is, if you have the time to do the research. But at the end of the day, what a gamer needs is the best graphics card within a certain budget.

So if you don’t have the time to research the benchmarks or if you don’t feel confident enough in your ability to pick the right card, fear not. We at Tom’s Hardware have come to your aid with a simple list of the best gaming cards offered for the money.

Source
tomshardware.com/reviews/radeon-geforce-price,2323.html

Last edited by Panic! on 07/17/09 - 21:18; edited 1 time in total

Posted: 07/12/09 - 08:45

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Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

Quote:

Asus' P7P55D EVO Motherboard: Core i5 Finds A Home

The Core i5/P55 hardware has started rolling into our performance labs and we're getting our hands wet with it. Asus' first P55-based motherboard showed up earlier today, though, and we couldn't resist giving you an early preview of what the board will include when it hits store shelves on...

...Hello? Bestofmedia legal department? Oh, I can't say that? Bah, what a bunch of party poopers!

Well, I can promise you that we'll be seeing this hardware soon enough. In fact, we're close enough that if you've been in a holding pattern for your next mid-range platform, you might as well wait to see the real performance attributes of Core i5 and boards like this one: Asus' P7P55D Evo.

In the pages that follow, we'll take a trip around the platform to talk about the new LGA 1156 socket interface, a reversion to dual-channel memory, multi-graphics card support via PCI Express, and the possibility of 6 Gb/s SATA accompanying the upcoming launch.

Read more at...

Source
tomshardware.com/picturestory/512-asus-p5p55d-evo.html

Last edited by Panic! on 07/17/09 - 21:18; edited 1 time in total

Posted: 07/14/09 - 06:27

Super Moderator

Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

Quote:

Intel Clarksfield Chips Could Launch Late Sept

Intel always gives very loose time frames for release dates, but now Taiwanese publication Digitimes always taps its local motherboard contacts for more specifics.

According to Digitimes, Intel's next-generation chips for notebooks, codenamed Clarksfield, CPUs will debut around the end of September and October in the flavors of Core 2 Extreme XE at 2 GHz, Core 2 Quad P2 at 1.73 GHz and Core 2 Quad P1 at 1.6 GHz.

Read more at...

Source
tomshardware.com/news/intel-clarksfield-core-i7-nehalem,8234.html

Last edited by Panic! on 07/17/09 - 21:18; edited 1 time in total

Posted: 07/14/09 - 06:38

Super Moderator

Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

Quote:

Microsoft Looks to Overhaul Windows Update

Your Windows Update is getting updated.

An update will be coming soon for, appropriately enough, Windows Update and Microsoft Update. The update will appear in late August, and it will take a couple of months to complete the rollout.

Microsoft wrote in the TechNet blog, "This update will not change your current Windows Update or Automatic Updates settings. It will improve the user interface for Windows Vista
and Windows Server 2008 computers running Windows Update, adding a more visible and detailed description of updates as well as improvements in how users are notified about service packs. This update will not change the look and feel of Automatic Updates."

Read more at...

Source
tomshardware.com/news/windows-update-vista-microsoft-patch,8241.html

Last edited by Panic! on 07/17/09 - 21:18; edited 1 time in total

Posted: 07/16/09 - 07:44

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Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

Asus Previews Latest P7P55D Evo Design

Quote:

Asus' P7P55D Evo is shaping up to be quite an attractive P55-based motherboard (with support for Intel's Core i5 processors). Two new photos from Asus update the platform's looks from last week's early preview.

Read more at...
Source
tomshardware.com/news/asus-p7p55d-evo,8255.html

Last edited by Panic! on 07/17/09 - 21:18; edited 1 time in total

Posted: 07/16/09 - 07:45

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Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

Gigabyte's Core i5 Contenders: P55-UD4P And P55-UD6

Quote:

At this year's Computex, behind closed doors, Gigabyte shared with us plans for its upcoming P55-based motherboard lineup. Not surprisingly, the company's strategy looks a lot like the approach it took with P45 and then X58: using as common a PCB as possible, design motherboards that, from the top down, slowly shed features as they drop in price, but never sacrifice core functionality.

This is an approach that has helped Gigabyte see quite a bit of success in the past several generations of product design, and one that I've pointed out to other vendors when they've asked my opinion on what Gigabyte was doing right.

Read more at...
Source
tomshardware.com/gallery/gigabyte-p55-lineup,0101-216788-0----jpg-.html

Last edited by Panic! on 07/17/09 - 21:17; edited 1 time in total

Posted: 07/17/09 - 21:17

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Panic!
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Posts: 2874

Exclusive: The Dual Actuator/Head Hard Drive

Quote:

Last week we reported about Seagate's latest Cheetah 15K.7, which is the company's latest enterprise level HDD, boasting a blistering spindle speed of 15,000 RPM and a decent capacity of 600 GB.

While talking about the drive, one commenter proposed a question: why don't hard drive manufacturers do something like add a second set of read/write heads to increase performance rather than turning up the spindle rate to dangerously high levels?

Good question! We went directly to Seagate for the answers.

A long time ago, there was a company called Conner Peripherals. Some Tom's Hardware readers may remember the company. Conner actually patented a hard drive design that utilized dual actuators, that is, a hard drive with two sets of read/write units. Later on when Seagate acquired Conner, the intellectual property transferred to Seagate.

Read more at...
Source
tomshardware.com/news/seagate-hdd-harddrive,8279.html

Posted: 07/17/09 - 21:20

Super Moderator

Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

Corsair's Extreme SSDs Use Indilinx Controller

Quote:

Corsair discovers that Indilinx Barefoot controller and Samsung MLC NAND flash memory are good ingredients.

We love SSDs, but we have extra love for the fast ones. Corsair this week announced its Extreme Series SSD, which help to make us love it instantly thanks to its use of the Indilinx Barefoot controller and Samsung MLC NAND flash memory.

The Corsair Extreme SSD model line consists of the X32, X64 and X128 – predictably in 32 GB, 64GB and 128GB densities respectively. All models boast the same impressive read speeds of up to 240 MB/s and write speeds of up to 170 MB/s.

Read more at...
Source
tomshardware.com/news/corsair-Indilinx-Samsung-NAND-ssd,8285.html

Posted: 07/17/09 - 21:21

Super Moderator

Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

LG's 30-inch OLED Coming in Distant 2012

Quote:

LG has decided to mass produce its 30-inch OLED panel in 2012.

ZoomAccording to LG Display CEO Kwon Young-soo, the company plans to produce 30-inch organic light emitting diode (OLED) panels for TVs in 2012. The announcement is quite surprising considering that both Sony and Samsung have already expressed their intentions to produce mid-sized OLED displays possibly this year but no later than mid-2010; Samsung launched a new OLED-based mobile phone in South Korea just last month.

Read more at..
Source
tomsguide.com/us/LG-OLED-Panel-2012,news-4255.html

Posted: 07/21/09 - 05:48

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Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

Intel's 320 GB 'Postville' SSD May Arrive Soon

Quote:

More information has surfaced in regards to the unannounced Postville SSDs from Intel.

A forum post on Canadian website RedFlagDeals is reporting that new details have surfaced in regards to Intel's upcoming line of Postville SSDs based on 32nm NAND flash. In addition to the 80 GB and 160 GB models, Intel will also provide a 320 GB model as originally reported last month (story). The drives are also slated to feature a higher performance than SSD's offered by rival manufacturers.

In regards to pricing, this site and this site list the 80 GB for $276 and $261 USD respectively, and are cheaper than the existing SSDs. The drives are expected to be in stock by the end of the month, however Intel has yet to formally announce the Postville line (which should be within the week).

Read more at...
Source
tomshardware.com/news/intel-ssd-ssds-hdd-storage,8299.html

===

Intel 34-nm SSDs Officially Launched, Cheaper

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They're the same, only newer, cheaper and faster.

Yesterday we brought you word that new Intel SSDs were on their way, which is true, but sadly not with as much new hotness as we had hoped.

Intel today announced its more advanced Solid State Drive built using the 34-nm manufacturing process. The new technology will replace the old drives that used the 50-nm process.

Intel isn't introducing any new products just yet. In fact, the new drives using the more advanced technology will be using the exact same model names as the previous generation - Intel X25-M available in 80 GB and 160 GB versions.

Read more at...
Source
tomshardware.com/news/intel-ssd-x25-m-34nm-x25,8305.html

Last edited by Panic! on 07/21/09 - 16:07; edited 1 time in total

Posted: 07/21/09 - 05:48

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Panic!
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Posts: 2874

MSI Puts Overclocking Genie in Motherboard

Quote:

Hopefully it'll work more than just three times.

Tweaking motherboard settings is a key part of overclocking. It's all about finding just the right configuration that will push your hardware to the limit without making it unstable.

Tweaking BIOS settings can be a time consuming task, but MSI believes that it has a new motherboard feature that will grant your OC wishes. HotHardware reports on what's called the OC Genie, which can supposedly automatically detect the optimal settings for the system and activate them at the push of a button.

Read more at...
Source
tomshardware.com/news/msi-overclocking-intel-p55-motherboard,8296.html

Posted: 07/21/09 - 05:49

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Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

Report: CD-Rs Are not Reliable

Quote:

While manufacturers tout extremely long life spans, a recent test showed CD-R failure with disks older than seven years.

While transferring data over from CD-R to HDD, Tech ARP discovered that--out of thirteen disks burned back in 2000--one disk was considered "corrupted" and one considered as "difficult to read." Out of thirty disks burned back in 2002 however, three were considered corrupted--a 10-percent ratio compared to the 7.7-percent ratio seen with the 2000 disks.

To clarify its point, the site went on to define "corrupted" as one or more files on the disk which could not be accessed; "difficult to read" meant that the disk could not be read in one out of two CD/DVD drives used during the test. Various brands were provided in the tests as well, ranging from bottom-of-the-line cheap CD-Rs to premium brands such as Kodak and Mitsubishi.

Read more at...
Source
tomsguide.com/us/cdr-dvdr-nero-storage,news-4269.html

Posted: 07/21/09 - 05:50

Administrator

windshell
Joined: 15 Nov 2006
Posts: 5349

Well this is useful info. I have to check old CD backups and burn them again on DVDs.

Posted: 07/21/09 - 06:04

Super Moderator

Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

256 GB USB Thumb Drive is Massive, Expensive

Quote:

Would you run your OS off of this?

See the world's previously largest USB stick and turn your nose up at it? Well, Kingston is back with something that might please a bit better: the 256 GB USB thumb drive.

So now it's entirely possible to have a USB thumb drive that's larger than your internal HDD. It features a read speed of 20 MB/s and a write speed of 10 MB/s. It might also cost more than your computer at a price that's around $900 and it's only available in Europe at the moment.

Tell us, what would you do with a 256 GB thumb drive?

Read more at...
Source
tomshardware.com/news/kingston-256gb-datatraveler-usb-flash,8291.html

Asd- The last largest USB size was 128GB for $550. Surprised

Posted: 07/22/09 - 14:15

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Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

Asus Motherboard Sports USB 3.0 Ports

Quote:

Earlier this month we reported that we'd likely be seeing USB 3.0-enabled PCs before the end of the year.

That's looking more likely now that we've discovered shots of the first motherboard with USB 3.0 ports all decked out with blue connectors.

Read more at...
Source
tomshardware.com/news/asus-usb-3.0-motherboard-superspeed,8308.html

Posted: 07/22/09 - 14:15

Super Moderator

Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

When Will Ray Tracing Replace Rasterization?

Quote:

During the past few years, ray tracing seems to have become the El Dorado of the real-time 3D world. The rendering technique sparked a peak of interest when a young researcher by the name of Daniel Pohl devoted a research project to the technology in 2004.

The reason the general public took an interest in his work is largely because Pohl chose to focus on id Software's famous Quake III, Quake IV, and Quake Wars 3D shooter game franchise. The researcher got a lot of media coverage and gamers began dreaming of a bright future in which their favorite titles would be ray traced and devoid of rasterization.

Tons more to read, so read more at...
Source
tomshardware.com/reviews/ray-tracing-rasterization,2351.html

Posted: 07/23/09 - 17:09

Super Moderator

Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

AMD Releases Catalyst 9.7 Drivers for Win 7

Quote:

Drivers released for the freshly minted OS.

Hot on the heels of Windows 7 going gold, AMD today released its first WHQL-certified ATI Catalyst graphics drivers for Windows 7 RTM. For ATI Radeon customers, the ATI Catalyst 9.7 driver is immediately available for download from game.amd.com. Simultaneously, the ATI Catalyst 8.632 driver has been made available for ATI FirePro professional graphics customers.

Even if you're not running Windows 7 RTM (and you probably won't be for a while), you can still grab today's Catalyst 9.7 file for a single, unified driver installation for both Windows 7 and Windows Vista.

Read more at...
Source
tomshardware.com/news/amd-catalyst-windows-7-drivers,8330.html

Asd - This update for Vista messed up my computer, get this on your own risk

Last edited by Panic! on 07/27/09 - 15:50; edited 1 time in total

Posted: 07/27/09 - 15:49

Super Moderator

Panic!
Joined: 11 Feb 2008
Posts: 2874

Western Digital Ships First 1 TB 2.5-inch HDD

Quote:

It's the biggest 2.5-inch HDD yet.

While terabyte drives are readily available in 3.5-inch models, before today the 1 TB barrier hasn't been broken by any 2.5-inch drive. Western Digital changed that all today (somewhat) with the introduction of two new mobile hard drives
– a 1 TB model made up of three 333 GB platters technology, and another 750 GB model presumably with three 250 GB platters.

Now before you think that you can put these drives in your notebook, they're of the 12.5 mm form factor rather than the 9.5 mm for most 2.5-inch drives. WD says that these thicker drives are ideally suited for use in portable storage solutions, such as the company's own My Passport Essential SE Portable USB Drives. Other applications include select notebooks and small form factor desktop PCs.

Read more at...
Source
tomshardware.com/news/western-digital-1tb-2.5-hdd,8347.html