What your computer's drive will look like in 5 years

Hard disk drives may soon be replaced by solid-state disk (SSD) drives
By Lucas Mearian

January 16, 2009 (Computerworld) As solid-state disk (SSD) technology closes in on hard disk drive (HDD) capacity and price, experts say it may not be long before spinning disks are a thing of the past and a computer's storage resides in flash memory on the motherboard.

By making the drive part of a system's core architecture -- instead of a peripheral device -- data I/O performance could initially double, quadruple or more, according to Jim McGregor, chief technology strategist at market research firm In-Stat.

"Instead of using a SATA interface, let's break that and instead of making it look like a disk drive, let's make it look like part of the memory hierarchy," McGregor said. "Obviously, if you break down that interface, you get more performance."

Currently, Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (SATA) is the bus used to transfer data between a computer and storage devices, be it HDDs or SSDs in a 1.8-in., 2.5-in. or 3.5-in. disk drive form factor. SSD manufacturers have been fitting SSDs into a hard disk drive case to fit it into existing computer architectures.

Within three years, McGregor said SSDs with 256GB capacity -- already on the market -- will be close to the same price as hard drives. (A 256GB SSD for the new 17-in. MacBook Pro from Apple is a $900 build-to-order option, for instance. A 250GB HDD goes for about a tenth that price.) That will signal to manufacturers that it's time to consider an interface change. And, while SSDs will be lagging behind the 500GB to 1TB capacities of hard disk drives for some time to come, McGregor argues that users don't need that much storage anyway.

"We've already seen this trend in the netbook space, and we will see it more in the notebook platform. Storage will begin to look more like a memory module than a hard drive," said Dean Klein, vice president of Micron Corp.'s SSD group. "There's a move afoot to make it more like a card-edge connector, so the SSD would not have the cost of a mechanical connector. It would just have gold-plated fingers on the edge: No enclosure, just the circuit board."

Disk drive vendors are doubling the capacity of drives every 12 to 18 months, but In-Stat's data indicates that the average storage requirements of users increase in a more linear way. And, while HD video can drive a huge swing in storage requirements, the advent of online libraries and storage services tend to even out the trends, McGregor said.

According to In-Stat, SSD prices have been dropping 60% year over year. Currently, the price of consumer-grade SSD costs from $2 to $3.45 per gigabyte, with hard drives going for about 38 cents per gigabyte, according to Gartner Inc. and iSuppli Corp.

"Two years ago, SSDs cost $17.50 per gigabyte, so it's obvious that consumer NAND flash memory will soon be a true contender to hard disk drives -- it's just not there yet," Gartner analyst Joseph Unsworth said. "I think you need to get to 128GB for around $200, and that's going to happen around 2010. Also, the industry needs to effectively communicate why consumers or enterprise users should pay more for less storage."

Klein argued that using an SSD in its native state, as NAND chips on a board without an enclosure, will reduce cost, weight, power use and space.

In January last year, IBM launched the Lenovo ThinkPad X300, the industry's first mainstream notebook designed not to take a hard drive, but a 64GB SSD. Dell followed IBM with its all-SSD Latitude D420 ultra-mobile and D620 ATG semi-rugged notebooks.

"Moving forward people will design the entire notebook around SSD. You could spread SSD out over the mother board. So moving forward there will be a lot of custom notebooks with custom SSDs," said Brian Beard, marketing manager for Samsung's flash memory group.

Samsung, which sells laptops, not only manufactures and sells HDDs, but it's own line of SSD as well as selling flash memory to other vendors to resell.

Beard expects SSD penetration in the laptop market will only reach 30% by 2012, but he also believes around the same time HDD and SDD will reach price parity.

Within the next year, Micron expects to bring to market a high-end SSD that could achieve 1GB/sec. throughput by using a PCIe interface rather than traditional SATA or SAS. The transfer speed is four times that offered by Intel's newest, enterprise-class SSD, the X25-E.

In a video on Micron's blog site, Joe Jeddeloh, director of the vendor's Advanced Storage Technology Center, demonstrated the technology using a two-processor, eight-core Intel Xeon PC and a card with two SSDs and 16 flash channels. A blurry readout showed the SSD reaching 800MB/sec. throughput, with Jeddeloh claiming that it "will be hitting a bandwidth of 1GB/sec. and at least 200,000 IOPS," or I/O operations per second.

The card was directly connected to a PCI Express (PCIe) slot, bypassing SATA or Serial Attached SCSI interfaces. While PCIe has the same throughput as SATA II -- 3Gbit/sec. -- PCIe offers more channels.

Using file transfers ranging from 2KB to 2MB, Jeddeloh demonstrated 150,000 to 160,000 random reads per second in the video. "That's what flash can do when it's managed correctly," he said.

While Micron's SSD technology is aimed at high-end applications that would run on Fibre Channel SANs, such as transactional databases or streaming video, Klein said consumer-grade computers using SSDs directly connected to a PCIe bus with four lanes (x4 slots) could soon achieve similar results.

Physical PCIe slots may contain from one to 32 lanes of data. Currently, PCIe Generation 1 offers 250MB/sec. throughput per lane. The second generation of PCIe is expected out next year and will offer twice the throughput, or 500MB/sec. per lane. While SATA 3.0, expected out this year, also doubles throughput, it only offers one lane.

"Each lane of that x4 PCIe is as fast as a SATA 3.0's 6Gbit/sec. bus," Klein said. "So I can be four times as fast on that one slot as an SSD could be on a SATA 3.0 connection. That's really the direction things are going."

source : www.computerworld.com

Intel Launches the Core i7 Processor in Dubai

Published 19 November 2008

Intel Corporation introduced its most advanced desktop processor ever, the Intel® Core™ i7 processor. The Core i7 processor is the first member of a new family of Intel’s next generation microarchitecture processor designs and is the most sophisticated ever built, with new technologies that boost performance on demand and maximize data throughput. The Core i7 processor speeds video editing, immersive games and other popular Internet and computer activities by up to 40 percent without increasing power consumption.

Broadly heralded by the computing industry as a technical marvel, the Intel® Core™ i7 processor holds a new world record of 117 for the SPECint_base_rate2006* benchmark test that measures the performance of a processor. This is the first time ever for any single processor to exceed a score of 100 points.

At the launch event in Dubai, Samir Al-Schamma, Intel general manager for the GCC said: “Today’s launch coincides with the global launch of the Core i7 processor, one of Intel’s most anticipated products. Intel has delivered the fastest desktop processor on Earth to the most demanding users on Earth, the ones who are using their PCs for video, gaming and music.”

“When you couple what is Intel’s biggest leap in chip design with other incredible innovations like Intel’s solid state drives, the Core i7 processor has redefined the computer of tomorrow.” Added Al-Schamma.

Tech Web sites have been extremely positive in their product reviews. Anandtech states that “Core i7 continues to fuel Intel’s beacon of performance.” “The Core i7 is everything they promised it would be,” says PC Perspective. The Tech Report calls it “one of the most consequential shifts in the industry.”
Intel’s unique Turbo Boost Technology accelerates performance to match a computer user’s needs and workloads. Through a sophisticated on-die power control unit and using new “power gate” transistors based on Intel’s advanced 45 nanometer, high-k metal gate manufacturing process, Turbo Boost automatically adjusts the clock speed of one or more of the four individual processing cores for single- and multi-threaded applications to boost performance, without increasing power consumption. The Core i7 also has the latest Intel power-saving technologies, allowing desktops to go into sleep states formerly reserved for Intel-based notebooks.

The Core i7 processor more than doubles the memory bandwidth of previous Intel “Extreme” platforms, speeding the transfer of computer bits and bites in and out of the processor with Intel® Quickpath Technology. Designed with Intel’s Hyper-Threading Technology, the processor also allows multiple computing threads to run simultaneously, effectively enabling it to do two things at once. As a result, the Core i7 quad-core processor delivers 8-threaded performance.

The Intel Core i7 processor also offers unrivaled performance for immersive 3-D games – over 40 percent faster than previous Intel high-performance processors on both the 3DMark Vantage CPU* physics and AI tests, popular industry computer benchmarks that measure gaming performance. The Extreme Edition uses 8 threads to run games with advanced artificial intelligence and physics to make games act and feel real.

The Intel® Core™ i7 processors and Intel® X58 Express Chipset-based Intel® Desktop Board DX58SO Extreme Series are for sale immediately from several computer manufacturers online and in retail stores, as well as a boxed retail product via channel online sales.

The Core i7 processor is the first member of the Intel Nehalem microarchitecture family; server and mobile product versions will be in production later. Each Core i7 processor features an 8 MB level 3 cache and three channels of DDR3 1066 memory to deliver the best memory performance of any desktop platform. Intel’s top performance processor, the Intel® Core™ i7 Extreme Edition, also removes overspeed protection, allowing Intel’s knowledgeable customers or hobbyists to further increase the chip’s speed.

Product Information and Pricing:

Intel® Core™ i7-965 Extreme Edition - 3.20GHz, US$999 (about AED 3,670)
Intel® Core™ i7- 940 - 2.93GHz, US$ 652 (about AED 2,395)
Intel® Core™ i7- 920 - 2.66GHz, US$ 284 (about AED 1,045)

source : www.tbreak.com

GeForce GTX280, Teknologi Terbaru Nvidia

Heni BeritaNET.com, 18 Juni, 2008 08:56:00

GeForce GTX280, chip terbaru dari Nvidia memiliki kemampuan gambar 3D dan merupakan salah satu konsumen pertama graphics card atau VGA (Video Graphics Array) card yang mampu untuk menangani tugas proses aplikasi tertentu. Seperti kebanyakan 3D card, GTX280 memiliki 240 processing core yang mampu membuat game seperti "Age of Conan: Hyborian Adventures and Bionic Commando" seperti menjadi nyata ketika dimainkan. Teknologi yang dibangun pada produk Nvidia ini memberikan kemudahan bagi user untuk memainkan Blu-ray movie, surfing di web dalam 3D atau transformasi video ke personal video player yang berkecepatan 7x lipat daripada CPU tradisional. GeForce GTX280 mempersembahkan kapasitas memori sebesar 1GB dan kecepatan ditambah sebesar 50%.

Berikut spesifikasi GeForce GTX280 :
GPU Engine Specifications:

* Inti Prosesor : 240
* Grafis Clock : 602 MHz
* Procesor Clock : 1296 MHz
* Teksture Fill Rate : 48.2 juta/detik

Memory Specifications:

* Memory Clock (MHz) :1107 MHz
* Konfigurasi Standard Memori :1GB GDDR3
* Panjang Interface Memori : 512-bit
* Bandwith : 141.7 GB/detik

Fitur :

* NVIDIA SLI®, NVIDIA PureVideo® Technology HD NVIDIA PhysX™-NVIDIA CUDA™ Technology, HybridPower™ Technology, Microsoft DirectX 10 OpenGL 2.1, Support PCI-E 2.0 x16, Windows Vista

Display :

* Maksimum Digital Resolution 2560x1600, Maksimum VGA Resolution 2048x 1536, Standard Display Connector 2 dual-link DVI dan 1 analog HDTV-out, Multi Monitor (# of displays) 2

Standard Dimensi Graphics Card:

* Tinggi : 4.376 inches (111 mm)
* Panjang : 10.5 inches (267 mm)
* Lebar : Dual-slot
* Spesifikasi Power Konektor : Satu 8-pin + Enam 6-pin
* Jumlah Transistor : 1,4 juta
* Harga : USD 650

source : www.beritanet.com

Report: Via readying dual-core Atom rival

Posted by Brooke Crothers
December 30, 2008 10:30 PM PST

Dual-core Intel Atom rivals are in the works.
Via Technologies is planning a very low-power, dual-core Nano 3000 processor, according to Chinese-language Web site HKEPC.

Intel currently offers the dual-core Atom 330 that is targeted at Nettops--small desktop computers.

Advanced Micro Devices will target its low-power dual-core "Conesus" at the laptop market segment above Atom's Netbook-centric space.

Meanwhile, Freescale Semiconductor has indicated that it will bring out a very-low-power ARM chip that features a dual-core graphics engine targeted at Netbook-like laptops.

All of these developments indicate that the market for ultra-small devices and laptops and should heat up in 2009.

The dual-core version of the Via Nano 3000--due in late 2009 or 2010--may use a Fujitsu 45-nanometer or TSMC (Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company) 40-nanometer manufacturing process, according to HKEPC. The Intel Atom is based on 45-nanometer process technology.

The Via chip may also include SSE4 instruction support, HKEPC said. Generally, SSE4 (Streaming SIMD Extensions 4) instructions speed up multimedia applications.

Via is also slated to bring out other improved Nano processors in 2009, according to the report.

Hewlett-Packard uses Via's C7-M ULV (ultra low voltage) processor in its 2133 Mini-Note Netbook.

source : news.cnet.com

New Quad-Core AMD and Intel Chips Surface

Nino Marchetti, PC World
Dec 30, 2008 5:41 am

Computer chip makers Intel and AMD are ending 2008 with a quad-core bang. Intel has a new mobile processor - the Intel Core 2 Quad Mobile Processor Q9000 - that is being hyped by Acer in its just announced Acer laptop. AMD reportedly already has its upcoming Phenom II processors popping up online for pre-orders to consumers. The catch, neither AMD or Intel have made official announcements about either chips - yet.

The Intel Core 2 Quad Mobile Processor Q9000 is at the heart of Acer's new Aspire 8930G-7665 notebook PC. This latest quad core processor is running inside this laptop with 12MB of shared L2 cache, a 1066 MHz front side bus and a clock speed rate upwards of 2.53 GHz.

The Acer notebook, besides the Q9000 processor, has respectable features such as an 18.4-inch LCD, 4GB of DDR3 memory, a NVIDIA GeForce 9700M GT graphics set and a 500GB SATA hard drive. The 8930G-7665 is said to be available now for around $1,800.

Intel, besides putting forth the Q9000, is also said to have released four other mobile processors. This comes as AMD is getting ready to publicly debut its new quad-core Phenom II processors at the 2009 Consumer Electronics Show. The new AMD processor, which some retailers already have available for pre-orders, will run at speeds up to 3GHz and includes an 8MB cache.

source : www.pcworld.com

Windows 7 May Add Spice to CES

Agam Shah, IDG News Service
Monday, December 29, 2008 6:20 PM PST

Software could overshadow gadgets at the upcoming Consumer Electronics Show, with Microsoft expected to shed light on its upcoming Windows 7 OS.

The financial meltdown may also be lingering topic as tech vendors gather to flaunt products at the show in Las Vegas, hoping to show enough glitter and sparkle to bring them better fortunes in the new year. Attendees will pour over the latest technologies, including OLED (organic light-emitting diode) TVs, netbooks, smartphones, media players, and other entertainment devices.

Audiences may miss the show's perennial star, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates, who gave his final CES speech earlier this year. Instead, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer will kick off the event with a keynote address on Jan. 7. He's expected to give a peek at Microsoft's Windows 7 OS, which many hope will be zippier and less resource hungry than Windows Vista.

Microsoft expects to make "significant" Windows 7 announcements, including a possible release of Windows 7 beta software. A "sneak peek" at future Microsoft Office software may also be offered.

A look at Microsoft's future software could add pep to what otherwise might turn out to be a subdued show. Attendance at CES 2009 is expected to drop as consumers and technology vendors cut spending amid the economic crisis. Hotels, which in previous years were often packed months before the show, have been offering discounted rates to fill rooms.

The Consumer Electronics Association insists that pre-registration has been strong and says it's too early to call it a quiet show. Organizers expect 130,000 attendees, said CEA spokeswoman Tara Dunion.

However, that would still be a significant drop from 144,000 attendees at CES 2007.

The prospect of a reduced audience hasn't fazed companies like Intel, Microsoft, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Dell from showing products in or around the show. Overall, 2,700 companies will be present at various locations, including the Las Vegas Convention Center and surrounding resorts and hotels.

A standout at CES could be netbooks, small laptops used for basic applications such as Web surfing and e-mail. Intel defined the category with its Atom processor, which was then solidified by the success of Asus' Eee PC. The show could see an evolution of netbooks, with features like touch screens attracting interest. Asus will likely show a touch-screen netbook, and Intel is showing off its Convertible Classmate, a netbook with a touch screen that swivels.

Via's elusive Nano processor may also make an appearance. Rumor has it that Samsung will show its NC20 laptop based on a Nano processor.

Some of Intel's competitors, meanwhile, may try to redefine how people think of netbooks by pushing more advanced capabilities. Advanced Micro Devices and Nvidia may talk more about boosting graphics on netbooks. Freescale and Qualcomm could demonstrate netbooks with more communication-savvy chips.

Mundane laptops will also get a makeover. Expect plenty of buzz around a new Sony Vaio laptop, which the company says is "revolutionary" and will change the way users think about the products. It remains unclear if the tiny laptop is a netbook or a full-featured ultraportable. For power users, Lenovo is expected to show the ThinkPad W700DS laptop with two screens -- a first in laptops -- for people who want to perform multiple tasks at the same time.

Rounding off mobility will be smartphones with new operating systems, touchscreens and 3G connectivity. Many mobile phone companies are expected to adopt Google's Android platform, including Samsung, which may show an Android phone at CES.

Struggling smartphone maker Palm is holding a big event to announce its new Linux-based OS code-named Nova, along with new devices. The company hopes to use CES as a springboard to regain prominence in the smart phone market, where it has been eclipsed by Research In Motion and Apple.

Like past CES shows, televisions will grab the imagination of visitors as vendors fight to remain the centerpiece for home entertainment. CES 2008 saw the emergence of OLED screens with prototypes from Sony and Samsung, and CES 2009 could see further progress. In May, Sony CEO Howard Stringer said a 27-inch OLED TV would be coming, which could launch at the show.

Samsung showed a 40-inch OLED high-definition TV prototype in October, and larger screens may be on tap.

Given TV's ease of use, some may prefer these devices for Internet access in the future. With that in mind, some companies are working to merge the Internet and TV. Silicon Image will show its Allio high-definition LCD TV with a built-in PC so users can simultaneously use the TV and Internet through a split screen.

Intel will show prototype products for running mini-applications to complement TV viewing with information from the Internet. For example, widgets will allow TV watchers to talk to friends in real time or buy products advertised on TV from online stores.

The Internet also continues to shape how entertainment is delivered. Streaming media will battle Blu-ray DVD as the way to deliver entertainment and movies to end users. Having conquered HD DVD, Blu-ray still has a hurdle to pass with most players priced above US$150, so expect prices to drop at CES.

Some kinks also need to be worked out to better stream media between entertainment devices, and expect to see some improvements at the show. Tzero will demonstrate devices for wireless HDMI (high-definition multimedia interface) multimedia streaming between devices using ultrawideband (UWB) wireless technology. Tzero's technology enables uninterrupted wireless delivery of high-definition video and surround sound at a rate of 480Mbps over 20 meters, the company claims.

Users may also see progress in data transfers between PCs and devices like digital cameras with improvements in the USB 3.0 specification.

Overall, many other gadgets will be on display to enjoy over the show's four days. CES may end up being more relaxing and intimate with the floors less crowded.

source : www.pcworld.com

The Netbook Breaks Up With SSDs, Asks For Friendship Ring Back

December 11th, 2008 by K. T. Bradford

Anyone who has been keeping up with netbook news is bound to notice that mechanical hard drives are becoming far more common than solid state drives (much to my annoyance, by the way). Our observations are borne out by hard data, it seems, as DRAMeXchange revealed.

According to the company’s research, in Q1 2008, 70 per cent of netbooks came with an SSD. The following quarter that figure dipped to around 66 per cent before plunging to 30 per cent.

This quarter, the ratio will fall further, to 20 per cent, then down to just ten per cent in Q1 2009. By this time next year, the forecaster forecast, it’ll be down to eight per cent.

There are a lot of benefits to SSDs — no moving parts, more shock resistant, etc — but they’re more expensive per GB and the cheaper SSDs which netbook vendors use tend to have worse performance than 5,400 rpm hard drives. The bottom line is that consumers want a lot of space and they want it for less money, just as with traditional notebooks.

I’m personally sad to see SSDs slipping behind because I appreciate not having to worry about my hard drive as my netbook rattles around in my bag. Then again, I don’t need Windows XP, a bunch of programs, or a lot of storage space. Consumers have already shown that they do prefer XP and buyers in general seem to think that more hard drive space equals better… something.

JKOnTheRun feels that this indicates that netbooks will soon become “simply small notebooks” that have similar capabilities to regular ones.

source : blog.laptopmag.com

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770

Author: Ben Sun · 06-26-2008
The Personal Computer has been kicking it for many years now, with the first IBM PC launched in 1981 with a 4.77MHz CPU and 64KB of RAM. That was almost 27 years ago, a long time in computer history. One of the problems with the modern computer is that they are too powerful for their own good with most programs running perfectly fine on any CPU from the last three or four years. Add to that the fact that PC gaming is mostly a dying breed; this means that the modern computer has issues with finding a killer app.
Intel dominates the CPU market with their CPUs. At the moment, their quad core CPUs outshine their competition from AMD by wide margins, with AMD forced to compete on price/performance instead of strict performance as the fastest AMD CPU, the Phenom X4 9850 doesn’t come close to the performance of the fastest Intel CPU, the QX9770 which I’m reviewing today. The Intel QX9770 is their first 1600MHz FSB CPU and is geared for the ultra high end crowd and those not meek with their cash flow.
-1600MHz FSB (400MHz Quad Pumped)
-Yorkdale architecture
-45 nanometer process
-12MB L2 Cache split into 6MB for each of 2 cores
-3.2 GHz clock speed
-Intel Virtualization Technology
-Enhanced Intel SpeedStep Technology
-Intel Execute Disable Bit
-Intel 64 architecture
-Quad Core Processing
-Chipset support: Intel X48, NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI official many others
compatible with overclocking
-Intel Wide Dynamic Execution
-Intel Smart Memory Access
-Intel Advanced Smart Cache
-Intel HD Boost
The QX9770 is based upon Intel’s Yorkdale architecture. The Yorkdale is Intel’s first 1600MHz FSB series of CPUs. Intel uses a QuadPumped architecture meaning that the FSB is running at 400MHz which is multiplied by 4 to get the final FSB of 1600MHz. The Yorkdale CPUs with a 1600MHz FSB include the QX9770 being reviewed here and the QX9775 found in the Intel SkullTrail high-end platform.
Intel calls their Core 2 Extreme QX9770 CPU a “Quad Core” CPU since it has four processor cores on a single die. The QX9770 like other Intel Core 2 Quad CPUs consists of two Core 2 Duo CPUs on the same die, each with two processor cores on them. AMD calls their Phenom CPUs the first true “Quad Core” CPU as they have four processor cores on the same packaging. It’s a matter of semantics as either way you get four processor cores.
Yorkdale and Wolfdale CPUs have large amounts of L2 cache, much more than previous Intel CPUs. The QX9770 has 12MB of L2 Cache with each pair of Intel cores on the die sharing a 6MB L2 cache. Yorkdale, like the earlier Intel CPUs based upon the Penryn core. The Socket that the new CPU uses is the same LGA-775 Socket in use since 2004 with the launch of the Prescott CPUs and the 925X chipset but this CPU is only officially supported by the X48 and nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipsets at the moment.
The clock speed of the QX9770 is 3.2GHz, which is the multiplier 2x 1600MHz for the FSB. The QX9770 is based upon Intel’s 45 nanometer process, while AMD is still stuck on the 65 nanometer process. The QX9770 has a die size of 214mm squared with 820 million transistors. The die of the QX9770 is really two Core 2 CPUs side by side accounting for the die size and transistor count as the Core 2 Duo has ½ the cache and die size.
Viruses are programs that replicate themselves into the memory and operating system of the computer infected. One issue with modern computers is the inability to stop executable programs from automatically executing. Intel’s QX9770 has their Execute Disable Bit (NX Bit) technology to help prevent virus attacks against the computer. Windows XP SP2 introduced this feature for CPUs that support NX Bit.
The QX9770 has the following instruction sets available to it: MMX, SSE1, SSE2, SSE3, SSE4, Intel 64 instructions. The introduction of Penryn included the SSE4 instruction set which adds 47 new instructions to the CPU instruction set. Intel’s Penryn architecture can run four instructions in a single clock cycle compared to two instructions on earlier architectures.
Virtualization technology allows different operating systems to be run on the same system to run as virtual machines. Each operating system is done on a partition and operates independently. VT requires support of the CPU, BIOS, chipset and memory. For example VT can be used to run Windows Vista, Windows XP, several distributions of Linux without a sweat. Each operating system has its own partition. Currently, the only Intel chipset that officially supports the QX9770 is the X48 chipset that was launched a month or two ago. The other chipset that officially supports the QX9770 and its FSB 1600MHz brothers is the NVIDIA nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset. Unofficially, the CPU has been shown to work with NVIDIA nForce 780i SLI and Intel X38 chipsets with a bit of overclocking of the FSB. I would suggest a supported chipset as they offer the latest features and if you’re buying a $1000+ CPU, buying a cheap motherboard is not the wisest of choices.

ASUS EN9800GT HybridPower Video Card

Author: Ben Sun · 11-28-2008

The recent flurry of launches of video cards has really redefined what the industry is like on the market especially with the holiday season just starting. ATI and NVIDIA have completed their holiday lineups of video cards with numerous cards available across the myriad price spectrum. The high-end of the video card market is dominated by the GeForce GTX 280 and ATI Radeon HD 4870 X2 cards at over $400, but what about the mid-range?
NVIDIA's answer to the mid-range of the video card spectrum surfaced in the form of the GeForce 9800GT and GeForce 9800GTX. While the GeForce 9800GT is basically a rebranded GeForce 8800GT, with higher clock speeds the 9800GTX is an 8800GTX with HybridPower. The 9800GT retails in stores online for the reasonable price of $110 online with the 9800GTX+ being online for about $169. The price difference is large enough to call them two different price ranges. ASUS manufactures computer equipment like motherboards and video cards so naturally, they have a 9800GT card. Today's review is on the ASUS EN9800GT HybridPower video card.
The specifications of the GeForce 9800GT might seem familiar to anyone with an NVIDIA video card of the last year or so. That is because the chip is based upon the same G92 chip that the GeForce 8800GT was built upon with the addition of a few non-graphic features. The main new features of the GeForce 9800GT are HybridPower, HDMI Output and PureVideo HD support that is found on the 9xxx cards not found on the 8xxx cards.
The 9800GT has 112 Stream Processors, which is exactly the same as the first 8800GT cards With a clock speed of 600MHz for the core this means the card has a fill rate of 33.6Gigatexels/second. In fact the clock speeds of the Core Memory and Shader speeds are exactly the same as the 8800GT cards. The memory clock is 1800MHz (900MHz GDDR3) which gives a memory bandwidth of 57.6GB/second.
HybridPower is NVIDIA's nomenclature for their power saving technology that when used in combination with a NVIDIA motherboard can save power. ASUS in fact uses HybridPower on the name of their card, meaning that it is supported. What HybridPower does is turn off the discrete graphics card ala the 9800GT card when 2D mode is enabled. Only motherboards with NVIDIA integrated 8200 or 9300/9400 graphics support this feature. As the maximum power of a graphics card can exceed 226W (GTX 280), this is a great way of saving energy.
PureVideo HD is the latest incarnation of PureVideo released by NVIDIA. It is both hardware and a software decoder/encoder. PureVideo HD adds Dynamic Contrast Enhancement and Dual HD Streaming capability to the engine. It was first introduced with the 9600GT cards last year. PureVideo HD allows for the changing of the contrast in a picture on the fly. The other feature allows the user to play back two High Definition streams simultaneously, meaning that the video card can play back both the cast commentary and the main movie at the same time.
One of NVIDIA's big pushes recently has been their push of CUDA and PhysX technologies. CUDA allows the graphics card to operate as a computer with the 9800GT having 112 Stream Processors that can work either as a Compute processor or as a graphics Processor. NVIDIA cards based upon 8xxx series or 9xxx series chips can run PhysX games like Unreal Tournament 3, Warmonger and the recently announced Mirror's Edge which will support PhysX effects to good effect.

source : www.motherboards.org

Thecus N3200 NAS

Author: Ben Sun · 12-17-2008

Dependable secure storage is important for everyone. In this day and age of identity theft and the economic recession that has caused many companies to lay off people, secure storage can mean the difference between someone stealing your information and using it or the loss of a business. Network attached storage systems are basically computers connected to a network to provide data storage, file systems and access to files separate from the main computer.
Thecus is a company that sells storage solutions to keep data safe and secure. Founded in 2004 they have several Core Values including Quality, Innovation, integration and reliability that they base their company upon. Their main business is the Network Attached Servers that I mentioned earlier in the review and they have many models for the enterprise, small business, the SOHO user, and home environments. I recently reviewed the Thecus N5200 5 bay storage server and today I'm reviewing the N3200 3-bay server.
Thecus designed the N3200 to be the first home NAS to support RAID 5. The N3200 supports RAID 0 (Stripping, 1 (Mirror), 5 (block level striping with parity data distributed across all member disks), or JBOD (Just a Bunch Of Disks). RAID 0 works by having the data on the medium divided by the number of disks. RAID 1 works by having an exact copy of the data on each disk in the RAID 1 array or s/2 (sum of the capacities divided by number of disks). RAID 5's formula is sum of capacities X( number of disks-1)/divided by number of disks.
In the Thecus N3200 there are three drive bays. An array of three 1TB drives could be made into a single RAID 0 arrays with three drives totaling 3TB, three RAID 1 drives in mirror mode or a RAID 5 array with 2TB of data storage. The N3200's Media Server allows connections to Digital Living Network Alliance compliant devices. DLNA is an alliance that was formed in 2003 to allow connections of various digital devices like the PS3, Xbox 360, HDTVs and more.
The N3200 is designed with clean lines and sophisticated styling to work in the home office or living room. Thecus says and I agree that the N3200 will want to be shown off. Thecus's disk management system is a snap to use. The LCD display allows the N3200 to easily be used even in a living room or other dark area. The last major feature of the system is the Wireless Feature which allows the user to connect to the NAS wirelessly with a USB Dongle.

source : www.motherboards.org

Asus Triton 88 CPU cooler

By Hilbert Hagedoorn, December 25, 2008

ASUS releases it's triton 88 cooler. The exterior of the fierce-looking Asus Triton 88 CPU cooler comprises of an exclusive twin-pillared heatsink design, a 120mm inner-fan with a Diamond blue LED, and 6 copper heat pipes. With this ensemble of thermal features, Asus Triton 88 CPU Cooler is able to deliver ultimate cooling performances for up to 180W and can support multiple applications—including the latest Intel Core i7 processor (LGA1366). With the fan positioned within the heatsink, VRM can be protected against high temperatures with the guiding of cool air to critical components near the CPU—ensuring system stability. T
o provide the best heat dissipation, the Asus Triton 88 is equipped with a massive heat dissipation area of up to 8000cm2; while 6 high conductive copper heatpipes and the 120mm LED fan provides maximum airflow and optimal cooling performance. The Triton 88 is equipped with a PWM function that is able to automatically adjust the fan speed according to the CPU’s temperature—providing low acoustics during operation.

source : www.guru3d.com

Intel says no to Atom based NVIDIA ION

By Hilbert Hagedoorn, December 25, 2008

Ay, a bit of a mud-fight just started. Last week NVIDIA announced their ION platform. The formula WAS simple: Combine the highly rated GeForce 9400 GPU found in new desktop and notebook PCs with the Intel Atom CPU. Nvidia's push for the Ion platform, which combines its GeForce 9400 mGPU with the Intel Atom CPU, is heavily reliant on Intel being willing to abandon its current Atom pricing system. Under the existing scheme, Intel will only sell Atom CPUs and corresponding chipsets in a bundle, but if hardware vendors are unable to buy just the Atom CPU, the Ion platform becomes too expensive for most applications.
Nvidia executives recently visited local PC makers, in an attempt to drum up support for allowing its MCP7A and MCP79 chipsets into the Atom ecosystem. However according to digitimes, Intel is refusing to acknowledge it's gonna happen. In an internal statement distributed to hardware makers recently, Intel reiterated that Atom CPUs for netbooks and nettops are only available bundled with its 945GSE and 945GC chipsets, the makers said.
When asked to comment, Intel indicated that it has no plans to validate the Nvidia MCP79 chipset on Atom-based nettop or netbook platforms. Intel also has no plans to form a partnership with Nvidia to support nettop or netbook platforms based on the Intel Atom CPU, the company added.
To be continued, for sure. Oh and to NVIDIA here's a hint, VIA's Nano. Politics politics ...

Source : www.guru3d.com

NVIDIA ION platform

By Hilbert Hagedoorn, December 22, 2008

Posting a little late as it slipped through the mazes here. But NVIDIA is poised to energize the PC market by transforming Atom PCs into a premium experience found today in higher priced laptops and desktops. NVIDIA will supercharge the fastest-growing segments of the PC market – netbooks, small form factor and all-in-one PCs – by enabling these products to play rich media and popular games in high definition. The formula is simple: Combine the highly rated GeForce 9400 GPU found in new desktop and notebook PCs with the Intel Atom CPU.
This combination (code-named Ion Platform) enables the smallest premium PC experience available today, making it ideal for the exploding category of mini-notebooks and compact PCs. Ion Platform will create new and exciting premium PCs that fit in the palm of your hand. Unlike existing chipsets paired with the Atom CPU, the GeForce 9400 GPU delivers up to ten times the graphics performance, plays full-spec 1080p high definition video, supports the full Windows Vista user interface and the upcoming Windows 7, and runs popular PC games such as Call of Duty 4. The GeForce 9400 GPU does all of this in about one-half of the space of today’s Atom CPU-based solutions with minimal affect on battery life.

Source : www.guru3d.com

Migrate Data From PC to Mac

Christopher Breen, Macworld.com

Reader Steve Negrete is about to undertake a delicate operation. He writes:

My parents have had a Windows PC for many years but I've finally talked them into buying a Mac. The problem is they expect me to move their data from the old PC to the Mac. Do you have any recommendations for the best way to do this?

It just so happens that I performed this very task for my aunt just last weekend. And performed it successfully, I might add.

There are many ways to do this--some free (depending on the gear you own) and others not quite as free.

If you have a spare external hard drive with a USB interface you can use it to copy your parents' files from the PC to the Mac. First, format the drive so that it can be used on the PC. To do so, plug the hard drive into the Mac, launch Disk Utility (found in the Utilities folder), select the drive in the left pane of the Disk Utility window, click the Erase tab, from the Volume Format pop-up menu choose MS-DOS (FAT), and click Erase. (And yes, this will erase all the data on the drive so be sure there's nothing on that drive you want.) With the drive formatted for Windows, unmount it from the Mac, plug it into the PC, and copy the files you want from the PC to the hard drive. Unmount, drag it back to the Mac, plug it in, copy from hard drive to Mac, done.

This is a fine solution if you know where to find all the files on the PC and have the patience to archive email message, export bookmarks (termed Favorites in Internet Explorer), and sift through this corner or that to ensure you have all the files you need before setting fire to the PC.

If you're without an external drive you can create a quick-and-dirty network between the two computers by stringing an Ethernet cable between them, switching on file sharing, and copying the files from Computer A to Computer B. Doing so requires that you know something about file sharing on both platforms (online help on each computer will explain how) and, again, you'll need to know where to find the files you're after.

A less-free-to-the-tune-of-US$50 option is Belkin's $50 Switch-To-Mac Cable. This is the solution I used because I had one and wanted to see how it worked. I'm pleased to say that it was a breeze. The gist is this:

You install Belkin's software on both the Mac and Windows PC (OS X 10.4 or later and Windows XP or Vista required). For the most part, the Mac software does the work. There you tell the application the kinds of files you want to copy from the PC to the Mac. You can choose music, photos, email, contacts, calendars, documents, wallpaper, and Internet Explorer Favorites as well as the contents of the PC's Desktop and the contents of a folder you've chosen. Once you've set up the software, string the included cable between USB ports on each computer (transfer will happen more quickly over a USB 2.0 port on each computer but it works with USB 1.0 on a PC too). Then tell the Mac version of the application to work its magic and it does so by copying files from the PC to the Mac.

It doesn't just fling files into a folder on your Mac but rather files them where they should be. Your Desktop files, for example, appear on the Desktop of your Mac in a folder labeled with the name of your PC. Music files are moved directly into iTunes. Photos are copied to iPhoto. Favorites become bookmarks in Safari. Outlook mail is shuttled to Apple's Mail just as Outlook's calendars appear in iCal and addresses show up in Address Book.

For a one-time job I can see how this $50 solution might be a little off-putting but, Great Googly Moogly, it is slick and easy. Were I required to do this thing more than a handful of times, I'd consider it money well spent. (Or I might just demand the necessary $50 from a relative or friend who requested my help for this kind of operation.)

Source : www.pcworld.com

Report: Apple's Desktop Sales Down, but Notebooks up

Jim Dalrymple, Macworld.com

Although Apple's computer sales over the past few quarters have been stellar, new research shows that the company's desktop sales numbers took a sharp downturn during the month of November--however, the company's notebooks sales have continued to rise.

According to a new report from market research firm NPD Group, industry desktop sales as a whole in November were down 20 percent from the previous month, representing a decline of 15 percent for Windows-based PCs and a 38 percent decline for Macs. At the same time, Apple's notebooks outpaced the competition with a 22 percent increase, compared to a 15 percent increase for Windows-based PCs (overall notebook sales for the month were up 16.6 percent). Apple's October introduction of new MacBook and MacBook Pro notebooks models probably contributed to Apple's laptop rise.

While the numbers clearly show a decrease in sales, Stephen Baker, vice president of Industry Analysis at NPD, said that because Apple doesn't offer a lot of Black Friday promotions, the company was disproportionately affected by the dates of the biggest shopping period of the year in 2008. Last year, Apple enjoyed November sales one week after Black Friday. However, in 2008, Black Friday fell at the end of the month, giving Apple only two days of sales. This year, those sales will be counted for December.

In terms of units, Apple's sold 15.8 percent of the desktop computers purchased in November, down from 17.4 percent in October 2008 and 20.6 percent in November 2007. The company's notebook sales accounted for 14.8 percent of laptop purchases, down from 20.9 percent in October, but up from its 14.1 percent number in November 2007. Overall, Apple's sold 15 percent of all computers in November, down from 20 percent in October and 16 percent in November 2007.

Although all companies are feeling the effects of the current economic downturn, Baker feels that Apple should be "appropriately concerned" about its sales numbers and make smart decisions with its product line and pricing. "The iMac is getting old and is need of a refresh," he said. "They also need to rethink the pricing in this economy. The silver lining is that MacBooks still outgrew the market by almost 50 percent."

Source : www.pcworld.com

Falling pound drives massive increase in hardware prices

By :Ian Grant

CIOs are squeezing their existing and future suppliers for more value as the devaluation of the pound against the US dollar and the euro lead to massive increases for computer hardware.

Anson Chuang is CIO for the specialist IT procurement services provider buyingTeam, which negotiates IT supply contracts for firms such as British Airways, the British Council, Channel 4 and Universal Music. He said the devaluation has not affected software and outsourcing contracts yet, but US-based suppliers were putting through massive price hikes, blaming currency values for 25% of the difference from a year ago.

According to the X-Rates.com foreign exchange website, it cost Brits 50.76p to buy a dollar and 74.71p to buy a euro in January. Today the figures were 88.42p and 66.89p respectively. This reflects falls of 32% against the dollar and 18% against the euro.

Charles Ward, chief operating officer for Intellect, the suppliers trade body, said the devaluation would result in winners and losers. "On the negative side we might see an increase in the price of IT equipment, if suppliers chose to pass on the increased costs of importing," he said. It was unlikely to affect prices at the low-end of the market, he said.

David Roberts, chief executive of the Corporate IT Forum, said the very large firms' prices would be affected by their hedging strategy. "If they are trading in sterling they will have to pay more, but if they are in receipt of dollars, they may have more flexibility," he said.

Alan Bowling, chairman of the SAP Users Group, which this year faced down attempts by the software firm to raise maintenance pricessaid IT departments had to check their services contracts with their suppliers. "A home-based contract in UK currency will likely be unaffected immediately by any currency fluctuations," he said.

Chuang said he was seeing more suppliers with long term deals to supply consumables such as desktop computers defaulting on their contracts. "It depends on the penalty clauses in the contract, but if they cannot supply (at the agreed price), they will not supply," he said.

To protect themselves against currency fluctuations suppliers were slashing the period for which their quotations were valid. "The quotes were usually valid for 60 to 90 days," Chuang said, "now it is from 14 to 45 or 50 days."

CIOs are fighting back by extending the refresh rate of their hardware from the usual three years to four, said Chuang. They were not cutting their gross budgets, but they were asking for a lot more for their money, he added.

His firm was receiving more enquiries than usual, he said. "CIOs were quite protective about their internal procurement staff, but they are now turning to anyone who can help them get dramatic increases in value," he said.

So far the outsourcing sector appeared unaffected by the devaluation. This was partly because many of them are done in local currency, with the risk left with the supplier's internal price transfer system.

IT functions outsourced abroad may face greater economic risk from currency fluctuations, said SAP Users Group's Bowling. "These contracts can be similar to a fixed-price mortgage, as depending on the volatility of the market, users could be in for a nasty shock at the end of contract term" he said. "The same, of course, applies to future purchases of software and hardware from outside of the UK."

Intellect's Ward expected the costs of new off-shore contracts and renewals to rise, but said long term contracting may negate this. "Conversely, near-sourcing will become a more attractive option, although we are yet to see evidence of this on a large scale," he said.

Source : www.computerweekly.com

Windows 7: The Linux killer

By Preston Gralla

Microsoft has long been worried about Linux competition in the server market. When it came to ordinary PCs and laptops, however, it knew it had little to fear.

But that was then. Now Microsoft may fear Linux on the desktop as much as it does the Mac. It's finally taking Linux seriously as a desktop operating system, and it has designed Windows 7 to kill it.

Let me explain.

The threat to Windows comes entirely from "netbooks" -- lightweight, inexpensive laptops that typically use Intel's low-powered Atom processor and don't come with substantial amounts of RAM or powerful graphics processors. They're designed mainly for browsing the Web, handling e-mail, writing memos, and taking care of simple word-processing or spreadsheet chores.

Netbooks will account for about a third of all PC growth this year, according to Citigroup. Shipments will rise at an annual average rate of 60% to reach 29 million netbooks in 2010, compared with 18% growth for standard notebooks, says a September BNP Paribas report.

Clearly, the future is in netbooks. And that has Microsoft worried. Netbooks can't handle Vista's hardware demands, so XP is the only Microsoft operating system that runs on them. But Linux is ideally suited for lower-powered netbooks.

The result? Acer and Asustek, which account for 90% of the netbook market, are using Linux on about 30% of their low-cost notebooks, according to Bloomberg. Making matters worse, if Linux is used on those netbooks, it means that Microsoft Office isn't. So Microsoft takes a double hit every time someone buys a Linux netbook.

Microsoft isn't just worried about ceding 30% of the netbook market to Linux. It's also worried that if people get used to running Linux on netbooks, they'll consider buying Linux on desktop PCs as well. Here's what Dickie Chang, an analyst at IDC in Taipei, told Bloomberg: "It's a real threat to Microsoft. It gives users a chance to see and try something new, showing them there is an alternative."

Microsoft, though, has a not-so-secret weapon against Linux: Windows 7. Its new operating system, slated to be introduced sometime next year, is designed to work fine on netbooks. In fact, at Microsoft's recent Professional Developers Conference, where the pre-beta of Windows 7 was unveiled, Windows Senior Vice President Steve Sinofsky showed off Windows 7 on his Lenovo S10 and said it used less than half of the netbook's 1GB of RAM.

When Windows 7 ships, expect a massive marketing blitz pushing it on netbooks with special deals, and netbook hardware taking advantage of Windows 7 capabilities, including touch screens.

In fact, the blitz has already begun. Asus CEO Jerry Shen announced that he plans to release versions of the Eee PC powered by Windows 7 in mid-2009, including a touch-screen version.

This is anything but a level playing field. Because no company owns Linux, there won't be a competing marketing push for Linux netbooks. Microsoft has shown before how tough it can be on competitors -- remember Lotus 1-2-3, WordPerfect and Harvard Graphics? So expect Linux netbook sales to fall when Windows 7 ships.

Despite Microsoft's killer instincts, I don't think Linux netbook sales will stop dead. There will always be a niche for them. But within a year of the Windows 7 launch, Linux market share will drop. The high point for Linux netbook sales will be from now until the launch of Windows 7. After that will come the inevitable decline.

Source : www.computerworld.com

Acer Veriton L460

by Jon L. Jacobi

Tiny but powerful, this PC is perfect for small workspaces and kiosks.

About the size of a hardcover novel, the Acer Veritron L460 is a great option if you want to fit a value PC into a tight space (such as behind a desk, under a table, or in a kiosk). It may be small, but this Acer's case is tightly packed with an Intel E4700 CPU, 2GB of 337-MHz DDR2 memory, and a 3.5-inch 160GB (7200-rpm) hard drive.

Despite having all of those components jammed into it, the L460 ran amazingly cool to the touch-an important but often overlooked factor to consider when choosing a PC for tight quarters. The 3.5-inch hard drive surprised us a bit: Though 3.5-inchers are usually faster, they also emit more heat and leave less room for an additional drive than less power-hungry 2.5-inch models.

The L460's styling is nice though hardly spectacular. We appreciated the compact desktop's ability to stand upright or on its side when the included base is screwed on. The base is wide enough to allay any concern that a user might inadvertently tip the unit over; you can keep the L460 on top of your desk to access the DVD-writer slot or USB ports without fear of toppling it.

Speaking of USB ports, we would have liked to see a few more. Two in front and four in back may sound adequate, but you lose two of them right off the bat to the bundled keyboard and mouse. Four ports aren't enough when the only available way to expand the unit's capabilities and storage is via USB. That said, you can overcome the shortage of USB ports by using an external hub.

The system's score of 94 on our WorldBench 6 test suite means that the L460 should have no trouble handling the business chores it's designed to perform. On the other hand, it's not a viable option for gamers; in fact, its gaming frame rates are amongst the lowest we've seen recently, and the unit has no room to hold a graphics card if you're tempted to upgrade. Despite the system's incapacity to deal with action games, its bundled Acer X193W 19-inch wide-screen display had a very nice picture.

We heartily recommend the L460 for any space-challenged environment, especially if its primary duty will be to perform business tasks. It's also a great fit for users who simply don't want a large, ungainly PC hanging around

Source : www.pcworld.com

Polywell Poly I7050

by Richard Jantz

Delivers solid performance for basic tasks but not for fast-action games, and its compact case limits expansion.

If you want a space-saving value desktop computer that's powerful enough for general applications, Web surfing, and other routine tasks, the $729 (as of 2/7/08) Polywell Poly i7050 fills the bill. The i7050 weighs only about 12 pounds, versus 28 pounds for Dell's Inspiron 530. But as with nearly all compact models, the trade-off is that you have fewer expansion options inside.

The configuration we tested was equipped with a 2-GHz Intel Pentium Dual-Core E2180 processor and two sticks of 1GB PC2-5300 DDR2 memory (2GB total) mounted on an EVGA NF77 nVidia nForce 630i motherboard with integrated nVidia GeForce 7150 graphics and HDMI output.

Despite the entry-level CPU, the Poly i7050 scored admirably in our productivity application benchmarks. It tied with the Sys Technology Sys Slimline Si200 in earning a WorldBench 6 Beta 2 score of 77, the best in our roundup. But like all of the other low-priced systems that use integrated graphics instead of a discrete graphics card, the Poly i7050 tested poorly in graphics performance, so it's not a good choice for 3D gaming fans. However, you can add a low-profile (half-height) graphics card in the system's open PCI Express x16 slot if you want to improve graphics performance; Polywell charges $72 for a 256MB nVidia GeForce 8400GS card (which has twice the memory as the one in the Dell Inspiron 530 we tested) and $85 for a 512MB nVidia GeForce 8500GT.

The Poly i7050's components are housed in a small, 13-by-16-inches, black-and-silver case that's barely 4 inches high. (You can get the same Poly i7050 system components in a cube-shaped case, as well.) Numerous vents--sides, top, and rear--helped keep our test unit cool, along with a quiet CPU fan inside.

The unit we tested had a 250GB Seagate hard drive and a DVD/CD combo writer, leaving only one drive bay (an external 3.5-inch one) free; accessing it requires unlocking a large metal cage and tilting it upwards, a somewhat cumbersome procedure.

Our i7050 also included a KDS K-92BW 19-inch LCD (1440 by 900 native resolution) with a VGA analog-only interface and decent image quality, though it wasn't quite as bright as some of the other 19-inch LCDs on competing systems. The i7050's USB-based Logitech RX300 optical mouse and Logitech 350 keyboard are better than the bare-bones input devices bundled with some budget PCs, but they also take up two of the PC's seven total USB ports.

If small size matters most to you, the Poly i7050's strong performance and features make it a good candidate among the budget-priced compact models. Otherwise, the midsize, $689 Dell Inspiron 530 is arguably a better deal, since it costs a bit less and comes with a discrete graphics card.

Source : www.pcworld.com

Micro Express Microflex 82B

by Nick Mediati, PC World

The MicroFlex 82B gives you plenty of horsepower without draining your savings.

A powerful, fully equipped value-oriented system, the MicroFlex 82B sports a 3-GHz Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 CPU, 2GB of memory, a 250GB Serial ATA hard drive, and Windows Vista Business. Unlike many budget PCs, the MicroFlex 82B ships with a dedicated graphics card--an nVidia GeForce 8800GT that carries 512MB of video memory. Thanks to its speedy processor and dedicated graphics, the MicroFlex 82B achieved a WorldBench 6 score of 117. While that doesn't quite reach high-end gaming PC territory, it makes this machine ideal for everyday computing tasks and even some gaming, too.

Our test unit's $799 price (as of August 8, 2008) included the cost of a 17-inch Samsung 740BX display. The bundled Microsoft keyboard and mouse are about what you would expect from a budget system: good but not extraordinary. Despite its generic-looking case, the MicroFlex 82B has plenty of features to like, such as a total of eight USB ports, gigabit ethernet, and S/PDIF digital audio input. In addition, the 82B supports up to 7.1 surround sound.

The MicroFlex 82B is very expandable too, with a total of two PCI and five PCI Express slot (four of which are open), plus a good number of open drive bays. This is one budget PC with plenty of growing room. I also found the system to be reasonably quiet.

The documentation left something to be desired, though. Though the PC comes with documentation for various pieces of the system, there is no user's guide for the entire package. A hardware installation guide provides instructions for installing or replacing certain components, but the instructions are somewhat lacking in detail.

All things considered, however, the MicroFlex 82B does enough right for it to be a very good option for anyone needing a budget PC

Source : www.pcworld.com