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NVIDIA's GeForce Experience gaming tune-up reaches open beta
NVIDIA wants to take the mystery out of gaming performance through its GeForce Experience. It's been hard to appreciate that when the app has been in closed testing for well over a month, however -- so it's good news that the company just recently opened the beta program to everyone. Along with bringing faster and better-looking graphics to the PC gaming masses, the public version widens the optimizations to include Core 2 processors, 2,560 x 1,440 displays and games like Far Cry 3 and Mechwarrior Online. There's no word yet on when the app will reach its finished form, although we hope it's sooner rather than later when Project Shield's remote PC game streaming will depend on GeForce Experience to run. For now, players running Windows can grab the beta at the source link.
ASUS UL80 and N61Vg hands-on
Windows 7 has inspired an expected new model bonanza among PC manufacturers, and ASUS is no exception. Just for starters the new UL80 (pictured running Windows Vista) and N61Vg offer up some "mainstream" prices and performance up against that Win 7 hotness. The UL80 makes like a thin and light, with a new dual-core CULV SU7300 processor and a quoted 12 hours of battery life, but also works in switchable discreet graphics, Turbo33 tech for selective overclocking the processor, and a disc drive. It's still relatively thin and light, and to our eyes has a pretty snazzy display. The N61Vg has a bit of a new design language for ASUS, with a pleasant rubberized palm rest. It also has a multi-touch trackpad, strong multimedia features and a decent size / weight for a 16-inch Core 2 Quad machine. The existing UL80 configuration, without the overclocking, goes for about $849, so we expect the new UL80 to be in that ballpark, while the N61Vg is slated for around $1,049. %Gallery-73346%
ASUS dubs self SonicMaster, outs N61 an N71 laptops to prove it
If what's been missing from your life lately can be quantified as a large widescreen laptop with "unparalleled audio reproduction" and up to a GeForce GT240M graphics card, you'd better listen up, partner. ASUS has just introduced the 16-inch N61 and 17.3-inch N71, both of which will sport up to a Core 2 Quad Q9000 CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a Blu-ray drive, and the aforementioned GPU with a gigabyte of dedicated memory. The primary differences are in resolution and storage, where the N61 makes do with 1366 x 768 and 500GB versus 1600 x 900 and up to 1TB spread over two HDDs on the N71. We suspect the SonicMaster "dedicated resonance space arrangement" might be as useful as those 'shopped speakers in the picture, so we'd still advise getting a solid pair of headphones.
CyberPower serves up water-cooled LAN Mini H2o SFF rig
If you're looking for an ultra compact, ultra quiet new machine to act as your resident HTPC, CyberPower might just have an option worth eying. The all new LAN Mini H2o is said to be one of the planet's tiniest water-cooled desktop gaming rigs, and while it's equipped with Intel Core 2 Duo / Core 2 Quad CPUs, NVIDIA or ATI graphics and more hard drive space than you'll initially know what to do with, there's absolutely nothing stopping you from repurposing this is a media center PC. The box checks in at 11.25- x 8.75- x 7-inches and weighs just ten pounds, and there's even room for a WiFi adapter, Blu-ray drive and HDMI socket. Feel free to customize yours now, with the Core 2 Quad Q9550-equipped base rig starting at $965.Update: Well, wouldn't you know it? Seems these guys got the idea from Vigor Gaming [.doc file].
ASUS' well-rounded G51 gaming laptop reviewed, lauded
NVIDIA's world-beating GeForce GTX 260M GPU hasn't presented itself in too many gaming laptops just yet, but somehow or another it found its way into ASUS' bargain priced G51VX. Originally showcased back at Computex, this 15.6-inch rig is amongst the cheapest portable gaming machines in its class, packing a 2GHz Core 2 Duo CPU, 4GB of DDR2 RAM, a 1,368 x 768 panel, 320GB (7200RPM) hard drive and a 1GB GeForce GTX 260M handling the graphical duties. The benchmarking gurus over at HotHardware sat this here machine down for a stern talking to, and while they could've stood for the resolution to be a bit higher and the battery life (1.75 hours) to be a tad longer, the actual performance was top shelf. Put simply, it was deemed a "well balanced machine that's a winner at this price point," offering up a far nicer GPU than any other competitors in the $1,000 range. Tap that read link for a look at the full review -- we get the feeling you'll like what you see.
HP Pavilion Elite makes an offer you (probably) can't refuse: Blu-ray, Win 7, quad-core CPU for $650
Sure, it's not as sleek as some of the other options out there, but the specs of this HP Pavilion Elite e9110t desktop, for the $649.99 asking price, are pretty stunning: a 2.33GHz Intel Core 2 Quad processor, NVIDIA GeForce G210, 6GB of RAM, a 500GB hard drive , 802.11n, Blu-ray player, and a free Windows 7 upgrade when it finally launches. Offer ends this Saturday, August 15th, but if you're interests have piqued and your wallet has giving the go-ahead, dealnews has all the details and pertinent coupon codes. [Via CNET]
How-to: Build a Blu-ray / TV tuner-equipped HTPC for under $1,000
Pundits may argue that the modern day HTPC has no place in the modern day living room, but we disagree. In fact, with the economy still struggling to regain its swagger, folks are staying in and finding entertainment at home more than ever. It's that truth that spurred us to start this here project: building a fully capable, Blu-ray and TV tuner-equipped HTPC for less than a grand. And lo and behold, we made it happen. If you're interested in seeing exactly how we pieced together a mighty fine entertainment box for less than the starting price of most pre-configured systems, hop on past the break with your notepad open.
Rock delivers BD / Core i7-equipped Xtreme 790 and Xtreme 840 gaming laptops
Can you believe it? It's been practically a year to the day since we've seen any new fragging machines from the lads over at Rock, but thankfully things are still moving after being rescued by a rolling Stone. The latest duo to take Europe by storm involves the Xtreme 790 and Xtreme 840, both of which can be outfitted with NVIDIA's 1GB GeForce GTX 280M (or two of 'em, if you're feeling froggy), Blu-ray drives, 6GB of DDR3 RAM, WiFi, four USB 2.0 sockets, an HDMI port, Windows Vista (with a gratis upgrade to Win7 this October), a 7-in-1 card reader, 3TB of HDD space and a 3-year on-site warranty. Heck, you can even toss a Core i7 in there if you think your legs are calloused enough to handle it. Both machines can be ordered up right now, with the 790 range starting at £1,999 ($3,258) and the less extravagant 840 line picking up at £1,699 ($2,769).
Packard Bell imedia lineup gets an Acer-inspired refresh
Packard Bell recently overhauled its logo in an effort to keep up with the times, but are its offerings up to the same task? The new imedia lineup immediately recalls the recently announced M-series desktops from Acer, and that's no accident. The innards are remarkably similar too, with the top models sporting Core 2 Quad or AMD Phenom II X4 processors, a 1.5GB GeForce GT230, HDMI out, Blu-Ray combo drive and a maximum of 8GB DDR3 memory and 1TB of storage. While none of the specs are on the blistering edge of innovation, there's plenty of power there and keen pricing could make them an attractive proposition. The entry-level Celeron-based units start at £299 ($490) in the UK.
Intel rebrands: Core i3, i5, i7 are in, Centrino on the outs
Intel's doing some spring cleaning on its branding structure, adding new Cores on the block. Joining the high-level Core i7 series will be the mid range Core i5 in the coming months and the lower-end Core i3's early next year. To be more specific, the Lynnfield chipsets will be either i5 or i7 depending on the feature set, Clarkfield mobile chips will be i7, and the 32nm Arrandale will at least at first fall under i3. Of course, with the new gang in town, some older monikers will be going wayside, and getting the slow fade out are Core 2 Duo, Core 2 Quad, and Centrino, the latter being eventually marginalized for WiMAX and WiFi products only. Making the cut are Celeron, Pentium, and the ever-resilient Atom names. We're a bit sad to know there will never be a Core 2 Dodeca, but hey, it's only a name, right?. Hit up the read link for more details, including a video interview with Intel's VP of Marketing Deborah Conrad.[Via CNET]Read - Intel's New Brand Structure ExplainedRead - Fewer Brands, Greater Impact
ASUS' potent G51 gaming laptop headed for Computex
ASUS already struck a chord with portable gamers when it introduced the imposing W90, and now it's looking to do the same with LAN party goers who need something just a wee bit less gargantuan. Details are light on the forthcoming G51, but we do know that it'll arrive in a few form factors (15.6- and 16-inch models) and will give buyers the choice between a Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Duo processor. There's also room for up to 4GB of DDR2 RAM as well as a 1GB GeForce GTX 260M graphics card; furthermore, you'll find an optional Blu-ray drive, 2 megapixel camera, dual 500GB hard drives and a white glossy shell. Mum's the word on pricing, but we expect to hear more on this July-bound beauty at Computex next month.[Via PCWorld]
iBUYPOWER's Core i7-powered LAN Warrior makes other SFF rigs weep
See that, Shuttle? Yeah, that's your worst nightmare. iBUYPOWER has just shocked the small form factor (SFF) world with a new rig that's potent enough to act as your standalone gaming machine. Equipped with a menacing look, a carry handle and room for two full-sized dual slot video cards, the aptly titled LAN Warrior caters to no one outside of the enthusiast niche. For the crowd willing to shell out for the latest and greatest, they'll find a Core i7 CPU (920, 940 and 965 Extreme available, up to five ventilation fans, an optional liquid cooling system, ASUS' Rampage II Gene X58 motherboard, up to 12GB of DDR3 memory, twin GeForce GTX 295 / Radeon 4870 x2 GPUs, four internal 3.5-inch bays, up to 6TB of HDD space, up to two Blu-ray writers, gigabit Ethernet, 802.11n WiFi and a planet-killing 1000-watt power supply. Amazingly, the starting tag on this one is just $999, and it's available now from the outfit's website. Full release is after the break.
Intel Core 2 Quad S-Series shaves power consumption to 65W
In a relatively hush-hush manner, Intel recently slipped out energy saving versions of its Core 2 Quad Q8200, Q9400 and Q9550 CPUs, all of which are suffixed with a simple "s." Put simply, these S-Series chips are built using the same 45 nanometer process technology as used on the regular models, and aside from TDP, all the specifications are exactly alike. The difference comes in power consumption, as the S crew sucks down just 65 watts compared to 95 watts in the standard issue models. Tom's Hardware had a chance to handle, benchmark and report on these new power sippers, and lucky for you, they found performance to be equal to that of the higher power chips. Granted, you'll have to pony up a few extra bucks in order to treat Mother Earth (and your energy bill) better, but at least we're working down the power ladder instead of the other way around.[Via Tom's Hardware, thanks Jonathan]
Lenovo trots out new trifecta of unexciting desktops
Forgive us, but we just can't get jazzed about a trio of Lenovo desktops that offer up nothing innovative whatsoever. Sure, the IdeaCentre K220 may pack a Core 2 Quad CPU, upwards of 4GB of DDR3 RAM and an optional Blu-ray drive, but that's nothing we couldn't slap together ourselves in a few minutes. The K230 ups the ante a bit with room for 8GB of memory and Windows Vista 64-bit, while the lower-end H200 (shown above) becomes Lenovo's first desktop with an Atom under the hood. All three machines will be available this month starting at $449, $499 and $399.99 (bundled with the ThinkVision L195 monitor), in order of mention.[Via InformationWeek]
Toshiba's three-GPU Qosmio X305-Q708 / Q706 laptops now available
Given that you've surely got rafts of free cash to burn through right now, we know you're eager beyond belief to drop north of four large on a new gaming notebook. To that end, we're utterly thrilled to announce that Toshiba's Qosmio X305-Q708 (starts at $4,199, goes to just under infinity) is available for purchase direct from the company. If that just seems downright insane to you, the three-GPU X305-Q706 is also available now for "just" $1,999.99. The big ticket inclusion here? An NVIDIA GeForce 9400M paired with two GeForce 9800 GTS GPUs. Or, enough to make Crysis weep.
Toshiba gets serious with $4k Qosmio X305-Q708 gaming laptop
Look out, Alienware / Voodoo -- a formidable opponent just rolled in, and it appears that some prankster stuck a Toshiba logo on whatever machine is hiding underneath. All jesting aside, Tosh is revamping its -- shall we say, vivid -- Qosmio X305 by introducing the Qosmio X305-Q708, which houses a potent Core 2 Extreme QX9300 CPU, 4GB of DDR3 RAM, a 128GB SSD, 320GB 7,200 RPM SATA drive, dual-layer DVD writer, twin NVIDIA 512MB GeForce 9800M GTS graphics cards, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and Windows Vista Ultimate. You'll also find a full-sized keyboard with a ten-key number pad, four Harman Kardon speakers, HDMI / DisplayPort connectors, 1.3-megapixel webcam, Wireless USB / USB Sleep-and-Charge technologies and a 17-inch TruBrite LCD (though resolution remains a mystery). It should be available any moment for around $4,199.99, but we'd factor in a few extra hundies to have Colorware blot out the putrid "fiery Fusion" finish (seen better after the break).
Intel bolsters its offerings with three new CPUs
Intel is keeping a rightly low-key approach with this announcement, but if you're somehow not satisfied with any of its current processor offerings, you may find something more to your liking among the three it slipped out over the Labor Day weekend. Those include the 45nm Core 2 Quad 8200, which clocks in at 2.33GHz with 4MB of L2 cache and a 1333MHz FSB, and gets a somewhat more budget-friendly $230 price tag at the expense of support for things like Intel's Virtualization Technology and Trusted Execution Technology. If that's a bit much, you can also now snag the dual-core, 2.5GHz E5200, which packs 2MB of L2 cache and 800MHz FSB for $84, or the single-core 65nm Celeron 450, which rolls in at a respectable 2.2GHz and includes 512K of L2 and an 800MHz FSB for a mere $53. Hit up the read link below for the complete breakdown.
Team overclocks Core 2 Quad to 5.1GHz, claims world record -- too bad it's not
So we hate to break it to the good guys at Tom's Hardware, but while we're impressed that they managed to overclock a 2.4GHz Intel Core 2 Quad 6600 to 5.1GHz using a cryogenic cooling system, it's not nearly close to the world record they're claiming -- we've seen P4's at up to 8.18GHz, and just a couple months ago someone jacked a Core 2 Extreme QX9775 on a Skulltrail board to 6GHz. Still, it's always fun to watch people pour liquid nitrogen over a mobo -- video after the break.[Via PC World]
Dell makes Core 2 Quad Q9300, Q9450 available in XPS 420
So, we hear you're edging ever closer to pulling the trigger on a shiny new XPS 420, huh? Lucky you, as it looks like Dell just opened up your options. While the only processor choices on the XPS 630 are the E8500 and the absurdly expensive QX6850 (it's an $850 addition), the XPS 420 now has a half dozen CPUs to pick from. Most notably, users can now get their rig equipped with a Core 2 Quad Q9300 / Q9450, both of which provide much more oomph than the baseline chips while not forcing you to refinance your home and pick the QX9650. So, when can the aforesaid 630 expect similar selections?[Thanks, Evan]
AMD's Phenom X4 9850 gets pitted against Intel's Core 2 Quad Q9300
We'd already seen a few early tests of AMD's new top-end Phenom X4 9850 processor, but the folks at Extreme Tech have now taken it upon themselves to see just how well the processor stacks up against Intel's similarly high-end offering, the Core 2 Quad Q9300. As was suggested by those other reviews, however, the AMD falls behind the (admittedly pricier) Intel processor in just about every respect, including its ability to be overclocked. On the upside, however, that lower cost will likely offset the performance issues for many users, and it does still boast "moderate overclockability" and run cooler than the Intel chip. ExtremeTech apparently isn't convinced that AMD's pricing is "sustainable over the long haul" though. For its part, the Q9300 makes the most of its four cores and 45nm manufacturing process, with the only significant downside being that it packs only have the cache of the rest of Intel's quad core line. That wasn't enough to stop it from snagging an impressive 9 out of 10 rating, however, with ExtremeTech declaring it "one of the best price/performance CPUs you can find."[Thanks, Mike]
