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Win a spiffy graphics card in Aion's PvP event
NCsoft is teaming up with Alienware to light a fire under Aion's PvP game. While recent changes to rifting have curtailed much of the open-world conflict, the "red equals dead" mentality is alive and well in the Abyss. This weekend (November 5th to November 7th), bring your best gear and you could win one of three ATI Radeon 5850 graphics cards. You'll need to register for the contest and then score 15 PvP kills before 9:00 pm Sunday to be eligible to win. You can also follow the competition via the Alienware Arena Competitors webpage. Check out the news posting on the official Aion website for all of the details and requirements.
iBuyPower revamps Gamer Mage / Paladin desktops with Radeon HD 6800 GPUs
You're already sold on ATI's new Radeon HD 6800 series, but your existing motherboard and CPU just feel too aged to become home to such a shiny, fresh piece of silicon. We hear you. So does iBuyPower. Rather than forking out and upgrading just your GPU, these guys are hoping you'll ogle the newly revised Gamer Mage D295, Gamer Mage D355, and Gamer Paladin F820, all three of which are available with the HD 6870 and HD 6850. The Gamer Mage D295 gets housed in a Thermaltake V9 enclosure and ships with a liquid cooled Athlon II X4 640 quad-core CPU, 4GB of RAM, a Radeon HD 6850 (1GB), LG Blu-ray reader / DVD combo drive, 1TB of HDD space and a 700 watt power supply -- all for the low, low price of $899. The D335 (starts at $1,239) steps up to a liquid cool Phenom II X6 1055T, 8GB of DDR3 RAM, a Radeon HD 6870 GPU, 64GB SSD and an 800 watt PSU, while the F280 (starts at $1,369) goes all-out with a liquid cooled Core i7 950, 6GB of DDR3 memory, an HD 6870 GPU and NZXT's Guardian 921 R case. Hit the links below to get your customization on. %Gallery-106087%
ATI Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 reviewed, deemed worthy of the midrange
AMD's Radeon HD 6870 and HD 6850 graphics cards are here, but they might not be what you expect -- though alphanumerics suggest they'd succeed the lauded Radeon HD 5870 and 5850, these new "Bart" chips are actually a pair of solid plays for the PC gaming mainstream. $180 buys you a Radeon HD 6850 with 960 stream processors, a 775MHz core clock and 1GB of GDDR5 memory at a 1GHz effective rate, and $240 nets the HD 6870 with 1120 stream processors and 900MHz / 1,050 MHz clocks respectively. On paper that puts them a good bit behind the finest, but a collection of reviews show they can keep up with the pack, as the 6870 consistently manages to surpass the framerates possible with NVIDIA's $200 GeForce GTX 460, and even the cheaper 6850 can do the same in certain games. Some reports indicate they run a good bit hotter than their predecessors, however, so despite the bevy of ports they're probably not right for your next HTPC. Hit up the reviews below for some promising benchmarks, and if you aren't turned away by AMD's lipsticking of the pig, you'll find ten varieties already for sale at our source link. PR after the break. Update: NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 460 768MB now sells for $170, so there's definitely still some mid-range muscle in the green camp. Read - AnandTech Read (1), (2) - Guru3D Read - HardOCP Read (1), (2) - Bit-tech Read - Hot Hardware Read - PC Perspective Read - Legit Reviews Read - Techgage Read (1), (2) - TweakTown Read - Hexus Read (1), (2) - TechPowerUp Read - HotHardware Read - TechSpot Read - Vortez
Ask Engadget: best gaming graphics card for under $150?
We know you've got questions, and if you're brave enough to ask the world for answers, here's the outlet to do so. This week's Ask Engadget question is coming to us from Dylan, who needs a serious frame rate boost at a serious bargain. If you're looking to send in an inquiry of your own, drop us a line at ask [at] engadget [dawt] com. "I was wondering what the best video card would be that I could buy on the market for cheap (the highest I would be willing to go is $150, and that is if I absolutely need to). I'm trying to make Dead Rising 2 (and similar) look good. By the way, my computer is running a Biostar T-series TA785G3 motherboard with a AMD Phenom II processor on Windows 7, for what it's worth. Thanks!" Look, not everyone can just go blow $400 on the latest and greatest overclocked slab of silicon, and the lower-end market has definitely been heating up of late. Got any solid recommendations for this fellow? Recommended places to buy? Drop a note in comments below -- we're sure your next deathmatch can wait ten seconds.
Lenovo's 3D IdeaPad Y560d reviewed: for three-dee fanatics only
If you had any doubts that the 3D bandwagon was taking no prisoners in an attempt to fill up and overflow, look no further than Lenovo's 3D IdeaPad Y560d. Yeah, a 3D laptop from Lenovo. The folks over at Hot Hardware were able to spend a bit of quality time with this beast, but unlike many of Lenovo's machines, this one wasn't exactly an easy sell. In fact, they firmly stated that it's only a surefire recommendation to those who will be utilizing the 3D panel with great frequency, noting that the decision to toss a power-hungry Core i7 into an otherwise portable machine led to subpar battery life that would frustrate frequent travelers. Gaming performance was found to be satisfactory, though, and while the overall performance seemed fine, the 7200RPM hard drive in their test unit is apparently unavailable in the shipping unit (which holds a 5400RPM drive). At any rate, they did state that other units in the Y560 line would be better options for more well-rounded consumers, so unless you plan on living with a set of 3D glasses on, you're probably better off passing over this one. Hit the source for the full skinny.
ElcomSoft turns your laptop into a one-touch WiFi cracking system
It's been a few years since we checked in with Elcomsoft's Wireless Security Auditor WiFi cracking software. As you'd expect, things have become easier, much easier. Elcomsoft now has an all-in-one solution that will locate wireless networks, intercept data packets, and crack WAP/WPA2 PSK passwords from any modern laptop with a discrete ATI AMD or NVIDIA graphics card. Here's the quote IT nerds will surely we love: Today, ElcomSoft is integrating a wireless sniffer into Elcomsoft Wireless Security Auditor. The integrated sniffer turns Elcomsoft Wireless Security Auditor into a one-button, all-in-one solution ready to be used by corporate security officers without specific experience in information security. Call us crazy, but if you're a C-level security officer with no specific information security experience then maybe you shouldn't be sniffing people's data packets. Then again, we're sure ElcomSoft will happily sell their $1,199 pro software or $399 standard edition to any hacker willing to pay, white hat or not.
ATI FirePro V9800 runs out of ideas, shoots up with 4GB of GDDR5 and six mini DisplayPorts
If somehow you were able to choke up the FirePro V8800 and its 2GB of graphics buffer -- traveling across an autobahn-wide 147.2GBps interface -- here's the card for you. ATI has just announced the V9800, which doubles its predecessor's memory allowance to a mighty 4GB of GDDR5, but otherwise looks an almost identical beast. It maintains the 1,600 stream processor count of the V8800 and makes some small advances in performance and power efficiency, but on the whole it's the same card, just strapped up with more buffer muscle. We shouldn't neglect the new array of six mini DisplayPorts -- the retail package will include six DVI adapters, worry not -- which will let you have your full six-screen Eyefinity cake driven by just this one card. So, is this future collector's item worth your time? Well, at $3,499, the V9800 is a whole two thousand dollars pricier than the V8800, but then if you have the highly specialized needs it's looking to cater for, we're guessing that won't be too much of a hurdle for you. Update: Oh, about the price, AMD just got in touch to say it'll suggest a $3,499 tithe, not the $2.5K indicated on the slide below. Sorry is we misled you into selling up your entire 3D rendering farm with the lower price we had before.
AMD makes Eyefinity easier with line of budget-minded active DisplayPort-to-DVI adapters
AMD's Eyefinity technology is one of the best ways to fill every inch of your peripheral vision with pixels. However, it's certainly not the cheapest, relying on DisplayPort-capable monitors -- inputs that even some current models lack. This has left many gamers buying $100 DisplayPort-to-DVI adapters, significantly raising the cost of adoption, but AMD has announced an unusual plan to tackle that: cheap adapters. The company is helping to develop converters that are expected to retail for just $30, still not as disposable as the VGA-to-DVI blocks you have cluttering up your junk drawer, but considering these are active plugs it's probably about as good as we're going to get. So, who's up for some six-monitor Starcraft II?
AMD kills ATI brand, you can look forward to blood-stained Radeons
This, dear friends, is a sad, sad day. ATI, the name of hope for all PC gamers who were sick and tired of NVIDIA rebadging the same GPU over the past couple of years, is to be no more. The callous souls over at AMD have decided that our little consumer brains aren't sophisticated enough to handle two awesome brands, so they're just axing the use of the ATI moniker from here on out. Product line names will be retained, with the Radeon and FirePro branding still intact, but ATI Eyefinity will now be known as AMD Eyefinity. The first graphics cards to, erm, benefit from the new nomenclature will ship "later this year," and the whole thing is said to have been motivated by AMD's move to Fusion APUs -- hybrid CPU and GPU chips -- where it's considered beneficial to have a unified branding strategy. Great, but did anyone consider the fact that the graphics wars will now be fought between two teams wearing green jerseys?
ATI leaks out Southern Islands codenames for next-gen GPUs
Um, oops? ATI's latest Catalyst driver release has dished out some info that we imagine the company didn't want to reveal quite yet. The names of some Southern Islands have been spotted -- Cayman and Antilles appear to be the flagship chips -- suggesting a refresh to the critically acclaimed Evergreen line of GPUs may not be far off. Rumors have been swirling for a while about ATI's reputed shift to island-based nomenclature, and while hard specs are nowhere to be found, we can see that the Red Team is planning an overhaul with no less than 10 new additions to its roster. Hardly unpredictable, but good to know that ATI has something to counter NVIDIA's heart-stealing GTX 460. [Thanks, Jack]
Eurocom serves up GTX 480M SLI and HD 5870 CrossFireX options, seasons with Core i7-980X
It boggles the mind to think that one Fermi GPU could be fit inside a laptop, but two? Eurocom has just outed its 17.3-inch Panther 2.0 mobile gaming station -- which looks like a straight rebadge of the Clevo X7200 -- with the most overpowered set of component choices we've yet seen. You can go SLI with the GTX 480M or NVIDIA's more professionally minded Quadro 5000M, crank up CPU speed to 3.33GHz and beyond with the Core i7-980X from Intel (yes, the desktop variant), stash up to 24GB of onboard RAM, and jack in up to four storage drives, our preference being for the 2TB of SSD goodness option. Of course, if you prefer ATI's Evergreen side of the fence, dual Mobility Radeon HD 5870 GPUs are on tap as well. Sadly, we've no idea how much these spectacular specs will set you back, but launch is set for later this month and you can always call up and get yourself a quote; we're guessing it'll be in five figures.
Verizon FiOS Simulcrypt rollout will break most CableCARD tuners
There comes a time in any electronic gadget's life when it becomes useless and although it's inevitable, the length of the useful lifespan can vary greatly. In recent years firmware updates have really helped extend the life of devices, but when the manufacturer has no financial incentive to support older products, it can mean a premature end (at least from the customer's perspective). Well after three years that time has apparently come for FiOS TV subscribers who own ATI Digital Cable Tuners (and many other CableCARD devices). Now before you get too up in arms about this, it isn't really Verizon's fault, you see said company wants to be able to use Cisco and Motorola devices in the same area and this means it needs a tech called Simulcrypt. This is good for most customers as it will likely bring better prices and selection. And although this is a CableLabs certified technology, a firmware update is required to ensure the device handles the encryption properly. So while a company like Ceton or TiVo has already released updates for its devices, ATI and other TV manufactures have long since given up on the CableCARD market, and hence, supporting any legacy devices. The only good news is that you now have the perfect excuse to justify replacing your obsolete device. Don't like this option? Well you can get a FiOS DVR (with it's 2002 circa 160GB HDD) or just file a complaint to the FCC -- this won't do much, but might make you feel better. [Thanks, Scott!]
ATI CrossFireX versus NVIDIA SLI: performance scaling showdown
We know who the daddy is when it comes to single-card graphics performance, and we've even witnessed NVIDIA and ATI duking it out with multiple cards before, but this here roundup is what you might call comprehensive. Comparing a mind-boggling 23 different configurations, the Tech Report guys set out to determine the best bang for your DirectX 11 buck. Their conclusion won't shock those of you who've been following the recent love affair between reviewers and NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 460: a pair of these eminently affordable cards regularly outpaced the best single-GPU solutions out there. Slightly more intriguing, however, was the discovery that its elder siblings, the GTX 470 and 480, have improved in performance to the point of being markedly ahead of ATI's Radeon HD 5870, with the blame for this shift being put squarely on the shoulders of NVIDIA's driver update team. Hurry up and give the source a read while it's still fresh, we can't imagine ATI letting this be the status quo for too much longer.
HP Envy 14 review
The HP Envy 14 is like the final revision of a C+ term paper that always had potential, but just needed an bit of extra information and refinement to get an A. In fact, when HP introduced the Envy 14, the company was rather blunt about the fact that many of the issues that plagued the original Envy systems had been addressed, including the lack of an optical drive and backlight keyboard, the frustrating touchpad and the heat caused by the Core i7 processor. On paper, the 14.5-inch Envy 14 has everything we wanted to see in those first models while still maintaining its beautiful yet tough etched aluminum chassis. It's also got a new lower $999 starting price, though our review unit rang up at $1,290. So, has the Envy 14 finally make its way to the head of the class? We've spent some quality time with the rig to find out. %Gallery-98777%
ATI overtakes NVIDIA in discrete GPU shipments
You'd think with ATI having the performance, value and power efficiency lead for so long -- at least since the Radeon HD 4000 series -- NVIDIA would be in all kinds of trouble, but it's only now that AMD's graphics division has finally taken the lead in quarterly shipments. This is according to Mercury Research, whose analysts place the split at 51 to 49 percent in favor of ATI -- still a tightly contested thing, but it compares very favorably to the Red Team's 41% share in the same quarter last year. This data is concerned with discrete GPU shipments only (laptops included), whereas on the integrated front Intel continues to reign supreme with 54 percent of the market shipping its cheap and cheerful IGP units. ATI has made forward strides there as well, however, with 24.5% ranking ahead of NVIDIA's 19.8%. If Apple shifting its iMac and Mac Pro lines away from the Green livery wasn't enough, perhaps these numbers will finally start ringing some alarm bells over at NV HQ. [Thanks, Zubayer]
Apple Mac Pro line overhauled with 12 processing cores, arriving in August for $4,999
So shall it be written, so shall it be done. The Mac Pro has at long last proven rumors of its impending refresh accurate, as Apple has just updated its most powerful hardware with even more grunt. As we'd heard previously, that means you can now get dual-CPU rigs that offer a full dozen cores to play with, courtesy of Intel's Xeon server-class chips, though in order to get in on that game you'll have to splash a cool $4,999 entry fee. The quad-core starting price is still $2,499, though the eight-core machines have jumped up to $3,499, with both variants getting mild speed bumps to 2.8GHz and 2.4GHz, respectively. Perhaps the most welcome upgrade is on the graphical front, where the Radeon HD 5770 takes up the mantle of default GPU, with additional options for a pair of such cards or a step up to a 1GB HD 5870 alternative if you're keen on maxing out those frame rates. Memory isn't neglected either, with choices ranging all the way up to 32GB of RAM, 4TB of conventional HDD storage, or an array of four 512GB SSDs -- though you're probably better off not asking how much that last one will set you back. The comprehensive specs can be found in the full press release after the break.%Gallery-98277%
ASUS ARES cries havoc, lets slip the GPUs of war: a review roundup of the world's fastest graphics card
When you name your graphics card after the God of War, you'd better hope it brings some heat, but judging by early reviews, that's just what ASUS has done. The three slot monstrosity above is the ARES, a $1200 limited edition, fully custom board, sporting twin Radeon HD 5870 GPUs, four gigabytes of GDDR5 memory and practically enough raw copper to smelt a sword. We're not joking: the thing weighs nearly five pounds and requires a 750 watt power supply with three power connectors (two 8-pin, one 6-pin) to even run. Of course, you're getting a graphical behemoth for that kind of price, steamrolling every other GPU on the planet -- paired with even a 3.8GHz Core i7-930 CPU in 3DMark Vantage (on Extreme settings), Overclock 3D racked up a fairly ludicrous 15,000 score, and the card ripped past 25,000 with a Core i7-980X and a second ARES in CrossFire. The card was less impressive in actual gameplay, merely spanking the (much cheaper) Radeon 5970 and GeForce GTX 480 by a modest amount, and several reviewers complained it was fairly loud... but as the old adage goes, nobody needs a Ferrari to drive the speed limit, but we'll all drool over them anyhow. Bring on the liquid nitrogen, folks. Read - Legit Reviews Read - Overclock3D Read - Guru3D Read - PC Perspective Read - TechPowerUp Read - Hot Hardware
Lenovo's 3D IdeaPad Y560d laptop now available for multi-dimensionists
Television may be rotting the brain of existing generations, but it's highly likely that 3D will indeed be the downfall of mankind. Or Double Stuff Oreo cookies, one. Either way, the former is finally joining the latter in terms of availability, with Lenovo's first 3D lappie up for order on the outfit's webstore. $1,499 nets you the IdeaPad Y560d, equipped with a 1.6GHz Core i7-720QM CPU, Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit), 4GB of DDR3 memory, a 1GB ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5730, 500GB hard drive (5,400rpm), a dual-layer DVD writer, 6-cell battery, WiFi, Bluetooth 2.1+EDR and copious amounts of bragging rights. Oh, and did we mention you'll need to pack along those 3D glasses in order to see the effect when soaring through your robust library of 3D games? We'll leave it to you -- we know you'll do the right thing.
Acer Aspire One 521 and 721 review
On the surface Acer's 10.1-inch Aspire One 521 and 11.6-inch Aspire One 721 appear to be fairly run-of-the-mill netbooks -- or ultraportables for those that are morally opposed to calling a laptop with a 11.6-inch display a netbook. They're rather small machines, measure just about an inch thick, and ring up at under $430. But there's a lot more than meets the eye with this Aspire One duo – instead of Intel Atom or ULV processors, both are powered by a new AMD 1.7GHz Athlon II Neo K125 processor and promise 1080p playback thanks to ATI Radeon HD 4225 graphics. We've certainly been pumped about these two systems since their French debut, but fear of AMD's usually poor battery life and scorching temperatures have been holding us back from all-out excitement. Do we have nothing to fear but fear itself? We've spent the last few days with these two systems, and will reveal all in our full review after the break. %Gallery-96636%
Sapphire makes multi-monitor 3D gaming a reality with a single video card
Multi-monitor gaming is hardly uncommon these days, but 3D gaming on the PC is, well, decidedly less common. Perhaps it will be the merging of the two immersive approaches that finally gets 3D going on the PC, and Sapphire is showing that it's possible. A single ATI-based Sapphire graphics card with Eyefinity support powered these three Zalman Trimon 3D displays, which use simple (and cheap) polarized glasses to make those boomers in Left4Dead really pop. No word on the overall cost of the system, but we'd hazard a guess it wouldn't be significantly higher than a triple-monitor setup woefully stuck in just two dimensions.