GPU giant nVidia announced yesterday that future AMD motherboards will be blessed with their propietary multi-gpu technology: SLi (or Scalable Link Interface). The ever increasing array of affordable, well performing kit has finally reeled nVidia into the segment (that and the ongoing call by gamers for budget SLi).
Following the demand, nVidia have finally licenensed their solution to AMD for use in the next generation of chipsets including 990FX, 990X and 970. ASUS, ASRock, Gigabyte, and MSI are among the first motherboard manufacturers to offer this new capability for AMD, with more coming on-board shortly.
Gamers looking for the perfect balance of power, performance and price should seriously start thinking about a new build involving the new architecture that is Bulldozer as we now have products that fit the gap.
Guess I can start planning for my Dream bulldozer build then, as the platform fits me juuust right.
To all the xBox gamers out there, Hulu plus has arrived for your platform! An announcment was made yesterday by Microsoft with the welcome gift of free Hulu till May the 6th. For all of you that live under a rock, Hulu is an online media streaming service with a vast array of Movies and shows, from Shows that have stopped airing, to the latest Family Guy episode.
This must be a smack in the face for PSN users; The service will be down for at least 3 more days and whats worse, you’ve had your details leaked. However, Microsoft could be looking at some impressive revenue with this constant stream or innovation, as Hulu can also be controlled via the Kinect addon:
“We’re proud deliver the best in entertainment content like no other device in the living room,” said Pete Thompson, General Manager of Xbox LIVE. “Hulu Plus is an important addition to support our continued effort to expand entertainment on Xbox LIVE. And by adding the magic of Kinect, we’re truly transforming the way people enjoy their favorite entertainment.”
The Japanese consumer electronics giant we’ve all come to know and love has announced thats its cutting 5% of its workforce (367,000); Thats a staggering 17,000 jobs! The cuts are expected to take 2 years to be executed due to the sheer scale of the operation. Out on the playing field is the closure of 20% of Panasonic’s manufacturing facilities.
The cuts will cost the company about Y160bn ($2bn) although Y110bn has already been set aside for the restructuring (source: Financial Times),
Panasonic has joined the growing trend of cuts as Finnish Phone company Nokia has also layed off thousands of workers. This however was due to dropping Symbian support from the platform.
According to the Associated press, the Japan earthquake has had a disastrous impact upon most Japanese consumer electronics firms’ quarterly profits. Only time will tell if Panasonic can pull through this disaster……
Antec are one of the oldest suppliers in the market today, celebrating their 25th year in the business. They are famed for their high quality PSUs and cases, of which their popularity has stood the test of time. In this review we will be seeing if one of Antec’s newer PSUs is a testament to the reputation Antec has earned.
There are a ton of power supplies on the market today all claiming to have various features and specifications that they may or may not have. Now people are becoming more aware about the importance of their power supply they are looking for good quality units rather than the cheapest or prettiest. Antec certainly have experience behind them, but how will their TruePower New 750W match up to the competition from competitors?
We will be taking a very close look at Antec’s Truepower New PSU and if it matches up to the superior reliability and stability that the previous generation Truepower PSUs offered. The unit is manufactured by Seasonic and uses a similar internal design to Seasonic’s own M12D which offers the same stability that the TP-750 is expected to have. Seasonic have been around even longer than Antec and are also famed for top quality PSUs. Considering this, we are expecting the TP-750 to be a quality performer.
Taken from the Antec website:
Antec, Inc., is the leading global brand of high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself (DIY) markets. Founded in 1986, Antec is recognized as a pioneer in these industries and has maintained its position as a worldwide market leader and international provider of efficient, quiet, and reliable products. Antec has also achieved great success in the distribution channel, meeting the demands of quality-conscious system builders, VARs and integrators.
Antec’s offering of enclosures includes a large range of cases, such as its technically advanced Performance One Series, cost-effective New Solution Series and server grade cases designed for the needs of all workstation and server markets. Antec’s products also include front line power supplies such as its TruePower Trio series, Quattro series, and EarthWatts, the most environmentally friendly power supplies available. PC gamers are an increasingly significant consumer of performance components, and many Antec products are geared toward the gaming demographic, like the Nine Hundred, the premier gamer enclosure. Antec also offers a computing accessories line comprised of many original products, including its patented LED Fans and Notebook Cooling solutions.
Features
[HR][/HR]
NVIDIA SLI – ready certified
80PLUS® Bronze Certified
DC to DC voltage regulator modules
120mm PWM fan
Advanced Modular Hybrid Cable Management
Double layer PCB
Universal Input and Active Power Factor Correction
Supports dual GPUs and multi core CPUs
4x 12V Rails
ATX12V v2.3 and EPS12V v2.91
2 x 6 pin and 2 x 8 (6+2) pin PCI-E graphics card connectors
Industrial grade protection
Designed my Seasonic
Specifications
[HR][/HR]
The specs are pretty tasty boasting four 25A 12V rails with strict regulation and equally powerful 5V and 3.3V rails which are produced by a DC-DC conversion system which has been proven to be very efficient.
It’s such a tough market at the moment with the big boy market leaders producing very similar products. Most cases of today are aimed at the gamer in mind whereas some are aimed at the consumer with a bit too much money. There are the occasional products that we see that have the unique wow factor and Boogie Bug think they have it bang on the money with their latest offering.
The Boogie Bug M is said to give function with style by letting the Boogie Bug Dub Style team give the Zalman Z-Machine GT1000 a slight makeover by customizing it’s looks and features in a hope to appeal to the mass market.
To give you a bit more of a history of Boogie Bug, we have taken this from their website:
Since it was created in 2000, Boogie Bug (Be Bug for the experts!) has become famous thanks to the innovative and pioneer style he brought to the world of components and accessories dedicated to PC Tuning.
Pushing the limits, always testing and developing new, moderns, performing and alternative products This is how, through the years, Boogie Bug managed to extend its concept and diversify around 4 ranges of products:
When gamers talk to gamers
This is Boogie Bug’s historical market! Ventilators, decorative grills, cables, neons, cases Many innovations that won’t let anyone indifferent, also because they are commercialised in packages that benefit from very feminine shapes and curves
Boogie Bug takes the joystick
Game is not only PC. That is why now amateurs and addicts of consoles can buy accessories that are representative of Boogie Bug’s values, i.e. esthetical, ergonomic and original products.
There is a Boogie Bug for each of us
The PC and Multimedia market constitutes a world of conquest and free expression for which Boogie Bug has designed a range of products more moderns, more pioneer, that suit to the lifestyle of each of us, that will attract people looking for functional products..
BOOGIE for ever…
Thanks to its comprehension and interpretation of the trend and its tendencies, Boogie Bug offers its own vision of the new wave of clothes and luggage electro vintage.
Good and well applied thermal paste is certainly a must for every avid overclocker. It is also a necessity if you like to have a quiet PC. Simply put, without thermal paste your CPU Cooler won’t do much and as such will be working as hard as it can and your CPU temperature will stick rocket. Here at eTeknix we are trying to make your lives easier by letting you know which products are better and thermal compounds are today’s item on the agenda. If you’ve recently seen the price of thermal compounds you might well be quite surprised as it is certainly not cheap with most manufacturers claiming you’re paying for quality and who are you to argue when you probably have nothing to compare it with.
Our aim of today is to test a new thermal compound and see how it fares against a more favoured adversary. Then we will be able to give you an informed decision on which is better and if it is worth your money to buy a more expensive brand or not.
If you are not too familiar with thermal compounds here is a short summary of their job be warned there is some science!
Thermal Compound Objective: To aid the thermal heat transfer between the CPU heat spreader and the CPU coolers’ heatsink by drawing the two items into very close contact and making the gap as conductive as possible.
You might however say, why not just have the CPU in direct contact with the heatsink and this might sound like a good idea, but the transfer of heat is a very interesting topic. Heat can be transferred within a metal very easily due to the close contact of the atoms we are talking 0.23nm between atoms. Then when there is what we consider a small gap between two touching surfaces there is a gap which is in the order of 100,000 times larger than that of the atom spacing. This is a lot and as such heat does not transfer over such a large gap. Instead we fill that gap with as much thermal compound as possible with the highest thermal conductivity as possible. Simples!
In the words of Antec themselves:
Antec’s Formula 6 thermal compound protects your CPU even when your rig is running on all cylinders. Since little of the CPU’s surface actually touches the heat sink, you need a solution that isolates and facilitates the transfer of heat. Formula 6’s nano diamond particles minimize the distance between heat-conductive compounds and gladly take on the highest demanding CPU, optimally performing between -30°C and 250°C. To keep your system cool and your CPU functioning comfortably, pick up Antec’s Formula 6 for a diamond-caliber solution.
We will be taking a look at the Antec Formula 6 Nano Diamond Thermal Compound.
Specifications [HR][/HR]
Diamond particles measuring 0.0000015 cm rated at 5.3 w/mK
Extended -30°C to 250°C stable temperature range ideal for performance cooling
Lighter, easier to spread stable composition won’t crack or dry out
Mouse pads today as we know them are a little underestimated for what they offer. If we look back a few years back to the days of mice that had the weighted balls in them that only performed at their best on a mat, some may wonder why we bother with them with today’s technology?
Well in a way when it comes to general day to day use, there is no real need for a specifically dedicated mat. Practically all mice that you buy these days are either infra red (the ones that emit a red right from the base) or laser operated and some of the latest laser models are designed to work on practically any surface that you can imagine. My Logitech Performance MX for example even works on 100% clear glass!
Where we still see a need for them is for precision work such as Photoshop or gaming where you need the mouse to be able to respond to the slightest movement. Even though there are some mice that will be accurate on virtually any surface, you can find that [especially when gaming] you end up with the edge of your palm slowing your movement by the friction that there may be against the operating surface or that the mouse is not responding properly due to a surface being too shiny or too rough for it to detect the movement.
For these reasons, we still see the vast majority of precision’ users getting mats or pads to work on.
The QPAD HeatoN that we’re looking at today is a fine example of a pad that is designed specifically for gamers.
The HeatoN was designed by Swedish gamer Emil “HeatoN” Christensen who is known throughout the world for his achievements in the Counterstrike 1.6 gaming arena and his unique technique to shooting. QPAD then took his design and developed that with their knowledge of precision gaming products to produce a plastic surface mat that will gamers the control that they desire for that winning kill.
The Perfect Pad’
I have always wanted a hard top pad with the perfect glide and big enough so I would never have to drag the mouse outside the edges in an important game. That was the two most important things when making my very own HeatoN pad’
With the best ever glide on a hard top together with the durability so the glide won;t change every week, I would have to say that we have developed the perfect plastic pad that will never interfere with your game and make sure you are always on the top of your game’
Emil “HeatoN” Christensen
Specifications [HR][/HR]
Size: Extra Large area of 43.5cm x 36.5cm / 17.12in x 14.37in
With the recent releases of peripherals from Coolermaster, the product I have in front of me today goes back to the company’s roots cooling. The Coolermaster Turbine Master 0.8 is a fan that boasts silence, great cooling and ultra-reliability. Fans are very basic devices that are often overlooked, many OEM fans make a lot of noise but in terms of cooling, they are left wanting. The last thing an enthusiasts needs is a noisy system which runs hot.
Getting the right fans on your case is as important a decision as buying the case itself. Make the wrong choice and you will struggle keeping temperatures down but the trade-off is often noise, something which Coolermaster hope to eliminate with their new fan range. The one I have my hands on today is the Mach 0.8 which runs with a rotational speed of 800rpm. The other two are the Mach 1.2 and Mach 1,8, no prizes for guessing the rotational speed of those!
Coolermaster often feature here on http://www.eteknix.com/ due to the number of products that they make. They specialise in cases and cooling, but also make peripherals and Power Supply Units. They’ve been around as long as I’ve been buying PC parts and have created some lovely pieces of work in the past.
Taken from the Cooler Master website:
The unbreakable rule has now been broken. Cooler Master’s Turbine Master is the company’s latest 120mm high air flow fan that refutes the standard of high air flow fan = loud. Modeled after a strong turbine engine, the Turbine Master produces a strong air flow from an ingenious16-blade design and generates unsurpassed airflow combined with a circular semi-frameless design to maximize coverage and reduce noise. The Barometric Ball Bearing (BBB) can be easily removed to provide effortless cleaning and quick maintenance.
Features [HR][/HR]
The innovative Barometric Ball Bearing technology provides longer life span while remaining lower noise level
Removable blades for quick and easy cleaning
Outstanding 16-blade design covers maximum area to generate striking airflow, even under low speed operation
High airflow design gives excellent chassis ventilation
One-of-a-kind turbine shape inspired by a powerful turbine engine
Second in this series of Massively Multiplayer Online gaming peripherals is the World of Warcraft Cataclysm (WoW) mouse. Produced by Steelseries and Blizzard Entertainment this mouse is designed to synergistically work with the game World of Warcraft more than any other mouse could. Out of the box the mouse has almost all of its 14 buttons mapped to specific in-game tasks, and each button can be re-mapped at the user’s discretion. The mouse is designed to look like the scales of Deathwing, the killer dragon from the Cataclysm expansion, and its pulsing backlights give it a serious look. So the mouse looks great and has a ton of buttons, but is it any good? In short, yes it’s pretty much awesome.
The mouse is larger and heavier than its traditional counterparts, and given its sensitivity this may be a good thing. Despite its size the mouse fits well in the hand, and although the button layout at first seems a bit chaotic it begins to make sense quickly. Working on both PC and MAC, the software that comes with the WoW mouse sports some powerful features including:
Bind all buttons without leaving the game
Over 130 preset game commands onboard
Use WoW commands to write macros and bind them to the mouse
Store your in-game profile
Up to 10 unique profiles
16 million colors with four levels of backlight intensity
Although having millions of colors to choose from seems a bit silly, the rest is really powerful. Setting up the mouse is also fast and easy. After plugging in the mouse and downloading the configuration program the default profile is already set up and ready to go. The default button settings control in-game tasks such as:
Opening the map
Targeting friends and foes
Opening bags
Opening your character sheet
Several social commands
Customizing button functionality and key binds is simple. Since the mouse is made specifically for WoW, all of its buttons are recognized by the game automatically and can be bound from the game’s user interface. This prevents the necessity for creative and unusual binds that get unwieldy and impossible to remember. Macros and their subsequent binds are as easy as writing them in the game. If you can write a WoW macro, then you already know how to set one up on this mouse.
Although the mouse is clearly designed for World of Warcraft, the 10 custom profiles allow for more varied use. I myself have different profiles for WoW, Rift, D.C. Universe Online, and of course work. The profiles are easily switched by accessing the mouse configuration software via the system tray, and the standard mouse functionality can also be customized here including sensitivity, pointer speed, scroll speed, and double-click speed.
From a World of Warcraft perspective this mouse easily stands above the rest. As for other games and more common uses the Razor line of mice can compete, but even then the WoW mouse shines.
MadCatz are a leading manufacturer and provider of some of the coolest products on the market, with their main focus on the console and portable gaming scene, but they do also cater for the PC peripheral market, especially when it comes to suitable products for flight simulator fans and XBOX consumers wanting to bring a bit of game to the PC in the form of a gamepad controller that their used to.
Other products include specifically made for gaming keyboards, surfaces and mice which is where our journey takes us. This time they have taken the word unique to a whole new level with their revolutionary range of R.A.T. mice. There are several products in the R.A.T. range including the more basic features of the R.A.T 3 with its 3200 dpi laser and wired interface, all the way up to the R.A.T 9 that we’re looking at today which boasts an amazing 5600 dpi gaming laser, mass amounts of programmable buttons and settings and a wireless interface.
Does the Cyborg R.A.T. 9 really show better performance and features than the top-selling, award-winning R.A.T. 7 or is it just a load of marketing hype? That’s what we’re here to find out.
Taken from the Cyborg website:
Take the lead and lose the wire with the top-of-the-range R.A.T. 9. The power and performance of the R.A.T. 7 combine with next-generation wireless technology for an unsurpassed gaming experience.
Specifications [HR][/HR]
DPI range 25-5600dpi (in 25dpi steps)
Acceleration – 50G
Polling Rate -Dynamic up to 1000Hz
Tracking Speed – Up to 6m/sec
Always On
Up to 9 hours continuous gaming ,Up to 4 days normal use
Virgin Media, quite possibly the UK’s leading broadband provider has announced that it will soon be testing internet speeds of up to 1.5 Gigabits per second on its cable network in Lond.
Of course, this is more setting the bar with regards to its competition in the form of BT. Both BT and Virgin Media know that most customers will opt for the highest claimed download speeds for their area and so need to keep on pushing the speeds up. Just a shame they can’t reach those far flung rural areas yet.
Recently it was announced that the national average is a whopping 6 Mbps, but many people, myself included, experience significantly less than that. On top of this, ISP are now expected to be a lot more transparent about their speeds that you will receive instead of just saying upto 8 Mbps for instance.
Currently the fastest product Virgin Media has on the market is only 100 Mbps and that is only in very select areas although most large cities should now be able to get up to 50 Mbps with Virgin Media.
More importantly the location of this ‘trial’ is the Old Street area of London based around a roundabout with some technological investments and as such has coined the phrase ‘Silicon Roundabout’.
Virgin Media are also keen, rightly so, to highlight the fact that these developments are the result of private investment (compared to BT) and so no public money is being used. There is unfortunately no indication as to when this technology will be trialed on the larger scale – let alone when they can connect all of the country to the fibre optic network.
There is nothing quite like playing music loud on some nice powerful speakers with a thumping bass. Some days however you might just want to give your neighbours a break. Headphones have been around for a long time and for most of this time were nothing special. As things advanced communications via the computer became more common and as such people needed microphones. Soon afterwards we saw headsets which perform better than using speakers and a boom microphone sat on the desk for hopefully obvious reasons. With a decent headset your friend on Skype will be able to hear every word however loud the music that you are playing into the headset is.
Headsets have of course advanced quite a lot past the simple model and now they have taken a turn towards the gaming market. This is mainly due to the huge increase of people playing multiplayer games over the internet and wanting to be able to talk to their team mates to coordinate attacks and such like.
According to Plantronics:
Plantronics has 40 years of expertise in acoustic and ergonomic design. All Plantronics headsets will deliver superior durability and reliability backed by a two-year warranty.
AMD have been in the limelight a lot as of late, especially in regards to the Radeon 6990 dual GPU monster that we looked at a little while ago. If it wasn’t for the 6950 and 6970 there wouldn’t have been anything to base the beast off of, therefore we thought we’d pay homage to the Radeon 6950 by taking a look at the 1GB version.
We took a look at the fully fledged HIS Radeon 6950 2GB card from HIS a little while ago which gave outstanding results, but AMD wanting to appeal to a mass market, decided to venture into the 1Gb territory with this Radeon 6950 1GB graphics card.
With a slight performance hit, will the extra added value be something that people are looking for in a graphics card or is the 2Gb flavour still the one to go for?
Some of you might want some extra storage and others may want to be safe and perform regular backups. The ideal solution for both is an external hard drive of some form which allows you to put in the hard drive with the size and speed you require and upgrade easily over time. This is especially true with the now quite common USB 3.0 interface which offers great speeds making backup’s much quicker and more appealing to those of us who have lots of files.
Docks and enclosures have been around for quite a while as they allow you to take a hard drive that is usually internal to a computer and use it externally, this is especially useful when a hard drive or a computer fails and this allows you access to the hard drive by another means perfect for saving all those crucial documents.
Tsunami are not one of the more well known makers of these devices unlike Akasa for instance, but they have started to become more widely known and more readily available as they expand their product range.
Today we are taking a look at the Tsunami D-35 a USB 3.0 external hdd enclosure designed for 3.5 drives.
Specifications[HR][/HR]
SATA I/II to USB3.0
Backward – compatible with USB2.0 / USB 1.1
Maximum transfer rate up to 5Gbps with USB 3.0
Maximum transfer rate up to 480 Mbps with USB 2.0
Hi-Quality shielded USB 3.0 Cable ensure data integrity & speed
Hot swappable and truly Plug – n Play
Attractive LED indicate Power status & HDD activity
Enermax have been in the market for quite some time and have earned their rightful place as a market leader when it comes to power supplies offering up units suitable for every type of system. With entry level 350W power supplies to 1250W premium class sporting 80 Plus efficiency ratings, you’ll be hard pressed to fault their product selection.
Once you’ve decided on the amount of juice needed to power your rig, you then have more choice as to what style of power supply you’d like from a fixed cable solution to the more favoured modular. With all this in mind, you also have to think about price.
Today sees us taking a look at the Modu87+ 800W power supply with its 80PLUS gold certification aimed at users wanting the very best features and the cleanest form of power.
Taken from the Enermax website:
Enermax Technology Corporation was founded in Taiwan in 1990 and today is one of the leading manufacturers of PC components (power supplies, PC cases, cooling fans, keyboards, HDD enclosures and other peripherals). Since 2000 the head quarter is located in Taoyuan, Taiwan.
Six subsidiaries and numerous affiliates around the world provide an excellent network for ODM/OEM and retail business. Enermax has subsidiaries in Germany, France, Italy, USA, Japan and China. Worldwide, over 600 employees work for Enermax. Since 2004, the Enermax Technology Corporation is listed at the Taiwanese stock exchange.
Features
80PLUS® GOLD
87 to 93 percent efficiency @ 230V and 20 to 100 percent load. 80PLUS® Gold certified
Dynamic Hybrid Transformer Topology
Technological breakthrough topology using a staged dynamic transformer array for extremely high efficiency with the most durable and stable output at any load
Intel ATX12V v2.3
Compliant with latest desktop power supply design guide. Full support of most current CPU: Intel® Core 2 Duo / Quad / Extreme / i7 / i5 / i3 and AMD® Athlon 64X2/X4 or Phenom X3/X4
Stable and reliable power
Up to four high-performance and massive 12V rails. Extremely low ripple noise
Future ready and flexible
All-round modular cable management. 10/12P sockets for possible connector changes of upcoming high-performance CPU and graphics card generations
DXXI ready!
Full support of most current DX11 graphics cards due to minimum two 6+2P (8P) PCI-E connectors
Full graphics power
Supports SLI and CrossFireX systems
C6 & Hybrid Support
Supports energy saving modes of current and future CPU & GPU generations (C6 & Hybrid Mode) due to ZERO LOAD Design (no minimum load)
Fit4Server (only Modu87+ 800/900W)
SSI PSDG 2009 Support for latest Intel® and AMD® processors. Downward compatible with SSI PSDG 2008 1.0, EPS12V 2.92, 2.91 and 2.8
Air Cooling by Enermax
Integrated 13.9cm fan with patented Twister Bearing Technology ensures efficient and ultra silent cooling and long lifetime (100,000 hours MTBF)
SpeedGuard
Unmatched 330RPM at low loads. Path breaking and leading patented fan control for optimal cooling and minimum noise (Modu87+ 800/900W: 700-1.800RPM)
HeatGuard
Keeping PSU fan running for 30-60 seconds after shut down to dissipate the remaining system heat and prolonging system lifetime
Hybrid Capacitor Array
High-performance capacitor array of heavy-duty solid state capacitors and Japanese electrolytic capacitors to ensure tightest DC stability and regulation
SafeGuard
Industry-leading octuple protection circuitry of OCP, OVP, AC UVP, DC UVP, OPP, OTP, SCP & SIP
CordGuard
Fixing the AC cord tightly to avoid accidental shutdowns of your PC
Non-stop @ 50°C
Non-Stop industrial class performance at 50°C ambient
Worldwide Compatibility
100-240V AC input with automatic adjustment and up to 99% active Power Factor Correction (PFC) for global usage
ENERGY STAR 5.0 ready!
Support computer system to meet ENERGY STAR 5.0 standard.
Dimensions (W x H x D)
500/600/700W: 150mm x 86mm x 160mm / 800/900W: 150mm x 86mm x 175mm
Acer’s attempt at producing a really good tablet which is extremely functional is now available at Scan.co.uk
Of course, it’s not too cheap at £542 but for that you get quite a lot. It is of course a 10″ screen with an impressive 1280 * 800 resolution. 2 GB of DDR3 RAM as well as a 32GB SSD to give you tonnes of very fast access storage, oh and it does come with Windows 7 Home Premium which would stack the price up quite considerably. If you are not familiar with this device it also incorporates the latest AMD Fusion C-50 Dual-Core processor (C-60 hasn’t been released yet) which runs at 1 GHz with a HD 6250 Graphics running at 276 MHz. These are the kind of specs you would expect in a decent 15″ laptop.
Another nice perk is the fact that it is has a keyboard dock connector and the keyboard dock is in fact included in this package from Scan. This turns a very light tablet into a ultraportable notebook with the potential for much more.
This is quite clearly quite expensive compared to the Android tablets but the specs are clearly better and you are able to run all x86 operating systems and applications which is a huge plus – this is of course impossible with the ARM-based tablets. Hopefully soon AMD will be able to produce more powerful Fusion APU’s that have a slightly higher clock speeds so that we can really see these kind of tablets take off.
Recently, Fusion has been taking to the skies. Not quite literally, but the concept and idea is really starting to take off. We have seen the release of the E-350 one of the more mainstream Fusion SKU’s which has a TDP envelope of 18W a huge downgrade on most modern AMD CPU’s (that are anything up to 140W). Of course the E-350 has both a CPU and GPU built in and as such runs at a 1.6 GHz and 492 MHz respectively.These figures aren’t brilliant in theirselves but are quite clearly the way forward in terms of efficiency – especially for HTPC’s and Laptop’s. Did I forget to mention its Dual-Core and as such will certainly still pack an impressive punch!
The new Fusion SKU, the C-60 is a more powerful upgrade to the already impressive C-50 and is designed to bridge the gap between the lower powered C-series and the slightly higher powered E-series. The C-60 is clocked at 1 GHz and its HD 6290 graphics core runs at 276 MHz – which is the same clocks as the C-50, however the C-60 has Turbo Core enabled allowing the clocks to be pushed up to 1.33 GHz and 400MHz respectively. Of course it does this while still only using 9W TDP.
Fusion is overall still very much in the testing grounds but I am sure it will make a huge impact on the market very shortly as more variety of low-powered APU’s are released.
When buying a computer system that’s pre-built, there’s not much you really need to worry about apart from it working as soon as it’s plugged in. When building your own however, there’s a lot more involved from choosing the right components and importantly keeping it nice and cool.
To keep a system cool it’s not just a matter of finding the right CPU cooler and fans, but a vital choice lies in what thermal paste is used. This ranges in what materials are invested into the product such as silver or diamond and the price for the particular paste and obviously what your budget allows you to purchase.
Arctic Cooling have developed their MX-4 paste based off of its predecessor; MX-3 but with a few improvements, which mainly include keeping similar performance as the MX-3 paste whilst keeping costs to a minimum and have easier spread-ability.
For a brief history lesson, Arctic include several blocks of information including a bit about their history:
The increased heat emission of modern computers has put the production of powerful and quiet coolers beyond the means of most manufacturers. The raised noise levels of PC systems have a negative impact on productivity, since a quiet computer is the basis for pleasant working conditions. ARCTIC initiated the trend towards quiet cooling systems for desktop PCs in 2001 and has led the way ever since. When ARCTIC COOLING was founded, we began by focusing on Switzerland and Germany. In 2002 ARCTIC COOLING (HK) Ltd. was founded to develop relationships with our Asian production locations. From 2005, we started to expand business in North and South America and provide optimum service to our customer base there.
ARCTIC is now a leading manufacturer of CPU coolers, GPU coolers and case fans. In recent years we acquired a far-ranging expertise in the field of consumer electronics. The company’s product range has been further enhanced by new lines unrelated to PC cooling which was the reason behind the 2010 change in our brand name and logo: ARCTIC COOLING became the ARCTIC brand umbrella.
Specifications
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Limited Warranty: 6 years
Dimensions (Packaging): 4g: 160 L x 110 W x 20 H mm
