Researchers at North Carolina State University have developed a technique to take advantage of the “fused architecture” emerging on multicore CPUs that puts central processing units and graphics processing units on the same chip. The technology, called CPU-assisted general purpose computation on graphics processor units (CPU-assisted GPGPU) uses software compiled to leverage the architecture to allow the CPU and GPU to collaborate on computing tasks, boosting processor performance on average by more than 20 percent in simulations.

The approach, outlined in a paper by NC State Associate Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering Dr. Huiyang Zhou, Ph.D. candidates Yi Yang and Ping Xiang, and AMD GPU Architect Mike Mantor, is designed for fused architecture chipsets with a shared L3 cache and shared off-chip memory for CPUs and GPUs. The approach developed by the team leverages the computing power of the GPU, while taking advantage of the CPU’s more flexible data retrieval and better handling of complex tasks.

The current generation of hybrid CPU/GPU systems, including Intel’s “Sandy Bridge” and AMD’s “Llano” has helped create more energy-efficient systems and reduce manufacturing costs, Zhou said. “However, the CPU cores and GPU cores still work almost exclusively on separate functions. They rarely collaborate to execute any given program, so they aren’t as efficient as they could be. That’s the issue we’re trying to resolve.”

GPUs are obviously designed for handling graphics, but they are also very good at handling large numbers of parallel processes, particularly in applications where the same process needs to be applied to large amounts of data. Traditionally, one of the the biggest problems when using GPUs for general purpose computing has been that they don’t handle complex, branchy, pointer-heavy code very well at all—which is the strength of CPUs. The long pipelines of most GPUs instead favor sequential, streaming reads, and applications where there’s a high ratio of arithmetic operations applied to data relative to the amount of data that has to be moved to and from memory. Hybrid chips like Sandy Bridge have less main memory bandwidth than typical discrete GPUs (albeit with lower latency), so keeping the fast level 3 cache filled with data is essential if developers want to avoid starving the GPU of data.

CPU-assisted GPGPU uses the CPU’s faster L3 cache pre-fetching to feed data to the GPU, cutting out performance drags that come with GPU code accessing memory. A program compiled for CPU-assisted GPGPU launches a “pre-execution” program at startup on the CPU to pre-fetch data to be processed by GPU code and load it into the level 3 cache onboard the chip. That allows process threads running in the GPU to hit the L3 cache directly, rather than fetching from memory, reducing latency and significantly boosting performance. In some cases, the performance of simulated applications improved by up to 113%, the researchers claimed.

Why simulated? AMD’s current hybrid processor, the Llano, lacks a shared L3 cache, so it won’t support the approach. And Intel’s Sandy Bridge offers only limited GPGPU functionality. In a phone interview with Ars, Dr. Zhou explained that in theory the research could be applied to Intel’s current Sandy Bridge architecture, which provides a shared last-level cache for CPUs and GPUs in its architecture. But he said that Sandy Bridge’s GPU “isn’t that powerful” and Intel’s current software support “doesn’t include support for OpenCL and other GPGPL stuff.” However, he said, he expects that the hardware support for CPU-assisted GPGPU applications will be in upcoming generations of hybrid platforms from both Intel and AMD, and software support will follow. And, he added, “it’s already assumed that the GPU (in Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors) will be much more powerful than Sandy Bridge.”

Real World Technologies editor David Kanter said that he expects to see “a lot more work in this area, as engineers and researchers must improve performance significantly, while maintaining or reducing power consumption.” But he noted that there wasn’t information in the research about the power consumption impact of the technology. Zhou said that the research hasn’t yielded any hard numbers on what the power consumption impact would be.

Zhou said that his team’s research had been funded by grants from the National Science Foundation and AMD, and was just the latest collaboration with Mantor. But the research up until now has been fundamental scientific research, and he couldn’t say how it might be commercialized by AMD or Intel.

Source:http://arstechnica.com/business/news/2012/02/researchers-boost-processor-performance-by-getting-cpu-and-gpu-to-collaborate.ars

After all these years, LaCie’s storage hardware still looks better than storage hardware from pretty much any other vendor. And if you’re starting up a small business, you may be interested in what the company’s got on offer now. This week, LaCie announced the 5big Office Series, its latest five-bay network attached storage solutions. The 5big Office Series, powered by Windows Home Server 2011, packs a 1.6GHz 64-bit Atom CPU, 2GB of RAM and plenty of options. There’s a single-drive edition that allows users to add additional drives, as needed, for up to 10TB of total capacity. It reduces the initial investment and assures a long-term solution. What’s more, its PC backup data deduplication only backs up a single instance of redundant data. This optimizes storage space as well as increases backup speed.

The 5big Office+ offers all the features of the 5big Office, but brings powerful tools – including DFS-R/N – for integration with offsite servers. IT managers can centralize and consolidate data, even when it’s spread across multiple geographic locations. The 5big Office+ also features Windows domain/Active Directory support, a faster dual-core processor, dual Ethernet links, and can back up more PCs. The LaCie 5big Office is available in single-disk 2TB capacity and the 5big Office+ is available in single-disk 2TB or five-disk 10TB capacities through the LaCie Online Store and LaCie Storage Partners starting at $749.00. Eager to learn more? Have a look at the video below.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/LaCie-Announces-5big-Office-Series-Powered-By-Windows-Home-Server-2011/

Sony announced new CPU options for its S Series of laptops. The 13-inch and 15-inch S Series models now offer the newest generation of Intel Core processors with Core i7 options. The S Series features Hybrid Graphics (AMD Radeon HD 6470M or AMD Radeon HD 6630M), optical drives (including Blu-ray Disc options), backlit keyboards, options for solid state drives, and QUAD RAID 0 technology. The 13-inch S Series starts at $799 while the 15-inch models start at $979. Both 13- and 15-inch models will be available in early February.

Sony also refreshed its E Series with the latest 2nd generation Intel Core processors and four color options. The E Series is available in 14- and 15-inch sizes and starts at $499 and $459, respectively. In addition to refreshing the S Series line with new CPU options, Sony also added a Carbon Silver color option for the VAIO Z Series laptop.

Sony today announces the availability of a new Carbon Silver color for the VAIO® Z Series laptop and a variety of updated models with new CPU options and enhancements.

New Color and technology for the Z Series

The updated Z Series with the new option of Carbon Silver is added to the existing choices of Carbon Black, Carbon Gold, and Premium Carbon Black. Also available is optional LTE mobile broadband built-in, supporting 4G data service. With the latest 2nd generation Intel® processors ranging from Intel Core™ i5 and higher and RAID 0 solid state drives, the Z Series continues Sony’s efforts to offer users advanced performance and design that fits their mobile lifestyles. Starting at $1949.99, the Z Series includes the Power Media Dock™ drive, ideal for the business user in need of additional ports or external displays.

New CPU’s for the S Series Laptops

The S Series continues to offer performance mobility and all around excellence since its debut last year. The 13” and 15” inch models feature everything students and performance minded users need including standard voltage processors, Hybrid Graphics, optical drives (Blu-ray Disc™ options as well), backlit keyboards and the VAIO, ASSIT and WEB hardware buttons for launching Media Gallery™ software, VAIO Care™ support software and access to the web without full boot-up Windows®, all with a touch of a button. In addition, options for solid state drives on both the 13” and 15” S Series laptops include 256GB, 512GB, and 1TB and feature QUAD RAID 0 technology for enhanced performance.

With the newest generation of Intel® Core™ processors now available, the S Series features updated CPU’s on the 13” and 15” models both available with up to Core i7, delivering even more performance automatically when users need it most.

Hybrid Graphics and IPS Technology for S Series

The S Series includes Hybrid Graphics with either an AMD Radeon HD 6470M (512MB VRAM) or AMD Radeon HD 6630M (1GB VRAM), providing flexibility between performance and maximum battery life. The 15” will come standard with a 15.5” Full HD display (1920 x 1080) with IPS technology for improved image quality and viewing angles.

When coupled with the advanced large-capacity optional sheet battery, users can stay mobile and unplugged for up to 12 hours while also offering a thin battery profile. Intelligent charging enables VAIO® S Series users to charge the optional sheet battery separately from the PC and attach it to the system at any time without shutting down for maximum flexibility.

The 13” S Series will start at $799. The 15” S Series will start at $979 and includes the Full HD display and Intel Core i5 processor. Both 13” and 15” models will be available starting early February.

New CPU’s for E Series

Ideal for students and everyday users, the refreshed E Series is now available with the latest 2nd generation Intel Core processors and in four colors including Glacier White, Charcoal Black, Midnight Blue and Blush Pink with a unique textured design. Available in 14” and 15” inch sizes, the E Series also features Intel® Wireless Display for select models, VAIO, ASSIST and WEB hardware buttons, optional keyboard skins and optional dedicated NVIDIA® graphics with up to 1GB VRAM. Pricing starts at $499 for the 14” series and $459 for the 15” series.

Software updates to all Series

In addition to a new Z Series color and refreshed CPUs, the Sony VAIO team also updated some software. With the updated Media Gallery™ 2.0, users will experience a new look and feel including new features for popular social networking services. The S Series will come with the update already installed and is available for users to download for other models. Also included is the Music Unlimited promotion, providing 180 days of Music Unlimited basic service for free for first time users. The F Series laptop and L Series All-in-One come preloaded with Sony Imagination Studio™ Multimedia Edition, a collection of audio and video editing software, including the award winning Sony Vegas® Movie Studio HD.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/Sony-Offers-New-CPU-Options-For-S-Series-And-E-Series-Laptops/

The CPU design firm Venray Technology announced a new product design this week that it claims can deliver enormous performance benefits by combining CPU and DRAM on to a single piece of silicon. We spent some time earlier this fall discussing the new TOMI (Thread Optimized Multiprocessor) with company CTO Russell Fish, but while the idea is interesting; its presentation is marred by crazy conceptualizing and deeply suspect analytics.

The Multicore Problem:

There are three limiting factors, or walls, that limit the scaling of modern microprocessors. First, there’s the memory wall, defined as the gap between the CPU and DRAM clock speed. Second, there’s the ILP (Instruction Level Parallelism) wall, which refers to the difficulty of decoding enough instructions per clock cycle to keep a core completely busy. Finally, there’s the power wall–the faster a CPU is and the more cores it has, the more power it consumes.

Attempting to compensate for one wall often risks running afoul of the other two. Adding more cache to decrease the impact of the CPU/DRAM speed discrepancy adds die complexity and draws more power, as does raising CPU clock speed. Combined, the three walls are a set of fundamental constraints–improving architectural efficiency and moving to a smaller process technology may make the room a bit bigger, but they don’t remove the walls themselves.

TOMI attempts to redefine the problem by building a very different type of microprocessor. The TOMI Borealis is built using the same transistor structures as conventional DRAM; the chip trades clock speed and performance for ultra-low low leakage. Its design is, by necessity, extremely simple. Not counting the cache, TOMI is a 22,000 transistor design, as compared to 30,000 transistors for the original ARM2. The company’s early prototypes, built on legacy DRAM technology, ran at 500MHz on a 110nm process.

Instead of surrounding a CPU core with a substantial amount of L2 and L3 cache, Venray inserted a CPU core directly into a DRAM design. A TOMI Borealis core connects eight TOMI cores to a 1Gbit DRAM with a total of 16 ICs per 2GB DIMM. This works out to a total of 128 processor cores per DIMM. Because they’re built using ultra-low-leakage processes and are so small, such cores cost very little to build and consume vanishingly small amounts of power (Venray claims power consumption is as low as 23mW per core at 500MHz).

It’s an interesting idea.

The Bad:

When your CPU has fewer transistors than an architecture that debuted in 1986, it’s a good chance that you left a few things out–like an FPU, branch prediction, pipelining, or any form of speculative execution. Venray may have created a chip with power consumption an order of magnitude lower than anything ARM builds and more memory bandwidth than Intel’s highest-end Xeons, but it’s an ultra-specialized, ultra-lightweight core that trades 25 years of flexibility and performance for scads of memory bandwidth.

The last few years have seen a dramatic surge in the number of low-power, many-core architectures being floated as the potential future of computing, but Venray’s approach relies on the manufacturing expertise of companies who have no experience in building microprocessors and don’t normally serve as foundries. This imposes fundamental restrictions on the CPU’s ability to scale; DRAM is manufactured using a three layer mask rather than the 10-12 layers Intel and AMD use for their CPUs. Venray already acknowledges that these conditions imposed substantial limitations on the original TOMI design.

Of course, there’s still a chance that the TOMI uarch could be effective in certain bandwidth-hungry scenarios–but that’s where the Venray Crazy Train goes flying off the track.

Let’s start here. In a graph like this, you expect the two bars to represent the same systems being compared across three different characteristics. That’s not the case. When we spoke to Russell Fish in late November, he pointed us to this publicly available document and claimed that the results came from a customer with 384 2.1GHz Xeons. There’s no such thing as an S5620 Xeon and even if we grant that he meant the E5620 CPU, that’s a 2.4GHz chip.

The “Power consumption” graphs show Oracle’s maximum power consumption for a system with 10x Xeon E7-8870s, 168 dedicated SQL processors, 5.3TB (yes, TB) of Flash and 15x 10,000 RPM hard drives. It’s not only a worst-case figure, it’s a figure utterly unrelated to the workload shown in the Performance comparison. Furthermore, given that each Xeon E7-8870 has a 130W TDP, ten of them only come out to 1.3kW–Oracle’s 17.7kW figure means that the overwhelming majority of the cabinet’s power consumption is driven by components other than its CPUs.

From here, things rapidly get worse. Fish makes his points about power walls by referring to unverified claims that prototype 90nm Tejas chips drew 150W at 2.8GHz back in 2004. That’s like arguing that Ford can’t build a decent car because the Edsel sucked.

After reading about the technology, you might think Venray was planning to market a small chip to high-end HPC niche markets… and you’d be wrong. The company expects the following to occur as a result of this revolutionary architecture (organized by least-to-most creepy):

* Computer speech will be so common that devices will talk to other devices in the presence of their users.
* Your cell phone camera will recognize the face of anyone it sees and scan the computer cloud for backround red flags as well as six degrees of separation
* Common commands will be reduced to short verbal cues like clicking your tongue or sucking your lips
* Your personal history will be displayed for one and all to see…women will create search engines to find eligible, prosperous men. Men will create search engines to qualify women. Criminals will find their jobs much more difficult because their history will be immediately known to anyone who encounters them.
* TOMI Technology will be built on flash memories creating the elemental unit of a learning machine… the machines will be able to self organize, build robust communicating structures, and collaborate to perform tasks.
* A disposable diaper company will give away TOMI enabled teddy bears that teach reading and arithmetic. It will be able to identify specific children… and from time to time remind Mom to buy a product. The bear will also diagnose a raspy throat, a cough, or runny nose.

Conclusion:

Fish has spent decades in the microprocessor industry–he invented the first CPU to use a clock multiplier in conjunction with Chuck H. Moore–but his vision of the future is crazy enough to scare mad dogs and Englishmen.

His idea for a CPU architecture is interesting, even underneath the obfuscation and false representation, but too practically limited to ever take off. Google, an enthusiastic and dedicated proponent of energy efficient, multi-core research said it best in a paper titled “Brawny cores still beat wimpy cores, most of the time.”

“Once a chip’s single-core performance lags by more than a factor to two or so behind the higher end of current-generation commodity processors, making a business case for switching to the wimpy system becomes increasingly difficult… So go forth and multiply your cores, but do it in moderation, or the sea of wimpy cores will stick to your programmers’ boots like clay.”

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/CPU-Startup-Combines-CPUDRAMAnd-A-Whole-Bunch-Of-Crazy/

It’s out with the old and in with the new over at Intel. According to reports, the Santa Clara chip maker is letting its hardware partners know of a revised schedule to halt production and/or stop the supply of more than 25 existing desktop processor models so that it can focus on and make room for its upcoming 22nm Ivy Bridge launch.

Speaking with industry sources in Taiwan, DigiTimes says Intel is suspending the supply of Core i5 660 and 661, Core i3 530, Pentium E5700, and Celeron E3500 processors and will cut off production in the second quarter of 2012.

In addition, Intel is putting the brakes on production lines churning out Core i7 860S and 876K, Core i5 655K, 750S, and 760, and Celeron 430 and 450 processors sometime this quarter, followed by Core i7 870S and 880S, Core Duo E7500 and E7600, Pentium E550 and E6600, and Celeron E3300 in Q2 2012.

The latest word on Ivy Bridge is that Intel will launch more than a dozen desktop and mobile variants on April 8. Desktop Ivy Bridge processors will initially be priced between $184 and $332, while half a dozen mobile chips will cost up to $1,100 (Core i7 3920QM).

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/Intel-Scrapping-Two-Dozen-CPUs-to-Make-Room-for-Ivy-Bridge/

MSI is laying claim to being the first in the industry to use an LED panel on an all-in-one computer. The MSI Wind Top AE2071 AIO indeed features a 20-inch multi-touch LED screen, as well as a 2nd-gen Intel CPU, up to 8GB of DDR2 memory, a 500GB SATA HDD, DVD Super Multi drive, 6-in-1 media reader, and a 0.3MP webcam.

Other features include MSI’s Smart Media Link and Smart Sync software for easy sharing with other devices, 802.11b/g/n WiFi, and support for USB 3.0.

The new Entertainment Series Wind Top AE2071 AIO PC is the first in the industry to use an LED panel. The integrated panel and computer, and the new ID design help to make the desktop even more clutter-free. MSI’s unique energy-saving technology also reduces power consumption by a substantial 30% compared to conventional CCFL panels to create a truly environmentally friendly PC. Performance-wise, the Wind Top AE2071 is equipped with a 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processor for breakthrough multitasking performance.

Revolutionary 2nd Generation Intel Core™ Processor
The new MSI Wind Top AE2071 is equipped with the latest 2nd generation Intel® Core™ processor that integrates the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and the Central Processing Unit (CPU) in a single chip for the first time. All video-related functions are also integrated into the chip to improve your video or graphics experience, and the “Sandy Bridge” processor provides the MSI Wind Top AE2071 with improved processing performance. The integrated GPU can also share resources or even automatically adjust CPU and GPU resources on the fly based on the workload, boosting productivity without sacrificing power efficiency.

Smart Multimedia File Sharing
The Wind Top AE2071 introduces MSI’s new exclusive Smart Media Link and Smart Sync technologies. Smart Media Link allows videos, music, and photos to be played on tablets, notebooks, mobile phones, and DLNA-compatible TVs on the same WiFi or LAN network. MSI Smart Sync allows easy synching for your Outlook contacts, calendar, photos, music, documents, and bookmarks on other computers or your mobile phone, so you can keep track of your latest schedule and information, create secure backups, and avoid duplicating data.

Comprehensive I/O Interface with USB 3.0 Support
The Wind Top AE2071 features a comprehensive range of I/O interfaces. MSI Super Charger technology, which allows you to charge devices without turning the computer on, and the USB 3.0 interface on the Wind Top AE2071, which allows data transfers to run 10 times faster, facilitate large file transfers and meet user’s multimedia requirements. HDMI is also supported for outputting the video display to larger display devices such as projectors and TVs.

Fast Screen Off
The Wind Top AE2071 incorporates a 20″ LED high-definition LCD and independent screen controls with quick screen shutdown. When the user is away from the keyboard or does not need to use the screen, it can be shut off directly without waiting for the OS to enter standby mode. When the screen is turned off the AE2071’s power consumption in idle mode is reduced by another 28%.

Military class II components
MSI Wind Top AE2071 uses the highest quality and most stable :SFC?Solid cap and Hi-c Cap, they can provide the unparalleled quality, extreme performance and ultimate efficiency. MSI hired a third-party professional laboratory – Integrated Service Technology Inc – to perform temperature, stress and humidity tests according to the US Department of Defense component standards. All components have passed all items in these tests. These also show that the components of MSI is a guarantee for ultimate quality and stability.

Increased Performance, Improved Efficiency, and Reduced Emissions
By being the first the in the industry to introduce LED panels for AIO PCs, MSI has achieved huge power savings. Because LED panels use 30% less power than conventional CCFL panels, MSI’s AE2071 with LED technology reduces power consumption by 30%. All MSI AE2071 models have been certified to conform to the US Energy Star 5.2 standard as well as the EU’s latest 2010 ErP and RoHS directives. In a further demonstration of MSI’s commitment to the environment, non-toxic coatings are used and 80% of the packaging materials are recyclable. MSI’s emphasis on energy efficiency and carbon emissions reduction takes green technology in business applications to a new level.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/New-MSI-Wind-Top-AIO-Features-LED-Panel/

Meet the Case Labs Magnum M8

Every time we think the market is fully saturated with every possible computer component anyone could possibly need, a new manufacturer comes on the scene to surprise us. Case Labs has a fast growing underground following on several of the extreme enthusiast forums so we asked if we could see what all the buzz was about. They sent us over what is currently their most popular model, the Case Labs MAGNUM M8.

Case Labs, based in Canoga Park California, was started about a year ago by Jim Keating after frustration with the quality and features available from cases on the market. Jim’s father, an aerospace engineer during the space program, started a custom enclosure making business back in 1971 for electronic, military, medical, and industrial applications. So when they needed to build a new workstation for engineering design and image rendering, finding an appropriate case proved to be the most challenging part of the project. The overwhelming majority of cases on the market impose strict design constraints; the choices for mounting hardware and cooling systems are very limited and they wanted a design where the user was able to have almost unlimited modularity and flexibility. While they had the facility to make custom parts on the fly they realized most PC enthusiast do not and figured they could put their talents to use making the ultimate PC case. The goal was to make probably the last case you would ever need to buy.

Building on the success with the M8, Case Labs added to their line up based on user feedback from the enthusiast community. The M10 has the same dimensions as the M8 on the outside but supports a larger mATX – XL-ATX (13.60″ x 10.75”) (346mm x 273mm) motherboards where the Magnum M8 supports the more common mATX – ATX/EATX (12.0″ x 10.75”) size. The MH10 is deeper than the M8 by 6″ where the T10 is taller by 6″. Finally the TH10 is both taller and deeper by 6″ in each direction. All of these cases are available in powder coated black matte or white gloss inside and out. For more color options Case Labs has teamed up with FTW PC to offer custom powder coated colors for an additional fee of $274.00 for an M8 Case.

Source:http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1789/1/

The holiday shopping season is upon us, and that means setting aside some hard earned funds to buy your family and friends gifts because, well, that’s the kind of thing we do this time of year. But lest you forget about yourself, Cooler Master today announced the Elite 431 Plus, a mid-tower computer case with some high end features at a mainstream price.

The Elite 431 Plus is an all-black chassis with a somewhat aggressive styling, side window, and painted interior. A 120mm blue LED fan up front gives the case a bit of bling, in case you’re into that sort of thing, and there’s room for up to four more fans up top, on bottom, on the side, and in the back.

Cooler Master gives you three external 5.25-inch and two internal 3.5-inch drives to play with, along with five internal 3.5-inch drives and three internal 5.25-inch drives. According to Cooler Master, the Elite 431 Plus can accommodate long graphics cards like the AMD Radeon HD 6990 and Nvidia GeForce GTX 580, as well as larger size CPU coolers.

The Elite 431 Plus will be available later this month for $60.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/Cooler-Master-Throws-Budget-Shoppers-a-Bone-with-Elite-431-Plus-MidTower/

The Exynos 5250 dual-core CPU is Samsung’s latest offering based on the Coretex-A15 ARM design. It is ”designed specifically for high-end tablets” according to the company.

The chip is based on a 32nm manufacturing technology, which makes use of “high-k metal gate” processes that result in small chip dimensions, and is expected to offer nearly double the performance of the current range of Coretex-A8 based dual core ARM processors running at 1.5Ghz.

“In particular, the Exynos 5250 design was architected to drive up to an industry leading 2560×1600 (WQXGA) display,” continued Samsung, reaffirming that the 5250 will find itself in high end tablet devices.

The company also noted that the new chip has a 12.8GB/s memory bandwidth, double that of Coretex-A9 based chips and a key factor in allowing the 5250 to support 3D graphics at high resolutions.

Samples of the chip have been shipped to customers, with Samsung expecting mass-production to kick off in Q2 of 2012.

Source:http://mybroadband.co.za/news/quick-news/39121-samsung-readies-2ghz-dual-core-for-tablets.html

The KÜHLER H2O 920 has a thicker radiator, dual fans, and is adjusted via Antec’s unique software, providing essential tools to control and monitor your CPU cooling system.
Antec Inc., the global leader in high-performance computer components and accessories for the gaming, PC upgrade and Do-It-Yourself markets, has announced the launch of the KÜHLER H2O 920 liquid CPU cooler, its newest product in its portfolio of cooling products. The KÜHLER H2O 920 has a thicker radiator, dual fans, and is adjusted via Antec’s unique software, providing essential tools to control and monitor your CPU cooling system.

Antec’s KÜHLER H2O 920 builds on success of KÜHLER H2O 620, offering improved airflow, zero maintenance and sealed liquid cooling solution. It provides an advanced fan control technology to deliver Antec’s renowned Quiet Computing™ technology for quiet, efficient performance. Additionally, the KÜHLER H2O 920’s dual Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) speed-switchable cooling fans provide finely tuned control delivering high-performance at minimum noise levels.

KÜHLER H2O 920 offers a sealed liquid CPU cooling solution for PC hardware, overclockers and gaming enthusiasts worldwide, and was developed in conjunction with Asetek the industry-leading supplier of OEM liquid cooling systems for computers.

“With CPU cooling, today’s users care primarily about four things: performance, low noise, reliability and ease-of-setup – all offered at the right price,” said Mr. Kevan Li, Regional Sales Manager, Antec Inc. “The new KÜHLER H2O 920 switches it up and packs a remarkable amount of cooling in a compact solution, and one that delivers performance greater than many of the tall dual-fan CPU coolers that barely fit into a system.”

Key Features:
CPU Socket Compatibility: Intel LGA 775/1155/1156/1366, AMD AM2/AM3/AM2+/AM3+
Included software provides essential tools to control and monitor the KUHLER H2O 920
Non-corrugated easy-bend tubes for maximum flexibility in radiator positioning
Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) radiator fans generate the quietest high performance cooling
Customizable RGB LED creates brilliant illumination
Cooling Liquid – Safe, environmentally-friendly, anti-corrosive

Backed by Antec’s Quality 3-year (AQ3) limited warranty on parts and labor, the product is available for a MSRP of INR 7.200 in Bangalore at Hollasons and Pixel Info Systems, in Chennai at Guru Shree Computers and R.C. Automation, in Hyderabad at Kompuserve and Shweta Computers, and also in Mumbai at Cassette World and Prima Infosolution. It is also available online through The IT Depot – India’s first IT online shopping store.

Source:http://www.indiainfoline.com/Markets/News/Antec-Introduces-Kuhler-H2O-920-Liquid-CPU-cooler-in-India/5292209615

A few weeks ago, the fine folks at ASUS invited a gaggle of us tech newsies out to San Jose to get up close and personal with their new X79 chipset-based motherboards. In addition to setting us up with top-notch accommodations, the ASUS crew had lots for us to see, hear, and busily jot down.

After breakfast, we listened to several brief but informative presentations by various ASUS representatives on the X79 platform (and Intel’s upcoming CPUs) and all the new features on the ASUS X79-based motherboards. After that, we hit the demo floor.

ASUS had several stations set up where we could take our time getting familiar with the new products. Boy, they demoed a lot of new ones (which we mentioned in brief earlier), including the P9X79 Standard, Pro, and Deluxe; RoG Series Rampage IV Extremel TUF Series Sabertooth X79; and the P9X79 WS (worsktation board).

All of the new motherboards support second-gen Intel CPUs with the 2011 socket, and they all offer quad-channel DDR3 memory via 8 DIMM slots. All of the boards have either 8 or 10 SATA ports with equal number of SATA 6Gbps and 3Gbps as well as more than enough USB ports with a healthy mix of USB 3.0 and 2.0 represented. For graphics, the entire line supports PCI-e gen 3 and SLI/CrossFire X–2-way, 3-way, or 4-way, depending on the board.

There are plenty of other features of note as well, including support for SSD caching. If you’re aware of the features of the Z68 chipset, you know about SSD caching; however, with X79, SSD caching is not actually part of the chipset. ASUS nevertheless baked it in, so you can still take advantage of that feature.

Overclockers have some new options to try out. ASUS has updated its UEFI and included more granular fan controls (via ASUS Fan Xpert+) and a new version of Ai Suite. Further, ASUS included the third generation of Dual Intelligent Processors (TPU and EPU) and new Digi+ Power controls for precise RAM and CPU tuning. Fearless/foolish overclockers may also find that the BIOS Flashback feature (which allows you to update the BIOS via USB flash drive without the CPU or hard drive running) comes in handy.

Predictably, the Sabertooth X79 has a few extra features. In addition to being built with touch components for optimal stability and reliability, the board sports TUF Thermal Armor to protect the components from overheating, TUF Thermal Radar (which is comprised of no fewer than 12 thermal sensors), and eight fan headers. In terms of looks, this board is a sight to behold with the tan and metallic green accents. Even the DIMM slots (by Corsair) match the look.

Possibly the most impressive motherboard of the bunch is the RoG Rampage IV Extreme. The thing is just packed with features, including X Socket, which is kind of a universal cooler adapter; RoG Connect; an OC Key, which lets you overclock on the fly; VGA Hotwire, for easily overclocking your graphics card; and more.

The new lineup of ASUS motherboards has products for every class–entry, mainstream, enthusiast, and so on–and they’re all loaded with compelling features and solid specs.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/ASUS-Technical-Summit-The-New-X79-Boards/

You understand the drill by now: Intel releases a new CPU, tons of PC makers unveil new machines with the new chip in it, and tons of motherboard makers offer up new boards to handle the new chip. One thing is very clear; there’s a lot of “new” going on this week. Gigabyte is now on the bandwagon with their new X79 series of mainboards, featuring the company’s new 3-way digital engine, 3D power and 3D BIOS. As you’d guess, this board supports the latest 2nd-generation Intel Core i7 processor family (Sandy Bridge-E).

The new boards take advantage of the new and exclusive GIGABYTE 3D Power, based on a 3-way Digital Power Engine for both the PWM and memory that delivers unprecedented power delivery control. Utilizing a brand new Digital PWM controller, GIGABYTE’s 3D Power features three digital memory controllers for not only the memory, but VTT and VSA, for real-time adjustment and control. The GIGABYTE 3D Power™ application provides a range of controls via a graphical user interface, allowing adjustment of load line calibration, over voltage protection control and real-time adjustment of CPU, VTT, IMC and four-channel memory frequencies.

With an unprecedented 40 PCI Express lanes, enthusiast gamers can also enjoy the absolute maximum GPU performance in Multi-GPU SLI and CrossFireX configurations. The series includes the G1.Assassin 2, X79-UD7, X79-UD5 and X79-UD3, all of which should be filtering out soon.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/Gigabyte-Releases-X79-Motherboard-Series/

Wondering if ARM-based chips are powerful enough for the real world? Here’s your answer. NVIDIA has just unveiled a new prototype system with Tegra ARM CPUs and CUDA GPUs, and that system just so happens to be a supercomputer. The company has announced that the Barcelona Supercomputing Center (BSC) is developing a new hybrid supercomputer that, for the first time, uses energy-efficient, low-power NVIDIA Tegra ARM CPUs, together with high-performance NVIDIA CUDA GPUs.

BSC is planning to develop the first large scale system based on this technology, with a near term goal of demonstrating two to five times improvement in energy efficiency compared with today’s most efficient systems. BSC’s ultimate research goal is to deliver exascale-level performance while using 15 to 30 times less power than current supercomputer architectures. This so-called EU Mont-Blanc Project will explore next-generation HPC architectures and develop a portfolio of exascale applications that run efficiently on these kinds of energy-efficient, embedded mobile technologies.

“In most current systems, CPUs alone consume the lion’s share of the energy, often 40 percent or more,” said Alex Ramirez, leader of the Mont-Blanc Project. “By comparison, the Mont-Blanc architecture will rely on energy-efficient compute accelerators and ARM processors used in embedded and mobile devices to achieve a four- to 10-times increase in energy-efficiency by 2014.” To support growing demand for similar ARM-based initiatives around the world, NVIDIA also announced plans to develop a new hardware and software development kit. The kit, with hardware developed by SECO, will feature a quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 3 ARM CPU accelerated by a discrete NVIDIA GPU. It is expected to be available in the first half of 2012, and will be supported by the NVIDIA CUDA parallel programming toolkit.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/NVIDIAs-Tegra-CPUs-And-CUDA-GPUs-Hit-Barcelona-Supercomputing-Center/

Maingear’s got a new rig out today, and more importantly, there’s a new 2nd-generation Intel Core i7 chip to go along with it. The company has just updated their SHIFT and F131 desktops with the new 2nd generation Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme Edition processor and the company’s exclusive EPIC Audio Engine. Turbo Boost Technology 2.0 and Hyper-Threading are both here, as is a 34% improvement in performance at normal clock speeds that can also be overclocked up to 5.2 GHz. This top gaming computer platform is also the first to feature quad-channel memory offering up to 102% memory performance that is more than twice the memory bandwidth of the previous generation.

The EPIC Audio Engine leverages Aphex’s studio-grade processing technology in a custom designed high performance pc solution, headphone audio output and microphone input will be unmatched by any solution in the industry. This unique technology harmonically brings audio to life without adding gain to deliver audio that’s more balanced, more articulated, and simply put, better sounding.

The new rigs are on sale today for those needing a pre-fab desktop tower to get their game on.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/Maingear-Adds-Intel-Core-i73960X-Extreme-Edition-CPU-To-Desktops/

We like to use our computer in our spare time. We download a video to play during which a flash game and pull in the background the latest Windows update. Not two minutes, the machine turned on, the fan already echoing relentlessly around the room.

As long as you have your own office, this might not be so bad. But often, the computer in the living room, others do not like watching TV with his constant and annoying background hairdryer. Clearly, we want a high-performance Power-PC, game console and home theater in one, but we do not want to hear him.

Many fans, or a compact solution

This is the most (if not the sole) of the noise from fans. The CPU has a fan, the graphics card has a fan and the housing also has one. However, there are now products that combine the CPU and graphics card to the motherboard and hold it practically silent as a passive cooling device with a cold and quiet.

Such devices include the ASUS E35M1-I Deluxe, a motherboard with a CPU from AMD’s new Fusion series, which combines a powerful processor with a graphics card on a board in mini-ITX form factor. In addition, scores the ASUS E35M1-I Deluxe with its connectivity, because it focuses on the same eight USB 2.0 and four USB 3.0 ports are available, as well as connections for the wireless antenna and an eSATA port for an external storage medium.

Particularly striking is the large fan that cools the entire package with passive cooling of the CPU, graphics card and motherboard. In addition to the passive cooling, there are also an optional CPU fan connector, which supports the Q-Fan technology. It is intended for those who overclock their computers.

Those who do not do can connect a case fan here and now faces three flies (CPU, graphics card and case) with one stone. Also, the fan on the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI), which replaces the BIOS, be adjusted as required by mouse click.

Suitable insulation

Those who have computers with this hardware is still too loud, which should make for better insulation thoughts. Here, the right housing work wonders. Otherwise, there are insulating mats, with which you can insulate the housing and individual components themselves. Heavy layer mats also eliminate noise due to vibrations.

Resting on the plate

Besides the fans, but also makes the hard disk for unwanted noise. Here is an HD-Silencer provide for peace, by the hard drive is wrapped in a sound absorbing housing. For hobbyists is the decoupling of the plate is a simple and effective alternative.

Who wants it more elegant and has a small little money available, but which can also be a SSD (Solid State Drive) install in his PC. Unlike the conventional magnetic storage disk drives (HDD) are lacking moving parts. An SDD is completely silent in operation.

Moreover, it has much lower access times and faster read and write rate, which is why an SSD also offers more speed than a normal drive. Even the prices of SSDs are quite high, but the price decline is also used here. Already, there are cheap solid state drives by 50 to 100 €, as the OCZ Vertex 3 in the 60 GB version for around 75 €.

Power to silence

Finally, one should also take a look at the power supply. Also this may be the troublemaker, especially if one has been to silence all other parts. This also helps decouple or buying a quieter power supply via a specialized provider like silentmaxx.

Passive cooling for two at a time
, the large passive cooling falls directly into the eye. The ASUS E35M1-I Deluxe is optimally cooled and the whisper-quiet. Since CPU on the motherboard and graphics card are installed together, not two individual fans are needed. Only those who overclocked, will probably also need the optional fan connector for the CPU. settings via mouse click is particularly pleasant, especially for all non-system administrators, is the possibility to fans about the Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) is optimal with a mouse click for own use discontinue.

Excellent connectivity
, but not only his qualities still draw the ASUS motherboard from the small mini-ITX format. Its connectivity is also a cause for joy. Wi-Fi and Bluetooth, plus all 12 USB ports (four USB 3.0) eSATA port and a speak for themselves.

Silent Solid State Drives (SSD)
No moving parts, no noise. An SSD, such as the OCZ 3 SATA III 2.5 “SSD is not soft, it is absolutely silent when it works. This also makes it extremely fast, thanks to higher literacy rate. Also, the access times of all beat previously known as that an SSD for this reason a purchase consideration is value.

Prices for the SSD
, the price decline this year alone is clearly visible. The expensive 240GB version of the OCZ Vertex 3 is dropped from around 400 € in the spring of 2011 to just over € 300 in November. The 60 GB version is already to have around 75 € and is also completely silent.

Disk insulate
a magnetic memory can be brought to a hard disk HD silencers to silence. The hard drive is completely enclosed by this enclosure. The sound is swallowed and not penetrate to the outside. It is important but also a thermal pad and a heat sink as in silentmaxx HD silencers to the hard drive is not only quiet but also chilly cold.

PC-insulated housing
also a way to stop the noise of a computer is to put him in an insulated housing. With around 70 € is one of the ITA-2767 silentmaxx, a specialist in quiet and silent PCs, here.

Insulating mats for self-upholsterer
who wants to have a very good price and features, handcrafted skill, the line can be PC case and its inner workings and even with insulating mats. Sets of Cooltek here as it has been around for about 10 €.

Power supply with Pst-factor
What was shifted to a laptop to the outside, is found inside the PC where it ensures proper heat and therefore fan noise: the power supply. Again, there are hardware silentmaxx cooled, fanless II as the 500th

Source:http://digitalewelt.freenet.de/computerzubehoer/ratgeber-powerpc-mal-ganz-leise_3032942_1055178.html

Embedded systems just aren’t what they used to be. And by that, we mean that they’re far more potent and useful to the masses than they were just a few years back, when they were only powerful enough to handle mundane enterprise chores and the like. VIA has been capitalizing on the uptick in power and power efficiency lately, and their newest board is living proof. The next-gen EPIA-M720 Mini-ITX motherboard features the VIA VX900 MSP, and acts as the upgrade to the EPIA-LN. There’s DDR3 and SATA II support, as well as a VIA 1GHz C7 processor coupled with the VA VX900 all-in-one media system processor.

All combined, what you’re left with is a small footprint that’s plenty powerful to chew through most HD video, and there’s even HDMI support for carputers or small HTPCs. Measuring just 17cm x 17cm the VIA EPIA-M720 features the 1.0GHz VIA C7 processor for fanless configurations with ultra low power requirements. The VIA C7 processor is combined with the VIA VX900 MSP, supporting up to 4GB of DDR3 1066 DIMM system memory and featuring the VIA ChromotionHD 2.0 video processor. The VIA EPIA-M720 also adds support for Windows 7 and Windows Embedded 7 operating systems.

Rear panel I/O includes two PS/2 ports (KB/MS), one HDMI port, one VGA port, one COM port, one Gigabit LAN port, two USB 2.0 ports and three audio jacks. An onboard PCI slot is accompanied with two SATA II connectors, an additional COM port, a further three USB 2.0 pin headers for 6 USB ports (including two optional ports), SPDIF out, one pin header for LPT and an SMBus header. There’s no word on pricing just yet, but it should be hitting retailers soon.

Source:http://hothardware.com/News/VIA-Stuffs-1GHz-C7-CPU-And-VX900-Into-EPIAM720-MiniITX-Mobo/

For some time now we’ve been keeping our eyes out for exciting new games capable of testing the latest computer hardware. This year a number of games have cropped up on our radar, such as Crysis 2, Bulletstorm, Dragon Age II, Brink, The Witcher 2, Duke Nukem Forever, DiRT 3 and most recently Deus Ex.

Out of those just a few of them have impressed us, largely because most of them have been console ports that were rushed out the door to the PC, or so it seemed. Therefore it comes as little surprise that the most impressive game we have tested this year was The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, a game designed exclusively for the PC.

For some time now we’ve been keeping our eyes out for exciting new games capable of testing the latest computer hardware. This year a number of games have cropped up on our radar, such as Crysis 2, Bulletstorm, Dragon Age II, Brink, The Witcher 2, Duke Nukem Forever, DiRT 3 and most recently Deus Ex.

Out of those just a few of them have impressed us, largely because most of them have been console ports that were rushed out the door to the PC, or so it seemed. Therefore it comes as little surprise that the most impressive game we have tested this year was The Witcher 2: Assassins of Kings, a game designed exclusively for the PC.

What makes Hard Reset an exciting release is not just that it’s a PC exclusive title, of course, but so far we’ve been pleased with its somewhat basic gameplay mechanics and overall feel. Also, the game has been built using a new previously unseen game engine called “Road Hog” that has been built from scratch, making it a serious investment for the developer.

With the playable demo being the first thing to really put Hard Reset on our radar, the game itself is somewhat unknown to us. That said, Hard Reset is incredibly fun to play, moreover the game looks impressive, featuring quality graphics, despite it’s a DX9 only title. Let’s move on to see how we tested the game

Testing Notes & Methodology
Put away Fraps because Flying Wild Hog have been hard at work. Not only they took the liberty of creating their own game engine from the ground up, but they even bothered to include a built-in benchmark as well.

The benchmark includes a fly-by of the first level and goes for 45 seconds. Typically when benchmarking with Fraps we test a busy 60-second portion of the game and that is more than enough to get an accurate measurement of performance.

It’s worth noting that only the demo includes the benchmark tool. This is disappointing, though it’s possible that in the future the developer will add it to the final version of the game via a patch if people want it, I for one WANT IT!

Our performance review is comprised of 22 graphics card configurations from AMD and Nvidia across all price ranges. The latest drivers were used for all cards and we overclocked the Intel Core i7-2600K to 5.0GHz in an attempt to remove any CPU bottlenecks.

Hard Reset was tested using three resolutions: 1680×1050, 1920×1200 and 2560×1600. We used the highest possible in-game quality settings with the FSAA (Full Screen Anti-Aliasing) and then again with the MLAA (Morphological Filtering) anti-aliasing rendering method enabled.

The texture filter level was set to 16x Anisotropic, shadows were set to soft, SSAO was set to high and DOF was set to high as well. Other rendering features such as Tessellation, Post-Processing and Triple Buffering were all enabled.

We’ll be looking for an average of 60fps for stutter-free gameplay.

Source:http://www.techspot.com/review/440-hard-reset-performance-test/

We attended the Intel Developer Forum’s (IDF) second keynote this morning (did you follow the live blog?), and the most important thing that you need to know is that Intel is making “low-power” its priority. Low-power is not a new theme: ever since the Pentium 4 got shelved, power efficiency has become increasingly important. However, the pressure from mobile platforms, the rise of non-Intel tablets and the arrival of Windows 8 on ARM-based systems has made low-power the highest priority at Intel. That is partly why an upcoming generation of Intel processors, codenamed Haswell is going to consume up to 20X less power, says Intel.

Why does power need to come down so quickly?

The short answer is “because people want it”, and Intel has recognized that during its keynote. However the more correct answer is “because people can get low-power elsewhere”. ARM-based systems like the iPad, the Galaxy Tab and others offer up to 10 hours of battery life while doing intensive work (like decoding a movie). Most PC battery numbers are based on a depletion test where the PC is ON, but doing nothing. In the real world, you would be happy if you can watch 3 hrs of video on a laptop.

How can Intel pull this off?

Optimizing power efficiency is one of the most interesting and challenging areas in computing. There are several approaches that are best when combined (but it’s very hard).

The ARM way: going low-power using Design Efficiency

Historically, ARM has had much better power efficiency because it has been designed from the ground up to be that way. Also, the ARM architecture and instruction set is -by nature- more nimble than Intel’s, but it is not backwards compatible since the beginning of time. ARM combines that nimble nature and a host of other techniques to keep power usage very low. That said, ARM doesn’t always have the latest power-savings techniques.

For example, most dual-core designs from ARM can’t use different voltage and frequency for different cores. I think that Qualcomm has added this ability to their latest chip, and I don’t know of any other company who has done it. ARM’s power-oriented design has been extremely successful, and the only (but not small!) downside is that “peak performance” may be far from what Intel has to offer, and one cannot simple “crank the voltage up” to compete. ARM licensees may dispute this, but in reality there’s no ARM-based device that actually competes in real-world performance, even with a “slow” computer like the Macbook Air 11″.

Intel: going low power by being smart

Intel may not have a lot of options when it comes down to trimming its X86 instruction set, but in the past, it has been really good at increasing performance while maintaining backwards compatibility. This time, Intel will use a combination of advanced manufacturing process, hardware and software tweaks to not only make every transistor use less power, but also to shut them down completely whenever they have a chance. As we reported earlier, Intel is also researching ways to use ultra-low (0.1-0.3V, my guess) voltage as demonstrated by having a CPU powered by a single solar panel – an incredible feat for a PC processor. This is not coming to the market anytime soon, though.

With the upcoming Haswell architecture, Intel will coordinate efforts from the operating system (OS) and the processor hardware to put (or keep) as many components to sleep mode, when they are not utilized. Intel also plans to distribute the workload to components that are already awake, instead of awakening sleeping ones.

This is a very interesting way for Intel because of one reason: the transistor that consumes less power is the one that is turned OFF. Even an efficient design can’t beat that, as zero is zero. Obviously, ARM can try doing the same thing, but I suspect that it is not under the pressure of doing so, yet.

What does it mean for you?

ARM or Intel – why would you care? In the next 4 years, you should care because if Intel gets its way, it will let PC makers build small, light and long-lasting computers that have the functionality and speed (to some extent) of Windows machines, but near the battery life and weight of ARM tablets. Those computers will also be able to run every Windows app that you currently have, and they won’t even need to be recompiled (and re-distributed) for ARM. Every driver that works on a PC will continue to work, and today, the driver diversity is one of the greatest strength of the “WinIntel platform.

It is clear that without the pressure from low-power devices, Intel may not have moved so quickly. Competition is good for the end-user.

Is Intel in trouble?

Not really. Not yet.

It is imperative for Intel to draw a (power consumption) line in the sand at which ARM’s main added-value doesn’t matter as much anymore. If Intel fails to do that, it risks giving developers more incentives to make apps for non-Intel platforms, and applications are the lifeblood of any hardware platform. This is the reason why Intel fought so hard -and won- to preserve backwards compatibility since the i8086.

Since Windows 8 will also run on ARM, it is a gigantic protective wall that will go away. Of course, Intel stays a formidable industry player, but the X86 exclusivity of Windows was like a bullet-proof vest that made Intel near-invincible.

If Intel can continue keeping this trend, it will probably do well as long as it provides customers with what they demand: very portable, affordable, devices with which they don’t have to worry (too much) about battery life. The years ahead are going to be exciting!

Source:http://www.ubergizmo.com/2011/09/intel-haswell-low-power/

As is traditionally the case, Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini opened up the Intel Developer’s Forum with a keynote address in the theater at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The focus of Otellini’s talk was the “future of computing” and how Intel plans to capitalize on current trends and growth in the mobile device market. Otellini’s opinion is that we are still in the early stages in this evolution of computing and moving forward, no one device will be at the center of the computing experience. But of course, Intel plans to capitalize on all of them.

Source:As is traditionally the case, Intel’s CEO Paul Otellini opened up the Intel Developer’s Forum with a keynote address in the theater at the Moscone Center in San Francisco. The focus of Otellini’s talk was the “future of computing” and how Intel plans to capitalize on current trends and growth in the mobile device market. Otellini’s opinion is that we are still in the early stages in this evolution of computing and moving forward, no one device will be at the center of the computing experience. But of course, Intel plans to capitalize on all of them.

Acer hopes to use ultraportable to recover from netbook slump

Faced with an evaporating netbook market, Acer Inc. (TPE:2353) has dropped to fourth place in global, fifth place in U.S. sales. In full scale panic mode, the company has vowed to transform itself to be more like Apple, Inc. (AAPL).

I. Acer Clones the MacBook Air — Will it “Just Work”?

A critical first step in that transformation was revealed [press release] on Friday at Germany’s IFA 2011 technology show in Berlin. Acer pulled the wraps off its first “ultrabook”, a slick ultra-portable mid-size laptop with decent power.

Dubbed the Acer Aspire S3, the ultrabook clearly targets Apple’s popular MacBook Air, following it closely in looks. It features a slender thin hybrid plastic-metal design, which pairs an outer light metal lid with a plastic body. The lid is 17 mm tall at its thickest point (identical to the MacBook Air) and tapers to 13 mm.

The S3 can be found in a 13.3-inch and 11.6-inch design. They pack a 1376×768 pixel display. The 13.3-inch model weighs “less than 1.4 kg (3 lbs.)”, which, according to sources, is 1.35 kg (2.976 lb), to be precise. That places it roughly in line with the 2.96 lb. 13.3-inch MacBook Air.

The trackpad could also be mistaken for the MacBook Air’s, almost — it features the same multi-touch capable flat glass design which disguises clickable buttons in the bottom half of the depressed rectangle.

The peripheral ports are almost identical to the MacBook Air’s with a 3.5 mm headphone jack, SD card slot, and twin USB 2.0 ports. It trades Apple’s proprietary ThunderBolt connector for a more widely used full-sized HDMI port. There’s 1.3 MP camera and microphone for Skype chats, just like the Air. And likewise Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity is also supported.

The laptop features a 20 GB SSD, which holds the fast-booting Windows installation and media you want to play at faster speeds. The Acer Green Instant On features leverages this to promise 2.5 second boot times from sleep and 6 second boots from deep sleep. The battery promises 7 hours of life (identical) to the MacBook Air.

So what’s different between the S3 and the MacBook Air? Well, as we mentioned the case implementation is a bit divergent. And the price is significantly lower — 799 € (appr. $1,150 USD) for a model equipped with a 1.7 GHz ultra-low voltage (ULV) second-generation Core i5 CPU from Intel Corp. (INTC) and 4 GB of RAM.

A comparable MacBook Air is $150 more, at $1,300. However, the Acer comes with a slower 320 GB traditional HDD in its stock configuration, where the Apple comes with a 128 GB SSD. Given the internal small-size SSD for the OS, about the affects of this swap should be limited to slower times for some application launches, large file saves, or large copies — OS launch time will be spared.

The price on the fully loaded model is moderately attractive given the larger amount of RAM. With a 240 GB SSD, 1.7 GHz ULV Core i7 CPU, and 8 GB of DDR3 RAM, you will have to spend 1199 € ($1,720 USD) — versus $1700 USD for a comparable MacBook Air with a 256 GB SSD, but only 4 GB RAM.

Like Apple, the biggest disappointment in this portable is the lack of dedicated graphics, which will make GPU-accelerated applications like Photoshop, web browsers, and video games slower.

Acer must beware, its competitors — Toshiba Corp. (TYO:6502) and ASUSTEK Computer Inc. (TPE:2357) both plan to launch similar ultraportables at under $1,000 USD.

Also given Apple’s propensity for suing competitors, it would be unsurprising to see Acer smacked with a lawsuit, given its remarkable similarity to Apple’s MacBook Air. Of course we’ve already stated that we feel such claims are legally baseless — but Apple does have the tendency to make them.

II. Lenovo U300 Packs Graphics Punch

Lenovo Group, Ltd. (HKG: 0992) — the fastest growing brand internationally — pulled the wraps off an ultrabook of its own — the slick U300.

Retailing at $1,200 USD in its base configuration, the device is moderately pricey like its Acer and Apple competitors. The design is lightweight and thin, but looks less MacBook Air clone-like than the Acer S3, as it features a shorter taper at the edges.

Overall the specs are similar to the competitors’ designs, with one fairly significant difference. The Lenovo U300 packs a Radeon 5470M (1 GB memory) dedicated graphics chip courtesy of Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (AMD).

The bad news here is that the Radeon 5470M isn’t really that much more powerful than the stock Intel HD 3000 (found in the Core series chips), barely edging it in some benchmarks. Still, the idea of including a dedicated GPU is a worthy one, so Lenovo’s design is important from the standpoint of supporting dedicated mobile GPUs, even if it picks the wrong chip for the job.

Hopefully similar designs will come along soon with beefier chips (e.g. NVIDIA Corp.’s (NVDA) GeForce 540M GT chip).

The Toshiba, Lenovo, Acer, and ASUSTEK products will all ship sometime this fall.

Source:http://www.dailytech.com/Lenovo+Airs+First+Ultrabook+W+Dedicated+GPU+Acer+Clones+MacBook+Air/article22613.htm