Computex 2012 Hardware reveals!

[Wesley]

So here I'm going to post up the hardware reveals form Computex 2012 and E3 here in order to keep the tech forum a little cleaner. There will be a large bevy of announcements made from both expos, so I expect to be kept busy trying to keep up with the new developments!

[Wesley]

Gamers! Have you ever wanted a mouse that's more sensitive to your movements than your fingers are at finding things in your nose that you could pick? (I know that's disgusting, but its better than some sexual reference I could put in there...) Roccat has chosen to improve the already excellent Kone+ with its new, bigger brother the Kone XTD.

Focusing on all the things that made the Kone+ a part of the NAG Dream Machine, the XTD uses the same design and improves the internals, while also nudging out the thumb rest by the looks of the picture above. Roccat is expected to showcase the mouse at E3 and Computex and the mouse should be generally available by September.

Linky

[Wesley]

Article updated! ^^^ Apparently the uber-cheap Lua is also on the prowl, hungry for gamer's wallets and eager to give you some frags.

[Wesley]

MSI and Acer to show off Ultrabook/Letexo designs

So despite the fact that disk-based media are still the preferred medium to deliver video, audio and software content for those regions of the world where the internet isn't so uquibituous, manufacturers are still on the go-ahead to develop and design Ultrabooks and designs based on Intel's Letexo prototype. At Computex 2012 there will be a number of these systems on show, but MSI and Acer have chosen to put out their ideas first to the world with a bevvy of preview pictures.

Linky

[Wesley]

Computex 2012: Cooler Master Releases the Silencio 650

The Silencio 650 builds on the baby 450 with a taller design, an improved front panel and a few nifty design tips that further help keep the case's smooth overall appearance. Hit the jump to see the other features.

Linky

[Wesley]

Computex 2012: Razer's Taipan makes lefties jump for joy

The Taipan features a 8200DPI count, composed from two 4100DPI lasers in different colours for what Razer calls their "4G Dual Sensor System." How well it works remains to be seen, but the Taipan starts off its life with a very nondescript design - its not too flashy but has all the kit any gamer will need. Taking cues from the popular Kone+, it only has two side buttons, but those are replicated on both sides for lefty gamers. All the keys can be used regardless, so you'd better get exercising those pinkies.

Linky

[Wesley]

Computex 2012: Corsair calms down the Neutron for release

Corsair's SSD lineup is due for a refresh this year and the company kicked it off with a high-end solution, the Neutron series. This is a bit of a wild card to throw out, hence the Neutron moniker (free Neutrons that occur naturally are unstable and don't hold charge very well when not grouped together - that's science, not SSD tech for the noobs who are confused) as the drives are driven not by any controllers you've seen before. No, Corsair has kicked out Sandforce, Marvell and Indilinx-based solutions for a design from Link_A_Media (LAMD).

Linky

[Wesley]

Computex 2012: Gigabyte's SOC GTX680 is...ZOMFG must have!

Its started off as a regular GTX680. Gigabyte added extra power phases, removed overclocking limits, tweaked the design and laid out some new power circuitry and made the card with the heatsink so large and heavy that you need to hold it with both hands. Its more mad than ASUS' Ares GTX680 this year (which you'll see later) and I'm not even sure if enthusiasts will be intimidated by the size of this beaty.

Linky

[Wesley]

Computex 2012: Gigabyte's X79 refresh is on the way

Currently the X79 high-end market is ruled by ASUS and MSI. Perhaps also Intel if you'd like to consider their efforts, but their boards are mostly boring by comparison unless you're looking at the DX79 Slier. Gigabyte does have the X79 UD5 and the G1 Sniper X79, but this looks to surpass both.

Linky

[N3G4T1v3]

Computex 2012: Gigabyte's X79 refresh is on the way





Linky

This is definitely must have board if you intending to build a file server with a software based raid system like raidz, lol, so many Sata ports

[blesner]

So here I'm going to post up the hardware reveals form Computex 2012 and E3 here in order to keep the tech forum a little cleaner. There will be a large bevy of announcements made from both expos, so I expect to be kept busy trying to keep up with the new developments!

Any news on the ATI HD7990? Still buying the GTX690 though.

[Wesley]

This is definitely must have board if you intending to build a file server with a software based raid system like raidz, lol, so many Sata ports

Raid Z with 14x 4TB drives! And a 8GB PCI-E 4x SSD for the OS.

Any news on the ATI HD7990? Still buying the GTX690 though.

Not yet, looks like its just the HD7970x2 cards floating around for now.

[Wesley]

Computex 2012: Cooler Master shows off new products

Tom's Hardware made a turn by the Cooler Master booth at Computex and found two new coolers that could head our way before the end of July. Not content to let Antec and Corsair take back the crown for high-end cooling solutions, the chassis manufacturer has created two new contenders: a high-end, closed loop watercooling setup and a new high-performance air cooler.

Linky

[Wesley]

ASUS HAS A COUPLE OF ANNOUNCEMENTS FOR YOU, STARTING WITH…

Thunderbolt! I’ve been waiting patiently for someone to announce a rollout of front or back-panel Thunderbolt headers and ports on motherboards for some time. Thunderbolt is a very flexible connection standard, allowing for two displays and five other devices to be daisy-chained on one cable system. Three competing motherboards have been launched in the weeks before Computex with Thunderbolt ports on their back panels: ASUS’ P8Z77-V Premium, Intel’s DZ77RE-75K and MSI’s Z77A-GD80. All of them enable the kind of setup that Anandtech shows below, all running off of one cable and a wireless mouse and keyboard.

But the spotlight is on ASUS for now and they have a few things to share, starting with their open support for Thunderbolt and moving on to something I’ve always wanted to see – a phoneblet! Confused? Hit the jump to see more.

Linky

[Wesley]

Acer Aspire’s V5 notebook family in pictures

Acer is readying its new V5 family of cheap laptops to replace the ageing Aspire and Travelmate lineups. While no details on pricing have been revealed, Acer has gone on record to note that the laptops ship with a variety of SKUs, starting with Core i3 chips and integrated graphics and ending up with Core 5 chips and discrete graphics options from both AMD and Nvidia. Screen sizes are capped at 15.6″ LED units with a glossy finish (there is also a 14″ unit as well) and connectivity should be taken care of thanks to Wi-Fi b/g/n, Bluetooth 4.0 and USB 3.0 ports on the side.

Linky

[Wesley]

Computex 2012: Silverstone heads in a new direction

[/quote]The assortment of Silverstone chassis available on our shores is a bit boring, if I'm honest. They don't look spectacular and don't feature great cable management. The only one that is a possibly good buy is the Precision Series 04 and in the segment it's fighting in its a very well built chassis compared to other brands. But the company is looking to get things back into gear and has started aiming for the high-end market again, possibly with just more than America and Europe in mind.[/quote]



Linky

[Wesley]

AMD’s Trinity mobile SKUs are going to be delayed…

But here are a few desktop samples for you to look at in the meantime! Before you get ahead of yourself though, AMD isn’t planning to launch Trinity processors for mobile until much later in Q3 of this year. Yeah, no, you’ll be better off checking things out at Christmas time if you’re looking for an upgrade for your laptop or netbook. Desktop users won’t have to worry, though.

Confused? I am too, but the company has been on a mission to make sense and sensible decisions lately, so I guess this is about right. AMD wants its third-party mobile manufacturers to sell out stock of Llano boards completely before they let Brazos 2.0 and Trinity hit the market. Rory Read has this minor issue with tons of Llano stock left waiting to be sold and wants that out (possibly at massively discounted prices) before the company gets their ducks in line with the revised Bulldozer design. While doing so, it can prioritise the production of Trinity and Brazos chips and also Piledriver for the desktop, as their predecessors suffered a lot of stock issues a couple of weeks from launch.

Linky

[Wesley]

AMD’s Brazos 2.0 is looking good, but its a rebrand

Yes folks, I'm as surprised as you. AMD's Brazos 2.0 platform is nothing but a rebrand of the previous family, but there are a few extra bits here and there that may make it worth the purchase for low-cost system builders. Brazos 2.0 still stays under the 18w maximum thermal design power and features the "new" Radeon HD7310 and HD7340 integrated graphics cores.

Because the original Brazos was a great product in its own right, AMD pushed up the clock speeds on both the processor and GPU, figuring that the extra power consumption would still stay within their power requirements. It then re-branded the chips and the graphics cores, figuring that a rose by any other name would smell as sweet. Hit the jump for my very short analysis.

Linky

[Wesley]

ASUS puts Thunderbolt on the AMD AM3+ platform, too

At the ASUS stand at Computex there were also several revisions of the more popular boards they’ve been selling of late based on AMD’s 990FX chipset series. All the boards feature the 990FX chipset and the SB950 South Bridge, integrating native USB 3.0 ports, SATA 6.0 Gb/s and up to three graphics cards in SLI or Crossfire. And now it adds another feature in the form of a Thunderbolt header. The newcomers are to be sold as the Crosshair V Formula-Z (first pic), M5A99FX PRO R2.0 and M5A99X EVO R2.0 (second) and the Sabertooth 990FX R2.0 (third from left).

Linky

[Wesley]

And more ASUS AMD motherboards to look at! (sigh)

While the boards aren't going to win shoot-outs with higher-end products anytime soon, the F2A85-M LE and the F2A85-M are going to be great budget choices for single or dual-GPU setups. They are both eATX designs and feature enough SATA ports to make any cash-strapped enthusiast happy. In particular, the F2A85-M would be my personal choice thanks to the rotated SATA ports, allowing you to use two graphics cards with as big a cooler as you desire without them getting in the way of anything else. Hit the jump for the full system specs.

Linky