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MSI Announces WindPad 110W With New AMD Z-01

PC News Zone — Sat, 09 Jul 2011 10:51:00 +0000

The tablet market is expanding every bit as rapidly as netbooks did when they first arrived, and then some. MSI has announced their entry into the market today, and it's a very different breed of tablet compared to the largely Android-based units available. The new WindPad 110W has a heck of a lot going on under the hood, including some new kit from AMD.

Unlike the Android-based tablets that have been multiplying in the market, the WindPad 110W is running a full-on Windows 7 Home Premium installation, and a peek under the hood reveals a beastly amount of hardware for a tablet.

At the center of the 110W is the AMD Z-01 APU, a 1GHz dual-core processor with a TDP of just 5.9 watts. Essentially a lower-clocked, much lower-power version of the E-350 we're so fond of, the Z-01 brings with it Radeon HD 6250 graphics with 80 stream processors clocked at 276MHz. Strapped to the single-channel memory controller is 4GB of DDR3, which should be more than enough for what the WindPad is intended for.

The rest of the 110W is no slouch either, with a 32GB SSD integrated, 802.11b/g/n networking, and Bluetooth 3.0 support. The 10" screen is an IPS panel with a 1280x800 resolution. External connectivity is handled by a mini-HDMI port, an SD card reader, and a single USB 2.0 port. If there's one place where the WindPad falters compared to other tablets, though, it's the integrated cameras: both the front-facing and rear-facing cameras are only 1.3 megapixel, miles behind the rest of the pack.

MSI ships it with a two-cell, 4200mAh battery, a Trusted Platform Module, and personalized software for ease of use with touch control. That's important since Windows 7's touch-based controls still leave something to be desired. At 1.87 lbs. it's not too heavy but will definitely be noticeable.

Presales are starting now at Newegg and Amazon, for a reasonable MSRP of $599.

NVIDIA announces GeForce GTX 580M and 570M, availability in the Alienware M18x and MSI GT780R

PC News Zone — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 11:46:16 +0000

We know you're going to be shocked -- shocked! -- to hear this, but NVIDIA's gone and refreshed its high-end line of GeForce GTX cards. The GTX 580M takes the place of the GTX 485M, and NVIDIA's bragging that it's the "fastest notebook GPU ever," capable, we're told, of besting the Radeon HD 6970M's tesselation performance by a factor of six. The new GTX 570M, meanwhile, promises a 20 percent speed boost over the last-generation 470M. Both 40-nanometer cards support DirectX11, OpenCL, PhysX, CUDA, 3D Vision, Verde drivers, Optimus, SLI, and 3DTV Play. As for battery life, NVIDIA's saying that when coupled with its Optimus graphics switching technology, the 580M can last through five hours of Facebook, but last we checked, that's not why y'all are shelling out thousands for beastly gaming rigs. You can find the 580M in the Alienware M17X and M18X (pictured) starting today, though you might have to wait a week or so for them to ship. Meanwhile, the 570M is shipping in the MSI GT780R as you read this, and you'll also find the 580M in a pair of 3D-capable Clevo laptops: the P170HM3 and the SLI-equipped P270WN. Handy chart full 'o technical details after the break.

	GeForce GTX 570M	GeForce GTX 580M

Processor cores	Up to 336	Up to 384
Support for	PhysX, Verde drivers, CUDA, 3D Vision, 3DTV Play, Optimus, SLI, DirectX11	PhysX, Verde drivers, CUDA, 3D Vision, 3DTV Play, Optimus, SLI, DirectX11
Processor clock speed	Up to 1150MHz	Up to 1240MHz
Memory clock speed	Up to 1500MHz	Up to 1500MHz
Memory	Up to 1.5GB or 3GB	Up to 2GB GDDR5
Memory width	Up to 192-bit	Up to 256-bit
Memory type	GDDR5	GDDR5

Show full PR text

Fastest. Notebook GPU. Ever.
NVIDIA GeForce GTX 580M GPU Launches in Alienware M18x and M17x Notebooks with Record-Breaking Gaming Performance

SANTA CLARA, Calif.-June 28, 2011- NVIDIA today announced the world's fastest notebook graphics processing unit (GPU), the NVIDIA® GeForce® GTX 580M. Available now in the Alienware M18x, the new GPU sets new standards in industry leading benchmarks and games. It will also be available soon in the Alienware M17x notebook along with NVIDIA Optimus™ technology.

"The best game support. The best gaming features. The best gaming performance available anywhere. That's the essence of the GeForce GTX 580M," said Rene Haas general manager of notebook products at NVIDIA. "With power like this, you can turn all the knobs to 11."

The first notebook PC to feature the GeForce GTX 580M, the Alienware M18x offers the option of two GeForce GTX 580M GPUs in one system for up to double the gaming performance, using NVIDIA SLI® technology. Not to be outdone, the Alienware M17x will offer the GeForce GTX 580M along with NVIDIA Optimus™ technology and will deliver 5 hours of battery life in Facebook, and 100 frames per second performance in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

"Gamers aspire to experience games at their highest settings," says Eddy Goyanes, product marketing manager for Alienware. "Alienware activates the technology designed to enable those aspirations. With the launch of the GeForce GTX 580M on the Alienware M17x, and a dual card option on the M18x, that synergy continues - Alienware delivers the ultimate gaming experience."

GeForce GTX 580M GPUs are the fastest Microsoft DirectX 11 notebook GPUs on the market, offering up to six times the tessellation performance of any other notebook GPU. They are also more efficient, with up to 20 percent better performance per watt than the previous generation.

NVIDIA also introduced the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 570M GPU, which offers 20 percent faster performance than the previous generation product it replaces.

The power of GeForce GTX GPUs means gamers can play at full 1080p high-definition resolutions with the advanced technology features that set GeForce GPUs apart from the competition. These include:
· Support for NVIDIA 3D Vision™ technology, the #1 3D experience for notebooks, which automatically converts over 525 titles into immersive 3D.
· Support for NVIDIA 3DTV Play™ software, for connecting 3D Vision-based notebooks to 3D TVs.
· NVIDIA SLI® technology, which links two GTX GPU's for up to double your gaming performance.
· NVIDIA Optimus technology, which enables extra-long battery life by automatically switching on and off the GPU so that it runs only when needed.
· NVIDIA PhysX® engine support, which brings games to life with realistic physics.
· NVIDIA CUDA® architecture support, for GPU computing applications.
· NVIDIA Verde™ notebook drivers, for frequent performance improvements and rock-solid stability.

For more information on any GeForce 500M Series GPUs, visit www.nvidia.com.

MSI Announces GT683 Gaming Laptop w/ NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560M Graphics

pcnz_admin — Sun, 26 Jun 2011 16:12:22 +0000

The MSI GT683 gaming laptop features the Intel Core i7-2630QM quad core processor, four DDR3 memory slots, the nVidia GeForce GTX 560M graphics card, accelerated dual hard disk technology and comes with a full HD screen. With the i7-2630QM, all four cores have a clock speed of 2.00GHz. The i7 also has the Intel Turbo Boost 2.0 which boosts the overall performance of the machine. The processor has Quick Sync Video, which improves computer performance during multimedia file conversions. The four DDR3 memory ports provide a maximum of 16GB of memory for storage. This laptop also supports DirectX 11. DirectX11 comes with Dynaudio and THX Studio Pro which enhances the audio quality of the laptop. The THX TruStudio Pro also provides wrap around sound through the internal speakers of the laptop. The graphics card is an nVidia GeForce GTX 560M. The card supports 1.5GB of GDDR5 display memory. This powerful nVidia display core and advanced DirectX 11 features support this card for better performance during games. The GT683 uses the MSI Turbo Drive Engine which helps boosts overall performance, which can be activated with a designated button on the keyboard. The price of the MSI GT683 gaming Laptop is $1599.

“MSI introducing its new generation GT683 gaming laptop which packs Intel’s second generation Core i7-2630QM quad core processor and nVidia’s new generation GeForce GTX 560M discrete graphics card with 1.5GB of GDDR5 display memory. It also supports DirectX 11 providing superior performance to greatly enhance visual details and comes with top-end Dynaudio and THX TruStudio Pro smart wrap around sound as well as a full HD display to further immerse you into the game worlds that you explore.”

Computex 2011: MSI’s X79 and Llano Motherboards

pcnz_admin — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 11:31:23 +0000

By now you know that Ivy Bridge (due out in March – April of 2012) will be backwards compatible with some 6-series motherboards. The CPU itself has a PCIe 3.0 controller on-die, however MSI tells us that without modifications to existing motherboard designs you won’t be able to properly support the 3.0 spec.

MSI’s Z68A-GD80 (G3) features new circuitry and switches between the CPU socket and the x16 slots that will apparently allow the motherboard to operate at PCIe Gen 3 speeds. The problem seems confined to the switches that motherboard makers use to automatically divide the 16 PCIe lanes coming from the CPU into 1 x16 or 2 x8. MSI claims that when Ivy Bridge comes out, the Z68A-GD80 (G3) will be fully PCIe Gen 3 compliant.

Of course MSI had a Socket-2011 X79 motherboard on display in addition to a pair of Socket-FM1 Llano boards. I’m hearing late summer for the desktop Llano launch at this point.

Those of you waiting for Bulldozer performance results from Computex, I’m afraid we’re not going to see anything representative of final hardware. I did hear that the upcoming B2 stepping would restore performance to Bulldozer’s original targets, however it’s unclear how those compare to Sandy Bridge. The other thing I did hear at the show floor regarding Bulldozer was about its clock speed. Current B1 stepping parts are easily hitting 3.8GHz which is what the high end SKU may actually ship at (with turbo support up to 4.2GHz). I’m waiting for more confirmation but it sounds like Bulldozer will at least clock very high.

MSI debuts N580GTX Lightning Xtreme Edition video card, claims worldâ€™s fastest title

pcnz_admin — Tue, 31 May 2011 19:09:40 +0000

Companies that make video cards like to lay claim to the title of worldâ€™s fastest when they can. AMD and NVIDIA like to do the same thing trading the title back and forth. MSI has unveiled a new video card at Computex 2011 called the N580GTX Lightning Xtreme Edition. This isnâ€™t the first video card from MSI packing in the NVIDIA 580GTX GPU. The N580GTX Twin Frozr II surfaced form MSI back in January. The latest card gets a new fan and sensor design.

MSI claims that the card is the most powerful on the planet and it packs in 3GB of graphics memory and has Propeller Blade fans that use Smart Temp Sensor and Dust Removal technology along with the Twin Frozr III cooling tech. The card is made for the overclocker that wants the most performance with Triple Temp monitoring capability and Power4 Architecture. All that tech adds up to the king of the single GPU cards.

The fans use special coating that turns from blue to white when the temperatures inside the machine exceed 45-degrees. The color change warns the user that the system might be too hot. The dust removal tech spins the fans backwards for 30 seconds to remove dust form the heatsink fins for better cooling. The exact clock speeds of the card are not known at this time. Pricing and availability are also a mystery.