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 With a delay of five months (an improvement of 8 months compared to the DeltaChrome), S3 announced the release of the GammaChrome. This GPU includes the same characteristics than the previous version but is PCI Express 16x compatible and has a slightly modified architecture. One of the DeltaChrome main problems was the lack of efficiency. Pixel pipelines rarely works at full potential. Improvements tend to reduce this problem. If they really do, if the drivers are OK and if graphic cards are available this time in shops, it could be an alternative solution to ATI and NVIDIA entry level products. |
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Like last year, AMD didn’t have any dedicated stand but several meeting rooms. In these meeting rooms, the main subject of discussion was the Turion 64 announced yesterday. The public presence was via partner stands. For non mobile processor tendency, AMD confirmed the intention to release initially a dual core Opteron processor mid 2005, a market which should be more receptive to this advance than the desktop market initially targeted by Intel.
 So it is only during the second half that dual core AMD processors for Socket 939 will be released. According to AMD, all Socket 939 motherboards will be compatible with dual core processors with a simple bios update. We will have of course to check this information when the processors will be available. The AMD dual core interest is that unlike Intel’s solution both cores will be interconnected internally and won’t unnecessarily overload the fsb and chipset.  AMD isn’t also planning to stop the evolution of single core processors, but for the moment the manufacturer hasn’t provided any specific information on the release of the future Athlon 64 4200+ and Athlon FX-57. During Q2, the main evolution will be the progressive replacement of Athlon 64 130nm by 90nm, especially those based on the core E which supports the SSE3. We have also noticed hat AMD has updated the official roadmap and replaced the Lancaster code name by the Turion 64 denomination. Except for this modification, nothing has changed compared to the information published last November . |
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You have bought the Gericom cow/leopard LCD monitor and you feel that your computer is a little bit dull? We have a solution for you as some manufacturers are apparently trying to reach the height of bad taste with this tower case/keyboard/louse/speaker combination which will be perfect with your new monitor!
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Shuttle never does things by halves and should offer one of the most advanced Windows Media Center 2005 solutions: the XPC MCE 01. Based on a Pentium M processor, an i915PM and a X300, this computer fits in a HiFi tower case type and according to the back of the current pre-version will feature an a lot of different inputs/outputs. It will also include an analogical Tuner and a TNT tuner. The only thing is that we will have to wait for the end of this summer to see this product and that it will costs around 1500€!
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TwinMOS exposed two new high end TwiSTER memory modules. In DDR, TwinMOS now reaches 300 MHz in CAS3 with the TwiSTER Pro PC4800 512 MB, and in DDR2 366 MHz in CAS4 with the Pro PC2-5900. It is important to notice that TwinMOS also offers DDR2 350 MHz memory modules with a similar latency, the PC2-5600.
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The mCubed company introduced during the CeBIT the HFX Media PC tower case. Intended for the living room, this tower case welcomes ATX motherboards and power supply, but has a specific cooling system. It features two radiators with blades on each side of the tower case. The one on the left is supposed to evacuate the processor heat transmitted by a heatpipe system and the one on the right take care of the optional fanless power supply. The tower case weights 18 Kg and its dimensions are as follows: 430x145x450mm. The tower case price with the power supply will be around 300 €.
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XWI, whose current graphic card generation didn’t meet users’ requirements, is preparing its next move, but this time objectives have changed and targets have been reduced to a more realistic level. XGI leaves the high end and partly the middle range segment to focus on entry level products. Competing with ATI and NVIDIA for high end products isn’t possible for XGI and the last attempt with the Volari Duo confirmed this situation.
Entry level products, even if they are less glorifying in terms of image than high end products, are clearly more accessible and XGI has the intention to release a products which will take some market shares. This product (code name XG47) denomination will be Volari 8300 and will compete directly with the GeForce 6200 TurboCache and other Radeon X300 HyperMemory. The architecture has been changed completely compared to previous XGI products to improve the efficiency. This point will of course have to be verified. The GPU supports the Shader 2.0, features 4 pipelines with two able to process pixel shaders, is able to calculate Z data at double speed and supports the eXtreme Cache which is as you probably have already understood the equivalent to the TurboCache and HyperMemory. XGI has pushed, however, the concept even further. It is possible here not to include any memory chips and only use memory allocated to the eXtreme Cache. 16/32/64 Mo 32 bits and 64/128 Mo 64 bits versions will also be available. They will be clocked ideally at 300/350 MHz. These graphic cards will be available within a couple of months. There is still though a lot of work to do as the demonstration product was only a prototype far from the final version. Driver are also only 2D compatible for the moment.
  Just after this product in the beginning of summer, XGI will release the XG45. This more efficient chip will feature twice as more pixel pipelines and will support shader 3.0 renamed for this occasion TrueShader 3.0. The bus memory will be of 64 or 128 bits and will support from 64 to 256 MB. The most efficient model will be clocked at 450 MHz for the GPU and memory instead of 400 MHz and 275 MHz for the next product. According to XGI, the first graphic card will provide performances between the X700 Pro and the 6600 GT. These 2 GPU will also be available in mobile version… to the MXM Type I format for the XG47 (also named XP10 for mobile version) and type III for the XG45. The XG47/XP10 will also be available to a specific format for a major laptop manufacturer. XGI mentioned the future roadmap with end 2005 / early 2006 the XG50 which specifications are identical to the XG45 but with a new architecture and the XG60 end of 2006 which will feature the WGF 2.0 ("DX 10") compatibility. XG51 and XG61 versions with half of the pipelines number and the eXtreme Cache compatibility will also be released. Let’s hope for XGI that these products will be up to their expectations and released on time... |
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Zalman introduced during the CeBIT, a new totally silent tower, the TNN (Totaly No Noise) 300. More compact and design than the previous version, the TNN 300 features a 350 Watts power supply and totally silent CPU, GPU and HDD cooling system using the tower case as a gigantic radiator. Of course this configuration doesn’t include a single fan.
 For the CPU, Zalman shouldn’t be able to dissipate more than 70 Watts. Consequently, this configuration won’t be able to welcome high end Pentium 4. The last thing to find out is the release price… |
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