Asus Ares GPU packs raw power of two 5870s in one kickass package [RoG]

For hardcore PC gaming enthusiasts, there exists the ATI Radeon HD 5970, which essentially is a dual-GPU version of the AMD's fastest single graphics card, the ATI Radeon HD 5870. But while the 5970 has the same number of stream processors and memory as a standard 5870, its core and memory are running at 15 percent and 20 percent slower speeds, respectively. Not quite the true dual-graphics solution AMD fans would like it to be.

Enter the Asus Ares, a true dual-5870 solution that appears to belong to the company's Republic of Gamers brand of PC-related hardware. According to the folks from HotHardware, Asus has combined two 5870s back-to-back in the Ares GPU, enabling them to run at full speed and work from a single PCI-E graphics card slot.

Preliminary tests have shown that it pretty much beats the HD 5970 in 3DMark Vantage. The only question now is, is it still a good product when you take heat and power consumption into account? Asus hasn't mentioned when and where they will launch the dual-5870 Ares GPU first, so we probably won't find out until then.

Source: [HotHardware]

Asus MS236H ultra-thin LCD monitor now available with its bizarre design for 12,000 Pesos

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That ultra-thin, LED-backlit LCD monitor from Asus that took its design cues from Samsung's LapFit series of LCD monitors? It's available now in the Philippines for 12,000 Pesos, and it's being sold as the Asus Designo MS236H. It offers full HD resolution on a 23-inch LCD screen and weighs 3.9kgs. So it should be sitting pretty on your desk if you decide to spring for it whether you plan to game, watch movies or do both in the comfort of your own home.

Source: [Arriola Enterprises]

L4D2 "The Passing" DLC scheduled for release in March, screenshots and gameplay videos now available

Over on YouTube I found a couple of recently uploaded videos that show a full minute of gameplay in Valve's upcoming DLC for Left 4 Dead 2 called "The Passing." These gameplay videos were recorded as the game was played on the Xbox 360, and showed the player controlling survivor Ellis while blasting his way through zombies. As I searched for recently published news stories regarding the upcoming DLC, I came across GamePlanet which has apparently gotten the scoop ahead of everyone and even has 10 new screenshots to prove it. The GamePlanet article sheds new light on the much-awaited DLC and talks about another DLC following a month after it is released.

Samsung's S2 portable hard drive comes preloaded with Michael Jackson's 'This Is It'

If you're like me, you don't like the feeling of buying a brand new external storage drive and finding nothing in it after first accessing it through your computer. Samsung all the way in Korea has apparently heard my mutterings and has unveiled a new portable hard drive that should be able to creep you out in more ways than one. First, Samsung's new S2 portable hard drive comes colored in gold, and offers 500GB of portable storage. The creepy part comes in when you notice that it comes with a silhouette of the late singer Michael Jackson drawn on top of it, with his name and the words "THIS IS IT" written right above it. This is because the hard drive itself is home to a digital copy of "This Is It," the late king of pop's last concert which has also been released in Blu-ray and DVD. Pricing is currently unknown, but it will only become available in Europe starting February 22nd, and availability in Asia and other regions will be determined following the initial launch.

Source: [Aving]

LG promoting movie piracy with USB playback-enabled TVs?

Above is a screenshot lifted directly from an English language manual that LG includes in one of its new TVs, which have a nifty feature called USB support that makes it able to play movies and other media files directly from a user's USB flash drive or other USB device. Now as you can see, the screenshot shows at least two movie files that are allegedly of pirated movies, which are The Aviator and The Incredibles. I'm not sure if LG is aware of these allegedly pirated movies, but if they are aware or if these really are pirated movie files, then you could say that the company is promoting piracy, or at least condoning it. This is what TorrentFreak and other sites are insinuating, saying that there could be no other use for this USB support feature but the direct play of ripped media files on USB devices. It's a good theory, but I think LG means to do no harm by including this convenient feature on some of their new TVs, and shouldn't be punished for it.

Source: [Torrent Freak]

Asus MS238H 23-inch LED-backlit LCD monitor headed to Europe, possibly Asia soon

If you think Asus has been beaten by the likes of LG and even AOC when it comes to LED-backlit LCD monitors, think again. The Taiwanese company has been selling its own LED-backlit LCD monitor in the U.S. since last last year under the model name MS238H. It follows the same design concept as Samsung's Lapfit series of monitors which have unusually large bezels along the bottom of the screen and a small stand around the back.

The Asus MS238H has a native resolution of 1920x1080, a 2ms response time (G2G), dynamic contrast ratio of 10,000,000:1 and 23-inches of diagonal screen real estate. It comes with a VGA and HDMI port for input and is said to sell for as low as 212 Euro or about 13,000 Pesos. If Asus wants to sell this thing with a premium, it's their business, but why did they have to go with this bizarre design? Continue reading for another photo.

Google launches Android-powered Nexus One, opens up own Web store

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Google has finally blown the lid off of its worst-kept secret: the Android-powered Nexus One mobile phone, the first of many new smartphones that will be sold either through carriers or from Google itself, with its newly opened Web store accessible at google.com/phone.

[Press Release] Samsung Unveils The Next Generation Of Camera–THE NX10

Seoul (Korea Newswire) January 4, 2010 -- Samsung Digital Imaging Company Inc., today announced the Samsung NX10 at the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas – an innovative digital camera that provides users with optimum image quality in a sleek, compact body. Delivering creativity without compromise, users can now be as creative as they want on the move, without having to compromise perfect images.





Continue reading full press release »

LED-backlit LCD monitors expected to become mainstream in 2011

So we just got started in 2010. CES is coming up and there's a lot of new tech to be showcased there. But what are market sources in Taiwan and China dreaming up while seated in their big comfy office chairs? That LED-backlit monitors will become mainstream, effectively replacing and phasing out CCFL-backlit monitors in desktop PC usage by the year 2011. Currently, there are only a handful of LED-backlit LCD monitors available in the market, and I can tell you, they are not sold in the same price level as their CCFL-backlit counterparts. This LED-backlit monitor from LG called the W2286L only comes with a 22-inch LCD screen that has a native resolution of 1680x1050 and yet it sells for a not-so-sweet 13,000 Pesos -- about 4,000 Pesos more expensive than its most expensive counterpart from Dell (the E228WFP). Go figure. In any case, LED does offer some significant improvements over CCFL, so I hope it does become mainstream (and that prices drop accordingly) in the near future.

Source: [DigiTimes]

Intel's new Clarkdale and Arrandale processors launched, benchmarked, and judged from all angles

This year's newest dual-core Core i3 and i5 processors (codenamed Arrandale and Clarkdale) have just been officially launched by Intel and already Anandtech has put up data on performance, among other things. The new Clarkdale processors, which will fall under the desktop category, will run on Intel's LGA 1156 socket and all existing P55 motherboards will support them with a proper BIOS update (all seven of them, ranging from the high-end Intel Core i5-670 which will retail at nearly $300 USD and the entry-level Intel Core i3-530 which is already on pre-sale at PC Hub Gilmore).

Meanwhile, Intel also plans to launch entirely new motherboards with integrated graphics in the form of the H55, H57 and Q57 chipsets. Apparently, this is where Intel's new processors shine, giving integrated graphics a new leash on life both on the desktop as well as the laptop category, with Arrandale taking care of things in the mobile department (with no less than 11 mobile Arrandale CPUs, at that).

So, there's a slight increase in performance in terms of computing power and graphics processing with Clarkdale and Arrandale, but not enough to warrant their slightly ridiculous price tags, which I've already pointed out on several occasions. But why should you take my word for it? Go on and read Anandtech's review of the new processors for yourself, with two clear links as sources below.

Source: [Anandtech - Arrandale review, Clarkdale review]

Google's Nexus One reviewed in full

There's a new Android smartphone in town, and some people have gone so far as to call it, "The Messiah." This seemingly all-powerful new smartphone is called the Nexus One, and a newly established blog has just published a full review of it complete with photos and comparisons with other leading smartphones of this generation. I'll spare you the details, which you can go on and read for yourself, but I think this is the Android smartphone everyone has been waiting for.

Source: [NexusOneBlog]

Cheapest P55 motherboard ever now available courtesy of ECS

Asrock no longer holds the title of "cheapest P55 mobo manufacturer ever." This honor now belongs to ECS, with its new P55H-CM motherboard, now available for the low low price of just 4,780 Pesos. That's even cheaper than some LGA 775 and AM3 motherboards out there. Doubts about quality aside, the ECS P55H-CM motherboard comes with four 240-pin DDR3 DIMM sockets that support up to 16GB of memory, one x PCI Express x16 slot, two PCI Express x1 slots and 1 PCI slot. It's built in a Micro-ATX form factor, which would make it perfect for use in SFFs and HTPCs. It might be a good idea to wait out for reviews of this mobo before going for it, though.





Sources: [ECS, PC Hub]

Asus P7P55D EVO and PRO motherboard now available in the Philippines

Done buying up all the parts necessary for your new PC running on Intel's P55 Express chipset? If not, and you're still in the process of picking out a motherboard to use your new Lynnfield processor on, then add these two newly available Asus mobos into your list of options. The Asus P7P55D PRO and Asus P7P55D EVO are the two most affordable P55 motherboards from Asus with 2 PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots that run in x8/x8 mode when used with 2 GPUs.

I used to recommend the cheaper vanilla P7P55D and even the P7P55D LE motherboards from the same company, until I found out that the second PCI-E 2.0 x16 slots on those ones only ran on x4 mode with a second GPU. For those that don't know, this is very bad news if you want to run your GPUs in Crossfire, and at least x8/x8 is necessary to be able to experience the benefits of such a dual-GPU configuration. And so, the Asus P7P55D PRO and EVO are yours for the picking. Happy New Year!

Sources: [P7P55D PRO, P7P55D EVO]

Intel Core i3 530 arriving on January 4, now on pre-sale at PC Hub Gilmore

First listed on the price list of local computer parts reseller Enigma Technologies, Intel's Core i3 530 processor is now on pre-sale at PC Hub Gilmore. The asking price may still be a bit steep for some -- 5,999 Pesos -- especially for a dual-core CPU with a 133MHz FSB. This new Core i-series processor will be compatible with LGA1156 socket motherboards, which are available for as low as 5,000 Pesos. So perhaps there is a point to having a CPU this affordable and, ahem, underpowered (compared to even the i5 750). Expect the first batch of i3 530s to arrive by January 4th.

Source: [PC Hub]

Viliv to introduce N5 MID at CES 2010 with other portable devices

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Viliv has just sent out their CES 2010 invitation to journalists, and in it they reveal that they have a fancy new mobile Internet device ready for introduction. Pictured above, held in the sweet, soft hands on SNSD-member Yoona, is the Viliv N5 MID, featuring a 4.8-inch WSVGA (1024x600) screen, clamshell design, 3G, Wi-Fi and GPS. Viliv failed to mention the device's battery life and default operating system though, which we'll have to keep guessing for now. Viliv also plans to showcase the S10 Blade, P3 PMP and HD5 PMP.

Source: [Viliv]

Apple to show off 7- to 10-inch multi-touch tablet in January with full screen apps

Have you ever noticed? The harder someone tries to keep something important secret, the bigger and better it gets with each time rumors spark. This is exactly what's happening with Apple's forthcoming touchscreen tablet, which continues to pique the interest of many even though it may as well be inexistent vaporware.

Apple has continued to stay mum about the much-awaited product, declining to comment about it in interviews and other news stories, but somehow people still seem to believe that it is indeed coming, like an all-important Messiah of the 21st century.

If it is real, prepare to see its first appearance some time in January, as several online reports have it that Apple plans to showcase the device and its full-screen apps that are already being worked on by a few select developers. At this point I still think it's nothing more than wild fanboy speculation (laced with drool, no less), but if the rumors prove true then we'll all be in for damn good show when this thing shows up.

Sources: [Silicon Alley Insider, Financial Times, Boy Genius Report]

NVIDIA Ion 2 to be compatible with Pinetrail, coming in early 2010

Good news for those who eternally swear against Intel's GMA graphics which is still being used in its latest Atom platform. NVIDIA has revealed that its upcoming Ion 2 chipset will be compatible with the new Pinetrail Atom platform as many had hoped, and that it will be available some time in early 2010. No word on whether it will come in the form of a mini-PCIe card or not, but it's coming. And it's going to be great. Well, great compared to Intel GMA graphics, anyway.

Source: [Engadget]

Epic Games shows off Unreal Engine 3 for iPhone and iPod touch

When I think about portable gaming consoles, the iPhone or iPod touch are the last things on my mind. Forget the fact that the controls can be a bit hard to handle on the touchscreen display, I just don't think I can enjoy gaming on such as small screen with low-res games. Well, it looks like things are about to change in the graphics department, where I think iPhone games are severely lacking, with the introduction of Epic Games's Unreal Engine 3 for the iPhone platform. Above is a screenshot of Unreal Tournament played on an iPod touch for a demonstration.

Anandtech's Anand Lal Shimpi got a chance to try out the game, and he comments, "In practice, the controls work well... the frame rate was smooth. There are more visuals to be added, as well as some polishing, but the demo looked very good for an iPhone game." But don't take his word for it, watch a video of the demo gameplay after the break.

Sapphire's DisplayPort-to-DVI adapter enables Eyefinity on DisplayPort-less monitors

Eyefinity. It's a feature in all of AMD's new 5800-series and 5700-series GPUs which enables the use of three monitors on a single video card. Unfortunately, it's not as easy as just plugging in three different monitors into any of the four available display ports. Eyefinity requires the use of the two dual-DVI ports plus a single DisplayPort-out port. And you know how rare DisplayPort is found on monitors these days.

To eliminate this hindrance, Sapphire has introduced an active DisplayPort-to-DVI adapter, so you can use a third monitor via dual-link DVI instead of DisplayPort for Eyefinity. It will cost around $60-70 if Nordic Hardware isn't mistaken, but it's a lot cheaper than having to buy an entirely new monitor with a DisplayPort connector.

Source: [Nordic Hardware]

Samsung N150 netbook with Pineview Atom CPU surfaces

It seems each and every netbook manufacturer you can think of has announced their own variation of a new netbook with Intel's Pinetrail Atom CPU running under the hood. Except a few, and one of those few is Samsung. So does this mean that Samsung won't be part of the Intel Atom N450 CPU bandwagon? Of course not. The company probably forgot to issue an announcement, or perhaps they ran out of ink while they were printing out the press release. Fortunately, the FCC and an online retail site named Neobits were glad to help Samsung let loose a few pieces of information about their upcoming Pinetrail Atom-based netbook.