The third generation Intel core i5 processors were just released 2 days ago. Within 2 days of it’s debut, we are hearing stories about compatibility issues running of these processors on older chipsets e.g. Z68. This is acceptable as the older Z68 chipset may not have the latest bios to support the new processors.

The weirdest thing that we heard was that a certain brand’s B75 Board couldn’t boot up with the processor. Imagine you paid for a new processor and a new board and found that it can’t boot. This is really frustrating.

Sometimes I really wonder why some brands spend so much money doing all sort of campaigning on their overclockability but they can’t even get the basics right e.g. stability and compatibility before releasing it to the retail market.

This does more harm to the brand’s image than anything else. Come to think of it, sometimes you get better luck with lesser known brands as they have lesser range of products and a more committed team to ensure the quality of the boards ensuring it to work with the retail processors.

According to news from Japan, the retail versions of the Intel Core i7-3770K, Core i5-3570K and other models goes on sale in Akihabara today.

Without much introduction, this new 3rd generation Ivy bridge is powered by 22nm manufacturing process. Basically, that means lower power consumption and better efficiency.

On top of that, the processor supports PCIE e3.0 and it’s integrated video is also updated to HD Graphics is upgraded to Intel HD Graphics 4000 and supports DX11. Quick Sync Video hardware acceleration is also improved to ver 2.0 which speeds up 2 fold in transcoding.

Although much emphasis is on the K processors, there are variants of it, they are the lower TDP versions 45W TDP “T” model and and 65W “S” models, both are in limited quantities and were sold out within hours.

A closer look at the spec printed on the box shows that it is rated 95W. Retailer claims that is it the rating of the heatsink and not the processor which doesn’t sound quite right.

So, could it be CPU rated TDP 77W but requires a heatsink that is meant for 95W. For me, i wouldn’t mind as I won’t overclock it using insane methods. Normal use should not be an issue at all.

Below are pricing of the new processors in Japan

Core i7-3770K (3.5GHz) 95W Y29,980
Core i7-3770 (3.4GHz) 95W Y26,980
Core i7-3770S (3.1GHz) 65W Y26,980
Core i7-3770T (2.5GHz) 45W Y26,480

Core i5-3570K (3.4GHz) 95W Y20,800
Core i5-3750T (2.3GHz) 45W Y17,980
Core i5-3550 (3.3GHz0 95W Y18,800
Core i5-3550S (3.0GHz) 65W Y17,980
Core i5-3450 (3.1GHz) 95W Y17,280
Core i5-3450S (2.8GHz) 65W Y17,280

Pictures courtesy of Akiba-pc

NVIDIA Unveils GeForce GTX 690 — Dual Graphics Card Combines World’s Fastest Gaming Performance With Sleek, Sexy Design

SHANGHAI, Apr 28, 2012 -GEFORCE LAN/NVIDIA Game Festival 2012 — NVIDIA today announced the GeForce(R) GTX 690, the world’s fastest consumer graphics card(1) — with a bold industrial design to match.

Powered by dual Kepler(TM) architecture-based GeForce GPUs, the GTX 690 is meticulously designed — inside and out — to deliver the most refined, elegant and smooth PC gaming experience possible.

The surprise announcement was made by NVIDIA CEO and co-founder Jen-Hsun Huang during his keynote address at the NVIDIA Game Festival in Shanghai, which is being attended by more than 6,000 gamers from across China.

Engineered to reach a new threshold in gaming performance, the GTX 690 also looks the part. Its array of innovative technologies is complemented by sleek materials that contribute to the exotic design of the card, including:

– An exterior frame made from trivalent chromium-plated aluminum,
providing excellent strength and durability
– A fan housing made from a thixomolded magnesium alloy, which offers
excellent heat dissipation and vibration dampening
– High-efficiency power delivery with less resistance, lower power and
less heat generated using a 10-phase, heavy-duty power supply with a
10-layer, two-ounce copper printed circuit board
– Efficient cooling using dual vapor chambers, a nickel-plated finstack
and center-mounted axial fan with optimized fin pitch and air entry
angles
– Low-profile components and ducted baseplate channels for unobstructed
airflow, minimizing turbulence and improving acoustic quality

The GTX 690 is powered by a total of 3,072 NVIDIA CUDA(R) cores, all working to deliver awesome gaming performance for ultimate gaming setups. Designed for the discriminating gamer and ultra-high-resolution, multimonitor NVIDIA Surround(TM) configurations, the GTX 690 delivers close to double the frame rates of the closest single GPU product, the GTX 680. Plus, it is more power efficient and quieter when compared to systems equipped with two GTX 680 cards(2) running in NVIDIA SLI(R) configuration.

“The GTX 690 is truly a work of art — gorgeous on the outside with amazing performance on the inside,” said Brian Kelleher, senior vice president of GPU engineering at NVIDIA. “Gamers will love playing on multiple screens at high resolutions with all the eye candy turned on. And they’ll relish showing their friends how beautiful the cards look inside their systems.”

The GTX 690 graphics card is designed using GeForce GPUs based on NVIDIA’s 28-nanometer Kepler architecture, following the introduction late last month of the GTX 680.

Availability The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 690 GPU will be available in limited quantities starting May 3, 2012, with wider availability by May 7, 2012 from NVIDIA’s add-in card partners, including ASUS, EVGA, Gainward, Galaxy, Gigabyte, Inno3D, MSI, Palit and Zotac. Expected pricing is $999.

More information about the new GeForce GTX 690 is available at www.geforce.com. For pictures from the GeForce LAN/NVIDIA Game Festival in Shanghai, please visit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/nvidia-taiwan/sets/72157629554964212/detail

For more NVIDIA news, company and product information, videos, images and other information, please visit the NVIDIA newsroom.

About NVIDIA NVIDIA (NASDAQ: NVDA) awakened the world to computer graphics when it invented the GPU in 1999. Today, its processors power a broad range of products from smartphones to supercomputers. NVIDIA’s mobile processors are used in cell phones, tablets and auto infotainment systems. PC gamers rely on GPUs to enjoy spectacularly immersive worlds. Professionals use them to create 3D graphics and visual effects in movies and to design everything from golf clubs to jumbo jets. And researchers utilize GPUs to advance the frontiers of science with high performance computing. The company has more than 4,500 patents issued, allowed or filed, including ones covering ideas essential to modern computing. For more information, see www.nvidia.com.

(1) Testing was conducting comparing the GeForce GTX 690 versus GTX 680, running at a resolution of 2,500 x 1,600. Driver version used was 301.10. In the Heaven benchmark, with 4xAA/16xAF settings, GTX 690 scored 58.9 fps while the GTX 680 scored 31.1 fps. For Crysis 2 Ultra, the GTX 690 scored 57.8 fps while the GTX 680 scored 32.3 fps. In Dirt 3, with 8xAA/16xAF, the GTX 690 scored 111.2 fps, while the GTX 680 scored 62.3 fps. For performance, a higher number is better.

(2) GTX 690 acoustic measurement was 47 dB versus 51 dB for the GTX 680 SLI. For acoustic testing, a lower number is better.

Certain statements in this press release including, but not limited to statements as to: the availability GeForce GTX 690 GPUs; and the effects of the company’s patents on modern computing are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause results to be materially different than expectations. Important factors that could cause actual results to differ materially include: global economic conditions; our reliance on third parties to manufacture, assemble, package and test our products; the impact of technological development and competition; development of new products and technologies or enhancements to our existing product and technologies; market acceptance of our products or our partners products; design, manufacturing or software defects; changes in consumer preferences or demands; changes in industry standards and interfaces; unexpected loss of performance of our products or technologies when integrated into systems; as well as other factors detailed from time to time in the reports NVIDIA files with the Securities and Exchange Commission, or SEC, including its Form 10-K for the fiscal period ended January 29, 2012. Copies of reports filed with the SEC are posted on the company’s website and are available from NVIDIA without charge. These forward-looking statements are not guarantees of future performance and speak only as of the date hereof, and, except as required by law, NVIDIA disclaims any obligation to update these forward-looking statements to reflect future events or circumstances.

Website

Singapore
United States
Japan
Germany
Canada
United Kingdom
Australia
France
Italy
Taiwan

This Apr (compared to Mar), we see a whopping 219% increase in Japanese visitors to OCWorkbench. Next in line is UK, Canada and Australia ranging from 16% to 26%.

Although the readership is growing from European continent, Asia readership fell for Singapore and Taiwan.

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We received this news from legit reviews and they have found a bug with the current new Ivy Bridge processors. Apparently, the Core i7-3770K works pretty well on the Intel Z77 chipset but not on the older Intel LGA1155 boards based on Z68 or P67 chipsets.

They found that Intel Core i7-3770K’s multiplier can’t be overclocked beyond 39X. It seems to be locked. This means that Intel ‘k’ sku processors like the Intel Core i7-3770K processor are stuck at a multiplier of 39 on these boards!

From the looks of it, it could be a BIOS issue on the older Z68 and P67 boards as they can’t fully support the new processor.

Think of it another way, most reviews out there are still using the Engineering Samples leaked out from some under table dealings, perhaps the final retail units will not have this sort of issues.

Your comments ?

Although PC SHOW 2012 is scheduled for the June school holidays, all retailers are already preparing to make a killing in their sales of PCs, notebooks, tablets etc.

Attached are the revised floor plan for PC SHOW 2012. 

Price List section is also up and will be updated soon. Stay tuned.

The upcoming ASUS flagship P8Z77-V PREMIUM motherboard is built with the latest technology and is packed with an abundance of features. With it being the top end model, it ships with an onboard Wi-Fi module, supporting 2T2R dual-band 2.4GHz/5GHz wit h transfer speeds up to 300mps.

It also features four of the latest PCIe Gen 3.0 slots, to support true 4-way NVIDIA® SLI™ and 4-way AMD CrossFireX™ for unrivaled graphics performance. Also on board is an mSATA based SSD plugged into the header that works with Intel Rapid Start and Smart Response Technology for faster bootup and resume times

For storage and expandability, there are six speedy SATA 6Gb/s ports for ultrafast transfer rates. A pair of Gigabit Intel® LAN ports are also made available by ASUS for fast and reliable networking.

LG EXPANDS GLOBAL LTE SMARTPHONE FOOTPRINT WITH ROLL-OUT OF OPTIMUS TRUE HD LTE IN EUROPE AND ASIA
Popular LTE Phone From LG Available In Three Continents Worldwide

SEOUL, April. 27, 2012 – LG Electronics (LG) will expand its LTE smartphone footprint with the launch of Optimus True HD LTE in new markets across Europe and Asia: Germany, Portugal, Sweden, Hong Kong and Singapore.

First launched in Korea and now available in Japan, Canada and the US, Optimus True HD LTE is LG’s flagship LTE device. The phone has been recognized for its HD multimedia capabilities and beautiful 4.5-inch 1280 x 720 (16:9 ratio) True HD IPS display. To ensure peak performance, the Optimus True HD LTE runs on a 1.5GHZ dual-core processor and includes an 8MP camera to provide users with a truly best-in-class user experience. The device will receive an upgrade to Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.

“The mobile industry is evolving around LTE technology which has demonstrated its capability when it comes to speed, efficiency and reliability,” said Dr. Jong-seok Park, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. “With the Optimus True HD LTE, we want customers to understand that LTE isn’t just about the network and that all LTE phones are not alike.”

With the greatest number of LTE patents under its belt, LG showcased the world’s first voice-to-video conversion over a LTE network at this year Mobile World Congress (MWC). Since demonstrating the world’s first LTE technology demonstration in 2007, LG has continued its efforts in this area by developing the world’s first LTE modem chipset in 2008 and the world’s fastest LTE speed in 2010.

Sony today announced the launch of the new VAIO E Series 14P, a 14-inch notebook that is designed with everyone in mind. Made for smarter and easier everyday computing, the notebook comes equipped with a 3rd generation Intel® Core™ i7 CPU, as well as the AMD Radeon™ HD 7670M discrete GPU (VRAM: 1GB) to cope with the stresses of daily usage. With its unique design and colour variations, everyone can express their personal style this spring with the new VAIO E Series 14P.

Stylish New ‘Wrap Design’ with Colour Accents and ‘Personalisation Kit’

Whether you are at home, on campus or at the nearest café, the new VAIO E14P stands out from the crowd with its soft, discreetly reassuring ‘wrap design’. Available in five fresh colours – white, black, pink, silver or gun metallic – its sleek looks are subtly accented by the complementary coloured detailing around the notebook’s edge[1], touchpad and keyboard, with a premium diamond-cut finish VAIO logo[2] on the lid to cap it off.

In addition, the VAIO E14P comes with a ‘personalisation kit’ consisting of a matching mouse and keyboard skin, allowing for a customisable look reflecting each individual’s taste and personality.

Long Battery Life Realised by Hybrid Graphics and ‘Rapid Wake + Eco’

With battery life of up to 5.5 hours[3], the VAIO E14P keeps you up and running for longer, providing plenty of power to satisfy your requirements for both work and play.

To conserve battery life, the VAIO E14P switches on its discrete GPU for demanding tasks like games, videos and photo editing, and automatically turns it off for less intensive applications. The notebook’s endurance is further enhanced by the efficient VAIO Display and energy-efficient processors, as well as an on-board optical drive that shuts down to zero power consumption when it’s not needed.

Also, with the new ‘Rapid Wake + Eco’ feature, you’ll be ready for action in moments. This energy-saving mode puts your VAIO into an ultra-low power consuming deep sleep, keeping all your data safe for up to ten days[4]. Open the notebook’s lid and you’re up and running in seconds, with all your files just as you left them.

Enjoy Loud and Clear Sound with xLOUD, Clear Phase and Dolby Home Theatre V4

The new VAIO E14P also provides for effortlessly clear and sparkling audio quality, to match its good looks. Unique to Sony, its ‘xLOUD’ and ‘Clear Phase’ technology boosts volume levels, without distorting the sound for impressive-sounding movies and games. Alternatively, you can switch to Dolby® Home Theatre® V4 for a rich, cinema-style audio experience – no matter whether you’re using its built-in speakers, external loudspeakers or headphones.

Various Features to Enrich the Experience

Video chats are now also clearer and crisper, thanks to its built-in HD web camera powered by an ‘Exmor for PC’ sensor. Allowing your friends and family to see you in sharper detail, higher contrast and richer colours; you can now facilitate your most intimate conversations even in low light settings, where other web cameras struggle with grainy and fuzzy images.

The generously-sized multi-gesture touchpad offers a large clickable surface for intuitive, ‘button-free’ control. There’s plenty of space to navigate pages, edit photos and more with its intuitive fingertip scroll, flick, pinch/zoom and pivot movement controls.

The Gesture Control feature lets you interact with your computer using instinctive hand movements. Just hold your hand up in front of the web camera, and swipe left or right to flick through web pages or your photo gallery. Pull your hand down to pause a slideshow or your music playback, and even adjust your music volume with ‘rotating’ hand movements. Gesture Control is currently supported by Windows® Media Player, Windows® Internet Explorer® 9, Microsoft® PowerPoint®, and PowerDVD.

Coming in five fresh colours – white, black, pink, silver or gun metallic – the sleek VAIO E Series 14P will be available in Singapore from 4 May 2012 at all Sony stores and Sony-authorised outlets, and will retail for S$1,399 (SVE14A15FGB/W/P) and S$1,599 (SVE14A16FGS) respectively.

The latest news from the market tells us that the Intel Core i7-3770K retail units will be delayed again. We last heard that it was scheduled for May but it is now changed to June.

For users who wishes to have the fastest and latest, you might want to consider buying it from overseas as the retail stocks might also be limited.

Lately, we see various motherboard manufacturers posted memory records one after another. It started from DDR3-2600 and all the way to DDR3-3733.

According to the email, it is said that the result showing DDR3-3733 is bogus. The tester uses a CPU-Z bug to achieve this high ram speed.

According to the email, this result can be duplicated by doing the following :

Use CPU-Z version 1.592, tune the RAM to DDR3-2600. It will be shown as DDR3-3466.
If you use the newer version, it will still be DDR3-2600.

Try it and let us know if you can duplicate it.

3rd Generation Intel® Core™ Processors

Bring Exciting New Experiences and Fun to the PC

World’s First 22nm Quad-Core Processors Bring Up to Twice the Visual Performance
for Unmatched Overall PC Experiences

NEWS HIGHLIGHTS
Quad-core processors available starting today in powerful, high-end desktop, laptop, and sleek and beautiful all-in-one designs.
Accelerates Intel’s “Tick-Tock” cadence for first time to simultaneously bring to market the world’s first processors developed on 22nm manufacturing process using innovative 3-D tri-gate transistor technology and a new graphics architecture.
Up to twice the HD media and 3-D graphics performance, as well as significant processor performance, deliver stunning visual experiences from mainstream gaming to HD video editing.
Ultrabook™ devices, all-in-one (AIO) platforms, business PCs and Intelligent systems in retail, healthcare and other industries will benefit from Intel’s newest processors, with formal announcements in the coming months.

Singapore, April 24, 2012 – Intel Corporation today introduced the quad-core 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processor family, delivering dramatic visual and performance computing gains for gamers, media enthusiasts and mainstream users alike. Available now in powerful, high-end desktop, laptop and sleek all-in-one (AIO) designs, the new processors are the first chips in the world made using Intel’s 22-nanometer (nm) 3-D tri-Gate transistor technology.

The combination of Intel’s cutting-edge 3-D tri-gate transistor technology and architectural enhancements help make possible up to double the 3-D graphics and HD media processing performance compared with Intel’s previous generation of chips. As a result of the stunning, built-in visual performance, all the things people love to do on their PCs — from creating and editing videos and photos, surfing the Web, watching HD movies or playing mainstream games — are quicker, crisper and more life-like. With as much as 20 percent microprocessor performance improvements and new technologies to speed the flow of data to and from the chips, the new processors further extend Intel’s overall performance leadership.

In the coming months, additional versions of the 3rd generation Intel Core processors will be available to power a new wave of systems ranging from Ultrabook™ devices, to servers and intelligent systems in retail, healthcare and other industries.

“The 3rd generation Intel Core processors were created from the ground up to generate exciting new experiences,” said Collin Tan, Intel’s country manager for Singapore. “Our engineers have exceeded our expectations by doubling the performance of media and graphics versus the best processors we’ve built until today, which means incredible new visual experiences are here for new all-in-one PCs and upcoming Ultrabook devices. What makes all this possible is the combination of Intel’s leading manufacturing and processor architecture, and our unwavering commitment to drive computing innovations forward.”

“Tick-Plus” – The Intel Advantage

The performance gains found in the new processors are due in part to the groundbreaking, three-dimensional structure of the new Intel transistors. Until today, computers, servers and other devices have used only two-dimensional planar transistors. Adding a third dimension to transistors allows Intel to increase transistor density and put more capabilities into every square millimeter of these new processors. Intel has once again re-invented the transistor and delivered an unprecedented combination of performance and energy efficiency, thus sustaining the pace of technology advancement and fueling Moore’s Law for years to come.

Intel engineers also reworked the graphics architecture of the 3rd generation Intel Core processors, helping to deliver dramatic improvements in the overall visual experience. Changing the chips’ architecture while at the same time shrinking the size of the underlying transistors is an acceleration of Intel’s “tick-tock” model. Previously, the company adhered to a strict “tick-tock” model in which a new manufacturing process was introduced in 1 year (the “tick”), and the architecture of the chip (the “tock”) was altered the next. The ability to accelerate the roadmap and change both the chips’ architecture and the manufacturing process at the same time was made possible because Intel is one of the few companies that both designs and manufactures its chips, a method called Integrated Device Manufacturing.

Get Visual and Get Your Game On

The 3rd generation Intel® Core™ processor with Intel® HD Graphics 4000 delivers up to two times better 3-D graphics performance compared to the previous-generation processor, bringing more gaming fun with richer detail at higher resolutions. Intel® HD Graphics 4000 supports Microsoft* DirectX 11, OpenGL 3.1 and OpenCL 1.1.

“The 3-D graphics capabilities in 3rd generation Intel Core processors represent a major step forward for PC gaming,” said Gabe Newell, co-founder and managing director of Valve Software, a leading online game provider. “Mainstream gamers are going to have a blast playing titles like our upcoming DOTA 2 on Intel HD Graphics 4000.”

Great visual experience is about more than just gaming. Online video continues to grow dramatically, and is expected to comprise half of all Internet traffic this year.** The key to making video fun is the ability to quickly convert it for online sharing with friends and family. With Intel® Quick Sync Video 2.0 technology built into the new processors, people can convert their videos up to two times faster than even last year’s processors and up to 23 times faster than PCs just three years old.

Experiences, Secured. Platform, Enhanced.

The 3rd generation Intel Core processor also adds security features, including Intel® Secure Key and Intel® OS Guard to safeguard personal data and identity. Intel Secure Key consists of a digital random number generator that creates truly random numbers to strengthen encryption algorithms. Intel OS Guard helps defend against privilege escalation attacks where a hacker remotely takes over another person’s system. These two features join existing platform security features such as Intel® Identity Protection Technology (Intel® IPT) and Intel® Anti-Theft technology (Intel® AT) to help make Intel platforms some of the most secure in the

industry. When paired with the Intel® Series 7 Chipset, the new processors with Intel IPT can make a portion of the screen unreadable to spyware with the “protected transaction display” feature, helping prevent a hacker from obtaining login credentials that could lead to identity theft.

Platforms based on 3rd generation Intel Core processors also deliver faster data transfer capabilities made possible by USB 3.0 integrated into the Series 7 Platform Controller Hub (PCH) and PCI Express 3.0 integrated into the processor. These next-generation I/O technologies bring bigger data pipes to the platform to keep data moving, minimizing any interruption to the PC experience.

Processor and System Availability

Systems based on quad-core 3rd generation Intel Core processor products will be available beginning this month from leading system makers. Boxed versions of these processors will also be available this month from online, retail and channel resellers. Additional versions of the 3rd generation Intel Core processor products for servers, intelligent systems in retail, healthcare and other industries, Ultrabook devices and laptops and more will be available later this year.

The MSI GT 70 gaming laptop is the high end notebook based on the running the ivy bridge processor. This new notebook features integrated USB 3.0 and comes with 2 SSD which is configured to run in a RAID 0 array.

The laptop running on Super Raid mSATA (64GBx02) achieves a high speed of 921.3MB/s read speed on average. Check out the screen shot below :
 

While most review sites and blogs are showing how well the Core i7-3770K can overclock under LN2 (6.9GHz), there weren’t much talk about how far this chip can do under normal air cooling.

As LN2 is not a practical solution but only meant for competition use, readers would be delighted to know that the Core i7-3770K under AIR COOL is able to reach an average of 5.2GHz with overclocking.

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StarHub Partners Western Digital® For Recording Capabilities On HD Interactive Set-Top Box

External Hard Drive Enables Recording With StarHub’s Smart TVTM Value-Added Service

Singapore, 16 April 2012 – Starting 18 April 2012, StarHub TV customers using the HD Interactive set-top boxes will soon have recording options thanks to StarHub’s new Value-Added Service (VAS) – Smart TVTM, and the introduction of an external hard drive that is compatible with the HD Interactive set-top box to enable recording capabilities.

StarHub’s HD Interactive set-top box was first introduced in May 2010 to enable viewers to enjoy high definition content and interactive TV services such as On Demand TV and KaraOK!. Users of this set-top box were however unable to initiate any content recordings.

This lack of recording capabilities will be a thing of the past when customers subscribe to Smart TVTM. When connected to the Western Digital® My Passport® AV portable media drives, Smart TVTM functionalities will be activated on the HD Interactive set-top box. Users can then enjoy digital video recorder (DVR) capabilities such as ‘Live’ TV control, and options to record a programme instantaneously or at pre-set times, by series or by show.

With a generous capacity of 320 GB, each My Passport® AV portable media drive offers storage space to store up to 160 hours and 30 hours for standard and High Definition content respectively. Users can also choose to have access to more storage space by purchasing multiple external hard drives. Only one subscription to Smart TVTM is required for households with multiple HD Interactive set-top boxes.

Ms Iris Wee, StarHub’s Vice President of Home Solutions & Content shared, “Viewers want to have the option to store their preferred content and consume it at any time, effectively, without any loss of quality. Some also want to safeguard their favourite content, and store them for future viewing. Smart TVTM will be a welcome introduction and underscores the importance that StarHub places on user experience for our TV customers, offering solutions that are tailored to their viewing needs”.

Mr Craig Davis, Director Sales & Marketing, Retail Division, Western Digital APAC & Japan added, “We are excited to partner with StarHub and bring enhanced user experience to viewers. My Passport® AV portable media drives will create added value to the HD Interactive set-top box and elevate home entertainment to another level.”

The Smart TVTM service is priced at an affordable fee of $4.28[1] (w/GST) monthly, and subscription can be made via Instant Buy when the external hard drive is connected to a HD Interactive set-top box for the first time. My Passport® AV portable media drive is retailing at $139 (GST included), and will be sold exclusively at all StarHub retail stores at a promotion price of $88 (GST included) while stocks last.

For more information on StarHub TV, visit www.starhub.com/smarttv.

[1] Excludes HD Interactive set-top box rental fee

Windows 8 is the official product name for the next x86/64 editions of Windows.

For PCs and tablets powered by x86 processors (both 32 and 64 bit), we will have two editions: Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. For many consumers, Windows 8 will be the right choice. It will include all the features above plus an updated Windows Explorer, Task Manager, better multi-monitor support and the ability to switch languages on the fly,which was previously only available in Enterprise/Ultimate editions of Windows. For China and a small set of select emerging markets, we will offer a local language-only edition of Windows 8.

Windows 8 Pro is designed to help tech enthusiasts and business/technical professionals obtain a broader set of Windows 8 technologies. It includes all the features in Windows 8 plus features for encryption, virtualization, PC management and domain connectivity. Windows Media Center will be available as an economical “media pack” add-on to Windows 8 Pro. If you are an enthusiast or you want to use your PC in a business environment, you will want Windows 8 Pro.

Windows RT is the newest member of the Windows family – also known as Windows on ARM or WOA, as we’ve referred to it previously. This single edition will only be available pre-installed on PCs and tablets powered by ARM processors and will help enable new thin and lightweight form factors with impressive battery life. Windows RT will include touch-optimized desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. For new apps, the focus for Windows RT is development on the new Windows runtime, or WinRT, which we unveiled in September and forms the foundation of a new generation of cloud-enabled, touch-enabled, web-connected apps of all kinds. For more details on WOA, we suggest reading this blog post which shares more detail on how we have been building Windows 8 to run on the ARM architecture.

Source

Reports indicate that ASUS Z77/H77 boards have Intel Thunderbolt header to support upcoming new Intel thunderbolt devices. These header will require an external add on expansion card that is sold separately.

Although Z77 and H77 chipset, Intel hasn’t integrated this technology into the chipset. To date, it seems that ASUS is leading the industry with an exclusive Thunderbolt support using an external add on card. The card will be connected via the TB_Header as seen in the picture below

It is rumoured that it will be available on mid range and high end models. Stay tuned for more updates.

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Universal Intel Z75 based BIOSTAR TZ75B Motherboards

BIOSTAR, a world famous manufacturer of motherboards, graphics cards, industrial computing systems and peripherals, starts the delivery of the BIOSTAR TZ75B Motherboard fulfilled in the ATX form-factor and positioned as an ideal base for high-performance gaming desktop systems with optimal costs.

The TZ75B board is based on the latest Intel Z75 chipset manufactured using the 22-nm processor using tri-gate transistors. The single-chip Intel Z75 natively supports USB 3.0 and is compatible with the new LGA 1155 third-gen Intel Core i7, i5 and i3 CPUs (Ivy Bridge) with TDP up to 95W retaining the back compatibility with the second-gen Intel Core CPUs (Sandy Bridge).

The TZ75B board has four DDR3 DIMM slots and supports up to 32GB dual-channel DDR3 1600/1333/1066Mhz RAM and overclocking DDR3 2133/1866 MHz RAM. The expansion slots include one PCI-E x16 2.0, two PCI-E x1 2.0 and two PCI slots for peripherals. The Intel Z75 chipset delivers an integral support for two SATA3 6Gbit/s and four SATA2 3Gbit/s ports allowing for arranging SATA RAID 0, 1,5,10 arrays. The board also features three USB 3.0 ports and six USB 2.0 ports. The speedy 10/100/GbE LAN interface on the Realtek RTL8111E delivers a high speed for local and external network resources. High quality HD sound is delivered by the 8-channel Realtek ALC892 codec.

The integrated graphics core with the support for new display technologies including DirectX 11 and HDMI 3D Visual for stereoscopic content delivers high performance in most graphics apps and games without external discrete graphics. The board features all popular video output interfaces including digital HDMI and DVI port with the HDCP technology and an analog VGA port. The PCI-E x16 3.0 port delivers even higher performance with a discrete card including multichip ATI CrossFireX solutions.

The TZ75B boards are produced on the most up-to-date production line using reliable components and latest technologies for the best stability and long-term operation. The TZ75B boards use high-quality solid capacitors with a 6-phase regulating system. The board also supports the new BIOS with the Unified Extensible Firmware Interface (UEFI BIOS) which delivers flexibility and simplicity of tuning thanks to a clear graphics interface.

Like all modern BIOSTAR boards, the TZ75B comes with the maximum suite of utilities for simple tuning, overclocking and running. The universal T-overclocker Windows utility is a combination of several powerful tools for fine system tuning and tuning performance of a CPU, memory, fan speeds, etc. The BIOSTAR G.P.U (Green Power Utility) lowers power consumption at a light CPU load. Besides, the TZ75B board supports the BIOS-Flasher, BIOS-Relife and BIOS Online Update for transparent operation and updating I/O system, the Charger Booster technology for faster charging of mobile devices via USB, and the BIO-Remote2 technology for remote control of PC’s multimedia features using Android and Apple gadgets.