I have been wondering where there is no WhatsApp, the cross mobile platform messenger on the PC. This is definitely something that I would want so that I can also message to my friends on mobile while i am on the PC.
Don’t fret as there is a way to do that. WhatsApp can be run on an Android emulator. YouWave for Android runs Android apps and app stores on your PC, no phone required. You can also download the usual apps via app stores within youwave.
Instead of running X86 android ISO file etc, youwave is the fastest way to run an Android virtual box on any PC. The best thing about it is that it is based on Android 2.3 Gingerbread. There is also support of Simulated SD card functionality – enables game saving, Saved State – enables fast restart and enables multi-player online games.
Other features include Dynamic rotating – phone-like instant response, Volume control buttons and retractable control panel. Check out the youtube video and test it yourself.
HP TopShot LaserJet Pro M275
Bluetooth 17 Jan 2011
Almost every brand has laser printers that do scanning. Whether one brand or model scans better is usually very subjective. HP leads the market with a unique design Laserjet printer for Home and Small business. The HP TopShot LaserJet Pro M275 allows scanning of 3D Objects!
Instead of the usual scanner flat bed design, it uses camera and provide a “stage” for the object to be scanned, or rather filmed. It uses a camera with high quality lens and high resolution censor on the hinged arm to take snap shots of the object.
The technology takes 6 shots of the 3D object with flashes from different angles and three in ambient light conditions with different exposure levels and recombines them into a single high resolution images with an incredible depth of focus.
With the Pro M275, business can save money as studio shooting is never cheap. Although it can do a good job, it is restricted to the stage, which is slightly bigger than the size of an A4 paper. You can also easily create nice flyers with real 3D objects.
On top of that, the HP TopShot LaserJet Pro M275 allows one to upload images of documents and objects directly to the web for storage, management and sharing. It can scan direct to Google Docs or Box.net.
Below is a demonstration of the HP TopShot LaserJet Pro M275. The 3D object is presented in 2D without much loss in details.
Video
The HP TopShot LaserJet Pro M275 is priced at SGD 729 and will be available in Singapore from Feb 2012.
Corbell and MSI showcase latest X79 Big Bang-XPower II at annual Roadshow held at GV-Vivocity
Last Friday, MSI and it’s local distributor Corbell Technologies showcased their latest flagship X79 board the Big Bang-XPower II board and AMD Radeon 7970 cards at their annual road show at GV-Vivocity.
The Big Bang-XPowerII is a Intel LGA2011 board for the Sandy Bridge-E processor. Powered by the Intel X79 chipset, itt features a 7 PCIe lanes in total with 4 PCI Express gen3 x16 slots, PCI_E1 supports up to PCIE x16 speed, PCI_E5 supports up to PCIE x16 speed when PCI_E3 is empty, or supports x8 speed when PCI_E3 is occupied, PCI_E3 & PCI_E7 support up to PCIE x8 speed, 3 PCI Express gen2 x16 slots and PCI_E2, PCU_E4 & PCI_E6 support up to PCIE x1 speed. It supports both Quad SLI or QUad CrossFire.
It has 8 DIMM slots supporting up to 8 DIMMs of DDR3-1066 to DDR3-2400 (OC) with a max of 128MB of RAM.
Not only that, it has 4 SATA II ports (X79), 2 SATA III ports (X79) and 4 SATA III by ASMedia chipset. There are also 5 USB 3.0 ports, 4 rear and 1 front supported by NEC D720200 chipsets.Audio is supported by Realtek ALC892, LAN by Intel 82579V and 82574L. 1394 is supported by VIA VT6315N chipset.
Similar to the X79-GD45 we reviewed before, this board uses military class components. DrMOS II, SFC, Hi-c CAP and Solid CAP are just some of the features of this board that ensure longer lifespan and stability.
Other features of this board include PCI Gen 3 support that has up to 32GB/s of bandwidth , 2X more than PCIe 2.0. When matched with PCIe 3.0 graphics card, it is able to take advantage of the extra bandwidth for better performance.
Other featuers include ClickBIOS II, OC GenieII, Gaming Device port, Super Charger, Active Phase Switching (power saving), Winki 3 (linux based OS during bootup), Instant OC, V Check points, Direct OC etc.
In the demo system, the board is paired up with 4 NVIDIA card running in Quad SLI mode.
Core i7-3960X
MSI BigBang XPower II
G.Skill RigjawsZ 2133C9 4GBx4
MSI N580GTX TFII/OC in 4 way SLI
Thortech Thunderbolt Plus 1200W gold PSU
Xigmatek Colosseum Heatsink
– GIGABYTE Unveils Next Gen Motherboard Digital Power Engine at CES 2012 –
– Demonstrates New GIGABYTE 3D Power Design, 3D BIOS, and Other Exclusive Future Motherboard Technologies –
Las Vegas, USA, January, 10th 2012 – GIGABYTE TECHNOLOGY Co. Ltd., a leading manufacturer of motherboards and graphics cards, today announced its participation at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas where it is debuting a number of new and exciting motherboard technologies that will be central to it’s motherboard design in 2012 and beyond. International media and customers will get a sneak peak ofGIGABYTE’s new technologies at their suite in The Venetian Hotel,Las Vegas, from January 10-13.
3D Power: Frequency, Voltage and Phase Control
GIGABYTE is showing forthcoming 7 series motherboards featuring the very latest in CPU power delivery with GIGABYTE’s unique Digital Power Engine called 3D Power. Offering digital control over all the main onboard power zones, this new digital PWM design allows users to manipulate and monitor the power provided to 2nd Gen Intel® Core™ and Next Gen processors for the LGA 1155 socket.
“We are very excited about the new technologies that will feature on our 7 series motherboards, and are confident that our customers will find them, together with the performance and feature improvements on Intel’s future platform, extremely appealing,” commented Henry Kao, Vice President of GIGABYTE Motherboard Business Unit. “Product development and debugging for the new features is progressing really well, and we expect to have a full range of products available globally by launch day.”
GIGABYTE 3D BIOS (Dual UEFI)
Visitors to CES 2012 will be able to see the 2nd iteration of GIGABYTE’s revolutionary 3D BIOS that is based on GIGABYTE UEFI DualBIOS™
technology. 3D BIOS offers two distinct modes of interaction in a BIOS environment, 3D Mode and Advanced Mode, that re-draw the traditional
BIOS user experience with a far more intuitive and graphical interface.
G1.Sniper 3 Debuts with Dual LAN
The G1.Killer gaming motherboard series continues to evolve with two new GIGABYTE 7 series models planned for launch later this year. The
G1.Sniper 3 motherboard features onboard Creative gaming audio together with a dual LAN configuration of Intel®Gigabit and Killer™ Game
Networking controllers. Visitors toLas Vegas will also be among the first to see the G1.Sniper M3, a gaming motherboard with signature G1.Killer
Powering the Personal Cloud: Bluetooth 4.0/Wi-Fi PCIe Card
Selected GIGABYTE motherboards will come with an exclusive PCIe expansion card that offers support for the latest Bluetooth 4.0 (Smart Ready) and Wi-Fi connectivity standards. With the growing availability of affordable or free remote PC operation software, such asSplashtop and VLC Remote, GIGABYTE believes that now is the time to explore and enjoy the home cloud: a personal cloud within the secure environment of a home network where the performance and functionality of desktop PCs can be utilized and controlled by portable cloud devices. With this in mind GIGABYTE has introduced their CloudStation utility that will help future GIGABYTE Apps to communicate, share resources and control desktop PC systems.
Onboard mSATA Support
Most ATX form factor GIGABYTE 7 series motherboards will enjoy an onboard mSATA connector that, together with GIGABYTE’s EZ Smart Response technology, will allow users to simply and cost effectively enjoy better responsiveness from their PCs. mSATA solid state drives have been made popular by the rapid growth of tablet PCs, and provide a cheaper solution for smart chaching because they are available in smaller capacities than traditional SSDs.
Small Business Solutions
GIGABYTE GA-Z77X-UD3H Motherboard with Onboard mSATA Connector
Setting its sights on the small business market, GIGABYTE will demonstrate the B75M-D3H motherboard that represents a new product range featuring the ability to monitor and manage PC health, installed software, data
backup, energy saving and connectivity. This allows system integrators to add value to their products by
offering these services to small businesses. Key features and selling points for these models will be
manageability, affordability and GIGABYTE’s Ultra Durable design quality.
MSI X79A-GD45 Intel X79 Mainboard Review
Bluetooth 2 Dec 2011
The MSI X79A-GD45 is the first 4 models of Intel X79 Express chipset mainboard released by MSI in NOV 2011 just in time for the launch of the new Intel LGA2011 processor.
Today, we take a look at the MSI X79A-GD45. The board spots 3 full length Gen 3 PCIe x 16 slots with PCI_E1 & PCI_E4 support up to PCIE x16 speed and PCI_E6 supports up to PCIE x8 speed. It supports both CrossFire X and SLI. There is another 4 PCIe x1 slots. It supports four unbuffered DIMM of 1.5 Volt DDR3 1066/1333/1600/1800*/2133*/2400* (OC) DRAM, 64GB Max.
There a 6 SATA ports on the board which
• SATAII controller integrated in Intel® X79 chipset
- Up to 3Gb/s transfer speed.
- Supports four SATAII ports (SATA3~6) by X79
• SATAIII controller integrated in Intel® X79 chipset
- Up to 6Gb/s transfer speed.
- Supports two SATAIII ports (SATA1~2) by X79
- SATA1~6 ports support Intel Rapid Storage Technology enterprise (AHCI / RAID 0/1/5/10) by Intel X79
There are 2 USB 3.0 chipset by NEC supporting the internet and rear I/O USB 3.0 ports.
Audio wise, it uses Realtek ALC892 8ch audio chip, It also comes with Realtek 8111E GbE and 1394 by VIA VT6315N.
Specifications are usually quite similar but the features and components used differs from one to another.
The MSI X79A-GD45 uses Military Class III components.In addition to the use of Hi-c CAP, SFC, and Solid CAP, MSI now incorporates DrMOS II, the next-generation DrMOS that provides an integrated Double Thermal Protection to maximize the lifespan of components. All Military Class III components have passed MIL-STD-810G certification, making MSI’s Military Class III components synonymous with premium quality and ultimate stability.
Instead of the boring UEFI BIOS, MSI introduces ClickBIOS II, providing a consistent interface between BIOS and in WIndows with touch screen support.
MSI incorporates a gold-plated layer in the 2-in-1 PS2 and optimized USB ports to 30um to meet the demand of professional gamers. Besides enhancing mouse sensitivity in games, these improved interfaces deliver a longer lifespan and better stability of connectors and total solution for e-sports mouse control in UEFI BIOS.
Other features include SuperCharger, M-Flash, APS (active phase switching), Winki 3, Liveupdate 5, USB Safeguard, Instant OC, 3TB+ Infinity.
The package also comes with a Overclocking Guide which is very useful even for long time overclockers. It is a must read for everyone.
On the next page, we take a look at the mainboard layout followed by the BIOS.
Introduction to Gigabyte X79-UD7 Bluetooth 22 Nov 2011
Last week, Intel launches it’s new series of processors based on the LGA 2011 Socket type. WE have already previewed the performance on launch date last week. Today, we will take at the the Gigabyte X79-UD7 motherboard. This new board features some interesting features that were never seen before on previous generation boards.
The X79-UD7 is based on Intel X79 Express chipset. It supports the Intel® Core™ i7 processors in the LGA2011 package. It has 4 x 1.5V DDR3 DIMM sockets supporting up to 32 GB of system memory. It employs a 4 channel memory architecture that supports DDR3 2133/1866/1600/1333/1066 MHz memory modules (DDR3-2400 is possible with OC). It supports non-ECC and XMP memory modules.
The board consists of 2 x PCI Express x16 slots, running at x16 (PCIEX16_1, PCIEX16_2); 2 x PCI Express x16 slot, running at x8 (PCIEX8_1, PCIEX8_2)
* The PCIEX8_2 slot shares bandwidth with the PCIEX16_2 slot. When the PCIEX8_2 slot is populated, the PCIEX16_2 slot will operate at up to x8 mode.
(All PCI Express x16 slots conform to PCI Express 3.0 standard.). There are 3 x PCI Express x1 slots (All PCI Express x1 slots conform to PCI Express 2.0 standard.)
The board support 4-Way/3-Way/2-Way AMD CrossFireX™/NVIDIA SLI technology and the PCIEX16 slots operate at up to x8 mode when 4-Way/3-Way AMD CrossFireX™/NVIDIA SLI is enabled.
In terms of expandability, the board has 2 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (SATA3 0/1) supporting up to 2 SATA 6Gb/s devices; 4 x SATA 3Gb/s connectors (SATA2 2/3/4/5) supporting up to 4 SATA 3Gb/s devices which support for RAID 0, RAID 1, RAID 5, and RAID 10. In addition, there are 2 x Marvell 88SE9172 chips that supports 4 x SATA 6Gb/s connectors (GSATA3 6/7/8/9) supporting up to 4 SATA 6Gb/s devices.
The Intel X79 Express chipset also support Up to 14 USB 2.0/1.1 ports (8 ports on the back panel, 6 ports available through the internal USB headers). There are 2 x Fresco FL1009 chips which supports Up to 4 USB 3.0/2.0 ports (2 ports on the back panel, 2 ports available through the internal USB header).
The audio on board is based on the Realtek ALC898 codec HDA and supports 2/4/5.1/7.1-channel, Dolby® Home Theater, S/PDIF Out. There is also a Intel GbE LAN (10/100/1000 Mbit) network port on board.
In addition, this new board features GIGABYTE 3D Power (patent pending)
GIGABYTE X79 series motherboards are the first to take advantage of the exclusive GIGABYTE 3D Power, an all new hardware and software-based Digital Power Engine for both the PWM and Memory that delivers unprecedented power delivery control.
All New Digital Power Control for the CPU and Memory Utilizing a brand new Digital PWM controller, GIGABYTE’s 3D Power features precise Auto Voltage Compensation to deliver a steady flow of power to the CPU and memory no matter the loading. This all new, all digital power system provides enthusiast users with exceptional control over the overclocking potential of their GIGABYTE X79 motherboard.
GIGABYTE is the first in the industry to utilize digital memory controllers for not only the Memory, but VTT and VSA, for real-time monitoring and adjusting. Digital memory control allows users to monitor and record DDR power and current in real-time while gaming, overclocking or at idle. Users can also set OVP (Over Voltage Protection) to safeguard your memory, adjust memory Load-line Calibration to fix memory vdrooping for a quicker response time and adjust memory PWM frequency on-the-fly.
GIGABYTE 3D Power(patent pending) Utility
Users can now enjoy a fully interactive 3D utility that facilitates adjustment of the 3 dimensions that control the power delivery to your CPU and Memory: Voltage, Phase and Frequency. These parameters are crucial to how the digital PWM supplies power to critical areas of the motherboard and can help users quickly obtain the highest, most stable overclock.
3D Power: Voltage Control
Voltage parameters can be modified within 3D Power, including load line calibration the of CPU. By adjusting load line calibration, Vdrooping can be avoided, maintaining optimal voltages levels despite increasing current levels. OVP (over voltage protection) can also be adjusted to change default protection range of the CPU, memory controller, VTT and system memory.
3D Power: Phase Control
Users can calibrate OCP (Over Current Protection) for the CPU, integrated memory controller and system memory power levels. This allows the Phase control to deliver even more power to the system when needed.
3D Power: Frequency Control
GIGABYTE’s digital PWM allows for adjustable frequency control via the International Rectifier (IR3567) PWM controller. 3D Power frequency control allows users to change the PWM controller frequency so that the CPU VRM can adjust power delivery speeds more quickly. Users can also adjust the PWM spectrum or maximum and minimum overall frequencies.
It also comes bundled with GIGABYTE Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi Card
With 2 kinds data transfer mode, GIGABYTE Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi Card providing spec 300 Mbps transfer rates, 802.11n supports the latest WiFi specifications for better signal coverage, and featuring the newest Bluetooth 4.0, you will not suffer from signal loss like before.
Gigabyte Plug Fest 2011 (ASEAN)
bluetooth 23 Nov 2011
Last Thursday, 17 Nov 2011, our Singapore overclockers were invited to the first Plug Fest event held in ASEAN. Despite the bad weather, representatives from ASEAN media and overclockers reached Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 17th on time.
The Plug Fest event in ASEAN is first of it’s kind. In the past, Gigabyte has held that in Taipei. Gigabyte invited two separate large groups of media and overclockers from around the world. They test out the boards and give feedback on issues faced during testing and overclocking using extreme methods such as LN2 cooling.
Upon arrival at the hotel, we took a rest before we proceed to a nearby local restaurant for our dinner together with representatives from Gigabyte, media and overclockers from Singapore, Malaysia, Philippines, Indonesia, Thailand.
Registration starts in the morning of 18th November. We were brought to a small ballroom where benches of equipment are laid out for our test. As there are 4 of us, 2 get to share a bench. I am delighted to be in the same “team” as SpyBoy.
Before testing and benchmarking takes place, we were given a presentation of the new X79 series of boards.
Intel Core i7-3960X LGA2011 and intel X79 Express chipset
bluetooth 14 Nov 2011
Today, Intel introduces it’s new Intel X79 chipset and Intel Core i7 Sandy Bridge-E processors. This new generation of processors and chipsets takes over the previous generation of Core i5/i7 as the highest end Intel 32nm architecture platform.
One of the most formiddable change on this new architecture is the introduction of quad channel memory support, supporting up to 256bits.
The Intel Core i7-3960X features 6 Cores, 12 therads. It is spotted in a Intel LGA2011 socket which is larger than existing Intel processors. It supports Intel Turbo Boost technology 2.0, Hyper threading, 15MB intel Smart Cache. It also has an integrated memory controller supporting 4 channels of DDR3-1600 (mostly overclockable to DDR3-2400/2500). Intel AVX, AES, SSE 4.1 and SSE 4.2 instructions are supported as well.
The Intel Core i7-3960X Extreme edition has an unlocked multiplier and has a base clock of 3.3GHz with Turbo Cache to 3.9GHz. It has 6 cores 12 threads, with 15MB Cache. TDP is 130W and it is priced at USD 990.
The Intel X79 Express chipset supports 14 hi-speed USB 2.0 ports, dual EHCI, GbE MAC, HDA, 8 PCIe 2.0 express lanes, 6 SATA ports (esata), Intel Rapid storage technology enterprise is optional.
As for the 2nd generation core i7 LGA2011 processor, it supports 40 lanes of PCIe 2.0. It supports different combinations including 2 x 16 + 1 x 8 or 1 x 16 + 3 x 8 or 1 x16 + 2 x 8 + 2 x 4. Although it is still indicated as PCIe 2.0, it actually will support PCIe 3.0 in future.
The X79 chipset does not have native USB 3.0 support. As for overclocking, previous generation calls it BCLK. On the Sandy Bridge-E it is renamed as DMICLK.
Promise SmartStor NS2600, NS4600, NS4700, NS6700 and Pegasus DAS with Thunderbolt connectivity
bluetooth 7 Nov 2011
NAS might not be the solution for an individual but it is not the case for a SOHO or enterprise. This is exceptionally important when you are dealing with large amounts of data and you need a simple elegant way of managing it and keep backups of the important data on the HDD.
The Promise SmartStor series can help you to achieve that. With it’s web based visualized management console, you can have access to the device and volume information. You can also check the temperature too.
Unlike other brands, Promise provides a comprehensive backup solution and they include windows bcakup centre, RSYNC over the internet, volume snapshot and backup to the cloud using amazon web services.
The SmartStor comes with Acronis Backup & Recovery version 10 which can be used to do schedule backups. Moreover the license is unlimited and supports Windows Server and Workstation. QNAP, Synology do not provide such a bundle solution. Thecus only provides a solution with limited license for Windows Workstation only.
The 2nd most important feature is backup to cloud. You can now share your documents from the cloud in amazon web services or Dropbox. Using dropbox, you can also view your documents on Apple iPhone, iPad, Android devices.
You can also backup a copy to another server through the internet.
In terms of speed, the benchmark iSCSI write shows that throughput is around 110MB/s average of all the various RAID modes.
It is also easy to configure the NAS. Just insert the HDD, power on, Once the LED initialisation turned on , it is ready for operation.
Another feature is Promise OPAS. When there is no internet access, you can plug in a USB stick to it. The software “USB Retrieval” will export the system log in HTML to the pen drive automatically.
NS2600, NS4600 are suitable for Home/SOHO while the NS4700 and NS6700 are for SMB.
The NAS is also DNLA certified. You can now stream your audio and videos to your DLNA certified TVs. There is also an app for iPhone and Android, allownig you to control the steraming media on the NAS.
ASRock releases pictures of 4 models of Intel X79 boards – X79 Extreme4 M, X79 Extreme4, X79 Extreme7 and X79 Extreme9; X79 Extreme4 M – the first mATX X79 board
ASRock X79 Extreme4 M
So far we have seen a number of ATX boards. This is probably the first mATX board that we come across.
The ASRock X79 Extreme4-M looks very elegant in that Gold/Black colour scheme. With 3 full length PCIe 3.0 slots and 1 PCI slot on board, the PCIe slots are capable of supporting either CrossFire X or SLI.
In terms of expansion, there are only 4 memory slots, 2 on each side of the socket LGA2011. DDR3-2400+ (OC) is supported as indicated on the mainboard.
On the board, we can also see the power on/off, reset, debug led. There are 6 SATA connectors on the front. The board also supports 1394a, USB 3.0.
On the back of the mainboard, we can see the PS/2 keyboard & mouse connectors, S/PDIF optical and digital out, USB 3.0, eSATA, GbE and audio ports.
The chipset is attached with a heatsink / fan powered by X-FAN.
If you are not a gamer or overclocker, the ASUS P9X79 series motherboards should be a better bet in terms of cost/performance ratio.
The P9X79 series comes in 3 variations but most of the features are the same. The picture below shows motherboard has 8 DDR3 slots capable of DDR3-2400 (OC). There are 3 PCIe slots allowing 3 way CrossFire/SLI. It has a new DIGI+ Power control, SSD caching, BT GO 3.0! just to name a few of the new feature set on this board.
From the set up below, you can see that the heatsink almost occupy 1/4 of the mainboard. At the rear of the mainboard, we can see USB 3.0 ports, eSATA 6Gbps ports and audio ports.
First look at ASUS Rampage IV Extreme bluetooth 26 Oct 2011
ASUS Singapore held an event last week, showing off it’s latest Intel X79 boards to the members of the media. We were invited to witness the new product line up for Intel X79 Socket LGA 2011 motherboards.
3 series of boards were announced and they are the Rampage IV Extreme, TUF series – SABERTOOTH X79 and the standard P9X79 series.
We will first take a look a the Rampage IV Extreme. Ramage IV Extreme, being in the top of the ROG series targets the Extreme overclockers, power users and probably the rich kids who is willing to spend more than to do soldering work themselves.
From the board layout, we can see the familiar black red colour scheme.
The Rampage IV Extreme is based on INTEL X79 Express chipset that sports the LGA2011 socket type. From the screen shot, we can see that it supports up to 8 x DDR3 DIMMs of up to DDR3-2400 (OC).
There are also 5 PCIe full length slots that allows you to pair up to 4 cards in either Quad CrossFireX or QUad SLI.
On the right rear of the board is the OC Zone where the Overclocking features can be found. They include ProbeIT, Onboard buttons, PCIe x16 switch, LN2 mode, Slow mode, voltminder 2 LED, Go button.
For the front connectors, there are 4 SATA 3Gbps and 4 SATA 6 Gbps ports. There are 4 USb 3.0 and 4 USB 2.0 external connectors on board. (Detail pictures are on next page).
At the rear of the motherboard is the PS/2, Clear CMOS, 2 USB 2.0 (1 for ROG connect), 1 Bluetooth v2.1+EDR, 4 USB 3.0, 2 eSATA 6Gbps, 1 Intel GbE Lan, 7.1 ch audio and 1 SPDIF out.
Preview of ECS X79R-AX Intel X79 Mainboard bluetooth 25 Oct 2011
Intel is scheduled to launch it’s new generation of processors November 2011. With the new chipset and new processor, it means a new motherboard for the larger processor with a new socket type LGA2011.
In the following pages, we will preview the upcoming board from ECS. This is the first SKU from ECS which features the Intel X79 Express Chipset. Below are pictures of the mainboard.
The Black Extreme X79R-AX is ECS’s gaming board.It supports Quad channel DDR3 memory with support of up to DDR3-2500 (OC). This board supports 4 way SLI or CrossFireX with 4 slots operating in PCIe x16 Gen3 bandwidth. (2 slots at x8 bandwidth)
X79R-AX also adds in USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps to complement the Intel X79 Express chipset. The SATA 6Gbps is suported by ASM 1061. There is also Dual GbE by Realtek RTL8111E and 8 ch audio by Realtek ALC892.
Other features of this board include 15u Gold contact, Bluetooth v2.1+ for faster dat transfer, QoolTech IV with three heat pipes that combines Thermolchromic technology with heatsinks. M.I.B X which allows users to save OC profiles in BIOS.
On board you will find Power on/off swtich, Debug LED, (4 x SATA3Gbps + 8 SATA 6Gbps)12 SATA ports on the front. On the PCB, there are also voltage measuring points.
The rear panel I/O consists of 4 USB 3.0, 6 USB 2.0, 2 eSATA 6Gbps, 1 PS/2 Keyboard/Mouse, 2 GbE, 1 WIFI dongle, 1 Bluetooth DOngle, 1 Clear CMOS button.
LG Optimus 3D P920 3D Android Phone Review
Bluetooth 23 Oct 2011
Phones have evolved so much these few years, from keyboard to touch screen, to voice control etc. Although most people will agree that most Android phones are just iPhone look alike with similar features, LG Optimus 3D is otherwise.
LG Optimus 3D, is quite different from it’s competitors. Based on Android 2.2 which LG promised an upgrade, the LG Optimus 3D spots a glasses-free 4.3″ wide display, displaying 3D contents that are recorded by the phone or from Youtube. The dual 5 mega pixel camera is capable of doing real time video recording and still images both in 3D. 3D videos can be uploaded to youtube immediately. It can also record 2D videos at 1080P HD resolution and 720p in 3D.
There is also a 3D hot key on the rear of the phone. It can convert 2D to 3D vice versa by the press of the button. 3D game converter is added in the latest firmware (v10d). You can also share and view 3D videos on the large screen effortlessly, with HDMI 1.4 connection to 3D equipped TV.
All this is accomplish with LG’s advanced “tri-dual” configuration: a dual-core, dual channel and dual memory architecture based on the ground breaking TI OMAP4 chipset. This configuration enables users to enjoy significantly improved performance and run-time compared to any other smartphone. Unlike other dual-core smartphones, with single channel and single memory, the LG Optimus 3D enables the simultaneous- and thus faster transfer of data between its dual-core, dual channel and dual memory.
The phone is capable of running on 2G GSM 850/1800/1900, 3G HSDPA (900/1900/2100) and hSDPA (1700/2100/850), HSDPA-HSPA+ (14.4Mbps/5.7Mbps) networks. It has a dimension of 128.8x68x11.9 and weighs 168g.
The screen is a 3D LCD Capacitive Touch screen with 16M colours at (480×800). It has a battery pack of 1500mAH. The processor is a Dual-core 1GHz ARM Cortex-A9 processor, PowerVR,SGX540 GPU, TI OMAP4430 chipset.
In the following pages, we will take a look at the interface, pictures and videos recorded using the phone.
If you have been waiting for the Android 4.0, Google and Samsung just finished it’s press event in Hong Kong minutes ago.
At the event, Samsung was first to speak about it’s new Samsung Galaxy Nexus, the first phone powered by the new Android 4.0 operating system.
Samsung Galaxy Nexus
The new phone is based is a HSPA+ 21Mbps / HSUPA 5.76Mbps phone supporting 850/900/1900/1700/2100. EDGE/GPRS 850900/1800/1900. It has a 1.2GHz dual core processor with a large 4.65″ 1280×720 HD Super AMOLED Screen powered by by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich.
Samsung Galaxy Nexus will be offered in HSPA+ in NOV 2011 and LTE versions in different regions later. It has a Super AMOLED HD 1280×720 display with contrast ratio of 100,000:1. The screen is 4.65inch. it has a Contour display, sleek and curve 8.94mm and a bezel of 4.29mm.
It has a 5 megapixel full HD recording camera with 0 shutter lag for low light shooting. It will come with Barometer, NFC – payment options, contacts sharing, POGO pin – docking for sharing videos.
The camera is a 5 mega pixel camera with LED. Front camera is a 1.3 mega pixel for video conferencing.
The camera is also capable of doing vido recording in MPEG4/H.263/H.264 ni 1080p@30fps HD. Music playback is in Mp3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+
The phone has BT ver 3.0, USB 2.0, WiFi 802.11 a/b/g/n (2.4GHz/5GHz) and NFC. It also has Accelerometer, Compass, Gyro, Promimity and Barometer.
The memory capacity is 1GB (RAM) + 16GB/32GB (ROM). It has a dimension of 135.5×67.94×8.44mm and weighs 135g and comes with a 1750mAh battery.
Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich
Android 4.0 will have a new font type – Roboto which gives the phone a magazine layout font type that is easy to the eyes. There is a new lock screen for it and Android has also update the animations and Live wall papers.
Buttons are gone, replaced with touch screen virtual buttons which are part of the OS. With the new OS you can now group apps into folder just like Apple’s iOS. You can also place your favourite apps or contacts on the taskbar.
Other improvements over the previous versions include a new pull down notification screen, more accurate and responsive keyboard, in line spell checker, improved cut and paste.
Something different is that Android 4.0 now offer voice recognition in real time, it does not need to ‘think’ for a few seconds, it just show you word for word when you speak into the phone.
ANother new idea they have is the face unlock feature. By capturing your face, the phone will be able to recognise the owner of the phone and unlock it. It did not mention what will happen if it recognises the person wrongly for more than 3 times, does it destory all the data intact ? Unfortunately, we are unable to witness it as the demo failed probably due to beta ware.
Other improvements include web browser. It now allows you to do inprivate browsing, offline reading, gmail offline search for 30 days, a revamped calendar.
For those on limited HSPA traffic, Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich now offers you a way to check your data usage. It can also detect which are the applications that are choking up data for the month. Of course you can set alert when your data usage is reaching say 5 GB.
You can now take pictures without entering the phone by dragging the lock bar to the left to access the camera feature. with the immediate access, you can now send pictures almost instantly to social networks. enhance it with filters to change angle of shot etc. There is also panorama shooting which stiches photos for a wider viewing angle. Video recording is 1080P HD. It can zoom and focus continuously. it can also do time lapse video recording.
ANdroid 4.0 also introduce PEOPLE APP, a central application that keeps you updated with your contacts social network profiles and contact information.
Lastly, Android 4.0 comes with NFC. A new program Android Beam is introduced that is capable ot sharing any content between android devices by placing two phones back to back
Users can now share photos, contacts, even share the game (on marketplace) by just bumpping the two phones back to back.
At the closing of the media conference, Google reiterate that the developer tools are ready and the first Android 4.0 phone will go on sale in November.
Apple 4S has gone on sale in various countries yesterday. Our friends at ePrice in Hong Kong managed to get hold of a set through their own means from Australia. They put the shiny brand new iPhone 4S powered by iOS 5.0 against the older iPhone 4 to a test on web browsing speed, application loading time and lastly the speech recognition assistant SIRI using Hong Kong style English. Check out the videos below :
First look at AMD 8 core Bulldozer processor FX-8150 with benchmarks
bluetooth 12 Oct 2011
AMD officially unveils it’s 8 Core processors the Zambezi based on Bulldozer architecture. Targetting the performance and PC enthusiasts, it is the fastest AMD processor to date to spot a new design with 8 cores.
The most anticipated model is the FX-8150, an unlocked, 8-Core processor. The FX-8150 has a 3.6GHz (base), 3.9GHz (CPU Turbo), 4.2GHz (Max Turbo) speed. It has 256K L1 instruction (64KB per module) / 128K L1 data cache (16K per module), 2MB of L2 data cache per module (8MB total L2 per processor) and 8MB (shared) L3. The total L2+L3 cache is 16MB. It has an integrated 72 bits x 2 memory controller and can support up to DDR3-1866.
The processor is based on HyperTransport 3.0 Specification with one 16-bit/16-bit link @ up to 4.4GHz full duplex (2.2GHz x2).
The packaging is the Socket AM3+ 938-pin organic micro pin grid array (micro-PGA). Max TDP is 125W.
In the next page, we will take a look at some benchmark numbers in our ongoing tests.
BIOSTAR TA75A+ AMD socket FM1 Mainboard Review Bluetooth 2 Oct 2011
These days, board makers are all trying to entice you with feature set which you don’t use. BIOSTAR, being a practical mainboard manufacturer believes otherwise. Today, we will take a look at their TA75A+ Socket FM1 board. This is a Socket FM1 board for the APUs. There is no software to speed up USB 3.0 nor Network bandwidth. It is a serious no gimmicks board targetting the mid range DIY user.
The mainboard supports the AMD A8, A6, A4, E2 processors of up to TDP of 100W. It has 4 memory slots that support up to DDR3-2000 (OC) of up to 32GB in total. As for graphics expansion, it has 2 PCIe 2.0 x16 which works in (x16+x4) for CrossFire. There are 2 PCIe 2.0 x1.
For connectivity, there is 6 x SATA3 6Gb/s Connector supporting SATA RAID: 0,1,10. Thers is also native support of 2 x USB 3.0 Port, 1 x USB 3.0 Header, 4 x USB 2.0 Port and 3 x USB 2.0 Header on board. For network, it uses a Realtek RTL8111E GbE controller.
With the APU, the graphics capability is a Radeon HD 6550 and it capable to have a maximum resolution of VGA:1920×1600, DVI-D:1920×1200, HDMI:1920×1200. The audio is powered by Realtek ALC892 8-Channel HD Audio .
Other features on board includes THX truStudio PRO, 100% solid cpas, G.P.U (Green Power Utility), BIO-Remote2 allowing remote control of the mainboard using Android or Iphone. There is also charger booster to speed up charging of iPads, iPhones. The BIOS is a UEFI bios which you can control using your mouse. There is also BIO-Flasher and BIO-Relife and eHotline.
On board are Rapid switch which are the power and reset switches for DIY users. The DEBUG led also helps.
In addition, the BIOS also comes with Preset overclocking modes which you can select V6, V8, V12 or you can manually adjust it. There is a wide range of voltage adjustments and frequency adjustments available in the BIOS.
Yesterday, we attended the press launch of the highly anticipated SONY TABLET S at Arts Science Musuem, Marina Bay in Singapore.
The event started off at 2pm with an introduction to the design and unique features. The SONY Tablet S is based on the Android 3.2 powered by NVIDIA tegra2 mobile processor. It has a 9.4 inches LED backlit IPS screen. There are two models, one with 16GB and 32GB of memory respectively. Both are WIFI models only.
For external ports, there is one USB 2.0 microAB connector, headphone jack x1. There is bluetooth, irDA. On the rear there is a SD memory slot. The TABLET S has 2 cameras, one in the front and one at the back. The front camera is a 0.3 mil mega pixel while the rear is a effective pixel 5.11 million powered by Exmor for mobile. There are 3 axis accelerometer, Gyrosensor, Digital compass and Ambient sensor built into the device.
The unit measures 241.2mm x 10,.11mm x 174.33mm and weighs 598g. It has up to 8 hrs of battery life of standard usage, 430 hours standby, 31 hours playing music, 6 hours of video playback and approx 6.2 hrs of web browsing via WIFI.
The magazine form factor catches eyeballs as no other tablet in the market has a design that resembles a magazine. This asymettric design gives it a balanced feel when holding on to it for long hours. The LCD Screen is of a resolution of 1280×800 which gives you optimal viewing. There is also an optional keyboard that is sold seperately.
Windows Phone 7.5 Mango brings new life to Windows Phone
Bluetooth 28 Sep 2011
It has been months since we received the NoDo update which didn’t impress us. Just 1 hour ago, I received a notification to update it to the Wp 7.5 (Mango). I hook up my HTC trophy 7 and update it through Zune downloading the massive update via internet.
Once the update is done, you will be greeted with a RED colour Windows Logo. In split seconds you will be greeted with the usual tiles screen somewhat with a updated font.
A flip to the right shows us the applications tha are previously installed. I notice the slight change in layout. It now includes a search app option and the apps are now arranged just the way the phone book is, categorising them under alphabetical order.
Asian users have always been concerned about the Asian language support. Wp7.5 didn’t forget about this part of the world. Although display language and menus are still restricted to 5 European languages, input methods include Chinese, Japanese and Korean. The Chinese language includes handwriting too.
The popular mobile messaging application WhatsApp is now available in the Marketplace for downloading. This cross platform tool allows free “sms” to other platform users on iPhone, Android and BlackBerry. It it definitely a great tool to have on the Windows Platform. Unfortunately, SKYPE is still not available on this platform.
A check on the HTC Apps in Marketplace, I discovered 2 new apps, one is Locations and the other is Connected Media.
Locations is for you to save your favourite location with photos, voice and notes. You can also share it with friends. The second is Connected Media. It is software that allows you to view photos and play music or video stored on media servers. you can also send media from your device to networked media players such as TV or Set top boxes.
In settings, you will also find a new item “background tasks” which list the apps that can continue to run in the background.
The new IE is refreshing too. The default screen appears in full screen with the URL bar relocated to the bottom of the screen.
So far, after 30 minutes of running on this new update, I wouldn’t find 500 updates but have found most of the improvements I wanted. One of the disappointment is the menu screen which is still not configurable to other Asian languages. The other feature that is missing is Tethering. According to our PR contact, the Tethering feature will be added on in another update (with no dates specified). Well, I can live with it so long there is WhatsApp.
WP7.5 is a leap ahead for Microsoft that is long overdued. The next apps that will make Windows Phone 7.5 more complete would be SKYPE, banking applications.
So have you installed yours ? Post your comments at the end of the post.
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Utilizing a brand new Digital PWM controller, GIGABYTE’s 3D Power features precise Auto Voltage Compensation to deliver a steady flow of power to the CPU and memory no matter the loading. This all new, all digital power system provides enthusiast users with exceptional control over the overclocking potential of their GIGABYTE X79 motherboard.
With 2 kinds data transfer mode, GIGABYTE Bluetooth 4.0 and WiFi Card providing spec 300 Mbps transfer rates, 802.11n supports the latest WiFi specifications for better signal coverage, and featuring the newest Bluetooth 4.0, you will not suffer from signal loss like before.
