ASUS introduces the Eee Pad Transformer Prime with NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 Quad-Core Processor and Google® Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich ASUS today held a press event in Singapore to launch the world’s first tablet featuring the NVIDIA® Tegra® 3 quad-core processor – the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer Prime. This is also the world’s first tablet to be unveiled with Google® Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich, which is available from today over the air.

Developed with NVIDIA® and Google®, the Eee Pad Transformer Prime and its innovative exclusive mobile dock presents a harmony of beauty and strength. In addition to having superior multimedia performance, the Transformer Prime also boasts enhanced features that include audio powered by ASUS SonicMaster technology, an 8MP rear auto-focus camera with LED flash, and an 18-hour* rated battery life when combined with the mobile dock. All of these are housed in an ultra slim 8.3mm metallic spun finish chassis that weighs just 586g.

Multimedia enjoyment in style

Featuring an incredibly slim form factor, the Transformer Prime is a svelte 8.3mm thin and the only metallic tablet that weighs in at a mere 586g. It brandishes a metallic spun finish design made of aluminum for a secure yet extremely comfortable grip. It comes in two gorgeous colors: Amethyst Gray and Champagne Gold. The Transformer Prime features the ASUS exclusive SonicMaster technology, which is renowned for crisp and acoustically accurate audio. It produces crystal clear sound with a wide sound range, increased sound fidelity, and distinct vocal enhancements not found on any other tablet in the market. The Eee Pad Transformer already boasts a wide 178° viewing angle IPS display, with scratch-resistant Corning® Gorilla® Glass, but the Transformer Prime goes further, upgraded with a brighter Super IPS+ screen that enhances the brightness of the screen for a better outdoor reading experience.

Ultra performance

The Transformer Prime is the world’s first tablet to feature NVIDIA’s next-generation quad-core Tegra® 3 processor, creating a new breed of high powered tablet devices. With the quad-core CPU and 12-core GeForce® GPU, the Transformer Prime delivers the best and fastest experience for tablet-based multitasking, web browsing, as well as Full HD video playback and gaming. On its own, the Transformer Prime has a battery life of up to 12 hours*, but when combined with the mobile dock, it lasts up to an incredible 18 hours* as the dock recharges the tablet.

Prime meets Ice Cream Sandwich

Google® Android™ 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich brings a plethora of enhancements, and when combined with the design of the Eee Pad Transformer Prime, brings the user experience to new heights. The new camera UI offers better sharing, a new panorama mode, as well as live effects and backgrounds that can be applied in videos. Basic photo editing is now also built into the system, which allows for simple photo touchups. With offline browsing, users can save web pages and view them later without an Internet connection, making it convenient for travelers. While on the road without access to a Wi-Fi network, users can use the new Wi-Fi Direct feature to directly transfer files between Wi-Fi enabled devices. Other enhancements include the new default Roboto font, with a typeface that is easy to read. Users can now also access the Transformer Prime’s camera directly from the lock-screen. Finally, among various other UI changes, users can easily create folders on the home screen by dragging one app on top of another.

Unrivaled visual acuity

A 1.2MP front camera allows for video conferencing while an 8MP rear camera with auto-focus and LED flash takes clear and sharp photos thanks to a large F2.4 aperture, back illuminated CMOS sensor, touch-to-focus depth of field and low light noise reduction. A first for any tablet, the 8MP camera on the Transformer Prime also has the ability to take full 1080p HD video.

Expandability and cloud services

The Transformer Prime is offered in both 32GB and 64GB models. It features a micro SD card slot, 3.5mm combo audio jack and micro HDMI port so sharing both what’s inside and on screen is quick and easy. However, the feature that gives the Transformer Prime its name is the mobile dock, which gives new meaning to the term versatility. The innovative and convenient design seamlessly provides the user with a keyboard and touchpad, along with limitless expandability options via the USB port and SD card slot. The preinstalled SuperNote application is able to take, draw or record notes; while Polaris® Office is great for productivity as it gives users the ability to read and edit Word, Excel and PowerPoint (MS Office 97-2007 version compatible) files. In addition, ASUS is offering 8GB of free cloud storage for life via ASUS WebStorage, so users have access to their files via the cloud no matter where they are.

Price

Eee Pad Transformer Prime + Docknig station SGD 899 (GST included) up SGD 1098

Eee Pad Transformer Prime (Tablet Only) SGD 759 (GST included) up SGD 899

Docking Station SGD 199 (GST included).

A few weeks ago, we attended an event by Promise technology, showing off it’s Thunderbolt NAS devices. As Apple is the only company that builds Thunderbolt capable notebooks, PC which is based on Intel processors and chipsets do not have motherboards which cater to this new transmission standard. According to Digitimes, Intel has recently notified its partners that the company will fully release its Thunderbolt technology in April of 2012 with several first-tier PC players already preparing to launch Thunderbolt-supported motherboards, notebooks and desktop PCs, according to sources from PC players.

Most board makers are still using third party USB 3.0 solutions while the Apple has it adopted into its products such as monitor, MacBook Pro, iMac, MacBook Air and MacBook Mini, it has strongly boosted demand. With the price of Thunderbolt technology dropping in 2H 2012, it is expected that board makers and notebook makers will adopt this technology onto to PC platform.

Currently Sony is expected to adopt Thunderbolt technology into its product lines with players such as Asustek Computer also expected to adopt the technology into their high-end notebook products. Gigabyte Technology, which has been aggressively adopting new transmission technology into its product line, is also expected to launch Thunderbolt-featured motherboard by April 2012 to compete against other brands.

Here is a link to the Promise SmartStor products which feature the Thunderbolt technology.

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.

If you have any of the ASUS boards below, you are in luck. ASUS is providing new BIOS updates for the boards to support the upcoming 22nm processors and PCI Express 3.0. Scroll down the list and click on the link to install the new BIOS and get ready for the future.

Chipset Model Name Z68 Maximus IV GENE-Z/GEN3 P8Z68 DELUXE/GEN3 P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 P8Z68-V/GEN3 P8Z68-V LE P8Z68-V LX  P8Z68-M PRO P67 P8P67 P8P67 (REV 3.1) P8P67 LE  P8P67-M P8P67 LX H67 P8H67-M EVO P8H67 P8H67-V P8H67-M P8H67-M PRO Chipset Model Name H61 P8H61 PRO P8H61-M PRO P8H61/USB3 P8H61 PLUS P8H61 P8H61-V P8H61-M LE/CSM P8H61-M LE/USB3 P8H61-M LE P8H61-M P8H61-M LX PLUS P8H61-M LX P8H61-M EVO P8H61 EVO

Chipset Model Name BIOS Version Z68 Maximus IV Extreme-Z 0902 Maximus IV GENE-Z/GEN3 0302 Maximus IV GENE-Z 0902 P8Z68 DELUXE/GEN3 0301 P8Z68 DELUXE 0902 P8Z68-V PRO/GEN3 0301 P8Z68-V PRO 0902 P8Z68-V/GEN3 0301 P8Z68-V 0902 P8Z68-V LE 0702 P8Z68-V LX  0602 P8Z68-M PRO 0502 P67 Maximus IV Extreme 2001 SABERTOOTH P67 2001 P8P67 DELUXE 2001 P8P67 EVO 2001 P8P67 PRO (REV 3.1) 2001 P8P67 PRO 2001 P8P67 (REV 3.1) 2001 P8P67 2001 P8P67 LE  1101 P8P67 LX 0402 P8P67-M PRO 0901 P8P67-M 1501 Chipset Model Name BIOS Version H67 P8H67-M EVO 2001 P8H67-V 0804 P8H67 1401 P8H67-M PRO 1104 P8H67-M 0803 H61 P8H61 EVO 0502 P8H61 PRO 0603 P8H61/USB3 0602 P8H61 PLUS 0602 P8H61-V 0801 P8H61 0602 P8H61-M EVO 0801 P8H61-M PRO 1001 P8H61-M LE/USB3 0801 P8H61-M LE 1001 P8H61-M LE/CSM 0801 P8H61-M 1102 P8H61-M LX PLUS 0501 P8H61-M LX 0601

ASUS launches O!Play Mini Plus Smart TV Set-Top Box
World’s first HD media player with integrated Acetrax and Facebook support
 
Singapore (August 30, 2011) — Bringing internet based entertainment to the living room, ASUS has launched the O!Play Mini Plus. It offers access to a multitude of online services for endless entertainment from both video and social media websites, while featuring Gigabit LAN and Wireless N to ensure that content is fast and smooth. The O!Play Mini Plus is also versatile, able to play content from a connected PC, smartphone or tablet, and even automatically playing files straight from a connected USB drive.
 

Popular online entertainment
This set-top box provides limitless online entertainment, including access to Mediafly, Dailymotion*, Facebook*, YouTube, Picasa, Flickr, thousands of internet TV and radio stations, and much more. It’s also the world’s first HD media player that supports Acetrax, the most popular online video on demand service in Europe. The O!Play Mini Plus also allows easy sharing of photos and videos on Facebook by simply pressing a button on the bundled remote control.
 
Wireless N and Gigabit Ethernet for smooth streaming of HD files
The O!Play Mini Plus features Gigabit Ethernet LAN support for lag-free streaming of HD multimedia content. High Definition multimedia files can be quite large, so the ability to transfer with high speed connections is a must. It also houses built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi support, so users can go wireless with their O!Play Mini Plus should an Ethernet connection not be accessible.
 

Versatile and instant multimedia sharing
The O!Play Mini Plus features O!Direct and O!MediaShare, which enable users to stream media files from a variety of devices straight to an HDTV without complicated setups. O!Direct offers fast and reliable one-click streaming of content from a desktop PC or notebook to the TV, bringing broad multimedia enjoyment to the living room, both wired and wirelessly, without the need for USB storage devices. Offered as a free download from the Android market, the ASUS O!MediaShare application enables wireless streaming of multimedia enjoyment like Facebook albums and YouTube videos from a smartphone or tablet to an HDTV.
 
Plug-n-play videos without a remote control
Another user-friendly feature on the O!Play Mini Plus is the easy to use AutoPlay function. It allows users to plug a USB hard drive, flash drive or SD/MMC/MS/xD card directly into the O!Play Mini Plus, which then automatically begins playing videos stored in the “AutoPlay” movie folder without the need to enter the user interface.
 

*Facebook and Dailymotion support will be available through a firmware upgrade by the end of October 2011
 
Specifications
Items Description
Supported Video formatsMPEG1/2/4, H.264, VC-1, RM/RMVB    
Supported Video file extensionmp4, .mov, .avi, .asf, .wmv, .flv, .mkv, .ts, m2ts, .dat, .mpg, .vob, mts, .iso, trp         
Supported Audio formatsMP3, WAV, AAC, OGG, FLAC, aiff, Dolby Digital AC3, DTS Digital Surround, Dolby Digital Plus, PCM/LPCM, Dolby TrueHD, ID3 Tag 
Supported Image formatsJPEG, BMP, PNG, GIF, TIFF    
Supported sub-title formatsSRT, SUB, SMI, SSA, TXT       
I/O ports1 x Power (DC-in) input 
1 x USB 2.0 port          
1 x e-SATA/USB 2.0 Combo     
1 x Gigabit LAN port (1000Mbps)
1 x HDMI port  
1 x Analog audio/video output    
1 x digital audio output (S/PDIF) port     
1 x SD/MMC/MS/xD card slot (4 in 1)    
DimensionsW x D x H:
151.85mm x 106.7mm x 29.03mm
Weight: 175g
Power Source12Vdc, 2A
Power Consumption10W

ASUS WL-330N3G

ASUS WL-330N3G 6-in-1 Wireless-N Mobile Router, world’s smallest multi-role device

Ultra-portability with Footprint Smaller Than a Credit Card
Industry-leading 6-in-1 Multi-role Functionality: Router, Access Point, Universal Repeater, Ethernet Adapter, Hotspot, 3G Sharing
Plug-n-Surf Installation with Graphic Management

Delivering spectacular utility and value, the WL-330N3G works as six different devices rolled into one. What’s worth highlighting first is its Hotspot Mode and 3G sharing Mode. As a hotspot, it can serve as a mobile Wi-Fi connection for several devices at no extra cost. While in 3G sharing mode, it provides internet connectivity for several devices through the 3G network. This mode works in conjunction with a 3G USB adapter. The other four modes allow your devices to get connected in different scenarios!

The 6 modes are : Router, Access Porint, Universal Repeater, Ethernet Adapter, Hotspot, 3G Sharing

ASUS Releases the ROG Vulcan ANC Pro Gaming Headset

Conquer the competition with the world’s first active-noise-cancelling gaming headset

Singapore (July 20, 2011) — ASUS has released the ROG Vulcan ANC, the world’s first active-noise-cancelling pro gaming headset designed to immerse users into games and keep them free of distractions like never before. Created from the needs of competitive pro gamers to remain focused during competition, the ROG team forged the Vulcan ANC with both performance and comfort in mind. The Vulcan ANC features 85% active noise cancellation to filter out sounds like low frequency computer fan noise and 30dB passive noise cancellation to reduce a wide range of ambient noises, including background voices.

Long lasting comfort with lightweight, ergonomic design

The Vulcan ANC not only provides gamers an immersive gaming experience with noise cancelling features, but also a comfortable one. The lightweight design of 320g is lighter than other comparable models of the same size, with other headsets weighing around 350g. Soft memory foam encased in breathable Japanese protein leather ensures user comfort even after extended gaming sessions. It is also portable, with a foldable design that easily fits into a durable touring case to take between competitions or LAN parties.

Crystal clear audio with 40mm drivers and noise-filtering microphone

The Vulcan ANC is built with enlarged 40mm headphone drivers for crisp, clear audio. ASUS audio experts optimized the headset for a wide sound stage so audio is balanced with both thundering bass and brilliant mids and highs. A stylish blade-shaped detachable boom microphone has built-in noise filtering technology so teammates hear clear conversations during games instead of ambient noise.

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ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX Motherboard Review – Intro
Bluetooth 7 Jun 2011

At Computex Taipei 2011, ASUS launched a few 9 series motherboards for the upcoming 8 core AM3+ processor from AMD. Based on the AMD 990FX+SB950 chipsets, the chipset doesn’t bring about much difference from it’s previous generation 890FX+SB850 chipsets. Although the processor is not available, the new series of motherboards are highly sought after due to it’s compatibility with exisiting AM3 processors. You don’t even need to change your exisiting AM3 heatsink as it will fit the brackets.

AMD 990FX Chipset is designed to support up to 5.2GT/s HyperTransport™ 3.0 (HT 3.0) interface speed and dual PCI Express™ 2.0 x16 graphics. It is optimized with AMD latest AM3+ and multi-core CPUs to provide excellent system performance and overclocking capabilities.

AMD boards has always been CrossFire X enabled. This isn’t the case for SABERTOOTH 990FX. This board supports multi-GPU configurations through both SLI™ and CrossFireX using the 4 full length PCIe slots.  This motherboard features the powerful AMD® 990FX/SB950 platform, optimizing PCIe allocation in multiple GPU configurations. Expect a brand new gaming style like you’ve never experienced before!

Other features include ASmedia USB 3.0, SATA 6Gbps support, front panel USB, UEFI BIOS, eSATA, 8 ch audio, VIA 1394.

On first sight, this TUF board looks different from it’s predessor. The SABERTOOTH board which we saw earlier comes with a jacket. The 990FX SABERTOOTH doesn’t have that.

The TUF always stress DURABILITY. That is why ASUS gave it a 5 years warranty. Some of these features include :

CeraM!X – Heatsink Coating Tech – 50% Larger area for heat dissipation with the revolutionary ceramics-coating technology Innovative ceramics effectively conducts heat away from the system. It replaces traditional anti-oxidant to dissipate heat better with its microscopic irregular surface and enlarged area. Better cooling leads to overall improvement in system stability.

TUF Thermal Radar

Real Time Temp Detection and Heat Removal

The TUF Thermal Radar monitors temps in critical parts of the motherboard in real time, automatically adjusting fan speeds to make sure the system maintains high stability without overheating. It consists of multiple sensors for various components on the motherboard, giving users the ability to monitor each one individually. The Thermal Radar automatically calculates ideal fan speeds based on different parameters selected by users for each component, keeping everything cooler and longer lasting.

“TUF ENGINE!” Power Design

DIGI+ VRM

Herald the Arrival of a New Digital Power Design Era

The new ASUS DIGI+ VRM design upgrades motherboard power delivery to a digital standard. The 8+2 digital architecture provides the highest power efficiency, generating less heat to enhance longer component lifespan and ensure minimal powerloss. With ASUS DIGI+ VRM, users can easily adjust power phase performance, enabling new PWM voltage and frequency modulation controls. Digital 8+2 power phase design also expands the modulation spectrum for improved stability and lower VRM switching noise by dynamically detecting system load, empowering users with superior flexibility and perfect precision to ensure optimized performance, extreme system stability, and greater power efficiency.

E.S.P. Efficient Switching Power Design

Optimal power efficiency for key components

Exclusively for this motherboard, the switching power design is provided not only for the CPU and memory, but also for other key components such as graphics cards, LAN and USB 3.0. E.S.P. dramatically improves system efficiency and reduces heat generation.

TUF Components (Alloy Choke, Cap. & MOSFET; Certified by Military-standard)

Certified for Tough Duty

Get rugged performance even in the most challenging conditions with robust TUF chokes, solid capacitors, and MOSFETs–certified through third-party, military-grade testing. TUF Chokes, also known as the “Alloy Choke”, is a made of a compound of various types of metal instead standard iron, enables the support of up to a massive 40A of rated current, 25% higher than conventional component. Furthermore, the single piece packaing also elimates the emission of virbation noise, delivering superb charactoristics as well as durability under extreme conditions.

Check out these videos

In the past, we have seen ASUS, ASROCK, ABIT, ECS having Hybrid designs, having upgradable sockets through add on slots with new socket type. This time round, ASUS pulled another rabbit out of the hat. They deliver a Dual Socket LGA1366+LGA2011 futuristic board.

The board sports two CPU sockets. THe LGA1366 has 6 DIMMs tri channel support while the LGA2011 has a total of 8 DIMMs. There are also as much as 24 SATA ports on board.

Source

INTEL Shows X79 mainboards ASUS CIX79 Deluxe, ASROCK X79 Extreme4, Gigabyte GD X79A-UD3 and the MSI X79A-GD65

Intel has a LOT of motherboards on display, the more prominent onces however are based on the X79 chipset, Intels next gen enthusiast platform with 2011-pin LGA socket, the Sandy Bridge-E (enthusiast) processor that features a massive quad-channel DDR3 memory controller and 32+ lane PCI-Express 2.0 hub, and the X79 chipset. Intel might actually skip the 6-series chipset family with its next high-end platform chipset as the platform is slated for Q4 2011 already, though Z68 will still be launched, but as a Premium chipset.

Source

Asus Crosshair V Formula is based on AMD’s upcoming 990FX chipset paired up with the SB950 southbridge and a full support for AMD AM3+ CPUs. It features a 10-phase VRM, four DDR3 memory slots, a total of seven SATA 6Gbps and one eSATA port, four PCI-Express x16 slots with support for both Nvidia’s SLI and AMD CrossfireX, Gigabit Ethernet, onboard 7.1-channel audio, six USB 3.0 ports (two via header) and a bunch of USB 2.0 ports.

The new Crosshair V Formula motherboard will be available in 2 versions, one with Thunderbolt add on that includes xonar audio and bigfoot Networks GbE. As a member of Asus’ RoG series, it comes with the power pack features including the on board Power, Reset and Clear CMOS buttons, ROG Connect, voltage measure points and all the other ROG goodies.

Below are the pictures of the board.

That cool company with the coolest tablet out there, the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer, is set to transform the game, as it were, at Computex 2011, coming soon to a Taipei near you. At this event it appears that they’ll be releasing at least one new device, possibly three. There’s some teaser frames to spice up your life below, right here in this post! Then remind yourself that you love new names, even weird ones, as a trademark has been registered by ASUS for the word “Padfone.”

Interesting how similar the text in this new logo looks, reminds on rather of a competing “pad” toting company, doesn’t it? Also note that it’s no artists rendering, it comes straight from the patent office. Is this one of the three (or 1, or just 2,) devices that ASUS is set to show off at Computex 2011? Bank on it. This is the same way we found out about the word XOOM, and look how that turned out!

Have a look here at these three images and tell us what you think of them – one, two, or three devices?

Finally we will be seeing the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer get some Android 3.1 Honeycomb next week, this according to some “inside sources” with This is My Next. Trust! This update will of course bring several new UI features such as advanced resizable widgets, an expanded multi-task switcher, and improved stability. It also adds, in this case, a docking station firmware update that will improve typing speeds, USB capability, and mouse tracking. This update may come out as soon as Monday, aka the first day of Computex 2011. Be there!

Source

In our News Coverage @ OCWorkbench, we will cover the new products launch or seen at Computex Taipei 2011. If you are a manufacturer or vendor who likes to have your product exposed here, do feel free to drop us an email.

Here is a list of news articles on Computex Taipei 2011 [It will be updated daily]

Computex Taipei 2011 News Coverage AMD Client Platform Roadmap

Computex Taipei 2011 News Coverage AMD announces Trinity, talks Llano, launches Z series at Computex

Computex Taipei 2011 Kingston launches Wireless storage device Wi-Drive for Apple iPad®, iPhone® and iPod touch® users

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage Sharkoon Flexi-Drive Ultimate with Eight-channel MLC Architecture | Write Speed up to 120 MB/s, Read Rate up to 200 MB/s

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage ADATA demonstrates fastest RAM Disk scoring 6GB/s READ and 9GBs WRITE

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage MSI displays Afterburner App for Android, the World’sFirst Android-based Overclocking Utility for Graphics Cards:

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage MSI launches Military Class II standard boards – Z68A-GD80, 990FXA-GD80, Big Bang-Marshal (B3)

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3-iSSD integrates mSATA for speed enhancement using ISRT

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage Gigabyte X79A-UD3 Intel X79 futuristic board on display

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage Gigabyte A75-UD4H sighted

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage G.Skill showcases its latest SATA 3 SSD, Phoenix II Pro, and ultra high performance desktop memory series

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage Gigabyte makes Z68 Gaming Board – GA-Z68-Gaming

Computex Taipei 2011 ASUS UX21 subnotebook challenges Mac Air with it’s super thin design

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage ASUS showcase dual socket LGA1366 and LGA2011 ROG motherboard “DANSHUI BAY”

Computex Taipei 2011 MSI shows sub 300 dollars 7″ and 10″ WindPad

Computex Taipei 2011 GIGABYTE Launches New AMD 900 Series Motherboards Delivers 4-way SLI™ andCrossFireX™ Support for the First Time on the AMD Platform

Computex Taipei 2011 Qualcomm’s new chipset to be featured on Taiwan tablet PCs

Computex Taipei 2011 ASUS SABERTOOTH 990FX available in market

Computex Taipei 2011 Shuttle launches Tablets based on Nvidia Tegra2

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage ASUS CrossHair V Formula AMD 990FX board Video

Computex Taipei 2011 INTEL Shows X79 mainboards ASUS CIX79 Deluxe, ASROCK X79 Extreme4, Gigabyte GD X79A-UD3 and the MSI X79A-GD65

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage ASUS unveils PadFone, a tablet that comes equipped with an integrated smartphone docking station

Computex Taipei 2011 ASUS CrossHair V Formula AMD 990FX board sighted

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage Gigabyte announces S1080 Windows 7 tablet with USB 3.0 and optical drive dock

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage Exclusive Performance preview of AMD LIano vs Intel Sandy Bridge

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage NVIDIA to showcase Tegra 3 mobile quad core processor

Computex Taipei 2011 Coverage Gigabyte showcase AMD Fusion board A75-UD4H

Computex Taipei 2011 ECS A75F-A(v10) AMD Fusion motherboard on show at Computex

Computex Taipei 2011 ECS unveils it’s ECS Black Extreme A990FXM-A Motherboard

Computex Taipei 2011 Gigabyte announces GA-990FXA-UD3 AMD 990FX SB950 AM3+ motherboard

Computex Taipei 2011 ASUS Padfone, Android 3.1 for Transformer update

Computex Taipei 2011 ECS to showcase AMD 990FX board A990FXM-A (V1.0)

Computex Taipei 2011 GIGABYTE Offers Bundle on Z68XP-UD3-iSSD Motherboard featuring 20GB Intel® SSD 311 Series to support Intel Smart Response Technology

Computex Taipei 2011 Gigabyte Z68XP-UD3 will have PCIe based SSD slot to support Intel Smart Response Technology

Computex Taipei 2011 AMD’s LIano and Bulldozer delayed to August ? [updated]

Computex Taipei 2011 – AMD A75 boards to be displayed by major brands

Computex Taipei 2011 – ASRock to showcase AMD 990FX board 990FX Extreme4, AMD A75 board A75 Extreme6 and Intel Z68 board Fatal1ty Z68 Professional at Computex Taipei 2011

ECS Presents A75 Series with the latest AMD A series APU with AMD Hudson D3 chipset and AMD FM-1 socket

It will also be available at http://computextaipei.wordpress.com

ASUS Showcases Seamless Mobility at Mobile World Congress 2011
Tablet computers, smartphones and cloud-based services offer mobile users exciting and innovative ways to access data on the move

Singapore, 15 Feb 2011 — ASUS, a global leader in the new digital era, is showcasing products and technologies that form part of its ‘seamless mobility’ concept at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. Attendees have the opportunity to experience ASUS mobile products including the Eee Pad MeMO, Eee Pad Transformer, Eee Pad Slider and LBS smartphones, and learn more about ASUS’ growing range of cloud-based services.
“ASUS understands that users have different needs and the best way to serve them is through choice. Our commitment to continuous innovation means we can provide better user experiences for different people in a wide range of scenarios,” said ASUS Chairman Jonney Shih.

Seamless Mobility
The ASUS Seamless Mobility concept ensures that users have complete access to their data in a way that suits their particular needs, no matter where they are. This ranges from using a smartphone to email on the morning commute, working on their notebook at the office and watching videos at home at the end of the day on an Eee Pad tablet computer.
Commenting on the company’s commitment to cloud computing, Benson Lin, Corporate Vice President & General Manager of the ASUS Personal Mobile Devices business unit, said, “We are determined in delivering products that satisfy users’ mobile needs and we will launch exciting handheld products in the second half of this year.”
With its wide range of cloud-driven services and products, ASUS aims to make life more interesting, fun and outright better.

Cloud Devices for Every Need
ASUS has created an entire roster of innovative devices with intuitive user interfaces that connect directly to the cloud. These include a wide range of notebook PCs, the blockbuster Eee PC netbooks, smartphones and the new range of tablet computers unveiled at CES 2011 in Las Vegas.
The new ASUS family of tablet computers provides true choice for a range of different mobile needs. The Eee Pad Slider, Eee Pad Transformer, Eee Pad MeMO and Eee Slate EP121 are available with three screen sizes, and a choice of either Google Android® or Windows® 7 Home Premium operating systems for the ultimate mobility and productivity.
The Eee Pad and Eee Slate tablets deliver a full multimedia experience with HD video, broad connectivity options and the widest range of media compatibility with standards like Adobe Flash. Capacitive touch-screens are standard throughout, as is stylus input and support for external HDMI displays.

Location-Aware Smartphone Services
The ASUS ‘seamless mobility’ concept extends to pocket-size devices too, and there will also be a number of ASUS smartphones on show at MWC. Powered by Google Android®, the models all include location-aware services that help users connect with the wider world when they’re on the move with intuitive bespoke user interfaces.

Smart Cloud Storage for Every Device
ASUS will also demonstrate its range of cloud-based services at MWC. This includes ASUS Webstorage that offers automatic data backup, easy access to personal data from any location and instant file sharing. Webstorage adds to the portability and flexibility of user data, freeing consumers from the constraints of physical hard drives, while providing robust privacy and security measures.
ASUS Webstorage makes massive amounts of online storage available, which can then be accessed from any internet-connected device — smartphone, notebook, netbook, tablets such as the ASUS Eee Pad range and even a desktop PC.
Entertainment is also at the heart of ASUS’ cloud-based service line-up too, whether it’s the @VIBE portal with its huge range of online multimedia and educational content, or the MEar music streaming service. Further information on ASUS cloud services and products is available at www.asus.com.

ASUS Crosshair IV Extreme Review – Intro
Bluetooth 13 Feb 2011

Gamer’s board are usually high end boards because of the requirements. High bandwidth is necessary as a difference of 1 fps would be lethal in gaming. Of course, that not only involves the network, it also involves the graphics capability and support of multiple cards.

In the past, we see that AMD boards supports CrossFire X or SLI. The limitation is that you have to buy a pair, tri or quad to work. This seems to be limiting as you might have to give up your old card in favour of the higher performance. With ASUS Crosshair IV Extreme with Lucid Hydra technology, you can now run SLI, CrossFireX and most importantly mix and match AMD and NVIDIA cards and they do no need to be of the same model to speed up your graphical perforamnce. That definitely helps you to save some costs during upgrading process. It has 5 x PCIe 2.0 x16 (dual @ x16, triple @x16, quad@x16 x16 x8 x8) and 1 x PCI 2.2 slot.

So what does the board support ? The ASUS Crosshair IV Extreme supports the AMD Phenom™ II/Athlon™ II/ Sempron™ 100 Series Processors (AM3 CPU). This motherboard supports AMD® Socket AM3 multi-core processors with unique L3 cache and delivers better overclocking capabilities with less power consumption. It features dual-channel DDR3 1333 memory support and accelerates data transfer rate up to 5200MT/s via HyperTransport™ 3.0 based system bus. This motherboard also supports AMD® CPUs in the new 45nm manufacturing process. It has Core Unlocker to unlock the hidden cores of your Phenom processor. There is also USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gbps support on board.

AMD 890FX Chipset is designed to support up to 5.2GT/s HyperTransport™ 3.0 (HT 3.0) interface speed and dual PCI Express™ 2.0 x16 graphics. It is optimized with AMD latest AM3 and multi-core CPUs to provide excellent system performance and overclocking capabilities

On top of all these, it has RC Bluetooth.  Just simply push the button from the Back I/O on the RC Bluetooth card, overclockers can real-time monitor the desktop PC system status & tweak its parameters – such as voltages and frequency on the fly. When users want to use ordinary bluetooth functions, just simply push the button once again & enjoy all the wireless convenience brought from RC Bluetooth.

Alternatively, Plug and Overclock – Tweak it the hardcore way! Monitor the status of your desktop PC and tweak its parameters in real-time via a notebook—just like a race car engineer—with ROG Connect. ROG Connect links your main system to a notebook through a USB cable, allowing you to view real-time POST code and hardware status readouts on your notebook, as well as make on-the-fly parameter adjustments at a purely hardware level.

ON board is the iROG, The iROG is a special IC which enables several ROG highlitghted functions that gives users full disposal of the motherboard at any stage! This design allows advanced user control and management to be processed purely at a hardware level. iROG greatly increases fun during overclocking for PC enthusiasts and it offers system maintainence and management with more control and efficiency

The board also supporst 2 BIOS with 2 BIOS settings. You can flash back to the old BIOS any time. The board also has Probelt, you can measure the voltage levels using a multimeter direct from the mainboard.

Other features include loadline calibration to maintain ample voltage for CPU during overclocking. The Voltminder LED also shows the voltage levels usnig different colours to ensure that you don’t overvolt the components (CPU,NB,SB,Memory).

We just posted the first look of the upcoming board ASUS P8P67Pro based on Intel P67 chipset. It has some interesting features like DIGI+ VRM, EPU, BT GO!, USB 3,9 EFI BIOS and SATA 6Gbps support. Check out the part of of our ongoing review at this link

http://en.ocworkbench.com/tech/asus-p8p67pro-intel-p67-mainboard-review-first-look/

ASUS O!Play HD2 multimedia player
Bluetooth 21 Nov 2010

IPTV is the trend these days. With more and more content going online, it is not surprising that multimedia players that support multiple formats are welcomed. ASUS O!Play HD2 is just another in this crowded marketplace.

ASUS O!Play HD2 can be said to be the third incarnation of the O!Play series. The previous models were R1 and R3. So, what are the improvements over the earlier models. ?

Basically, the O! Play HD2 is the world’s first USB 3.0 media player. It also has a bay for a 3.5″ HDD with NAS Support. There is support of iPhone, using it as a remote control. If you are a person who goes for hi fidelity sound, the good news is that you now can have TrueHD 7.1 channel surround audio. On top of all these, it is DLNA certified to work with your compatible devices in your home theatre (DLNA is a standard for moving media across a variety of devices. With DLNA, O!Play lets you transfer and manage media files quickly and have them play on your TV via a wired internet connection). You can thus playback all sort of media formats support (see below for a list of supported formats).

If offline contents from your collection is not enough, you can go online and check out the TV and Radio stations. Some 600K streams delivers excellent video quality. On top of that, you can turn your connected TV into a large photo frame as it supports Picasa and Flickr. There is also Weather  and Stock info available.

Specifications

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ASUS Technical Seminar

Last Thursday, ASUS held a technical seminar at Peninsula Hotel in Singapore. Media from over Asia were flown in for a technical briefing about the upcoming ASUS products.

The focus of the event was on the new designs incorporated into the upcoming H67 and P67 boards. These new features include Dual Intelligent processors 2 – DIGI+ VRM / EPU, TPU and exclusive features like BT ! GO, EFI BIOS, USB 3.o front panel and AI Suite III.

The Dual Intelligent Processors2 basically uses a DIGI+ VRM for higher system stability and more precise adjustment. EPU is for power savings. TPU on the other hand makes OC easy with instant performance boost and self optimised system settings.

BT! Go is blueooth on the go. New boards with BT! Go comes built in with bluetooth controller chip on board, allowing connection to mobile devices for file sharing, remote control and entertainment (control audio video playback using your mobile phone).

In fact, the most exciting new feature would be the EFI BIOS. Say Goodbye to boring blue / black BIOS interface screen.With EFI BIOS, you are now greeted with a Graphics Interface to control the various component of your system using your mouse. It is like running Windows on boot up. ASUS EFI BIOS also has a BIOS-EZ mode which gives you the system information, performance settings all in one page. ASUS disk unlocker also helps to break the OS limitation so that you can maximise your HDD space of a 3TB HDD. ASUS also start to have front USB 3.0 box support for a easy and faster transfer of files using the USB 3.0 standard.

In the next few pages, we take a look at some of the upcoming boards.

ASUS Releases New EAH6800 Series Graphics Cards

The latest generation cards from AMD are enhanced by ASUS for more engaged gaming
 

Featuring even more processing power than the successful EAH5000 Series of graphics cards, the new ASUS EAH6800 Series continues to serve PC enthusiasts with cutting-edge technology and a range of exclusive performance-boosting improvements to the AMD reference design.
Both the EAH6850 DirectCU/2DIS/1GD5 and EAH6870/2DI2S/1GD5 cards feature AMD Eyefinity multi-display technology, AMD HD3D technology and DirectX® 11 support. In addition, exclusive Voltage Tweak overclocking technology offers a 50%* performance boost over the reference design. The EAH6850 DirectCU and EAH6870 also ship with factory overclocked cores set to 790MHz and 913MHz..

The ASUS EAH6850 DirectCU also incorporates exclusive DirectCU cooling that uses custom-flattened, all-copper heat pipes in direct contact with the GPU core. This improves cooling by 20%* compared to the reference design and offers quiet operation when the card is idle. The ASUS EAH6870 is equipped with an aluminum fan cover that improves cooling efficiency and reduces surface temperatures by 14 degrees Celsius, compared to the reference design’s plastic cover.
Product Highlights
Exclusive ASUS Voltage Tweak technology offers real-time voltage adjustment of various GPU components, including the core and video memory, making ASUS EAH6800 Series graphics cards 50%* faster than the reference design.
The EAH6850 DirectCU is factory overclocked to perform at 790MHz. This is 15MHz higher than stock performance, resulting in higher frame rates in games.
ASUS proprietary cooling technology, DirectCU, puts copper heat pipes in direct contact with the GPU core. This results in the EAH6850 DirectCU running 20%* cooler than the reference design.
The EAH6870 features a stylish aluminum fan cover that dissipates heat more efficiently. This lowers surface temperatures by 14 degrees Celsius, compared to the reference design’s plastic cover.
Proprietary AMD Eyefinity technology supports up to six** displays for a fully immersive viewing experience.
AMD HD3D technology for stereoscopic 3D gaming and movie watching.
 
* Subject to system configuration and usage. Results may vary.
** DisplayPort 1.2 compatible monitors required for six-screen AMD Eyefinity output. Please visit www.amd.com/Eyefinity for more information.
Availability
ASUS EAH6800 Series graphics cards are expected to ship October 22, 2010 and will be available from authorized ASUS resellers.

Specifications