Intel cuts prices for its processors

Foveon X3 Pro, Sigma D10 and two new lens

InnoVISION unveils Tornado GeForce FX 5950 Ultra and 5700 Ultra

Athlon 64 FX43 available in Japanese retail or the fate of Opteron 140

Palm cuts PDA prices down to $79

Iiyama ProLite H540S: a new 21.3" LCD monitor

Matrox removes DX9 support from Parhelia specs

Intel cuts prices for its processors

Source: PC Watch

Foveon X3 Pro, Sigma D10 and two new lens

According to Foveon, the maker of advanced Foveon X3 — X3 Pro, Sigma announced its new SLR camera on this matrix — Sigma SD10. Sigma hasn´t posted anything on its website yet, so we had to use external sources.

F7X3-C9110 (Foveon X3 PRO 10M) matrix is similar to Foveon Õ3: each photosensitive element features 3 photodetectors for red, green and blue colors. They are located on different depths in the silicon crystal utilizing the dispersive properties. The most shortwave blue color is consumed first, so the blue photodetector is the closest to the surface. Then there go green and red ones.

Comparing to the previous version, the new matrix features improved (doubled, according to the maker) sensivity range and longer expositions (up to 30s).

Camera brief specs:

• Sensor: Foveon X3 Pro (CMOS), 13.8x20.7mm, 10.62 million (3x3.54) total pixels, 10.29 million (3x3.43) effective pixels; 25mm diagonal, 3:2 aspect ratio;
• Image format: RAW
• Resolutions: HI (2268x1512 x 3 levels), MED (1134x756 x 3 levels), LOW (756x504 x 3 levels);
• WB: Auto, Sunlight, Shade, Overcast, Incandescent, Fluorescent, Flash, Custom
• ISO: 100, 200, 400, 800, or 1600 (Extended)
• Exposures: 1/6000 — 15 s (ISO 100, 200), 1/6000 — 4 s (ISO 400, 800), Extended — 1/6000 – 30 s
• LCD: 1.8", 130K pixels
• Media: CompactFlash (CF) (Type I/II), MicroDrive
• Interfaces: IEEE1394, USB 1.1, Video out (NTSC/PAL)
• Size: 152x120x79mm,
• Weight: 785 g

Alongside the camera the company announced two lens for it: Sigma 18-50mm F3.5-5.6 DC and Sigma 55-200mm F4-5.6 DC.

Sigma 18-50mm F3.5-5.6 DC


Sigma 55-200mm F4-5.6 DC

Photos taken from pc.watch.impress.co.jp

InnoVISION unveils Tornado GeForce FX 5950 Ultra and 5700 Ultra

The higher-end Tornado GeForce FX5950 Ultra features 475MHz GPU, 950MHz DDR memory. In its turn, Tornado GeForce FX5700 Ultra has 900MHz DDR2 memory. Both models have D-Sub and DVI connectors and support VIVO.

Athlon 64 FX43 available in Japanese retail or the fate of Opteron 140

Such an interesting processor arrived to the Japanese retail last weekend. Despite the fact that Athlon 64 FX series currently includes only Athlon 64 FX51, you can also see the following price tags in Tokyo shops:

However, this Athlon 64 FX43 turns out to be nothing else but Socket 940 Opteron 140. The traders said they had been granted the permission to rename Opteron 140 to Athlon 64 FX43 nearly from AMD itself.

Drawing an analogy from 2.2GHz Athlon 64 FX51 that corresponds to Opteron 148, you can see that Athlon 64 FX43 (renamed Opteron 140) has clock speed about 1.4GHz. Not the most attractive, of course, but the &Yen;24,270 ($220) price is very nice to test Athlon 64 FX at home jut now, not the next year. Moreover, the Web repeatedly brings an interesting version of how things might evolve. According to it, we´ll also see renamed Athlon 64 FX45 (Opteron 142), Athlon 64 FX47 (Opteron 144) and Athlon 64 FX49 (Opteron 146).

Source: Akiba PC

Palm cuts PDA prices down to $79

Having once reduced below the "psychological" level of $100, Palm Zire prices continued to drop to make the current $79 at the company website.

Just to revise: Palm Zire is a PDA based on 16MHz Dragonball processor. It has monochrome LCD, 2Mb memory and works under Palm OS 4.1. Sized 112x74x16mm, it weighs 110g. Palm Zire is bundled with software CD, USB cable and charger.

Iiyama ProLite H540S: a new 21.3" LCD monitor

According to our collegues from Germany, Iiyama introduced its new 21.3" ProLite H540S LCD monitor expected later this month for 1500 euros.

ProLite H540S supports 1600õ1200 resolution, 500:1 contrast, 280cd/m² brightness and <25ms response time. The display is just 16 mm thick.

ProLite H540S has two DVI connectors, optional D-Sub/S-Video and USB hub, and a couple of speakers. The display can rotate and tilt, and can also be lifted or lowered within 120 mm range.

Matrox removes DX9 support from Parhelia specs

Such a surprising news: DirectX 9 support was removed by Matrox. from Parhelia drivers. Already last year it was clear that Matrox wasn´t looking forward for graphics leadership. However, Parhelia GPUs are special, as the support of DirectX 9 Quad Vertex Shader Array, including Vertex Shaders V2.0, was promised in the future. Now we wouldn´t see it as well.

What is the reason of this? Unfinished drivers, additional investments reluctance, marketing mistakes? Hard to say, especially Matrox hasn´t commented it as well. Anyway, this doesn´t look good...

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