AOpen and ABIT at CeBIT: the megacooler and the new systems

NV40: the first photos and reference card

DeltaChrome, GammaChrome, OmniChrome: what we should expect from S3 Graphics in the nearest future

VIA at CeBIT 2004: EPIA-N Nano-ITX motherboard

ViewSonic introduces V1250S Tablet PC with 802.11b/g adapter

Albatron at CeBIT 2004: motherboards and graphics cards

SigmaTel releases STIR4210 USB-IR controller

AOpen and ABIT at CeBIT: the megacooler and the new systems

Let´s continue our virtual tour of CeBIT 2004 in Hannover and start with AOpen booth. One of the most interesting exhibits is what our Alexander Vorobyev called a "megacooler". You must agree, this thing deserves to be installed on NV40 :)

Clicking small photos you will see larger images sized 800x600 (about 100Kb each).

Now let´s proceed to ABIT booth. The first thing that catches the eye is a test platform on Grantsdale-G:

And the AA7-MAX motherboard on Alderwood with the µGuru technology. It features ICH6 Southbridge, 800MHz FSB, 4 x DDRII 400/533 SDRAM, 1 x PCI-Express 16x, 3 x PCI Express 1x, 2 x PCI. 4 x SATA 150 (RAID), 1 x ATA 100, 8-channel audio, 8 x USB 2.0 ports, 3 x IEEE1394, Gigabit Ethernet.

And we also can´t pass by the DiGiDice SFF with water cooling.

NV40: the first photos and reference card

Late in February we´ve already published some data on NV40, NVIDIA´s new GPU, scheduled for release to April 13. Today Korean Bondara published the photos of both NV40, and a reference card on it (at least this seems so).

Looking at the photo below, the first thing you think of is the suggested cooler design — the heatsink shape is designated by the white line. On another photo below you can see the real GPU (crystal) size. The transistor amount is estimated to be about 220 million (vs. 82 million of NV36; on the lower photo).

Respectively, the card will require more energy, so it has even two power connectors!

Speaking of memory, we can see that the design (primarily layout) bases on that of NV38. The design is reinforced by larger screens. As board´s memory chips are expected to be higher-capacity, they´ll be located on one PCB side only. Thus many other elements might move to the PCB back to clear the "face". Supposedly the card will have 256-bit, but it´s really hard to see on the photo. And the chips seems to be SEC´s GDDR3. Besides, you can see a video codec required for VIVO (most likely Philips 7114).

Finally, take a look at the connectors: a couple of DVI (this might depend on the particular makers, so we might see D-Sub/TV-out as well).

DeltaChrome, GammaChrome, OmniChrome: what we should expect from S3 Graphics in the nearest future

At CeBIT 2004 S3 Graphics, now a division of VIA Technologies, held a press conference to introduce its latest novelties. Our Alexander Vorobyev visited this event and here´s what he reported.

The high spot was the announcement of GammaChrome GPU that is actually a PCI Express variant of DeltaChrome. According to the specified information, GammaChrome GPUs will feature real PCI Express interface, not a bridge.

Identical to DeltaChrome AGP family, the new GammaChrome PCI Express GPUs will be divided into three market families: high-end F1 (8 pipelines, the highest clock rates), mainstream S8 (8 pipelines), value S4 (4 pipelines). The similarity will continue in the release dates, S8 arriving first followed by value and high-end solutions.

Pity, but we couldn´t see a live GammaChrome chip due to some problems rumoured to be related with luggage delivery from the airport. Company representatives promised to demonstrate GammaChrome as soon as possible, maybe even today.

Besides, S3 Graphics shed some light on another interesting chip, OmniChrome, that will feature DeltaChrome core and an integrated TV tuner. The inexpensive OmniChrome is developed specially for systems on Windows XP Media Center Edition and will be distributed via OEM channels.

VIA at CeBIT 2004: EPIA-N Nano-ITX motherboard

At CeBIT 2004 VIA introduced its new EPIA-N Nano-ITX (12x12cm) motherboard.

EPIA-N bases on CN400 + VT8237 chipset and supports up to 1GHz VIA Eden-N processors (miniature x86 nanoBGA 15x15mm CPUs that don´t require fan cooling). The platform features a Random Number Generator and Advanced Cryptography Engine (ACE) combined into PadLock Security Suite. CN400 features S3 Graphics UniChrome graphics with hardware MPEG2 and MPEG4 support, Adaptive De-interlacing and Video De-blocking.

The board supports up to 1GB DDR400/333/266 (FastStream64 controller); features Serial ATA, Parallel ATA-133, USB 2.0, int. LAN and V-RAID, 5.1-channel audio.

Together with Mini-ITX.com, VIA also showcases the first Nano-ITX-based Nanode Mini PC designed by Hoojum.

ViewSonic introduces V1250S Tablet PC with 802.11b/g adapter

ViewSonic announced its new V1250S Tablet PC that alongside other Centrino components features Intel PRO/Wireless 2200BG adapter supporting 802.11g and 802.11b.

The model bases on 1GHz Ultra Low Voltage Intel Pentium M and integrated chipset. It features 256MB DDR (up to 768MB), 30GB HDD, 12.1" XGA LCD with automatic brightness adjust, Cardbus Type II, SD/MS/MMC slots, Firewire and USB 2.0 interfaces, Microsoft Windows XP Tablet PC Edition.

Sized 278x229x25.7mm, the Tablet PC weighs about 1.6kg (incl. batteries). ViewSonic Tablet PC V1250S is not that cheap — about $1895 — though the price is comparable to similar Centrino notebooks.

Albatron at CeBIT 2004: motherboards and graphics cards

This report from CeBIT 2004 is dedicated the novelties showcased at the booth of Albatron. Of course, we are primarily interested in motherboards and graphics cards and we have found some really interesting exhibits.

This PX915G Pro working sample bases on integrated Grantsdale chipset.

Albatron PX915G Pro

The board is designed for Socket T LGA775 (Prescott/Tejas) processors with 533/800 MHz FSB, supports DDR400, has 1 x PCI Express 16x slot, 2 x PCI Express 1x, 3 x PCI slots, 8-channel audio, GbE and 10/100 Mbps LAN, 4 x Serial ATA (RAID 0,1). And this is how it looks with nothing installed:

Albatron PX915G Pro

Below is a top PCI Express-based PC5950/PC5950P graphics card on NVIDIA GeForce PCX5950 GPU. The cards will have 128MB or 256MB DDR. For some reason there´s Quadro FX sticker on the cooler.

Albatron PC5950/PC5950P

And below is a PCI Express version of PC5750/PC5750P on NVIDIA GeForce PCX5750 GPU, also with 128MB and 256MB DDR.

Albatron PC5750/PC5750P

This is the mainstream PC5300/PC5300P PCI Express graphics card on NVIDIA GeForce PCX5300 GPU; 128MB or 256MB DDR.

Albatron PC5300/PC5300P

FX5700U DDRIII is an AGP 8x card on NVIDIA GeForce FX5700 Ultra with 128MB of 128-bit DDR-III and WiseFan II cooling.

Albatron FX5700U DDRIII

Finally, this is an inexpensive FX5500EP/FX5500Q AGP 8x card on NVIDIA GeForce FX5500 GPU with 128MB of 64-bit DDR.

Albatron FX5500EP/FX5500Q

SigmaTel releases STIR4210 USB-IR controller

SigmaTel released another IrDA wireless solution, STIR4210, USB-to-Infrared Bridge designed to connect PCs with IrDA-equipped mobile handsets and PDAs. IrDA Fast Infrared (FIR) protocol, according to the press release, is up to 4Mbps. STIR4210 is currently sampling. In over 10,000-unit quantities it costs $6.35.

STIR4210 brief specs:

• USB 2.0
• Full IrDA support
• Compliant with IrDA Serial Infrared PhysicalLayer Specification 1.4
• Supports SIR, MIR, FIR, VFIR up to 16Mbps (STIR4220)
• Supports SIR, MIR, FIR up to 4Mbps (STIR4210)
• Integrated PLL
• Integrated voltage regulators, 5~3.3 V, 3.3~1.8 V in typical configurations
• 1.8V voltage
• 32-pin QFN Leadless Package (5x5mm)

Write a comment below. No registration needed!