Photo of the day: Leadtek WinFast A400 Ultra TDH and GeCube RADEON 9550XT Platinum Extreme 128MB in our lab

VIA releases EPIA MS Mini-ITX board

iRiver H₂O Audio DV: a player to dive with

SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 ATLANTIS with 128-bit bus: official explanations

Renesas announces superSRAM memory

Photo of the day: Leadtek WinFast A400 Ultra TDH and GeCube RADEON 9550XT Platinum Extreme 128MB in our lab

We are currently testing two original graphics cards that noticeably differ from the reference design. The first is Leadtek WinFast A400 Ultra TDH on GeForce 6800 Ultra GPU that has 425/1,100 MHz clock rates (vs. 425/1,100 MHz)

The second is GeCube RADEON 9550XT Platinum Extreme 128MB with 400/500 MHz clock rate (vs. 250/400 MHz of standard RADEON 9550). It´s more of a RADEON 9600 PRO, just with clock rate below 600MHz.

VIA releases EPIA MS Mini-ITX board

VIA Technologies released its new Mini-ITX motherboard, VIA EPIA MS, that has no back-panel connectors. Such design makes possible low-profile multimedia centres.

It seems that EPIA MS doesn´t differ from EPIA PD, as links to their specs are the same at the official website:

iRiver H₂O Audio DV: a player to dive with

iRiver and Diver Entertainment Systems (DES) introduced a new MP3 player series H₂O Audio DV — based on iFP-300T products. According to the press releases, players can work at down to 60m depths. Just imagine divers with aqualungs, water polo player, etc. — all with MP3 players clipped to swimming trunks! :)

The novelties will have up to 512MB memory (up to 16 hours of 64Kbps Windows Media music). A single AA battery will provide you with up to 24 hours of music. Besides, FM tuner integrated into iFP-300T remained in the novelties as well.

As for the cooperation, Diver Entertainment Systems developed the new body for player and earphones, while iRiver sales department initially came up with idea to raise sales volumes with such a product.

Depending on memory capacity, H₂O Audio DV players will cost $350 to $650.

SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 ATLANTIS with 128-bit bus: official explanations

After Sapphire RADEON 9800 ATLANTIS graphics card on RADEON 9800 PRO GPU had gone on sale, the company started receiving letters from buyers surprised by card 128-bit bus despite a 256-bit one mentioned in ATI´s specs. To answer this issue, the company published an official press release stating that "We are instructing each of our retail partners to clearly and prominently list the 128-bit specification. Further to this end, the SAPPHIRE RADEON 9800 ATLANTIS 128-bit products boxes will now be labeled with an oversized 128-bit sticker on the boxes face as well."

Our Andrey Vorobiev says the company didn´t mention those who purchased OEM versions of this card and also didn´t mention any stickers on cards themselves.

Besides, speaking of ATI´s specs, there´s a reason to doubt the rightfulness of naming this product a 9800 at all.

The official press release is here.

Renesas announces superSRAM memory

Japanese Renesas Technology announced the development of superSRAM memory that features new type of cells. According to the press release, new SRAM is theoretically free from soft errors due to a new type of memory cell combining an SRAM cell with a DRAM capacitor technology. Renesas is going to unveil more details about this innovation designed for mobile devices at 2004 Symposium on VLSI Technology. According to the press release, the main product features are:

• High soft error tolerance — An approximately 4-digit improvement in the soft error rate compared with Renesas Technology´s previous 0.13 µm process 16M-bit low-power SRAM (without ECC circuitry*3 ) has been achieved by providing a cylindrical capacitor*4, like the type used for DRAM cells, at each memory cell storage node*5. Alpha ray radiation experiments have confirmed for the first time that the SRAM performance is free of bit defects due to soft errors. The problem of soft error tolerance, which is a fundamental issue for conventional SRAM, has been solved, enabling highly reliable, high-density SRAM to be realized.
• Industry´s smallest memory cell size for a 0.15 µm process SRAM — The development of a new type of cell that combines an SRAM cell using TFTs*6 and a DRAM capacitor has resulted in the industry´s smallest memory cell size for a 0.15 µm process SRAM: 0.98 µm2. The cell size is less than half that of Renesas Technology´s current CMOS-based 0.15 µm process SRAM. It will enable chip size to be greatly reduced and mobile devices to be made smaller. In addition, a data retention current of less than 1 µA has been achieved. Unlike a pseudo-SRAM that employs DRAM memory cells, the new SRAM cell does not need refresh operations. That allows an approximately double-digit improvement in data retention current compared with a pseudo-SRAM, for lower power consumption in mobile applications.
• Fabrication possible using existing 0.15 µm process — Higher performance and a smaller cell area have been achieved without using special processes. Fabrication is possible using existing process technologies, enabling early introduction to the market.
  

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