Daily Mailbox

MSI Enhances 'Shader Clock' Inside GPU

Intel Launches New Generaion of vPro Processor Technology

MSI Launches P35 Diamond Mainboard

SanDisk Announces Sansa Clip Tiny, Wearable MP3 Player

Daily Mailbox

MSI Enhances 'Shader Clock' Inside GPU

According to MSI, its latest NVIDIA GeForce 8 Series based graphics cards now carry fine-tuned vBIOS Shader clock settings for improved performance.

Unlike the previous generation of NVIDIA GeForce GPUs, the GeForce 8 family uses unified shader processing units aka stream processors, to simultaneously handle 3D modeling/pixel rendering in a more flexible way. These stream processors execute instructions and mapping textures at about 2.x times of default GPU core clock. If the ratio of stream processor clock (aka shader clock) over GPU core clock is raised, the performance of graphics card can be boosted right the way without generating too much heat.

In order to enjoy benefits of this tweaking, vBIOS on the graphic card must be re-flashed on the PC platform. To simplify things for users MSI now supplies the enhanced shader clock presets. Consumers can enjoy better 3D performance without having to re-flash vBIOS or tweak anything.

For the hardcore gamers, MSI also launched a special version, the NX8600GT Twin Turbo, with two separate vBIOS onboard which carry two dedicated GPU/shader/memory clock settings. Users only have to press a hardware button on the bracket, and then the higher clock setting can be applied without re-flashing the vBIOS chip. Also, this gives enthusiasts a "spare" vBIOS chip if they want to tweak the vBIOS to find out the ultimate performance parameters between Shader clock and GPU core clock.

Source: Micro-Star International

Intel Launches New Generaion of vPro Processor Technology

Intel Corporation today unveiled the newest generation of Intel vPro processor technology for businesses and IT with better protection against hacking, viruses and other threats.

Intel vPro processor technology packages a new Intel Core 2 Duo processor, Intel Q35 Express chipset and several technology innovations offering a host of security and management capabilities for desktop PCs, including the ability to wake and repair a computer with an inoperative operating system or hard drive. As a result, businesses can reduce costs by limiting expensive and time-consuming deskside visits, and by improving power savings through the ability to turn off PCs and securely wake them when required.

New to Intel vPro technology for 2007 are the Intel Core 2 Duo E6550, E6750 or E6850 processors.

New to Intel vPro technology for 2007 is the Intel Q35 Express chipset.

Security features included in this latest Intel vPro processor technology (formerly codenamed Weybridge) are designed to protect against software-based attacks and also filter and defend against viruses and other threats.

New in this product is Intel Trusted Execution Technology (Intel TXT, formerly codenamed LaGrande). Intel TXT protects data within virtualized computing environments, an important feature as IT managers are considering the adoption of new virtualization-enabled computer uses. Used in conjunction with a new generation of the company's virtualization technology – Intel Virtualization Technology for Directed I/O – Intel TXT ensures that virtual machine monitors are less vulnerable to attacks that cannot be detected by today's conventional software-security solutions. By isolating assigned memory through this hardware-based protection, it keeps data in each virtual partition protected from unauthorized access from software in another partition.

In addition, Intel enhanced its Intel vPro processor technology with improved System Defense Filters. These filters can identify greater numbers and varieties of threats in the network traffic flow.

Desktop PC with Intel vPro technology.

Intel 82566 Gigabit Ethernet Controller.

The latest version of Intel vPro processor technology also offers an embedded trust agent, the first certified by Cisco, providing the industry's only 802.1x compatible manageability solution not dependent on OS-availability. This trust agent offers Cisco's IT customers the ability to manage systems, even if powered off or the OS is down, without lowering the security on 802.1x networks and Cisco Self-Defending Network products.

Further boosting PC manageability is the newest generation of Intel Active Management Technology (Intel AMT). Intel AMT allows for inventory and repair PCs "out of band" – meaning even if the OS has crashed or the PC is turned off. Enhancements include convenient remote configuration tools and compliance with the latest industry standards. The company expects that PCs with this version of Intel vPro processor technology will be among the first to comply with the Distributed Management Task Force's DASH 1.0 draft interoperability specification and Web Services Management (WS-MAN).

The new Intel Core 2 Duo processor and Intel Q35 Express chipset together will deliver improvements in energy-efficiency through a combination of performance increases and reductions in power consumption, thereby helping businesses support their own "Green IT" objectives and Energy Star requirements. For the highest-volume processor, the 2007 Intel vPro processor technology delivers 30 percent greater performance than the previous-generation product, while significantly reducing power consumption.

Businesses can also enjoy energy-efficient performance, PC security and manageability along with wireless mobility on notebook PCs with Intel Centrino Pro processor technology which started shipping in May.

Source: Intel Corporation

MSI Launches P35 Diamond Mainboard

Micro-Star International (MSI) launched its latest P35 Diamond mainboard based on Intel P35 Express chipset and the new-generation DDR3 memory.

The new MSI P35 Diamond mainboard supports the latest Intel 1333MHz FSB and the upcoming 45nm multi-core processors. In addition, it supports the DDR3 memory, the current frequency of which starts from 1066 MHz and goes higher. This type of memory consumes less power than DDR2 and saves up to over 25% power at the same frequency.

The new MSI P35 Diamond series is also equipped with the proprietary fanless cooling design called "Circu-Pipe". According to the vendor, the Circu-Pipe offers heat reduce efficiency of more than 20% after 2 hours of full-load operation compared with the former heat-pipe design. Its fin-typed heatsink around the heat-pipe not only reduces the heat but also saves space to make sure the MSI P35 Diamond will not cause any structure conflict or problems from larger CPU cooler or graphic cards.

As for the sound, the motherboard comes with the SoundBlaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio card with Creative hardware audio codec which supports 24-bit Crystalizer and CMSS-3D technologies.

Another proprietary feature of MSI P35 Diamond is the "MSI SkyTel" which allows users to use common phone set to make internet calls. There’s no need to buy additional headset or VoIP accessories when using the MSI SkyTel. Users can just plug the legacy phone set in the P35 Diamond-based PC and make internet calls around the world using the Skype application.

P35 Diamond features:

• Intel P35 Express Chipset
• Supports LGA775 Intel Core 2 Quad/Duo/Extreme Processors
• Supports FSB 1333/1066/800MHz
• Supports dual-channel DDR3-1333/1066/800
• 2 x PCI Express x16 slots (1 runs x4 speed); supports ATI CrossFire
• 4+1 SATA2 3Gb/s support Matrix RAID
• 2 x eSATA2 Support Matrix RAID @ back I/O
• 7.1-channel X-Fi Xtreme Audio
• MSI SkyTel VoIP function
• Gigabit LAN

Source: Micro-Star International

SanDisk Announces Sansa Clip Tiny, Wearable MP3 Player

SanDisk Corporation today introduced the colorful Sansa Clip, a tiny MP3 player. Suited for the fitness buff or traveler, the compact Sansa Clip comes with a fashionable clip for wearing, FM radio with recorder, microphone, rechargeable battery and a bright screen for easy navigation. The Sansa Clip is expected to be available this fall at manufacturer’s suggested retail prices of $39.99 for a 1GB player and $59.99 for the 2GB unit.

Consumers can also show off their style by choosing from an array of colors. The Sansa Clip comes in "sleek black", "candy apple red", "hot pink" and "ice blue". (Colors are only available in the 2GB capacity.)

The Sansa Clip features:

• Vendor claims it to be one of the best sounding MP3 players on the market
• Wearable clip
• Large, bright OLED screen with a simple user interface (songs sorted by title, artist, album, genre)
• FM tuner and recorder with 40 presets
• Built-in microphone
• Rechargeable battery with up to 15 hours of life
• Solid-state flash memory

The Sansa Clip supports music download and subscription services, including Rhapsody To Go, Napster, eMusic, and others. It’s designed to work seamlessly with a wide range of popular music formats such as MP3, WAV, Audible (audiobook) and Windows Media Audio (WMA) in both unprotected and protected files. The Sansa Clip can also play "DRM-free" MP3 downloads.

The player is expected to be available from retailers in the U.S. and Europe in September 2007, with other regions to follow shortly thereafter.

Source: SanDisk Corporation

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