PNY XLR8 GeForce 8800 GTS 512MB PCIe 2.0 Graphics Card

"Late last year, NVIDIA released a pair of new 8800-series graphics cards based on their G92 GPU. The new cards were designed to keep NVIDIA's products at the top of the food chain at their respective price points, while also being a bit more affordable. The first of the two was the GeForce 8800 GT. It brought high-end performance to the mainstream crowd mostly due to its 112 stream processor configuration and 65m G92 GPU. The G92's shrink to 65nm from TSMC's 90nm process used with the G80, brings with it lower power usage, but also lower prices due to a reduced die size, enabling NVIDIA to set the MSRP for the 8800 GT in the range of $200-250.

One thing we noticed in the launch piece for the 8800 GT was the odd number of stream processors enabled in the GPU. We explained the 8800 GT's 112 stream processor configuration by pointing out that there were only 7 groups of SPs enabled, rather than the 8 used in the G80, and speculated another cluster of unused SPs was lurking inside the GPU. Then a month later, the 8800 GTS was refreshed and our suspicions were proved true. The new 8800 GTS 512 has more in common with the 8800 GT than the previous cards in the 8800-series because of its new PCB design and the G92 as its core, but with the newly refreshed GTS all 8 groups of stream processors were enabled, for a grand total of 128. Rather than offering 320MB and 640MB frame buffers though, the new 8800 GTS 512, as its name suggests, comes with 512MB of memory due to its 256-bit memory interface. Core and memory clock speeds were also raised as well to keep fill rate and bandwidth as high as possible. And today we're going to look at an 8800 GTS 512 in full retail trim courtesy of PNY Technologies."...

Full Article on HotHardware

NVIDIA AGEIA PhysX Acquisition Interview

"Is the time of hardware dedicated game physics at an end or is it just evolving? That is the question posed by the announcement this week of NVIDIA's purchase of AGEIA, who for the past two years has marketed their PhysX game physics hardware chip to PC gamers as an add-on card. However the promise of a huge revolution in game interactivity never really met its full potential thanks in part to a lack of killer game apps that supported the technology. So what does the purchase of AGEIA mean? FiringSquad got a chance to ask some questions to NVIDIA's head PR rep Derek Perez who gave us a little more color into this week's announcement.

FiringSquad: First, how did the NVIDIA-AGEIA deal come about? Did NVIDIA approach AGEIA or was it the other way around?

Derek Perez:: We've had a relationship with AGEIA for years, and it just happened to all come together.

FiringSquad: Why does NVIDIA believe that purchasing AGEIA to be a good idea at this point in time?"...

Full Interview on FiringSquad

AMD Radeon HD 3870 X2 Sanity Check

"After our initial launch article on the Radeon HD 3870x2, we decided to run a quick sanity check and make sure that our positive experience wasn't overly limited by the games we tested. We wanted to make sure that this card really acts like a single card as our first account seemed to indicate.

After a few more days with the card, playing with various features and alternate games that we didn't address in our first article, we've been able to draw a few more conclusions about the hardware. Our initial assessment certainly wasn't without merit. Again, we didn't have any compatibility or driver problems, and CrossFire was completely transparent. Not only are there no physical settings to worry about (like the 7950 GX2), but there were no driver settings to mess with either (unlike the NVIDIA solution). We didn't have to fiddle with anything, and it just worked.

Single cards aren’t just about gaming and physical hardware. We would also expect a single card to behave like a single card in all usage situations. To that end, we wanted to make sure that multi-monitor support was on par with a single card. In the past, multiGPU solutions have required that only one monitor be enabled in conjunction with multiGPU rendering. With no driver setting to toggle, does this mean no multi-monitor support or that one display would blank when CrossFire kicked on?

AMD has addressed these issues very well in this case. Games are fully multiGPU accelerated even when multiple monitors are enabled, thus no separate CrossFire switch and no display blanking."

Full article on Anandtech

Intel Skulltrail: The Power of 8 Cores

"Among computer enthusiasts, there is no such thing as too much performance. With regard to the review sample that Intel sent us, we can honestly say that no other system that has passed through our lab has ever provided this much performance. In other words--or rather in numbers--here's what we got: The Skulltrail system consists of eight physical processor cores that can be (over)clocked at speeds up to 4 GHz. We're sure marketing-minded people would love to advertise this as a 32-GHz system, but that would obviously be inaccurate. The motherboard sports two socket 771 processor sockets, each equipped with a quad-core CPU. Intel already demonstrated this platform at its last Intel Developer forum in San Francisco, as you can read here.

Upon closer inspection, it turns out that Intel must have been under immense pressure when developing this new platform, though. Apparently Intel feared that AMD's quad-core Phenom CPUs, which had at the time not yet been released, would catch up to or even outpace the Penryn. Of course, ever since the publication of the article "AMD Phenom-The Spider Weaves its Web," the world knows that AMD is still trying to iron out some kinks in its newest CPU."...

Part 1	Intel Skulltrail Part 1: The Power of 8 Cores
Part 2	Intel Skulltrail Part 2: Overclocking and Power Consumption
Part 3	Intel Skulltrail 3: 8 vs 4 Core Performance

The Youngest of Yorkfields: Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300 Processor Review

We continue talking about new desktop processors from Penryn family manufactured with 45nm process. Today we are going to talk about the youngest quad-core Yorkfield CPU, which should replace the today’s market hit – Core 2 Quad Q6600.

The thing is that 45nm technology has only settled in the dual-core Wolfdale processors so far. The quad-core CPUs are not rushing to move over to the new production technology. Although three processors on new cores from the Core 2 Quad family were mentioned among the solutions announced in early January 2008, they haven’t started shipping yet. In fact, there is only one quad-core Yorkfield processor currently available in stores: the unacceptably expensive Core 2 Extreme QX9650, which can hardly be regarded as a popular and widespread solution.

As for the shipments of more mainstream Yorkfield processor models, there is a small delay here, because the engineers needed more time to fix the problems with processor stability in systems built around some types of mainboards. However, this delay will very unlikely affect Intel’s situation in the market. Today’s quad-core AMD processors from Phenom family cannot compete even with the slowest Core 2 Quad CPUs of the previous-generation. Therefore, Intel got a great opportunity to get rid of the older processor stock.

Full Article on X-bit Labs

Sapphire’s Radeon HD 3850 Ultimate and 3870 Atomic

After suffering through most of 2007 without a compelling mainstream lineup to counter NVIDIA’s GeForce cards in the $150-$300 range, AMD-ATI is finally back with a pair of GPUs that have everyone buzzing: the Radeon HD 3850 and the Radeon HD 3870.

Sporting codenames like “Gladiator” and “Revival”, the 3850 and 3870 came at just the right time for AMD; many gamers were disappointed with the performance of previous mainstream offerings like the GeForce 8600 GTS and Radeon HD 2600 XT, opting instead to stick with more powerful existing DX9 cards like the Radeon X1950 Pro. Since they are largely based on the R600 graphics core first used in the Radeon HD 2900 XT, the 3850 and 3870 are much more capable performers than the Radeon 2600 series were – the Radeon HD 3870 actually performs on par with the 2900 XT, yet sells for nearly half the price, meanwhile the Radeon HD 3850 runs anywhere from 25-40% faster than the GeForce 8600 GTS!


Full Article on FiringSquad

Samsung 245T: LCD Prime

We review many LCDs, but the reality is that we don't review very many different LCD panels. The reason is simple: there aren't very many LCD panel manufacturers. Most LCD panels come from one of the top three panel manufacturers: AU Optronics, LG Philips, and Samsung Electronics. While there are minor variations in panel quality, if you choose a particular panel model and put it in two different LCDs, overall performance is likely to be very similar. Differences between panel models can be much greater, however, especially if the underlying technologies are not the same.

Closing Thoughts

We like to think that after spending over $600 on a 24" LCD, users will get a high-quality experience. That may not always be the case, but at least with the Samsung 245T we have no qualms with recommending it as a very good 24" LCD. Perhaps a better recommendation however would be to try and purchase a 24" LCD that comes with a Samsung S-PVA panel; all of the LCDs we've tested that have Samsung panels perform admirably, with the deciding factors generally being a personal preference -- external appearance, extra features, or more likely price.

Full Article on Anandtech

Best Gaming Graphics Cards: February 2008

Detailed graphics card specifications and reviews are great - that is, if you have the time to do the research. But at the end of the day, what a gamer needs is the best graphics card within a certain budget.

If you don't have the time to research the benchmarks, or if you don't feel confident enough in your ability to make the right decision, fear not. We at Tom's Hardware Guide have come to your aid, with a simple list of the best gaming cards available for the money.

Best AGP Card For Under $100: Radeon X1650 PRO

Best PCI-E Card For ~$100: Radeon HD 2600 XT or GeForce 8600 GT

Head here for full article...