Techiton

The T8300 is Intel's dual core mobile processor codenamed Penryn and was released back in January 2008. The CPU is based on the 45nm manufacturing technology offering improved battery life and cooler running laptops.

The Penryn is the successor to the Merom core which inclues T5000/T7000 series.
The Core2Duo T8300 runs at 2.4 GHz and has a 3 MB of Cache. The other dual core Penryn's identified by the model series name starting with T8000 or T9000 include:
Core 2 Duo T8100 @ 2.10 GHz
Core 2 Duo T9300 @ 2.50 GHz
Core 2 Duo T9400 @ 2.53 GHz
Core 2 Duo T9500 @ 2.60 GHz
Core 2 Duo T9600 @ 2.80 GHz
With the T8100 having the same amount of cache as T8300 and the rest of the T9xx models having 6MB of cache.

The Penryn will be succeeded by Intel's new Core i7 brand named CPU next month.


The CPU-Z reports the details as shown below:

Two weeks back Intel had released two new Quad core processors - Q9400 and Q9650, codenamed Yorkfield. These two Core2Quad are the latest midrange processors to be introduced for the desktop PC and are based on 45nm technology.

The Q9650 is the more expensive and faster processor than the Q9400 with twice the cache size at 12MB and more Gigahertz rated at 3.

With Core i7 going to be released soon, many would wait for the new LGA1366 socket. The current mid-range LGA775 processors would meanwhile be a good upgrade for a few months.

Intel Core2 Quad Q9400 Specifications:
Speed: 2.66GHz
Cores: 4
Cache Size: 6MB L2 Cache
Bus Speed: 1333MHz
Manufacturing technology: 45nm
Socket: LGA775
Power TDP: 95W
Price: $266

Intel Core2 Quad Q9650 Specifications:
Speed: 3.00GHz
Cores: 4
Cache Size: 12MB L2 Cache
Bus Speed: 1333MHz
Manufacturing technology: 45nm
Socket: LGA775
Power TDP: 95W
Price: $530

Razer is going to launch their latest headset - Megalodon (named after a prehistoric giant shark). The headset is a 7.1 surround sound gamers headset.

The Megalodon uses the Razer Maelstrom audio engine which process audio upto 800% faster than other audio engines. The headset also comes with a remote control which allows users to control the audio output to different channels on the fly, this includes controlling the microphone, bass and sound channels without exiting the game or changing it in the audio software.

The headset has special cushions for comfort and offers crystal-clear sound giving gamers and audiophiles ultimate sound delight.

The headset will be launched by the end of this year 2008 and will be priced at $150.

CoolerMaster's latest case named Sniper has been spotted and pictures of it have leaked over the internet. Earlier this year CoolerMaster launched their solid COSMOS S case and this time they are launching a new series of case called 'Storm'. CoolerMaster had also lauched HAF 932 case earlier this month.

The Sniper is touted as a case designed by gamers for gamers. The case is expected to retail for around $150. Below are some pictures of the not yet final design.


Source: PCGamesHardware

AMD's new Radeon codenamed RV730 - the HD 4650 and HD 4670 details have emerged. The mid-range offerings by AMD are aimed at budget gamers and will compete with Nvidia's 9600GT in under $150 price range.

The HD 4650 is codenamed RV730 PRO and the HD 4670 is codenamed RV730 XT. The HD 4670 will be available in 512 MB and 1 GB version with GDDR3 bus type memory. The HD 4650 will have a slower bus type of GDDR2 and will be available with only 512 MB memory.

The cards will be priced in the range of $100 to $150, the exact amount is yet to be confirmed. Expect the cards to be launched in early September, 2008

HD4650 Specifications:
RAM Size: 512MB GDDR2
Memory bus size: 128bit
GPU frequency: 600Mhz
Memory frequency: 1334Mhz
Stream Processors: 320
Price: Yet to be announced

HD4670 Specifications:
RAM Size: 512MB and 1GB GDDR3
Memory bus size: 128 bit
GPU frequency: 750 Mhz
Memory frequency: 2000 Mhz
Stream Processors: 320
Price: Yet to be announced

Intel will soon launch Quad-core processors for notebook, the Core 2 Quad Mobile processor Q9100 and the Core 2 Extreme Mobile processor QX9300.

The Q9100 comes with a whopping 12MB of L2 cache and runs at 2.26GHz clock speed. The QX9300 extreme edition processor is similar to Q9100 with 12M of L2 cache but has more gigahertz power, it runs at 2.53GHz.

With 4 cores the laptops are starting to catch up with desktop processors, bringing elite power for mobile users. The processors will be launched next month.

Q9100 Specifications:
Speed: 2.26 GHz
Cores: 4
Cache Size: 12 MB
Bus Speed: 1066 MHz
Manufacturing technology: 45nm
Power TDP: 45 W
VID Voltage Range: 1.050 V-1.175 V
Price: $851

QX9300 Specifications:
Speed: 2.53 GHz
Cores: 4
Cache Size: 12 MB
Bus Speed: 1066 MHz
Manufacturing technology: 45nm
Power TDP: 45 W
VID Voltage Range: 1.050 V-1.175 V
Price: $1038

Razer, the company famous for making Mouse, Keyboard and other accessories for Gaming brings one of the cheapest and fastest mouse for budget gamers who seek "speed of the light".

The Razer Salmosa (named after a venomous Korean snake) has the fastest tracking optical sensor in the world making it the fastest entry-level gaming mouse. The 52 grams mouse is one of the lightest and most compact mice of its class, with movement speeds of up to 2.25 times faster than other regular gaming mice.
It also comes with additional toggle switches on the bottom of the mouse that enable gamers to make 800/1800dpi and 125/500/1000 Hz polling rate adjustments without the need for any software drivers.


    

Specifications:
Interface: USB
Tracking Technology: Infrared sensor
Resolution: 1800 dpi
Response time: 1ms (1000Hz Ultrapolling)
Weight: 52 grams (excluding cable)
Dimensions: 115mm (length) x 63mm (width) x 37mm (height)
Features: Razer's Precision 3G infrared sensor, Mechanical dpi/polling rate switches, Razer's On-The-Fly Sensitivity adjustment, Razer's Always-On mode, Ultra-large non-slip buttons, 16-bit ultra-wide data path, three independently programmable Razer's Hyperesponse buttons, Ambidextrous design, scroll wheel with 24 individual click positions, Razer's Zero-acoustic Ultraslick Teflon feet.
Price: $40
Thai Price: 1400 Baht

Lenovo (spin-off of IBM) yesterday launched a super powerful mobile notebook workstation. The Lenovo ThinkPad W700 is a 17-inch widescreen laptop targeted for high-end users.

The mobile workstation is the first laptop to include Intel's mobile quad-core processor and NVidia's Quadro FX mobile graphics. It even comes with 2 hard-drives in RAID configuration and upto 8 GB of high speed DDR3 memory.

Peter Hortensius, senior vice president quoted, "Lenovo has engineered a new breed of mobile workstation with the ThinkPad W700, No other PC manufacturer has a mobile workstation that delivers the sheer power, performance and cutting-edge innovation that Lenovo has packed into the ThinkPad W700. The ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation flat out delivers the command performance our customers demand at the desk as well as in the field."

The ThinkPad W700 mobile workstation will arrive in the market around early September.

Specifications:
CPU: Intel 3.0 GHz Core 2 Extreme Quad
RAM: upto 8 GB DDR3
HDD: Dual HDD in RAID configuration
GPU: Nvidia 1 GB Quadro FX 3700M
Weight: 2.63 Kgs
Screen size: 17 inch.
Other Features: Blu-Ray burner, card reader, Wi-Fi, optional fingerprint reader, smartcard reader, separate number pad and 5 USB ports.
Staring price: $2,978


Source: Lenovo

The long waited HD 4870 X2 has finally launched today. AMD has taken back the graphic leader crown from Nvidia after more than two years. The 4870X2 is currently the fastest graphic card available in the market.

The card has the same specs as the single HD4870 but dual its power. It consists of two RV770 chips running at 750MHz each with 800 stream processors per GPU. According to reviews, the card beats Nvidia's Geforce GTX280 in most tests.

AMD ATI is already the price and performance leader in the mid-range with its 4850 and 4870 cards and now it has regained the high-end segment and will probably try its best to beat Nvidia in the low-end segment with the launch of the 44XX and 46XX.

Specifications:
RAM Size: 2 x 1024 MB GDDR5
Memory bus size: 2 x 256 bit
GPU frequency: 2 x 750 MHz
Memory frequency: 900 MHz
Stream Processors: 2 x 800 units
Price: $549

The long waited HD 4850 X2 has finally launched today along with HD 4870X2. AMD has taken back the graphic leader crown from Nvidia after more than two years. The 4850X2 delivers a blistering performance at a compelling price point according to AMD.

Like HD 4870 X2, the ATI Radeon HD 4850 X2 features 1600 stream processors, with two chips running at 625 MHz. It contains 2GB of GDDR3 memory.

Specifications:
RAM Size: 2 x 1024 MB GDDR3
Memory bus size: 2 x 256 bit
GPU frequency: 2 x 625 MHz
Memory frequency: 993 MHz
Stream Processors: 2 x 800 units
Price: under $400


Update Friday, September 26, 2008:
The ATI Radeon 4850X2 is still missing from action. The graphic card which was launched earlier along with 4870X2 is still not released. The card was supposed to be out in the market this September, 2008 but it's almost the end of the month and there are no signs of the card being released yet.

Intel's new upcoming processors will be officially brand named Intel Core i7, the name follows the popular Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Quad names. The new glossy and shiny logo has a similar style to the previous logos, the blue logo is for standard edition and black is for the Extreme Edition processors.

The Core i7 name will be given to the Nehalem architecture chip which would come with 2 to 8 cores, triple-channel DDR3 memory controller with upto 1333 MHz clock speed. The chips will use Quick Path Interconnect (QPI) bus and will support multi-threading.

Bloomfield will be the first Nehalem desktop processor that will be launched in the Core i7 series.
Intel will officially announce the Core i7 brand name and processors tomorrow - August 11, 2008. The chips are expected to be launched in October of 2008 and will have the following specifications:

Core i7 965 Extreme Edition Bloomfield:
Speed: 3.20 GHz
Cores: 4
Cache Size: 8 MB
Memory controller: DDR3 800/1066/1333 MHz
Bus Interface: 1x 6.4 GT/s QuickPath
Socket: LGA1366
Power TDP: 130 W
Price: $999

Core i7 940 Performance Edition Bloomfield:
Speed: 2.93 GHz
Cores: 4
Cache Size: 8 MB
Memory controller: DDR3 800/1066/1333 MHz
Bus Interface: 1x 4.8 GT/s QuickPath
Socket: LGA1366
Power TDP: 130 W
Price: $562

Core i7 920 Mainstream Edition Bloomfield:
Speed: 2.66 GHz
Cores: 4
Cache Size: 8 MB
Memory controller: DDR3 800/1066/1333 MHz
Bus Interface: 1x 4.8 GT/s QuickPath
Socket: LGA1366
Power TDP: 130 W
Price: $284

Source: Expreview, Wikipedia

Update Saturday, October 11, 2008:
Intel Core i7 expected to launch on November 17

Update Sunday, November 23, 2008:
Officially launched - Intel Core i7 965 940 920 - The New Kind of Fast

Microsoft is going to drop the prices of XBox 360 further down September, 2008 next month. The price cuts will result in strong competition in the console war with Sony's Playstation 3.

The new prices will be as followings:

Xbox 360 Arcade - $199 (Down from $280)
Xbox 360 Pro (60GB) - $299 (Down from $350)
Xbox 360 Elite (120GB) - $399 (Down from $450)

The prices are expected to drop on September 7, 2008. The console includes the following:

Xbox 360 Arcade:
Hard-disk Size: No hard-disk comes with 256 MB internal memory.
Ethernet cable: No
XBox360 headset: No
HDMI port: Yes
XBox Live Membership: Silver and 1 month Gold trial
Bundled games: Boom Boom Rocket, Feeding Frenzy, Luxor 2, Pac-Man Championship Edition, and UNO.

Xbox 360 Pro (60GB):
Hard-disk Size: 60 GB
Ethernet cable: Yes
XBox360 headset: Yes
HDMI port: Yes
XBox Live Membership: Silver and 1 month Gold trial
Bundled games: Hexic HD

Xbox 360 Elite (120GB):
Hard-disk Size: 120 GB
Ethernet: Yes
XBox360 headset: Yes
HDMI port: Yes
XBox Live Membership: Silver and 1 month Gold trial
Bundled games: Hexic HD

AMD has launched the fastest motherboard graphics processor (mGPU) in its 790GX chipset. The chipset is equipped with ATI Radeon HD3300 graphics processor.

The onboard graphics supports ATI's Hybrid CrossFireX technology which can be paired with a discrete graphics card from either of theHD3400 series or HD2400 series graphics cards. It also supports ATI's CrossFireX multi-GPU technology which enables multiple discrete graphics cards to work together. The chipset comes with HDMI, DVI and D-Sub ports.

Gigabyte and Asus have integrated the 790GX chipset into their new upcoming motherboards along with SB750 south bridge. With a support of 128MB of DDR3 SidePort memory.

“The AMD 790GX chipset contains several AMD innovations that further improves both multi-core AMD Phenom processor performance and motherboard ATI Radeon graphics performance, the result of which are versatile performance PCs that deliver an eye-catching visual experience.” said Phil Eisler, corporate vice president and general manager of AMD Chipset Division.

Source: AMD

Intel has planned that it will launch two CPU's, a Quad-core Q8200 and a Dual-core E5200 this month end.
The Core2Quad Q8200 will run at a core speed of 2.33 GHz and would be the cheapest 45 nm quad-core available when launched.
The Dual core E5200 chip is also based on 45 nm technology and will run at a core speed of 2.5 GHz.

Q8200 Specifications:
Core Frequency: 2.33 GHz
FSB Frequency: 1333 MHz
Cache size: 2 X 2 MB
Price: $224 (Wholesale rate)

E5200 Specifications:
Core Frequency: 2.5 GHz
FSB Frequency: 800 MHz
Cache size: 2 MB
Price: $84 (Wholesale rate)

Update Sunday, December 7, 2008:
E5200 to drop in price after E5400 launch
Low Power Q8200 to be launched

The popular gaming console Wii has outsold Sony's Playstation 3 in Japan. With 3 Wii's sold for every single PS3 last month, Nintendo has taken the lead in the gaming console market. But in the hand-held gaming market Sony still has the lead with its Play Station Portable (PSP) over Nintendo DS.

The number of units sold for each console is as following:
Wii - 171,851
PS3 - 54,823
Xbox 360 - 14,439

These sales figures of Japan strongly reflects how the consoles will do in other markets worldwide.

Source: Reuters

Enermax Technology, a leading maker of high-end power supplies was the first company who introduced computer power supply unit (PSU) to the retail market with their FMA series.
The Enermax 620W Liberty DDX (Model No. ELT620AWT) is the perfect PSU for average gamers with great efficiency and SLI support. It provides 22A on each of the dual +12 Volt rails to deliver maximum power for the graphic card and CPU. It is cooled with a silent 120 mm fan for superior air flow and comes with modular cables.


Specifications:
Maximum Power: 620W
Fans: 1 x 12 cm exhaust fan
Overload Protection: 110% to 160% of maximum load
AC Input: 100V-240V Auto switched.
Input Frequency: 50 - 60 Hz
DC Output: 28A on 3.3V, 32A on +5V, 2 x 22A on +12V, 0.6A on -12V, 3A on +5Vsb.
Warranty: 5 Years
Price: $220 (Thai price: 7000 Baht)

Nvidia's recent chipset problems has caused many motherboard manufacturers to stop making boards with Nvidia's chipset. Several rumours about Nvidia quitting chipset business has spread on the internet but the company has denied these rumours according to this site. Nvidia says that these statements are completely groundless.

The 790i-based motherboards have already been discontinued by manufacturers. And serveral future planned boards are also cancelled. News is that Nvidia may shift its resources towards its graphic card projects.

Source: DigiTimes

Asus last year came out with the cheap ultra-portable eee pc notebooks, the three eee's stand for "Easy to learn, Easy to work, Easy to play" and targeted light casual users who needed a notebook for basic internet and word processing tasks. This time Asus has anounced eee pc for different segment of users with their Ultimate, Pro Fashion and Smart Casual series.

The Ultimate series will be slim and light and will aim at travellers. The Pro Fashion will be for professionals with more mature features. And the Smart Casual series will target students and youngsters.

The new series are expected to launch later this year and will feature Dual-core Atom processors. The subnotebooks will be available in 120 GB hard-disk drive or 32 GB Solid-state drive and equipped with 10.1 LED screen. The eee pc will be priced between $700 to $900.