Fan drivers missing on the Mac port of Windows XP

For those of you who aspire to run Windows XP on your spanking new Intel based Mac, please take sometime and read this piece of news. Apparently, the people who managed to modify Mac's boot sequence to accept Windows, had some inherent bugs with the installation. One of the major (perhaps the most critical one), is the lack of any fan drivers on the XP installation. This would possibly cause permanent damage to the CPU if used over a prolonged period. However, a later update shows that fans would spin regardless of OS. The drawback would probably be the lack of any form of speed throttling on the fans, causing it to spin at max speed. Such would cause quite a bit of noise pollution nevertheless.

DFI LP JR X58-T3H6 MicroATX Board Details

DFI is preparing a microATX board based on Intel X58 chipset slated for release in January 2009. The PCB is black in colour and has6 layers measuring at 245x245mm size. With 6 phase digital PWM design, it supports the LGA1366 processors from 4.8 to 6.4GT/s QPI. There are 6 DIMM slots on the board to allow up to 24GB DDR3-800/1066/1333 memories and two PCIe x16 slots for 2-way SLI and Quad Crossfire.

Other features include 1 x PCIe x4, 1 PCI slot, 6 SATA ports configurable with RAID 0/1/0+1/5, one IDE port, 12 USB ports, Realtek ALC889 HD Audio, Marvell 8053 GbE LAN. There are 7 fan connectors onboard with EZ-On (Power) and EZ-Touch (Reset) switches and a Software Debug LED. The BIOS features CMOS Reloaded, Voltage Tuning for Vdimm, Vnb, Vcore, Vsb, VHT, 1MHz FSB frequency tuning and adjustable CPU multiplier, ABS technology system.

Update #1 : Should be 6 layers PCBinstead of 4

ASUS 6800LE To 6800GT

It seems like the current batch of ASUS V9999LE cards based on 6800LE can besoft modded to 6800GT. Using Rivatuner, 8 hidden pixel pipelines on V9999LE cardcan be unlocked unveiling a total of 16 pixel pipelines like the 6800GT/Ultra.The 2 hidden vertex pipelines can also be unlocked to unveil the full 6 vertexpipelines. The 3DMark2005 score jump from 6707 to 9063 as a result.

Arctic Announces First Products with Next-Gen AMD Trinity A8 and A10 APUs

New HTPC is the first one that is solely tailored for the role of a living room device. MC101 carries the tag line "Entertainment Always" and the company is following suit with a very sleek design. The interesting bit is that this compact HTPC is powered by the upcoming AMD Fusion "Trinity" processors carrying a familiar name "A8", and not so familiar "A10". Both processor lineups will be powered by the Trinity silicon, i.e. next-generation CPU core codenamed "Piledriver" with the GPU core codenamed "Northern Islands".

According to the associated slide, AMD "Trinity A8" comes with Radeon HD 7640G, while "Trinity A10" comes with Radeon HD 7660G, implying this will be a higher performance part (current Fusion APUs top out with X500 series). According to Arctic, the products will be released when AMD decides to launch Trinity-based Fusion APUs, which could be CeBIT 2012 in March, or Computex Taipei 2012. Given the timing when Llano was introduced to market, we would assume the second option is a more realistic one.

Do note that Arctic is deliberately not mentioning AMDs "Fusion" brand in any part of the press release. This comes from an interesting legal case taking place: few days ago, a report came out that Arctic actually plans to sue AMD over the Fusion brand, claiming it has filed for a trademark before AMD. The problem with that could be that AMD was saying Fusion for their future products before that power supply trademark was filed - both came out in 2006. However, that is a legal matter and knowing Arctics previous love for threatening individuals or companies with litigation, it might be that MC101 line of products is a way of making a peace offer.

Then again, the calling of not growing, but exploding market of advanced set-top boxes. For example, Intel is currently shipping over 30,000 set-top-boxes per day... in EMEA region alone alone! Yes, thats 900,000 devices per month, all powered by a variant of a 45nm Core processor, named Pentium for the sake of argument.

ASUS New Laptops Are Equipped With Nvidia Optimus

[Singapore, 9 February 2010] ASUS and NVIDIA have introduced the new range of notebooks powered by NVIDIA Optimus technology in the coming months. These include the powerful multimedia N Series, slim and light U/UL series models and versatile mainstream K series notebooks.

NVIDIA Optimus: Great Battery Life and Great Performance for Optimized Multimedia Enjoyment
The ASUS N Series notebooks are equipped with the cutting-edge NVIDIA Optimus technology which harnesses the power of both discrete and integrated graphics to deliver the necessary performance for thetask at hand — thus extending battery life. Together with ASUS SonicMaster technology for enhanced audio clarity, Video Magic Technology for true-to-life videos through GPU computing and USB 3.0 for high speed multimedia data transfers, the ASUS N Series is the best choice for entertainment indulgence anytime, anywhere.

ASUS notebooks currently equipped with Optimus technology:
Ultra Slim and Light U/UL Series:
- UL50Vf (Not available in Singapore)
- U30Jc (Availability: Mid-March RRP: TBA)

Multimedia N Series:
- N61Jv (Not available in Singapore)
- N71Jv (Not available in Singapore)
- N82Jv (Availability: Mid-March RRP: TBA)

Specifications are subject to change without prior notice. Please visit http://www.asus.com/ for more information.

Sony a aussi sa WiiU

Une manette a écran, voilà l'avancée technologique que proposera Nintendo avec sa WiiU. Pour concurrencer BigN et ne pas se laisser distancer sur ce domaine, Sony et Microsoft ont aussi leurs petits gadgets en réserve. Du côté de la marque de Bill Gates, nous avons découvert pendant l'E3, le Xbox SmartGlass qui permet de connecter divers périphériques comme une tablette ou un smartphone, pour interagir avec la console. Quant à Sony, c'est sa console portable qui fera office de manette.

La PS Vita deviendra donc un périphérique pour jouer directement sur sa console. La quasi-totalité des boutons d'une manette PS3 restent présents sur PS Vita, ce à quoi s'ajoute un écran et des fonctionnalités tactiles. Le premier jeu à en bénéficier sera l'excellent LittleBigPlanet 2. Ce dernier recevra en novembre prochain, une mise à jour pour accueillir jusqu'à quatre PS Vita comme manettes de jeu. Mais le cross-control va plus loin, car l'écran pourra servir de radar pour détecter des items cachés, et le tactile permettra de déplacer des objets voire même les personnages sur certains niveaux.

Cela n'atteint peut être pas encore la profondeur de gameplay qu'apportera la WiiU, cependant il ne s'agit pas d'un jeu pensé initialement pour. Nintendo a donc de quoi se faire du soucis si sa WiiU n'apporte pas de réelles innovations alors qu'elle est à peine plus puissante que la PlayStation 3.

· Forum LittleBigPlanet 2

Apple could have display issues with iPad 3

Apple could have some display issues with its new third-generation iPad, such as supply shortages and a huge battery drain, according to analysts at DisplaySearch.

The retina display is without doubt the main feature of the iPad 3, or “new iPad” as it is officially called, but the enhanced clarity and higher resolution do not come without a price.DisplaySearch said that doubling the pixel density means a significantly smaller aperture ratio, which requires a brighter backlight. To compensate for this the iPad 3 features at least twice as many LEDs at the 36 employed in the iPad 2.The problem with this is that it uses a lot more power. While Apple has added a larger and more powerful battery, and promised that it can run for up to 10 hours, the same time as an iPad 2, DisplaySearch analysts believe that this battery was employed to address the higher power usage of the A5X chip, not the additional LEDs. This could mean that, despite Apples promises, the iPad 3 will have lower battery life than previous models.DisplaySearch also highlighted the fact that the iPad 3s 264ppi display is significantly less than the iPhone 4s 326ppi, a fact which might disappoint some users.Another problem, which will undoubtedly be a big issue given the popularity of Apple devices, is the potential that that the Cupertino, California-based company might find it difficult to get enough supply. DisplaySearch found that Sharp, Samsung and LG Display, all of which make the panels, have had some difficulty achieving the 264ppi density on an a-Si TFT display. Whether or not these can be pumped out in the quantity that Apple will want or need remains to be seen.The iPad 3 goes on sale on 16 March.