MarketWatch

"ViewSonic(R) Corp., a worldwide leader in display technologies, has once again demonstrated display leadership with the unveiling of its first 120Hz desktop LCD technology at NVIDIA's NVISION 08 event in San Jose, Calif. ( http://www.nvision2008.com). The 22-inch 120Hz prototype delivers rich, colorful, blur-free video performance on traditional gaming, entertainment and graphic applications, while also delivering eye-popping stereoscopic 3D when used with NVIDIA's GeForce Stereoscopic 3D gaming technology.

The 22-inch 120Hz display coupled with 3ms gray-to-gray response time provides much better Motion Picture Response Time (MPRT) than the typical "fast-response" displays on the market today, virtually removing the appearance of motion artifacts and ghosting. This makes it the LCD of choice for extreme gaming, entertainment, computer animation, precision graphic work and traditional computer applications. Features, such as integrated 2Wx2 stereo speakers and Dual Link DVI digital input, combine to expand entertainment options and make the monitor the must-have display for 3D gaming.

The display offers excellent front-of-screen performance, including Professional Color Certification, 1680x1050 resolution, 300 nits of high brightness and 1000:1 contrast ratio, as well as wide viewing angles for getting the most out of fast action games, downloaded video content and full-length movies. When coupled with NVIDIA's GeForce Stereoscopic 3D technology, the ViewSonic 120Hz display provides game enthusiasts with realistic depth, intense motion, rich graphics and detailed images that literally leap off the screen.

"ViewSonic continues to deliver innovative technology that leads and supports the growing trends and demands in digital entertainment," said Jeff Volpe, vice president of Global Brand and Emerging Technologies, ViewSonic. "The 120Hz technology will deliver superb front-of-screen performance and will drive new standards in desktop entertainment igniting the next evolution in digital viewing capabilities."

The first displays with ViewSonic's 120Hz technology are expected later in the year at select resellers, retailers and etailers. Pricing is not yet available."

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HardOCP

"Prices continue to drop on GeForce GTX 280 video cards, and the ASUS ENGTX280 TOP is now priced very competitively; but is it a great value? We'll compare it to a stock GeForce GTX 280, a Radeon HD 4870 X2 and a Radeon HD 4870 in real-world gaming scenarios to find out!

... ASUSTeK’s “TOP” branding graces their highest performing factory overclocked video cards. As such, the ENGTX280 TOP is their fastest video card based upon NVIDIA’s GeForce GTX 280 GPU. Out of the box, the GPU core is overclocked by 68MHz to 670MHz, the streaming processors are overclocked by 150MHz to 1.46GHz, and the memory is overclocked by 290MHz to 2.43GHz, giving us 155GB per second of memory throughput. This is a respectable overclock to have on a warrantied video card, but it’s not the highest out there. This video card comes with ASUSTeK’s standard video card warranty, which lasts for 3 years. "

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Techreport

"When you think of Intel's Atom processor, you think of small-form-factor desktops and teeny laptops. That's how Intel is marketing the chip, and that's how most hardware manufacturers are using it. However, Chinese site Expreview has spotted an outlier: a full-sized ATX motherboard with an Atom processor soldered onto it.

A quick Google search suggests the company behind the board is none other than Galaxy Technology. Expreview's photos show a pretty unremarkable board layout with two memory slots, four Serial ATA ports, one PCI Express x16 slot, five PCI slots, and a lone VGA port on the I/O plate.

What's striking about the board is just how positively tiny the Atom CPU looks in context, though. The entire chip package seems to take up about as much space as the motherboard's CMOS battery. According to Expreview's description, this particular Atom variant runs at 1.6GHz and comes paried with a 945GC chipset, so the board seems like a distant cousin of Intel's Mini-ITX BOXD945GCLF."

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BBC

"The One Laptop Per Child programme has lived up to its name in the tiny South Pacific nation of Niue, where 100% of children now have one. 500 of the programme's XO laptops were distributed this week to primary and high school students.

The rugged, waterproof laptops have been designed as a cheap way to bring the internet to children in the developing world. There are 4500 more laptops earmarked for the Pacific region as a whole.

It is not the first time that Niue has proven to be ahead of the technological curve; in 2003, it became the first territory to offer free wireless internet to all its inhabitants.

Besides instant wireless websurfing, the schoolchildren will also be able to communicate with each other within a radius of one kilometre without going online.

Secretariat of the Pacific Community director general Jimmie Rodgers was quoted by the AFP news wire as saying that the laptops "have the potential to revolutionise education in ways that are difficult to imagine."

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CPU3D: Special Weekend Deals 

Here's this week's list of special deals from our sponsors ... Also check out our discussion forums for further deals. Click HERE.

 - Sapphire ATI HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 @ £182.52
 - Asus EBOX (Intel Atom N270) - White @ £195.99
 - Asus LCD Monitor 20" LS201D Black  @ £158.33
 - OCZ NIA Neural Impulse Actuator @ £89.95
 

Immortal Gaming

 - Sapphire ATI Radeon HD 4870 512MB GDDR5 @ £176.19
 - 2Gb DDR2 PC2-6400 OCZ Platinum XTC  @ £35.24
 - AMD Phenom Quad Core 9850 2.50GHz Black Edition @ £129.24

The INQ

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Weekend reviews from around the NET ... original compilation from Techreport.

Friday's Stories

1. Ars Technica covers IDF: an early peek at USB 3.0 performance
2. TG Daily reports new SATA standard expands to 600MB/s,
   enables next phase for SSD performance
3. HEXUS.channel reports Intel confirms prices of new mobile CPUs
4. Hardware-Infos reports on IDF: DDR4-memory in 2012 (write-up in German)
5. AnandTech covers IDF: day 3 keynote coverage & the Woz
6. HotHardware covers IDF: speeches by Eric Kim and Renee James
7. DigiTimes reports Intel CTO says gap between humans and machines will close by 2050
8. Ars Technica on Verizon: we need freedom to delay P2P traffic when necessary
9. HardwareZone's Comex 2008 preview
10. TheTechLounge on buying an HDTV: what you need to know
11. HardwareZone's 10th anniversary: the Y2K era

Software and gaming

1. Maximum PC's hands-on with Deep Viewer, Intel's potential killer-app for Nehalem
2. SBS 2008: released to manufacturing
3. InfoWorld reports Vista users rush for SP1, XP owners dawdle on SP3
4. Microsoft Live Labs: Photosynth
5. Tech ARP updates x264 benchmark and releases x264 HD benchmark ver. 2.0
6. Shacknews on Valve: Microsoft looking to charge gamers for Team Fortress 2 updates
7. Ars Technica reports Microsoft showcases holiday games, Zune at X'08 Canada
8. YouGamers have Shattered Horizon - GC 08 preview

Systems

1. AnandTech on Nehalem: everything you need to know about Intel's new architecture
2. DriverHeaven reviews Novatech X80r Pro laptop
3. InsideHW reviews Toshiba Satellite L300-11G
4. bit-tech and Madshrimps have early looks at Asus P6T Deluxe X58
5. Legit Reviews on Asus Striker II NSE
6. Madshrimps review 2GB OCZ DDR3 PC3-16000 Flex II memory kit
7. TechwareLabs review 4GB A-Data Vitesta G-Series DDR2-800 memory kit

Multimedia

1. AnandTech on integrated graphics - G45 at IDF
2. [H] Enthusiast reviews Asus ENGTX260 TOP
3. AMDZone reviews Asus ENGTX260 TOP and Foxconn GeForce 9500 GT
4. TweakTown reviews Palit Radeon HD 4850 Sonic
5. SuperSite for Windows reviews Apple iPhone 3G
6. Everything USB reviews Creative HS-1200 wireless X-Fi gaming headset

Power, casing, and cooling

1. Elite Bastards review 1100W Cooler Master UCP power supply
2. Rbmods review 650W Thermaltake Toughpower Power Express PSU for VGA cards
3. Overclockers Club reviews Thermaltake Xaser VI VG4000BWS case
4. CowcotLand reviews Gigabyte iSolo 220 case (in French)
5. TweakTown's DIY case mods—suitcase turned into PC
6. bit-tech features modder Cheapskate's Bloo Balls case mod
7. Digit-Life reviews Asus Silent Knight II CPU cooler
8. [OC]ModShop reviews Evercool Transformer 6 heatsink

Enjoy ...

VR-Zone

"Palit Microsystems, leading graphics card manufacturer, today proudly announces the Palit own design Radeon™ HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition, which is a revolutionary graphics solution with dual bios and dual fan. This Palit own design graphics solution with world’s leading “Smart Switch” technology makes overclocking an easy thing; it is also equipped with the one and only cooling system that allows users to turbocharge the speed with no worries about noise and heat!

With dual bios design, Palit Radeon™ HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition has a core frequency of 750 MHz and 512 MB of cutting edge GDDR5 memory at 3.8 GHz. With a flick of the “Smart Switch” button the card will turbocharge to 4GHz memory speed and 775 MHz core! Overclocking becomes easy and friendly! All that you have to do is to adjust the switch and reboot, there is no need for any 3rd party software. In addition, the 4-phase power supply system on Palit Radeon™ HD 4870 Sonic Dual edition provides a more robust and stable energy distribution system allowing the graphics card to maintain a lower operating temperature therefore, lengthening the life of the card.

The dual fan cooling system on Palit Radeon™ HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition is designed to provide more airflow but to work in lower RPM which allows the graphics card to remain in a quieter status. The left side PWM fan will adjust its fan speed depends on GPU temperature allows the cooling system to work more effectively; the right side fan will stay in low speed to provide sufficient airflow to cool the power area. In addition to this unique fan control design, this cooling system equipped with full cooper base and three heat pipes further increase the thermal efficiency.

As a future proof graphics card, Palit Radeon™ HD 4870 Sonic Dual Edition is equipped with the advanced DisplayPort, dual DVI, and HDMI. It supports ATI CrossFireX™ Technology, along with the latest PCI-Express 2.0 platform and Microsoft DirectX® 10.1 Shader Model 4.1 technology delivering the best gaming, video playback and computational GPU solution."

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DailyTech

"Intel has had great success with its relatively new Atom processor. The small, low power processor is finding its way into lower cost netbook systems as well as embedded electronics and other devices.

Intel is hoping to bolster its profits on the back of the Atom in the face of slowing PC sales, where it typically makes the bulk of its profits with computer CPUs. Intel's Stacy Smith has stated that the Atom is off to a very rapid start and far exceeding Intel's expectations.

Intel's Atom has been a victim of its own popularity with supplies of the processor too low to meet demand. PC World reports that Intel expects the shortage of Atom processors to be resolved by Q3 2008. This is also roughly the same period when Intel expects to debut the new, higher performance dual-core Atom processor.

The shortage in Atom parts has caused ASUS to revert to using Intel Celeron processors in its lower-end Eee netbooks. PC World reports that an anonymous ASUS source said, "There's a serious shortage of Atom microprocessors. We're focusing our Atom supply on the Eee PC 901, 1000 and 1000H models."

ASUS will be using the Intel Celeron M 353 CPU in low-end Eee systems because it is available and is priced lower than the Atom parts. The Celeron processors are older tech, but the price for the parts makes them suited to Eee machines that will be sold in developing nations.

The same unidentified ASUS source told PC World that ASUS didn’t go with the similar Nano processor from VIA because ASUS is traditionally a user of Intel processors. An Intel spokesperson told PC World that Intel doesn’t commonly sell Celeron M processors for netbooks, but the parts are available for use.

Intel's CEO blames Atom processor shortages on issues in the supply chain and the significant demand for the Atom processors in both netbooks and other consumer electronic devices."

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Digitimes

"First-tier motherboard maker Elitegroup Computer System (ECS) has announced that it will acquire the motherboard manufacturing plant that was ordered by the China government to halt production due to tax issues.

ECS commented that originally the facility's owners ended its cooperation with ECS because they felt the motherboard makers order volumes were too low, ECS tried to go through government to solve the issue. However, after evaluation, ECS decide the facility has future potential and decided to acquire it as a wholly owned subsidiary.

The plant is also expected to help solve the company's capacity shortages during the peak season, and deliver capacity for future orders.

With the acquisition, ECS' total investment amount in China will reach US$145 million."

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CPU3D Review: Xigmatek Achillies S1284 CPU Cooler

Following the success of their CPU coolers, Xigmatek introduces their latest model. The Xigmatek Achillies S1284 CPU Cooler. It has 4 heatpipes featuring their HDT technology, and a new super slient 120mm fan which spins at 800rpm. It pumps out a massive 61.375 cfm of air-flow and produces noise level of around 20.64 dBA. Our CPU3D review team puts this CPU cooler through the test.

" ... the Xigmatek Achillies S1284 is an amazing cooler for a brilliant price. It's a worthly contender for this year's most silent CPU cooler. "

Read the rest of the review ... HERE.