RHEL 6.2 Will Support AMD's Bulldozer Opterons

Red Hat proudly announced that the upcoming Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 operating system will fully support the power saving features of the AMD Bulldozer Opteron CPUs.

It is now official that Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 will have full support for the power savings features in AMD's Bulldozer Opteron processors.

The Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 operating system is in a Beta state at the moment, and the final release should be available sometime at the end of this year or the beginning of 2012.

"We are working with AMD in particular taking advantage of features [that are] in silicon. [...] RHEL would still run but not use new functionality in Interlagos," - said Aram Kananov, Product Marketing Manager EMEA for Platform and Cloud at Red Hat.

Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 Beta came with many updates and improvements especially in the areas of identity management, performance and scaling, advanced storage, networking, and high availability.

Download Red Hat Enterprise Linux 6.2 Beta ISO images from here.

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Sony NEX-5N Is One of Several Christmas Deals

The holidays are bound to have people hiring cameramen or using serious video and photo capturing products, but for those who want performance in a tight package, Sony has the NEX-5N E-mount Camera ready and waiting. 

This is one of multiple special offers that the company is said to have set up for this year's winter events.

It relies on a 16.1 megapixel Exmor APS HD sensor, which should have no trouble with photos, nor with shooting videos.

It even comes with interchangeable lenses, so that different focal points and methods of shooting may be carried out whenever required.

The offer should be up soon, if it isn't already (in Singapore at least), for S$1,299 ($1,005 / 742 Euro), along with the Sony Tablet S, the W262 MP3 Walkman and the Sony DPF-C700 Photo Frame.

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BlackBerry Bold 9790 Officially Launched in Indonesia

The latest addition to Research in Motion's lineup of BlackBerry 7 smartphones, the BlackBerry Bold 9790 has just been introduced in Indonesia.

According to RIM, the smartphone will be available on November 25th at the Pacific Place Shopping Mall in Jakarta for a suggested retail price of 4,599,000 IDR (US$510 or 375 EUR).

RIM fans who want to purchase the Bold 9790 can find it from November 26th at authorized partners, including PT. Teletama Artha Mandiri, PT. Comtech Cellular, and PT. Selular Media Infotama.

Built on the success of the BlackBerry Bold 9780, Bold 9790 comes with RIM's latest BlackBerry 7 operating system and the advantages offered by a high-resolution touchscreen display.

“Indonesia is an important market for RIM and we are very excited to introduce the new BlackBerry Bold 9790 smartphone here first. The BlackBerry Bold 9790 combines a fluid touch display with the iconic BlackBerry keyboard in an impressively slim and stylish design,” said Gregory Wade, Regional Managing Director at RIM.

In addition, the smartphone provides the same smooth texting experience via its highly tactile keyboard that allows users to type faster and more accurate.

With the included optical trackpad, which allows owners to handle it with only one hand, and the slim design that makes it easy to carry and comfy to hold, BlackBerry Bold 9790 is the perfect sequel of the popular Bold 9780.

Unlike the Bold 9900, this one is equipped with a slightly slower 1 GHz single core processor but packs the same amount of storage – 8GB.

It’s powered by the new BlackBerry 7 operating system and delivers a truly outstanding mix of communications, multimedia, productivity and social connectivity features," added Wade.

Furthermore, the onboard memory can be expanded via the microSD memory card slot that supports up to 32 GB of additional storage.

It is also worth mentioning that the Bold 9790 includes built-in support for Augmented Reality and NFC technology.

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NVIDIA Tegra Powers 65-Inch Touchscreen Tablet

In an arguably stunning move, a company from Turkey has started talking with education and enterprise customers for the promotion of its larger-than-usual tablet device. 

Larger than usual is a massive understatement, though, since a diagonal of 65 inches is a higher number than people would expect of an HDTV, let alone an item that was supposed to be portable.

Portability isn't even a concern here, though, and there would probably be a high temptation to just label Ardic's device as a TV and be done with it if not for the hardware and the overall shape.

Quite simply, this really is an Android tablet, with the right shape and internal components, even if, as a whole, it is scaled up.

The 65-inch LCD (liquid crystal display) is handled by the NVIDIA Tegra 2 SoC (system-on-chip) and has no issue with Full HD media playback.

Granted, that is more the merit of the SoC itself and the customizations that Ardic made to the Android OS.

Like so many other Android devices, the slate has 1 GB of RAM (random access memory) backing up the Tegra 2, as well as 16 GB of flash memory.

A microSD card exists as well, along with dual cameras and HDMI, plus WiFi and 3G connectivity.

The video demo that Ardic released actually shows the big invention doing a variety of things, like web browsing, displaying power point presentations (quite easy to watch on the big screen) and taking over a regular tablet via a dock.

Through it all, free use was made of the pinch and zoom capabilities of the touchscreen.

Multitouch is not supported, but Ardic does have a model with four touch sensors in the works, which will overcome this obstacle.

It is the Turkish company's hope that its as yet un-priced creation will be adopted by enterprises and educational venues where anyone with a 10-inch slate will be able to carry out tasks on the big screen and exhibit projects or whatever else.

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Nvidia's Upcoming GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores Performance Unveiled

Nvidia has just unveiled the first benchmark of the company's upcoming 448 Cores GTX 560 Ti graphics card which is expected to arrive on November 29 and should take the place of the current GTX 560 Ti in the company's lineup.

The Santa Clara-based chips maker has published on its website a graph that compares its upcoming graphics card with its current offerings while running Battlefield 3 at Full HD resolution in DirectX 11 mode.

According to this graph, which was also posted on the XtremeSystems forum, the GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores is a great deal faster than its predecessor, almost reaching the performance of the more expensive GTX 570.

This is hardly surprising considering that the GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores is basically a slightly less powerful version of the GTX 570 as they both share the same GF110 core.

In the case of the Nvidia GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores however one of the 15 streaming modules included in this core were disabled.

The rest of the GPU includes 56 texture units, 40 ROP units and a 320-bit memory bus connected to 1.25GB of video buffer, just as is the case with the GeForce GTX 570.

The card's operating frequencies will also mimic those of its older brother as it will work at 732MHz, while the GDDR5 video buffer is clocked at 950MHz (3.80GHz effective).

Together with the increased performance offered by the new graphics core, the power consumption of the card has also grown since the GTX 560 Ti 448 uses the same 0.950V to 1.100V voltage range as the GTX 570.

Other features of the Nvidia GTX 560 Ti (448 Core) include support for 3-way SLI, DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort video outputs.

As mentioned just a bit earlier, the GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores will be officially launched on November 29, and its recommended price is expected to be on par with that of the original GTX 560 Ti.

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Intel Plans New Revision for LGA 2011 Patsburg PCH Says Report

Even though Intel has released its consumer version of the Patsburg PCH yesterday together with the company's first CPUs based on the high-performance Sandy Bridge-E architecture, the chip maker is apparently still having troubles with the server version of this chipset.

In order to surpass these issues and still release its first Xeon processors built using this new arch in Q1 of 2012, Intel reportedly plans to develop a special version of the PCH that will be known as Patsburg-J.

According to VR-Zone, this revision of the chipset is just an interim solution until the fully fledged version of the PCH should arrive as Intel has run into further problems with the SAS interface.

From the specs that are available now, Patsburg-J seems to be just a re-branded X79 that drops a series of features that aren't needed in the server space.

These include support for some of the 14 USB 2.0 ports, a couple of extra PCI Express x1 lanes, the audio logic found inside the chipset as well as the native PCI support.

Initially, the X79 Express was supposed to include no less than 10 SATA 6Gbps with support for SAS drives as well as an additional PCI-Express 2.0 x4 link that directly connected the CPU to the storage subsystem, but Intel faced all sort of troubles with the platform and had to drop the extra functionality from the chipset.

Instead, the Santa Clara-based company decided to go with the Patsburg-A version of its PCH, which as well all know now, comes without any additional SAS ports and limits the maximum number of SATA devices that can be installed to six, only two of these working at 6Gbps speeds.

This makes the X79 extremely similar with the P67 and Z68 chipsets, so motherboard makers had to add third-party controllers to increase the number of SATA 6Gbps port available and to add USB 3.0 support to their LGA 2011 solutions.

More information about the Intel X79 chipset and the recently launched Sandy Bridge-E processors is available in the Core i7-3690X review we published just yesterday.

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Asus Prepares Micro-ATX Rampage IV Gene LGA 2011 Motherboard

While most of us wouldn't associate a high-end processor such as Intel's newly launched Sandy Bridge-E chips with compact PCs, there are some who want to build this type of systems, so Asus plans to deliver the Rampage IV Gene LGA 2011 board using the micro-ATX form factor.

The existence of the motherboard was revealed in an Asus slide published on the XtremeSystems forum, together with a blurry picture of the board.

While you won't certainly be able make out any of its features from this scant image, the slide does actually confirm that the Rampage IV Gene is indeed a micro-ATX board.

Knowing Asus, this should be full of overclocking and gaming specific features, so you can't go wrong with the upcoming Gene if a mean and compact gaming machine is what you are looking for.

Of course that you will still have to pay for the whole thing, which considering Asus' ROG range won't certainly be something to take lightly, but we are after all talking about an Sandy Bridge-E systems, so money should be no problem for you.

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AMD Makes the FX-6100 Six-Core Bulldozer CPU Cheaper

Just a month after it introduced its first processors based on the new Bulldozer architecture, AMD has already lowered the recommended price for one of the chips based on this core, the FX-6100, in order to make it more competitive in the mainstream CPU market.

When the AMD FX-6100 was launched on October 12, the processor had an MSRP of $165, or roughly 121.8 EUR, but the company's latest price list which was updated on November 14, now has the CPU at $155 (114.4 EUR).

With this new price, the FX-6100 is just a tad more expensive than the Core i3-2130 or the Phenom II X6 1055T, which both retail for $149.99 (110.7 EUR).

The six cores included in the FX-6100 are clocked at 3.3GHz and thanks to AMD's Turbo Core technology these can reach 3.6GHz when all are in use or a maximum of 3.9GHz when only three cores are active.

In addition, the AMD processor also includes 6MB of Level 2 cache and 8MB of L3 cache memory, while also sporting an unlocked multiplier and a TDP of 95 Watts.

Despite what apparently looks like some very impressive specs the real-world performance of the chips has disappointed.

In most benchmarks that were run by reviewers AMD's fastest Bulldozer CPU, the FX-8150, lagged behind the Intel's Core i5-2500K, while a few tests showed it coming behind even a last-gen Phenom II X6 1100T processor.

In order to fix some of these performance issues, AMD is apparently working on developing a B3 stepping of the Bulldozer architecture that should get launched later this year.

In related news AMD's new CPU price list has unveiled the launch of a new Athlon II chip, the Athlon II X4 651, which is a quad-core processor based on the Llano architecture clocked at 3GHz with the on-board GPU disabled. This new CPU is priced at $92, which translates into about 68 EUR.

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Gigabyte Also Launches X79-UD7 LGA 2011 Motherboard

Together with the G1.Assassin 2 from the G1-Killer series of gaming motherboards, Gigabyte has also made official the X79-UD7 board that is designed to come as the company's flagship LGA 2011 solution.

Just by taking a look at this new Gigabyte offering it becomes clear that the motherboard has taken a lot of design cues from the previous X58A-OC that was specially built for extreme overclockers.

What this means is that the X79-UD7 uses not only the same black and orange color scheme as its predecessor, but also incorporates some of its advanced overclocking features.

Most of these were grouped in the lower right corner of the board, where Gigabyte placed a series of voltage read points, controls for adjusting the processor ratio and BCLK on the fly, as well as dip-switches to change the PWM frequency.

In addition, power to the CPU is delivered through a 20-phase VRM that uses POSCAP low-profile capacitors, while the additional juice required by 4-way GPU setups is delivered through a series of angled SATA power plugs placed on the lower side of the board.

Outside of the four PCI Express x16 slots, the rest of the expansion options available in the X79-UD7 include three PCIe x1 slots, four SATA 3Gbps ports, as well as six SATA 6Gbps ports.

Moving to the rear I/O bracket, we find all the usual connector including a pair of USB 3.0 ports and 7.1-channel audio with digital S/PDIF out, but also a special OC button and a CMOS reset switch.

Two more USB 3.0 ports are available through an on-board header that is placed right between the bottom DIMM sockets and the BIOS POST display.

Sadly, Gigabyte hasn't provided us with any info regarding the price of this motherboard or the date when this will become available in retail.

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Memory Overclocking World Record Set by ADATA DDR3 and AMD FX-8150 CPU

AMD's FX-8150 processor has another world record to show for itself, as it has just managed to achieve the world's highest memory frequency so far, namely 3311MHz, with the help of an ADATA DDR3 dual-channel kit.

The record was achieved by Matthias Zronek, an overclocker that is known in enthusiast circles by the name of Mat.

In order to achieve this high frequency he used an AMD FX-8150 Bulldozer processor installed on an Asus Crosshair V motherboard and a pair of retail ADATA XPG Gaming Series V2.0 memory modules.

The system was of course cooled by liquid nitrogen, which has become increasingly popular in the last few years among overclockers.

The official validation screenshot of the world record memory result is available here, and a video of a Super Pi 1M run with 3000MHz memory is enclosed right above this article.

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4.6GHz Overclocked Core i7-3930K Gets Installed in Digital Storm Gaming PC

Boutique builders continue announcing new systems based on Intel's just released Sandy Bridge-E processors and the latest such company to get its name on that ever more crowded list is Digital Storm which has now unveiled a special version of the ODE Level 4 gaming PC.

At the heart of this new system stands Intel's Core i7-3930K six-core processor which comes overclocked at 4.6GHz and is seconded by 16GB of 1600MHz Corsair Vengeance quad-channel memory installed on an Asus Sabertooth X79 motherboard.

The fast Intel processor is chilled by a special Asetek liquid cooler paired with a 240mm radiator, and the whole system has been optimized in order to help keep temperatures of the powerful hardware found inside it in check.

This includes the 3-way SLI GeForce GTX 570 graphics subsystem that should be able to deliver great performance in even the most demanding games out there.

The rest of the configuration includes single 120GB Corsair Force GT solid state drive, a 1TB Hitachi 7200 RPM hard drive, a Blu-ray player, a 1050W Corsair Pro 1050HX power supply and a series of in-case lights.

All the components are housed inside a stylish Digital Storm ODE Level 4 chassis and the system is backed by a three year limited warranty.

"ODE Level 4 is the next evolution in our quest to give customers the optimal gaming experience, without the hassle and expense of having to individually select each component," commented Rajeev Kuruppu, Digital Storm's Director of Product Development.

"With the addition of the X79 chipset, our engineers have configured a system that offers bleeding-edge technology that delivers unparalleled performance per dollar," concluded the company's rep.

Digital Storm's ODE Level 4 gaming system is available for $3,399 (2,509 EUR) from the company's online store.

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