ASRock Readies New LGA 2011 Flasgship Motherboard, the X79 Extreme 11

Not content to play second fiddle to other motherboard makers out there, ASRock is working on releasing a new Intel X79 motherboard for LGA 2011 processors, dubbed the X79 Extreme 11. This greatly improves the specs of the company’s current flagship, the Extreme 9. The board, which was recently uncovered by Tweak Town, uses an extended form factor as well as a series of third-party controllers in order to augment the functionality of the Intel X79 PCH. This enabled the company to add to the X79 Extreme 11 a series of features that enthusiasts will surely appreciate, such as the support for five PCI Express x16 slots. Compatible with both SLI and CrossFireX 4-way GPU setups, these slots were designed to run at their full x16 speed even when...

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Intel Quietly Intros Atom D2550 Cedarview CPU

A little bit more than two months after the introduction of its first 32nm Atom processors based on the Cedarview architecture, Intel updated its product portfolio to include another such chip, dubbed the Atom D2550. The processor, which was first spotted at the beginning of this year, was recently added by the chip maker to its ARK product database, indicating that this SKU is now launched. According to CPU-World, the newly introduced Atom D2550 comes as a hybrid between the Atom D2500 and the D2700. This means that the CPU works at the same 1.86GHz clock speed as the D2500, but unlike its less powerful sibling it also includes support for Intel’s Hyper-Threading technology and a more powerful on-board GPU clocked at 640MHz. All these,...

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How to Install iOS 5.1 on iPhone, iPad, iPod touch

Apple this week is poised to unveil not only the iPad 3, but also the next incremental release of iOS 5. Tested by Apple developers worldwide for the past few months, iOS 5.1 is ready to be set loose, likely even before the iPad 3 becomes physically available. So here’s how to download and install the software when it's released. If the past is any indication, the iOS 5.1 software update may well be released to the masses this week. The update should deliver numerous new features, tweaks, as well as fixes for some recently discovered security flaws, and other types of bugs. Starting with the initial release of iOS 5, there have been two ways to update the software on your iDevice. One is the traditional method - through iTunes; the other...

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MSI Outs QM77 Fanless Mini-ITX Motherboard for Mobile Intel Ivy Bridge CPUs

MSI’s industrial PC division has recently unveiled a new motherboard based on the Intel QM77 7-series chipset, which was specially designed to be used together with the chipmaker’s mobile Ivy Bridge and Sandy Bridge processors. The motherboard adopts the mini-ITX form factor and, according to MSI, is destined to be used for digital signage, kiosk, gaming, industrial control automation and POS applications. Just like its Intel Z77 desktop counterparts, the QM77 chipset includes the FDI interface required for utilizing the on-die GPU included in the Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge processors, but sports a more flexible display output configuration. This means that besides the usual D-sub, DVI, and HDMI ports, the MSI board also comes sporting...

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Windows Phone 8 Mentions Found in Windows 8 Kernel

Windows Phone 8 and Windows 8 have been long rumored to be closely related, and some more proof that things are indeed so has just emerged online.  In the new Windows 8 Consumer Preview, WPDang reportedly found mentions of Windows Phone 8 that have been missing from the previously released Windows 8 Developer Preview.  The news site claims that the new evidence proves that Windows Phone 8 will have, in fact, an NT kernel.  Codenamed Apollo, Windows Phone 8 has been long rumored to have the same kernel as Windows 8, but no solid proof to sustain thins has been spotted before.  At the moment, Windows Phone 8 is supposedly under heavy development, as Microsoft is gearing up to release it in fall, along with the new Windows...

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MSI B75A-GD43 Is an Entry-Level Ivy Bridge Motherboard

Besides its consumer motherboards based on the Intel Z77 chipset, MSI also plans to build a series of business oriented Ivy Bridge LGA 1155 solutions powered by the Intel B75 chipset. One such board is the B75A-GD43 that the company has just showcased during the CeBIT 2012 fair. Built around the Intel B75 PCH, MSI’s creation is one of the most lackluster 7-series Ivy Bridge motherboards we have seen to date since it sports a single SATA 6Gbps port and no overclocking support. The good news however is that users do get four USB 3.0 ports (two via an on-board header) and a PCI Express x16 Gen 3.0 add-on slot, which can be considered an update when coming from other business motherboards. No info regarding pricing is available so far, but MSI’s...

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LG F160L with Android 4.0 and Qualcomm S4 CPU Spotted in Benchmark

LG announced quite a range of Android phones at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona. However, it appears that the company won’t stop here and will continue to expand its lineup of Android phones. A certain LG F160L has just been spotted by the folks over at ameblo.jp in a benchmark database. It appears that the phone was benchmarked recently and the results were published online at glbenchmark.com. It looks like the LG F160L will be shipped with Android 4.0.3 Ice Cream Sandwich on board and will boast a capacitive touchscreen display of unknown size that will support HD (720 x 1280 pixels) resolution. In addition, the smartphone is equipped with a 1.5 GHz dual-core Qualcomm Snapdragon S4 processor. No other details are available...

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Gigabyte's GA-B75M-D3V Motherboard Exposed

Gigabyte is determined to cover the entire spectrum of motherboard customers, so it has prepared the B75M-D3V, a microATX model. The newcomer was not so much revealed through an official announcement as it was exposed through a report by VR-Zone. The press release should come at some point down the line. It is powered by the B75 chipset and, though it can serve anyone well enough, it comes with something called Intel's Small Business Advantage software. The mainboard has support for Ivy Bridge central processing units and a price of $80, or 60.52 Euro. In other words, even though it is one of the most affordable 7-Series chipset-based motherboards known, it is not a sign that platforms are getting cheaper. As VR-Zone points out, the IT segment...

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PowerColor Launches Overclocked Radeon HD 7870, Reference Cards Too

Like more or less all of its peers, PowerColor, or TUL Corporation as the Taiwanese company is otherwise known, has released some Radeon HD 7800 Series graphics cards.  Unlike HIS, PowerColor did play around with the clock frequencies a little bit, even if only on one of three video cards.  For those unsure of what that means, HIS has also launched three HD 7800 boards, equipped with IceQ cooler or even a new IceQ iTurbo fansink, but chose not to change the GPU or memory clocks at all for some reason.  PowerColor also has three boards ready, one of which, the PowerColor PCS+ HD7870 GHz Edition, takes the graphics processor from 1 GHz to 1.1 GHz (1100 MHz).  Meanwhile, the 2 GB of GDDR5 memory also step things up, from...

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ASUS's Dual-CPU, Tri-Antenna Wireless 2.4 / 5 GHz Wi-Fi Router

ASUS has announced a new wireless router, one that has two processors and support for just as many wireless bands. The 2.4 GHz and the 5 GHz bands are both supported, and three antennas can transfer data at 300 Mbps on each. That leads to 600 Mbps total, which is none too shabby. In other words, it is more than fast enough for power users, gamers and people who frequently stream HD video (DLNA compatibility is assured). Furthermore, as a bonus, ASUS tossed in a pair of USB ports, letting the router act as a media, printer and file server. Finally, in April, a firmware upgrade will add multiple SSIDs, IPv6, 3G sharing, and the Download Master web-based interface to the spec list. Unfortunately, the formal press release had no information...

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Sapphire Intros Radeon HD 7870 GHz OC Edition Graphics Card

Sapphire has recently announced that it has updated its product portfolio with the introduction of two new graphics cards based on AMD’s Radeon HD 7870 design, one of these coming with a factory overclocked GPU. Both of these cards use a cooling system developed in-house by Sapphire, which relies on two high-airflow fans for dissipating the heat produced by the graphics cards while running. Right beneath these two fans, Sapphire has placed a large aluminum fin array that draws the heat away from the Radeon HD 7870 GPU, via four large copper heatpipes. This powerful cooling assembly enabled Sapphire to increase the operating frequency of the HD 7870 GHz OC Edition to 1050MHz, 50MHz more than AMD’s recommended clock for the HD 7870, while...

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Gigabyte Radeon HD 7870 and HD 7850 Sport WindForce 3X Coolers

Alongside all the other AMD board partners, Gigabyte has also announced today two new graphics cards based on AMD’s recently launched Radeon HD 7870 and HD 7850 designs, which utilize the company’s proprietary WindForce cooling system. The more powerful of the two solutions announced today is dubbed the GV-R787OC-2GD and, as its name suggests, this is based on the more powerful AMD Radeon HD 7870 graphics card. Much like other high-end Gigabyte creations, the GV-R787OC-2GD also sports the company’s proprietary WindForce 3x cooling system, which relies on three angled fans to dissipate heat produced by the card. The advanced cooling system is also accompanied by a special Ultra Durable PCB that utilizes only high-end components in order to...

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XFX Reveals AMD Radeon HD 7870 Double Dissipation

XFX is joining the ranks of those who've launched their own versions of AMD's latest graphics adapters, the Radeon HD 7800 series.  For those who missed it, AMD made the official introduction of the Radeon HD 7870 and Radeon HD 7850 not long ago.  As such, XFX is getting into the fun with the Radeon HD 7870 Double Dissipation graphics card, one that has the, you guessed it, Double Dissipation cooler.  XFX made this thing specifically so that overclockers could let loose more than the reference boards would allow.  Strangely enough, though, there was no factory overclocking involved in the product's design.  That means that the company felt the 1 GHz frequency of the graphics processing unit (GPU) was already enough.  The...

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Virtuous S4X, Unofficial Android 4.0 ROM with Sense 4.0 UI

Last week, HTC made a new family of mobile phones running under the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich operating system and featuring the new Sense 4.0 UI official, the “One” series.  Apparently, the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich and Sense 4.0 UI pair will be delivered only to these smartphones, while older devices won’t get a taste of the fully-flavored new user interface release.  Unofficially, however, things are different, and the first ROM to provide users of older HTC devices with the possibility to get a taste of Sense 4.0 has already made it online.  The new Virtuous S4X ROM brings along all the goodies that 4.0.3 ICS and Sense 4.0 have to offer, though it is available only for the HTC Sensation and GSM HTC EVO 3D smartphones...

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HIS Radeon HD 7800 IceQ Series Cards Appear

Since Advanced Micro Devices has officially launched its graphics adapter based on the Pitcairn graphics processing unit (GPU), HIS offered its own two cents, so to speak. HIS has announced the Radeon HD 7850 IceQ X, the HIS HD 7870 IceQ X and the HD 7870 IceQ iTurbo. Given the special coolers and the propensity HIS has shown, in the past, towards the utmost high in terms of performance, one would expect there to be some factory overclocking involved. Strangely, though, that is not the case at all, for neither member of the trio. Even the HIS HD 7870 IceQ iTurbo leaves the 1 GHz clock of the GPU and the 4.80 GHz of the memory as they are. With the large new cooling solution, we would have expected at least some tinkering, but nothing of...

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Yeston GeForce GTX 560 SE GameMaster Packs 336 CUDA Cores

Yeston, a brand that is well known to Asian computer enthusiasts, has just announced the introduction of the company’s first graphics card based on the GTX 560 SE core, which is part of the company’s GameMaster product series. Even though the new Yeston graphics card is labeled as a GeForce GTX 560 SE, it actually comes as a hybrid between this GPU and the more powerful Nvidia GTX 560 (non-Ti). What this means is that Yeston’s latest GameMaster solution includes the same 336 CUDA cores as the vanilla GTX 560, which are paired with a 192-bit wide memory bus characteristic to the GTX 560 SE. This is linked to 1GB of GDDR5 memory running at 1,002MHz (4,008MHz data rate), while the GPU comes clocked at 820MHz. Power to the board is delivered...

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AMD “Tenerife” GPU Will Succeed Tahiti, HD 7990 Possibly Scrapped

Advanced Micro Devices has only just made the official launch of the Pitcairn-based Radeon HD 7850 and HD 7870 graphics cards and, apparently, it could be changing its future plans as well.  OBR-Hardware has posted a slide whose legitimacy is questionable, but which still discloses some interesting information.  Apparently, the successor to the Tahiti graphics processing unit will be something called Tenerife, after the largest of the Canary Islands in the Spanish offshore territory.  It will be designed on the "Enhanced Graphics CoreNext" architecture, which could be a boosted version of the GCN used in the HD 7000 series.  The specs of the graphics cards based on it are 2,304 stream processors, a memory bus of 384 bits...

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One iPhone 5 Technical Specification Confirmed

We’re still a long way from seeing Apple confirm the iPhone 5. Some say it’s going to be unveiled this summer at WWDC 12, while others are convinced the launch will occur at a special event in fall, just like the iPhone 4S. And while the second scenario is indeed more probable, there’s one thing about the iPhone 5 we now know for sure - Corning Gorilla Glass 2. According to a new report by Apple last week, Analysis Group conducted a study to reveal that the Cupertino-based computer company has directly or indirectly created 304,000 jobs in the United States of America. An additional 210,000 iOS app economy jobs are also mentioned. In total, Apple has created and helped create over half a million jobs stateside. “These jobs — spread across...

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MSI Radeon HD 7870 and HD 7850 TwinFrozr III Graphics Cards Announced

Together with Asus, Gigabyte, HIS, Sapphire and other AMD AIB partners, MSI also announced the launch of two new graphics cards based on the Radeon HD 7870 and HD 7850 designs, both of these new solutions coming with an improved cooler and higher than stock frequencies. The more powerful of the two MSI video cards launched today is the R7870 TwinFrozr III, which is based on the Pitcairn XT GPU. Just as its name implies, the graphics card utilizes MSI’s proprietary TwinFrozr III cooling system that packs 8mm thick nickel-plated copper heatpipes to convey heat drawn directly from the GPU to a large aluminum fin array, ventilated by two 80 mm fans. According to MSI, this makes its creation 15 degrees Celsius cooler and 9dB quieter than AMD’s...

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