ASUS Working on AMD Radeon HD 7990 Dual GPU Video Card

We’ve talked about ASUS’ intention of making a new dual GPU video card some time ago, but the company has bluntly denied any such plans so we gave up on the idea also. Now there is some new info available that suggests the Taiwanese giant is actually working on an Ares successor, but that’s not going to be a dual Pitcairn card like it was initially rumored. The hardware enthusiasts at ExPreview have managed to snatch a picture of what’s supposed to be a dual GPU video card that’s using AMD GPUs. The card in question is surprisingly based on two Tahiti XT GPUs and thus it is actually ASUS’ own AMD Radeon 7990 version. This could also be a dual AMD Radeon HD 7970 video card as there are many clues that point towards the fact...

Read more »

Nvidia GTX780 For Next Easter and Maxwell is Pushed to 2014

The Kepler architecture was initially targeted for a late 2011 launch, but instead it has only made it into the retail early this summer. That’s a serious half year delay and it seems that the company’s choice to increase the complexity of its architectures will only make matters worse. As many were talking about Nvidia’s troubles with Kepler yields and manufacturing, we were always the ones to dismiss such rumors and explaind that the company’s main problem is TSMC’s inability to deliver enough 28nm chips and not the fact that too many were defective. This is true up to a point. That point is the even more complex GK110 GPU that’s slated for a late December 2012 launch. Despite Nvidia would rather have the GK110 available...

Read more »

Lenovo K860 Quad-Core Smartphone Available for 345 USD (275 EUR)

Announced about ten days ago, Lenovo K860 Android smartphone is about to make its debut in China. The device is powered by Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich platform out of the box and packs a Samsung Exynos 4412 quad-core processor and a Mali-400 MP GPU. We already reported on the upcoming availability of the smartphone in the Mainland, though the K860’s price tag was not available at that time. However, it looks like Lenovo has just announced the K860 will be available in China for only 2,199 yuan, which is about $345 USD (275 EUR) outright. The pricing is amazing for such a high-end device, which offers a powerful quad-core CPU and a stunning 5.0-inch HD (720 x 1280 pixels) capacitive touchscreen display.  In addition,...

Read more »

Lenovo Quad-Core 9” IdeaTab A2109 Available at $300 (€240)

Powered by Nvidia’s popular Tegra 3 SoC, Lenovo’s new IdeaTab A2109 tablet features an interesting 9” screen with multitouch support and the latest and greatest Android 4.0 operating system. For buyers that are in for a powerful yet affordable and well-built quality tablet, Lenovo’s A2109 seems to be the best solution. Surprisingly, although it hasn’t even visited the FCC, the new Lenovo IdeaTab A2019 tablet has already reached retail shops and is awaiting customers, Engadget reports. Not only is the new tablet available for buyers at the very good price of $300 (€240), but it is also physically present in normal shops across the US for users to inspect and play with. The 9” screen features a 1280 by 800 pixel resolution...

Read more »

Samsung Galaxy Note 2 Specs Sheet Leaks

Lots of rumors surrounding the upcoming sequel to Samsung Galaxy Note have been making headlines in the past few weeks. Only two days remain until Samsung is expected to unveil the Galaxy Note 2 “phablet,” but rumors continue to surface online. The latest details on the Galaxy Note 2 come from Korean publication Seoul Newspaper, which posted an official specs sheet of the smartphone. Although what the folks at Seoul Newspaper claim to be the Galaxy Note 2 specs sheet seem to be incomplete, it does confirm some of the rumors on the phone’s hardware. For example, according to this document, the Galaxy Note 2 will be powered by a Samsung Exynos 4412 quad-core processor clocked at 1.4 GHz, which is likely to be complemented...

Read more »

Intel Haswell E3 Xeons to Battle with AMD FirePro A300 APU and Low-End Nvidia Quadro

One interesting move by Intel will be the introduction of the new, Haswell-based Xeon processors early next year. The company took its time releasing Ivy Bridge based Xeons, but Haswell Xeons will hit the market in a short time after the launch of the desktop version. Seeing it doesn’t have a particularly strong competition from AMD, Intel is not rushing any upgrades to the Xeon LGA2011 platform. Users of the Sandy Bridge E CPUs will only get a chance to upgrade in Q3 2013. On the other hand, the low- to mid-end Xeon lines will be quickly upgraded to the Haswell architecture early next year. The reason for this seems to be the heavy competition AMD brings with the workstation Trinity APUs that we unveiled here. Intel doesn’t...

Read more »

Nokia Belle Refresh Update Now Available for E7, N8, C7, C6-01, X7 and Oro

As expected before, Nokia has just announced the immediate availability of a new major software update for some of its Symbian smartphones. Dubbed “Nokia Belle Refresh,” the update is currently available for Nokia N8, Nokia E7, Nokia C7, Nokia C6-01, Nokia X7 and Nokia Oro with version number 111.040.1511. According to the Finnish company, the update will soon be available for Nokia E6, version number 111.140.0058, while the Nokia 500 will receive the update within the next few weeks. The new update brings lots of new features and tweaks, as well as visual and performance improvements. Among the new features added to these Symbian smartphones, Nokia mentions a new browser with HTML5 web apps support, along with a...

Read more »

Synology DiskStation DS213+ NAS Server

Taiwanese company Synology has just launched a new NAS unit that brings the user very useful and interesting features and capabilities. The new product has a quiet and efficient cooling system and a hardware encryption chipset. The processor powering the new DS213+ NAS server from Synology runs at a high 1067 MHz and has two processing cores, along with a FPU unit that will increase the multimedia performance. The connectivity is impressive, as the DS21+ comes with Gigabit LAN, two very fast USB 3.0 ports, one USB 2.0 port, one useful and fast eSATA port and an SD Card Port for rapid backup. The cooling is handled by a rather big and quiet 92-millimeter fan and the performance is decent, as it reaches 110 MB/s read and 84...

Read more »

ASUS Mars III Dual-NVIDIA Video Card

Even though NVIDIA's GeForce GTX 690 graphics card is already a mighty beast, ASUS has been determined to overshadow it for weeks. The Mars III board, revealed at Computex 2012, is a GTX 690 with better power supply circuits, but this only came to light recently, when someone on the Expreview forums provided some photos of the PCB. The 8 GB of GDDR5 VRAM, the 256-bit interface and the two GK104 GPUs get energy through an 8+2-phase VRM (20 phases in total). A couple of 8-pin PCI Express power plugs bring the electricity from the PSU to the add-in card. All in all, the video board should consume more than 500W of energy when pushed to its best. The cooler is the same one as previously seen: a dual-slot module with...

Read more »