Geek Gold

Graphics card powerhouse, NVIDIA, just posted a teaser video featuring a “top secret” box that contains their “next generation highest performance graphics card.” Could it be the know-to-exist dual-GPU GTX 590 or will NVIDIA shock us all with a completely new technology?  NVIDIA will be releasing details on whatever is in the box on Thursday, March 24 at 6am PDT. Check out the video below and make your prediction in the comments!

Major component manufacturer, OCZ Technology, recently launched their latest line of power supplies, the ZX Series. The OCZ ZX Series features three models (850W, 1000W, 1250W) all of which are fully modular, sport 80+ Gold certifications and deliver all of their power on a single +12V rail. Both the 1000W and 1250W models come packaged with 6x PCI-Express 6+2 pin cables making them three-way SLI and three-way CrossFire ready out of the box.

Over the years, OCZ has had quality control issues with some of their lower-middle end power supplies – a simple search at any retailer will show a mixed bag of reviews (I should note that my six-year-old PC is still running strong on an original OCZ 520W ModStream PSU). However, the high-end ZX Series, delivering 92% efficiency under a typical load and sporting a 5-year warranty, should put your mind at ease.

The OCZ ZX Series of PSUs are available at retailers now with an MSRP of $179.99 to $239.99 USD, but often include $20-$50 mail-in rebates.

Check out full reviews of the OCZ ZX Series PSUs:
Hardware Heaven
Hardware Secrets
OverClock Intelligence Agency
Aph Networks
GND-Tech

A couple of weeks ago Intel released their latest in a strong pedigree of solid-state drives (SSDs), the Intel 510. Sporting the use of 34nm NAND memory, a SATA3 6Gbps interface and available in 120GB and 250GB flavours, the Intel 510 is currently one of the fastest SSDs on the market. On a SATA3 6Gbps connection, the 120GB 510-series SSD is capable of sustained sequential read speeds of 400MB/s (although reported to be 450MB/s in an Intel product PDF) and sustained sequential write speeds of  210MB/s. The 250GB is capable of even higher speeds with sustained sequential read speeds of 500MB/s and sustained sequential write speeds of  315MB/s. To put this in perspective the read/write speeds of Intel’s last generation SSD, the 310-series, were 200MB/s and 70MB/s, respectively. All numbers were pulled from the Intel product pages.

As the numbers above are all sustained speeds, real-word benchmarks can show some differences. Thankfully, the folks over at Guru3D have posted a very thorough review of the 250GB Intel 510 SSD. Their findings largely confirm Intel’s reported speeds, but they find that the Intel 510 falls short to the soon-to-be-released OCZ Vertex 3 SSD.

Unfortunately, the performance upgrade over last generation SSDs comes at a premium. Current generation, 120GB SATA2 3Gbps SSDs can be found under $200, whereas the 120GB flavour of the Intel 510 is approximately $300 at retail. Additionally, OCZ’s Vertex 3 SATA3 6Gbps SSDs will be hitting the market any day now and with read speeds of up to 550MB/s and write speeds topping out at a whopping 500MB/s, they will outperform the Intel 510. Check out the Guru3D review above to see some of the differences for yourself.

Both the Vertex 3 and Intel 510 will have similar prices, but this does not mean that the Vertex 3 will be the best choice as OCZ has recently burned a few bridges with enthusiasts and Intel is largely known for supporting quality products. For most, it will come down to price and, hopefully, Intel will undercut the Vertex 3. I know that when it comes time for me to build a system, it will be a tough decision.

After compiling a plethora of information, the folks over at X-bit Labs have published a detailed table outlining the AMD Q3/Q4 “Llano” APU (accelerated processing unit) roadmap. The X-bit Labs roadmap is slightly different than the slide leaked by Donanim Haber, which showed evidence of tri-core APUs and overall lower TDPs. While there are no details on overall clock speed of each APU, there are a reported 11 forthcoming APUs that feature either 2 or 4 “Husky” cores, integrated Radeon HD 6000-series GPUs, and operate at a TDP (thermal design power) of 65W or 100W. Check out the detail roadmap below:

It is interesting to see that AMD will be refreshing their Q3 offerings just a few months later in Q4 – the changes are unclear the moment, but it should safe to assume that we will see both increased CPU and GPU clock speeds in the updated models (ie. A8-3550P we see in Q3 gets upgraded to A8-3560P in Q4). What is really important in the middle-to-high end APUs is the number of stream core counts, which directly relates to multimedia and rendering performance.  With the Radeon HD 6500M series having stream core counts of 320 and 400, I would expect these “Llano” APUs to outperform their Core i3 2000-series counterparts in multimedia performance quite handily.

Please note that the “Llano” line of APUs are targeted towards notebooks in the low-to-mid price range. While they may outperform a few mid-high end notebooks, their direct competition will be Intel systems using integrated Intel HD graphics and not using high-end discrete graphics. To compete with high-end mobile graphics, AMD has their Radeon HD 6900M series of discrete GPUs. Expect these “Llano” APUs to be a game changer when they land later this year.

Head over to X-bit Labs for more details!

In an interesting twist, some existing AM3 Asus motherboards may be compatible with AMD’s upcoming Bulldozer CPUs. According to an article at SweClockers, the Crosshair IV Extreme, Crosshair Formula IV, M4A89TD PRO/USB3 and M489GTD PRO/USB3 are BIOS-upgradeable to take AMD FX-series processors that were thought to only be compatible with the upcoming AM3+ socket. A while ago there was talk that Bulldozer CPUs would be compatible with the AM3 socket, but John Fruehe, Director of Product Marketing at AMD, squashed that idea in a forum post at AMD Zone back in August 2010. In a crude Swedish-to-English translation from SweClockers:

“For those who already own or plan to buy an AMD-based computer system motherboard for socket AM3 will be good news when Asus reveals that some models need only update the BIOS to also manage next-generation processors for Socket AM3+ , by all accounts FX series with the Bulldozer architecture.”

I haven’t been able to dig up any official Asus or AMD source, so please take this news with a grain of salt. If you manage to dig up any more details or have an opinion on the matter, I encourage you to leave a comment below.

UPDATE #1: Apparently Asus might not be the only company with BIOS-upgradeable Bulldozer support. According to a recent post at German site, Planet3DNow, MSI is also planning on providing a BIOS update for certain AM3 boards to make them compatible with the upcoming processors. HOWEVER, John Fruehe was quick to refute this just a couple of weeks ago saying that “Bulldozer is supported in AM3+ only. That is the official word from AMD.” Perhaps the partners (Asus and MSI) have found a way to make their AM3 sockets and BIOS compatible, but this is just another reason to take this news with a grain of salt.

We have seen zero-maintenance CPU water cooling systems from the likes of Corsair and CoolIT in recent years, but now there is a new cowboy in town – the KÜHLER H2O 620 from Antec. Sporting a similar, but single-fan, design to the Corsair H70, the KÜHLER H2O 620 is Antec’s first foray into the wonderful world of self-contained CPU water cooling. Antec writes:

“The Antec KÜHLER H2O 620 delivers high-performance liquid cooling for your CPU in a quick, easy-to-install package. Unlike traditional liquid cooling systems, this self-contained unit comes prefilled and requires no maintenance. The voltage-controlled 120 mm fan and 3rd generation copper coldplate ensure efficient cooling, while the estimated 50,000 hour pump lifetime means this cooler is even likely to outlast the system it cools. Lastly, easy-bend flexible tubing allows the KÜHLER H2O 620 to be installed in nearly any orientation. Take your PC’s Quiet Computing™ to the next level with liquid cooling performance at a price that rivals aftermarket air coolers.” (Antec product website)

As both the Corsair and Antec offerings are OEM products originating from a third-part, Asetek, it would be expected that the products would have similar performance – this is a good thing. After reading a half-dozen reviews and benchmarks (listed at the bottom of this post), the KÜHLER H2O 620 performs almost on par with the Corsair H70 in some tests, but right in-between the H70 and H50 in most benchmarks. This is a great thing for Antec, whose KÜHLER H2O 620 has an MSRP or $69.99, while the H70 and H50 are available at $109.99 and $69.99, respectively (no H60 benchmarks were found). Antec’s aggressive pricing makes the KÜHLER H2O 620 an ideal choice for those looking to get the best value out of their zero-maintenance CPU water cooler. Frankly, I think that adding a second fan to the radiator will bring KÜHLER H2O 620 at least on par with the H70 in performance tests.

With a system build forthcoming at GeekGold, the Antec KÜHLER H2O 620 will be one of the few CPU coolers that I will be considering. As mentioned, the KÜHLER H2O 620 carries an MSRP of $69.95 and should be available in stores soon.

Check out full reviews at:
Tweak Town
Kit Guru
HardOCP
Frosty Tech
Tweak News
Benchmark Reviews

While there has been word of an impending launch for a few weeks, today, Nvidia officially launched their value-oriented GTX 550 Ti. With 1GB of GDDR5 memory, 192 CUDA cores, two dual-link DVI-I outputs, a single mini-HDMI connector, and a reference graphics clock of 900MHz, the GTX 550 Ti packs a punch at a very low MSRP of $149.

The barrage of GTX 550 Ti’s that have hit retail shops today include a few slightly-overclocked and custom-cooled cards. For instance, MSI has their GTX 550 Ti Cyclone with a 50MHz overclock and Cyclone fan, while Asus has their GTX 550 Ti TOP with a 75MHz overclock. Expect to see more video cards with custom additions from more partners in the near future.

For further specifications on the GTX 550 Ti, head over to the official Nvidia product page or visit your favourite retailer today!

UPDATE: The reviews are in and many reviewers see one major issue with the GTX 550 Ti – where it fits in to the existing Nvidia line-up. The year-old GTX 460 not only comes in cheaper than the GTX 550 Ti, it also performs better across the board. Check out the reviews at Hardware Canucks, HEXUS.net, Tweak Town, and  Hardware Heaven.

Renowned memory manufacturer, G.Skill, has announced their latest line of memory – the Sniper series. The new Sniper memory modules range from an ultra-low 1.25V to 1.6V in a variety of kits that range from 1333MHz to 1866MHz. The gun-design heat spreaders on the modules come in two colours – black and metallic army green. Expect to see these new RAM kits in stores soon.

For more information on specific kits and the official press release, head over to Pure Overclock.