Hasta La Gadget!

DDR3 modules aren’t exactly new or anything, but given just how low the prices of big time kits have become, we figured it prudent to pass along one of the most thorough shootouts on the subject that we’ve seen. HotHardware grabbed a few DIMMs from the labs of OCZ Technology, Corsair and Kingston, threw ’em all in a Core i7 rig (not simultaneously, silly!) and benchmarked the lot until they literally fell asleep at the keys. The results? We’d love to tell you which sticks came out atop the pile, but that would just be spoiling the fun for you, now wouldn’t it? Give the read link a look if you’re ready for the action.

Filed under: Storage

DDR3 shootout pits OCZ, Kingston and Corsair against one another originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Feb 2009 15:13:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Today’s laptops are slim and trim (with some notable exceptions), and as smaller cases demand smaller components Intel is doing its best to keep up, announcing two new CPUs specifically designed for the “ultra-thin” notebooks. They are the 1.6GHz Core 2 Duo SU9600 and 1.4GHz Core 2 Solo SU3500, both joining its existing line of consumer ultra low voltage (CULV) chips to create three tiers of efficient and dainty processors: Celeron, single-core, and dual-core. No word on where these chips will be first making an appearance, but we can think of one upcoming lithe lappy in which they’d be right at home.

Filed under: Laptops

Intel launches shapely new CPUs for slim new laptops originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 25 Feb 2009 07:57:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel and NVIDIA aren’t exactly hiding their differences with each other these days, and it doesn’t look like that’s about to change anytime soon, especially when it comes to NVIDIA’s turf-encroaching Ion platform. According to a document apparently now making the rounds in some circles, Intel not only says that NVIDIA is simply reusing an integrated graphics chipset designed laptops and desktops, which will “in turn leads to higher costs as well as high power consumption,” but that NVIDIA is overstating interest in Ion from OEMs, saying that “as of this writing, no customer has publicly disclosed plans to design Ion-based products.” Intel reportedly further goes on to say that “NVIDIA’s Ion HD playback may not be as good as NVIDIA claims,” and even if Ion is more powerful, “neither gaming nor video transcoding are relevant to netbook and nettop users.” As if that wasn’t enough, Intel closes things out by saying that since it’ll be releasing its own update platform by the end of the year, “the window of opportunity for Ion is very short.” Of course, there’s still no indication that any of this will lead to a hard break between Intel and NVIDIA, although NVIDIA does at least now have VIA to fall back on.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Intel rips into NVIDIA’s Ion platform originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 24 Feb 2009 12:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Intel’s X25-M SSD drives have certainly shown themselves more than capable enough in the usual tests and various configurations, but a long-term test report from the folks at PC Perspective is now casting a bit of doubt onto their long-term effectiveness and speediness. More specifically, they found that the sector remapping and wear-leveling algorithms that are designed to increase performance and extend the drives’ lifespans were actually doing quite the opposite as the drive became increasingly fragmented after extensive use. Further complicating the matter, it seems that conventional defrag programs only make the situation worse, with the only sure way of resetting the drive’s sector maps being a complete wipe of the drive. PC Perspective is quick to point out, however, that many users may well never notice the slowdown with light use, and they do have a few suggestions to minimize the problem until Intel devises a firmware fix, which is the only surefire solution.

[Via Ars Technica, thanks Robert]

Filed under: Storage

Intel X25-M SSDs slowing down with extensive use? originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 13:09:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Shuttle’s newfangled XPC Barebone SX58H7 is hungry, and nothing but an Intel Core i7 CPU and twin GPUs hooked up in unison can satisfy it. Those looking to pack a lot of power into a relatively small box need look no further, as Shuttle’s latest SFF case comes loaded with an X58 Express chipset, 500 watt power supply, two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slots, space for up to 16GB of DDR3 RAM and room for two SATA II hard drives. You’ll also find twin gigabit Ethernet jacks and a case that looks pretty much exactly like every other Shuttle case produced in the past five years. Oh, and then there’s the heart-stopping €483 ($611) price tag. Gotta hate that.

[Via I4U News]

Filed under: Desktops

Shuttle XPC Barebone SX58H7 wants a piece of your Core i7 originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 19 Feb 2009 10:56:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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