The new HD 7990 video card has 6 GB of GDDR5 RAM available promising the fastest graphics performance ever with 806 billion transistors inside, 4096 stream processors, and 8.2 Tflops of computing power. The video card supports up to five monitors at the same time using AMD EyeFinity technology.

To keep the massive GPU cool, the video card features three ultra-quiet axial fans. Maingear will be offering the new video card option on three different gaming PC lines including its SHIFT, F131, and Vybe. The video card can be combined with the company’s available EPIC CPU liquid cooling systems as well.

As you can imagine with any new high-end video card, the price is far from inexpensive. Adding a single HD 7990 is an $822 option. A pair of those video cards will add $1200 to the price of your gaming machine.

[via Maingear]

The mainboard is very small measuring 17 x 17 cm and has a rich component interface. The board supports Intel Ivy Bridge Celeron C2007U processors with power consumption of 17 Watts. The chipset used on the mainboard supports RAID levels 0, 1, 5, and 10 with data security protection.

The mainboard also features dual Intel 82583V Gigabit Ethernet ports. The construction of mainboard uses high-quality solid capacitors enclosed with nickel core inductors for longevity and stability. The board is also fitted with high quality Power PAK MOS FETs.

Other features of the small mainboard include dual USB 3.0 ports and TPM pins allowing the connection of an optional TPM module for data security protection. The board also features intelligent hardware monitoring and management functions such as the CPU overheating alarm and abnormal power state alarm. Pricing for the mainboard is unknown at this time.

[via Giadatech]

The company aims its high-end ioFX workstation acceleration platform at professionals performing video editing, computer assisted design, 4K and stereoscopic television production. When this device originally launched it was available in a highest capacity of 420 GB. Fusion-io has now announced that it has a version available with 1.6 TB of storage capacity.

By using the PCI Express slot rather than a SATA port, the ioFX device is able to remove traditional data storage bottlenecks allowing for higher performance. The design allows for faster composite, edit, playback, and finish digital content completion thanks to higher speed and efficiency.

The manufacturer says the 1.6 TB Fusion ioFX storage device will be available this summer. The company isn’t saying exactly how much the 1.6 TB version of the device will sell for. Considering that the 420 GB version of the same product is available for $1995, you can expect the 1.6 TB version to cost significantly more.

[via Fusion-io]

Employees working in the group will be transitioned to other areas within the company, working with FFRDs. This marks the end of a two decade era and a change in the market as a whole. The need for Intel to produce its own desktop motherboards has diminished, and in purely business terms, focusing its efforts elsewhere is better for its bottom line.

Product warranties will be supported for their duration despite the eventual shutdown. This comes after an announcement earlier today that the company has rolled out Ivy Bridge processors for the budget market, with a total of three Celeron, four Pentium, and one Core i3 being launched today with a price range of $42 to $117.

Said Intel: “We disclosed internally today that Intel’s Desktop Motherboard Business will begin slowly ramping down over the course of the next three years. As Intel gradually ramps down its motherboard business we are ramping up critical areas of the desktop space including integration of innovative solutions for the PC ecosystem such as reference design development, NUC and other areas to be discussed later.”

[via Legit Reviews]

Those three key areas are high reliability, acoustics, and energy efficiency. Seagate says that the new hard drive has best in class reliability with an annual failure rate of approximately 0.55. The drive is also able to operate continuously in extended temperature ranges and promises near silent operation.

Near silent operation is particularly important when you put a hard drive inside a DVR or set-top box in the living room where people have to hear the device operate constantly. The Video 2.5 is available in one and two disc optimized solutions with capacities of up to 500 GB. The slim design of the hard drives allows the drives to be used in smaller consumer devices.

The hard drive also supports up to 12 simultaneous HD streams making it ideal for surveillance DVR applications according to Seagate. The quiet operation also promises to allow manufacturers to build some of the quietest home entertainment systems available. Seagate says the drive operates below the range of audible sound for the human ear producing only 22 dB. Pricing and availability on the drive is unannounced this time.

Intel says that there are already over 20 low-power designs including micro servers, storage, networking systems, and others that use the Intel Atom processor S1200 family. The processor family promises server class levels of reliability and manageability while saving on costs. The system-on-a-chip includes two physical cores and a total of four threads enabled via Intel hyper-threading technology.

The system offers 64-bit support, a memory controller supporting up to 8 GB of DDR3 memory, support for Intel Virtualization Technologies, ECC, eight lanes of PCI Express 2.0, and other I/O interfaces integrated from Intel chipsets. Intel will offer the processor family with three processors ranging from 1.6 GHz to 2.0 GHz.

The new processor family is compatible with the x86 software commonly used in data centers around the world right now. The hallmark feature of the product family is that the it is the first low-power SoC supporting server-class features with as low as 6 W of TDP. The processor family is shipping today with pricing starting at $54 in quantities of 1000 units.

GE has unveiled a new cooling technology that is as thin as a credit card and will enable new ultrathin tablets and laptops. GE says that the new cooling technology for computer systems was adapted from tech originally developed for commercial jet engines. The technology is called Dual Piezoelectric Cooling Jets or DCJ for short.

The technology behaves as a micro-fluidic bellows to provide high velocity jets of air to cool electronic components. The turbulent airflow that the system creates helps to improve heat transfer more than 10 times that of natural convection. The cooling solution is only 4 mm tall, which is a 50% decrease in height compared to conventional cooling assemblies used in electronic devices today.

GE says that this technology is perfect for cooling future tablet and ultrabook products of less than 6 mm thick. Another big upside to this technology is that it needs no fan so computer systems and gadgets built using the hardware will be quieter. GE says that it has demonstration kits for OEMs that want to evaluate the technology. There is no indication of products coming to market using the DCJ system at this time.

In thin and small devices, mSATA SSDs such as the one in the picture above are typically used that do away with the housing and plug directly into the mainboard of the computer. Mushkin has announced a new extremely high-capacity mSATA SSD that is certain to find its way into high-end ultrabooks and other compact computing devices in the future.

The new storage device is the world’s first 480 GB mSATA SSD cramming an incredible amount of storage space into the tiny MO-300 mSATA form factor measuring 50.80 x 29.85 x 4.85 mm. The storage device uses the mini PCIe interface and has user upgradable firmware.

The SSD uses a SandForce SF-2281 SSD processor and supports ATA APM, Security Set, and NCQ features. The little storage device also has integrated BCH ECC providing up to 55 bits correctable per 512 byte sector. The little SSD will be available in early January via resellers and distributors for $499.99. With this little SSD being available via distributors, you should be able to find one to upgrade your existing computer.

Electronic Arts has shared three sets of requirements: minimum, recommended, and high-performance. We imagine a lot of users will be able to meet the minimum system requirements, but if you want to go for high-performance, you’ll need the latest and greatest. You’ll also need a machine running DirectX 11 regardless of your hardware, so you Windows XP users are being left out in the cold with Crysis 3, sorry to say. Here’s the full list of requirements straight from EA:

Minimum system operating requirements:

• Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
• DirectX 11 graphics card with 1GB Video RAM
• Dual core CPU
• 2GB Memory (3GB on Vista)
• Example 1 (NVIDIA/Intel): NVIDIA GTS 450, Intel Core2 Duo 2.4 Ghz (E6600)
• Example 2 (AMD): AMD Radeon HD5770, AMD Athlon64 X2 2.7 Ghz (5200+)

Recommended system operating requirements:

• Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
• DirectX 11 graphics card with 1GB Video RAM
• Quad core GPU
• 4GB Memory
• Example 1 (NVIDIA/Intel): NVIDIA GTX 560, Intel Core i3-530
• Example 2 (AMD): AMD Radeon HD5870, AMD Phenom II X2 565

High-performance system operation requirements:

• Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8
• Latest DirectX 11 graphics card
• Latest quad core CPU
• 8GB Memory
• Example 1 (NVIDIA/Intel): NVIDIA GTX 680, Intel Core i7-2600k
• Example 2 (AMD): AMD Radeon HD7970, AMD Bulldozer FX4150

So Crysis 3 is going to be one power hungry game, but did we really expect otherwise? The footage we’ve seen of the game has looked great so far, and if you’ve got the hardware to crank everything up to maximum settings, then you’ve got some beautiful visuals to look forward to. Of course, Crysis 3 requires some really expensive hardware to look its best, so beautiful visuals may not be worth it in this case.

Crysis 3 was accidentally revealed by Electronic Arts earlier this year and is built on CryEngine 3. It’ll be available on Xbox 360 and PS3 as well as PC, but aside from a rather vague February 2013 window, we don’t have a solid release date for the game yet. We’ll let you know when a release date is announced, but in the meantime, let us know if your rig is beefy enough to run Crysis 3 at max settings.

The drive supports 6 Gb/s SATA connectivity and comes in up to 240 GB capacity. The drive promises to be fast with 4 kB reads at up to 42,000 IOPS and writes at up to 52,000 IOPS. The new SSD series uses the smallest and most efficient MLC NAND flash on the market today.

The 240 GB capacity 335 SSD promises sequential reads at 500 MB per second and sequential writes a 450 MB per second. Intel says that the 29 nm 64Gb NAND uses a planar cell structure, which is an industry first. That special structure allows the SSD to overcome difficulties that accompany advanced process technology and enable performance and reliability on par with 25nm technology.

This SSD line is available in a 2.5-inch form factor with a 9.5 mm thick case. The SSD series is designed to replace conventional hard drives and is backed by a three year limited warranty from Intel. The Intel SSD 335 Series is available around the globe starting today. Pricing information is unknown at this time.

AMD could use a boost in the graphics market after reporting a significant loss last quarter and announcing layoffs. AMD has announced that it will be offering a special bundle called the Never Settle bundle that will include an AMD Radeon 7900 graphics card and several full video game titles. In addition to the three free full video game titles, players will also be of the get a 20% off discount on Medal of Honor: Warfighter.

The three free video games are AAA titles and promise graphics that will certainly be able to take advantage of the Radeon 7900 graphics card. The games include full versions of Far Cry 3, Hitman: Absolution, and Sleeping Dogs. All three of these titles are major releases set for this fall.

AMD will offer this bundle with several different video card options. Gamers who purchase an AMD Radeon HD 7800 graphics card or the Radeon HD 7770 GHz Edition will get Far Cry 3 at no cost and the discount on Warfighter. Gamers who buy a pair of specific Radeon HD 7850 series graphics cards or a pair of the HD 7770 GHz E cards will get Far Cry 3 and Hitman: Absolution. Apparently, only the 7900 series graphics cards will come with all three games.

[via VentureBeat]

Since the 1980s, computers have been the main consumer of DRAM chips in the technology industry. However, data released by research firm iSuppli last week showed a major change in DRAM consumption for the first time since the 80s. Computers used 49% of all DRAM chips manufactured in Q2 of this year.

That left other devices such as smartphones and tablets consuming 51% of all DRAM chips manufactured, overtaking the computer industry for the first time in decades. The percentages are expected to continue to tip in favor of tablets and smartphones. By the end of 2013, iSuppli predicts that PCs will use only 42.8% of the DRAM chips produced.

DRAM chips are used inside of computers and other devices to store short-term information to help shorten the time it takes to process information inside the computer. Long-term storage inside smartphones and computers typically use hard drives with magnetic platters or solid-state storage using NAND chips. ISuppli expects that with the market tipping towards mobile devices as the main consumer of DRAM chips, manufacturers will increasingly focus on making better chips for smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices.

[via Reuters]

“We’re frustrated by the lack of innovation in the computer hardware space though, so we’re jumping in,” the job ad states. “Even basic input, the keyboard and mouse, haven’t really changed in any meaningful way over the years. There’s a real void in the marketplace, and opportunities to create compelling user experiences are being overlooked.” If there was any doubt before, let it be laid to rest – Valve is interested in making computer hardware of its own, and it’s going to try to bring the Valve touch to hardware that hasn’t been changed in years.

Valve has been rumored to have a console in the works for quite some time now, but the company seems to be going in a different direction with this hire. The job ad suggests that Valve may want to design its own PC gaming equipment – keyboards, mice, monitors, so forth. Of course, it’s difficult to say from just the job ad, but at least we know that the interest in making computer hardware is there. Now all we need is an announcement from Valve to confirm it, and given the studio’s history of making timely reveals, such an announcement is probably years off.

Still, this could turn out to be a step in the direction of that fabled Steam Box people seem to want to want so much. That’s probably all in the distant future though, and for the moment, we’re pretty excited to see what Valve wants to do in the PC hardware space. If you’ve got the credentials – you’ll need to have “6+ years of professional experience shipping world-class, high-tech hardware products” along with meeting other requirements – maybe you should consider sending Valve your resume.

[via CVG]

Both of the new storage processor lines are aimed directly at the stringent power consumption requirements of ultrabooks. The most important new feature of the storage processors is that they consume significantly less power than predecessors promising as much as an extra hour of runtime per battery charge. An extra hour of runtime is a huge improvement in consumption.

SandForce is talking about three new specific products aimed at the ultrabook market, including the LSI SandForce SF-2141, SF-2241 and SF-2281 client FSPs. These processors have other benefits for the ultrabook market than extending battery life. The new processors will enable system boo and wake times to be reduced and are designed to meet the low C-height product requirement in the ultrabook market.

The controllers support SATA 6Gb/s host connectivity and are able to address between 24 GB and 512 GB of NAND flash memory. SandForce says that the processors support virtually all MLC flash product families. I’d wager these new flash controllers would find their way into other products as well since ultrabooks aren’t the only computing products that could benefit from an extra hour of battery life.

The development kit features a dashboard not too far off the Xbox 360 kit, with the Durango model running programs such as D3D11Game1 and NuiView; the latter is a tool for rendering camera output from the Kinect, while the former is most likely a DirectX 11 demo. The hardware of the development kit, meanwhile, is said to feature an Intel processor and NVIDIA graphics card. The person behind the kit leak, DaE, claims that the final Xbox 720 hardware will feature an octo-core CPU.

That seems to go against past reports that have suggested the console will have a processor with either four or six cores. Earlier this year it was also reported that the Xbox 720 would feature two GPUs that would be able to render graphics independent of each other. Another rumor suggested that two versions of the console would hit retail shelves, with one set of hardware offered as the main console, and another equipped with a low-power ARM-based processor that will target an aggressive price point, designed to run Arcade style games.

Other reports indicate that the next version of Microsoft’s console will ditch the optical drive in favor of digital downloads, something that may not come to fruition given the slow broadband speeds many experience in the United States and across the world. The most troubling rumor, however, is that the console will require an always-on internet connection in order to stave off piracy attempts. Not only that, but both the Xbox 720 and PlayStation Orbis have been rumored to implement an anti used games system, locking out any second hand games until a new license has been purchased.

[via MCV]

Kingston says that the 2800 MHz kits are designed to perform flawlessly on Asus and Gigabyte mainboards. The kits are designed specifically to work with new third-generation Core i7 and Core i5 processors. The RAM is built using and 22 nm architecture offering performance gains for enthusiasts and overclockers.

An 8 GB 2666 MHz kit with a pair of 4 GB modules will launch soon at unspecified pricing. A 2400 MHz kit with a pair of 4 GB modules is available for $89.99. A 16 GB kit of a pair of 8 GB modules operating at 2133 MHz is available for $219.99. An 8 GB, 2133 MHz kit sells for $74.99 with a pair of 4 GB modules. Kingston also offers a 1600 MHz 16 GB kit with a pair of 8 GB modules for $129.99.

Naturally, Gigabyte’s own Z77X-UD3H mainboard was used in the record-setting run. The overclocking geek who was able to set the crazy, higher than 7 GHz milestone goes by the name HiCookie. To reach the insane clock speed the overclocker did have to resort to using liquid nitrogen to keep the processor cool. The same person also broke the current highest memory speed record for the Ivy Bridge platform.

HiCookie was able to reach 3280 MHz with all four memory slots populated on the Gigabyte GA-Z77X-UD5H mainboard. The RAM used to set the record is G.Skill Trident X DDR3-2800. Gigabyte says that the two records were achieved thanks in part to its engineering prowess and memory tuning capabilities.

The E2100 chipset will be inside the Gigabyte G1.Assassin 2 mainboards that use the Intel X79 chipset. The E2100 is a high performance Gigabit Ethernet controller that handles game networking traffic and handles networking for all traffic types, not just gaming traffic. The chipset has advanced stream detect, visual bandwidth control, and application priority.

The stream detect technology is one of the key bits and gives the chipset its ability to identify online gaming and video transmissions and give them network priority. The visual bandwidth control portion allows the user to see what programs are consuming the most bandwidth and end them if needed. This will make for a very nice motherboard for gamers. Qualcomm is also putting the E2100 platform into boards from Asus and VisionTek as well.

The RAM kit is the 32GB 1866MHz Dominator. The kit includes four screened 8GB DDR3 modules that have the Corsair DHX+ heatsinks attacked. The RAM operates at 1.5V and is designed to run at 1866MHz. The timings on the RAM are 9-10-9-27.

Corsair has tested the kit with the upcoming quad channel and current dual channel platforms. The 32GB kit will land this month at a price that will curl your toes. This much RAM will set you back $999, but man will your rig be fast.

You’ll find that these units retain their predecessors PCIe-based form factor and beyond power choices, will be shipped in two standard configurations: one half height version for space constrained 1U servers and multi-node rack-mount servers and a separate full-height version. OCZ notes that their lovely new Z-Drive R4 is a unique combination of hardware and software solutions tied to integrated VCA 2.0. This VCA 2.0 being a multifaceted virtualization layer works well with full DMA (direct memory access) cores as well as internal PCIe, SAS, and SATA physical interfaces.

VCA 2.0 furthermore enables user-selectable data recovery and non-stop modes with IntegRecover technology that’ll keep your mind at ease when working with exactly what this piece of hardware is meant for: enterprise solutions. OCZ VCA 2.0 supports the SCSI command set over a PCIe interface, this being the industry-standard, and other features include consoledted SMART support, TRIM/SCSI Unmap support, and increased NAND flash life due to OCZ’s lower write amplification and the TRIM/SCSI Unmap support again.

SO! Go out there and grab em up!

The Gen 3 PCIe slot promises to be 200% faster than a Gen 2 slot. The mainboard also uses high-end MIL-810STD Certified Military Class II components and has MSI OC Genie II tech onboard to overclock the system and improve performance with a push button overclocking function. The board also gets a new BIOS design called the Click BIOS II. The new BIOS is designed to make tweaking easy.

The BIOS has an interface that promises to be good enough for noobs, but robust enough to proved the OC vet the flexibility needed to get the most performance. The board supports NVIDIA SLI and CrossFireX along with virtu switchable graphics tech. The board conforms to the latest Intel design standards for Intel processors.

The new cable that the group is working on will be based on PCIe 3.0 specification that offers up to four parallel lanes for a total throughput of 32 Gbits/second over distances of no longer than three meters. The early work on the new specification is based on copper technology we already have, but the spec is expected to migrate to higher speed and optical links in the future. The roadmap for the spec leads up to a whopping 16GT/s compared to the original specs 8GT/s.

The PCIe spec will support and power peripherals that need under 20W. The spec is expected to deliver the new standard in time for computer markers to get the standard into gear to hit market in 2013. The specification is expected to take up to 18 months to complete. The new spec will have a new cable design.

[via EEtimes]

The company will start taking pre-orders for its full line of computer cases on January 10 at the BitFenix store. The company notes that there will be very limited quantities of its cases for American geeks so if you have been lusting after one of its offerings pre-order as soon as the US store opens at 11am EST on January 10.

“After receiving emails almost daily inquiring about BitFenix in the US, we are excited to finally say that both Colossus and Survivor will be available for pre-order,” says David Jarlestedt, BitFenix Product Manager. “By bringing BitFenix products to North American shores, users in the US will finally be able to experience what BitFenix users in Europe and Asia have been raving about.”

The three new RAM kits that OCZ is talking up all meet the specs for the new JEDEC DDR3L standards to allow RAM to run cooler when used for intensive tasks like gaming. The kits include the OCZ Platinum ELV solutions that operate at 1.35V. That operating voltage puts the RAM well below the maximum threshold for newer Intel CPUs.

The new ULV kits are available in Reaper and Gold series that operate at 1.5V, still below the 1.65V max for the new Intel platforms. The Platinum ELV series will come in 6GB and 4GB kits. The Reaper and Gold kits will be offered in 12GB and 8GB configurations.

The Bandit has a SATA HDD dock built into the top of the case right behind the top controls for the system. With the SATA dock you can take any SATA HDD you have lying around , cram it into the dock, and access whatever you need off the HDD. That means that you will be able to get data off old HDDs without having to cram them inside the computer.

The Bandit chassis also has five external 5.25″ bays, three internal 3.5″ drive bays, and a memory card reader that ships installed in the case. The cooling system includes a single front 120mm fan with LEDs, a pair of optional 140mm or 120mm side fans, a single optional back fan, and an included 180mm LED fan on the top panel. The case will sell for a bit over 69 Euro when it launches.

An Apple manager was arrested early in the week for allegedly taking kickbacks from makers of iPhone and iPod accessories. The kickbacks totaled about a million dollars according to authorities. A DIY geek took his MacBook Air and cobbled it together with a Magic Trackpad. The result looks like the Asus Eee keyboard computer a bit.

That sweet Toshiba Libretto W100 with the dual touchscreens got its own unboxing and video review this week. The little computer is one of the coolest things Toshiba has ever made. We reviewed the Plantronics M100 Bluetooth headset on Tuesday. We really liked the device and it works as well as the Discovery 975 we reviewed not too long ago in a more compact design.

The Verizon iPhone and iPad may be about to go into field testing according to some rumors. The rumor surfaced from some geeks looking at a block of code that allows the iPhone to be activated without iTunes. A cool new 3D camera from Fujifilm called the W3 went official over in the UK. The camera has dual lenses and CCDs and can take plain old 2D photos if you want.

Poor old Asus was forced to inform investors and Wall Street that it was having to reduce its shipping estimates for netbooks. The company points the finger in part at the iPad for taking so many netbook buyers into tablet territory along with the overall slowing of the netbook market. Nikon debuted a new camera sporting a projector early in the week called the S1100pj. The new camera has a projector that is much brighter than the first projector cam the firm offered and will ship in September for $349.99.

Blackberry has fired blanks with the Torch it seems. The handset reportedly only sold 150,000 units its first weekend making the launch very disappointing. Pandigital is set to toss a new eReader onto the market that runs Android and has a matte finish 7-inch TFT LCD screen with full color. The thing can read books, check email, stream video and more.

ioSafe has added a new SoloPro external rugged HDD to its line. The new offering addresses one of the only shortcomings of the original by adding USB 3.0 and eSATA connectivity to the options. Gamers in Japan will be able to get a really cool PS3 bundle starting in November. The bundle will have a blue color and come with Gran Turismo 5.

Stream TV is going to be launching a new tablet to fight the iPad called the eLocity A7. The tablet will have a 7-inch screen and run Android with a launch date pegged for August 24. Wednesday we reviewed the mid 2010 update of the iMac Core i7 AIO computer. We figure it’s a well-rounded machine that is a fitting replacement for most traditional desktop computers.

Shuttle announced three new ready to ship versions of its thin XS35 HTPC this week. The three versions included mild general use rigs up to an Ion packing HD ready beastie. A company called PS Jailbreak has unveiled a cool solution for hacking your PS3 to play games and home brew software straight from the HDD. The good news is the solution is all software with no need to open your PS3.

The RIM BlackPad will reportedly have a new OS built by QNX software systems. Could this be because the Blackberry 6 OS was not exactly as exciting as RIM had hoped? LG is set to cram NVIDIA Tegra 2 graphics into its new smartphones. The two companies announced a partnership recently and the phones are expected later this year.

Sanyo pulled the wraps off a new Xacti dual camera this week. The VPC-PD2BK can shoot full 1080p 30p video and has a 3x optical zoom lens and records stereo sound. BitFenix unveiled its Colossus computer case this week that is one of the coolest cases I have ever seen. The thing has USB 3.0, lots of bays, and an awesome design.

HP has announced that its webOS tablet will be getting official in early 2011. This is the tablet that everyone figured HP had in mind when it bought Palm, I hope it doesn’t suck. The new Halo Reach video game has been leaked ahead of the official launch. The game was downloaded off the Microsoft servers after being put there for reviewers when hackers figured out a way to get around the need for a special code to download the game. Thanks for reading this edition!

The chip can be configured in many ways according to the marker and has lots of features. Those features include automatic fan control, automatic standby timer, write protection, one touch backup, safe power down, and Blu-ray drive support.

The chip needs only a single voltage (3.3V) and a single 30MHz clock source to operate. The controller features USB Stream Protocol support and uses a 6x6mm 48-pin QFN package.

You can put in a plain old fan that is black plastic or if you are the sort that cares about style as much as function you can opt for the LED lit models or something even more different like the Sharkoon 140mm fan that is made to look like a golf ball. I guess there are probably plenty of people out there who like both golf and PCs that might find this fan interesting. It would be perfect for your Caddy Shack case mod.

The golf ball fan spins at 800 rpm and can move 93.85 cubic meters of air per hour while producing 12.4 decibels of noise. The frame of the fan is black and the fan itself is a dimpled white plastic that looks like a golf ball. The fan ships with screws and other items needed for mounting and will set you back 12.99 euros.

The PSU is 80 Plus Bronze certified and has a single +12V rail. The case was designed with a special VGA fan duct to allow the chassis to keep the video cards cool and to run long cards up to 12.2-inches long. The chassis also supports up to 400W thermal envelope video cards that are overclocked.

The cooling prowess of the chassis is attained by using a gigantic 180mm fan, which is larger than the Mini-ITX mainboard the case uses. The area for the CPU cool accommodates units up to 117mm high and a pair of storage drives are supported in 2.5-inch size or a single 3.5-inch drive. Pricing on the chassis is unknown.

LabelTag is sort of like the other disc labeling tech on the market and lets the user label CDs using the burner rather than stickers or markers. It works like LightScribe where you flip the disc over and burn a professional looking label.

The iHAS524 packs in a lot of tech at a low price of $39.99 and it is available now. The drive also has Smart-Burn and other technology for quiet operation and quality data writing.

The new PS05 chassis uses a steel body and has plastic and mesh on the front. It supports both ATX and Micro ATX motherboards. External drive bays include four 5.25″ bays and a pair of 3.5″ bays. Inside the case, you get four 3.5″ bays. The cooling system is packed with five 120mm cooling fans.

The chassis will support expansion cards up to 11″ long and has front panel USB, audio, and mic ports. This case lacks USB 3.0 up front, which has been featured on several new cases recently. Pricing and availability of the new chassis are unknown.

The record setting system used the Rampage III mainboard, Intel Core i7-980X Extreme Edition CPU, Asus branded GTX 480 video card and a Asus ROG 5870 Matrix Platinum. The machine set records for 3DMark 2003, 3DMark 2005, 3DMark 2006, and 3DMark Vantage for a single CPU system.

In 3DMark Vantage the system scored H51410 at high preset and at extreme preset the machine scored X39212. Both scores beat out a system using dual CPUs for the top spot. The Rampage III certainly makes for an extreme gaming rig.

Lian Li has announced a trio of new PC cases today that are all mid tower designs. The cases include the PC-8NWX, the PC-7FNWX, and the PC-60FNWX (pictured). All of the new cases have side windows and are made in black 1.5mm thick anodized aluminum.

The top of all three cases have a spare 140mm fan mount and some of the cases have USB 3.0 ports on top. The 7FNWX and 60FNWX cases are ready for liquid cooling and have 140mm blue LED fans. Pricing on the new cases is unknown, but as I said before Lian Li tends to be expensive so my guess would be around the $200 mark.

The 750W PSU supports SLI multiple GPU configurations. For added bling, the PSU has red LEDs inside for a nice glow when in use and is cooled by a 135mm double ball bearing fan. The device is also 80-Plus Bronze certified with up to 85% efficiency.

The coolest feature of the new PSU is that it uses modular cabling. The only connectors that are hard wired into the PSU design are the ones for the motherboard and CPU power common to different computers. The other cables are modular and only have to be used if you need them. OCZ includes four 6+2 pin PCI-E cables, six peripheral cables, two floppy cables, and six SATA cables.

The new board supports the 32nm 6-core processors that are on the roadmap and has lots of other high-end features. The board has six SATA 3Gb/s ports and a pair of 6Gb/s SATA ports too. It also has two USB 3.0 ports on the rear panel and eight more USB 2.0 ports to boot.

The board supports up to 24GB of RAM and uses the Intel X58 chipset with ISCG10R. Asus uses the NEC USB 3.0 controller and has the mainboard has a pair of FireWire ports. Both 3-way SLI from NVIDIA and CrossFireX from ATI are supported. The board uses a fanless cooling system and supports DTS Surround Sensation UltraPC sound.