DFI LANParty SLI-DR Expert Board

SLI-DR Expert

SLI-DR

DFI is getting their SLI-DR Expert board ready for massavailability this week and will use the current nForce 4 SLI chipset instead ofthe new nForce 4 SLI X16 chipset. Reason cited is that there is no performancebenefit running two x16. The layout of the SLI-DR Expert board is different fromthe current one with changes made to the CPU socket, DIMM slots, PWM area.According to DFI, it is meant to improve overall heat dissipation. The x16 slotsare now wider and the SLI mode is digitally controlled that will bring moreconvenience to the SLI users. The emphasis of this board is on the memory aspectwhere it can support 4 sticks of 1GB DDR400 memories at 1T. The memory voltagesoption in the BIOS is further enhanced with finer steppings for eg. 2.80, 2.83,2.87, 2.9V.

Expensive hard disks boosting SSD sales

The effect of last months Thailand floods is still felt far and wide in the storage industry as well as the computer market in general. Prices triple that of usual are still not uncommon for many hard disk drive types, as the componentry for them was coming from flood-affected areas - even then, its hard to find them. Now, SSDs dont suffer from the same problem, it seems, so what to make out of it?

Yes, it does seem that there is benefit for SSD sales, even the biggies like Intel have privately acknowledged that. The immediate benefit for them is that, coupled with some SSD price reductions and Xmas period promotions, having a 120 GB-class SSD is now not exactly unaffordable even for a mainstream PC. A 240 GB one may still feel a little pricey, but not nearly as much as it was a quarter ago when the price-per-GB vs hard disk was like five times higher. And, when you take into account that exponentially higher read performance - writes can still be a bit of problem sometimes depending on the controller youre using - and the cool factor of having a solid state drive to show off, the sales would improve surely.

With the differential being much lower now, having the first system drive as SSD, and using your old - no extra price to pay - HDD as the second drive for the paging file and often-rewritten documents or data, means good sense. However, keep in mind that, within a quarter, the HDD supply situation should come back to normal, so SSD vendors better figure out the way to maximise the use of the current hard disk supply doldrum before their comparative price benefit diminishes again.

Fastest X800 Pro Card New 3DMark03 Record

A new 3DMark03 record for X800 Pro has been set by Shamino witha score of 14250 3DMarks using the PowerColor X800 PRO Assassin Edition card running ata core/memory clock of 779/637Mhz! Check out his achievementshere.

Defeat acirc;€淔atal1ty acirc;€ @ Computex amp; Win US$ 3K!

PowerColor, Cooler Master and Universal ABIT are in search of a challenger inTaiwan to take on Johnathan 鈥淔atal1ty鈥?Wendel, the world鈥檚 best knownprofessional video gamer, during COMPUTEX 2007. Is this guy human? Can he bedefeated? PowerColor, Cooler Master and Universal ABIT want a worthy challengerto give him a run for his money. We will reward the challenger with 100,000 NTDif he or she can defeat Fatal1ty on June 5th.

Universal ABIT, a leading manufacturer of high-end gaming motherboards andperipherals and a Licensee of the Fatal1ty Brand, has invited Fatal1ty to visitTaiwan during COMPUTEX 2007. All three companies, Universal ABIT, Cooler Masterand PowerColor, have decided to collaborate to gather the best gamers in thenation to put Taiwan on the map of professional gaming and international eSports.

Qualifiers will be held on June 2nd, 2007, from 1pm to 6pm at Aztec InternetCaf茅 (Nan King East Rd. branch), Taiwan鈥檚 foremost chain of Internet Caf茅s. Thechallenger will emerge from the qualifiers and get a chance to take on Fatal1tyat the same venue at 4pm on June 5th, 2007. Sign up online at the Aztec website(http://www.azteccup.com/Race_Detail.php?RaceNo=72) or sign up in person at anyAztec branch.

鈥淚 love Taiwan, and welcome a chance to go back to support our licenseeUniversal ABIT and participate in this great event to help promote gaming andhopefully inspire gamers from Taiwan to compete professionally鈥? says Johnathan鈥楩atal1ty鈥?Wendel

鈥淐ooler Master is the master of thermal solutions and the first to design an allaluminum PC case for gamers worldwide鈥? says Coco Lee, Gaming Project Manager atCooler Master. 鈥淭hrough interactive activities, Cooler Master will build up itscommunication with gamers and contribute with professional technology andquality products to the gaming community.鈥?br>
鈥滱s long time supporters of the global gaming community, ABIT is extremely proudto be able to spread the word about competitive gaming and eSports in Taiwan鈥?says David Jarlestedt, brand manager at Universal ABIT. 鈥淏y inviting Fatal1ty,the world鈥檚 most successful professional video gamer, to Taiwan, we hope todemonstrate the true magic of gaming at the very highest level, and hopefullyinspire the best talent in Taiwan to take the leap, get serious and go pro.鈥?br>
鈥淲e are ecstatic to be having the best gamers in Taiwan challenge the best knowngamer in the world. We really want to step up and challenge him, which is why weare giving NTD 100,000 as prize money to any person who manages to beatFatal1ty鈥? says Raymen Wu, marketing manager at PowerColor.

ASUS Eee Pad Transformer preorder starts today

Update: 100 sets of pre-order units for the ASUS Eee Pad Transformer had been sold out within 3 hours.

ASUS today officially announced the start of preorder for the Eee Pad Transformer which claims to be the perfect tablet solution for both media consumption and mobile productivity.

Designed to provide the most personal and seamless cloud computing experience, the innovative Eee Pad Transformer has a uniquely designed full-size QWERTY keyboard docking station that offers two USB slots, SD card reader and extends battery life up to 16 hours. It also boasts an IPS panel made from a durable, scratch-resistant glass, dual cameras and supports Adobe Flash 10.2 video playback. ASUS has also developed an intuitive user interface called Waveshare which hosts a variety of unique applications including MyNet, MyLibrary and MyCloud.

The Eee Pad Transformer is available for pre-order in Singapore today. The Eee Pad Transformer pre-order is limited to 100 sets only. Users may visit ASUS Singapore Official Fan page, http://www.facebook.com/asus.sg for more pre-order information.

Pre-order price: S$699 (incl GST) with free Docking station worth S$199. Pre-order begins from 18 Aprilto 26 April and is limited to the first 100 customers only.