Posted 09/23/09 at 04:15:50 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

To celebrate the launch of the new Lynnfield Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs, we've partnered with Intel to give away a CyberPower gaming PC. Between 12:01AM PST on Friday, September 11th and 11:59PM on Friday, September 25th, you can enter the raffle for the prize by joining our Facebook group (http://www.facebook.com/maximumpc). It's really that simple -- no essays, photos, or craft projects required. We'll draw a random entry after the contest deadline and one lucky winner will walk away with a new Lynnfield-powered PC!

Prize system specficiations and official rules after the jump! [Rules updated to include Canadians]

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Posted 09/23/09 at 08:03:18 AM by Paul Lilly

Asus, best known for its motherboards and Eee PC lineup, doesn't often tout its rack-mount server products, but perhaps it should. The multifaceted manufacturer on Friday added the new RS300-E6 series to its rack-mount family, pairing Intel's Lynnfield platform in the process.

The new servers utilize Intel's 3420 PCH chipset with the chip maker's socket 1156-based Xeon 3400 series of CPUs. Support for both dual- and quad-core processors comes standard, and Asus says the ES300-E6 series can scale up performance immediately to support high-volume workloads.

Other notables include dual-channel DDR3-1333 memory support, 2+1 I/O expansion feature in the slim 1U form factor, PCI-E x16 and x8 slots, and support for the optional Asus Pike card, which allows for a seamless upgrade to SAS storage.

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Posted 09/16/09 at 08:29:29 AM by Paul Lilly

Some sources are saying that, at least internally, Intel is talking about shipping one million Lynnfield processors for desktops by the end of 2009. Should Intel meet its goal, it would put the pressure on motherboard makers to keep up.

Asus and Gigabyte are each on pace to ship 400,000 P55-based mobos by the end of the year, leaving 200,000 units for other manufacturers to pick up the slack. MSI, ECS, and ASRock are expected to ship around that many mobos, but all it takes is for one manufacturer to miss its goal for there to be more CPUs than there are mobos.

Asus looks to be the most active for the rest of the year. According to company VP Joe Hsieh, Asus' expects to ship between 5.5 to 6 million motherboards in the third quarter, 6 million in the fourth, and 22 million total. Going forward, Asus says P55-based boards will account for 10 percent of all shipments.

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Posted 09/11/09 at 01:45:23 PM by The Maximum PC Staff

This week, the gang gives the scoop on Intel's Lynnfield processor, sorting out the differences between the new Core i5 and Core i7 CPUs. To go along with that discussion, we announce a gaming PC giveaway (details here). We also preview Microsoft's new Windows 7 avertising campaign, and give our reactions to Apple's Fall keynote. Gordon dishes out a rant about the next generation of Star Wars fans, and we answer a bunch of listener questions (including one reader's happy ending). 

Do you have a tech question? A comment? A tale of technological triumph? Just need to get something off your chest? A secret to share? Email us at maximumpcpodcast@gmail.com or call our 24-hour No BS Podcast hotline at 877.404.1337 x1337--operators are standing by.

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Posted 09/11/09 at 12:43:34 PM by Paul Lilly

iBuyPower on Wednesday announced its new Paladin E-series Gaming PC built around Intel's "Lynnfield" processors and new P55 chipset. Three rigs in all -- Paladin E720, E780, and E870 -- come equipped with one of Intel's new socket 1156-based Core i7 800 series or Core i5 processors, but what iBuyPower really hopes will give it an edge over the competition is an optional "Power Drive" overclocking service.

iBuyPower will overclock your processor up to 10 percent for free (Power Drive Level 1), up to 20 percent for $49 (Level 2), and up to 30 percent for a dollar shy of a C-note (Level 3). Depending on which level you choose, you'll also need to configure compatible components iBuyPower says are certified for a particular OC (Gigabyte's GA-P55-UD6 is certified for a level 3 OC, whereas the GA-P55-UD3R is certified for level 1, for example).

 The Paladin E-series is available now starting out at $649.

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Posted 08/22/08 at 07:07:34 PM by Gordon Mah Ung

We've already had some hands-on time with Bloomfield, Intel's high-end Nehalem part (officially named Core i7). But we know that not everyone's going to make the jump on board this new platform when it's released later this year. Bloomfield pricing hasn't been announced yet, but we expect it to be in the high-end enthusiast range -- ie. only affordable for price un-conscious buyers.

For mainstream system builders, Intel's solution will be Lynnfield, a socket 1160 CPU that'll have its own motherboard configuration. Lynnfield processors will be incompatible with X58 motherboards sporting socket 1366 -- though Intel assured us that they won't phase out the Bloomfield platform once Lynnfield is released in Q1 of next year (unlike what happened with AMD's socket 940 platform). Another difference: Lynnfield's motherboard will run two-channel DDR 3 memory, as opposed to the highly-touted tri-channel setup in Bloomfield.

We were lucky enough to snap up a few spy shots of an early Lynnfield motherboard, shown below:

Can you spot the differences between a Lynnfield and Bloomfield motherboard? Take a closer look after the jump. 

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