Hardware

Sony Teases PlayStation 4 Console Reveal Ahead of Microsoft's Xbox Announcement

Paul Lilly — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:26:39 +0000

It's 'Game-on' between Sony and Microsoft.

Sony today provided a first glimpse of what its next generation PlayStation 4 (PS4) console will look like, though a quick peek is all you get. The reveal comes in the form of a 39-second YouTube clip that flashes between various different close-ups and a blurry shot of the square-shape console as the camera moves increasingly closer, though never coming into focus. Sony is planning to fully unveil the PS4 at E3 on June 10.

The timing of Sony's teaser video represents a bit of gamesmanship, as Microsoft is set to announce its next Xbox console (codenamed Durango) tomorrow morning. Thus will begin the next-generation console wars, though it will be a war of words and speculation since both companies are planning to make their respective platforms available to purchase this holiday shopping season.

One of the big things gamers will be paying attention to during tomorrow's announcement is whether or not the new Xbox will require an always-on Internet connection. Ex-Microsoft Studios employee Adam Orth ended up resigning after defending always-on devices on his Twitter account by talking down to other users.

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Retina Smetina, Samsung Showcases 13.3-inch Notebook with 3200x1800 Resolution

Paul Lilly — Mon, 20 May 2013 19:03:46 +0000

More pixels than you can shake a MacBook Pro at.

Samsung is taking high resolution displays seriously these days. How serious? Enough to launch a 13.3-inch WQXGA+ laptop at the Society for Information Display's (SID) Display Week 2013 convention in Vancouver. That works out to a 3200x1800 display resolution, packing more pixels per inch (276 PPI) than Google's Chromebook Pixel (239 PPI) or Apple's MacBook Pro 13 (227 PPI).

According to Samsung, the high-resolution notebook can deliver 30 percent greater power savings than that of existing LCD tablet displays, a feat it accomplishes by decreasing the number of driver circuits, thereby increasing the efficiency of the LED BLU.

Beyond that tidbit, Samsung refrained from revealing any other details about its upcoming laptop model. The company did say, however, that it also plans to show off a 10.1-inch WQXGA (2560x1600) LCD for tablets, a Full HD 1080p (1920x1080) mobile AMOLED display with the world's broadest color gamut, and an 85-inch Ultra HD (2840x2160) LCD TV panel with "extremely vivid color and low power consumption."

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Changing PC Landscape Puts the Pinch on BIOS Designers

Paul Lilly — Mon, 20 May 2013 16:10:35 +0000

Singing the BIOS blues.

It's the little guy that often gets overlooked in various circumstances, and when it comes to computers in general, BIOS makers fit that description, even though their chips and code play a big role in the operation of your PC. Like every other PC player, BIOS designers are feeling the hurt from weakening PC sales, leaving them to find alternative means to flip a profit amid a changing market place.

Insyde Software, Phoenix Technologies, and American Megatrends (AMI) have all started taking measures to deal with the impact of a slowed market, sources within the upstream supply chain tell Digitimes.

Each is going about it in a different way. Insyde Software, for example, is focusing on Android and server-related products to try and offset losses from the PC segment. Phoenix, meanwhile, reportedly "streamlined" its workforce to cut costs, while AMI is still looking for a solution.

BIOS makers are in a bit of a pickle. Some believe tablets are a passing fad that will no longer be around in five years, while Gartner predicts that tablet sales will top traditional PCs by 2017.

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Logitech Z323 Review

Michael Brown — Fri, 17 May 2013 21:20:24 +0000

2.1-Channel Speaker System offer cheap thrills

Logitech has built more computer speakers over the years than just about any manufacturer, and it’s learned a thing or two about building decent low-cost models. Take the 2.1-channel Logitech Z323 system: We could name any number of speaker systems that sound better, but few that are priced better.

The satellites tilt up to project sound at your ears.

You can literally see some of the ways that Logitech hit that low price point: The satellite cabinets are made from cheap ABS plastic with permanently attached cables that plug into the subwoofer. Each satellite has dual, 2-inch, concave-dome drivers (one is mounted in the front of the cabinet and the other in the back, to deliver what Logitech describes as “360-degree sound”). So the system performs best if there’s a wall behind the satellites for the sound waves to bounce off. Each satellite also has a front-facing port. There’s a volume control and power switch on the right-hand cabinet, plus one 1/8-inch headphone output and one 1/8-inch stereo input, to support a digital media player.

The compact subwoofer cabinet (it measures 8.7x5.9x7.2 inches) is fabricated from the typical medium-density fiberboard. It houses a small amp and a tiny (for a sub) 4-inch down-firing dome woofer. The amp delivers six watts (RMS) to each of the satellites and 18 watts (RMS) to the subwoofer. The sub has its own volume control, along with a pair of RCA jacks that serve as a second auxiliary input for a gaming console, DVD player, or what have you (handy features in a speaker system priced this low).

The Z323’s favorable price/performance ratio, however, applies to games much more than music. Playing games such as Borderlands 2, we were pleased with the Z323’s ability to render the sound of gunshots and explosions, and the conversations with friendly characters and the taunts of enemies alike were rendered crisp and clear (well, with the exception of those babbling psychos).

When we listened to music, on the other hand, the vocals sounded weirdly detached from the rest of the band—and it didn’t matter whether the singer was male or female or even what style of music was being played. We tried several singer/songwriters, including “Crossing Muddy Waters,” from the John Hiatt album of the same name, Marc Cohn’s “She’s Becoming Gold,” from The Rainy Season, and Nanci Griffith’s cover of Townes Van Zandt’s “Techumseh Valley,” from her record Other Voices, Other Rooms (in all three cases, the tracks were ripped from CD and encoded as 16-bit, 44.1kHz FLAC files).

This sonic detachment wasn’t as much of a problem with instrumental selections, but that’s not to say the Z323 system delivered a stellar performance. When we played Mike Oldfield’s Tubular Bells, which the composer recently remastered for Bowers & Wilkins’s Society of Sound label, the album (available in both Apple Lossless and 24-bit FLAC formats), sounded somewhat lifeless and flat compared to what we heard on more expensive speakers (including Corsair’s stellar SP2500 system). But you could almost buy four Z323 setups for the cost of one SP2500, so that’s to be expected.

f you’re working with a tight budget and need speakers primarily for gaming, Logitech has a good set in the Z323. If listening to music is your core interest, on the other hand, you should keep looking.

$70, www.logitech.com

Dell's Profits Plunge 79 Percent as PC Maker Mulls Its Future

Paul Lilly — Fri, 17 May 2013 16:02:42 +0000

Dude, who's getting Dell?

Dell's future is as uncertain as it's ever been, and not just because the PC market is in a slump as consumers flock to mobile devices. The other major unknown is whether Dell will ultimately accept Michael Dell's proposed $24.4 billion buyout offer and go private, or if the board will be swayed by Carl Icahn's alternate deal that would keep the company public. As all this unfolds, Dell (the company) is seeing its profits get sucked into a vortex of uncertainty.

The PC maker reported revenue of $14.1 billion for its fiscal 2013 first quarter, down 2 percent from the previous year. What's even more alarming, however, is that its profits are down 79 percent to $130 million. In the same quarter a year ago, Dell's profits totaled $635 million.

As expected, Dell put on its positive face when announcing the results.

"We made progress in building our enterprise solutions capabilities in the first quarter and are confident in our strategy to be the leading provider of end-to-end scalable solutions," said Brian Gladden, Dell chief financial officer. "In addition, we have taken actions to improve our competitive position in key areas of the business, especially in end-user computing, and it has affected profitability. We’ll also continue to make important investments to support our strategy and drive long-term profitability."

The world's No. 3 PC maker saw its end-user computer sales slide 9 percent to $8.9 billion. Dell's Enterprise division picked up some of the slack with revenue climbing 10 percent to $3.1 billion. Dell Services also saw some growth, increasing 2 percent to $2.1 billion.

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Velocity Micro Raptor MultiPlex XL Review

Gordon Mah Ung — Thu, 16 May 2013 21:30:48 +0000

Is there still room for big a HTCP?

It’s hard to talk about the Velocity Micro MultiPlex machine without thinking back more than 15 years ago, to the earliest days of “PC-TVs” and “PC Theaters.”

Back in the late 1990s, vendors such as Compaq and Gateway were pushing Pentium II–based PCs capable of watching DVDs, displaying electronic programming guides, and browsing the Internet, along with other futuristic capabilities, on gigantic 36-inch CRT televisions (we say that both literally and sarcastically).

The MultiPlex is a traditional HTPC, but fully capable of playing Big Picture Steam games, too.

In comparison to those early pioneers of living room PCs, the Velocity Micro MultiPlex is like a starship dropping out of warp speed while you look on from a covered wagon trying to get over Donner Pass without having to eat your fellow travelers.

The MultiPlex chassis harkens back to those early PC-TVs, but rather than sporting a 266MHz Pentium II, a whopping 2GB hard drive, 32MB of RAM, and an analog TV tuner, the MultiPlex is pretty much state-of-the-art: liquid-cooled Core i7-3770K clocked up to 4.3GHz, 16GB of DDR3/2000, a GeForce GTX 680, 240GB SSD, and 3.6TB of RAID 5 storage. Besides Gigabit and 802.11n, and the Blu-ray drive, Velocity Micro opted for a Ceton quad-channel CableCARD tuner to help fill that massive RAID 5 array.

That RAID array, for the record, is made up of three 2TB WD Caviar Black drives. If one drive fails, you won’t lose it all—we’re just not so sure we’d care if we lost it, though. Since the MultiPlex is intended to quietly sit in the living room sucking up television through the Ceton card, a drive failure wiping out, say, every episode of Glee or The Walking Dead, wouldn’t be as bad as losing 2TB of your family videos and pics. Frankly, we think that a straight 6TB JBOD array would be just fine on a PVR box, but if you do intend to store your memories on the machine, the RAID 5 is warranted.

Performance of the box was in line with our expectations. Obviously, up against our zero-point system’s hexa-core and dual-GPU setup, it’s no contest. But against HTPC/gaming boxes like Digital Storm’s Bolt and Falcon Northwest’s Tiki, it’s pretty much a tie, as all three feature overclocked 3770K parts and GeForce GTX 680 cards. Of course, you might wonder if it’s fair to compare the MultiPlex against those much smaller HTPC machines. That’s a good question. Both the Tiki and Bolt are more likely to be used as simple SFF gaming boxes in your office, or in your living room as “Steam Boxes” running Big Picture mode. Recording terabytes of TV isn’t likely to be high on the list of their usage scenarios.

That’s actually where the MultiPlex comes in. It’s far more traditional-HTPC shaped and sized for the PVR chores, yet has plenty of firepower to run games at 1080p resolutions. Our one complaint might be that it’s a tad loud for pure PVR duties. If you’re watching, say, a Michael Bay flick, you’d never hear the fan and drive noise, but if you’re trying to catch the nuanced acting in, um, Jane Eyre on Blu-ray, you could find those sounds distracting. This won’t be an issue in gaming, of course, but it’s worth noting.

Pricing for the rig is fair. At $3,200 it’s a full grand cheaper than the Falcon Tiki we reviewed last September. The Tiki did, however, pack a pair of 512GB SSDs, which adds up, but then the MultiPlex has three drives plus a CableCARD tuner.

Overall, the MultiPlex brings a lot to the table if you’re still living in a cable world—we’re just not sure how many of us there are in today’s post-cable environment.

$3,200, www.velocitymicro.com

MiniX Neo X5 Review

Gordon Mah Ung — Thu, 16 May 2013 19:14:04 +0000

Meet the android on TV box

We have some bad news for you and you’re not going to like it, as few parents ever want to hear anything negative about their baby. Well, here it is: Your so-called Smart TV really isn’t that smart.

The Android on TV box idea may be the future, but probably not this one.

Sure, the guy in the blue shirt said that your fab 60-inch plasma was top of its class and graduated cum laude, but the truth is, your TV spent most of its schooling playing beer pong and is a actually a class-A moron. The only reason it’s called “Smart” is because it was pledged as a legacy.

That’s where the MiniX Neo X5 comes in. Running Android Ice Cream Sandwich, this inexpensive black box gives your TV an actual browser and access to applications that aren’t coded in the language Ass++.

The Neo X5 sports a dual-core Rockchip RK3066 ARM processor with a quad-core Mali 400 graphics chip, 1GB of RAM, and 16GB of storage. For connectivity, it has 802.11n, Bluetooth, HDMI 1.4a, Fast Ethernet, and an optical S/PDIF out. For additional storage, the Neo X5 has an SD slot. MiniX even includes a short HDMI cable and USB OTG cable. For those of you who don’t subscribe to Obscure Ports Quarterly, OTG lets you use the box’s Micro USB port as a standard USB port, or—if we could figure it out—hook the Neo X5 to a PC’s USB port to use as a storage device. Think of it as a USB port that swings both ways.

As we said, we couldn’t figure it out and that’s perhaps one of the most vexing problems with the Neo X5. It’s pretty much stock Ice Cream Sandwich, but a lot of things were simply not intuitive or not working. We couldn’t, for example, figure out how to zoom in or out, and many apps that are intended for touch just didn’t work correctly for us. Granted, we were using it with a wireless keyboard and mouse, but that’s how the device would normally be used in a living room since the remote it ships with feels like it came out of a gumball machine.

The performance of the Neo X5 didn’t impress us, either. It felt sluggish in most instances, with a subpar user interface. Some benchmarks told us otherwise. We compared it to a Tegra 3–based Nexus 7 (admittedly not the most direct comparison, but a good measure of relative Android performance) and the X5 took most of the wins. The Nex7 certainly felt smoother but that’s likely due to Jelly Bean and its Project Butter improvements.

Overall, the Neo X5 feels underspec’d to us. Even the display at 1080p output looked so soft we had to double-check which mode it was in. Security is also an issue, as there is no way to secure the unit. Since you’d be logged into your Gmail account at all times on it, you’re leaving your email fly down for anyone on the device.

The Neo X5 is mainly marketed as a media player and it does fine there—to an extent. We could play various MP4 files, from GoPro cams to handycams to still images without hiccups, and there is an extensive set of codecs supported. Netflix was also fine but did exhibit more compression artifacts than we expected. YouTube videos were also pretty low-res despite being checked off as “HD.”

What we have here is essentially a work in progress. As is, it’s still far more usable and much faster than 95 percent of the “Smart” televisions on the market, but there’s much improvement to be had. MiniX is promising a Jelly Bean update at some point that may greatly change the experience—which it needs.

$110, www.polywell.com

Nvidia GeForce GTX 780 Still Headed for a May 23 Release

Paul Lilly — Thu, 16 May 2013 15:33:48 +0000

Rumors point to the GTX 780 launching next week.

Near the beginning of the month, news and rumor site Fudzilla reported that Nvidia was planning to launch its GeForce GTX 780 graphics card on May 23 at 6:00 AM PDT. That date is now only a week away, and so far, things are looking good. Withing naming anyone, Fudzilla says it's now heard from "multiple sources" that the May 23 launch date is accurate, at which time Nvidia's hardware partners will debut reference clocked cards.

As with most video cards these days, overclocked versions will inevitably pop up, though most of them will come out "several weeks" after the initial launch.

Reference cards are said to be using a GeForce Titan cooler quality since it's a high quality design. You may even spot overclocked cards using the same cooler, though vendors typically like to slap on their own cooling solutions, which often do a better job than reference at whisking away heat and run quieter to boot.

According to Fudzilla, the GTX 780 part based on reference specs should sell for around 500 Euros. That's about $645 USD, though PC component pricing doesn't always follow a straight currency conversion from one market to the next.

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Lenovo, Best Buy Now Accepting Pre-orders for IdeaPad Yoga 11s Convertible

Paul Lilly — Thu, 16 May 2013 14:56:57 +0000

Is Yoga in your summer plans?

Lenovo first began showing off its IdeaPad Yoga 11S at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas this past January, and now four months later, you can place your pre-order on Lenovo's website or through Best Buy, the latter of which will carry the hybrid laptop in stores starting June 23. Why is it called Yoga? Simply put, Lenovo's convertible bends in ways that makes our back ache just looking at it.

The Yoga 11S is an 11.6-inch Ultrabook convertible that flips and folds all the way around to function as a tablet when desired. It has a touchscreen IPS display and is of course wielding Windows 8.

"Consumers around the world loved our first Yoga for its unique flip and fold and multi-mode design," said Jay Parker, president, Lenovo, North America. "We’re continuing to develop the Yoga franchise with the new Yoga 11S, and due to Yoga’s popularity already, we’ve created a pre-sale program so customers can get their hands on one before it even hits the shelves."

It's available in "Clementine Orange" and "Silver Gray," both of which start out at $800. For that, you get an Intel Core i3 3229Y processor (1.4GHz), 4GB of DDR3-1600 RAM, 128GB solid state drive, 4-cell battery, and Windows 8. Upgrades are available, including faster processor options, up to 8GB of RAM, and up to 256GB of solid state storage.

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Lian Li Launches Curvaceous PC-Q30 Mini ITX Computer Case

Paul Lilly — Wed, 15 May 2013 15:53:52 +0000

A case with curves.

If Leisure Suit Larry was the type to build his own small form factor (SFF) PC, we have little doubt he'd pick Lian Li's new PC-Q30 enclosure. After all, he's into curves, and the PC-Q30 obliges with a funky design that, once again, proves Lian Li isn't afraid to try something different. With its curved shaped design and large acrylic front window, Lian Li says its fully aluminum chassis is ready and willing to give onlookers a view of what it's packing inside.

"Whether in the living room, bedroom, or office, the PC-Q30 with its curve-shape and brushed aluminum finish takes visual command without being ostentatious," Lian Li explains. "Additionally, DIY builders can put their stylized internal components and intricate builds on full display – as they should not be hidden from sight."

Moving on from the aesthetics, the PC-Q30 supports graphics cards up to 7.8 inches long and can accommodate up to four 2.5-inch drives, which are mounted in a removable cage at the bottom. There's a 140mm rear fan to expel hot air, along with ventilation on the top and side for cool air to enter.

I/O connectivity consists of a pair of USB 3.0 ports and HD Audio jacks on the side.

Look for the PC-Q30 to be available in June for $149.

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HP Taps Android for SlateBook x2 and Windows 8 for Split x2 Hybrids

Paul Lilly — Wed, 15 May 2013 14:45:34 +0000

Why play favorites?

Microsoft is trying to make a play in mobile with its touch-tastic Windows 8 platform, while Android remains the popular choice among those who don't want an iPad. Rather than choose which one to roll with, Hewlett-Packard (HP) went and launched a pair of detachable PCs built around both platforms, essentially passing the buck onto you, Joe and Jane Consumer, as to which platform to invest in.

Starting with Android, HP's new SlateBook x2 is a surprise entry with plenty of promise. It boasts a 10.1-inch Full HD 1080p (1920x1200) touchscreen IPS display and is powered by Nvidia's quad-core Tegra 4 SoC (System-on-Chip) clocked at 1.8GHz, making it the the first Android detachable device with Tegra 4 inside, HP claims. It also has 2GB of RAM, 64GB of built-in storage, DTS sound, 720p front-facing camera, 1080p rear-facing camera, a USB 2.0 port, SD card slot, HDMI output, combo audio jack, built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and Android 4.2.2 Jelly Bean.

Over on the Windows side of the fence, HP introduced the Split x2 with a 13.3-inch HD (1366x768) IPS display. It's powered by 3rd Generation Intel Core i3 and i5 processor options and 2GB of RAM. Other specs include a 128GB mSATA SSD + 500GB HDD storage setup, Beats Audio, 1080p front-facing camera, 8MP rear-facing camera, microSD card reader, combo audio jack, one each USB 3.0 and 2.0 ports, HDMI output, SD card slot, 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, and Windows 8.

"Customers want to access and share content anywhere, anytime, on any internet connected device—and they expect those connections to be seamless," said Ron Coughlin, senior vice president and general manager, Consumer PCs, HP. "The HP SlateBook x2 and the HP Split x2 are next-generation devices and the latest examples of our continued commitment to evolving the computing experience by providing the flexibility necessary for customers to be productive at home, at the office or on the go."

The HP SlateBook x2 and Split x2 are expected to be available in August starting at $480 and $800, respectively. Both also come with a full-size keyboard with clickpad.

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AMD Bills New Radeon 8970M as World's Fastest Mobile GPU

Paul Lilly — Wed, 15 May 2013 04:01:00 +0000

There's a new mobile sheriff in town.

Mobile gamers rejoice, for AMD hasn't forgotten about you. On the contrary, the Sunnyvale chip designer just unveiled its Radeon 8970M, which AMD claims is the fastest laptop GPU on the entire planet. And not only is it smoking fast, it's also more efficient than previous designs, which means you can expect longer battery life, according to AMD.

AMD's 8000M series falls into three different tiers, including Mainstream (Radeon 8500M and 8600M Series), Performance + Gaming (Radeon 8700M and 8800M Series), and Enthusiast (Radeon HD 8900 Series). The 8970M part being launched today sits at the top of the mobile GPU totem pole and boasts 1,280 stream processors, an 850MHz engine clock (900MHz with boost), and 1,200MHz memory. That translates into 2304 GFLOPS of single precision compute power and 144 GFLOPS of double precision compute power.

Speaking of which, AMD tells us the 8970M is engineered for compute with support for OpenCL and GPU acceleration. DirectX 11.1 is obviously part of the package, as is improved image quality and video playback.

As for gaming performance, AMD provided a handful of benchmark comparisons that shine a positive light on its mobile part. For example, according to AMD's testing (Intel Core i7 3770K, 4GB DDR3 1600MHz RAM, Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 hard drive), a Radeon HD 8970M is 54 percent faster than a GeForce GTX 680M in Tomb Raider running at 1920x1080 with TressFX turned off (53.6 fps versus 34.8 fps). In Bioshock Infinite (also at 1920x1080), the 8970M benched 63.29 fps, which is 42 percent faster than the GTX 680M chip (44.52 fps). And so it goes across the board.

One of the first notebooks to feature the 8970M will be MSI's GX70 gaming laptop, which is an upgraded version of the GX60 AMD's latest and greatest mobile part. It will come with a copy of Crysis 3.

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AVADirect Puts the Quiet Smackdown on Custom Workstation Rigs

Paul Lilly — Tue, 14 May 2013 16:09:48 +0000

Bringing a bit of peace and quiet to the workstation.

Quiet computing is an art form that isn't easily mastered, but once achieved, you'll wonder how you ever managed to tolerate a roaring PC. AVADirect claims you won't have to with its whisper quiet workstation configurations. There are two models to choose from, one with a single Xeon processor and other with two Xeon parts inside, both of which have been carefully constructed to keep a low noise profile.

"Using a series of supported, low-noise cases and noise reduction accessories, AVADirect has created state-of-the-art Quiet Workstation Configurations at the disposal of all end-users seeking a powerful, yet quiet solution that was once thought to be impossible," AVADirect stated in a press release.

The custom PC builder said its quiet machines utilize noise reduction accessories such as rubber washers, screws, fan brackets, power supply brackets, low noise fans, and several hand-selected silencer kits. Pricing starts at around $1,916 and includes a Fractal Design Define XL R2 full tower chassis, Intel Xeon E5 2603 quad-core processor, Prolimatech Megahalems Rev. C air cooler, Gigabyte GA-X79S-UP5-WIFI motherboard, 16GB of Crucial DDR3-1066 RAM, Asus GeForce GTX 660 Ti graphics card, Western Digital 1TB Caviar Black hard drive, Seasonc X-850 power supply, 24X DVD burner, and Windows 7 Ultimate.

If a workstation isn't up your alley, AVADirect also offers a line of silent desktop configurations, all of which are available now.

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Haswell Notebooks to Hit Retail by End of the Month

Paul Lilly — Tue, 14 May 2013 14:57:50 +0000

A new generation of notebooks is right around the corner.

Generally speaking, there's always something newer, faster, and shinier in the pipeline, and if you keep waiting for the next best thing, you'll never upgrade. That said, when the stars align just right, every once in awhile it's worth waiting for something that's just around the corner, and this happens to be one of those times. Haswell is about to launch, and you may even see laptops based on Intel's next generation architecture by the end of May, which is when you'll want to start shopping if you can hold off until then.

If you're in the market for a new laptop and can survive with what you've got for few more weeks, you might as well hang tight and see what Haswell brings to the table. According to Digitimes, Haswell-based products have mostly shipped and should show up in retail in the coming weeks, though new models are likely to carry higher price tags that what's currently available. Whether or not the pricing premium will be worth the additional performance is something that will become clearer once Haswell actually ships, but even if you decide Haswell isn't for you, Haswell's launch could lead to price drops on current hardware and notebook models as vendors look to clear out inventory.

Despite Haswell making a debut, notebook ODMs aren't expecting a huge increase in shipments, at least not right away. Vendors are also looking at the situation conservatively and are refraining from ordering scores of units until they see how the market reacts.

One of the things we're looking forward to is seeing how well Haswell's integrated graphics perform. Intel says select SKUs of its Haswell line will sport Iris graphics, which promises up to twice the performance of today's fastest mobile Intel HD Graphics solutions.

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EVGA's SuperNova 1000 G2 Modular Power Supply Strikes 80 Plus Gold Certification

Paul Lilly — Mon, 13 May 2013 20:10:25 +0000

There's 80 Plus Gold in this here power supply!

EVGA, a company that's best known for pumping out Nvidia-based graphics cards, is so confident in its new SuperNova 1000 G2 power supply that it's backing the unit with a 10-year warranty. Of course, we learned from watching Tommy Boy (NSFW) that guarantees are only as good as what's inside the box, and in this instance, EVGA is packaging a high-end power supply that's 80 Plus Gold certified with up to 90 percent efficiency under typical loads.

The SuperNova 1000 G2 delivers up to 83.3A over a single +12V rail. Both the +5V and +3.3V rails are rated to deliver up to 20A (100W combined), and both are less important than the almighty +12V rail, which feeds power to the CPU, GPU, and certain peripherals.

It's a fully modular power supply with heavy-duty components inside, including a vertical double layer main transformer and Japanese Nippon Chemi-Con solid state capacitors. Connectors bundled with the PSU include:

1 x 24 pin ATX
2 x 4+4 pin EPS12V
6 x 6+2 pin PCI-E
2 x 6-pin PCI-E
10 x SATA
5 x Molex
1 x Floppy

The EVGA SuperNova 1000 G2 is available to purchase now directly from EVGA for $200.

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