Memory prices rise, DDR2 inflates the most

Since the beginning of the week, DDR2 memory prices have inflated about 30%, since Qimonda might bankrupt.

DDR2 has inflated the most, although DDR1 chip pricing has also raised by not as much. Right now, around here, prices have already climbed 25% from the other previous rises in chip prices.

The rise of, at least, the same 30% should occur in the next weeks, for DDR2 memory. It might be a good idea to upgrade now, if you were already considering it.
Graphics cards may also experience a rise in prices, as Qimonda was also a supplier of GDDR memory and some cheaper cards also use regular DDR2 chips.

MSI R4870-MD series - Better cooling, better chokes

This is MSI's non-reference Radeon 4870 offer, sporting an interesting cooling design, with a base similar to the coolers used for the Pentium D and the Core 2, which should allow for some interesting results.

Notable characteristics are the use of only solid capacitors and also of chokes that MSI explicitly states as being "buzz free" - or electrical noise free. Good for my hears, good for my wallet. They are also touted as being able to withstand more current than regular chokes, which should equate to better durability of the card.

Clocks are standard and the card will be available in 512MiB and 1GiB flavors.

Nvidia GT218 spotted - The upcoming GeForce GT 230

This is a schematic for the GT218, Nvidia's rumored next low-end card, which should end up as the Nvidia GT 230 (the GeForce GT 130 is a 9500GT with 32 shaders).

tags: nvidia geforce gt 230 shaders 40nm

The PCB is the P692 and the codename for the card is D10M1-30, hence a good reason for the GeForce GT 230 name, although that's still subject to official confirmation.

The card only has a 64bit memory interfaced to 512MB of GDDR3 memory clocked at 800MHz, or 1600MHz in DDR lingo. Clock is 550MHz for the core and 1375MHz for the shaders inside, on a 40nm process.
Shader count is uncertain but given that each thread processor cluster(TPC) in the GTX 2xx has 24 SPs (up from 16 in the G80/92), we're looking at probably 48 shaders, a slight improvement from the Geforce GT 130 - if it turns out true.

Update:
Since nVidia is having problems with getting 40nm chips out the door, not just with the upcoming GT300 based card, it seems that like with the GTS 250, the GT 230 will be just another rebrand. Unofficial sources put the new GT 230 as a rebranded 9600GT, possibly the slightly lower clocked, lower power, 9600GT Green Edition. The card will perform alike the GT218, if the 48 shaders prediction would have come true.

Source: VR-Zone