GeForce GTS250 1GB reviewed

Rebranding issues asside - and much to my surprise - the GeForce GTS 250 packs some power... efficiency. 40W less, on average, is a considerable improvement - especially given that it's a 1GB card running with the same clocks as the 512MB 9800GTX+.

Performance is mostly the same, which is not bad for a $149 card. It's not groundbreaking but at least Nvidia is keeping the price tag down. $129 will get you a 512MB verison.
AMD will be lowering the price of the Radeon HD 4850 512MB to $129, which is an even better offer - 1GB isn't needed on this class of cards for most stuff.
PCPer is instead quoting the HD4850 1GB ATI cards at $124 after rebate, with the HD 4870 512MB at $149 - if true, this will be the deal.

I've always been an apologist of recycled midrange cards since you get the intact memory bandwidth from a performance card, without going to 128bit and loosing some stuff along the way - it's cheaper for the card maker, not exactly better for who's buying it. Getting new shader model support with crap performance is not the way to go.

Either red or green, you get a great card for little money.

Performance benchmarks and full review at PC Perspective

VIA announces Em-ITX form factor

VIA delivers yet another form factor, the Em-ITX.

The design is rather small, being shorter than Mini-ITX, while delivering a lot more I/O ports.


Em-ITX Key Features:

• Dual I/O Coastlines - The VIA developed Em-ITX form factor specification includes dual I/O coastlines; I/O inputs can be found on both 17cm edges of the board. This unique design greatly reduces cable clutter facilitating even more compact and robust designs while also boosting signal integrity and improving airflow.
• Modular Expansion through Em-IO Bus - The Em-ITX form factor uses the specially developed Em-IO expansion bus to integrate with stackable, customizable, expansion modules. The Em-IO expansion bus integrates the majority of legacy and the latest bus signal technologies.

VIA is expected to deliver the first designs on this new form-factor and it has designed reference boards for adoption by major hardware manufacturers.

It may be hard to see designs for common sockets, other than soldered Nanos or Atoms. The board is very slim and Mini-ITX designs based on AM2/AM2+ or LGA775 sockets are very packed already.
The design may show serious advantages for "nettops", allowing to save on I/O port cabling, as both sides may fit directly to the case of the computer.

For more information visit VIA's website.

Scythe Mugen 2 reviewed - Top performance

Scythe has managed to engineer a truly astonishing cooler that sets new standards on the air-cooling arena.

The cooler itself is huge, featuring five heatpipes, which split both ways:


The fins are seperated, since this ensures a better thermal performance as was explained by the engineers that designed it.

A copper base would be welcomed - maybe next time.

Performance is charted below, as reviewed by XbitLabs:

Click to enlarge

The ThermoLab BARAM was the previous top cooler, which had dethroned Thermalright's Ultra-120 Extreme. Performance of the Mugen 2 is impressive with any fan speed, something that's not common to some coolers.

Read more in the full review.

Apple ditches Penryn, updates Mac Pro with Nehalem, DDR3

Apple now offers dual "Nehalem" workstations, ahead of what major OEMs are able to have in the server space.
Configurations and prices are as follows:

Quad-Core:

• Mac Pro
• One 2.66GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Nehalem" processor processors
• 3GB (three 1GB) memory
• 640GB hard drive 1 640GB hard drive1
• 18x double-layer SuperDrive
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB
• $2,499.00

8-Core:

• Two 2.26GHz Quad-Core Intel Xeon "Nehalem"
• 6GB (six 1GB) memory
• 640GB hard drive
• 18x double-layer SuperDrive
• NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 with 512MB
• $3,299.00

For a beefier graphics card, Apple offers the ATI Radeon HD 4870 with 512MB of GDDR5 memory - with Mini DisplayPort and dual-link DVI video output - or up to four NVIDIA GeForce GT 120 cards.

For more information, drop by the Mac Pro's page at Apple's site.

ECS LFH-A - ECS shows it's first LGA1156 board

This is the first LGA1156 motherboard from ECS, packing dual-channel DDR3 in four slots and a rather small chipset cooler for only one chipset.

This motherboard resembles the one captured running a 32nm "Clarkdale" sample last week, with one PCH (Platform Controller Hub), which doesn't seem to require more than the average southbrigde heatsink.


The board has video outputs, which should go unused until late this year, when we finally see the release of "Clarkdale" with it's integrated iGFX core. "Lynnfield", the first LGA1156 processor, isn't supposed to have a graphics core and "Havendale" has been canned.

ECS first to showcase AMD 880G chipset - A880GM-M board

AMD 880G AMD880G chipset graphics socket AM2 AM3 AM2+ ECS DDR3 A880GM-M
ECS showcased the near final version of the upcoming Black series motherboard based on the new AMD 880G chipset, from which we still know very little.

The board comes with a pair of beefy chipset and MOSFET coolers, being an AM3 board supporting DDR3-1333 memory instead of DDR2/AM2/AM2+. As for the rest, pictures are pretty much self-explanatory:

Click to enlarge

Click to enlarge

Release date is not know yet, since it will only be release by the time AMD delivers the 880G to the masses.