ASUS GeForce GTX 590 3GB Video Card Review

We all knew that NVIDIA had been working on putting two Fermi GPUs on a single graphics card for some time and, to be honest, it has to be tough to put that much GPU on a single card. NVIDIA found a way to take over 2200 components and get them assembled together on a single PCB to create their new flagship GPU called the GeForce GTX 590. The GTX 590 combines the power of two GF110 GPUs, the same GPUs used on the GeForce GTX 580, on a single graphics card. With a total of two GF110 GPUs packing 1024 CUDA cores and 3GB of GDDR5 memory you know this card isn't going to be cheap. The suggested retail price of the GeForce GTX 590 is $699.99, but for that you will get the ultimate GeForce GTX gaming experience and the ability to run Quad-SLI on just two cards.

NVIDIA's marketing department sent over a nice looking 5.56mm military ammo crate to celebrate the launch of the GeForce GTX 590.  We also got a custom made dog tag that said '1st Division GTX590 Squadron' on it along with a marketing kit on a dog tag USB drive.  It looks like we are going to war sans the bullets and the video card!

Corsair Announces DDR3 2000MHz Vengeance Memory Kits

Corsair today announced the availability of 2000MHz versions of the award-winning Vengeance family of DDR3 memory. The new 2000MHz kits are equipped with aluminum heat spreaders anodized in Jet Black. They join the 1600MHz Vengeance DDR3 memory kits, which are available in either Jet Black or Cerulean Blue, and the 1866MHz Vengeance DDR3 kit, available in Jet Black. The new 2000MHz kits have SPD timings of 9-9-9-24 and operate at just 1.5V.

"Our new 2000MHz Vengeance memory is perfect for PC gamers and enthusiasts, as well as systems integrators who value the outstanding overclockability of the Vengeance family, and are looking for even more speed." said Thi La, Vice President of Memory Products at Corsair. "They're a great choice for anyone looking to make the most of their high-performance system."

Ballistix Sport Memory Series

Lexar Media recently introduced the Crucial Ballistix Sport memory series designed to provide mainstream users, gamers, and general PC enthusiasts with a reliable, no-hassle gaming experience. The new Crucial Ballistix Sport memory supports today’s latest AMD and Intel platforms, including 2nd Generation Intel Core processor (formerly codenamed Sandy Bridge) technology. It also features a stylish new heat spreader design, along with standard timings and voltages, providing maximum memory stability and system compatibility. The Ballistix Sport line is available in both DDR2 & DDR3 standards and come back with a lifetime warranty. Memory timings range between CL9 to CL10 for DDR3 with 1.5V and CL5 to CL7 for DDR2 with 1.8V.

“Over the years, Crucial Ballistix memory has earned a reputation amongst gamers and enthusiasts as high-quality, high-performance, reliable memory,” said Jeremy Mortenson, senior product manager. “The Crucial Ballistix Sport series offers casual gamers an accessible, easy-to-use Ballistix memory product at an affordable price. This new Ballistix offering is part of our broader product strategy and a commitment to satisfy the needs of our customers.”

ECS H67H2-M: Breaking Free of the Low End

ECS H67H2-M

It's no secret that Intel's Sandy Bridge CPU's are still the talk of the town. Many enthusiasts and system builders are frothing at the mouth waiting for the B3 stepping chipset to become available. With the IRS returning overpaid tax money, this was the time many had planned to upgrade. Several announcements have been made over the past few days leading us to understand that the drought will be over soon!

A part of Sandy Bridge that we haven't yet looked at was one of the biggest features of the 2nd Generation Core processor, the integrated graphics. Intel was able to leverage 32nm technology in building a single die that houses both the CPU and GPU. This means that power use and GPU performance are much improved over Clarkdale/Arrandale processors since that CPU family used a separate die on the processor package to get its integrated graphics. The CPU gave up its integrated memory controller and instead used one on the GPU. This led to higher memory latency, lower memory bandwidth and ultimately lower performance. Though the CPU had great clock speeds, they were over priced for their performance, often being outperformed by Intel's own Core i5 750 which cost less than a number of the Clarkdale i5 CPU's.

Level 10 GT - Performance Gaming Computer Case from Thermaltake

City of Industry, California - February 9, 2011 - Thermaltake, the market's most trusted brand in D.I.Y. computer cases and max-performance power supplies, announced today the immediate availability of the highly anticipated Level 10 GT super gaming full-tower computer case. The Level 10 GT case was introduced during 2011 Consumer Electronic Show (CES) held at Las Vegas, Nevada. Level 10 GT is the successor to the original Level 10, the design collaboration between Thermaltake and BMW Group DesignworksUSA.

The case's announcement during 2010 CES attracted high-volume of media coverage and quickly trickled down to the PC enthusiasts and gaming communities with approvals of the Level 10 GT's breakthrough in design and innovative features.

iCute 0408 SL computer case

Fans keep most computers alive. In the power supply, on the CPU, probably on the video card, and often also on the front and/or back of the case.

As every 14 year old overclocker knows, more and louder fans mean more air flow, and thus more performance headroom. In theory. In the real world, guiding the airflow to stuff that actually needs cooling is a better solution than just blowing a hurricane through the case, and there's not much point to shifting cubic kilometres of air through an enclosure every minute; gear can only run so fast, and you hit diminishing returns pretty quickly when you ramp up the cooling.

Fans are, however, still something of a fetish object for performance PC enthusiasts, as a cursory perusal of the case-mod scene will soon reveal.

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