http://www.thetechlounge.com Recent News: Hardware en-us Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:31:33 -0600 Sun, 23 Nov 2008 14:31:33 -0600 Hardware news Copyright 2008, TheTechLounge, Inc. 60 http://www.thetechlounge.com/templates/thetechlounge/images/88x31_ttl.png http://www.thetechlounge.com 88 31 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13381/Phenom-II-Overclocks-Higher-Than-Core-i7/ "The original Barcelona is a 65 nm part and really the first of its architecture. Since its release and the subsequent shuffling around of design teams, AMD has refocused their energy on delivering a design that would not only have a better per clock performance than the older part, but allow the design to scale in clockspeed on AMD's new 45 nm process. So far what we have seen shows that AMD has done very well. While the 3.0 GHz Phenom II will likely not perform anywhere near that of the new 3.2 GHz Intel i7, it will show very well against the older Intel Core 2 quads. Not...]]> Recent News: Hardware Thu, 20 Nov 2008 15:34:21 -0600 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13381/Phenom-II-Overclocks-Higher-Than-Core-i7/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13377/My-New-Motherboard-Company/ "ASRock has put out a video showing its new Instant Boot feature that can start a computer in 4 seconds. Thanks to this new BIOS feature (a BIOS update is available for some existing boards), when the operating system is shut down it goes through a process of rebooting and then hibernates / goes into suspend mode until the user presses the power button again. Pretty slick." Pretty slick? Hardly. Distilled premium quality awesome? Hell yes. These engineering dudes and their voiceovering have switched me from being a neutral party to a strict ASRock enthusiast. I can ...]]> Recent News: Hardware Mon, 17 Nov 2008 23:58:06 -0600 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13377/My-New-Motherboard-Company/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13366/DIY-USB-battery-charger-so-youre-not-DOA-when-a-power-source-is-AWOL/ "The MintyBoost is a small DIY kit is available from the Makershed and works well for any gadget that can be charged via a USB port. It's been tested with iPods, cameras, cell phones, and other gadgets to make sure that it works well. What's really cool is that the power comes from 2 AA batteries. That's right, you just plug in two disposable AA batteries and charging will start." Funny that I spotted this today, as Kurtis and I were mashing our brains together earlier in an attempt to come up with the a plan to build the coolest DIY headphone amp ever conceiv...]]> Recent News: Hardware Fri, 7 Nov 2008 17:15:14 -0600 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13366/DIY-USB-battery-charger-so-youre-not-DOA-when-a-power-source-is-AWOL/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13364/Fusions-iPod-car-stereo-head-unit-wants-to-eat-your-mp3-player/ "“Before Fusion introduced the CA-IP500, iPod support in car stereo systems was kludgey at best,” said Todd Crocker, head of region, Fusion Electronics USA. “With our new solution, the iPod nestles into the stereo, removing the need for cables, elaborate set-up or extra space. Our complementary iPod interface also gives users a seamless and familiar way to access their music. Taken together, our new iPod receiver is the most simple and powerful car audio solution available on the market.”" If you haven't given over to the dark, precipitous desire that is iPhone fanboyis...]]> Recent News: Hardware Wed, 5 Nov 2008 15:46:26 -0600 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13364/Fusions-iPod-car-stereo-head-unit-wants-to-eat-your-mp3-player/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13362/Apples-All-Launched-Out-for-2008/ "Despite Internet rumors of forthcoming product releases, an Apple representative confirmed that the company has no plans to release any new products before the holidays. Our holiday line-up is set,” Apple spokesman Bill Evans told Macworld. For instance, one online report claims that Apple will release new iMacs and an updated Mac mini on November 10. The report offers only "Apple moles" as the source for the report." Were you hoping for a matte screen macbook or display to be announced just in time for the holidays? Jobsies politely suggests, "Eat me." Not, like, in those words....]]> Recent News: Hardware Tue, 4 Nov 2008 01:12:29 -0600 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13362/Apples-All-Launched-Out-for-2008/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13356/HP-Killing-the-2133-Dell-Filling-the-Gap/ "While we may not see a lot of VIA C7-M or VIA Nano-powered computers in the US or western Europe in the near future, this initiative could result in an awful lot of computers in developing nations being powered by VIA chips. And who knows, if the VIA Nano lives up to its promise overseas, perhaps we’ll see major western companies like HP take another look at the chip maker’s products in the not too distant future." Losing the only high-resolution netbook is a pretty big hit for people, well, like me. I cannot stand seeing pixels, with their little square borders givin&...]]> Recent News: General Wed, 29 Oct 2008 16:17:56 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13356/HP-Killing-the-2133-Dell-Filling-the-Gap/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13333/Why-HDMI-13s-Revisions-Dont-Matter-To-You/ "We have tested hundreds of products, including cable and accessory products -- some better then others, for sure. A fair number of the products, marketed as Rev 1.3b, actually tested worse than others at Rev.1.3a. Why? Any time you see anyone advertising their product as anything better than 1.3a, it should automatically sound an alarm." If you pay any attention to the vast world of consumer electronics, you recognize marketing-speak instantly. The trouble with the whole HDMI mess is that future / backward compatibility instantly come into question. In your head, ...]]> Recent News: Hardware Mon, 13 Oct 2008 15:44:24 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13333/Why-HDMI-13s-Revisions-Dont-Matter-To-You/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13330/NVIDIA-GTX-270-and-290-Infos/ "On the up side, the 280 is the single fastest GPU on the market. On the down side people don't buy GPUs, they buy graphics cards, and the 280 is not the single fastest graphics card on the market. That honour goes to the ATI 4870X2 by a large margin. With the new-gen GT200 parts, Nvidia loses on all fronts, performance, performance per dollar, and performance per watt, they simply aren't competitive. That brings us to the new parts, the 270 and 290. They popped up on a PNY price list a few weeks ago, and then were pulled off immediately. This part is what we were calli...]]> Recent News: Hardware Fri, 10 Oct 2008 20:32:28 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13330/NVIDIA-GTX-270-and-290-Infos/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13325/Clue-to-the-Apple-Brick/ "When they're not hand-wringing over the recent drop in Apple's share price, Mac enthusiasts have been transfixed lately by the mystery product, code-named "brick," that's due for release later this month. Some bloggers and pundits have suggested it might be a new iteration of Apple TV or an updated Mac Mini. But according to a report on 9to5Mac.com, "brick" refers not to what it is, but how it's made. The Web site, which cites an anonymous source, says the code name has to do with a manufacturing process for Apple's MacBook and MacBook Pro lines of lapto...]]> Recent News: General Wed, 8 Oct 2008 16:26:16 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13325/Clue-to-the-Apple-Brick/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13324/A-New-New-9600-GSO/ "Well, after changing the name without changing the specs, Nvidia may now change the specs without changing the name. Expreview reports that an updated GeForce 9600 GSO based on the G94 graphics processor will come out at the end of this month. The current 9600 GSO features a G92 graphics processor with 96 stream processors, a 550MHz core speed, a 1375MHz shader speed, and 384MB of 800MHz GDDR3 RAM tied to a 192-bit memory interface. Expreview says the "updated" GeForce 9600 GSO will feature a G94 GPU (the one that powers the GeForce 9600 GT) with 48 stream processors, a 256-bit ...]]> Recent News: Hardware Wed, 8 Oct 2008 16:15:11 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13324/A-New-New-9600-GSO/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13321/MSI-Wind-now-on-sale-at-Best-Buy/ "MSI has announced that people wishing to get their hands on an MSI Wind U100 Netbook can stroll into their nearest Best Buy starting today and pick up the 10" 3-cell version with a 1.6GHz Intel Atom processor and Windows XP for $399. Before your rush out to get one though, keep in mind that the updated U120 version with HDSPA could hit before Christmas." You'd think that the netbook would have extended to the brick-and-mortar stores by now, but I haven't been able to find a single model for sale at the local establishments. Sure, Best Buy has been advertising the...]]> Recent News: Hardware Tue, 7 Oct 2008 16:52:52 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13321/MSI-Wind-now-on-sale-at-Best-Buy/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13316/Gigabyte-EX58Extreme-Lookin-All-Airbrushed/ Recent News: Hardware Fri, 3 Oct 2008 20:18:47 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13316/Gigabyte-EX58Extreme-Lookin-All-Airbrushed/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13312/PricePerformance-of-10-GPU-Combos-Courtesy/ "We want to see how today's new generation of video cards stack up in terms of gaming value. There exists a wide range of video cards you can purchase; from the $150 Radeon HD 4850 to the $1100 Radeon HD 4870 X2 CrossFireX. How do figure out what will suit our needs? Also, is there such a thing as "GPU overkill" right now? We are here to answer these questions and find out what kind of gameplay experience and performance is delivered between $150 and $1100 using the newest generation GPUs from AMD and NVIDIA in single and multi-card configurations. $150-$300 Price Range: Rad...]]> Recent News: Hardware Tue, 30 Sep 2008 23:11:37 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13312/PricePerformance-of-10-GPU-Combos-Courtesy/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13302/NVIDIA-Renaming-Things-Again/ "Industry sources told TG Daily that while the 8000 series is being phased out, all 55 nm 9000-series GPUs will carry a G100-series name. By the end of 2008, Nvidia will be offering today’s 9000 series as G100, GT120, GT130, GT140 and GT150 models. When the 2009 45 nm GPUs arrive, which seems to be the case around Q1 or Q2, Nvidia will have fully transitioned to the new branding structure: Enthusiast GPUs will be integrated into the GTX200-series, performance GPUs into the GT200-series, mainstream GPUs into the GS200-series and entry-level products into the G200-...]]> Recent News: General Thu, 25 Sep 2008 19:31:59 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13302/NVIDIA-Renaming-Things-Again/ http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13297/DualCore-Phenom-Benched/ "Kuma is the first (or last) dual core 65nm CPU in “Stars” family. Early in 2007 Kuma showed up in AMD roadmap. But after September AMD had made their decision that they would launch Phenom 8000 series Triple core, Because of marketing, Kuma delayed to 2008 Q2. It is interesting that AMD branded Kuma with “Athlon”, not Athlon64 X2 or Phenom X2. Initially Kuma have two SKU, they were 6050 and 6250. Both SKU would be positioned higher than Athlon64 X2. But because of TLB issue, AMD’s CPU product line turned out to be a mass. Kuma once again delayed. Until recently some...]]> Recent News: Hardware Tue, 23 Sep 2008 23:43:27 -0500 http://www.thetechlounge.com/news/13297/DualCore-Phenom-Benched/