GIGABYTE P55 & Second-Gen X58 Motherboards Revealed

During our time in Taiwan for the GIGABYTE Open Overclocking Championship 2009, we had the opportunity to take a peek at GIGABYTE's upcoming motherboard lineup, as well as examine the company's new software and technological innovations. In total, GIGABYTE were showing off 28 models, a significant number of which were current models that have been updated or refreshed with new features. This shows that the company is focused on continually developing and improving the base features list of all its motherboards. However, there were obviously some sweet new models as well. The centerpiece of the showroom was without a doubt the hotly anticipated new GA-EP55 motherboard series. GIGABYTE had four nearly production-ready P55 motherboards on the display for the upcoming Intel Lynnfield LGA1156 processors. As expected, this new EP55 series utilizes the Ultra Durable 3 technology that was first introduced with the EP45 series, namely the 2 oz copper PCB, long-lasting Japanese capacitors, and Lower RDS(on) MOSFETs, and robust ferrite core chokes.

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GIGABYTE Open Overclocking Championship 2009

Last week, on June 3rd, GIGABYTE hosted the final worldwide event of the GIGABYTE Open Overclocking Championship 2009 competition. After countless country qualifiers and four regional finals, this event would be the climax, bringing together many of the world's very best overclockers for a one-day showdown event. The final was once again held in Taipei, Taiwan but this time during the Computex 2009 exhibition week, which definitely added another layer of excitement to the proceedings since most of the industry and media heavyweights were in town. As with the very first GO OC final event last year, Hardware Canucks was on hand to report and bring you an in-depth look at the competition like no one else can. So grab a drink, sit back, and see what it is like to compete in a world-class, high stakes overclocking competition. Ready? Let's get started! GO OC 2009 differed from last year's event most notably by its more aggressive country and regional competition, which assured that only the very best from each region would make it to the final event. Now obviously there were no undeserving competitors last year, but the sheer number of competitors (46!) was obviously a logistical nightmare. As a result, this year's competition was paired down to 12 individuals, forming 6 teams.

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MSI Eclipse Plus Review

With most of the major motherboard manufacturers having a few motherboards on the market for Intel’s Core i7 architecture, manufacturers have been trying to remain competitive with high-end designs and also by reworking past designs. Consumers have a large choice for high-end Core i7 motherboards, the basic versions generally come with two PCI-Express slots and some only officially support Crossfire and come with a single LAN port, while other, more expensive boards come with dual-LAN, and three PCI-Express slots for tri-SLI and tri-Crossfire setups.

After the successful MSI Eclipse SLI motherboard was released, higher end motherboards have come out that are very competitive and leaving the Eclipse SLI with few unique features that would cause consumers to buy it over other motherboards. The newest flagship model from MSI is the Eclipse Plus, a revamp of the older Eclipse SLI, which includes an additional PCI-Express x16 slot; the board sports a NF200 chip for full graphics bandwidth in multi-card configurations - the X58 chipset only provides 36 lanes - typically motherboards based on the X58 chipset have three PCI-Express x16 slots with either a x16/x16/x4 or x16/x8/x8 configuration. The motherboard also sports a more uniform and elegant design with blue and black as the color theme with shorter and thicker heat sinks for the power and chipset. All of the SATA ports are now located in the same row, the Eclipse Plus also drops another PCI slot down to one to make room for the extra PCI-Express slot. Onboard overclocking has changed from switches to a knob, with all of the buttons moved to the corner of the motherboard, making it easier to use with a video card in the lower slots. Another nice feature is the debug LED located in the I/O Panel for an alternative to the D-LED2 kit, which can be blocked by a video card.

Micro-Star International was founded in 1986 and is a major motherboard provider that employs over 2,500 engineers in their research and development team with the goal of improving MSI’s products, and bringing new and innovative products to the table. Products include motherboards, video cards, notebooks and barebones computers, server devices, and more!

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Thermal Paste Application Guide

Over the past several months, I have read an unreasonable number of discussion forum posts which offer inaccurate and often times incorrect information. It's not really all that surprising to read poorly conceived information on the Internet, which seems to be an anonymous means of passing off opinion for fact. As a general rule we don't let too many things go untested, and the advice of wanna-be experts is not doing the hardware enthusiast and overclocker community any good. In this article, Benchmark Reviews dispels myth and establishes fact on the topic of proper application of Thermal Interface Material.

These days, Intel and AMD are producing very efficient central processing units that put out far less heat than prior generations. The CPU powering my primary workstation uses the Intel E8200 processor, which is rated for 65 watts using the 45 nm fabrication process. The constant production refinement has allowed the new 2.66 GHz E8200 to operate at the roughly the same Thermal Design Power (TDP) of an old P4 HT 2.66 GHz, but at the same time offer multiples more performance power. The trend of power efficient central processors is slowly making its way into graphics processors, too. The lesson we are learning in 2008 is that size matters, except that instead of skyscraper sized CPU coolers we are trying to reduce the footprint and shrink the area consumed by our systems.

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Cooler Master Hyper N520 CPU Cooler Review

While the Cooler Master “V” series of CPU coolers have been in the limelight recently, this does not mean that they are the only air based CPU cooling solutions to spring forth from the minds of the engineers over at Cooler Master HQ. In fact today’s review will be only the second time in HWC history that we get to torture test a solid copper base cooler. To be more specific we will be putting the Cooler Master Hyper N520 through its paces to see if this cooler is worth YOUR time, money and investment. As we all know, copper is expensive and does have a lot of draw backs when it comes to being used as the base of any CPU cooling solution. Tarnishing, tougher polishing, increased mass and most importantly increased cost must all be factored into the equation. Balancing out these potential negatives is the fact that copper has increased thermal mass, better thermal conductivity than aluminum and has that ever elusive “wow factor”. The Hyper N520 is available in retailers and e-tailers through out the country and goes for about $50 which isn't all that bad considering the amount of engineering that has gone into it. The only other time we have had the privilege of reviewing one of these rare copper birds is when we looked at the Scythe Ninja Copper. Unlike that behemoth of a cooler with capabilities of running dual 120mm fans, today’s item (and Cooler Master itself) takes a different engineering tack and goes for a more svelte approach with a 92mm fan sized cooler. Also, unlike the Scythe Copper Ninja which only came with one fan the N520 comes complete with two fans right out of the box. They say two heads are better than one, but are two 92mm fans better than one 120mm fan? This and many other questions come bubbling to the surface when you look at the Hyper N520 and in this review we will endeavour to supply as many answers as humanly possible. Be warned, our priorities may differ from yours so when it comes down to buying your new CPU air cooler it will be up to YOU to decide if this copper clad bad boy is right for you. With questions a-buzzing about lets dig in and start looking for answers.

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Sapphire HD 4890 Toxic/Vapor-X Review

Usually there is a lag time between the introduction of factory overclocked cards as well as those with specialized cooling solutions. Then Sapphire stepped right into the fire and introduced their HD 4890 Atomic Edition just a month after the introduction of the HD 4890 roll out. Now just a month later Sapphire has let loose with 2 more HD 4890 models, the Toxic and Vapor-X models. As seen with the Atomic Edition the Sapphire derivatives are a bit above the curve when it comes to component selection, cooling capabilities and performance. The Atomic is the first 4890 clocked at a 1000MHz core clock speed while the Toxic is not far behind with a core clock speed of 960MHz. The Toxic comes to us using the same Vapor-X based cooling solution shown to be effective at harnessing the thermal load of the Atomic Edition. The first question I asked Sapphire when the HD 4890 was introduced, was will there be a Vapor X version? Obviously the answer was 'yes' as this card is designed much the same as the 4870 Vapor X Edition we looked at earlier this year.

Both the HD 4890 Toxic Edition and Vapor-X cards are based upon the R790 core with 800 shader cores built on the same 55nm process and architecture as the R770 core used on the HD 4870. Both carry 1 GB of GDDR 5 memory on a 256 bit bus using an improved memory management architecture. Higher clock speeds are the result of the improvements to the R790 core. Lets take a look at both of these new offerings from Sapphire to see just how well they compare to the existing offerings to see if there is indeed a performance advantage with the special features of these cards from Sapphire.

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ATI Radeon HD 4890 Roundup (ASUS, Diamond, HIS, Sapphire, XFX)

Since the days of the first Intel Pentium chip, ATI and Nvidia have been battling it out in the trenches of discrete graphics card market. However, it seemed that the summer of 2007 would be the beginning of the end for ATI. They had just released their thoroughly underwhelming, power sucking HD 2900 XT that just couldn’t keep up with Nvidia’s GeForce 8800-series and there was literally no help in sight. Under the tutelage of AMD, things have turned around for the better and what was once a David versus Goliath fight has now turned into a Rumble in the Jungle, Ali versus Foreman slugfest. Even though ATI is now matching Nvidia blow for blow, can the perennial underdog stage an upset win? They’re certainly trying. The HD 4890 is ATI’s lone bid to win in the high performance portion of the single GPU market. Not only is it their highest-end single chip design but it has the potential to reach speeds on air cooling that were previously unheard of outside of enthusiast circles. With some products reaching up to and above the 1Ghz mark in terms of core speeds, the potential is definitely there for ATI to really put the screws to Nvidia. Nvidia on the other hand knew what was needed: to pull a proverbial rabbit out of their hats and they did just that with the GTX 275. The only problem we encountered with this move was that when it was originally released; the GTX 275 had the feeling of a slightly rushed product with next to no availability. With an actual hard launch, the HD 4890 was able to gain a valuable foothold in one of the market’s most lucrative price points and win over countless new fans. Since prices have finally stabilized and manufacturers have begun to release their own unique takes on the HD 4890, we thought that a little roundup was in order. Today we have five HD 4890 cards hailing from all walks of life; from mildly overclocked to insanely clocked to custom cooled. Sapphire is on deck with their Atomic Edition which sports a 1Ghz core clock, ASUS sent their TOP series card with Voltage Tweak options and Diamond sees the light of day with their overclocked XOC card. Since some of the manufacturers we hoped would participate couldn’t get us their cards in time, we purchased cards from two other aspiring ATI board partners: XFX and HIS. All in all, we believe these five cards will give a good cross-section of the current HD 4890 lineup. To make things a bit more interesting, other than the usual reference-based cards used for comparisons, we will also be including the EVGA GTX 275 FTW in the charts. This is one of the highest clocked GTX 275 cards on the market today so it will be interesting to see how which of the HD 4890 cards has enough horsepower to muscle past a card that routinely beats a stock GTX 285. Now that we’ve got you all excited, let’s get on with this thing.

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- Asus 4890 click here
- Diamon 4890 click here
- HIS 4890 click here
- Sapphire 4890 click here
- XFX 4890 click here

AMD Phenom II X2 550 and Athlon II X2 250 Processors Review

Lately, the processor market has been the biggest we have ever seen. The competing manufacturers have new CPUs releasing all of the time, aimed at everyone from the hardcore speed enthusiast to the budget minded user. Since not everyone has the cash to drop on the high-end processors, let alone the hardware to support them, there's still a huge market for strong dual core processors. To compete in this market, AMD has used the AMD Athlon

X2 line for some time; however, they now bring new secret weapons to the table, aimed and taking charge. There are two new dual core processors that are moving in for the kill, both designed with new technology for today's PC enthusiast.

First, based off of the ever popular Phenom II series, we now get a chance to see the new dual core, dubbed the AMD Phenom II X2. The AMD Phenom II X2 series is a fast dual core solution for those who want speed and dependability without having to break the bank to get it. The specific model we are going to be looking at is the Phenom II X2 550 BE. This model is clocked at 3.1GHz (200x15.5), and can handle a maximum core voltage of 1.425v for pure speed. The second processor is the AMD Athlon II X2 250, which is a 45nm processor with a few secrets of its own. On the Athlon II, there is no L3 cache as in the Phenom II dual core; however, the L2 cache on the Athlon II X2 250 is doubled for a total of 1MB L2 per core, a grand total L2 cache of 2MB. This CPU is clocked at 3.0GHz (200x15), and can handle a maximum 1.425v as well, with a TDP ceiling of 65 watts.

The kicker about these processors, you ask? What makes them so different than other AMD dual cores? Well, how many of the current AMD dual core processors can run DDR3? Yes, I said DDR3 - finally, for the AMD dual core sector. The Phenom II X2 550 and the Athlon II X2 250 both support AM2+ and AM3 boards for DDR2 and DDR3 memory. No longer are you stuck using the slower DDR2 standard for your computers that have dual core processors. Do I have you salivating yet? I know I am, so how about we take a closer look at the CPUs and see how well they run with this new memory spec.

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Thermaltake Luxa² LM300 Touch Pro

We would like to thank Thermaltake for supplying the review sample of the Luxa² LM300 Touch Pro. LUXA², a Division of Thermaltake, was created in 2009, with characteristics of simplicity, luxury, and unique lifestyle. The core design theory of LUXA² starts from simple shapes blending with luxury elements, which create the unique lifestyle for different segments within the society such as Creative Pro, Mobile Blogger, Leisure Seeker, Hip Newbie, Entertainment Junkie, and Apple's Mac Lovers. LUXA² represents an emerging trend of "individuality" in the world. Not only do people need function, but they also need aesthetic appeal. This is what LUXA² has achieved. Exquisite craftsmanship with aesthetic and elegant design style is a promise and commitment from LUXA². Thus, the Simplicity, Luxury and Lifestyle of LUXA² creates a Uniquely You. Before the explosion of PC computing there was a time when home audio and video components were proudly displayed in one's living area as something to show off to neighbors and friends. As time went on, these things became more and more integrated into PCs and portable media devices and became more of an individual, almost private thing for some. Luxa² is here to revive these glorious days with their LM300 Touch Pro and make the living room a place for enjoyment again, a place to be entertained and show off entertainment in style. Read on to see if the Luxa² LM300 Touch Pro is the right HTPC enclosure for you.

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Sapphire HD 4770 Review

Enter the Sapphire HD 4770, ATI's first video card equipped with a GPU manufactured using a 40 nanometer manufacturing process. In the current economic situation, people just dont have the disposable income they had even last year and are more frugal when it comes time to spend those hard earned dollars. The HD 4770, priced at $99, give or take a few dollars, is a card that looks to fill the performance void at the $100 price point. The card contains 826 million transistors, 640 shader processing cores, and 512MB of GDDR5 running through a 128-bit bus, to bring the crucial memory bandwidth back up to a respectable level. Clock speeds come in at 750MHz on the R740 core and 800MHz on the memory. So just where will the HD 4770 fall on the performance ladder when compared with cards priced just a bit higher? Will this force the competition into further price drops to compete for this price/performance point? Let's see just what the HD 4770 has to offer for your money.

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