Corsair, a worldwide designer and supplier of high-performance components to the PC gaming hardware market, today announced that its Dominator GT GTX6 ultra-high performance DDR3 memory was used to set two new world records for dual-channel memory frequency at CAS 7 and CAS 8. The record-setting frequencies of 3078.2 MHz, CL8-11-8-31, 1T, and 3059.4 MHz, CL7-11-8-31, 1T, were achieved by renowned extreme overclocker “Mat”, aka Matthias Zronek, from Overclockers.at.

“I’ve worked with the Corsair Dominator GT memory for quite some time now, and can easily say that these are great memory modules, dedicated to world-record overclocking,” stated Matthias Zronek. “What surprised me the most is the potential of the Domintator GT GTX6. Even at 3000MHz and higher frequencies, at CL7, there is still headroom for lots of optimization.”

Biostar rolled out a new value micro-ATX socket AM3 motherboard based on the AMD 880G chipset, called the A880G+. The board uses the older SB710 southbridge chip. The board has a basic feature set that doesn’t go over what the chipset provides. The CPU is powered by a 4-phase VRM, it is wired to just two DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. The 880G northbridge embeds an ATI Radeon HD 4250 IGP, with display connectivity that includes DVI, D-Sub and HDMI.

The southbridge gives out four SATA 3 Gb/s ports and an IDE connector. Expansion slots include a PCI-Express 2.0 x16, and two PCI. Other connectivity features include 6-channel HD audio and gigabit Ethernet. LPT and COM port headers are also available. Biostar-exclusive features include BIO-Unlocking (which unlocks disabled cores in some X2 and X3 processors), and Game Boost (that automates overclocking). The Biostar A880G+ is available in Europe for under €60.

Source: TechConnect Magazine

Kingston Technology Europe Ltd., an affiliate of Kingston Technology Company Inc., the independent world leader in memory products, today announced that its world’s fastest dual channel memory kit Kingston HyperX KHX2333C9D3T1K3/3GX was clocked at 3068 MHz during a heavy over-clocking session at GamesCom 2010 in Cologne. This is the fastest ever recorded frequency for memory and was achieved by the renowned over-clockers Benjamin Bioux aka ‘Benji Tshi’ and Jean-Baptiste Gerard aka ‘marmott’, using liquid nitrogen as cooling aid. The session was run on a GIGABYTE P55 motherboard with an Intel Core i7 870 processor.

“We are absolutely thrilled by the speed of this module,” said reigning French over-clocking champion Jean-Baptiste Gerard aka ‘marmott’, “we knew this module had a lot of potential, but being able to push it that far and break the record for memory frequency even surprised me. We are eager to see what Kingston has in the pipeline for the future.”

ECS’ new high-end socket LGA1156 motherboard, the P55H-AK, is closer to release with the company listing it on its website. The P55H-AK was first pictured at this year’s Computex event held in Taipei, but the company seems to have made some changes to its design, notably a different set of heatsinks and component colors. The key feature of this motherboard is its PCI-Express bandwidth management, which is care of an NVIDIA nForce 200 bridge chip that facilitates two PCI-Express 2.0 x16 links that are split between three slots, first slot being x16, and the other two being x8 constant; and a PLX 12-lane 3-port bridge chip that connects to the P55 PCH over PCI-Express 1.1 x4, and gives out PCI-Express 2.0 x1 connections to the SATA 3 Gb/s and USB 3.0 controllers.

The CPU socket makes use of 15μ gold contacts (the pins have a 15 μm thick layer of gold on the surface), it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. Expansion slots include three PCI-E x16, two PCI-E x1, and a PCI, ATI CrossFireX and 3-way NVIDIA SLI are supported. Connectivity include two 2-port USB 3.0 controllers, of which one gives out a 2-port internal header, six SATA 3 Gb/s and two SATA 6 Gb/s ports, 8-channel HD audio, dual gigabit Ethernet, eSATA, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. The board’s listing is indicative of a launch sometime soon.

Source: TechConnect Magazine

Over half an year after its introduction, Zotac’s feature-rich H55-ITX WiFi motherboard got a minor (or major, depending on your application) specification update, with the company dropping in USB 3.0 support. Making use of the common NEC controller, the board features two USB 3.0 ports on its rear-panel. The new model is thus named H55U3 WiFi. Sticking strictly to the mini-ITX specs, the H55U3 is a socket LGA1156 motherboard supporting processors with TDP of up to 95W, which translates to all dual-core Core i3, i5 processors with room for light overclocking, and quad-core Core i5, i7 with no overclocking.

Being based on the Intel H55 chipset, it supports Intel FDI, connecting processors with Intel HD graphics to display connectors that include DVI and HDMI. The socket is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory, and one PCI-Express 2.0 x16 slot. Connectivity includes six SATA 3 Gb/s from the H55 PCH, 8-channel HD audio with optical SPDIF, WiFi b/g/n, gigabit Ethernet, eSATA, USB 2.0, and USB 3.0. The board uses ATX 24+4 pin power input. Zotac’s H55U3 WiFi has started selling in China for US $118.

Source: TechConnect Magazine

Transcend is set to announce a 4 GB dual-channel memory kit under its aXeRam series that can run at DDR3-2400 MHz or higher speeds on LGA1156 systems. The kit, carrying the model number TX2400KLU-4GK, consists of two 2 GB modules that operates at 2400 MHz with timings of 9-11-9-28T with module voltage of 1.65V. This configuration will be programmed into the modules as XMP profiles that can be loaded from the system BIOS setup. Transcend’s speedy new aXeRam kit will be available later this month, backed by a lifetime warranty.

Source: Expreview

Intel’s upcoming Sandy Bridge processor architecture which uses the new LGA-1155 socket seems to be closer than one would think, with motherboard vendors such as Biostar being ready with motherboards that run those processors. The motherboard vendor showed off two socket LGA-1155 motherboards that are based on the Intel P67 and H67 chipsets. The P67 is engineered to be the chipset for processors that need discrete graphics, the chipset lacks the Intel FDI technology needed to connect the processors’ embedded graphics controller to display outputs on the motherboard, whereas the H67 does, and is designed for processors with embedded graphics.

The first spot is the TP67XE, based on the P67. This ATX motherboard has all the features of a mid-range performance board. The processor is powered by a 4+2 phase VRM, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. It is said that the Sandy Bridge processors will have higher reference DRAM speeds than present Nehalem/Westmere chips (which have DDR3-1066 and DDR3-1333 depending on the model), expansion slots include one PCI-Express x16, one PCI-E x16 (electrical x4), two PCI-E x1, and two PCI. While the board has padding for a 2-port 3rd party USB 3.0 controller, it is indicated that Intel 6-series chipsets will finally introduce native SATA 6 Gb/s.

Corsair, a worldwide supplier of high-performance computer and flash memory products, today announced that the Corsair Dominator GTX4 ultra-high-performance memory module has achieved a new world record for dual-channel memory frequency on AMD processors.

Using an AMD Phenom II X6 Black Edition CPU, Corsair Hydro Series H50 CPU cooler, and a pair of Corsair Dominator GTX4 memory DIMMs with Airflow memory fan, Corsair Labs was able to achieve the world-record memory frequency of 2287.6MHz. Independent validation of this achievement can be found here.

Sapphire is back to its vocation of being a motherboard vendor, the popular ATI Radeon board partner designed a new socket AM3 motherboard based on the new AMD 890GX + SB850 chipset, dubbed the Sapphire Pure CrossfireX 890GX. The board is built on the ATX form-factor, though comes with only four expansion slots spaced out. The AM3 CPU is powered by a 10-phase VRM, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. The AMD 890GX northbridge is cooled by a large heatsink which shares its heat with one of the VRM heatsinks. The ATI Radeon HD 4290 IGP is assisted by 128 MB of SidePort memory apart from sharing the system memory.

Out of the four expansion slots, two are PCI-Express 2.0 x16 (electrical x8 when both are populated) with some sort of manual PCI-E lane switching, and one each of PCI-E x1 and PCI. The SB850 southbridge gives out six SATA 6 Gb/s internal ports, while an additional controller provides an IDE connector (for two IDE devices). The eSATA port is driven by manually connecting it with one of the internal ports. Connectivity includes 8 channel audio with optical and coaxial SPDIF, USB 3.0, and display connectivity, which includes DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI with 7.1 channel audio. Available soon, Sapphire is yet to disclose its price.

ASUS is readying one of its first motherboards based on the AMD 880G chipset, the M4A88TD-V EVO / USB3. This model comes in two variants, with or without USB 3.0 support, designated with the -USB3 suffix in the model name. It is a socket AM3 motherboard, supporting the upcoming line of Phenom II X6 and Phenom II X4 T series processors. The CPU socket is powered by a 10-phase VRM, it is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots for dual-channel memory. Even as ATI CrossFire is not part of the 880G’s feature-set since it won’t support an external PCI-Express lane switch like the 890GX, ASUS found a way around and provided a second PCI-Express x16 slot, only that this one is electrical PCI-Express 1.1 x4, wired to the SB800 southbridge chip.

The 880G embeds an ATI Radeon HD 4250 IGP with 128 MB of DDR3 sideport memory. It connects to its display with DVI, D-Sub, and HDMI. The board supports ASUS’ Core Unlocker feature that attempts to unlock disabled cores on some processors. Other expansion slots include one PCI-E x1, and three PCI. The southbridge gives out six SATA 6 Gb/s ports, five of which are internal, and one eSATA. An additional VIA-made controller drives an IDE connector. Other connectivity options include a number of USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports on the USB3 variant, 8-channel HD audio, FireWire, and gigabit Ethernet. The new boards will be released in a few weeks’ time, probably targeting the sub-$150 price points.

Source: Zol.com.cn