Without making any public announcement (because it’s not meant for retail sale), NVIDIA listed its GeForce GT 420 graphics card. This product is available to OEMs only. The GT 420 is derived from the Fermi architecture, and is fully compliant with the latest PC graphics technologies, including DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4. NVIDIA’s reference design is low-profile and single-slot, it draws all its power from the PCI-Express slot.

Under the hood is a 40 nm graphics core (perhaps GF108), it has 48 CUDA cores, and connects to 2 GB of memory across a 128-bit wide DDR3 memory interface, with 28.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth. The core is clocked at 700 MHz, CUDA cores at 1400 MHz, and memory at 900 MHz (1800 MHz effective). Display outputs include DVI, HDMI (full-size), and a detachable D-Sub connector. The card has a maximum power draw of 50W. Later down the line, one can expect NVIDIA to make a consumer GeForce SKU with the same specifications.

Toshiba America Electronic Components, Inc. and its parent company Toshiba Corporation, a leading innovator in NAND flash memory technologies and solutions, today announced the launch of 8GB (gigabyte) 16GB and 32GB SDHC UHS-I cards compliant with the SD Memory Card Standard Ver. 3.0 (SD 3.0), UHS104. These new SD cards offer the world’s fastest SDHC data read and write speeds.

Toshiba also extended its industry leadership in memory card solutions by unveiling the world’s first 4GB, 8GB and 16GB microSDHC UHS-I cards compliant with (SD 3.0), UHS50. Mass production of the new SDHC UHS-I cards and sample shipments of the new microSDHC UHS-I cards will start this November.

Elpida Memory, Inc. and Spansion Inc., today announced they have created the industry’s first charge-trapping 1.8 V, 4-gigabit SLC (Single Level Cell) NAND Flash memory. This NAND memory, based on Spansion’s MirrorBit charge-trapping technology, is being produced at Elpida’s Hiroshima factory. The advanced technical expertise and strong cooperation of the two companies has made it possible to develop and manufacture the world’s first charge-trapping NAND Flash memory.

Compared to floating-gate NAND Flash memory, charge-trapping NAND Flash memory is more scalable and has a simpler cell structure. It offers superior performance, faster read and faster programming speeds.

Gigabyte is allegedly into dubious marketing schemes once again. A disgruntled user in East Asia who picked up the company’s GV-R567HM-1GI graphics card was shocked to find half the “advertised” memory available to him. The GV-R567HM-1GI is an ATI Radeon HD 5670 based graphics card that physically has only 512 MB of GDDR5 memory, yet advertises on its box and labels that the card provides 1 GB GDDR5 memory with ATI HyperMemory technology. The “HyperMemory” part is very inconspicuous and nowhere on the front box is the actual memory amount mentioned.

For the uninitiated, HyperMemory technology is an age-old technique used by ATI usually on its lowest-end SKUs, to increase the amount of memory available to the GPU, by sharing a fixed amount of memory from the system’s main memory. NVIDIA has an identical technology called TurboCache. The allegation here is not entirely that of false marketing, but dubious marketing practices. For starters, the card is a GV-567D5-512I that is rebadged, next, the actual memory amount is not mentioned on the front of the box, making it difficult for unsuspecting buyers who don’t know what HyperMemory is, to determine the actual memory, and third, there is pure false marketing involved in calling “512 MB GDDR5 + 512 MB system shared” as “1 GB GDDR5″, there’s no DDR5 PC memory standard. AMD’s guidelines (refer pg. 14) are clear on the matter of dealing with HyperMemory branding. If you come across this card priced close to 1 GB models, you’re definitely not signing up for a “1 GB GDDR5 card”.

Sources: PCDVD

HP today announced that it has entered into a joint development agreement with Hynix Semiconductor Inc., a world-leading memory supplier, to bring memristor, a new circuit element first intentionally demonstrated in HP Labs, to market in future memory products. Memristors require less energy to operate, are faster than present solid-state storage technologies and can retain information even when power is off. The memristor, short for “memory resistor,” was postulated to be the fourth basic circuit element by Prof. Leon Chua of the University of California at Berkeley in 1971 and first intentionally reduced to practice by researchers in HP Labs, the company’s central research arm, in 2006.

Earlier this year, HP announced the discovery that the memristor also can perform logic, showing that memristor-based devices could change the standard paradigm of computing by enabling computation to one day be performed in chips where data is stored, rather than on a specialized central processing unit.

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd., the world leader in advanced memory technology, announced today that it will demonstrate for the first time a 16-Gigabyte (GB), very low profile (VLP) memory module at the VM World 2010 in an IBM H22V blade server, running on Intel Xeon™ 5600-series processors.

Based on 4-gigabit (Gb), 40 nanometer (nm)-class DDR3, the new modules use 18 4Gb dual-die packaged (DDP) chips, and operate on 1.35 volts of electrical current. The 16GB 40nm-class DDR3 memory provides a powerful green solution, consuming 70 percent less power than four 4GB DDR3 modules and over 40 percent less than two 8GB modules, in setting a new “standard” for lower power consumption in servers. The module’s very low profile (18.75 mm high) allows it to be used in extremely compact blade servers.

Commodore USA, has decided to pay its tributes to the iconic Commodore64 computer system, and is designing a modern PC using the same exact name (and reportedly the same design). This comes at a time when the ULPC industry is booming with netbooks, nettops, and ULV barebones manufacturers experiencing good sales. The new Commodore64 is built using the NVIDIA ION2 technology, making use of an Intel Atom D525 1.80 GHz dual-core processor, NVIDIA ION2 GPU, 4 GB of DDR3 memory, 1 TB of storage, a Blu-ray disc drive, 6-in-1 memory card reader, and connectivity that includes Bluetooth, WiFi b/g/n, and gigabit Ethernet, with display outputs that include DVI and HDMI. Commodore USA did not reveal pricing or availability, though in all probability, it could be positioned for the holiday shopping season. Dear Santa,.

Source: TechConnect Magazine

Acer’s first netbook based on the new Intel Atom N550 dual-core processor, the Aspire One D255 went on sale, priced at US $399. The 10.1-inch netbook has a display with 1024 x 600 pixels resolution, making use of the 1.5 GHz dual-core HTT-enabled processor with 1 GB of DDR3 memory, integrated graphics, and 250 GB of storage. Connectivity features include 10/100 Ethernet, and WiFi b/g/n. Other features include a 4-in-1 memory card reader, multigesture touchpad, and a 6-cell battery that ensures 8 hours of operation. Windows 7 Starter comes pre-installed. The D255 comes with four color options: red, black, Aquamarine, and Sandstone.

Source: Laptoping

Well placed sources seem to have finally pieced together specifications of NVIDIA’s GeForce GTS 450 graphics card, the company’s mid-range offering that competes with ATI Radeon HD 5700 series products. In the run up to this, we’ve come across reports showing that the SKU is based on a GPU codenamed GF106, then we came across NVIDIA reference design PCB drawings, followed by clock speeds, and finally, pictures of the GPU itself revealing quite a bit about the die size. The most recent report affirms the specs we know till now, plus revealed the CUDA core count, which is 192. The CUDA cores are clocked at 1566 MHz, and that the memory is clocked at 902 MHz (3608 MHz effective).

So as a quick recap of the tech specs of the GeForce GTS 450, it’s based on the new 40 nm GF106 silicon, the die area is roughly 240 mm². The GPU has 192 CUDA cores, and a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface holding 1 GB of memory. The core is clocked at 789 MHz, and memory at 902 MHz (3608 MHz effective), translating into 57.8 GB/s of memory bandwidth, CUDA cores at 1566 MHz. It supports 2-way SLI, and gives you access to the latest PC graphics technologies, including support for DirectX 11 and OpenGL 4.x, along with support for a wide range of NVIDIA-exclusive technologies. NVIDIA’s GeForce GTS 450 will be released by mid-September.

Source: Heise.de

Gigabyte is readying a new passively-cooled Radeon HD 5770 graphics card called the Gigabyte HD 5770 Silent Cell, carrying model number GV-R577SL-1GD. This 100% non-reference design card is built using Gigabyte’s Ultra Durable VGA technology (comprising of 2 oz copper PCB, ferrite-core chokes, Low RDS (on) MOSFETs, and binned high-performance memory chips. What’s more peculiar is its large GPU cooler that covers the length and height of the card, and extends a couple of inches over the length of the card. At its end, the heatsink also extends a good couple of inches over the height of the card, some of its fins even protrude out of the rear panel. The heatsink is a densely-packed aluminum fin array to which heat is conveyed by four 6 mm thick heat pipes.

Cooling assembly aside, the card sticks to AMD reference clock speeds – 850 MHz core, 1200 MHz (4800 MHz effective) memory, and uses 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 128-bit wide memory interface. The 40 nm Juniper GPU packs 800 stream processors, and supports the latest PC graphics technologies including DirectX 11. The card can pair with up to three more of its kind for CrossFireX. Display connectivity options include one each of DVI, HDMI, and DisplayPort. Gigabyte did not give out a price.