God of War PC Case Mod is Awe Inspiring

We love non-traditional case mods, and I'm personally a huge God of War fan. This latest case mod is those two worlds collided.

A LAN party in Brazil was graced by a stunning Kratos case mod that held a full PC inside the figure with flashing LED lights on the outside. Details are scant at the moment, but a short video clip proves that this thing is real. Check it out below:

god of war kratos case mod

Nvidia Found Guilty of Infringing Rambus PatentsThe Specials to get Outstanding Award

Intel Announces Core i5, Core i7 With vPro

Businesses now have special Westmere parts made just for them.

Businesses looking to upgrade to the latest 32nm Intel CPU technology will be pleased to know that Intel today rolled out its fourth generation of vPro-enabled Core i5 and Core i7 chips.

Key features of vPro include Intel Anti-Theft Technology, which frustrates thieves by locking access to a PC if a central server or built-in intelligence concludes it is lost or stolen. New Intel Anti-Theft Technology version 2.0 enables encryption solutions to disable access to cryptographic keys through hardware to completely block access to data, and also makes it simpler to reactivate a PC once in rightful hands. Also, a custom message can be displayed in a pre-OS screen of the disabled PC for anyone who tries to access the computer.

vPro also packs a new Intel Keyboard-Video-Mouse Remote Control (KVM Remote Control), features available with dual-core Intel Core i5 and i7 vPro processors work in conjunction with Intel integrated graphics, bringing a stop to IT administrators' frustration with having to ask users, "What do you see?" Instead, they will see users' displays just as the users do and have full control of the PC, even if the operating system is inoperative. Previously, KVM functionality required appliances that cost as much as $200 and more per PC.

"Businesses, particularly those that haven't purchased PCs for several years, face a computing environment that no longer handles the applications many workers and IT are adopting," said Rick Echevarria, vice president, Intel Architecture Group, and general manager, Business Client Platform Division. "The integration of intelligent performance along with smart security and cost-saving manageability features in the Intel Core vPro processor family provide IT and SMBs a no-compromise platform. We also are excited about how Intel vPro Technology gives IT the flexibility to look at client virtualization, consumerization and rich cloud applications."

Source : Tom's Hardware US

Radeon HD 5450 Delivers DX11, Eyefinity at $50Kings Of Leon announce first release on own label

Radeon HD 5450 Delivers DX11, Eyefinity at $50

OEMs can build systems with fancier bullet points now with the ATI Radeon HD 5450.

Are you envious of computer users with their fancy Radeon GPUs full of fancy DirectX 11 effects and Eyefinity multi-monitor technology, but don't have hundreds of dollars freely floating around? AMD today announced the card that will get you those two technologies for a mere $50.

The ATI Radeon HD 5450 offers 512MB onboard and runs silent thanks to passive cooling. Make no mistake – this card doesn't have the muscle for hardcore 3D gaming, but it is well suited for the home theater PC with support for HDMI 1.3a with Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD Master Audio.

"The ATI Radeon HD 5450 offers consumers another next-generation graphics product from AMD, and further reinforces our price-performance value at a wide range of price points,” said Matt Skynner, vice president and general manager, AMD Graphics Division. “With the addition of the ATI Radeon HD 5450, home theater enthusiasts and casual gamers have access to cutting-edge features and solid performance at an incredible value.”

As noted in our review, gamers on a tight budget would do better to hold on just a little bit longer for AMD to launch something between the $50 Radeon HD 5450 and the $100 Radeon HD 5670. The company has already indicated that a 5500-series is forthcoming, and it is reasonable to expect such a product to offer higher performance than the Radeon HD 5450 at a lower price than t

he Radeon HD 5670. This is likely to be a far more desirable card for budget gamers interested in a triple-monitor Eyefinity setup.

Read our full review here.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

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Nvidia Outs Beta Driver to Fix Overclocking Bug

Overclocking is back!

Last week we found out from Nvidia that a driver bug held back some functionality of overclocking control panels for those who like the tweak the clock speeds of their GeForce GPUs.

Nvidia today rolled out its fixed drivers, but rather than waiting for any WHQL certification, the graphics company put them out in a beta form.

Grab them from the links below if you like to be the master of your clock speeds.

GeForce/Ion Driver 196.34 beta for Windows 7/Vista 32-bit
GeForce/Ion Driver 196.34 beta for Windows 7/Vista 64-bit
GeForce/Ion Driver 196.34 beta for Windows XP 32-bit
GeForce/Ion Driver 196.34 beta for Windows XP 64-bit

Source : Tom's Hardware US

Nvidia Found Guilty of Infringing Rambus Patents

Apple's A4 Chipset Packs ARM CPU and Graphics

What makes your iPad tick, Apple?

Apple made a huge splash yesterday when it announced the iPad. Even bigger but way less reported news was Steve Jobs' casual mentioning that Apple had used its own processor in the device. The 1GHz Apple A4 represents Apple's first ever processor and is the fruit of a PA Semi purchase in 2008.

However, it seems the A4 has a lot in common with Nvidia's Tegra 2; in fact, the Bright Side of News reports that the SOC is all ARM and lambastes Steve Jobs for implying Apple or even PA Semi had anything to do with the creation of the A4 at all.

Steve Jobs incorrectly addressed Apple A4 as a CPU. We're not sure was this to keep the mainstream press enthused, but A4 is not a CPU. Or we should say, it's not just a CPU. Nor did PA Semi/Apple had anything to do with the creation of the CPU component. A4 is a System-on-a-Chip, or SOC, that integrates the main processor [ARM Cortex-A9 MPCore i.e. Multi-Processing Core, identical to ones used in nVidia Tegra and Qualcomm Snapdragon] with graphics silicon [ARM Mali 50-Series GPU], and other functions like the memory controller on one piece of silicon.

Bright Side explains that last June, during the GlobalFoundries event in Las Vegas, the site sat down with Warren East, CEO of ARM. One of the things they discussed was "a new member of the family," which we now know was Apple.

Read the full story here.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

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Nvidia Found Guilty of Infringing Rambus Patents

Rambus rolls on with its memory technology patents.

In summer 2008, Rambus claimed that "a number of Nvidia products" with memory controllers for SDR, DDR, DDR2, DDR3, GDDR, and GDDR3 SDRAM infringe upon 17 Rambus patents, leading to the expected lawsuit.

Last Friday, the U.S. International Trade Commission ruled that Nvidia violated three of five patents held by Rambus which could lead to a possible U.S. ban on the import of some Nvidia products.

"We will continue to vigorously protect our patented inventions for the benefit of our shareholders and in fairness to our paying licensees," said Rambus General Counsel Tom Lavelle. "We would be interested in having productive settlement discussions with Nvidia."

Nvidia, expectedly, isn't so eager to set up any sort of payment schedule. According to Reuters, Nvidia is waiting for a decision from the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office later this year on whether or not Rambus has full claim to some of the patents involved in the current dispute with Nvidia. If Rambus is found to not have full claim, it would change the outcome of the ITC's ruling considerably.

"We're going to continue to take the necessary steps to move forward with our arguments, not necessarily just with the ITC, but certainly in the Patent and Trademark Office," said David Shannon, Nvidia general counsel.

News of this comes just after Rambus' $900 million settlement with Samsung over patent disagreements.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

Amy Winehouse pleads guilty to assultSamsung Settles With Rambus for $900 Million

Samsung Settles With Rambus for $900 Million

Samsung to fork over $900 million to Rambus to put memory patent woes to rest.

Rambus has emerged victorious from another legal patent-laced battle. The memory company announced with Samsung that the two had reached a settlement agreement and a forward-going license.

As part of the overall agreement, Samsung will initially pay Rambus $200 million as well as invest another $200 million in Rambus stock. Over the next five years, Samsung will have to pay Rambus about $100 million per year, split into quarterly payments.

In addition, the companies also signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) to work on a new generation of memory technologies that will focus on graphics and mobile memory solutions and will further review a potential collaboration on server and high-speed NAND Flash memories.

"We have a tremendous opportunity to renew a partnership which has created solutions that have benefited consumers worldwide," said Harold Hughes, President and CEO of Rambus. "Bringing together Samsung’s market and technology leadership with our innovations for high-performance and high-efficiency memory architectures will make possible an exciting new generation of mobile, computing and consumer electronics products."

Rambus settled a patent license agreement with memory maker Hynix last year.

Source : Tom's Hardware US

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