Exclusive hands on pictures of ASRock's new Gen3 motherboards

Last week details of ASRocks new PCI Express 3.0 motherboards appeared on the web and today we bring you exclusive hands on pictures of the Z68 Extreme3 and Z68 Extreme7. ASRock will be using the new styling for all of its upcoming motherboards, so expect a lot more black and gold in the future, the only exception being the Fatal1ty boards of course.

Neither board holds any real secrets beyond the specs that were posted last week, but this is the first high-resolution, detailed picture of the Z68 Extreme3. A couple of things with missed with regards to the rear I/O of the Z68 Extrem3 includes a PS/2 port and optical S/PDIF out. The board also sports a POST80 debug LED which is an unusual feature for a board this far down in the pecking order. The Z68 Extreme3 is in our opinion looking like the Z68 board to get from ASRock if youre looking for something that wont be horrendously expensive, yet offering a well-balanced feature set.

Moving on we have the Z68 Extreme7 and were still quite flabbergasted that ASRock has made a board like this. All of the heatsinks are screwed on and the attention to detail is very high. Some interesting things that we thought we should point out is that ASRock is using two SATA 6Gbps controllers from ASMedia for this board, but more interestingly it also has a pair of Broadcom Ethernet controllers. A peculiar addition we also noticed is a pin-header for a PS/2 port, although no actual port is supplied as far as were aware.

As it happens, a UK online retailer has listed a price for the Z68 Extreme7 and as we mentioned last week, its going to be expensive. The board is listed at £250 (S$490) which makes it one of the most expensive Z68 boards out there pretty much only beaten by Asus Maximus IV Extreme-Z so far.

Wed like to pick up on something here, namely PCI Express 3.0. According to ASRock, any current 6-series motherboard should at least in theory work with PCI Express 3.0, but as soon as you involve lane switches you run into problems unless the switches are PCI Express 3.0 compliant. Sandy Bridge does not have hidden support for PCI Express 3.0 and you wont be seeing any performance advantage until Ivy Bridge comes out, or at least this is not something that ASRock has seen in their testing.

Weve put a few more pictures of the boards on the next page, alongside with a few pictures of the Fatal1ty Z68 Professional Gen3. Do note that the boards we looked at were pre-production boards and the heatsink finish isnt that of final products. ASRock is also running a competition at the moment where you can win one of its new Gen3 boards, so if youre keen on getting one, head over to the competition website.

Drivers Issues Delay HD 3870 X2 Launch

Fudzilla talked about AIB partners stocking up on Radeon HD 3870 X2 anddriver issue delaying the launch where VR-Zone has heard similar news. One AIBpartner told us that there will be more HD 3870 X2 out in the market than HD3870. The 8.453 drivers which reviewers are using and even the shipping CDbundle has performance issues with certain games like Crysis. The fix should beout soon hopefully.

Asus launches 3 new notebooks F8P, U3S amp; U6S

The ASUS F8P series brings the ultimate expression of mix and match. The hand picked and crafted premium leather adds tactile warmth to the notebook design while the painted surface keeps it sleek. The new level of fusion is further complemented with state-of-the-art computing technologies, including Intel® Centrino® Duo Processor Technology and Genuine Windows Vista® Business operating system, offering both the look and the power of stylish computing on the go.

Mix & MatchAvailable in Amazing White and Galaxy Black, the F8P offers everything that the ASUS Leather Series carries in a whole new way. The unique LCD cover with half leather and half painted surfaces is a bold statement of contrast yet the softness and the sturdiness complements each other to create a new computing style. In addition to the tactile enjoyment, the F8P also adopts the unique bamboo hinge that’s with integrated power button on the side, offering ergonomic operating convenience.Mobile MultimediaEquipped with a Hybrid TV tuner, the F8P gives the user maximum versatility with the ability to take advantage of both digital and analog signals. A card type remote control is incorporated, in line with the chic portability of the F8P lifestyle, giving the user the ability to take charge of entertainment while being easily carried. Furthermore, a built-in swivel webcam allows instant high-resolution face to face communication without the hassle of external connections and messy wires.Unparalleled GamingTo power the most demanding 3D intense games, the F8P is equipped with abundant graphics power with top of the line specifications, including the latest Intel Core2 Duo processors, up to 2GB of DDR2 memory, DirectX 10 support and a choice of the most powerful graphics processing systems currently available: the world’s first ATI Mobility Radeon HD2400 graphics engine, stocked with 256MB of physical VRAM and HyperMemory up to 1024MB.Seamless SecurityTo give business travellers peace of mind, the F8P features safeguards that combine high-level security with ease of use. The fingerprint authentication allows for heavy duty security of data with the convenience of a finger swipe. The Trusted Platform Module (TPM) encrypts data, password retention and system log on for added data protection measures.F8P (F8P24MD25LBU-PW) Specification· Intel® Centrino® Duo Processor Technology- Intel® Core™2 Duo Processor T7700 (2.4GHz, 800MHz, 4MB L2)- Intel® Next-Gen Wireless-N 4965ABGN network connection 802.11a/b/g/n- Intel® 965PM Express Chipset· Genuine Microsoft® Windows Vista™ Business· ATI Radeon HD2400 (with 256MB VRAM) and up to 1028MB Hypermemory· 14.1” WXGA+ (glare 1440 x 900) LCD· 2GB DDR2 RAM and 250GB SATA 5400rpm HDD· TPM-Trusted Platform Module and DVD Super-Multi Double Layer Drive with LightScribe· Integrated Bluetooth™ 2.0 + Enhanced Data Rate· Built-in 1.3 Mega Pixels swivel Web-Camera and Built-in 6-in-1 Card Reader· Accessories: 6-cell battery, notebook bag and mouse· Limited edition only for Christmas SeasonAvailability: After 20th Dec 07 RSP: S$ 2,998 (GST Included)

Arctic Cooling's Accelero Xtreme Plus II VGA Cooler

The new VGA cooler has a copper base, five 6mm heatpipes and 83 aluminium cooling fins aside from the 9cm fans. It is reported to be able to fit a wide variety of cards including the newly released GTX 560.

Read the full article from Expreview.

Apple iOS 5.0.1 released with battery bug fix, security updates

The iOS 5.0.1 update can be installed over-the-air, a new capability found only in iOS 5. To initiate it, just go to the Settings App, ‘General à ‘Software Update. The update process worked seamlessly for me, completing in about five minutes. The software update will automatically reboot your iOS device when done.

Unfortunately, the battery issue does not appear to be fixed for some. Already, a number of disgruntled users have logged on at the Apple Support Communities to complain that their battery is draining at the same rate.

On other hand, reports from other users say the improvement in the battery life of their iPhone has been significant. Reader Donald Kuntzman - who had an early preview of iOS 5.0.1, told Wired that:

"Frankly, the difference is nothing short of amazing... To go almost an entire day without a change in the meter reading seems unbelievable. Where before I could almost watch the battery drain, now it doesnt move at all."

Battery fix aside, the update also patched five security vulnerabilities, including one revealed by prominent security researcher Charlie Miller earlier in the week. Miller had released an app onto the App Store which exploited an undisclosed flaw to ‘sideload arbitrary and unauthorized code from external sites.

Such a vulnerability would have far-reaching ramifications to the walled-garden security of the App Store, allowing hackers to circumvent Apples strict approval process with Trojan apps. As it is, Millers stunt swiftly earned him the ire of Apple, and the company has since banned Miller from its developers program.

Other improvements in iOS 5.0.1 include multitasking gestures added to the first-gen iPad, improved voice recognition for Australian users using dictation, and tweaks to resolve "some issues with Documents in the Cloud."

Source: Wired

Angry Birds developer shows trailer for next game

Rovio, the developer behind the popular Angry Birds series, has released a trailer for its next game, Amazing Alex, which promises to bring more physics-based puzzles to mobile gamers.

The game focuses on Alex, a kid who sets up various contraptions with his toys, giving players over 100 levels of physics puzzles that will make use of toy cars, footballs, balloons, and any piece of furniture in the vicinity.Another unique feature of the game is a level creator, which means gamers can expand the possible game experiences with 35 interactive objects, a number which is sure to grow over time. Player-created levels can also be shared online and Rovio is promising plenty of free updates.If the game is as well-crafted as Rovios bird-flinging pig-crushing antics the gaming world could be in for another puzzle phenomenon.Amazing Alex launches tomorrow, 12 July for the iPhone, iPad and Android devices.

AMD's naming scheme for Dual Radeon Graphics is confusing

AMD has come up with some rather imaginative names for when it combines one of its new APUs with a discrete Radeon graphics card and the company has moved away from the familiar CrossFire branding and simply gone for Dual Radeon Graphics. However, things get interesting when you start looking at the specifics, as depending on which APU is teamed up with which discrete GPU, the names change.

Back at Computex AMD unveiled its new logos and branding for the APUs that were announced earlier today and it looked complicated and unclear at best back then, but thanks to a slide posted over at Anandtech today, things have gotten a lot more complicated. Some additional details on how it all works have also come to light and we have a feeling that this is not only going to be a headache for consumers, but also for the notebook makers and AMD itself.

Lets try to keep things as simple as possible, so were going to do this bullet point style.

We have three new A-series APUs, the A4, the A6 and the A8. All three have different graphics cores with the A4 sporting a Radeon HD 6480G, the A6 a Radeon HD 6520G and the A8 a Radeon HD 6620G.Each of the APUs can be combined with a discrete graphics option for better graphics performance and it works more or less like AMDs old Hybrid CrossFire, although its now called Dual Radeon Graphics.The good news is that Dual Radeon Graphics is asymmetrical, so a faster GPU can be used with a slower discrete option, something that wasnt possible with Hybrid CrossFire, which makes this a lot more interesting and usable.One thing that isnt very clear and which Anandtech seems to have forgotten to mention is the fact that you need to run dual-channel memory for Dual Radeon Graphics to work. Considering how many notebooks out there that are shipping with a single stick of memory, this is a pretty big deal, but more on that later.If you take a look at the slide below youll notice that the various APUs combine differently with the same discrete GPU and as such create various odd combinations based on, well, some kind of logic, we hope.AMDs Eyefinity technology is not supported by the graphics in the APU, nor in Dual Radeon Graphics mode. Hopefully this is something AMD will be fixing in the future though.

If the slide above hasnt gotten your head spinning, then youve done better than we did the first time we looked at it. The peculiar thing is the two topmost options, as here the A6 and A8 APUs end up with the same naming scheme for the Dual Radeon Graphics which adds further confusion as to how it all works. Its possible that the Radeon HD 6750M and 6770M are fast enough to take precedence here while the other discrete cards are not, but that doesnt quite make sense either.

The dual core A4 APU also get crippled here as it only works with the Radeon HD 6400M series of discrete GPUs which means that theres no real performance option in place here, at least not as long as the integrated graphics is still being used. We can sort of see what AMD has done here, but then why bother at all with a Dual Radeon Graphics option?

Back to point 4 above, the part about dual-channel memory. Apparently AMD is expecting the notebook manufacturers to put a different sticker on notebooks with only a single stick of RAM in them, as the integrated graphics in the APU will be disabled in these machines if theres also a discrete card in them and as such theyll not pass some kind of sticker certification from AMD. However, we have a feeling that this wont be followed to the letter, especially considering how easy and affordable it is to add a second stick of RAM to a notebook.

The reason behind this is simple, there isnt enough memory bandwidth for the integrated graphics in the APU to keep up with the discrete card in single channel mode and this is also one of the reasons that AMD is pushing for DDR3 1600MHz RAM for Llano based notebooks (and 1866MHz for desktops), as itll help boost the performance of the integrated graphics.

Theres a lot more to the new platform and a few things arent quite making sense, but were not going to go into that here and now. We have a feeling that AMDs new naming scheme is going to cause plenty confusion on its own, not taking into account all the different configuration options available. Well most likely only see one or two discrete options per notebook SKU from AMDs partners, but this is also limiting the purchasing options and might lead to certain notebook manufacturers ending up more favourable than others.

Source: Anandtech