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Apple

Submission + - iPad Success not the Fruit of Apple's Labor (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: An editorial over at PC Perspective posits that even though the iPad is unquestionably the first successful modern tablet computing device, Apple deserves less of the credit for that success than most are putting on them. As evidence the author points to the applications that ship with a stock iPad including the mail, notes, calendar, contacts and even the iBooks program, all of which are considered poor examples of touch-enabled applications. Instead, when users brag about the iPad they are usually referring to programs like Netflix or the ABC Player or even casual games and PC Perspective believes that there is no technical reason that these couldn't have already existed on other tablets had Microsoft and others recognized the need for a slightly altered user input scheme. Apple may have done a great job with the iPad hardware but it is really third-party developers that deserve all the credit for the iPad's success.

Submission + - New AMD 6-core CPUs Finally Compete with Intel (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: AMD has been having a difficult time in the last year or so keeping up with Intel on the consumer CPU front. While the Phenom processors have been decent, since the introduction of Intel's Core i5 and Core i7 lineup of parts AMD has never really had a chance in the performance segment. They are hoping to change that with the release of the Phenom II X6 1090T processor, a 6-core CPU that will sell for about $285. Compare that to the 6-core offering from Intel: the Core i7-980X that retails for $999 or above. No, the 1090T won't run as fast in the benchmarks as the i7-980X but it does do well in media encoding tests and is one of the best available CPUs for performance/watt and performance/dollar. Add to that mixture the new Turbo Core Technology that automatically takes the 3.2 GHz part up to 3.6 GHz when three or fewer cores are loaded, and the AMD 1090T is the best competition Intel has seen in some time.
Data Storage

Submission + - New VelociRaptor HDD Returns to take on SSDs (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: While solid state drives, including those from Western Digital itself, continue to be the star of storage technology today, platter-based traditional hard drives still remain the device of choice for most storage. Before there were SSDs, enthusiasts and PC gamers depended on the Western Digital VelociRaptor brand to keep their computers fast and the brand is back with a new 600GB SATA 6Gb/s model released today. Although seek, noise and power ratings remain nearly identical to the previous model there is a nice boost in transfer rates over other standard hard drives. As for price, the new VelociRaptor's cost per GB makes it a better deal than previous iterations though it remains well behind the ratio of any of the tested 2TB hard drives.
Intel

Submission + - Intel Clarkdale Offers Top Performance Per Dollar (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: Intel's latest generation of desktop processors were released in January but are still getting attention as the non-flagship models are tested and compared. The Core i3-530 CPU is the lowest priced Westmere-architecture part available though it does lack the Turbo Mode feature that allows frequency to scale according to threaded workload that is found on the Core i5 and Core i7 processors. So while the frequency on the processor tops out at 2.93 GHz, well below the 3.73 GHz allowed on the Core i5-670, the price is rock-bottom at $113 allowing it to easily become the best processor tested in terms of performance per dollar. For a gaming system the Core i3-530 is nearly twice as efficient as any other CPU with your hard earned cash. Of course the ability to easily overclock it to 4.4 GHz with air cooling doesn't hurt either!
Data Storage

Submission + - Western Digital Enters World of Solid State (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: The solid state disk market keeps crowding but the Western Digital SiliconEdge Blue SSD marks the first offering from a player that currently dominates the market of traditional spindle-based hard drives. It was a year ago this month that WD purchased SiliconSystems for $65m, a small enterprise level SSD vendor that has developed its own storage controller. Western Digital obviously made the move to prepare the company for the inevitable situation it finds itself in today: solid state has surpassed traditional media in performance and will likely soon become the mainstream storage choice for computers. PC Perspective has put the first consumer-level SSD option from one of the kings of HDDs through the wringer and found the drive to be a solid first offering with performance on par with the some of the better solutions in the market while not quite fast enough to take away the top seating offerings from Intel and others. Western Digital has seen the writing on the wall; the only question is when the other players in the hard drive market will as well.
AMD

Submission + - AMD 890GX chipset first to integrate SATA 6G (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: AMD might be at disadvantage in terms of processor performance but their chipset division is still making strides to improve over what Intel offers. The new AMD 890GX chipset not only integrates a slightly improved ATI Radeon HD 4290 graphics core but also is the first chipset to natively support SATA 6.0 Gb/s storage technology via the new SB850 south bridge. The 890GX will be the first to officially support AMD's upcoming 6-core 'Thuban' processors due out later this year. The 890GX graphics core also includes AMD's UVD2 (unified video decoder) technology that accelerates the decode process of two independent video streams on picture-in-picture Blu-ray titles making it great for HTPCs as well.
AMD

Submission + - Mid-range AMD DX11 GPU and 6-display card detailed (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: The AMD Radeon HD 5000-series of graphics cards has been picking up steam since its initial release back in September of 2009 starting with the high-end offering, the HD 5870. Since then AMD has debuted at least 8 more card configurations that range from $59 to $659 depending on your GPU needs. Today AMD is releasing the latest mid-range offering called the HD 5830 that will sell for under $250 yet offer features that NVIDIA's top options can't match including multi-monitor gaming and DX11 support. PC Perspective has not only a complete performance evaluation of that card but more details on the anticipated HD 5870 Eyefinity Edition that will include support for 6 displays connected to a single graphics card.
Graphics

Submission + - HYDRA Platform-Independent Multi-GPU Tech Tested (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: A lot has been written about Lucid's HYDRA technology and its goal of creating a completely vendor-agnostic and platform-independent multi-GPU scaling solution but now that you can actually buy a motherboard with support for it how does it stack up? The proposed solution still holds a lot of promise including a hardware PCI Express logic and bridge chip that works with the standard motherboard chipsets and a Windows driver that is responsible for intelligently breaking up the workload between different graphics cards but it seems the execution is lacking. In PC Perspective's review of the MSI Big Bang Fuzion motherboard that implements HYDRA, NVIDIA-to-NVIDIA scaling when using non-identical cards actually impressed though AMD-to-AMD scaling and the holy-grail that was to be cross-vendor scaling produced results that were well under expectations. Repeated driver iterations have improved performance and stability somewhat but it seems the dream of seamless multi-GPU scaling is still a ways off.
Data Storage

Submission + - 'Limited Edition' SSD has fastest storage speed (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: The idea of having a "Limited Edition" solid state drive might seem counter intuitive but regardless of the naming, the new OCZ Vertex LE is based on the new Sandforce SSD controller that promises significant increases in performance, along with improved ability to detect and correct errors in the data stored in flash. While the initial Sandforce drive was called the "Vertex 2 Pro" and included a super-capacitor for data integrity the Vertex LE drops that feature to improve cost efficiency. In PC Perspective's performance tests the drive was able to best the Intel X25-M line in file creation and copying duties, had minimal fragmentation or slow down effects and was very competitive in IOs per second as well. It seems that current SSD manufacturers are all targeting Intel and the new Sandforce controller is likely the first to be up to the challenge.
Portables

Submission + - Optimus transforms notebook power, performance (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: Transformers jokes aside, NVIDIA's newest technology offering hopes to radically change the way notebook computers are built and how customers use them. The promise of both extended battery life and high performance mobile computing has seemed like a pipe dream and even the most recent updates to "switchable graphics" left much to be desired in terms of the user experience. Having both an integrated and discrete graphics chip in your notebook does little good if you never switch between the two. Optimus allows the system to seamlessly and instantly change between IGP and discrete NVIDIA GPUs based on the task being run including games, GPU encoding or Flash video playback. Using new software and hardware technology notebooks using Optimus can power on and pass control to the GPU in a matter of 300ms and power both the GPU and PCIe lanes completely off when not in use. This can be done without being forced to reboot or even close out your applications making it a hands-free solution for the customer.
PC Games (Games)

OnLive Gaming Service Gets Lukewarm Approval 198

Posted by Soulskill from the better-than-lukewarm-rejection-i-guess dept.
Vigile writes "When the OnLive cloud-based gaming service was first announced back in March of 2009, it was met with equal parts excitement and controversy. While the idea of playing games on just about any kind of hardware thanks to remote rendering and streaming video was interesting, the larger issue remained of how OnLive planned to solve the latency problem. With the closed beta currently underway, PC Perspective put the OnLive gaming service to the test by comparing the user experiences of the OnLive-based games to the experiences with the same locally installed titles. The end result appears to be that while slower input-dependent games like Burnout: Paradise worked pretty well, games that require a fast twitch-based input scheme like UT3 did not."
PC Games (Games)

Submission + - OnLive Gaming Service Gets Lukewarm Approval (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: When the OnLive cloud-based gaming service was first announced back in March of 2009, it was met with equal parts excitement and controversy. While the idea of playing games on just about any kind of hardware thanks to remote rendering and streaming video was interesting, the larger issue remained of how OnLive planned to solve the latency problem. With the closed beta currently underway, PC Perspective put the OnLive gaming service to the test by comparing the user experiences of the OnLive-based games to the experiences with the same locally installed titles. The end result appears to be that while slower input-dependent games like Burnout: Paradise worked pretty well, games that require a fast twitch-based input scheme like UT3 did not.
AMD

Submission + - NVIDIA GF100 wants to revolutionize GPUs (pcper.com)

Submitted by JoshMST
JoshMST writes: NVIDIA is late to the party with DX11-ready graphics hardware, but they are
hoping to make up for it with a very unique and different design than the
competing AMD Radeon GPUs. The GF100 GPU is
essentially the same hardware that was detailed in the
Fermi release late last year, but only now do details emerge on how the
hardware is targeted at the gaming market. A total of 512 processing cores
are combined with a new PolyMorph Engine that performs the necessary
tessellation for DX11 but in a new, less serialized manner. The chip is
going to be big and we already know that it is going to be power hungry,
but until actual products and benchmarks are revealed, the final answer
between AMD and NVIDIA this generation will be up in the air.
AMD

Submission + - AMD Delivers DX11 Graphics Solution for under $100 (pcper.com)

Submitted by Vigile
Vigile writes: The new AMD Radeon HD 5670 launches today and it is the first graphics card to bring DirectX 11 support to the sub-$100 market and offers next-generation features to almost any budget. The Redwood part (as it was codenamed) is nearly 3.5x smaller in die size than the first DX11 GPUs from AMD while still offering support for DirectCompute 5.0, Eyefinity multi-monitor gaming and of course DX11 features (like tessellation) in upcoming Windows gaming titles. Unfortunately, performance on the card is not revolutionary even for the $99 graphics market though power consumption has been noticeably lowered while keeping the card well cooled in a single slot design.

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