2010 CES: Computer Technology Highlights
Updated: 2010-01-21 01:00:00
The International Consumer Electronics Show offers a vast and overwhelming panoply of products, with exhibitors ranging from tiny, two-man booths from unknown Taiwanese companies to 4+ acre spreads from Microsoft and Intel. In addition to CES exhibits in the Las Vegas Convention Center, vendors have invitation-only hospitality suites set up in various hotels around the Strip. With over 2,700 exhibitors from more than 140 countries, you're not going to see everything even if you spend every waking moment traipsing the show floor. What follows is a list of things which caught my eye, or that I thought were technically cool; it's in no way comprehensive, or even very organized, but should give you some idea of what the show was like.
NVIDIA's latest GPU is codenamed GF100, and is the first graphics processor based on the Fermi architecture. In this article, Benchmark Reviews explains the technical architecture behind NVIDIA's GF100 graphics processor and offers an insight into upcoming Fermi-based GeForce video cards. For those who are not familiar, NVIDIA's GF100 GPU is their first graphics processor to support DirectX-11 hardware features such as tessellation and DirectCompute, while also adding heavy particle and turbulence effects. The GF100 GPU is also the successor to the GT200 graphics processor, which launched in the GeForce GTX 280 (index.php?option=com_content task=view id=179 Itemid=72) video card. NVIDIA has since redefined their focus, and GF100 proves a dedication towards next generation gaming effects such as raytracing, order-independent transparency, and fluid simulations. Rest assured, the new GF100 GPU is more powerful than the GT200 could ever be, and early results indicate a Fermi-based video card delivers far more than twice the gaming performance over a GeForce GTX-280.
You know how some people take a well known concept just a little too far? Here’s one to tell your friends. Take a log cabin. It would make for a great retreat to get some quiet time to get work done. But, log cabins don’t have most any real creature comforts. [...]
Computer RAM (Random Access Memory) or computer memory is crucial to a computer. This page will explain computer memory and its role inside a computer.
LanCool's line of Dragon Lord computer cases offer two great advantages over many competitors. The first is the amount of customization they provide in choosing a stock model. Rather than simply providing one high end case and one low end case they provide options for several intermediate levels. The second advantage offered by LanCool is their tool-less designs. Many tool-less designs of the past have suffered from compatibility or usability problems. LanCool uses a fresh approach to alleviate the problems of the past while still providing the option to fall back on conventional installation. Benchmark Reviews recently reviewed the PC-K56W which offers snap-in hard drive assemblies. We now bring you the PC-K58W which extends the tool-less design, offers more space, more features, and more room to upgrade.
Oops, I did it again. Not me, but ATI. They've gone and cut their latest 40nm GPU in half again, given it a new name, and released a brand new video card that smacks the competition around. Just four months after the release of their first 5xxx series video card (and two million unit sales later...), ATI is releasing the sixth iteration of DX11-capable hardware. The new card uses the exact same architecture as the HD58xx and HD57xx series; ATI basically cut the Juniper chip to get hardware specs somewhere below the HD5750. How far below is what we need to find out and Benchmark Reviews is pleased to offer you the results of our extensive testing.
Cooler Master is a brand name that constantly strives to offer the enthusiast community fresh new products with a proven track record. Although the original CM-690 was launched back in August 2007, that chassis still remains a popular choice for do-it-yourself computer system builders even today. Skip to 2010, and Cooler Master launches the CM690-II Advanced mid-tower case to compliment the CM-series enthusiast product line. The new RC-692-KKN2 model improves upon the original design with an updated look, and adds a new list of features fitting of the modern technology landscape. In this article, Benchmark Reviews inspects the Cooler Master CM690-II Advanced Edition performance enclosure and determines just how much has really changed in this sequel.
As enthusiasts, we're always interested in the latest monster video cards: the expensive, high-end products that blast through benchmarks and play all your games with buttery-smooth frame rates at the highest resolutions with all the settings maxed out- and sucking a not inconsiderable amount of electricity while doing so! But these products represent only a tiny fraction of the number of video cards sold; the low-to-mid-end cards comprise the bulk of the market. Besides, a GTX285 or Radeon 5870 isn't the ideal solution for every situation: considerations from a limited budget to building a small, quiet system come into play. NVIDIA has been filling out the low-middle end of their video card product line lately, and in this article Benchmark Reviews tests the GIGABYTE GV-N240D5-512I video card equipped with with NVIDIA's new GeForce GT240 GPU and 512M of GDDR5 memory.