LIMA HACKER KRIMINAL SEPANJANG MASA

Hacker-hacker di bawah ini merupakan hacker yang telah ditahan dengan tuduhan criminal. Beberapa dari mereka menjalankan aksi hacker-nya untuk tujuan mencari uang. Sisanya hanya untuk iseng.
Kevin Mitnick mungkin hacker paling terkenal sejagad. The Departement Of Justice di As melabelinya sebagai “buronan criminal computer terbesar dalam sejarah AS.” Bahkan aksinya sempat difilmkan: “Takedown” dan “Freedom Downtime”. Aksi Mitnick pada awalnya hanya meng-hack system kartu otomatis di bis Los Angeles agar dapat bepergian gratis. Kemudian Mitnick merupakan orang pertama yang diburu karena meng-hack ke jaringan computer dan mencuri software di Digital Equipment Corporation. Mitnick sempat tidak diketahui keberadaannya selama 2,5 tahun. Kejatuihannya diawali pada saat ia meng-hack computer temannya sekaligus salah satu hacker ternama, Tsutomu Shimomura.
Mitnick sekarang telah sadar dan menjadi anggota social yang produktif. Setelah menjalani 5 tahun 8 bulan di pengasingan, Mitnick sekarang menjadi ahli keamanan computer, konsultan dan pembicara
Kemudian Adrian Lamo yang sempat menjebol perusahaan besar seperti Microsoft dan The New York Times. Lamo menggunakan koneksi internet dari café-café, Kinko dan perpustakaan, dan Lamo mendapat julukan “The Homeless Hacker”. Lamo juga sering menemukan celah keamanan pada software-software ternama dan menjebolnya. Karena ulahnya menjebol jaringan The New York Times, Lamo menjadi incaran teratas pihak keamanan dan diharuskan membayar US$65.000 sebagai ganti rugi. Sebagai tambahan, Lamo diganjar hukuman 6 bulan dan 2 tahun percobaan. Lamo sekarang menjadi pembicara seminar dan jurnalis berprestasi.
Jonathan James pada umur 16 tahun merupakan hacker termuda yang dijebloskan ke penjara karena aksi hackingnya. Aksi terbesar james adalah pada saat ia menjebol Defense Threat Reduction Agency, yang merupakan cabang dari departemen keamanan AS. Lewat aksinya ini, James mampu mencuri username dan password dan melihat e-mail – e-mail rahasia. James juga berhasil menjebol computer NASA dan mencuri software dengan harga US$1,7 juta.
The Justice Departement AS mengatakan bahwa “software yang dicuri james berkaitan dengan stasiun ruang angkasa internasional, termasuk pengaturan suhu dan kelembaban di ruang angkasa.” Karena ulah james, NASA harus menutup semua jaringan komputernya dengan biaya US$41.000. Saat ini james menjadi ahli keamanan computer di perusahaan besar.
Robert Tappan Morris merupakan anak dari Robert Morris, mantan ilmuwan dari National Security Agency. Robert adalah pencipta worm morris.worm ini merupakan worm pertama yang menyebar melalui internet. Robert menciptakan worm morris hanya untuk mengetahui besarnya dunia internet pada saat itu. Worm ini mereproduksi dirinya sendiri tanpa bias dikontrol, mematikan ribuan computer sampai computer tersebut benar-benar tidak berfungsi. Robert sekarang menjadi profesor di MIT Computer Science dan Artificial Intelligence Laboratory dan fokusnya adalah arsitektur computer dan jaringan.Kevin Poulsen atau lebih dikenal dengan Dark Dante mengawali aksinya dengan menjebol jaringan telepon radio Los Angeles KIIS-FM, aksinya ini membuatnya mendapatkan sebuah mobil Porsche. FBI mulai memburu Poulsen karena menjebol database FBI dan computer fedral untuk informasi penyadapan. Poulsen merupakan jagoan meng-hack jaringan telepon dan poulsen ditangkap disebuah supermarket dan diganjar hukuman 5 tahun. Sejak ditahan, Poulsen bekerja sebagai seorang jurnalis dan dipromosikan menjadi editor senior di sebuah Koran terkemuka, Wired News. Artikel populernya adalah mengidentifikasi tertuduh 744 pelecehan seksual di profile Myspace.

Trojan Menghapus Harddrive

Jika komputer anda mulai berbicara dengan anda, dan memberitahukan bahwa komputer anda telah terinfeksi dan seluruh data di harddrive telah dihapus,pemberitahuan tersebut bukan lelucon. jika benar-benar pernah anda alami,berarti anda terserang TROJAN BOT VOICE.A.

Kode berbahaya ini kali pertama diendus oleh firma keamanan PandaLabs, dan trojan ini menggunakan Windows text reader untuk mengaktifkan kalimat sebagai berikut:"You have been infected.I repeat, you have been infected and your system files have been deleted.Sorry,have a nice day, and bye bye." kalimat ini terus menerus diulang, ketika Trojan berusaha untuk menghapus seluruh isi harddrive.kadang,Trojan Bot Voice.A tidak mampu menghapus seluruh data.tapi bagaimanapun juga Trojan ini membuat registry berantakan. jadi,aplikasi-aplikasi yang telah diinstal di komputer tidak dapat dijalankan.

Trojan ini juga menonaktifkan Windows registry editor untuk melindungi aksi Trojan ini.Trojan ini menginfeksi melalui jarinagn P2P,perangkat penyimpanan portabel,seperti USB,CD-ROM dan file download dari situs berbahaya.

DailyTech's roundup of hardware reviews from around the web for Monday

Notebooks
Alienware m9750 w/ SLI GeForce Go 7950GTX Graphics @ Boot Daily
Acer TravelMate 6292 @ TrustedReviews

Processors
Pentium E2140/2160 And Athlon X2 BE-2350 @ Digit-Life

Motherboards
ECS G33T-M2 Motherboard @ HardwareLogic
ASRock ALiveNF7G-HD Ready Motherboard @ Phoronix
ASRock ALiveNF7G-HD Ready Motherboard @ Virtual-Hideout
ASUS Blitz Extreme & Formula Motherboards @ Techgage
Gigabyte P965-DS3 Motherboard Overclocking @ Madshrimps
MSI P6N-SLI Platinum vs. Abit Fatal1ty FPIN9-SLI @ HotHardware.com

Video
Sapphire HD 2400 XT Video Card @ OCC
Jetway Radeon HD 2900 XT 512MB Graphics @ MVKTech
Calibre P860 GeForce 8600GT @ Bjorn3D

Displays/TVs
Panasonic Viera TH-42PZ700B 42in Plasma TV @ TrustedReviews
HANNS-G HW223D 22" LCD @ motherboards.org
Acer AL2051W 20-inch Widescreen LCD Monitor @ ThinkComputers.org
Samsung LN-T4065F 40" 1080p LCD HDTV @ Bonafide Reviews

Cases
Gigabyte 3D Mercury Case @ BCCHardware
NZXT Lexa Blackline @ techPowerUp

Cooling
Thermaltake MaxOrb CPU Cooler @ Virtual-Hideout
Akasa AK975cu & AK965 775 Coolers @ XtremeComputing
Noctua NC-U6 Chipset Cooler @ GideonTech.com
Xigmatek HDT-S963 CPU Cooler @ Modders-Inc
Zalman ZM-NC1000 Ultra Quiet Notebook Cooler @ Tweaknews.net

Power Supplies
Antec Sonata III Case & Earthwatts 500W Power Supply @ Hardwarecanucks
Thermaltake Toughpower 1200W @ techPowerUp
FSP and Silverstone PSU Compared in Crossfire Stress Test @ Madshrimps

Storage
Cirago 10GB External HDD @ OCIA.net
Corsair Flash Survivor (8GB) @ Digital Trends

Networking
USRobotics Wireless Ndx Router @ TrustedReviews

Multimedia Devices
Logitech Harmony 1000 Universal Remote and Wireless Extender @ Bigbruin.com
Club 3D Theatron Agrippa @ XSReviews

Digital Cameras
Olympus E-410 Digital SLR @ TrustedReviews
Kodak EasyShare V1003 @ Digital Trends

ASUS Announces P5K3 Premium with 2GB Onboard

ASUS' P5K3 packs 2GB DDR3 memory onboard

ASUS this week announced its latest P5K3 Premium motherboard based on Intel’s P35 Express chipset, but with a twist. The P5K3 Premium does away with traditional memory slots and integrates DDR3 memory onboard instead. ASUS packs the P5K3 Premium with 2GB of DDR3 1333 MHz memory, or what ASUS calls Turbo D3 Onboard Memory. The memory has latencies between CL7-to-CL10.

ASUS laid out 2GB of DDR3 memory in a dual-channel configuration for optimal performance. The onboard memory is also set up in what ASUS calls a perfect T-Tree design, where the memory controller has access to each pair of memory chips. ASUS claims the T-Tree design reduces clock cycle timing by 50% compared to traditional fly-by designs, which grants the memory controller access to each module.

ASUS guarantees memory overclocks above 1500 MHz, nearly matching the speeds of high-end overclocking memory. However, ASUS recommends at least a 1066 MHz front-side bus processor to achieve memory speeds above 1500 MHz.

Other notable features of the ASUS P5K3 Premium include support for upcoming Penryn-family processors and 1333 MHz front-side bus processors. Expansion capabilities of the P5K3 Premium include two PCIe x16 with CrossFire compatibility, two PCIe x1 and 3 PCI slots. ASUS also installs a JMicron JMB363 controller for one ATA133 and two e.SATA 3.0 Gb/s ports, in addition to the six internal SATA3.0 Gb/s ports provided by the Intel ICH9R.

Analog Devices provides audio via eight-channel high-definition audio codec. Dual Gigabit LAN is also standard. A large copper heat-pipe cools the P35 Express, ICH9R, VRMs and DDR3 memory.

Expect to pay quite a chunk of change when the board hits retail in the coming weeks.

Intel Readies Itanium 2 9100-Series

Intel gives the Itanium 2 one last hurrah before the QuickPath makeover next year

Intel is preparing to launch the next iteration of its dual-core Itanium 2 processors, Montvale. The next-generation Montvale-based Itanium 2 replaces the current Montecito-based Itanium 2 9000-series. Intel positions the Montvale-based Itanium 2 processors towards mission critical tasks, with scalability from two to 512 processor sockets – for up to 1024 processor cores.

The new Montvale-based processors retain the Itanium 2 name, but with a different processor number. Montvale-based processors will carry the 9100-series processor number to differentiate from the Montecito-based 9000-series. The new Itanium 2 9100-series has minor upgrades over the 9000-series.

New to the Itanium 2 9100-series is Demand Based Switching, or DBS, with Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology. DBS allows the higher-end Itanium 2 9100-series models to enter a low-power state during idle periods. The feature is only present on the Itanium 2 9140N, 9140M, 9150N and 9150M. Despite DBS being present on the higher-end Itanium 2 9100 models, all dual-core 9100-series processors have 104-watt TDPs.

Intel continues to manufacturer the Itanium 2 9100-series on a 90nm fabrication process, as with Montecito. The biggest upgrade the Itanium 2 9100-series brings to the table is a faster 667 MHz front-side bus on three of the new models. Intel’s previous Itanium 2 9000-series were limited to 533 MHz front-side bus, at maximum.

Intel Dual-Core Itanium 2
Processor Number	Clock Speed		FSB	iL3 Cache	Q4'07 Launch Price
9150M	1.66		667 MHz	24MB	$3692
9150N	1.60		533/400 MHz	24MB	$3692
9140M	1.66		667 MHz	18MB	$1980
9140N	1.60		533/400 MHz	18MB	$1980
9130M	1.66		667 MHz	8MB	$1552
9120N	1.42		533/400 MHz	12MB	$910

Intel offers the Itanium 2 9100-series in five different models, as long as its 1.66 GHz or 1.6 GHz. However, Intel offers the Itanium 2 9100-series in different iL3 cache sizes to designate different model numbers. Three iL3 cache sizes are available – 24MB, 18MB and 8MB. Intel also designates Itanium 2 9100-series processors with an M suffix for 667 MHz front-side bus and N suffix for 533/400 MHz front-side buses.

The ugly duckling of the Itanium 2 9100-series lineup is the 9120N. This model is the only Itanium 2 9100-series without a 1.66/1.60 GHz clock speed. It has a lower 1.42 GHz clock speed with a 533/400 MHz front-side bus. The Itanium 2 9120N is the only dual-core model with a 12MB iL3 cache. Despite the lower clock speed, the Itanium 2 9120N has the same 104-watt TDP as the higher-clocked models.

All dual-core Itanium 2 models, with the exception of the 9130M, can execute up to four threads.

Intel Single-Core Itanium 2
Processor Number	Clock Speed		FSB	iL3 Cache	Q4'07 Launch Price
9110N	1.60		533/400 MHz	12MB	$696

Intel also has one single-core Itanium 2 9100-series in the lineup. The Itanium 2 9110N has a 1.60 GHz clock speed and 12MB of iL3 cache. It also has a 533/400 MHz front-side bus. The single-core Itanium 2 has a 75-watt TDP rating. Intel prices the Itanium 2 9110N at $696.

Intel does not have any new chipsets in the pipeline for the Itanium 2 9100-series. The Itanium 2 9100-series will continue to use the Intel 8870 with its DDR-200 memory controller. The Intel E8870 only supports 400 MHz front-side bus processors. Third-party chipsets are required to take advantage of faster 667 MHz and 533 MHz front-side buses.

Intel’s next Itanium, the follow up to Montvale, will not arrive until 2H’08. Tukwila will be a quad-core processor with Intel’s QuickPath, formerly known as common system interface, technology. Tukwila will have a 65nm fabrication process and will drop into a new Boxboro MC

Expect Intel to debut the Itanium 2 9100-series next quarter, after the current Itanium 2 9000-series is EOL in August. platform.

Canggihnya Robot Transformers

Sam "Spike" Witwicky (Shia LaBeouf), anak SMA yang cupu abis, enggak pernah membayangkan kalau kakeknya telah menjadi penemu terbesar abad ini, yaitu dengan menemukan bangkai robot alien raksasa Megatron di Kutub Utara.

Robot Megatron ini sedang dalam misi hendak menghancurkan Bumi. Sam yang cupu banget enggak sadar kalau niatnya ngejual kacamata kakeknya lewat situs eBay bikin robot-robot temannya Megatron mencarinya karena di kacamata itulah ada peta posisi Megatron. Untungnya, ada Autobots yang membela umat manusia.

Maka, pertempuran pun enggak bisa dihindari. Robot-robot jahat berdatangan ke Bumi untuk membantu membangkitkan Megatron yang selama ini beku. Sementara itu, Bumblebee yang tampil dalam bentuk mobil Camaro juga segera manggil teman-temannya, para Autobots yang dipimpin oleh Optimus Prime.

Adegan-adegannya seru banget. Bayangin aja, semua Autobots itu selalu menyamar jadi mobil. Mereka baru bertransformasi jadi robot saat diperlukan. Paling asyik pas adegan mereka bertransformasi dari mobil jadi robot atau sebaliknya. Mobilnya keren-keren lho. Optimus jadi truk, Autobot Jazz jadi Pontiac Solstice GXP, Ratchet jadi Hummer H2, Ironhide jadi GMC Topkick seri 4500.

Lawan mereka, Megatron, juga canggih soalnya dia selalu berubah dari pesawat yang bergerak cepat jadi robot raksasa. Teman-temannya, Strascream jadi pesawat jet F22 Raptor yang sebenarnya masih dalam tahap uji terbang dalam dunia nyata. Enggak heran, waktu syuting dengan prototipe-nya, Dephan AS mastiin kalau enggak ada telepon genggam atau alat perekam boleh nyala selain kamera buat film.

Ada beberapa hal yang loe perlu tahu tentang film "Transformer" yang di AS baru bisa dilihat tanggal 4 Juli ini. Setelah ngetop tahun 80-an akhir sebagai animasi, baru 20 tahun kemudian teknologi bisa bikin versi filmnya.

1. Setiap gambar yang menggunakan CGI (computer generated image) dalam film ini di-render, perlu 38 jam. Bandingin dengan film "Toy Story" (1995) yang rata-rata butuh 2-3 jam. Padahal, jelas komputer zaman sekarang kan lebih cepat.

2. Pembuatan film ini didukung penuh Departemen Pertahanan AS. Mereka ngasih pinjam helikopter-pesawat CV-22, pesawat F-117, sampai C-130 yang merupakan pesawat kargo.

3. Gara-gara banyak banget fans berat "Transformer" yang suka dengan suara Peter Cullen untuk robot Optimus Prime dalam versi-versi film ini sebelumnya, produser tetap minta dia yang jadi pengisi suara. Perhatiin deh, waktu dia bilang: "Megatron".

4. Dari puluhan robot yang pernah ada dalam seri "Transformer", yang pasti ada tuh Optimus Prime, Bumblebee serta Decepticons Megatron dan Strascream. Waktu bikin film ini, banyak juga robot-robot yang dicoba-coba buat masuk ke dalam cerita. Akan tetapi, yang tetap cuma empat robot tadi.

5. Kalau diperhatiin banget, tulisan di mobil polisi yang jadi samarannya Robot Starscream itu bukannya "melayani dan melindungi" seperti biasanya ada di mobil-mobil polisi, tetapi "menghukum dan memperbudak".

6. Walaupun banyak banget dibantu komputer, sutradara Michael Bay ngotot supaya adegan berantem antarrobotnya harus senyata mungkin. Makanya, sebagian besar dana 150 juta dollar AS dihabisin untuk bikin 15 adegan berantem di film ini.

7. Untuk bikin transformasi dari robot ke mobil atau sebaliknya, para pembuat ini menggunakan persamaan matematika. Jadi, setiap gerakan dan bagian dalam robot bisa ditemukan di mobilnya juga.

8. Hanya ada dua robot yang benar-benar dibuat untuk film ini, yaitu Autobots Frenzy dan Bumblebee. Bumblebee dibuat oleh John Frazier yang namanya sudah jadi legenda dalam dunia efek khusus. Tingginya 5,18 meter dan lebarnya 3,9 meter. Beratnya sih lumayan, sekitar 4 ton. Robot ini rencananya akan keliling dunia dalam rangka promosi film "Transformers". (EDN)

AMD Announces ATI Radeon HD 2600, HD 2400 Series

AMD occupies the $50-to-$149 price points with new value and mainstream offerings

AMD today announced the ATI Radeon HD 2400 and HD 2600 series graphics cards, over a month after the introduction of the ATI Radeon HD 2900 XT. AMD has also lifted the performance NDA on ATI Radeon HD 2400 and HD 2600-series graphics cards and reviews should be popping up. The value and mainstream ATI Radeon HD 2400 and HD 2600-series introduce ATI DirectX 10 compatible graphics processing to $50-to-$149 price points.

The ATI Radeon HD 2600-series arrives in three variants, one HD 2600 Pro and two HD 2600 XT models. AMD positions the ATI Radeon HD 2600-series at $89-to-$149 price points. The ATI Radeon HD 2600 Pro features 600 MHz core clock and 500 MHz GDDR2 memory on a 128-bit memory interface. The Stepping up to the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT raises the core clock to 800 MHz with two memory choices.

AMD offers the ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT with 800 MHz GDDR3 memory or 1.1 GHz GDDR4 memory on a 128-bit memory interface. All ATI Radeon HD 2600-series graphics cards have 120 stream processors and available with memory capacities between 128-to-512MB.

ATI Radeon HD 2000-Series
Model Stream processors Core clock Memory clock Memory interface
HD 2900 XT 320 740 MHz 825 MHz 512-bit
HD 2600 XT 120 800 MHz 1100 MHz 128-bit
HD 2600 XT 120 800 MHz 800 MHz 128-bit
HD 2600 Pro 120 600 MHz 500 MHz 128-bit
HD 2400 XT 40 700 MHz 800 MHz 64-bit
HD 2400 Pro 40 525 MHz 400 MHz 64-bit

Taking over the low end is the ATI Radeon HD 2400-series, available in Pro and XT flavors. The ATI Radeon HD 2400-series occupies $50-to-$85 price points. AMD equips the ATI Radeon HD 2400-series with 40 stream processors and 64-bit memory interfaces. The ATI Radeon HD 2400 XT clocks in at 700 MHz core with 800 MHz GDDR3 memory. The ATI Radeon HD 2400 Pro has lower specifications with a 525 MHz core clock and 400 MHz GDDR2. AMD ATI Radeon HD 2400-series graphics cards are available with memory capacities ranging from 128MB-to-256MB.

Expect ATI Radeon HD 2600 and HD 2400-series graphics cards to pop up at retailers in early July. The usual board manufacturers should have cards, including ASUS, Diamond, Gigabyte, PowerColor, Sapphire and other partners.

AMD Phenom X2 GE-Series Details Unveiled

AMD drops the Phenom X2 TDP to 45-watts

AMD plans to cut power consumption of its mainstream Phenom X2 processors with the Phenom X2 GE-series, according to the company’s latest roadmap. The Phenom X2 GE-series joins the Phenom X2 GS-series in late Q1’2008, after the Phenom X2 GS-series makes its debut. AMD has three Phenom X2 GS-series in the pipeline with launches beginning in Q4’2007 and more models added in Q1’2008.The new Phenom X2 GE-series matches the recently released Athlon X2 BE-series in terms of thermal design power, or TDP, at 45-watts. AMD Phenom X2 GS-series processors have 65-watt and 89-watt TDP ratings.The low power Phenom X2 GE-series will have three models – the GE-6600, GE-6500 and GE-6400. AMD’s Phenom X2 GE-6600 clocks in at 2.3 GHz, coincidentally, the Intel Core 2 Duo E6600 clocks in at 2.4 GHz. The middle of the Phenom X2 GE-series consists of the 2.1 GHz Phenom X2 GE-6500 while the 1.9 GHz Phenom X2 GE-6400 occupies the bottom of the lineup.
AMD Phenom X2 GE-series

Model CoreFrequency L2 Cache L3 Cache HT3 Bus
GE-6600 2.3 GHz 2x512KB 2MB ~ 3200 MHz
GE-6500 2.1 GHz 2x512KB 2MB ~ 3200 MHz
GE-6400 1.9 GHz 2x512KB 2MB ~ 3200 MHz

All Phenom X2 GE-series processors share the same features. AMD equips the Phenom X2 GE-series with an HT3 bus with speeds equal to or in excess of 3.2 GHz. AMD has yet to set the official speeds of the HT3 bus on Phenom X2 GE-series processors. Phenom X2 GE-series processors are identical to the GS-series, in terms of cache configurations. The Phenom X2 GE-series feature 512KB of L2 cache per core and 2MB shared L3 cache. Expect the AMD Phenom GE-series to drop into a Socket AM2+ platform in Q1’2008.

AMD Prepares Phenom FX Lineup

Say hello to the Phenom FX-90 and FX-80 series

AMD’s latest roadmap reveals model numbers for upcoming Phenom FX processors. Under the new naming scheme, the AMD Phenom FX lineup consists of the Phenom FX-80 and FX-90 series. AMD designates the Phenom FX-80 series for single processor systems while the FX-90 takes on 4x4 dual processor systems. AMD plans to launch two Phenom FX-90 series processors in Q1 2008. The two Phenom FX processors carry the FX-91 and FX-90 names. The AMD Phenom FX-91 will have a clock-speed between 2.4-to-2.6 GHz and will sit on a 3.6 GHz HyperTransport 3.0 bus. The lower Phenom FX-90 will have a clock-speed between 2.2-to-2.4 GHz with a slower HT3 bus. AMD is unsure of the Phenom FX-90’s HT3 bus, but roadmaps indicate HT3 speeds excess of 3.2 GHz. The two Phenom FX-90 series will drop into Socket 1207+ motherboards. AMD plans one Phenom FX processor for Socket AM2+ platforms. The AMD Phenom FX-80 is essentially the FX-90 for single-processor systems. The Phenom FX-80 will clock in between 2.2-to-2.4 GHz and have a HT3 bus speed in excess of 3.2 GHz. All Phenom FX processors share similar feature sets, with 512KB of L2 cache per core and a shared 2MB L3 cache. The TDP of Phenom FX processors are still to be determined.Expect AMD to pull the wraps off the Phenom FX-90 series in Q1 2008 with its upcoming FASN8 socket 1207+ platform. AMD expects to launch the Phenom FX-80 earlier, in the November-to-December timeframe.

Partners Showcase AMD RD790 Motherboards

ASUS, DFI and Gigabyte prepare RD790, RD780 and RX780 motherboards.

AMD motherboard partners displayed RD790-based motherboards at Computex 2007. ASUS, DFI and Gigabyte have RD790 motherboards on display. Gigabyte is the only partner to have a live demonstration of RD790, from what we have seen. The Gigabyte GA-M790-DQ6 features four PCIe 2.0 x16 slots capable of dual x16 or quad x8 configurations.

The live demo of the Gigabyte GA-M790-DQ6 did not have two ATI Radeon GPUs operating in CrossFire. Instead, Gigabyte equipped the RD790 demo system with a single ATI Radeon HD 2600 XT.

The Gigabyte GA-M790-DQ6 does not have any PCIe x1 slots. However, the GA-M790-DQ6 features two standard PCI slots. Gigabyte also equips the GA-M790-DQ6 with a Realtek ALC889 high-definition audio codec capable of 106dB signal-to-noise ratios.

ASUS had the M3A32-MVP Deluxe on display. The upcoming ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe supports Socket AM2+ processors with HyperTransport 3.0, or HT3. The board features dual PCIe 2.0 x16, three PCI and one PCIe x1 slots. The ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe will also support DDR2-1066 memory.

ASUS equips the M3A32-MVP Deluxe with an elaborate heat-pipe cooling setup. The heat-pipe cools the RD790, SB600 and accompanying system memory.

DFI had the LANPartyUT RD790-M2R on display. The LANPartyUT RD790-M2R features four PCIe 2.0 x16, two PCI and one PCIe x1 slots. DFI only claims HyperTransport 1.0 support with the LANPartyUT RD790-M2R. Nevertheless, the LANPartyUT RD790-M2R features a six-phase Vcore and one-phase digital PWM. Additionally, the DFI LANPartyUT features dual Gigabit Ethernet ports with teaming technology and DFI Bernstein eight-channel audio.

ASUS had additional AMD 7-series motherboards on display – the M3A-MVP and M3A. The ASUS M3A-MVP features the mainstream RD780 chipset with a cut-down PCIe lane configuration. ASUS equips the M3A-MVP with two physical PCIe 2.0 x16 slots. The PCIe 2.0 x16 slots default to dual eight-lane configurations when both slots are occupied.

The ASUS M3A-MVP also features three PCIe x1 and two PCI slots for expansion. The vanilla M3A-MVP does not receive the elaborate heat-pipe setup as its deluxe brethren.

Lastly is the value-level ASUS M3A. The ASUS M3A features the AMD RX780 chipset paired with the SB600. The AMD RX780 does not support CrossFire. The ASUS M3A features one PCIe 2.0 x16, three PCIe x1 and three PCI slots.

Expect AMD RD790, RD780 and RX780 motherboards later this year.

NVIDIA Partners Quietly Rollout Retail GeForce 8400GS

NVIDIA takes on the entry-level DirectX10 market with a sub-$100 retail graphics card.

Graphic card manufacturers silently launched retail GeForce 8400GS-based add-in boards this week. The GeForce 8400GS is NVIDIA’s newest retail entry-level offering, slotting below the GeForce 8500GT. NVIDIA previously released the GeForce 8400GS a couple months ago to OEMs only.

The retail GeForce 8400GS arrives ready to take on AMD’s upcoming ATI Radeon HD 2400-series. The entry-level offering introduces DirectX and shader model 4.0 to a sub-$100 price point. NVIDIA also packs the GeForce 8400GS with PureVideo HD for hardware accelerated video decoding, which accelerates decoding of H.264, VC-1 and MPEG2 high-definition video formats.

GeForce 8400GS-based cards feature 16 stream processors clocked at 900 MHz with a 450MHz core clock – similar to the GeForce 8500GT. NVIDIA pairs the GeForce 8400GS with 256MB of 400 MHz, 800 MHz effectively, DDR2 memory as with the GeForce 8500GT. However, NVIDIA has castrated the memory interface, leaving the GeForce 8400GS with a 64-bit interface instead of the 128-bit interface found on the 8500GT.

Expect GeForce 8400GS-based cards to start popping up in retail within the coming weeks. A quick search reveals MWAVE is the only retailer with a GeForce 8400GS in stock for $70.

INTEL DETAILS LONG-TERM XEON,ITANIUM PLANS

Intel says Itanium will continue to sail for the long run.

Intel this week revealed new details about where it plans to take its server processor business, specifically with the Itanium processor. As many know, Intel took a gamble on the Itanium when it was released several years ago. Intel's use of a then uncommon Explicitly Parallel Instruction Computing (EPIC) architecture left the majority of the industry unsure of Itanium's practicality in an x86-dominated world. Today however, the Itanium family brings in roughly $3.5 billion per annun for Intel.

Diane Bryant, vice president of Intel's enterprise group, revealed several details that indicate Intel will push forward with Itanium development for the foreseeable future.

Currently, Intel's flagship Itanium 2 processor is the Montecito core. Intel announced Montecito last July, marking the company's first dual-core enterprise and mainframe processor. Until now, Montecito ran on a 533MHz front-side bus but will soon make the transition a 667MHz front-side bus processor in Q4 2007, dubbed Montvale. According to Bryant, Montvale will consist of minor updates, improving bus speed but also improving overall stability.

Recent Intel roadmaps indicate that Montvale will consist of roughly 25 percent of Intel's Itanium business in Q4 2007. By Q1 2008, Intel guidance suggests Montvale will take up a whopping 40 percent of all Itanium 2 sales. Despite Intel's desktop processors currently seeing day light at 65nm, Itanium 2 processors will still be on 90nm manufacturing technology. Montvale will also top out at a core speed of 1.66GHz with a total of 24MB of L3 cache.

Intel's next major milestone in the Itanium family will come with the arrival of Tukwila, a quad-core processor due sometime in late 2008. According to Bryant, Tukwila will be roughly twice as fast as Montecito and feature an on-die memory controller.

This will be a turning point for Intel because with Tukwila's need for a discrete memory controller gone, the company will introduce its long waited common system interface (CSI). Tukwila's use of CSI will be a direct response to AMD's HyperTransport technology. Intel previously stated it will not restrict CSI to the Itanium family, but will eventually use the technology as the main transport bus for the Xeon family as well.

Tukwila will also come with even larger caches and a new reliability feature called double device data correction (DDDC). DDDC acts as a failsafe mechanism to protect system memory failures from bringing down a live system. In a hardware failure where a memory chip on a memory module fails, DDDC will be able to mark that chip as unusable without compromising system stability. DDDC differs from traditional ECC and parity technology due to its capability to withstand more than one chip failure.

Bryant went on to reveal details about the future release of an entirely new Itanium architecture code-named Poulson. With Poulson, Bryant claims Intel will introduce even more cores; greater scalability and the introduction of 32nm die fabrication for its enterprise segment. The company will skip 45nm technology altogether for Itanium. Bryant did not give details on a possible release date for Poulson although Intel is expecting to introduce 32nm processors in approximately two years.

PANASONIC ANNOUNCES NEW 45nm LSI FOR DIGITAL AV DEVICES

Matsushita develops UniPhier system LSI using a 45-nm process.

Matsushita Electric Industrial, best known for its Panasonic brand, has recently developed a new-generation of its “UniPhier” LSI system that integrates new AV data compression/decompression (codec) technology. The company started mass-production of the new 250 million transistor chip this month on a 45nm process.

The UniPhier system is already widely used in many Panasonic digital AV devices, though the updated LSI adds an AV codec that responds to the next-generation image data compression standard, such as H.264, ideal for handling high-definition images.

Matsushita says that the chip features multi-decoding technology that enables two 1080p (1920X1080) high-definition (HD) screens to be processed simultaneously, and a high image quality encoding technology to compress 1080p HD images to a one third to half the size of conventional methods.

The additional circuitry required to process high-definition streams, which posed manufacturing challenges on the 65nm level, was more easily achieved at 45nm. Additionally, using the 45nm process reduced the device’s overall power requirements and heat output.

Matsushita is the latest to announce LSI technology using a 45nm semiconductor process. Earlier this week, Fujitsu revealed its own 45nm LSI for mobile applications.

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Intel Prepares New Value Chipset

Intel G31 and P31 Express to replace 946GZ, 946PL and 046G ExpressIntel plans to release two value-level chipsets next quarter – the G31 and P31 Express.

The new G31 and P31 Express chipsets replace the current 946GZ, 946PL and 945G Express offerings. The G31 and P31 Express slot below the G33 Express, but are not Bearlake derivatives. The Intel G31 and P31 Express chipsets are actually 945-generation derivatives with added support for Yorkfield and Wolfdale processors.Features of the G31 and P31 Express chipsets remain similar to the 945GZ, 945PL and 945G Express chipsets. The G31 and P31 Express support Intel processors with a 1066 MHz front-side bus. Official support for 1333 MHz front-side bus processors will not arrive until Q1’2008, after Intel completes validation. The new value chipsets support DDR2-800 memory. Additionally, Intel pairs the G31 and P31 Express chipsets with the ICH7, ICH7R and ICH7DH south bridges. Differentiating the G31 and P31 Express chipsets is the integrated graphics core found on the G31 Express. Intel equips the G31 Express with a Graphics Media Accelerator 3100, or GMA 3100, graphics core. The GMA 3100 graphics core is essentially the previous GMA 950 rehashed and improved with a new name. The GMA 3100 graphics core lacks hardware T&L and Intel Clear Video Technology. Pixel and vertex shader functions are purely software-based on the GMA 3100. Expect Intel to unveil the G31 and P31 Express chipsets next quarter.