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2010-03-12

Human hamster balls invade GDC Semi-Related
GDC 2010: Virtuspheres for gaming

360 logoWHAT DO YOU get when you cross a human sized hamster ball with VR googles and a game engine? You have a Virtusphere, and it looks like a lot of fun.

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SemiAccurate wrong about Nvidia 480GTX power use Semi-Related
GDC 2010: Officially raised 50W, OEMs livid

Nvidia world iconIF YOU WANT to learn about Nvidia's Tesla and GTX480 cards at GDC, don't ask Nvidia, they have problems with the truth. The real story is found with the users, and they have interesting things to say about the upcoming card's upward bound TDP.

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2010-03-11

AMD starts banging the developer relations drum Semi-Related
GDC 2010 Logos and background work

Gaming evolved logoAMD IS FINALLY doing what we have all been waiting for, promoting its developer relations program to the masses. With that in mind, it introduced three new logos to go along with the program.

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2010-03-10

Mobile Nvidia Fermi GTX480 shown at CeBIT Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Big laptop, vaporware cooled

Cebit logoONE QUESTION THAT a lot of the financial set are asking has to do with Nvidia and mobile. While the company is effectively out of mobile for 2010, there was at least one GTX480 based laptop at CeBIT.

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Thermaltake makes a gaming 'clicky' keyboard Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Esports line makes a real keyboard

Thermaltake LogoCEBIT IS THE PLACE where Thermaltake tends to drop its bombs, and this year it had the launch of a new venture for the company, gaming. There were also some interesting coolers and cases, but the Esports line was getting all the attention.

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AMD shows off 6-core Thuban Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Hard to get excited about

AMD LogoAMD WAS SHOWING OFF its 6-core Thuban CPU at CeBIT along with its 890 chipset. The good news is the showing, the bad news is that it wasn't saying anything about it.

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2010-03-08

Corsair makes direct contact Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Heat sinks, flash and SSDs

Corsair LogoCORSAIR HAS SOME new toys at CeBIT along the usual lines of flash, memory and power supplies. Nothing was revolutionary, but all were updated in some useful ways.

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Magny-Cours and Quad-Fermi boxes pictured Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Supermicro has the goods

Supermicro logoIF YOU WANTED to see AMD's upcoming Magny-Cours boards or 4 GPU compute platforms at CeBIT, SuperMicro was the place to be. That is only the short list though, there were a lot of other interesting bits all over its corner at Hannover.

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1500 Cores

Next Gen

More GPUs

How Much?

Cutting Through

 
     
Nvidia's GTX480 case dissected Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Thermaltake Element V Nvidia Edition

Thermaltake LogoONE PART that Thermaltake has been getting a lot of press for is the new Fermi GTX480 certified case, a variant of its mainstream Element V case. Other than the day-glo green trim, how does it differ from the normal ElementV? Let's take a look.

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No Problem

512 - 64 = ?

Feel The Love

Told ya

No Hugs Here

 
     

2010-03-05

Apple calls in the German police for CeBIT raids Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 How to kill a trade show

Cebit logoWHAT DO YOU get when you cross Apple, Siemens and Sisvel with the German police at CeBIT? Raids of course, with lots of police, lawyers, and people stripping booths clean of everything electronic.

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2010-03-04

USB powered 802.11n routers show up Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010: Trendnet ups the mobile speeds

Trendnet logoTRENDNET HAD TWO neat devices at CeBIT, a travel router and a 3G to WiFi router. While neither one is unique, both had features to set them apart from the pack.

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HiSaver makes a green power strip Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010: Motion sensor + power strip = smart

Hisaver logoTHERE ARE A lot of 'green' devices that pop up every day, most of which are about as green as an old coal power plant built on an environmentally sensitive wetland. At CeBIT, a small Korean company called HiSaver showed off a green power strip that actually makes a lot of sense.

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2010-03-03

CF/CFast 5.0 Prototype spotted Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Gems unattended sitting in the corner

SuperTalent iconPOKING AROUND CEBIT has it's benefits, especially if you know what to look for. At the SuperTalent booth, it looks like we found a prototype SATA2 CF/CFast card.

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USB3 flash drives are finally affordable Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Supertalent breaks the $70 barrier for speed

Super Talent logo iconSUPERTALENT IS SHOWING a line of storage and memory products that range from consumer toys to serious enterprise level kit. The best one is the last missing piece of the storage puzzle, an affordable USB3 memory stick.

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2010-03-02

Gigabyte claims the fastest HD5870 and GTX260 Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Passive 5770s and new mobos

Gigabyte logoGIGABYTE HAS BEEN on a tear lately, releasing tons of USB3 based mobos around CES, so the new AMD 890 chipset had to hold the line. On the GPU front, things were a bit more interesting.

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Sapphire shows off an overclocked 4GB HD5970 Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 High end GPUs, netbooks and mini-projectors

Sappire logoSAPPHIRE HAS STARTED to branch out from GPUs, but that doesn't mean it didn't have a large selection of high end GPUs to show off. New to the boys in blue this year are micro-projectors, netbooks and micro-ITX boards.

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Nvidia threatens it's partners at CeBIT Semi-Related
CeBIT 2010 Don't you dare talk GTX480

Nvidia world iconWHAT DO YOU do when there is a major international trade show, and you can't even supply all your partners with upcoming parts? You threaten them, which is exactly what Nvidia did for its upcoming GTX480 at CeBIT.

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NDA

 
     

2010-02-20

SemiAccurate gets some GTX480 scores Semi-Related
Hot, buggy and far too slow

Nvidia world iconNVIDIA HAS BEEN hinting about the performance of its upcoming GTX480 cards, and several of our moles got a lot of hands on time with a few cards recently. If you are waiting for killer results from the 'puppy', prepare for severe disappointment.

Updated: Clarified a point on DX11 performance.

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Bouncing Baby

Bouncing Puppy

Selecting Bouncing

Future Hopes

Hey!

 
     

2010-02-17

A list of questions that Nvidia doesn't want to answer Semi-Related
More than a dozen fun topics it avoids

Nvidia world iconIT IS THAT TIME of year again, Nvidia's quarterly conference call for the financial set. Since the company gets pouty every time we try to ask it questions, we decided to publish an open list of questions for you, the people they have far less disdain for than SemiAccurate, to ask directly.

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Nvidia's Fermi GTX480 is broken and unfixable Semi-Related
Hot, slow, late and unmanufacturable

Nvidia world iconWITH ANOTHER LAUNCH of the Nvidia GT300 Fermi GF100 GTX480 upon us, it is time for an update on the status of that wayward part. Production parts have been coming back from TSMC for several weeks now, and the outlook for them is grim.

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2010-02-11

Asus' Pegatron spin-off draws to a close Semi-Related
Wants to be the next Apple, not Acer

IT SEEMS LIKE Asus’ spin-off of Pegatron has been given the green light, as the two companies are set to part officially on June 24th when they each get their own stock on the Taipei stock exchange. During the period between the 8th of May and the 23rd of June all trading with Asus’ stock will be suspended.

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Round 1

Round 2

Origins

 
     

2010-02-05

Web Security Scanners in Detail Semi-Related
Part 2: Closer looks at the data

security graphIN PART 2, we look at the overall findings of the scanner, and a close look at each one. Also included is a look back at the 2007 results in light of the new data.

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2010-02-04

Web Security Scanners Evaluated Semi-Related
Part 1: Clear differences surface

Scanner graphTHIS PAPER FOCUSES on the accuracy and time needed to run, review and supplement the results of the web application scanners (Accunetix, Appscan by IBM, BurpSuitePro, Hailstorm by Cenzic, WebInspect by HP, NTOSpider by NT OBJECTives) as well as the Qualys managed scanning service.

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2010-02-01

ATI Grey Screen of Death fix coming soon Semi-Related
Windows 7 and GDDR5 state changes

ATI logoTHERE HAS BEEN a lot of talk recently about ATI's 'Grey Screen of Death' and almost all of it is hysterically overblown. Let's take a look at the problem in a bit more detail.

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Nice Bumps

Not This

Still Young

A Sixth

Recursive Parody

 
     

2010-01-17

Nvidia GF100 pulls 280W and is unmanufacturable Semi-Related
Details it won't talk about publicly

Nvidia world iconNVIDIA'S GF100 ARCHITECTURE is falling into the same trap that G200 did, shooting for the moon at the cost of the parts that pay the bills. Let's take a look at the architecture and how it stacks up in the market once again.

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Epic Fail

Add 100

You Doubted?

Falling Prices

Good News!

 
     

2010-01-16

Dueling graphics videos hit the net Semi-Related
Monkeys, ninjas and viral videos

ATI logoIT LOOKS LIKE it's time for dueling product videos once again, with ATI and Nvidia both releasing their own 'viral' videos. ATI's is about upgrading to a DX11 card and Nvidia's is about the birth of Fermi GF10.

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1) Dear Leader

2) Puppies Ahoy

3) Charlie Bites

4) Bye Bye

5) Road to Nowhere

 
     

2010-01-14

Supermicro goes small with three new Pine View boards Semi-Related
Tiny server boards with some unusual features

IF YOU'RE LOOKING for a tiny, power efficient server motherboard, then the new range of Pine View based mini-ITX server boards from Supermicro might just be what you’re looking for. The company has launched three boards going under the X7SPA moniker that offer slight variations in the feature set from each other.

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Slightly bigger

A rack

Blades

 
     

2010-01-13

ATI launches 5670 into the heart of the market Semi-Related
Redwood falls on Santa Clara margins

Ati logoONE OF THE worst kept secrets of the year, all 14 days of it, is that the ATI 56xx Redwood parts are coming out today. They are more than half of a Juniper 57xx series and have all the goodies that those chips do.

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1) Cover Broken

2) Six Times

3) Three Times

4) Falling Symbols

5) War Machine

 
     

2010-01-09

EVGA's dual 1366 board explored Semi-Related
CES 2010 More and less than you think

EVGA logoEVGA TEASED US about a dual Intel Core i7 board a few weeks ago, and now it is showing that off. It is big, has lots of slots, and does indeed support two Intel Core i7 chips.

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In Win has the classiest HDD case yet Semi-Related
CES 2010 Porcelain Na and other goodies

In Win LogoIN WIN HAD three really cool things on display at CES, some old, some new, but most had not gotten nearly the attention they deserved. The mix covered things from a USB extension cord and HDD protector to cases.

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2010-01-08

Eye-Fi has a new generation of wireless SD cards Semi-Related
CES 2010 802.11n and lots of features

Eye-Fi logoYOU MAY KNOW about Eye-Fi, the company that makes SD cards with an 802.11 radio in them. It has a new generation of parts called the X2 line about to ship.

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AMD shows integrated DX11 and mobile quads Semi-Related
CES 2010 Danube and Dorado

AMD iconAMD WAS SHOWING off two new platforms today at CES, Danube and Dorado. Danube is the mobile quad-core and Dorado is the 8xx next generation DX11 IGP.

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2010-01-07

Asus ATI 890 board spotted Semi-Related
CES 2010 Not quite enough camouflage

AMD iconIT LOOKS LIKE the AMD 890 based motherboards are starting to break cover. This particular one is the mid-range Asus M4A89GTD Pro.

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Nvidia shows off Fermi and 3-monitor cards Semi-Related
CES 2010 Too little, too late

Nvidia world iconNVIDIA FINALLY SHOWED off Fermi, or in this case, GF100 today, running Unigine without any numbers. It didn't show off cards with three display outs yet, that has to wait for tomorrow.

Edit: TDP updated

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1) Good Friends

2) Bouncing Baby

3) .1 Less

4) 64 Less

5) Hundreds Less

 
     

2010-01-06

CompuLab has an all green machine Semi-Related
CES 2010 Top of the Energy Star pile

CompuLab has a winner. Yup, indeed a winner. It's not often that you find someone at a booth bragging about low power and is willing to let you test it.

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1) Energy Star

 
     
8-Core Becton gets put into a laptop Semi-Related
CES 2010 Ace makes wretched excess portable

Xeon LogoIF YOU ARE sick and tired of slogging along with your wimpy 4-core Nehalem laptop, Ace Computer has a solution for you, the 8-core Xeon 5500 (Beckton) based Ace Raptor 5 Server Workstation AC-Raptor55V. Yes, some insane company just put an Intel 8-core Becton server chip in a laptop, let's hear it for wretched excess.

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Micro-USB3 connector turns up Semi-Related
CES 2010 17 new devices too

USB3USB3 IS JUST starting to come into its own, with 17 new devices including some nice motherboards and external HDs to show off the power. As devices get smaller, it is time to introduce the new micro-USB3 connector and cables.

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2010-01-03

Nvidia mobile 3-series lose DX10.1 Semi-Related
More green marketing sleaze

Nvidia world iconIT LOOKS LIKE Nvidia's mighty mobile business is hitting the skids, and it is going back to competing on price again, begging for deals and renaming the G92 again. The problem is seen with the release of the renamed 3xxM mobile GPUs, and how these are messaged.

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1) G92 = GTS250

2) GTS250 = GTS350

3) GTS240M = GTS340M

4) G210 = G310

5) Gizmo's Galore

 
     

2009-12-29

Nvidia GTS360M is a renamed GT240 Semi-Related
Hits the market with a dull splat

Nvidia world iconNVIDIA'S RENAMING SCAM has another name to add to the list. The G215 is now called the GTS360M. Consumers aren't warned that they are getting old tech with a new name, but Nvidia will proudly tell you that it is 120 more of something than the GT240 that was in desktop form, and the S and M are added bonuses.

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1) First Scam

2) More Scams

3) And Another

4) And Another

5) Worse Yet

 
     

2009-12-23

Shuttle is getting ready to enter the notebook market Semi-Related
Big announcements to come at CES

CES IS THAT first chance in the new year for companies to reveal what they’re working on for the coming year and it looks like Shuttle is getting ready to change its focus, just as so many other companies are. The pre CES press releases on Shuttle’s website talk about a new XPC, a new all-in-one, but also a secret new strategy called SPA and this is the big news that might just make or break Shuttle.

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Not that kind

This kind

The J-series?

 
     

2009-12-21

Nvidia castrates Fermi to 448SPs Semi-Related
Unmanufacturable, hot and slow

Nvidia world iconIT LOOKS LIKE we were right about Fermi being too big, too hot, and too late, Nvidia just castrated it to 448SPs. Even at that, it is a 225 Watt part, slipping into the future.

Updated: Nvidia declines to respond

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1) Too Fast

2) Too Late

3) Too Expensive

4) Too Real

5) Too Fun

 
     
DFI rumored to exit consumer mobos Semi-Related
Industrial to continue on, consumers lose a great maker

DFI logoIT IS OUR really sad duty to inform you about rumors that DFI will be leaving the consumer motherboard business in January. The company is not going away, and will be refocusing on the industrial PC business.

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1) Industrialization

2) Mighty Mite

3) Fast'n'Easy

4) Glowing Fun

5) Retail Minefield

 
     

2009-12-16

FTC officially takes aim at Intel Semi-Related
GPUs, compilers, and monopolies, oh my

Intel logoANOTHER SHOE HAS DROPPED on the heads of Intel's legal team. This time it is an FTC lawsuit saying that the company is anticompetitive. Time for the fun to begin again.

Updated 2x

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1) Swallow Details

2) IC, UC?

3) FTSees

4) Anticompetitive?

5) Swatted down

 
     

2009-12-15

Asus loses $1.12 billion in value due to Pegatron spinoff Semi-Related
Stock market traders in Taiwan dump Asus stock

ACCORDING TO MULTIPLE REPORTS, it looks like Asus might be getting ready to pull the plug on its motherboard business unit. This might sound like a very drastic move by Asus, but with the Pegatron spinoff as a separate business entity, it might just make long term sense. It’s hardly news that Asus is aspiring to become something more and has long had its sights on becoming the next Acer. This might seem to be an odd goal, but Acer has been a phenomenally successful company.

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Asus Wiki

Share prices

Peg Asus

 
     

2009-12-10

Fermi A3 silicon is in the oven Semi-Related
Real launch possible in February

Nvidia world iconIT LOOKS LIKE Nvidia has put the A3 stepping of Fermi in the oven, it happened some time last week. That means that you may see cards as early as February, depending on two or three other factors.

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1) Last Gen

2) First Gen

3) Low Life

4) Lower Lives

5) Big Guns

 
     

2009-12-04

Intel kills consumer Larrabee, focuses on future variants Semi-Related
Not a shock, dev and HPC platform at first

Intel logoINTEL HAS FINALLY done what we had all expected it to do, and pulled the plug on the consumer version of Larrabee. In a statement today, Intel said that the chip will be a development platform and an HPC part, but there will be no retail version, at least not any time soon.

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2009-12-02

Gigabyte does USB3 and SATA3 right on the 333 series Semi-Related
A long look at the X58 Extreme 2 and GA-P55-UD6

Gigabyte LogoWITH SEVERAL REALLY useful new standards on the horizon, wouldn't it be nice if there was a board or two that did both, USB3.0 and SATA3, and did them well? If you have been waiting for such a beast, the '333 Series' Gigabyte GA-P55-UD6 and X58 Extreme 2 are the boards for you.

Updated: Name changes

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1) Wrong Chip

2) Right Case

3) Chips Away

4) Use This

5) Pure Evil

 
     

2009-11-25

Nvidia G310 spotted, just a renamed G210 Semi-Related
Nvidia scams consumers again

Nvidia world iconNVIDIA IS RENAMING parts once again. Now the 200 series is the 300 series, just like we told you months ago. Nvidia has no new parts and no chance of coming up with any soon, so all it can do is unethically try to snow consumers.

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1) Roadmaps Aplenty

2) Slimy Worms

3) Experts Agree

4) Ethics Abound

5) Spin -> English

 
     

2009-11-16

ATI 58xx parts are delayed a bit more Semi-Related
TSMC's problems are very very odd

tsmc iconIT LOOKS LIKE the wait for more Cypress/HD58xx cards just got a little longer, but not by much. One has to wonder how TSMC can be so bad for so long.

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1) Premature Exclamation

2) Improvement Room

3) Homework Done

4) Future Slide

5) Tuned Correctly

 
     
Fermi massively misses clock targets Semi-Related
Slow, late and unlikely to make money

Nvidia world iconOFFICIAL WORD FROM NVIDIA is that gaming is now a footnote for the formerly leading graphics company, its latest and greatest Fermi chip won't see the light of day until at least Q1 of 2010, and Fermi's clock speeds so far are massively off what the firm had hoped for. Yup, it is a mess, just like we told you.

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1) Their Words

2) More Truthful

3) Corporate Honesty

4) Come Clean

5) MS Honesty

 
     

2009-11-13

HP buys 3Com, validates Cisco Semi-Related
Not late to the game, honest

HP iconHP ANNOUNCED that it will buy 3Com for $2.7 billion the other day, and with one swipe of pen on checkbook validated Cisco's strategy. HP also showed that it won't be able to compete in the converged network arena for years to come.

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1) Black Blade

2) No Handcuffs?

3) Good Commodities

4) Bad Commodities

5) Quite Unique