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Printed On: | July 5, 2008, 6:15 am |
| Category: | Editorials | |
| Type: | Sim Lim Square | |
| Posted By: | tUx | |
| Date Posted: | March 20, 2008, 12:57 pm |
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Intel 45nm quad-cores arrive
Well, seems like the latest 45nm quad cores from Intel that are based on Penryn have finally arrived.
Two models are available at time of publication - the Q9300 and the Q9450.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9300
The Q9300 is a 2.5GHz part that runs on a 1333MHz system bus. However, compared to the other quad-core processors in the Q9000 family, Q9300 is the only one that offers 6MB L2 cache; the rest have the full 12MB L2 cache.
Intel Core 2 Quad Q9450
The Q9450 is clocked only slightly faster at 2.66GHz. Well, it is just a 0.5x bump to the multiplier to 8x, up from the Q9300's 7.5x. Do expect slightly more improvements clock-for-clock since the Q9450 comes with the full 12MB L2 cache.
Pricing
The Q9300 retails for around the SGD$460 mark, while the Q9450 is slightly more expensive at around SGD$540. The former can be found at Chamoxa and Cybermind, while the latter at Bell and Chamoxa.
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Gigabyte X48 appears on shelves
Gigabyte X48 production boards have appeared quietly on the shelves over the weekend. The box outlook is similar to that of the X38-DQ6 and the EX38-DQ6. Unless you have a sharp eye, you would probably miss it and not even know that the latest X48-DQ6 has already reached Singapore.
Well, the same PCB from their X38 series is used.
Gigabyte's 6-Quad (12 phase) PWM arrangement.
Gigabyte's Crazy Cool covering the underside of the motherboard, to provide better cooling to the processor, northbridge, and southbridge.
The Gigabyte X48-DQ6 is retailing for SGD$539.
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Some dual GPU goodness
Small quantities of nVidia's latest GeForce 9800GX2 have been streaming in over the past few days.
Let's check out the offerings from various companies. Well, nVidia doesn't allow third-party designs, so we are looking at the same thing, less the different stickers used by the different brands.
Gigabyte
Covered by the label, there are actually two power connectors below it. Both connectors, one 6-pin and one 8-pin PCI-E, need to be plugged in order for this card to operate.
XFX
Coming in a stunning black box, it catches attention pretty easily.
XFX boxes are sealed, so we are unable to get a shot of the card itself.
Leadtek
The cheapest of the lot, you could get one of this for only SGD$1039. This is cheaper than Gigabyte ($1059) or XFX ($1079).
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Other new products this week
Intel
The following Intel products were spotted at Chamoxa.
The Intel mini wireless mouse has been around for a short while, but it has gone relatively un-noticed.
For SGD$18, you could get one of these, which will be able to serve your basic needs well.
Completely similar to the Intel Core 2 Duo E8400, is the Intel Xeon E3110. Xeons are actually meant for servers, but they have been getting some attention from overclockers as they tend to possess better overclocking potential than their desktop brothers.
A Xeon E3110 could be gotten for SGD$349.
FSP
Just fresh from the oven is FSP's modular power supply, the Everest series. The 600W and 700W models are available also at Chamoxa. Prices are SGD$205 and SGD$245 respectively.
The non-modular series is known as the Epsilon. However, both the non-modular and modular power supplies from FSP are 80Plus-certified.
Gainward
For only SGD$315, you could help yourself to a Gainward 9600GT Golden Sample card.
Just look at connectivity options!
Gigabyte
Bumped into the guy from CDL Trading at Bell, and managed to get hold of some Gigabyte products that just arrived today.
For only
Targeted at budget-conscious users, the Gigabyte Radeon HD3450 256MB and HD3650 512MB are available for really low prices of SGD$80 and SGD$140 only.
Corsair
To compliment Corsair's HX modular power supply series, they have come up with both the VX and TX series, with the TX series being a high-performance power supply that runs on a single, but heavy-duty +12V rail. Pricing for the VX550W and the TX750W is SGD$169 and SGD$275 respectively at Bell.
PNY
PNY has once against re-surfaced in Sim Lim Square (anyone remembers their FX 5800?). Going for a good price of SGD$399, is PNY's 8800GT 512MB Performance Edition.
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Attractive OCZ offers
Chamoxa is offering OCZ PC2-6400 Platinum Edition 2GB single sticks at a great price of only SGD$90. Yes, just ninety bucks. The memories are rated for 5-4-4- timing operation.
This works out to only $180 for a pair to run 4GB worth of RAM in dual-channel!
What if you have only $70 to spare on a CPU cooler?
Let's check out OCZ's latest CPU cooler, the Vendetta. It has three copper heatpipes, and these pipes actually come in contact with the processor surface, which is supposed to aid cooling performance. A variable-speed fan is included to achieve low noise levels of 22-34dB(A) only. A free tube syringe of OCZ Ultra5+ silver thermal compound is bundled with the OCZ Vendetta.
The Vendetta is available at Cybermind for SGD$ 69.
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