Antec LanBoy Air

Antec today announced the LanBoy Air: Antec’s state-of-the art, fully-modular chassis designed to provide extensive customizability and flexibility to high-performance PC gamers, modders and workstation users.

The LanBoy Air sports unprecedented top-to-bottom mesh construction for extensive air ventilation and includes five 120 mm fans (two front-adjustable speed 120 mm blue LED fans and three 120 mm TwoCool two-speed blue LED fans) with space to mount up to 15 total fans. The fans are positioned to create positive air pressure, bringing cool air in and around hard drives and graphics cards, and expelling hot air and dust through the chassis’ perforated panels.

The LanBoy Air has an entirely reconfigurable interior with 11 total drive bays (including nine modular bays to accommodate six internal 3.5″ drives and three external 5.25″ drives). The 3.5″ drives can also take advantage of Antec’s exclusive AirMount suspension mounting system, which suspends hard drives in the drive bays, reducing vibration and increasing ease of use. Additionally, the 5.25″ and 3.5″ drive bays can be easily configured in three horizontal orientations: facing the front, right or left to accommodate users’ desired chassis arrangements. This chassis also comes with two internal bottom-mounted 2.5″ SSD drive bays.

The chassis’ motherboard tray comes complete with a CPU cut-out and the power supply unit (PSU) mount is situated on the bottom of the chassis. In addition, both the motherboard tray and PSU mount slide out for easy installation and can be repositioned for increased customization — meeting the exacting demands of end users as well as system builders.

The LanBoy Air has space to fit graphics cards 15″ and over and also features two rugged carrying handles for easy transport while at LAN parties, eight expansion slots, three USB ports (including one USB 3.0 port) and a convenient bottom-installed tool box for hardware and screw storage.

“Antec’s Skeleton was universally lauded as the most innovative chassis ever. The LanBoy Air builds on the Skeleton’s open-air frame design, combining it with a familiar form factor and fully modular construction,” said Scott Richards, senior vice president at Antec. “This chassis offers our most avid users the platform they need to push the limits of what they imagined possible in high-performance system design.”

Among its accolades, the LanBoy Air was awarded the prestigious COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2010 Design & Innovation prize for excellence in design quality in the “Components and Parts” category earlier this year.

ATI New Catalyst 10.9 WHQL Driver Suite

This morning AMD is set to roll out its Catalyst 10.9 driver software with a few notable game improvements as well as bug fixes. You can download them directly from AMD’s website when the link beomces available or test out the new ATI Steam updater announced earlier.

For now, here is quick rundown of improvements:

ATI Catalyst Software Suite Version 10.9 Release Notes

The Catalyst Software Suite 10.9 contains the following:

– ATI Radeon display driver 8.771
– HydraVision for both Windows XP, Vista and Windows 7
– Southbridge/IXP Driver
– ATI Catalyst Control Center Version 8.771

Operating Systems Supported

The latest version of the ATI Catalyst software suite is designed to support the following Microsoft Windows platforms:
– Windows 7 32-bit version
– Windows 7 64-bit version
– Windows Vista 32-bit version
– Windows Vista 64-bit version
– Windows XP Professional
– Windows XP Home Edition
– Windows XP Media Center Edition
– Windows XP Professional x64 Edition

Note: When installing the ATI Catalyst driver for Windows, the user must be logged on as Administrator or have Administrator rights in order to successfully complete the installation of the ATI Catalyst driver.

Catalyst Application Profiles
The following application profiles are available with this release of Catalyst 10.9:

• Aliens Vs. Predator – Profile update
• Battlefield: Bad Company 2 – Profile update
• F1 2010 – Profile update
• Kane & Lynch 2 – New profile

Performance Improvements
The following performance gains are noticed with this release of Catalyst 10.9:

STALKER: Call of Pripyat Benchmark

• - Performance increases up to 20% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single and CrossFire configurations with Enhanced full dynamic lighting (DX11) and anti-aliasing enabled
• - Performance increases up to 12% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series single and CrossFire configurations with Enhanced full dynamic lighting (DX11) and anti-aliasing enabled

The Chronicles of Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena

• - Performance increases up to 4% on ATI Radeon HD 5700 Series single and CrossFire configurations
• - Performance increases up to 4% on ATI Radeon HD 4800 Series single and CrossFire configurations
• - Performance increases up to 5% on ATI Radeon HD 5800 Series single and CrossFire configurations
• - Performance increases up to 6% on ATI Radeon HD 5970 Series single and CrossFire configurations

Resolved Issues for the Windows 7 Operating System
This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst Software Suite for Windows 7. These include:

• UVD clocks will now return to normal speeds after switching from HD to SD content
• Flickering no longer visible while running 3D games on HDMI displays with Quad CrossFire enabled
• Mesh corruption is no longer visible in “The Chronicles of Riddick 2: Assault on Dark Athena” when SSAO in-game setting is set to high
• CrossFire now functions properly and in-game Anti-Aliasing can now be enabled in “StarCraft II”
• Adobe Flash Player will no longer display green screen after resume from sleep
• Negative CrossFire scaling on “Final Fantasy-XIV” no longer occurs
• Intermittent perfomance drops no longer observed with harware cursor enabled in “World of Warcraft” game in extended mode

Resolved Issues for the Windows Vista Operating System
This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst Software Suite for Windows Vista. These include:

• AVI video no longer lags during playback within Microsoft PowerPoint slide deck
• Desktop corruption no longer occurs during PowerDVD SD/Blu-ray content playback on 120Hz displays
• Choppy HD playback no longer occurs while changing color vibrance and fleshtone correction in Catalyst Control Center – Advanced Color

Resolved Issues for the Windows XP Operating System
This section provides information on resolved issues in this release of the ATI Catalyst Software Suite for Windows XP. These include:

• Copy protection message will no longer appear when viewing a DVD with Windows Media Player on a Windows XP system with PowerDVD 9 installed

Download: http://sites.amd.com/us/game/downloads/Pages/downloads.aspx

Kingston Launches First USB 3.0 Flash Drive

Kingston today announced it is shipping its first USB 3.0 Flash drive. The Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 Flash drive takes advantage of the faster USB 3.0 specification that has up to ten times the data transfer rates of the current USB 2.0 specification.

The DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 has a read speed of 80MB/sec. and a write speed of 60MB/sec. It is available in 16GB, 32GB and 64GB capacities. The combination of speed and size makes it ideal for data backup or fast transferring of large files including music, photos and videos. To ensure backwards compatibility, Kingston is also including a Y cable as some USB 2.0 ports require it to initialize USB 3.0 drives.

“USB 3.0 is the next major milestone in Flash memory for USB products and Kingston wants to have a solution in the marketplace for early adopters,” said Andrew Ewing, USB business manager, Kingston. “The DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 is our first USB 3.0 Flash drive offering and is designed for enthusiasts who like to embrace new technology before it goes mainstream.”

During internal testing, a 1 hour 44 minute movie (3.9GB) was written to the drive in 1 minute 13 seconds. Similarly, a 2 hour 23 minute DVD (4.4GB) transferred to the drive at a fast 1 minute 23 seconds†.

The Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 USB Flash drive is backed by a five-year warranty, 24/7 tech support and legendary Kingston reliability. For more information visit www.kingston.com.

Kingston DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0
Part Number	Capacity and Features	MSRP (U.S. only).
DTU30/16GB	16GB DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 USB Flash Drive	$ 89.00
DTU30/32GB	32GB DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 USB Flash Drive	$ 138.00
DTU30/64GB	64GB DataTraveler Ultimate 3.0 USB Flash Drive	$ 270.00

MSI GTX460 Hawk 1GB DDR5

MSI today launches the brand new N460GTX Hawk to the great expectation of global gamers to conquer the market. The world’s first graphic card with triple overvoltage function supporting core voltage, memory voltage and PLL voltage adjustments, the N460GTX Hawk is also the only model on the market that has successfully achieved 1GHz under air-cooling during overclocking.

Also, the design tradition of the Hawk series continues on the GTX460 GPU, including 7+1 PWM power design, V-Check Points, APS (active phase switching), Twin Frozr II dual-fan thermal design, and military class components, to deliver unrivaled performance in thermal solution, power supply, stability, noise reduction and performance.

World’s first triple overvoltage function and the V-Check Points

The N460GTX Hawk from MSI is the world’s first graphic card supporting triple overvoltage function. Operating with Afterburner (V2.0.0) overclocking software exclusive from MSI, users can adjust the voltage of the GPU, memory and PLL. When compared with products at the same level from other manufacturers, the N460GTX Hawk can enhance overclocking potential of the graphic card in all dimensions. More importantly, it is the world’s first GTX 460 graphic card to successfully achieve overclocking to 1GHz* under only air-cooling. Apart from triple overvoltage functions, V-Check Points allows users to measure voltage on the graphic card with just a multi-meter in order to capture various data in an overclocking session, thus making overclocking simpler.

7+1 PWM power design and APS technology

When compared with 4+1 PWM design on the reference card which supplies power only up to 90A in graphic cards at the same level, 7+1 PWM design of the N460GTX Hawk not only supplies power up to 120A for the GPU to enhance GPU stability and performance in overclocking session, APS technology can automatically save the power consumption according to the GPU’s workload.

Exclusive Twin Frozr II dual-fan thermal design

Built with two 8cm fans, four heat-pipes with SuperPipe technology and a large-area nickel-plated copper heat-sink, the MSI-exclusive Twin Frozr II thermal design can effectively and efficiently dissipate heat produced from the GPU. When compared with the reference cooler, the Twin Frozr II can effectively reduce the GPU temperature by 18°C and fan noise by 8.1dB to deliver a cool and quiet computing environment.

Military Class Components

In addition to All Solid CAPs which enhance the overclocking and high loading performance of GPU, the N460GTX Hawk is equipped with the SFC (Super Ferrite Choke) to enhance power efficiency by 10% and output current by 30%. Also, the Hi-c CAP with a tantalum core can enhance GPU power supply to increase the graphic card’s overall lifespan as well as the stability of GPU.

MSI 870A Fuzion Power Edition

MSI, the world renowned motherboard and graphics card maker, has followed up the recent release of its revolutionary Fuzion series mainboard by upping the ante with the release of the 870A Fuzion Power Edition mainboard that features AMD 870 and SB850 chipset and support for AMD’s full line of Phenom II, Athlon II, and Sempron processors in Socket AM3, including the 140W high-consumption Phenom II X6 series! What’s more, exclusive Fuzion Technology, extreme power design, military class components, USB 3.0 & SATA 6Gb/s, and other popular features undeniably make the MSI 870A Fuzion Power Edition mainboard the top AMD 870 chipset mainboard.

Fuzion Technology Allows Gamers to Easily Defeat Their Opponents

To let users unreservedly experience the enhanced performance of multiple graphics cards, the MSI 870A Fuzion Power Edition mainboard comes with exclusive Fuzion Technology (utilizing the Lucid Hydra 200 chip), which can successfully carry out cross-vendor, non-identical multi-GPU processing simultaneously. In addition, the dual PCI-E ×16 Gen2 expansion slot design allows you to purchase any brand or class of new graphics card with your existing graphics card.

CPU PWM Features Military Class Components that Provide Remarkable Stability

The MSI 870A Fuzion Power Edition mainboard also incorporates military class components, specifically the three special components Hi-c CAP, Solid CAP, and Icy Choke. For the CPU power supply module in particular, Hi-c CAP, can withstand the trials of extended and severe operating conditions, provide even higher power supply efficiency and lower operating temperatures. Its low-profile design is also beneficial to overclockers who want to install their favorite high-end CPU cooler. Take cooling a step further while enhancing overclocking potential!

The Extreme Power Design Provides Overall Boost in Performance

The MSI 870A Fuzion Power Edition mainboard features an 8+2 phase DrMOS power supply module design with the most advanced version of DrMOS; the efficient power supply unit smashes the myth that a larger phase number is ideal. An additional 6-pin VGA power supply connection also allows more than 70% additional power to be provided compared to standard mainboards with 24-pin power supply inputs. Even when combining two high-end graphics cards, you can still enjoy the same broad increases in overclocking performance and operating stability — a must-have design requirement for high-end mainboards.

OC Genie Makes Overclocking Even Easier—Enhance Performance with Unlock

The MSI 870A Fuzion Power Edition also includes the exclusive OC Genie One Second Overclocking Utility. Just press the OC Genie button on the mainboard for automatic optimization of CPU, RAM, and chipset frequency and voltage settings. If the Unlock CPU Core function is started simultaneously, maximum performance boost of over 148% can be achieved! For novice gamers, these performance enhancements are easily achieved through simple operation and are definitely the best functions in terms of user-friendliness and practicality.

Ultra High Transfer Bandwidth with USB 3.0 & SATA 6Gb/s

The MSI 870A Fuzion Power Edition mainboard comes built-in with the latest USB 3.0 and SATA 6Gb/s transfer standards: the all-new USB 3.0 features 5Gb/s transfer bandwidth that’s 10 times higher than traditional USB 2.0. Using the USB 3.0 interface, transferring a Blu-ray movie takes less than one minute to complete. Also, MSI is the first to introduce a casing with a front-facing USB 3.0 port. With a free-bundled USB 3.0 front panel, using a USB 3.0 external device is even more convenient. As for SATA 6Gb/s, it not only provides double the bandwidth of traditional SATA 3Gb/s, but also accelerates data transfer speeds at the same time, allowing it to keep in step with future trends for high-speed storage applications.

The features above show that the MSI 870A Fuzion Power Edition mainboard offers exclusive the most robust and flexible platform, with Fuzion Technology that lets you choose from a wide selection when upgrading a graphics card, ultimate power supply design, military class components, and strengthened stability. Also, the OC Genie and Unlock CPU Core combination provides a considerable performance boost. The use of USB 3.0, SATA 6Gb/s and a front-facing USB 3.0 panel also represent mainstream trends of future products. These design considerations are far ahead of the competition, making the MSI 870A Fuzion Power Edition mainboard the first choice for AMD fans!