ASUS Bundles Battlefield 3 with Graphics Cards and Sound Cards

ASUS began bundling copies of Battlefield 3 (not Limited Edition) and an ASUS-Battlefield 3 themed Lanyard with GeForce GTX 560 Ti DirectCU II TOP graphics card and Xonar D2X PCI-Express 7.1 channel sound card. You can buy either of those and get a Battlefield 3 coupon that can be redeemed on Origin.

The GeForce GTX 560 Ti TOP will allow you to play Battlefield 3 at 1080p resolution with quite some eye-candy turned on. Its core is overclocked to 900 MHz (from NVIDIA reference speed of 820 MHz), and memory at 1050 MHz (4200 MHz GDDR5 effective). The DirectCU II cooler, ASUS claims, keeps the card 20% cooler than the reference heatsink. There is 1 GB of GDDR5 memory across a 256-bit wide memory interface. This GTX 560 Ti is based on the 40 nm GF114 silicon, packing 384 CUDA cores.

Next up is the Xonar D2X sound card, which is based on ASUS AV200 audio processor (C-Media CMI8788 OxygenHD derivative), with four TI Burr-Brown PCM1796 output DACs (total of 8 channels), and Cirrus-Logic CS5381 mic/line input ADC. The card can provide an output signal-noise ratio of 118 dBA. It supports all PCM output resolutions, including 24-bit 192 KHz. The card seats on any PCI-Express slot. This card, ASUS claims, will let you squeeze the most out of the already perfect Battlefield 3 sound design, helping you hear your enemies better.

 

 

 

MSI Micro-ATX LGA2011 X79MA-GD45 Motherboard

Here are the first pictures of MSI's socket LGA2011 motherboard in the micro-ATX form-factor. Earlier this week, we got to see through ASRock's X79 Extreme4-M that LGA2011 micro-ATX boards were indeed possible. Called the MSI X79MA-GD45 (MS-7738 V1.1), this board offers all the connectivity possible on a board with such a tight footprint. The LGA2011 socket is powered by a 9-phase VRM. It is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, two on either sides of the socket, powered by 2-phase VRM. Expansion slots include two each of PCI-Express 3.0 x16 and PCI-Express 2.0 x1. 2-way SLI and CrossFire are supported.

SATA connectivity includes two SATA 6 Gb/s (white), four SATA 3 Gb/s (black). There are no eSATA ports, but four USB 3.0, two on the rear panel, two by internal header, driven by Renesas-made controllers. The rest of the connectivity is fairly standard: 8+2 channel HD audio driven by Realtek ALC892 CODEC with optical and coaxial SPDIF outputs, single gigabit Ethernet driven by Realtek 8111E, and a number of USB 2.0 ports. One of the front-panel USB 2.0 headers is designed for charging portable devices even with the system shut down (yet plugged in). The board will be driven by UEFI firmware, we're getting to see some nifty features for overclockers such as voltage measurement points across a wide range of voltage domains.

 

Swiftech Introduces H2O X20 Edge HD Series Liquid Cooling Kits

Rouchon Industries, Inc. dba Swiftech today announced the release for retail sales of the H2O-x20 Edge “HD” series liquid cooling kits using their new flagship CPU waterblock the Apogee HD and the patent pending MCRx20 Drive (Rev3) series of PC radiators.

The new kit series announce uncompromised performance, functionality, and simple installation at a reasonable price. “This new generation offers an ease of installation which is very close to that of other all-in-one kits, but it does it without sacrificing performance and functionality: users can take full advantage of the power of liquid cooling i.e. low temperature and low noise while not being restricted to CPU-only cooling as is the case with other all-in-one kits” said Gabriel Rouchon Swiftech’s Chairman & CTA.

“Of course, top performance and modularity do carry a price premium, mainly because we use such a powerful and sophisticated pump in our system, but thanks to volume manufacturing we can now offer these kits at a substantially lower price compared to initial introduction. The bottom line is this: if you are going to use a dual or a triple 120mm radiator in your system, there is no question in my mind that it should be able to cool CPU, Graphics, and anything else you want to throw at it,” he added. The H2O-x20 Edge HD kits are shipping now to Swiftech dealers worldwide.

ASRock Shows Off First LGA2011 Micro-ATX Motherboard

ASRock showed off pictures of the first socket LGA2011 motherboard in the compact micro-ATX form-factor, the ASRock X79 Extreme4-M Within its small board footprint of 240 x 240 mm, the X79 Extreme4-M offers almost every feature the platform has to offer. To begin with, the LGA2011 socket is powered by an 8-phase VRM that makes use of high-grade solid-state chokes, and driver-MOSFETs. It is wired to four DDR3 DIMM slots, two on either sides of the socket. All four expansion slot bays available to the mATX form-factor are made use of, with three PCI-Express 3.0 x16 and one legacy PCI.

The electrical configuration of the three PCI-Express slots appears to be x16, x8, x16 (permanent). The chipset is cooled by an active fan-heatsink. All six of its SATA ports are wired as internal ports, with two SATA 6 Gb/s and four SATA 3 Gb/s. Connectivity features include 8+2 channel HD audio with optical and coaxial SPDIF outputs, four USB 3.0 ports (two on the rear panel, two via header), one gigabit Ethernet, a number of USB 2.0 ports, Firewire, and legacy PS/2. The CMOS can be reset from the rear panel. The board will be driven by UEFI firmware.