Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment

If you’ve been putting off that purchase of Popcorn Hour’s evolutionary A-110 HD media streamer or all new B-110 motherboard, here’s a decent compilation of facts and opinions to help you make up your mind once and for all. The cats over at DigitalReviews took the time to not only detail, test out and report back on the newest duo from the company, but it also revisited the original (and heralded) A-100 in order to give a better comparison. Overall, critics did tend to prefer the A-110 over its predecessor, but the minor list of changes made it a hard sell for folks teetering on upgrading. The B-110 was seen as an even tougher sell, with only the hardcore DIY crowd likely to even find it worth investigating. Nevertheless, we won’t spoil the rest for you — head on down to have a look for yourself.

[Thanks, Anton]

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Filed under: Desktops, HDTV, Home Entertainment

Who knows if Popcorn Hour really is still working on a couple more HD media streamers, but its latest one is definitely up for pre-order. First whispered about a few months back, the $215 A-110 is a revamped A-100 that adds 2.5- / 3.5-inch SATA HDD and USB Slave functionality, HDMI 1.3a support (for full HD audio pass-through) and an optical S/PDIF to replace the coaxial S/PDIF socket. For those of you looking for even more flexibility, you can take a look at the outfit’s new B-110 Baseline. This “Home Theater Motherboard” arrives with the media enthusiast in mind, boasting support for HDMI 1.3a, optical / coaxial S/PDIF connectors, four USB 2.0 ports and a mini-ITX form factor. Both pieces should ship out within two to four weeks, but considering just how sticky things were when the A-100 launched, we’d tack on a few weeks to that estimation just in case.

[Thanks, Stephen and Jeff]

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Filed under: Desktops

We’ve heard lots of racket about Intel’s hot new Atom chip courtesy of all those subnote manufacturers who plan on using it, but Tranquil PC has noted that the first Mini-ITX motherboard to get powered by said processor is now available for ordering. The Intel D945GCLF comes loaded with a 1.6GHz Atom 230 CPU and support for high-definition audio, 10/100 LAN, PCI, SATA II, GMA 950 graphics and DDR 2 533 / 667 (just to name a few highlights). The board can be ordered up as we speak for £52.90 ($103), and shipments are expected to make their way out during the first week of June.

[Via Tranquil PC’s Weblog, thanks David]

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Filed under: Laptops

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Filed under: Desktops

Yeah, we’ve seen other mad scientists take way more antiquated chips to higher figures on the GHz scale, but can that cryogenically cooled P4 handle all those SSE4.1 instructions? The latest feat of overclocking prowess comes to us courtesy of K|ngp|n, who has apparently taken Skulltrail beyond the 6GHz mark. You’ll also notice the 1,716MHz FSB (!!!) and the fact that it’s sizzling along at 1.953-volts — but hey, no one said running Crysis would be easy, right?

[Via The Inquirer]

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Filed under: Desktops

For those of you looking to build your ultimate super fantasy dream system, the goal may have just gotten a little closer. According to some tipsters and the zany builders at Tom’s Hardware, Intel’s X48 chipset is on the street (and mobos) and just waiting to take your breath away… maybe. According to Tom and co., the new configuration may not be that far of a cry from the previously released X38, adding only an improved northbridge and “official” support for FSB-1600 bus speed, though they note that this was technically available in the X38 as well. Tom runs the new entry through a battery of comparisons, so you can get a much clearer idea of what this puppy does. Is this new chipset the answer to overclocker’s prayers, or just a waste of an additional $65? Only burning silicon knows for sure.

[Thanks to everyone who sent this in]

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Filed under: Desktops, Gaming

Tired of lookin’ at that stock motherboard that supports Intel’s latest and greatest gaming platform? Yeah, us too, so we’re fairly stoked that HotHardware has rounded up a few snapshots of Asus’ upcoming Z7S WS. Said mobo will reportedly feature “dual LGA771 sockets that support Intel Xeon 5000, 5100, and 5300 series processors of both the dual and quad-core varieties.” Additionally, you’ll find a pair of gigabit Ethernet jacks, a plethora of expansion slots, six DDR2 DIMM slots and support for 1600MHz / 1333MHz / 1066MHz / 800MHz front side bus speeds. Go on, tag the read link for a few more looks and even more technobabble.

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Filed under: Gaming

Hot on the heels of NVIDIA’s 3-way SLI system hitting all sorts of test benches comes word that the outfit is cranking out its brand new nForce 780i SLI MCP (media and communications processor). That’s right kids, the self-proclaimed “must-have gaming platform for Intel Yorkfield CPUs” is finally out in the open, and aside from playing nice with Intel’s QX9650, it also supports PCI Express Gen 2.0, 3-way SLI and the new Enthusiast System Architecture specification. Apparently, a number of “motherboard partners” including Asus, Falcon Northwest, HP, Gigabyte, Hypersonic and Voodoo PC are already planning to offer nForce 780i SLI MCP-based products, and judging by NVIDIA’s holiday themed press release, we’d wager that you’ll see the aforementioned items seeping out sooner rather than later.

[Via HotHardware]

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Filed under: Desktops

It’s been a tick since we first saw a rig running on Intel’s X38 technology, and while we’ve been expecting a launch for some time now, it seems that a couple of mobo manufacturers are finally helping to (unceremoniously) kick things off. Up first is the Asus P5E3 Deluxe, which of course supports DDR3 1800MHz dual-channel memory, dual PCI Express 2.0 x16 lanes, 802.11n WiFi and an Energy Processing Unit (EPU) that allows the CPU power supply “to be digitally monitored and fine-tuned with improved VRM efficiency in heavy or light loadings.” Additionally, MSI has loosed its X38 Diamond, which throws in its exclusive Circu-Pipe cooling system and Dual-Channel PWM technology. ‘Course, we’d already heard about Gigabyte’s GA-5BXWV-RH mainboard (shown after the jump), but here’s to hoping a few more companies hop on board soon to give potential customers more than a handful of options.

[Via DailyTech]
Read - MSI’s X38 Diamond
Read - Asus’ P5E3 Deluxe

Continue reading Intel X38 motherboards finally begin to surface

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Desktops

If you’re an impatient individual, you’re probably going to like what you hear about ASUS’s newest motherboard, the P5E3 Deluxe. Sound fancy? Well, it is — featuring Intel’s X38 chipset (with an FSB running at 1600MHz), Core 2 Quad and Core 2 Extreme CPU support, plus the company’s Energy Processing Unit, 8-phase power, and WiFi-AP. Of course, that won’t help with your MTV-generation attention span and lack of patience, but the embedded micro-Linux variant, Express Gate, just might. You see, when you boot the system, you’re given an option to immediately enter into a small Linux OS — within five seconds, they say — called SplashTop (developed by DeviceVM). The OS is coupled with a stripped-down version of Firefox and Skype, allowing you to update your Facebook profile almost instantly. The whole shebang is available right now for three-hundred and sixty of your precious dollars.

[Via Phoronix]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!