ASUS, SiS Withdraw Rambus Support

Asustek late last year pledged to release a high-performance motherboard based on four-channel PC1200 Rambus DRAM based on a chip set from SiS. Now, SiS appears to have dropped support for Rambus, too because the better timing was the end of last year, but they missed that window. Now everybody is talking about PCI Express. In 2002, SiS released the R658, which was the first non-Intel chip set to support Rambus in the desktop PC segment, followed by the R659 late last year. Asustek pulled back from the project because the performance of the chip set wasn't as "exciting as we expected. Rambus which worked closely with SiS on the chip se has not recently provided any direct design support.

Aquagrafx Introduces Waterblocks for the GeForce GTX 295 amp; GTX 260

aquagrafx GTX295

Today we present you the aquafrax GTX295 watercooler just in time with the release of the GTX 295 graphics card. The cooler is built sandwich style to cool both of the cards. The intermediate level is made of Delrin, the cooling blocks of 99,9% electrolyte copper. As special feature one will be able to choose if water runs paralell or in series through the blocks. So you can choose between high flow and low restriction or better cooling with high flow velocity. In parallel mode you need an additional T-Connector.

GPU´s are cooled with high efficient microstructure. Focus was also on low restriction. The threads are G 1/4 and coooler will be available as of next week. Materials are copper and delrin.

aquagrafx GT200b

Also available in about a week will be the block for the newer GTX 260 cards with a 55nm GPU. Both, the old and the new block will be available from aqua-computer. The block is made of 99,9 % pure electrolyte copper, as all of our new graphic card coolers. Height of the cooler is 8 mm. The result is a low weight and the single slot possibility. Price will be 89,90 EUR.

Materials: copper, stainless steel, plexiglas
Threads: G1/4

AMD's next-gen GPUs to ship in 2011

At their last conference call for Q2 2011, AMD revealed that 28nm GPUs were on track for 2011. Moving forward to the Q3 2011 financial report, AMD still plans plans to ship for revenue the first next-gen GPUs by the end of the year.

Of course, while shipping for revenue does not necessarily translate to retail availability, it does mean AMD will be shipping next-gen chips to their AIB partners some time in Q4 2011. If all goes well, we will see AMDs first Radeon HD 7000 products in either late 2011 or more likely early 2012.

AMDs Graphics segment revenues increased by 10% over Q2 2011, and 4% over Q2 2010 to $403 million. AMDs overall results were better than the forecast revisions suggested.

Source: AMD Press Release

Apple registers 8 more patents with China's Hong Kong IP Dept

Apple has successfully registered 8 more patents with China’s Hong Kong IP Department to add to its huge international patents portfolio.

The Newsstand design patent is self-explanatory, but the patents regarding the keypad and messaging aspects of iOS are not as obvious. Check it out for yourself and tell us whether or not you think Apple deserves to have these patents registered.

Source: patentlyapple.com

Apple delays Retina display MacBook Pro, again

Those of you that checked the Apple website to put in an order for the new MacBook Pro with Retina display may have seen the notice for a 2-3 week delay. That delay may have just gotten longer as the website has now upped that delay to 3-4 weeks.

It seems as if Apple can’t keep up with customer demands, and Retina fanatics will have to wait awhile longer. People can arrange for an in store pick up, but that is limited to the store’s availability—and those that are lucky enough. Hopefully Apple will have a steady supply available by this holiday seasons.

Source: Apple.com