Computex 2011: Battle of the 600W GPUs

It wouldn’t be a trade show without a little bit of extreme thinking, to grab some headlines and show the punters how creative their engineers are.  As part of our Computex coverage, we’ve seen all manner of graphics cards – at the high end of the spectrum, we’re seeing custom AMD and NVIDIA cards that supposedly push 600 watts!

From ASUS, building on the ‘halo’ of the ROG Mars, the Republic of Gamers branded Mars II is being shown – a dual GPU featuring two 580s on one PCB in a triple slot format.  There’s no mention of clock speeds, but we’ve been told that it’s due in July with a limited run of 1000 units. (ed: this is the same quantity as the Matrix 5870X2)

Featuring a DirectCool heatsink arrangement, ASUS are claiming a 25% speed increase over a GTX 590.  As you can imagine, this product will run loud and hot, and there is an air of ‘why?’ hanging in the air – the only vaguely reasonable answer I can give you is for overclocking records.  The 600W maximum power consumption figure comes from the three 8-pin PCIe connectors each potentially pulling 150W, along with the PCIe supplying 150W.  If you end up getting one, just make sure your PSU can handle it.

From Powercolor, we’re seeing a technological showcase with what they call the 6970X2, bringing the X2 name back into the scene (unofficially).  This PCB uses a Lucid Hydra chip (rather than a PLX) for routing to combine two full-speed 6970 chips powered by the three 8-pin PCIe to give that magical 600W number.  

They had a pair of these cards in Crossfire into a system for us to look at, even though with CPU and everything else, there was only a 1200W Gold PSU powering it all, possibly suggesting that the power consumption is below 600W, and performance is only a few percentage points higher performance than the 6990, if any.

We were told that Powercolor don’t have intentions to bring this product to market unless they see a demand for it – they were more inclined to show off a 6950X2 which should enter into the market between the 6970 and 6990 in terms of performance.  No word on pricing or release, though.

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Battle of the Budget Tablets - Nook Color vs. Galaxy Tab

Tablets are certainly the buzz of the tech world, and if you're in the market for one, there are plenty to be had in the $500 range. But what if your budget was more like $300, and all of the traditional tablet options simply weren't affordable enough? Or what if you wanted a cheap tablet to play with while waiting for the genre to mature? Previously, there weren't too many high quality tablets that fit that description, but there are a couple of options that released more recently. The WiFi-only version of Samsung’s 7” Galaxy Tab is the first one that comes to mind, offering all that the previous 3G versions did, now at a $349 price point. Next is the Barnes & Noble Nook Color, which is surprisingly easy to hack and makes for a capable Gingerbread tablet with a few simple mods. 

Between the two, we’ve got two rather promising budget tablets here, legitimate options for those looking to get in on the tablet movement without breaking the bank. Which is better? Keep reading to find out.

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AMD takes on Nvidia in a mobile battle

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We know in last year in 2010 Nvidia shows up their Nvidia Tegra to market. And it combined with such kind of great tablet like Android, iPhone, iPad etc. Nvidia Tegra give so much improvements especially in device graphic.

Nvidia dominate that device in market in several years. But, now AMD look the chance and has already recruit Android engineers. MSI marketing its latest tablet PC built using AMD’s Brazos APUs and the fact that such beast exist indicates that AMD’s APUs have increased their presence in the PC tablet market.

AMD is reportedly recruiting talent to developot of Android driver software – that mean it could offer notebook and tablet PC partners chipsets that support Android at later date, the source noted.

In the other hand, Nvidia not only providing GPU into a phone, but in certain time Nvidia also will probably control dual-core device market. AMD has a lot of ground to make up if it wants to catch up.

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The Battle of the P67 Boards - ASUS vs. Gigabyte at $190

In the world of motherboards and manufacturer competition, the idea is to beat your competitor. To develop the product, with more features, more fancy gadgets, and perform better than your competitor at every price point. Today, we pit arguably the two most popular motherboard vendors at a price point that will see a significant number of sales from consumers and enthusiasts alike – the ASUS P8P67 Pro and the Gigabyte P67A-UD4, which were both released during the Sandy Bridge week for $190. Forget all the marketing fluff; this is a showdown!

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