PCI Express 4.0 16Gb/s per Lane

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

Even though PCI Express 3.0 is still several months away, PCI Express 4.0 is already in the works and some basic specifications of the interconnection technologies are already known. The maximum bandwidth of the fourth generation of PCIe interconnect will be 16GT/s per lane. There will also be a number of new features implemented.

"The initial report we got yesterday is a PCI Express 4.0 is feasible - we have to work out the details, but it is feasible," said Al Yanes, president of the PCI SIG, reports EETimes. 

The group, which leads the development, includes AMD, Hewlett-Packard, IBM and Intel. It is reported that the companies are already conducting simulations using chip, channel, packet and socket data. Currently they reportedly expect to achieve speed of at least whopping 16GT/s per lane (which means 256Gb/s [32GB/s] bandwidth for PCI Express x16 slots). The target speed spec is projected to be delivered by the end of 2011. 

PCI Express 4.0 will continue to use copper wires, which is logical, given the fact that changing technology process for making graphics cards, mainboards and other devices is hardly economically feasible. Still, it will likely require new kind of manufacturing process and new materials while still maintaining backwards compatibility. That is a big shift for the PCIe community which has not previously required major changes of board makers, according to EETimes. 

PCIe 4.0 will probably be limited to distances of about 8 to 12 inches compared to 20 inches for PCI Express 3.0. It is noteworthy, though, that it took PCIe 3.0 four years to get developed with 8Gb/s speed. 

"We think we can eke out one more turn of the crank out of copper, so we are not looking at optics yet," said Ramin Neshanti, chairman of the PCI SIG's serial communications working chair. 

*by andreascy*

Inno3D GTX 560 Ti 448SP HyperCore Graphics card

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description :

What's up everyone? Are you new here? Please click that FB LIKE button to get started! We like you too! ;)

Inno3D® announced the launch of the Inno3D GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448SP. The GTX 560 Ti 448SP boasts an amazing 448 CUDA cores, a 320-bit interface to 1.28GB of onboard GDDR5 RAM, and clock speeds of 760MHz and 3800MHz. GTX 560 Ti 448SP continues with the redesigned from the ground up architecture to deliver the best performance on DX11 - adding dedicated engines in the GPU to accelerate key features like tessellation. 

Game performance and image quality has received a tremendous boost, enabling film-like geometric realism for game characters and objects. Geometric realism is central to the GTX 560 Ti 448SP architectural enhancements for graphics. In addition, PhysX simulations are much faster, and developers can utilize GPU computing features in games most effectively. 

Key features

 Microsoft® DirectX® 11 Support :

 DirectX 11 GPU with Shader Model 5.0 support designed for ultra high performance in the new API's key graphics feature, GPU-accelerated tessellation. 

 NVIDIA ® 3D Vision™ Ready :

GeForce GPU support for NVIDIA 3D Vision, bringing a fully immersive stereoscopic 3D experience to the PC. A combination of high-tech wireless glasses and advanced software, 3D Vision transforms hundreds of PC games into full stereoscopic 3D. In addition, you can watch 3D movies and 3D digital photographs in eye popping, crystal-clear quality. 

NVIDIA ® 3D Vision™ Surround Ready :

Expand your games across three displays in full stereoscopic 3D for the ultimate "inside the game" experience with the power of NVIDIA 3D Vision and SLI technologies. NVIDIA ® Surround ™ also supports triple screen gaming with non-stereo displays. 

NVIDIA SLI ® Technology :

Industry leading NVIDIA SLI technology offers amazing performance scaling for the world's premier gaming solution. 

NIVIDIA® PhysX® technology :

GeForce GPU support for NVIDIA PhysX technology, enabling a totally new class of physical gaming interaction for a more dynamic and realistic experience with GeForce. 

NIVIDIA® CUDA™ Technology :

CUDA technology unlocks the power of the GPU's processor cores to accelerate the most demanding systems tasks – such as video transcoding – delivering incredible performance improvements over traditional CPUs. 

32x Anti-aliasing Technology :

Lightening fast, high-quality anti-aliasing at up to 32x sample rates obliterates jagged edges. 

NVIDIA PureVideo HD Technology :

The combination of high definition video decode acceleration and post-processing that delivers unprecedented picture clarity, smooth video, accurate colour, and precise image scaling for movies and video. 

PCI Express 2.0 Support :

Designed for the new PCI Express 2.0 bus architecture offering the highest data transfer speeds for the most bandwidth-hungry games and 3D applications, while maintaining backwards compatibility with existing PCI Express motherboards for the broadest support. 

Dual-link DVI Support :

Able to drive industry's largest and highest resolution flat-panel displays up to 2560x1600 and with support for High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection (HDCP). 

HDMI 1.4a Support :

Support for HDMI 1.4a including GPU accelerated Blu-ray 3D support, x.v.Color, HDMI Deep Color, and 7.1 digital surround sound and video.

Inno3D® the Hong Kong-based company has been kicking lately. As always the card is going to be available in limited quantities, and only in a few North American and European markets. Let us know what you think. 

*by andreascy*

Introducing Big Bang XPower II X79 Motherboard

Posted by Andreas Christodoulou

Description : 

MSI has unveiled its top of the range X79 motherboard on its Facebook page - the Big Bang XPower II - and it really is a feature packed board, but it looks like MSI's marketing team has run out of ideas. Why? Well, simply because MSI has borrowed heavily from Gigabyte's G1 series of motherboards when it comes to the heatsink design, which in this case is also very much gun inspired. 

MSI appears to have packed the board to the brim with features, in fact, it's so full that MSI had to go for an XL-ATX form factor. The Big Bang XPower II has no less than seven x16 PCI Express slots, although only two of them have 16 lanes worth of bandwidth, while the remaining five appear to be x8 slots. The labelling in this case is anything but clear, but Intel's new CPUs don't support enough PCI Express lanes for all the slots and we can see at least one set of switches on the board. There's also a set of dip switches that are labelled PCI-E CeaseFire which suggests that it's possible to manually disable at least some of the slots. 

Moving on we have 10 SATA ports, of which six are SATA 6Gbps as far as we can tell, although four of those ports should be from third party chips which aren't visible due to the rather large chipset heatsink. There are also two 90 degree angled connectors for four USB 3.0 ports, two pin headers for four USB 2.0 ports and one pin header for a FireWire port. We're disappointed to see the old NEC/Renesas USB 3.0 host controllers on this board, as they're not quite keeping up with the competition these days. 

Other bits of interest includes X-Fi MB2 audio, which we presume is software based, although a piece of metal is hiding the actual audio components, measurement points for Voltages, a POST 80 debug LED display, a power, OC Genie, Multi BIOS button and a pair of buttons labelled Direct OC. MSI has also added a pair of 8-pin 12V connectors and a 6-pin power connector in a really poor placement in front of a pair of the x16 PCI Express slots. Speaking of power, the board has a 24-phase VRM design, plus an additional four phases for the memory. We should commend MSI for only having 4-pin fan headers, although the location of some of them is pretty poor. 

Around the back we're looking at a PS/2 port, six USB 2.0 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, a FireWire port, a pair of Gigabit Ethernet jacks which appear to be utilizing two different Intel network controllers, 7.1-channel audio with optical and coaxial S/PDIF out and what appears to be a CMOS reset button. 

Then there's that thing about the heatsinks, people have already complained enough about Gigabyte's G1 series of motherboards, but apparently MSI didn't notice this and has come up with its own gun inspired design. The VRM area is cooled by what looks like a Gatling gun, or in more modern terms, a mini gun, whereas the chipset itself has been fitted with what we guess are supposed to be six rounds of ammunition, although they look more like crayons to us and the gold-ish color doesn't help in this case either. The chipset is connected via a flat heatpipe to a secondary heatsink which appears to be cooling little else, whereas the VRM heatsink is connected via a heatpipe to the Gatling gun. Not the most classy design and there's even a cut out in the Gatling gun to allow for access to the screw hole beneath it. 

As for pricing, well, we'd guess MSI will be charging a pretty penny for the Big Bang XPower II, as with all the components thrown in, it's not going to be cheap to make. It's clearly gunning for Asus and Gigabyte, although we think MSI has missed the mark a little bit and it's sad to see that they couldn't come up with their own ideas for the heatsinks. On the plus side, MSI went with passive cooling, all x16 PCI Express slots and eight DIMMs, something we're sure will appeal to plenty of potential buyers. 

It's a week to go until the launch, so all is likely to be revealed very soon. Stay tuned folks! :) 

*by andreascy*