Archive for July, 2008

Dreamworks to use Intel processors

Tuesday, July 8th, 2008

Dreamworks Animation SKG Inc has dumped AMD and turned to Intel for its processors. AMD have always bragged about their processors being used in hollywood. Intel has somehow worked behind the scenes and taken over the movie animation market.

One of the head guys at Dreamworks said “the upcoming animation Monsters vs Aliens requires a significant amount of processing. The result would be creating unique high polly count models.”

Funnily enough what are Intels next big products? hmm the Nehalem and the Larrabee of course. So I imagine Dreamworks are especially excited about these hardware components.

400GB DVD Coming Soon!

Monday, July 7th, 2008

So we have Blu ray at 50Gb, but wait! Pioneer has developed a 16 layer (read only) optical disc with a capacity of 400 gigabytes! The laminated technique disk has 16 layers with 25gb within each sandwich.

Pioneer has managed to reduce cross talk data transmission loss which has caused limited movement in massive DVD storage. Look what happened to data transfer methods of serial and parallel. We use Serial now due to the fact parallel running at high frequency will cause cross talk.

Each layer of the disk has identical specifications and characteristics to the Blu-ray disk standard. This will hopefully in theory support backwards compatibility.

Pioneer will present the details on the International Symposium on Optical memory and Optical Storage 2008 in Hawaii July 13.

Scan Computers New Retail Section

Monday, July 7th, 2008

I’m sure you all know where and what Scan computer is? If you dont then I’ll tell you! Scan is a well known computer hardware shop based in the UK in a place called Bolton (North). Funnily enough I went in there afew months ago and was sectioned to the out house, well actually the warehouse non glamorous section.

Any who, I found that Scan have actually invested in a massive new retail section. The new addition which opened today show cases numerous Computer Hardware vendors and what products they have on offer.

If you live in the north west then why not skip the delivery and  actually collect the goods your self. Scans investments are clearly shown and a bigger retail section can only mean extra goodies. If you dont, I will!

Cooler Master v8 Processor Heat Sink

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

I dont usually touch on accessories for computer systems but when I came across this heat sink I had to post something about it!

With the on-going battle of the processors and the souring system temperatures it was about time one of the main manufacturers of cooling solutions released some sort of extreme cooling for the enthusiast. Feast your eyes on the image below!

I can assure you the V8 naming does not replicate a v8 based automotive engine, that is guaranteed. Ok it may have 8 heat pipes 6mm in width, precipitating the heat effectively and may look like a super charged cooling system but thats beyond the scope.

Right lets get to it, The new v8 is set to be released in July its dimensions are 120 x 128 x 161.1 mm not the smallest of coolers but I think this is the whole point of the cooling solution. The heat sink is made of four aluminium heat sinks connected by the heat pipes. It weights a staggering 865g because of this design. The integrated fan will run at RPM’s of 800 to 1800. Thanks to cooler master the heat sink has a variable fan speed controller.

I would also like to point out that not all system chassis can use this heat sink. I would also recommend an external fan to exhaust the hot air directly above the heat sink.

There is no price as of yet but keep looking because I will update this article once I have comfirmed the official price. If any one can beat me to this then feel free to comment!

Hard Disk that is Fire and Water retardant

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

The harddisk named isSafe claim it is the first company to offer fire and waterproof harddisk. The harddisk is considered a brilliant component in a server envrionment or even family use for saving those important family pictures.

The harddisk comes in two sizes 2.5″ and 3.5″ enclosures. The hard disk itself can sustain temperatures of 1400 degree fahrenheit for up to 15 minutes. In water the hard disk is quaranteed for upto 24 hours in 5ft of water. The time limit will change depending on the depth of water the hard disk is within.

The hard disk are priced at £150 for 5400 rpm 80 GB models and £230 for a 7200 rpm 200 GB version. There is also a 320 GB 5400 rpm model for £225.