MODDING: blogs

I misread CJ information yesterday night. The correct interpretation should be GeForce GTX 260 to get even cheaper at US$179, a further reduction of $20 from US$199. AMD is probably going to react to the GTX 260 price cut as well for their Radeon HD 4870 cards. Price war is certainly good for consumers, bad for AMD and worse for Nvidia.

It seems the price cut is never ending and it is of course good news to consumers. CJ told us that AMD is going to have another round of price cut on its Radeon HD 4870 1GB card from US$199 to US$179. As such, HD 4870 1GB will be some US$20 cheaper than its intented competitor, GeForce GTX 260 which had its price cut only recently from US$239 to $199.

It seems the price cut is never ending and it is of course good news to consumers. CJ told us that AMD is going to have another round of price cut on its Radeon HD 4870 1GB card from US$199 to US$179. As such, HD 4870 1GB will be some US$20 cheaper than its intented competitor, GeForce GTX 260 which had its price cut only recently from US$239 to $199.

Electronic Arts, the world's second-largest video game publisher, will ship two new sports titles June 16 for Nintendo's top-selling Wii console as it tries to attract more casual game players.

Tiger Woods PGA Tour 10″ and “Grand Slam Tennis” will be the Redwood City company's first releases to use Wii MotionPlus technology that makes Nintendo controllers more sensitive to player movements. Electronic Arts will begin selling at least five games for the Wii this year. The titles are a part of a companywide effort to generate hits on the Nintendo console.

VR-Zone learned about a suprise counterattack from Nvidia against the Radeon HD 4890 RV790 card where both camps’ offerings are slated for launch on April 6th. Nvidia has briefed their partners only very recently and details have been pretty vague so far. However, it seems Nvidia is confident that this card will be able to compete, if not, wins its competitor’s offering. Read more…

Tech-On Japan reports that USB 3.0 will be formulated as early as the first half of 2009. Compatibility tests will begin as early as the second half of 2009 and USB 3.0-compatible end products certified by USB-IF are expected to debut in 2010.

MSI Computer has announced the newest addition to its world-class Gaming Notebook Series GT628. The new GT628 combines a stylish chassis with cutting-edge technology to deliver the ultimate gaming experience. The GT628 features a stand-alone high-end NVIDIA GeForce GTS 160M graphics card with 1GB of DDR3 graphics memory to create awe-inspiring ultra-realistic 3D graphics. The GT628 will be available in the United States for purchase in mid April.

MSI has also outfitted the GT628 with the latest Intel Centrino 2 Processor Technology, a spacious 15.4 WSXGA (1680×1050) LCD, and MSIs exclusive Turbo Drive Engine — capable of overclocking the notebooks processor by as much as 15% when in AC mode. When on the go, users can conserve the GT628s battery by taking advantage of the MSIs Eco Engine technology and by utilizing NVIDIAs HybridPower technology, which allows gamers switch to a lower power integrated GPU.

Gameloft’s action adventure Prince Of Persia is now available on the N-Gage platform. Go to your phone’s N-Gage application’s showroom tab, select “Options” and then “Update Now” to see it. For more info about the N-Gage platform including a list of compatible devices, see All About N-Gage’s FAQ section.

A-DATA Technology announced today its new 2.5 SATAII SSD 300 Plus, a next generation Solid State Drive with performance significantly increased. The new 2.5 SATAII SSD 300 Plus boosts system performance and is available in storage capacities of 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB.

Adopting the latest breakthroughs in SSD technology and new controller design, the new 300 Plus SSD dramatically increases the performance on data-reading speed by 40% while writing by 60% at least when comparing with a regular SSD!! Unlike ordinary SSD, the new 300 Plus SSD utilizes a special mobile SDRAM to achieve a sustained read rate at 250MB/sec and write rate at 160MB/sec. The mobile SDRAM serves the function of cache buffer where frequently used data are stored so that the system does not have to fetch data from the main storage area each time its called.

Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) and United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) both have seen utilization rates grow to 50-60% at some of their fabs, sources at the companies have indicated.

TSMC recently lifted its guidance for the first quarter of 2009, mainly buoyed by rush orders. The pure-play foundry's utilization rate has from 45% to 50%, though the company is still in danger of recording its first quarterly loss in 20 years, according to the sources. UMC recently enjoyed improving capacity utilization at part of its 8- and 12-inch fabs, with the utilization rate climbing to 60%, indicated the sources. The foundry posted a narrower revenue drop sequentially in February.