The Smog features an ergonomic right handed design, it has an embedded Avago 9500 laser sensor, 7+2 programmable buttons, and a DPI settings 5040 (selectable). The mouse also comes with a rubber left side grip, ceramic footpads, an adjustable weight. And sure, Macro modes for gaming profiles as well and 4-way scrolling.

Check out the review

We boosted the Radeon HD 5970 Core from 725 MHz towards 935 MHz and the 4000 MHz memory is running and purring steady at 5240 MHz --- and that's a baffling result on just the reference air-cooler.

Wanna learn how we do it ? Click here.

Guru3D will be testing the retail version from HIS Graphics cards, but since we received a reference also, we might as well insert some CrossfireX results as well. Next to all the regular stuff we'll be overvolting and overclocking the card as well.

Yes the fastest graphics card in the world is unleashed, let's test it for cryin' out loud !

Go check it out right here.

• MSI Overclocking Competition
• MSI AfterBurner Skin Competition

Of course along with competitions come some great prizes, here's what we'll be giving away (twelve prizes) to the winners. Some of the prizes: MSI Radeon HD 5870 (R5870-PM2D1G), MSI Big Bang Fuzion P55 motherboard, MSI N275GTX Lightning graphics card, MSI N9600 GT Diamond graphics card (x6), MSI P55-GD80 motherboard, MSI R4890 Cyclone OC graphics card, MSI N260GTX-T2D896-OC graphics card.

For more info, requirements, rules and regulations please visit the MSI contest landing page located here:

http://www.guru3d.com/contest/

Contest entries can be submitted here:

• MSI Overclocking Competition entries - click here
• MSI AfterBurner Skin Competition entries - click here

The contest period will run for a couple of weeks, again please finds all information in the respective landing pages and dedicated forum threads. Enjoy -- and most of all good luck of course.

The barebone kit packs NVIDIA’s Ion graphics chipset, which adds up to Full HD performance and a machine that could actually do a little gaming on your big-screen TV.

Otherwise there’s a DVD burner, two DDR3 memory slots (4GB max, though it’s unclear if that’s per-slot or overall) and a 2.5-inch HDD bay.  Connectivity includes HDMI and VGA outputs (which will work simultaneously), together with gigabit ethernet, six USB 2.0 ports, eSATA, audio in/out and a 6-in-1 memory card reader.  There’s no standard wireless connection, but two empty PCI Express Mini Card slots inside are enough for both a WiFi b/g/n card and a TV tuner if you should so wish.

Since a regular CPU and NVIDIA Ion could lead to things getting pretty toasty inside, AOpen have produced a custom cooling system with a copper processor heat-sink and integrated fan.  That’s enough, they say, for just 26dB of noise from the nettop; plus there are silent and HD playback modes which can throttle things back so that fan noise isn’t an interruption during basic video playback.

What we don’t yet know is pricing, which should be announced closer to the system’s release in mid-December.  We’re hoping for a reasonably affordable setup, since this is actually one of the more appealing desktops (and potential HTPCs) that we’ve seen in recent months.

Out of the five independent channels the controller provides, four work on the conventional voltage-control principle, while one provides PWM (pulse-width modulation) control. Each channel delivers up to 7W / 0.6 A. The PWM-controlled channel also comes with a PWM-mode with three speed presets a fourth one can be user-defined. The Zalman MFC1 Combo should be priced at around 40 EUR [via tpu].

The H57M-ED65 features an OC-Genie chip, and enables users to adjust BCLK conveniently. Besides, the board packs two PCI-e x16 slots, HDMI/DVI/D-Sub/DisplayPort connectivities, and supports MSI’s patented Super-Pipe technology. Apart from the six SATA 3 Gb/s ports the chipset provides, an additional storage controller provides two more SATA 3 Gb/s ports, and an IDE connector. The board makes full use of the Flexible Display technology, providing DVI, D-Sub, HDMI, and DisplayPort as display connectivity options. H57M-ED65 seems to be a nice offering, if it’s not too costly.

Check out the thumbnails.

• Added Infotips for sensors
• Fixed crash when ATI ULPS CrossFire enabled
• Added full support for ATI HD 5970 (Hemlock)
• Added full support for NVIDIA GeForce GT 240 (GT215)
• Added "ULPS active" note to CrossFire status when ULPS active
• Fixed overclocks via CCC not showing correctly
• Added checkboxes to show availability of CUDA, PhysX, OpenCL and DirectX Compute
• Improved memory type detection for GT 216, GT 218
• Added voltage monitoring support for HD 5770
• Disconnected fan now shows correctly in sensors (when detectable via hardware)
• Improved accuracy of ATI GPU load monitoring
• Added detection for ATI RV380/RV530 cards relabeled to NVIDIA 9400/9500/9600 GT
• Added support for NVIDIA 9300 SE, NVS450, GT 240, GTS 250M, G102M
• Added support for Intel G41

Download

• Fixed inability to put machine to sleep with Fraps running
• Fixed bug preventing people from updating the benchmark timeout value
• Fixed problem restoring Fraps window to previous position upon startup
• Fixed AUDIODG.EXE consuming large amounts of CPU for some users

Download

The PS-100 is the latest in Patriot's "cache" based SSD drives and has been targeted for cost-conscious consumers pursuing performance and reliability without having to empty their bank account. The 2.5" SSD makes use of a 64GB cache, power consumption of 5.3W when operating, and .5W when in standby mode; an option that is sure to attract notebook and laptop users alike. The PS-100 boosts sequential read speeds of up to 210MB/s, with sequential write speeds up to 150MB/s, another feature that will be attractive to end users. The low power consumption of the PS-100 drives extends battery life on notebooks and netbooks while the performance reduces system boot times and application load times improving overall system responsiveness.

"Our PS-100 is a great option for consumers that want all the reliability and performance of an SSD, but are looking for aggressive pricing," say Eric Ackerson, Patriot's Director of Marketing. "We are excited about getting this product into the market just in time for the holiday season, and with capacities from 32GB to 256GB, the PS-100 family brings improved system performance and longevity with a broad range of capacities and price points."

Patriot curious enough did not include any prices.

HIS Announces HD 5970 2GB Graphics Accelerator - HIS
Today HIS unleashed the revolutionary new HIS Radeon HD 5970 2GB GDDR5. Building on the success of HIS 5800 series, HIS 5970 offer the power of two 5800 GPUs and 3200 stream processors on a single board. It delivers groundbreaking graphics performance along with the most advanced feature set in the graphics industry.

Powered by the top-of-the-line 5970 GPU, HIS Radeon HD 5970 2GB GDDR5 accelerates PC gaming with more than 4 teraFLOPS computing power! Running at 725MHz core clock speed and 4Gbps memory clock speed, the, HIS Radeon HD 5970 ensure extreme game play at high resolutions and maximum settings. It delivers full support for Microsoft DirectX 11 graphics and compute functionality. Besides, it features an architecture tailored to excel with DirectCompute 11 (Shader Model 5.0) and OpenCL, taking ATI Stream functionality to next level.

MSI Unveils its Top-of-the-line R5970-P2D2G - MSI
World renowned graphics card and mainboard brand and manufacturer, MSI, captured the hearts of powerful performance enthusiasts after unveiling its all-new R5800, R5700 series of graphics cards. Today, MSI unveils its top model, the R5970-P2D2G graphics card, which not only equips two advanced 40nm GPUs, but also utilizes 3200 stream processors (SPs)*, and 2 GB 512 bit** GDDR5 graphics memory, making it the best performing card on the planet today!

Additionally, MSI's R5970-P2D2G graphics card features ATI Eyefinity triple-display output technology, allowing gamers to get fully immersed in the latest DirectX 11 environments. The card also offers PowerPlay power-saving functionality that shows remarkable power-saving when the machine is in stand-by. Equally noteworthy is MSI's own "Afterburner" overclocking software that allows the user to adjust both the voltage and overclocking settings for better performance. With CrossFire X enabled, the dual GPUs offer outstanding, stable performance that redefines fast. Without a doubt, this card will be the first choice of performance enthusiasts.

PowerColor Announces its ATI Radeon HD 5970 2GB - TUL
TUL Corporation, a leading manufacturer of AMD graphics cards, today introduces the fastest graphics card on the planet: the PowerColor HD5970. As the most powerful card in the world, this stunning graphics solution clocks at 725 MHz core speed and 1000 MHz effective memory speed. Memory data transmission rates up to 4.0 Gb/s, delivering unprecedented performance.

The PowerColor HD5970 is built with 3200 stream processing units, ready to tackle all the most demanding HD titles; with almost 5 teraFLOPs of compute power, it puts the power of graphics "supercomputing" in the hands of extreme gamers. Furthermore, the PowerColor HD5970 has massive headroom for overclocking capabilities giving all gamers the control and flexibility to tune their custom rig for maximum performance.

Sapphire Announces its Radeon HD 5970 and HD 5970 OC - Sapphire
World leading graphics supplier, SAPPHIRE Technology, now introduces the world's fastest graphics card, the SAPPHIRE HD 5970 OC Edition. With twice the computing power of the highly acclaimed SAPPHIRE HD 5870, the new HD 5970 model shares all the exciting features of this family - including support for the DirectCompute 11 instruction set of Microsoft DirectX 11, hardware tessellation and multi threaded communication with the system CPU. It also supports the acceleration of applications supported by ATI Stream, and the ability to display across three monitors simultaneously with ATI Eyefinity.

The SAPPHIRE HD 5970 OC Edition ships with enhanced clock speeds of 735MHz core and 1010MHz (4.04GHz effective) - faster than the standard model, making the SAPPHIRE HD 5970 OC the fastest card in its class, and the fastest in the world*. Enthusiasts will also be able to tune performance of these SAPPHIRE cards using the SAPPHIRE Redline voltage tweaker tool** to enable higher levels of overclocking.

XFX Announces its Radeon HD 5970 Graphics Card - XFX
XFX takes technology for a trip down the fast lane with the debut of The XFX ATI Radeon HD 5970 graphics card. The fastest dual GPU-on-a-PCB card on the planet, in addition to the base powerhouse, this card also comes in an "I've-never-seen-that-kind-of-performance-before" Black Edition with an exclusive performance enhancing Overvolt Tool.

Created for the true performance enthusiast, this card offers the ultimate in speed, with the XFX ATI Radeon HD 5970 scoring in excess of X10000 in 3DMarkVantage v. 101, the highest single graphics card score achieved to date. It also features all of the latest, state-of-the-art technologies that hardcore gamers want, including ATI Eyefinity technology, ATI Stream technology and full DirectX 11 support.

We have posted a 28 page article on the Radeon HD 5970 right here, including CrossfireX results.

And that’s, you know ... a lot !

Jaguar is a Cray XT5 supercomputer that appears to share a room with the National Institute for Computational Sciences ‘Kraken,’ which comes in third in the world at a mere 832 teraflop/s. This video comes from Oak Ridge, and shows the assembly of the entire system as well as some of the upgrades being performed  

As it now seems there's more to the deal than we know. Both Intel and AMD agreed to a cross-license platfrom that is now royalty free. AMD doesn't have to pay anymore for the x86 license / patents owned by Intel and vice versa this is likely the same -- Intel doesn't have to cough up dough for the 64-bit patents owned by AMD.

It's good news for AMD as it severely cuts down overhead cost and it is allowed to continue to make x86 compatible processors.

Ahw -- perhaps they're best buds for life now ;)