The History of Guru3D - Part II - here we'll look back into history, 1997. We'll check out graphics cards starting at that date and move our way up towards 2008, showing lot's and lot's graphics cards from the past.

Enermax intro's the Liberty Eco power supply series, it features 350W, 400W, 500W and 620W power supplies with an efficiency of at least 80 percent.

ENERMAX already reigns the realms of silence with its patented and technically unbeatable fan control SpeedGuard, but ECO 80+ combines it with another patented innovation from ENERMAX TWISTER MAGNETIC BEARING Technology, which lowers the noise profile compared to MODU82+ or PRO82+ by 1-2dbA in idle load! This is achieved by the magnetic bearing technology, which causes no friction or traction related noise like ordinary ball or sleeve bearings, thus reducing audible noise. The as well patented AirGuard inlet eliminates air turbulences which reduces additional acoustic noise. ECO80+

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Patriot Memory announced their new G-series memory kits, these DDR3 and DDR2 modules should have attractive pricing (but did not include pricing details in the press release).

Patriot G-series lineup:

• PC3-12800 (6GB)
• PC3-10666 (6GB)
• PC3-12800 (4GB)
• PC3-10666 (4GB)
• PC2-8500 (4GB)
• PC2-6400 (4GB)

Patriot will spotlight its new "G" Series kits around their 'Enhanced Latency' line for both DDR2 and DDR3 products. With the Patriot "G" Series, you get the look and feel of many of the high end, gaming memory products, but with an advantageous price. "Consumers are looking for options; our goal is to give them the opportunity to add new technology, at a reasonable cost," says JR Wakabayashi, Patriot's Marketing Manager. "Patriot's 'G' Series is designed with the same quality and reliability that has made Patriot Memory a steadfast name in the gaming industry. The "G" Series will help us reach that segment that is looking for something new and original, but needs an economical solution."

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Drummroll - here it it ! the Modern Warfare 2 trailer has finally available, showing nearly two minutes of footage from the highly anticipated game.

The first-ever in-game footage of the sequel to Call of Duty 4. Lots of shooting and lots of explosions shown in the footage. The video also informs on a bit of the title's story, which will see the rise of villain Makarov. Modern Warfare 2 hits November 10, exploding castles and all. Check it out ! 

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MSI introduces two energy saving graphics cards in the N9800GT series: MSI N9800GT-MD512 and N9800GT-MD1G. These graphics cards are equipped with Hi-c CAP and All Solid Caps to ensure stability and a long lifespan. Next to that, the N9800GT series have Solid State Chokes (SSC) to avoid a buzz noise.

The MSI N9800GT-MD1G and N9800GT-MD512 features an advanced power control technology, which makes the graphics cards 25% more power efficient compared to reference designs. Furthermore, these graphics cards have an HDMI port to easily setup an HTPC.

 

Market Name	N9800GT-MD1G	N9800GT-MD512
Photo
GPU	GeForce 9800GT
Codename	G92
Manufacture Process	55nm
Stream Processor	112
Core Clock	550 MHz
Stream Processor Clock	1375 MHz
Memory Clock	1800 MHz
Memory Size	1GB GDDR3	512MB GDDR3
Memory Bus	256 Bits
DirectX Version	DirectX 10
OpenGL Version	OpenGL 2.1
Output	HDMI, DVI, D-Sub
TDP	<75W

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MSI has updated it's MSI 790FX-GD70 & 790GX-G65 motherboards with new Winky technology. Now first off, we';ll be giving away 790FX-GD70 motherboard in a complete PC later this week in a competition, and I can already tell you .. these are really lovely motherboards.

Winki boots off an internal flash drive, and offers punters some basic connectivity with Firefox, an IM client, VOIP and a photo viewer. So far MSI is offering Winki on two AM3 boards, the 790GX-G65 and 790FX-GD70, and there's no word on any upcoming Intel products.

Winki provides the user of the mainboard a new convenient feature: after turning on your PC, you can instantly go online, no need to wait for an OS to start up. Since Winki does not rely on any OS, the MSI 790FX-GD70 and 790GX-G65 mainboards can use its MSI's exclusive APS power saving technology while running Winki. Four major Internet services are integrated in Winki: Web page browsing, online chat/instant messaging, online phone calls (VoIP), and fast photo viewing.

More here.

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Guru3D.com is ten years of age and as such we really want to celebrate that fact, not only with some interesting articles, but of course also with some really sweet competitions. And I say sweet competitions here as, my man... we have so much lined up to give away as prizes, it's nearly crazy.

In this first competition of the week we'll be giving away, in five prize packages (!):

• GeForce GTX 285 personally signed by Jen-Sun Huang, the man himself, the CEO of NVIDIA!
• BFG GeForce GTX 285 OC2
• Auzentech X-Fi Forte 7.1 sound card  (x3)
• OCZ Blade 2000MHz 7-8-7 Triple Channel 6GB
• OCZ Vendetta 2 including Core i7 brackets
• OCZ Illuminati Keyboard
• OCZ Behemoth Mouse
• OCZ Behemoth Mousepad
• BFG EX1200 Power Supply
• ECS X48T-A motherboard
• HIS Radeon HS 4870 IceQ 4+ TURBO
• PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750 power supply
• Corsair TX650W PSU (2x)
• HIS Radeon HS 4870 IceQ 4+ TURBO
• Zalman NC1500 notebook cooler
• ECS N9600GT-512MX-F
• HIS Radeon HD 4670 iSilence 4 1GB

Check out what you need to do right here, A Decade of Guru3D Contest 1.

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Today another new cooler sees the light, Well new ... It's actually the Hyper 212 cooler we reviewed a long time ago that is being updated. The updated 212 is now called the Hyper 212 Plus and it will be Cooler Masters first of many LGA1156 and LGA1156/1366 compatible coolers to come. Again we spot DHT as in Direct contact heat-pipes, dual fan cooling options and new PWM fans are now included into this cooler design. Overall, it has become a new cooler completely, but is it any good ?

Guru3D.com is ten years of age, this is contest one in a week full of history and competitions.

Forgot to post this earlier this week, but realtek once again launched a new driver for their integrated audio chipsets.

The latest download of Realtek's HD audio driver version available for Windows XP and Vista, it supposedly runs under Windows 7 too.

The HD audio driver version for Realtek chips is available for download on our server. This download offers both the Windows XP and Vista binaries, the files contain drivers for the 32 Bit and 64 Bit versions. All Realtek HD audio chips, which are common on many motherboards and in notebooks, are supported.

Download

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This week Guru3D turns ten years of age. Throughout the week we'll have several articles and rediculously sexy contests, however as tradition requires, we just have to tell a tale or two about Guru3D.com, today the first part of .. the History of Guru3D #1

Read this article here.

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Ten years ago in May on the 24th of 1999 the domain Guru3D.com was registered, and we mark that day, the day that Guru3D.com reached a decade. Serving you fine readers enthusiast gaming related hardware content.

With this special occasion we have a lot of things lined up, among them a history of Guru3D.com article, a hardware history article where we'll look back at graphics cards back in the late 90'ies. We'll also do something really special on the green environmental side of things and sure .. we gathered prizes for you guys.

Initially we wanted to have one big contest, however we got so many stuff top give away that this week we'll launch three contests with many thousands of EURO's in prices. Among these prizes, many graphics cards, enthusiast soundcards, high-end power supplies.

We even had NVIDIA CEO Jen-Sun Huang sign an engineering sample GeForce GTX 285 which we'll give away, we have a customized Smooth Creations Far Cry 2 / Guru3D themed chassis to give away, or how about some 6GB 2000 MHz OCZ Blade memory ? Or perhaps you like a Zalman GS1000SE chassis. No ? Well BFG is also sponsoring a GeForce GTX 285 OC2 edition and their new 1200 Watt PSU.

We'll also give away Radeon HD 4890 graphics cards that are still in development, HIS is going crazy for you guys. These are just a couple of the prizes we'll give away in contests .. and you know what ? At the end of the week we'll give away a complete AMD/ATI Dragon PC away as well .. that's right .. Phenom II 955 BE, MSI 790FX motherboard, we pop a Radeon HD 4890 in there, some nice memory, DVD-RW ... really .. a top notch system.

As you'll notice, this week will be all about giving and sharing. I will share with you my personal story on how Guru3D.com was founded and will take you through the history of Guru3D.

But guys .. we have so much lined up this week, that we'll divide everything over six days, here's the program.

A Decade of Guru3D agenda:

• 24th May - History of Guru3D part #1 (open)
• 25th May - Start Contest 1 - The Wicked Guru3D  Photo Contest (open)
• 26th May - History of Guru3D Part #2  The VGA Flashback (open)
• 27th May - Start Contest 2 - The Logo Hunt Contest (open)
• 28th May - Guru3D going Green article (open)
• 29th May - Start Contest 3 - The Dragon challenge (open)

We hope you'll join us in our festivities ! If you like to say hello or congratulate us, we opened up a forum thread right here ! Let's make this an awesome week, and I do hope so much that a lot of you will take part of it.

Thanks so much,

Hilbert Hagedoorn, owner of Guru3D.com

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Continuing the game exactly were "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Shadow of Chernobyl" ended, "S.T.A.L.K.E.R.: Call of Pripyat" got its own official web site now which you can find here. Using GSC Game World's own game engine, the X-Ray engine v.1.6, it is supposed to increase the graphical details of the game even further.

Besides screenshots and a few hints regarding the story, you can also find some interesting new features of the game:

• Photorealistic exclusion Zone
  

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The History of Guru3D - Part I - Today we'll talk about the history of Guru3D, it's good to look back a little and see where we came from and where we are, both in technology but moreover, as a technology website.

If you're a proud owner of ASUS's flagship ROG motherboard then here's a wonderful product for you. The ROG OC Station is a one of a kind device that grants users on-the-fly access to overclocking parameters, ROG-exclusive features, fan speeds, system information and even a photo slideshow function. To overclock your ROG board all you have to do is connect ROG OC Station to your board and change various parameters.

That's it. The pure hardware-based, bay-mounted device with a large 3-inch display takes OCing to a whole new level of ease, accuracy and sophistication, reports ASUS.

Pure hardware-based OC control
* Real-time access to system voltages, frequencies and fan speeds
* Intuitive user interface with 3" TFT-LCD display
* Temperature monitoring for critical components
* Alarm thresholds with audio alerts
* Stylish design with adjustable faceplate (tilts upward 30 degrees)
* Mounts in two 5.25-inch bays
* Seamless integration with ROG CPU Level Up and ASUS EPU-6 Engine
* Photo slideshow function

No word on pricing.

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One thing that microsoft is good in is limiting their operating systems. As such Microsoft will drop a controversial three-app limit on Windows 7 Starter Edition by the time it reaches shelves, an apparent scoop by long-time Microsoft observer Paul Thurrott indicates. Although the restriction is often softened in practice, the approach would let owners use more than three full, active apps at a time. Microsoft previously instituted the limit both to accommodate the slower systems that would likely be used as well as to push customers towards the more lucrative Vista Home Basic.

The changes should also let users of the simplest Windows 7 build also change their desktop background, a feature that also wasn't an option in the past.

Why Microsoft would loosen its restrictions isn't mentioned in the seeming leak but may have its roots in the company's desire to maintain the control it recently gained of the netbook market. It won the market largely by heavily discounting Windows XP, eliminating most of the Linux cost advantage. Imposing major limits on the software bears the risk of steering some netbook buyers towards Linux, where those limits don't exist. Newer Linux variants like Ubuntu Netbook Remix are tailored just for the ultra-small computers.

Windows 7 Starter will nonetheless maintain some important restrictions, such as the absence of interface elements that require Aero Glass (such as "peek") and touchscreen support; as such, it's likely to increase the cost of convertible tablet netbooks and others with built-in touch.

Microsoft hasn't commented on the accuracy of the report.

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During a visit to Taipei TT stumbled into some of the upcoming processors from Intel. Intel has already publically displayed the 32nm Clarkdale processor (Core i5 with integrated graphics on die) which is due to replace the "current" 45nm Havendale testing only CPU sometime early next year.

Comparing the Socket LGA 1366 Core i7 powerhouse against the upcoming Socket LGA 1136 Core i5 mainstream processors - namely the Core i5 "Lynnfield" 45nm quad-core and the soon to be dodo Core i5 "Havendale" 45nm dual-core with embedded graphics on the CPU itself.

According to sources the first Core i5 Lynnfield processors will start being sold sometime in mid September, just in time for Windows 7 [photo's courtesy of tweaktown].

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