MSI's Eclipse Plus X58 motherboard

MSI will soon release a more luxurious version of its 'Eclipse' X58 motherboar, branded Eclipse Plus. Unlike most manufacturers, MSI has chosen to use nVidia's NF200 switchchip on this board, which is required for SLI. As of yet, SLI is already implemented through a software certification of the X58 boards, but the NF200 chip is able to process extra PCI-Express lanes. ASUS also used the NF200 chip to build a motherboard featuring six PCI-e slots.

The MSI Eclipse Plus has a black circuit board with blue- and black-colored connectors. The board features a total of six DDR3 memory slots and a stunning 10 SATA ports. Also present are four PCI-Express x16 slots, two PCI-Express x1 slots and an old-fashioned PCI slot. MSI proudly displays that the board is part of its Gaming Series by labeling the cooling blocks. The usage of the advanced DrMos technology is also depicted on the board.

The right bottom of MSI's revised motherboard features a small display for diagnostics, as well as some buttons that are handy for overclockers. The status information can also be found on the back of the motherboard and reset with the CMOS button when required.

MSI's Eclipse Plus also features all standard functions such as USB and FireWire headers, 2x Gigabit LAN, 8x USB, 2x eSATA and a FireWire port. Audio connectors are not present on the board, which makes it likely for MSI to bundle a seperate PCI-Express soundcard. Pricing and availability is still unknown.

author : Marc Mouthaan

Conceptronic presents CFULLHDMA successor

The Full HD Media player (CFULLHDMA) manufactured by Conceptronics will soon be followed up by the company's new CFULLHDMAi. Though the product appears to be the same on the outside, several features have been added such as SAMBA server support, a BitTorrent download client and compatibility with Conceptronic's Wireless 300 MBps 11n USB adaptor.

Like its predecessor, the CFULLHDMAi functions as a personal bridge to stream digital media files to a TV and/or home cinema set in a Full HD resolution (1080p). The integrated UPnP AV media client allows access to all files that are contained in compatible storage devices. The SAMBA/NFS client provides direct access to shared network folders.

The CFULLHDMAi has no integrated hard disk, but thanks to the USB connector on the rear, it's easy to connect one to the device. This function was also present on the CFULLHDMA, but did not yet have the SAMBA server expansion.

With the latest firmware, both the CFULLHDMA and CFULLHDMAi can be made compatible with Conceptronic's C300RU, a 300Mbps 11n USB adaptor which makes wireless media streaming possible. To optimize the performance of Full HD films, it is required that you use an 11n router or work on a computer with an 11n client.

Features:

• Plays back all popular media formats such as: XviD, WMV9, MOV, MKV, H.264, VC-1, MPEG 1/2/4, JPEG, MP3, WMA, AVI, SVCD, VCD, ISO, IFO (DVD-navigation), VOB and subtitles
• Supports up to Full HD (1080p) resolutions
• Gigabit LAN connector (supports all 10/100 Mbps/Gigabit networks
• Userfriendly menu
  
• HDMI and component video-output and coaxial digital sound output (S/PDIF).
• Comes with all required cabling, a stand and a remote control
• Samba server
• Samba client
• NFS client
• BitTorrent download client
• Stream wirelessly with Conceptronic's 300 Mbps 11n wireless USB adaptor (C300RU)*
• UPnP AV-compatible to support multiple media servers
• Includes gold-plated 3m HDMI-cable

*The C300RU is sold seperately.

author : Marc Mouthaan

New LaCie DVD burner with FireWire and USB

LaCie introduces a new external DVD-burner. The product features a USB 2.0 and a FireWire-conntector. It writes DVD- and DVD+ media at speeds of 22x. LaCie has also implemented the LightScribe technology, which makes it possible to print labels on the discs. This does require special coated discs in combination with the right software.

LaCie bundles the Toast 9 Basic software (Mac OS X 10.4 and newer), as well as the Easy Media Creator Suite 10 with LightScribe Labeler for Windows. Mac Users will be able to use the company's LightScribe Labeler, which is suited for Mac OS X 3.9 and more recent versions. The users of a Linux-based operating system are able to download LaCie's LightScribe Labeler freely, the software supports four popular Linux-versions (Ubuntu, Fedora, SuSE and Mandriva).

LaCie's d2 dvd±rw 22x with LightScribe bears a recommended price of 109 euro for the USB/FireWire version, and 89 euro for the model with just the USB-connector.

author : Marc Mouthaan

Barracuda 7200.12 has 500 GB platters

Seagate has announced the Barracuda 7200.12 hard disks, a series of 3.5 inch drives that will bring the company's new 500 GB platters to the consumer.

These new Barracuda's feature a data density of 329 GB per square inch. Theoretically, this means that the disks will perform better whilst consuming less energy. Seagate claims a writing speed of 160 Megabyte/sec on the 1 TB SATA2 hard disk.

The Seagate Barracuda 7200.12 line will also get a 750 and 500 GB model. These will feature 32 or 16 MB of cache memory. All new Seagate hard disks have a three-year warranty.

author : Marc Mouthaan

PQI reports that it will show its entire line of solid-state products during the CES 2009, later this week. There will be four new solid-state disks: the 1.8-inch microSATA SSD S518, 2.5-inch SATA2 SSD S525, the Express Card SSD S520 and lastly, the eSATA Combo Card S530.

PQI's S518 and S525 will feature a maximum storage capacity of 128 GB. The S518 is intended for netbooks and small laptops, while the bigger S525 will be used in regular notebooks and desktop computers. Both SSD's use multi-level cell (MLC) chips. The reading and writing speeds for the 2.5 inch version are specified at respectively 150 Mbyte/s and 90 Mbyte/s.

author : Marc Mothaan

11.6 and 13.3 inch netbooks upcoming?

Initially, HP had an 11.6-inch netbook planned for the end of 2008. Due to the effects of the credit crunch however, the company postponed this release until the first half of this year. Acer has also reported to be working on an 11.6-inch netbook, which is to be released in the 2nd half of 2009. Digitimes posts that Acer has already ordered its 11.6-inch panels at AU Optronics. The 11.6 inch netbooks are to fill in the gap between the 10-inch and 12.1-inch netbooks. Both companies have also made plans for a 13.3-inch model, which is likely to be announced later this year.
HP expects to sell over a million 11.6-inch and 2 up to 2.6 million 13.3-inch netbooks this year. Acer's expectations are far less, respectively 200.000 and 900.000 for the 11.6-inch and 13.3-inch models. Despite the fact that the netbook market is growing rapidly, the majority of mainstream notebooks will still be 15.6-inch for this year.

author : Marc Mouthaan

MSI Media Live Diva HTPC motherboard

MSI just released their latest HTPC Motherboard, the Media Live Diva. The board feautures a unique enhancement in the form of an intelligent digital amplifier, the D2 Audio DAE3. This expansion produces purely digital sound and supports THX, and because of the optional 5.1 or 7.1 add in card does not take up a lot of space in the media PC or generate a lot of heat.

Apart from the new sound solution the Media Diva sports DMI, VGA, RGB Component out, SPDIF in and out, Firewire, USB 2.0 and Gigabit ethernet. Graphics are provided by ATI's Radeon 3200 chipset paired with the AMD 780M southbridge. All AMD socket AM2 and AM3 processors are supported up to the latest Phenom X4 quadcore processor. For more information about the board please visit the MSI product page.

The Media Diva will be available as both a 5.1 package as well as a 7.1 package, boards can be found in stores as from today. Recommended retail prices are around US$ 159 for the 5.1 package and US$ 169 for the 7.1 solution.

author : Martin Birjs