Biostar Microtech is going to release a new budget-oriented motherboard of mini-ITX form-factor. Codenamed Biostar A68I-450 Deluxe, it is peculiar by the employment of an onboard two-core hybrid processor – AMD 450D. The latter comprises two x86 Bobcat blocks, running at 1.65 GHz, and an in-built AMD Radeon HD 6320 graphics that is compatible with DirectX 11 standard. It should be noted that this CPU is cooled down thanks to a small-sized fan.



The motherboard is based on AMD A68 chipset for socket BGA FT1. It is able to offer a pair of 240-contact DIMM slots for DDR3 RAM with the maximal clock frequency of 1066 MHz (up to 16 GB modules). Expansion facilities are represented by a single PCIe 2.0 x16 slot, while storage is secured by three SATA III 6 Gb/sec ports. Network operation is relied on gigabit Ethernet adapter (Realtek RTL8111F), whereas audio subsystem runs under Realtek ALC662 controller, providing 5.1-channel sounding.


To continue, Biostar A68I-450 Deluxe is …

Sapphire Technology Ltd., the first-string supplier of graphics cards based on AMD chips, introduces its proprietary version of Radeon R9 290 adapter – R9 290 Vapor-X OC. As seen from the title, the model features an original Vapor-X cooler with three low-noise fans and has received factory overclocking. Bright design and outstanding performance makes this card a desirable acquirement for enthusiasts and overclockers.



Sapphire R9 290 Vapor-X OC is based on Hawaii PRO GPU (28 nm, GCN architecture) with 2560 stream processors. It runs at 1030 MHz frequency. The chip is accompanied by 4 GB of GDDR5 memory (512-bit interface) that operates at 5600 MHz effective frequency. The card is developed for PCI Express 3.0 x16 rail and is powered through a pair of sockets: 1x 8-pin and 1x 6-pin.


The award-winning Vapor-X cooler consists of an evaporator and five heatpipes. The main heat-pipe features 10 mm diameter, two other – 8 mm, and the last two – 6 mm. This combination is …

ECS, a well-known designer of graphics solutions, announces the release of its new graphics card GeForce GTX 660 Ti, also known as GTX660TIA-2GR5-WFM. The card is elaborated on the basis of a reference adapter from Nvidia. GPU GK104 (designed according to 28 nm technological process) is the heart of the model. It consists of 1344 CUDA cores and features 915 MHz nominal frequency that can be dynamically overclocked to 980 MHz.



Memory subsystem of ECS GeForce GTX 660 Ti embraces 2 GB of GDDR5 memory that runs at the nominal 1502 MHz frequency but can be increased to the effective 6008 MHz mark. The manufacturer decided not to alter recommended by Nvidia parameters in their own version. The connection with GPU resources is realized via 192-bit rail.


This graphics card employs PCI-e 3.0 x16 internal interface. A set of external video interfaces totally corresponds to the etalon requirements and involves one DisplayPort, one HDMI, and a pair of DVI ports.


To continue, …