Gigabyte's GA-Z77X-UD3H and GA-Z77X-UD5H Motherboards

We've seen Gigabyte's G1.Sniper M3 microATX motherboard and now we are looking at two other products designed to support Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge central processing units (CPUs). 

The two boards that aren't intended for gamers are based on the Z77 chipset and called GA-Z77X-UD3H and GA-Z77X-UD5H. Unfortunately, the exact prices have yet to be disclosed. 

The former has four SATA 3.0 Gbps ports and two SATA 6.0 Gbps ports, plus three more of the latter via two Marvell controllers. 

An mSATA is available as well, along with headers for USB 2.0 (4 ports), FireWire and UB 3.0 (six ports, enabled by VLI USB 3.0 hubs). 

There are 16 lanes of bandwidth shared between two PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots, while a third x16 slot is connected to the chipset via a PCI Express 2.0 x4 interface. 

Overclocking features are available as well (voltage measuring points, a SATA style power connector for extra extra power to the PCI Express, etc). 

Furthermore, the rear I/O boasts two USB 2.0 ports, four USB 3.0 ports, FireWire (one), dual Gigabit Ethernet, eSATA, 7.1 channel audio with optical S/PDIF and DisplayPort, HDMI, DVI and D-sub connectors. 

The other motherboard, Z77X-UD3H, is the more affordable option of this pair. 

As such, it makes some design concessions, though not overly many, so prospective buyers needn't be too worried. 

For instance, the PWN design is a bit simplified (the CPU still has a digital controller but analogue ones for the chipset and memory). 

Another things is that the heatsinks are less complex, lacking the heatpipes present on the other platform. 

Furthermore, FireWire is totally absent and only one USB 3.0 internal header exists (there are six USB 2.0 pin headers links). 

As for the back I/O, a lone Gigabit Ethernet connection can be established, but gigabyte kept the 7.1-channel audio with optical S/PDIF and the video ports. There are also six USB 3.0 ports and a PS/2 port.

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LG Promises Android 5.0 Upgrades for 2012 Devices

South Korean mobile phone maker LG Electronics is expected to deliver upgrades to the upcoming Android 5.0 Jelly Bean operating system to all of its devices launched in 2012. 

Although the platform hasn’t been launched yet, the handset vendor already confirmed plans to make the move. 

The only limitation that might appear is related to the hardware capabilities of these mobile phones. 

However, as long as the device supports it, the Android 5.0 update will be released. According to LG's UK Product Manager Shaun Musgrave, this is the company’s way of showing its commitment to deliver “the best smartphone experience.” 

Just before the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, LG unveiled to the world a series of new devices, including the high-end Optimus 4X HD, Optimus 3D Max and Optimus Vu, all of which appear capable of supporting the next Android release.

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Gigabyte's G1.Sniper M3 MicroATX Motherboard

Gigabyte has apparently acted on all the consumer feedback and requests it received in regards to its G1 series of gaming motherboards. 

What this means is that the company finally has a product that, rather than the ATX or XL-ATX form factor, uses the microATX size. 

The name, according to VR-Zone, is G1.Sniper M3, and the design involves a mostly black color theme with blue heatsinks instead of the blue PCB Gigabyte is known to love. 

 As people are no doubt able to guess, the product is made with Intel's Z77 chipset, which handles LGA1155 "Ivy Bridge" and "Sandy Bridge" processors. 

Two PCI Express 3.0 x16 slots are present (work in dual x8 mode when both are employed), as are a PCI Express 2.0 x1 slot and a PCI Express 2.0 x16 slot. 

Since this is a small motherboard, it is actually quite a feat that there is a full pair of slots for high-end video cards. 

On the flip side, the storage options aren't as extensive as one might hope, with just two SATA 6.0 Gbps ports and three SATA 3.0 Gbps connectors. 

Then again, mATX cases don't usually have room for more than five drives, if they even reach that number. 

Moving on, the back panel offers four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports (no USB 3.0 hubs), eSATA, a PS/2 port, Ethernet, 7.1 channel audio with optical S/PDIF out and the expected range of video outputs (D-Sub, DVI, HDMI and DisplayPort). 

Headers on the motherboard allow for an extra six USB 2.0 and two USB 3.0 links, but the clear CMOS, power and reset buttons are conspicuously absent, along with the POST80 debug LED. At least Creative's Sound Core3D technology made it on the spec list.   

We don't have a price for this G1.Sniper M3, so we can't tell for sure how well liked it will be, even if the heatsinks in the photos get replaced by better ones. We do know that ASRock's Z77 Fatal1ty Professional-M will be at odds with it though.

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NVIDIA GK104 Kepler Card PCB Pictured

As the release of NVIDIA's fabled 28nm-based video card approaches, a leak has exposed what the product's PCB looks like. 

We now know, with a reasonably low degree of doubt, that NVIDIA's first Kepler video board will be released on March 23. 

What we have in the photo above is the printed circuit board, according to Chiphell. 

Notice the five-phase VRM, the HDMI and DisplayPort connectors and the two DVI ports. Two SLI connectors, the GPU die and the memory are clearly visible as well, finally. 

The photo also reveals that strange 8-pin + 6-pin stacked power connector we spotted yesterday, and we guess there will be cards with two 6-pin ports instead, or NVIDIA will choose one or the other. 

This board is, in the end, just an engineering sample, so the final product may exhibit some differences.

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AMD Radeon HD 7870 Pitcairn Graphics Cards Spotted in the Wild

With just a few more weeks separating us from the launch of AMD’s Pitcairn GPUs, also known as the Radeon HD 7800 series, an image allegedly depicting two such cards was posted online by a Chinese website.

Not much can be seen from the picture published on the PC in Life forums, but the two cards presented are reported to be based on the Pitcairn XT GPU, which means that we are dealing with the Radeon HD 7870.

Both of these cards use a black PCB, just as the Radeon HD 7900-series, and are covered by a black/red plastic shroud with a blower fan placed to the right of the GPU.

While no information regarding the specs of these graphics cards was provided by the source, some previous leaks have suggested that AMD’s Radeon HD 7800 models will come equipped with 2GB of GDDR5 video memory buffer.

In the more powerful HD 7870, this will be accompanied by the Pitcairn XT GPU which includes 1408 streaming processors, 88 texture units and 24 ROP units that will all be connected to the memory via a 256-bit wide bus.

Thanks to the 1,375MHz (5.5GHz data rate) VRAM operating clock, this configuration should be able to deliver 176GB/s worth of memory bandwidth.

As far as the GPU is concerned, this will work at 950MHz, making it the second highest clocked graphics core in the Radeon HD 7000-series after the HD 7770.

For the Radeon HD 7850, AMD will decrease this frequency to 900MHz, while the memory will also be downclocked from 1,375MHz to 1,250MHz (5GHz data rate). This drops the memory bandwidth available to the GPU to 160GB/s. 

Other changes brought to the Pitcairn Pro core include a reduction in stream processors count, from 1408 to 1280, the number of texture units available also being lowered to 80 from 88 in the Pitcairn XT.

The Radeon HD 7800 series graphics cards based on the 28nm Pitcairn GPU should arrive in the first part of March.

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Intel Ivy Bridge Powered Samsung 17.3 Notebook Goes on Pre-Order

Even though almost two months separate us from the launch of Intel’s Ivy Bridge processors, some US based retailers have jumped the gun and started listing notebooks powered by these CPUs on their websites.

One such example is J&R who has recently added a 17.3-inch Samsung notebook to their offer, running Intel’s next-gen 22nm processors.

Dubbed the NP700Z7C-S01US Nike, the laptop in question runs Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit) and boasts a Full HD screen, as well as an Intel Core i7-3615QM CPU.

Those of you who aren’t familiar with Intel’s Ivy Bridge CPUs should know that this chip packs four computing cores clocked at 2.3GHz (3.3GHz maximum Turbo Boost speed), support for Intel’s Hyper-Threading technology and an on-die Intel HD 4000 graphics core.

In Samsung’s creation, this fast Intel processor is paired together with 8GB of system memory, as well as with a 1TB hard drive with an additional 8GB of Express Cache memory, according to Laptoping.

The rest of the features list includes a 1.3 Megapixel HD camera with noise-canceling microphone, D-Sub and HDMI video outputs, a multi-format memory card reader, a Super Multi DVD dual-layer burner, as well as the standard Gigabit Ethernet, 802.11 b/g/n WiFi and Bluetooth 3.0 connectivity.

Two USB 3.0 ports are also included, which is definitely a welcomed addition if you ask us.

When unplugged from the power outlet, Samsung’s Series 7 notebook gets its power from an 8-cell Lithium Polymer battery.

The NP700Z7C-S01US Nike is available right now for pre-order from J&R, with pricing being set at $1,499.99 (roughly 1,131 EUR). 

Sadly, the retailer doesn’t seem to know when this Series 7 notebook will start shipping to its customers, but we expect this to happen at the end of April, shortly after Intel launches its 22nm Ivy Bridge processors.

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MSI Z77A-GD45 Motherboard Poses for the Camera

If the Z77A-GD65 Intel Ivy Bridge motherboard that we took a look at earlier today is too rich for your blood, you will be glad to know that MSI also prepares a less expensive version of this board, dubbed the Z77A-GD45.

Despite being cheaper, the board will also include the features that made MSI motherboards famous among computer users such as Military Class III components, OC Genie II and ClickBIOS II, but its specs list was reduced a bit.

Gone are the extra SATA 6Gbps connectors or the additional USB 3.0 ports, the GD45 coming instead with just the default connectivity options provided by the Z77 chipset it is based upon.

That being said, we still get most of the features that one would expect from a present day motherboard, while the layout is more than adequate at first look.

Add to that the low price that MSI is supposed to ask for the Z77A-GD45 and it becomes obvious that this motherboard will prove to be quite popular among DIY-ers.

If you don’t believe me check it out for yourself in the gallery below this post.

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ASRock Z77 Fatal1ty Professional-M Micro-ATX Ivy Bridge Board Makes Appearance

Besides the Z77 Fatal1ty Professional we presented earlier today, ASRock’s Ivy Bridge Fatal1ty motherboard series includes the micro-ATX Z77 Professional-M LGA 1155 solution that will also be showcased at this year’s CeBIT fair.

Despite the smaller form factor used, the Z77 Professional-M includes many of the features of its older sibling such as a high capacity DIGIPower VRM with 11 phases dedicated to the CPU and 3 to the memory.

 A pair of x16 PCI Express Gen 3.0 slots is also available together with a third PCIe x16 slot, this time Gen 2.0, that has four PCI Express lanes routed to it.

Just like the Z77 Fatal1ty Professional, ASRock’s micro-ATX creation is also compatible with Nvidia SLI and AMD CrossFireX dual-GPU setups, but when both of the x16 PCIe 3.0 slots are populated these work at x8 speeds.

A single PCI Express X1 slot completes the specs list, while storage is provided by a total of eight SATA ports, four of these working at 6Gbps speeds.

An additional eSATA 6Gbps port is routed to the back of the board, where TechPowerUp reports that is accompanied by a series of USB 3.0 slots, 7.1-channel audio with S/PDIF out, Gigabit LAN, DVI, D-Sub and HDMI video outputs, as well as by a Clear CMOS switch.

ASRock also installed on the Z77 Fatal1ty Professional-M the now usual on-board Power and Reset switches, a BIOS debug display and an USB 3.0 header for users wanting to route two such high-speed ports in the front of their case.

No information regarding pricing or availability of this motherboard has been made public by ASRock, but more details should be unveiled as we get nearer to the launch of Intel's 7-series chipsets.

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Samsung Will Ship Flexible AMOLED Displays in 2012

Samsung may not be making LCDs anymore, but its OLED business is something it is placing great hopes in, as evident from both direct and, in this case, indirect announcements. 

Word just came out that Samsung has decided on a sort of estimated time of arrival for its flexible AMOLED display panels. 

We've known about them for months, but they are still in prototype form, so demos of bendable devices have been sparse. 

Nevertheless, they happened at electronic shows in the past and, if Samsung has its way, devices with flexible AMOLED panels will go on sale this year (2012), according to a report. 

The first ones will possess a resolution of 480 x 800 pixels, plus a brightness of 300 cd/m2, a color depth of 16.7 million colors and a thickness of 0.27 mm. Their bending radius weight will hover around 2.1 grams. 

Phones and other handsets will make up the first run, with tablets and other consumer electronics to follow. 

All in all, even if the resolution is not the greatest in the world, the panels can only improve from here, especially since Samsung no longer has to divide its attention and resources between multiple display technologies. 

For those who don't know yet, Samsung is spinning off its LCD (liquid crystal display) business, abandoning that ever so slowly sinking ship. 

As such, its mind will dwell upon OLED and AMOLED, and on their many possibilities, more than it would have otherwise. 

Speaking of OLED, Samsung also means to start shipping its 55-inch OLED TV this year, the one it showcased at CES 2012. 

No clue about any prices yet, but you can be sure any of the above will be at least mildly unkind to your financial deposits. We're certain they'll sell anyway, though, even if only for their novelty factor.

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Samsung Galaxy S III Planned for an April Release

South Korean mobile phone maker Samsung Electronics is expected to bring to the market in the not too far future a successor for its high-end Samsung Galaxy S II smartphone, none other than the long rumored Galaxy S III.

The company has already confirmed that the device will be unveiled before the middle of the year, but did not offer specific info on when that might happen.

The latest rumors on the matter, however, suggest that Galaxy S III might be launched in April, and that it will benefit from a worldwide simultaneous release. 

Packing a 4.8-inch 1080p high-definition display and a 1.5GHz quad-core Samsung Exynos processor, it will be the next flagship device from Samsung. 

The smartphone is also expected to sport an 8-megapixel photo snapper on the back, along with a 2-megapixel front-facing camera, 4G LTE connectivity, and the Android 4.0 Ice Cream Sandwich platform.

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