MSI GTX 560 Ti-448 1280MB Twin Frozr III Power Edition Video Card Review

Introduction

The launch of the new GTX 560 Ti 448 today I think is a prime example of why NVIDIA does so well in the video card market. You just have to look at the current release schedule of games, or the games that have just recently been released and know that we're going to have a flood of PC Gamers get their game on over the next few months.

Unfortunately no one has any new high end cards ready to go and instead at the moment we're seeing refreshes of popular models from partners, but nothing from the AMD / NVIDIA level today.

Rumors of the GTX 560 Ti 448 Core card have been around for a little bit now and were pretty much confirmed the other week as pictures of partners cards came out, but there hasn't been as much talk about this model as you might expect. The launch of the Sandy Bridge-E platform from Intel, though, stole a lot of attention. Combined with the fact that the new GTX 560 Ti 448 we're looking at today is going to be released only into specific regions means that not everyone has needed to pay attention to it, because not everyone is going to have access to it.

Reserved mainly for North America and Europe, the new model is designed to sit between the much loved GTX 560 Ti and the higher end GTX 570 which has always been a bit of a dull card. Before we get into the performance side of things, though, the first thing we need to do is take a closer look at the MSI GTX 560 Ti 448 Twin Frozr III Power Edition card we have on hand. We'll start with a look at the package before moving onto the card itself which will then lead us into the specifications side of things.

Once we've done all that, we'll of course get into the performance side and see just what the new NVIDIA model is doing for us before we wrap everything up. But first, let's get into the package to see what MSI are offering us here today.

The Package

Looking at the box, you can see that MSI has opted for a design that opens up and gives us a look at the card. This is something we generally see on their higher end models, but being part of the "Power Edition" series definitely makes it stand out a bit more. You can see as you move throughout the box there's just an absolute wealth of information talking about the benefits the "Power Edition" tags bring along with talk about the Twin Frozr III cooler.

Moving inside the box, there's not heaps going on with some paperwork, driver CD, two Dual Molex to 6-Pin PCIe power connectors along with a DVI to VGA and mini HDMI to HDMI converter.

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NZXT Havik 120 HSF launched

NZXT introduced the HAVIK 120, a more compact version of the HAVIK 140. The new cooler has a nickel-plated copper base, four 8mm heatpipes and aluminium fins that are cooled by twp 120mm FZ-series PWM fans that deliver up to 75.8CFM at a noise level of 22dBA.

The cooler measures 125mm x 160mm x 112mm (W x H x D) and weighs 920g. Intel's LGA 2011, 1366, 1155, 1156, 775 and AMD's Socket AM3, AM2+, AM2 are all supported. the NZXT HAVIK 120 will soon ship for $54.99.

In continuation of the award-winning HAVIK series, NZXT�s latest CPU cooler, HAVIK 120 has arrived. This dual 120mm fan CPU cooler comes with four 8mm heat pipes, fan speeds up to 1500 RPM, and 22 dBA silent cooling with airflow of 75.8 CFM. Achieve the possibility of harmonizing performance and silence with HAVIK 120.

NZXT Havik 120 HSF launched - More news at DV Hardware

HDD supply to fall short 35 percent in Q4 2011

Sources at Taiwanese PC makers told DigiTimes that HDD production is estimated to fall short of demand by about 35 percent:

Global supply of hard disk drives (HDDs) in the fourth quarter of 2011 will decrease to 110-130 million units due to the impact of flooding in Thailand, about 35% short of demand for 180 million units, according to Taiwan-based makers in the PC supply chain.

Some PC makers are relatively optimistic that the global HDD shortage will ease in first-quarter 2012, while others estimate the easing to come in the second quarter, the sources indicated. However, they believe the HDD industry will take 9-24 months to completely restore normal production, meaning PC vendors will have to face increased HDD costs in 2012, the sources said.

HDD supply to fall short 35 percent in Q4 2011 - More news at DV Hardware

Skyrim 1.2 patch to arrive tomorrow

Bethesda announced patch 1.2 for The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim. The PlayStation 3 edition is already available, PC and Xbox 360 gamers will have to wait until tomorrow.

UPDATE 1.2 NOTES (all platforms unless specified)

Improved occasional performance issues resulting from long term play (PlayStation 3)

Fixed issue where textures would not properly upgrade when installed to drive (Xbox 360)

Fixed crash on startup when audio is set to sample rate other than 44100Hz (PC)

Fixed issue where projectiles did not properly fade away

Fixed occasional issue where a guest would arrive to the player�s wedding dead

Dragon corpses now clean up properly

Fixed rare issue where dragons would not attack

Fixed rare NPC sleeping animation bug

Fixed rare issue with dead corpses being cleared up prematurely

Skeleton Key will now work properly if player has no lockpicks in their inventory

Fixed rare issue with renaming enchanted weapons and armor

Fixed rare issue with dragons not properly giving souls after death

ESC button can now be used to exit menus (PC)

Fixed occasional mouse sensitivity issues (PC)

General functionality fixes related to remapping buttons and controls (PC)

Source: Voodoo Extreme

Skyrim 1.2 patch to arrive tomorrow - More news at DV Hardware

Intel Ivy Bridge chipsets to support USB 3.0

Bright Side of News writes Intel's 7-series chipsets for Ivy Bridge will offer native USB 3.0 support:

Today we come with some mixed news about Intel's new 7X series chipsets for Ivybridge. As you can see in the table below, there will be several different chipsets for Ivybridge as Intel traditionally makes three for a certain chip. On top of that, there are a few very interesting developments in the way of USB 3.0, SATA 3.0 (6G) and PCIe. When it comes to USB 3.0, Intel is finally going to support USB 3.0 natively which will save motherboard vendors money when building Intel chipsets and hopefully make the boards overall less complicated to design. In addition to that, we will hopefully see better USB 3.0 performance and possibly less variation between different USB 3.0 controllers that we have now.

Intel Ivy Bridge chipsets to support USB 3.0 - More news at DV Hardware

AMD answers Bulldozer questions at HardOCP

HardOCP has asked AMD ten reader questions about the new Bulldozer desktop processors, you can read the full article over here.

7. Why would I buy a $275 Bulldozer cpu when the $170 1090t seems to equal its performance or actually do better at every benchmark and game we've seen?

Adam Kozak, Product Marketing Manager, AMD - We understand our customers make purchase decisions based on how they use their PCs, and in many cases our AMD Phenom� II processors are a great (purchase).

For those ready for a more modern architecture, who want a desktop for high resolution gaming and to tackle time intensive tasks with newer multi-threaded applications, the AMD FX processor is a great upgrade.

AMD answers Bulldozer questions at HardOCP - More news at DV Hardware

ARM to capture 10 percent of PC market by 2013?

Morgan Stanley analysts believe ARM will grab 10 percent of the PC market by 2013. Full details at FUD Zilla.

In a survey of 30 PC manufacturers, Morgan Stanley found that 40 percent of them were willing to give ARM chips a go. However, there are some hurdles to overcome before ARM PCs become a reality. Next generation chips from the likes of Texas Instruments and Nvidia should have enough muscle to power low end PCs, and their low power consumption could make them a perfect choice for affordable ultraportables or nettops.

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Most next generation ARM chips that could find their way into PCs will be based on the 28nm or 20nm process, which means they will probably be churned out by TSMC, which has a significant lead in the 28nm process. Morgan Stanly reckons TSMC stands to generate about $650 million in additional revenues on the back of ARM PC chips.

ARM to capture 10 percent of PC market by 2013? - More news at DV Hardware

DRAM prices still tanking

DRAMeXchange reports prices of DDR3 memory chips continue to fall due to oversupply, slow demand and shortages of HDDs. Full details at X-bit Labs.

According to DRAMeXchange, a research division of TrendForce, due to the weak demand for PC in November (some PC OEMs orders were even cancelled) the market remained slow. Affected by the inventory pressure, several DRAM manufacturers resorted to cutting prices. In addition, the DDR3 2GB spot price dipped 25% compared to last month, which gave the clients an edge in the contract price negotiation and in turn furthered the price drop. Although DRAM makers such as Elpida and Nanya reduced their capacities in November, the effect of downsizing will not kick in until Q1 2012. In the short term, the DRAM market will still be in a state of oversupply, with the contract price downturn most likely to continue through the end of 2011.

The contract price of DDR3 2GB dropped from $18.75 in May 2011 to the current average selling price (ASP) of $9.5, a 50% decrease; the spot price of DDR3 2GB plunged by 70% to $0.74. With price falling below the manufacturing costs of many DRAM makers, companies with weaker financial health have downsized their capacities or shifted their focuses to other sectors.

DRAM prices still tanking - More news at DV Hardware

PCI Express 4.0 to double the bandwidth

While we're still waiting for the first PCI Express 3.0 graphics cards, PCI-SIG has already cooked up the PCI Express 4.0 draft specification. This new standard will enable a bandwidth of 16 gigatransfers per second (GT/s), twice as much as PCI Express 3.0. The final PCIe 4.0 specification is expected in 2014 or 2015.

PCI-SIG�, the organization responsible for the widely adopted PCI Express� (PCIe�) industry-standard input/output (I/O) technology, today announced the approval of 16 gigatransfers per second (GT/s) as the bit rate for the next generation of PCIe architecture, PCIe 4.0. This decision comes after the PCI-SIG completed a feasibility study on scaling the PCIe interconnect bandwidth to meet the demands of a variety of computing markets.

After technical analysis, the PCI-SIG has determined that 16 GT/s on copper, which will double the bandwidth over the PCIe 3.0 specification, is technically feasible at approximately PCIe 3.0 power levels. The data also confirms that a 16GT/s interconnect can be manufactured in mainstream silicon process technology and can be deployed with existing low-cost materials and infrastructure, while maintaining compatibility with previous generations of PCIe architecture. In addition, the PCI-SIG will investigate advancements in active and idle power optimizations, key issues facing the industry.

�The PCI Express architecture has become the de facto I/O technology within the industry, in large part due to PCI-SIG�s dedication to I/O innovation and the insight of those who defined earlier versions in such an extensible manner,� said Nathan Brookwood, research fellow at Insight 64. �Like its predecessors, the PCIe 4.0 architecture is well positioned to preserve the industry's investments in earlier generations of PCI Express specifications while extending the technology in a manner that enables new applications and usage models.�

Approximately 24 billion lanes of PCIe have shipped in the marketplace since its introduction−a strong testament to the industry�s reliance on PCIe architecture as an open bus standard now and for the future. This next-generation PCIe architecture, while doubling the data rate, will maintain its position as a low-cost, high-performance I/O technology. PCIe 4.0 technology will maintain backward compatibility with previous PCIe architectures and provide the optimum design point for high-volume platform I/O implementations across a wide range of existing and emerging applications. The PCIe 4.0 specification will address the many applications pushing for increased bandwidth at a low cost including server, workstation, desktop PC, notebook PC, tablets, embedded systems, peripheral devices, high-performance computing markets and more.

�Experts in the PCIe Electrical Workgroup carefully analyzed a number of target bit rates for the next generation of PCIe architecture, taking into consideration several key factors, including our ability to continue using low-cost materials. We have concluded that 16 GT/s is a feasible technical solution that satisfies our member companies� requirements,� said Al Yanes, PCI-SIG chairman. �While the preliminary analysis is encouraging, a lot more challenging work lies ahead in developing the specifications. The PCI-SIG looks forward to providing our members with a specification that not only satisfies their high performance requirements but also meets their power, cost and compatibility goals.�

The final PCIe 4.0 specifications, including form factor specification updates, are expected to be available sometime in the 2014-2015 timeframe.

PCI Express 4.0 to double the bandwidth - More news at DV Hardware

NVIDIA 28nm desktop GPU roadmap leaked

Details about NVIDIA's upcoming 28nm desktop GPUs were leaked by Asian tech site 4Gamer. The slide reveals NVIDIA's low-end parts (GK107) will arrive around Q2 2012, with mainstream parts (GK106) to follow by late Q2 2012 and a new high-end part (GK104) by mid-2012. Shortly after that we can expect a new dual-GPU model (GK110), and a new massive die chip (GK112) is anticipated by the end of the year or early 2013.

In 2012, NVIDIA is expected to embrace AMD's sweet-spot strategy, with no massive die. Instead, the top single GPU part will be GK104, featuring 384-bit 1.5 GB GDDR5 memory. GK104 is said to push out 2 TFLOPS, 30% higher than GTX 580. However, despite the smaller die, 4Gamer claims it consumes over 250W power. GK104 will release bang in the middle of 2012, perhaps during Computex time. Following right after GK104 will be GK110 - a dual GK104 flagship, thus completing NVIDIA's line-up for most of 2012 - remarkably similar to AMD's sweet spot strategy.

However, not for long, as late in 2012 / early 2013, NVIDIA plans to return back to a massive die with GK112, featuring 512-bit memory.

Source: VR Zone

NVIDIA 28nm desktop GPU roadmap leaked - More news at DV Hardware

AMD Radeon HD 7000 Mobility GPUs to be launched on December 5?

TPU picked up a rumor that AMD's first Radeon HD 7000 series cards may be introduced next week. The mobile parts are expected to be launched first, or perhaps the company will show off its GCN architecture.

It is indicated that products launched on that day will be based on GPUs built on the 28 nanometer fabrication process. The new products will be unveiled in London. It's likely that these are mobile parts based on the "Thames" and "Seymour" silicons. An alternate theory is that AMD could unveil some of its next-generation GPUs based on the GCN architecture, AMD's biggest leap in GPU architecture since Radeon HD 2000 series.

AMD Radeon HD 7000 Mobility GPUs to be launched on December 5? - More news at DV Hardware

Acer: HDD shortage to intensify in December

Acer VP Scott Lin told DigiTimes that PC vendors will see more serious HDD supply issues in December as HDD inventory levels will soon hit bottom:

As PC brand vendors' hard disc drive (HDD) inventory level will soon hit bottom, vendors will start experiencing HDD shortages in December and the problem will reach its peak in February until recovery comes in March, according to Acer vice president Scott Lin.

Despite PC brand vendors having already taken measures to secure and expand supply sources right after Thailand's flood, sources from the upstream supply chain still estimate that the hard drive supply gap will reach 35% in the fourth quarter with PC vendors starting feeling the pressure in December.

Acer pointed out that all the newly-made notebook models will have price increases of 2-3%, in addition to the extra cost of HDD, the increased price will also cover the extra cost for adopting Intel's new CPUs such as Core i3 2330, 2430 and Core i5 2450.

Acer: HDD shortage to intensify in December - More news at DV Hardware

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores launched

NVIDIA introduced the GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores, a new 40nm GF110 based card with 448 CUDA cores, 1280MB GDDR5 and a 320-bit memory bus.

The card features a 732MHz core, 1464MHz shaders and 3800MHz GDDR5 memory. The reference design draws power from two 6-pin PCI Express power connectors and includes two DVI outputs and one Mini-HDMI output.

Pricing is $289 but it's a limited edition release that will only be sold in North America, Germany, France, Scandinavia and Russia.

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 560 Ti 448 Cores launched - More news at DV Hardware

Intel Ivy Bridge details and benchmark figures leak

Legit Reviews found details about Intel's upcoming Ivy Bridge processors at Russian tech site Overclockers.ru:

Of the 18 models listed one is dual-core and all the others are quad-core processors. It looks like the Intel Core i7-3770K will be the unlocked processor that enthusiasts will be after. The Intel Core i7-3770K features four cores with a base clock speed of 3.5GHz. The processor does have Hyper-Threading, 8MB of shared L3 cache and a 3.9GHz turbo clock speed. The site also mentions that the Intel Ivy Bridge processors are scheduled to be releases in April 2012.

Additionally, LR also found benchmarks of the Ivy Bridge 22nm B3 stepping, you can check out the results over here.

Intel Ivy Bridge details and benchmark figures leak - More news at DV Hardware

More Ivy Bridge details leaked

VR Zone found even more Ivy Bridge details, you can read it over here.

A lot of details were missing in the initial leak and we can now fill in the blanks, especially with regards to the graphics and how the upcoming Ivy Bridge processor fit into Intel's echo system compared to the current Sandy Bridge processors.

Starting with the graphics, we have two graphics options in the desktop parts, Intel HD Graphics 4000 and Intel HD Graphics 2500. The main difference here beyond clock speeds is that we're expecting the execution units to be at least 1/3 greater in the HD 4000 parts compared to the HD 2500 parts, unless Intel has changed something last minute. The Core i7-3770K, Core i7-3770, Core i7-3770S, Core i7-3770T, Core i5-3570K as well as the oddly named Core i5-3475S will be the only ones with HD 4000 graphics, the rest get to make do with HD 2500 graphics.

More Ivy Bridge details leaked - More news at DV Hardware

Firmware exploit could set some HP printers on fire

Security researchers discovered printers from HP and possibly other printer makers are vulnerable to firmware exploits. Affected printers connect to the Internet and use a "Remote Firmware Update" process to update the printer's software, but because the updates are unsigned they can come from anyone.

Hackers can use the exploit to steal personal information and perhaps even set offices on fire. Columbia University Professor Salvatore Stolfo showed the press how attackers can heat up a printer fuser. During the demonstration paper in the printer turned brown and began to smoke before the printer's temperator-sensor shut off the printer to prevent a fire. But not all printers have such a safeguard.

HP insists it adopted digital signing on all its new printers since 2009, but the researchers found unsigned printers still being sold at office retailers in September 2011.

The attack can occur remotely, if the printer is set up for "cloud printing" as HP is particularly fond of. Researchers scanned the internet and in minutes found 40,000 printers they could have potentially set the "catch fire" command & control package to.

But the true number of vulnerable machines could be much, much higher. Comments Professor Stolfo, "I think it is very wise to broadcast the problem as soon as possible so all of the printer manufacturers start looking at their security architectures more seriously. It is conceivable that all printers are vulnerable. �Printers that are 3-, 4-, 5-years-old and older, I'd think, all used unsigned software. The question is, 'How many of those printers are out there?' It could be much more than 100 million."

Or in the case of good old-fashioned local printers, an on-site attack using a virus laden document print-job can offer equivalent access. Once the printer has received orders, its firmware is updated deleting the standard operating system and installing a malicious variant.

Mikko Hypponen, head of research at Finnish security firm F-Secure, was astounded by the flaw. He comments, "First of all, how the hell doesn't HP have a signature or certificate indicating that new firmware is real firmware from HP? Printers have been a weak spot for many corporate networks. Many people don�t realize that a printer is just another computer on a network with exactly the same problems and, if compromised, the same impact."

More info about the exploit can be read at DailyTech. Security experts warn printer exploits are just the start of a whole new wave of attacks. An increasing number of digital electronics are becoming connected to the Internet, but unfortunately security is usually not a priority when designing these functionalities.

Firmware exploit could set some HP printers on fire - More news at DV Hardware

U.S. Senator tells Google it needs a terrorist button

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In a letter addressed to Google's CEO, Larry Page, the company is asked to add a "flag" for content deemed to be terrorist related. The letter was sent by well-known Independent, Joe Lieberman, a U.S. senator from Connecticut. As of 2008, Lieberman also happens to be the chairman of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs.

The letter makes a significant point to single out Blogger and the recent arrest of Jose Pimentel, an individual thought to be a pipe-bomb terrorist. Jose used Blogger to host trueislam1.com (appears to have been taken down), a blog designed to propagate his  threatening messages. The site also included instructions on making bombs at home. The proposed solution? Add a clearly defined policy against pro-terrorism content and enable users to flag material that promotes terrorism.

However, Lieberman doesn't limit this suggestion exclusively to Blogger, expressing his disappointment that Google does not have a uniform policy across all of its services to address this type of material. The letter suggests he would also like to see some sort of flagging system for such content across the entire Googleverse. 

From the first page of the letter:

In November 2010, Google introduced a 'flag' button for terrorist content on YouTube. I continue to appreciate and commend these important first steps, but I am disappointed that Google has not developed a consistent standard throughout its many platforms. Unlike YouTube's Community Standards, Blogger's Content Policy does not expressly ban terrorist content nor does it provide a 'flag' feature for such content.

Because of a request by the U.S. government in 2008, Youtube modified its terms of service to encompass the filtering and removal of this type of content. In 2010, Google added an option to flag videos as "Promotes terrorism" under the "Violent and repulsive content" menu. Now, it appears the committee may want a similiar system in place anywhere content is hosted for public consumption.

What's your take: should Google comply with this request and if so, to what extent?

ISPs cannot be forced to filter users' internet traffic

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It has been a little under a month since British Telecom's ISP division was ordered by UK Courts to block all access to usenet-aggregating site Newzbin2. In a fresh counterblow to media piracy mongrels, an European court has ruled quite the opposite, saying those using the internet should not be subjected to any service restrictions.

The ruling was in respect to the long-running case between Belgium ISP Scarlet, and the Rights Holder management company SABAM. With the latter accusing the ISP of allowing its internet customers to use p2p file sharing websites and services to illegally download its catalogs from the internet. Initially the Brussels Court of First Instance ruled that Scarlet should make it impossible for its users to send or receive in any way, any electronic files containing SABAM's musical works.

Scarlet appealed the ruling, arguing that in order to comply with the courts request it would be required to actively monitor every customer's internet traffic, at considerable cost, and in the process breaking laws pertaining to its user's rights to privacy.

More specifically, the Court of Justice for the European Union ruled (PDF) that it was illegal for any ISP to install or maintain any system filtering all of its traffic as it would very likely infringe an individual's privacy rights. The financial burden was also a consideration in the verdict, with the Court stating that such measures would have an unreasonable impact on the ISPs financial standing. Here's an abstract from the ruling:

"The filtering system would also be liable to infringe the fundamental rights of its customers, namely their right to protection of their personal data and their right to receive or impart information, which are rights safeguarded by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the EU. It is common ground, first, that the injunction would involve a systematic analysis of all content and the collection and identification of users' IP addresses from which unlawful content on the network is sent. Those addresses are protected personal data. Secondly, the injunction could potentially undermine freedom of information since that system might not distinguish adequately between unlawful content and lawful content, with the result that its introduction could lead to the blocking of lawful communications."

"Consequently, the Court finds that, in adopting the injunction requiring Scarlet to install such a filtering system, the national court would not be respecting the requirement that a fair balance be struck between the right to intellectual property, on the one hand, and the freedom to conduct business, the right to protection of personal data and the right to receive or impart information, on the other."

In a statement to the ISP Review website, the London Internet Exchange said that as victories for ISPs in the copyright wars go, this one was comprehensive, and will be seen as a landmark ruling for years to come.

On the other side of the pond just two days ago the BSA, comprising of giants such as Microsoft, Apple and Intel, among others, withdrew their support of the hotly debated proposed Stop Piracy Online Act amid concerns that important questions had been raised and needed answering.

BlackBerry launch event in Indonesia turns violent

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A scheduled smartphone launch event in Indonesia has turned ugly and resulted in coordinators canceling the event early. Thousands of people showed up to get their hands on the latest BlackBerry mobile phone but when rumors began to spread that the device was sold out, chaos took over.

Research in Motion chose Indonesia as the first country to receive the BlackBerry Bellagio, otherwise known as the BlackBerry Bold 9790. BlackBerry handsets are still wildly popular in Indonesia and as such, organizers set up a special event at the Pacific Place mall in Jakarta to celebrate the event. RIM offered a 50 percent discount to the first 1000 people to purchase the phone which prompted a line to form a day before the event.

Those eligible for the discount were initially given a red wristband but as the crowd swelled, organizers announced that everyone on hand would get a phone. It wasn’t long before rumors spread that the phone had sold out and people lost their patience.

One thing led to another and potential buyers stormed security barriers to try and get their hands on the new phone. The Jakarta Globe is reporting that as many as 90 people had to be treated for injuries ranging from broken or fractured bones to unconsciousness.

Around 200 police officers and security guards were dispatched to control the chaos and as a result, the event was canceled prematurely to ensure everyone’s safety.