Geforce GTX 680 Performance Benchmarks

With the NDA for Nvidia’s new GeForce GTX 680 lifting at 9:00 AM EST today, several people are jumping the gun with performance information and pricing of the card. NewEgg had pricing available, but the products have since been pulled. Pricing is, unexpectedly, lower than the Radeon HD 7970, coming in at between US $499.99 and $534.99. A screenshot pulled from NewEgg and multiple benchmark results follow below. Jonathan Horne

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by jonathan horne

GTX 680 shows up at Newegg.com

Priced between US $500 and $535

 Newegg.com jumped the gun last night and went live with a full lineup of Nvidia GTX 680 cards from various partners. The prices were set at US $499.99 for the Asus GTX 680 all the way up to US $534.99 for the PNY one.

Although those same prices were listed earlier, Newegg.com has now pulled off all of those listings, but as always, some sites were managed to pull a screenshot. According to the listing, it looks like Newegg.com will be aiming for a $509.99 price tag as it has done similar thing with previously launched cards. We are just a matter of hours away from the official launch and reviews should start to appear online pretty soon.

This listing pretty much confirms the original rumour we heard from our sources and price got pulled down from originally planed US $549 to US $499 by Slobodan Simic

New Gundam-Themed Agusta Gaming Chasis

You're a Gundam fan from back in the early '80s Mobile Suit days or more of a newcomer who jumped onto the SEED bandwagon, you'll get a kick out of the new Gundam-themed Agusta case Raidmax showed off yesterday. Not the cartoony type? That's okay -- the ATX and MicroATX-compatible case still looks pretty cool even if you have no concept of the lore behind the Augusta Newtype Lab.
The front of the Agusta sports five tool-less 5.25-inch drive bays with pop-off panels, all of which are covered by the case's "Gundam themed armor-shield," which opens outward like a door. Illuminated fans in front and on top (there are 7 fans total) add to the sci-fi appeal, while you'll find six additional 3.5/2.5-inch bays underneath the main 5.25-inch slots. The panel on the front of the chassis sport USB 3.0, USB 2.0, audio and microphone connections along with fan speed and LED controls. The case clocks in at 21.85x9.21x23.90-inches and 17.7 lbs.

Raidmax's Gundam Agusta chassis is slated to launch in May for $120.By brad chacos

Intel's next generation Ivy Bridge chip

For those doubters out there who think that Intel's next-generation mainstream chip is delayed, laptop manufacturers at the Intel Developer Forum are sending another message.
Major laptop manufacturers like Foxconn, Pegatron, and Inventec are showing fully functional "Ivy Bridge" Ultrabooks on the Forum conference floor here today. Those three companies together make--or have made--many of the laptops from major brands like Hewlett-Packard and Dell.
Ivy Bridge is the chip design that follows the current Sandy Bridge processor. It is the first to use Intel's touted 3D transistor technology and offers a substantial boost in graphics chip performance, among other new features.
The Ultrabooks being shown all average about 17 millimeters in thickness (0.66 inches) and are runningWindows 7--and are pretty much ready to go for PC vendors that want to rebrand the designs, said Ben Young, who is in the Intel Ultrabook marketing group.
If these are any indication of designs to come, the material used in the chassis could be a break from aluminum designs of the past. Most on display at the conference seem to be made of plastic or a possibly a composite. Whether this carries over to a finished product from a major PC marker or not is unclear, however. by brooke crothers

An Ultrabook design from Inventec that uses an Intel Ivy Bridge chip.

(Credit: Brooke Crothers)

A Foxconn Ultrabook design based on Intel Ivy Bridge processor. Its 'put your brand here' marking means it's ready for prime time.

(Credit: Brooke Crothers)

New I Pad And Coming I Phone Thoughts

Apple's newest iPad has arrived right on schedule. It may not be the huge leap forward that some Apple fans were hoping for, but it delivers some modest updates, particularly in display resolution and connectivity. And as CNET's Donald Bell said in his First Take of the device, even these "housekeeping" improvements show that Apple can raise thetablet stakes again.
If we slice through the changes, what can they tell us about the next generation of the iPhone? Apple barely mentioned its smartphone during yesterday's media event, but the question of what the iPhone 5 (or whatever Apple chooses to call it) will bring has been on my mind ever since the marginally improved iPhone 4S went on sale in October. When the new handset finally lands this summer (or later in the year), I suspect that it will offer some substantial upgrades. And now we have a couple of clues as to what may come.

Display
The new iPad's QXGA display now has a resolution of 2,048x1,536 pixels. That's an important change given that it exceeds any current tablet or laptop currently on the market. Indeed, Donald warns that you may start muttering "My precious" once you get the new iPad in your hands.
Sure, the new resolution is substantially higher than the current Retina Display on the iPhone 4 and 4S (960x640 pixels), but that's largely to be expected given the iPad's larger screen size (9.7 inches versus 3.5 inches). Yet, if Apple does what it should and increases the display size in the iPhone 5, I'd look for the resolution to improve, as well. It likely won't be a big jump, and I wager that Apple will stick with the Retina Display concept, but a change would be in order. Apple, after all, continues to bank its mobile devices partly on display resolution so there's no reason to expect that it's going to stand still

Design
Some people may gripe that the new iPad sports the same design as its predecessors, but that's fine with me. And outside of adding the aforementioned larger display, I'd say the same about the iPhone. We've heard a lot of rumors about a thinner iPhone or handset with a tapered profile, but I'm not aching for either. A thinner iPhone is a possibility, I guess, but Apple will trim it down only if it can still fit a long-lasting battery (see below).
LTE
By all accounts, the presence of LTE in the new iPad foretells real 4G in the next iPhone. That will mean, of course, significantly faster data speeds beyond what current iPhones offer (and that includes the HSPA+ network on AT&T's "4G" iPhone 4S). Though it's not surprising that Apple is late to the LTE party--typically, the company waits to implement a new technology until it can offer the user experience it really wants--but given the flood of LTE handsets over the last few months it is lagging quite behind its rivals. So in other words, it's overdue.
A big question, though, is whether all carriers will get an LTE iPhone. Verizon Wireless and AT&T will have it for sure, but Sprint is uncertain at this point. The carrier is moving to LTE, but it may not be ready in time. And given that Sprint is not getting a new LTE iPad, all signs don't point to yes.
More battery life
Apple made a pretty bold promise when it said that the new iPads will deliver 9 hours of battery life on 4G. As any LTE smartphone owner can tell you, the faster data networks don't do wonders for battery life. The Motorola Razr Maxx, however, changed that equation so Apple will have to keep up. Hopefully, the LTE iPad is a sign of long LTE battery life to come.
Processor
The new iPad's processor remains dual-core, but Apple upgraded it to an A5X and ramped up the graphics processor to quad-core. The iPhone 4S already has a dual-core CPU so I don't expect a big change there. Yes, we just saw a slew of new quad-core phones at Mobile World Congress, but for the reason stated above (Apple wanting the "right" experience before adding a new technology), I don't see a quad-core chip ending up in the iPhone 5. On the other hand, better graphics are a possibility so that may follow.
As with any Apple device, we'll have to wait until the actual unveiling to see what wonders the next iPhone will hold. But after this week's news we we can tell that the company is heading for a faster, longer, and more vibrant iPhone future.by kent german