iBuyPower on Wednesday introduced its latest gaming PC, the Chimera 2. The various hardware components are housed in a new Chimera Inferno II Chassis with a wraparound flame color scheme. Users can spec a 2.66GHz Intel Core i5 or i7 but can also switch over to AMD’s 2.8GHz or 3.2GHz Phenom II processors.
HP kicked off its week by launching a pair of business-focused LCDs as well as two desktops to match. The 17-inch LE1711 and its closely related 19-inch counterpart, the LE1911, are spun as eco-friendly displays that still use conventional backlights but use 50 percent less mercury and entirely scrap toxics like arsenic, BFRs and PVC. They also meet the requirements to earn the latest Energy Star badge.
By May of 2010, chipmaker AMD will officially introduce two new desktop platforms, with the high-end Leo and more mainstream Dorado, says Digitimes. The information comes from motherboard makers, who revealed the Leo will be made up of current 45nm Phenom II or future six-core Thuban CPUs paired with either 890FX or 890GX northbridge and SB850 southbridge chipsets.
Three custom-order PC builders today became some of the earliest to pick up AMD's ATI Radeon HD 5800 series as a video option. CyberPower has added the option to three of its systems and will see the Core i5-based Xtreme 4200 and Phenom II-based Gamer Dragon 9500 come with a Radeon HD 5850 as standard while the Core i7-founded will ship with a Radeon HD 5870. Prices start from $927 for the Gamer Dagon and mode up to $999 and $1,393 for the Xtreme 4200 and 5200 respectively.
iBuyPower wound down its afternoon with a new Chimera Killer Special Edition PC. The new model is tailored just to the hardcore gaming market with a Killer Xeno Pro standard in every model to hopefully lower latency by reducing the overhead of Ethernet traffic. Every system also has a special flame art case with an illuminated side window and a small display to show the heat levels inside the case.
Intel has reached the end of its long-standing market share gains in the global microprocessor industry according to the first quarter results of 2009, says iSuppli. The company's only distant rival, AMD, gained approximately 2.3 percent in the latest quarter, or almost an equal amount to that which Intel lost. AMD has seemingly ended its negative three quarter long trend of declines, while Intel has done the opposite, reversing its year-long positive trend.
CyberPower on Friday launched a duo of game PCs that all center on bundled GeForce 3D Vision glasses and Samsung's 120Hz, 22-inch 2233RZ LCD display needed to see the extra visual depth. They also both come with a GeForce GTS 250 video card that produces mid-range 3D capable of driving a stereoscopic 3D image.
iBuyPower has launched two gaming PCs featuring AMD's Dragon platform, the Gamer HAF 91B and Gamer Fire. Both computers integrate AMD Phenom II processors, the AMD 790GX chipset and ATI Radeon 4000-series graphics cards. The HAF 91B is geared toward entry-level gamers and provides an X4 920 processor, 4GB of DDR2 RAM and an ATI Radeon 4850 graphics card. The system also offers a 16X DVD reader, 20X DVD burner and a 500GB hard drive. A 600W speaker system is included and the computer supports 7.1-channel surround sound.
AMD marked the start of CES with the formal debut of the Phenom II, its first mainstream 45 nanometer processor. The upgrade is based on the same core "Shanghai" architecture as recent Opterons and gives a roughly 20 percent speed boost over the previous-best 2.6GHz chip through changes that involve an optimized design with more instructions handled per clock, 4MB of total extra cache, and support for up to the same 1,333MHz DDR3 memory as rival systems from Intel. The design is also now much more tolerant of high clock speeds and will run up to 3GHz in stock trim.
A couple of online computer stores are offering two versions of AMD's upcoming Phenom II CPUs, ahead of their official debut planned for CES in January. According to the web stores' listings, the two new quad-core CPUs will begin shipping on December 27th. AMD's Phenom II X4 940 quad-core, rated at a 3GHz clock speed, is being offered for $304 by Computers4Sure and $373 CAD ($305) by A-Power. The second chip, the 2.8GHz Phenom II X4 920, is priced at $271 by Computers4Sure and $317 CAD ($259) by A-Power.
AMD's mainstream Phenom II processors should rekindle the competition with Intel for clock speed, according to a collection of reports of an AMD demonstration session. Based on the recently unveiled Shanghai architecture being used for new Opterons, the quad-core desktop chips should make a modest leap to 3GHz in official clock speeds but will have room for overclocking previously only available with Intel's Core 2 chips. An example tested by AMD is capable of running reliably at 4GHz with fan-based cooling and shows the company could upgrade the clock speed to match or beat Intel if necessary.
