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PCs - PC Components

The AMD Plan for Better Graphics Cards

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The AMD Plan for Better Graphics Cards

AMD hopes its graphics card products will have an extra edge over Nvidia equivalents through the addition of high bandwidth memory (HBM), a potentially superior replacement to conventional GDDR5 memory.

According to the company, GDDR5 RAM is not becoming any smaller-- on the contrary, it requires "significant board real estate," as well as greater amounts of power in order to meet the demands of increasingly faster GPUs. Enter HBM, a means to stack memory cells vertically instead of next to each other.

As AMD puts it, the memory stacks communicate with each other and the core GPU using "silicon vias" interconnects, essentially tiny holes drilled through the physical cells buffered by "microbumps." An "interposer" interconnect links all components together. The result? More dense memory providing superior performance at lower bandwidth per watt costs.

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Cryorig Customod Covers, Cryo-Paste

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Cryorig Customod Covers, Cryo-Paste

Cryorig announces a set of PC customisation and cooling products ahead of Taipei Computex 2015 with the Customod colored heatsink covers and the three Cryo-Paste thermal paste products, the CP5, CP7 and CP15.

The Customod covers are compatible with the Cryorig R1 Universal and R1 Ultimate heatsinks, and come in 6 different colours (red, blue, green, orange, black and white). Each Customod pack comes with two covers, which should fit with high-end boards from major mainboard vendors.

Cryorig says more Customod products are in the works, including more colour and coating finishes as well as compatibility with other heatsink models.

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The $9 Microcomputer

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The $9 Microcomputer

A company called Next Thing presents what it claims is the first computer costing all of $9-- the CHIP, a bare-bones microcomputer similar to the popular Raspberry Pi, if with an even smaller (60x40mm) form factor.

The CHIP features decent enough specs for such a tiny device, with a 1GHz processor, 512MB RAM and 4GB storage. It also carries wifi and Bluetooth radios, micro USB port, composite video-out (can be turned into a VGA or HDMI port via optional adapters) and integrated battery power circuit, all within open source hardware.

On the software side it runs on Linux, and the makers say it can handle apps such as LibreOffice, surf the internet, check email and play games. It also includes Scratch, an easy to learn programming language.

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A More Efficient Means of PC Cooling

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A More Efficient Means of PC Cooling

Researchers at the University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) are working on a passive PC cooling system promising to cut the costs associated with cooling fans through the use of convection and cooling liquid.

The cooling liquid in question is 3M's Fluorinert FC-72. It acts as an electrical insulator and is colourless, odourless, biologically inert, chemically stable, nonflammable and has a boiling point at 56°C.

As the researches put it, heat from the computer processor vaporises the liquid. The vapor moves to a heat exchanger, releases heat into the environment and condenses back into liquid form. The liquid then moves into a holding tank before going back to the processor to complete the cycle.

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HP Adds to Desktop PCs

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HP Adds to Desktop PCs

HP shows it hasn't forgotten the humble desktop PC as it presents a back-to-school 2015 lineup featuring Pavilion All-in-One (AIO) PCs, the Pavilion tower, ENVY towers and the 4K/UHD resolution Spectre Studio display.

"The desktop PC continues to be an important form factor for customers who want to get things done and be entertained, but lack style and as a result are often hidden in basements and dens," the company says. "With our 2015 desktop family, we are breathing new life into the category by giving customers more capabilities wrapped in colorful and premium designs that they will be proud to place in kitchens, living rooms and other public spaces in their homes."

The Pavilion AIO PCs promise to be both beautiful and functional, with edge-to-edge HD flush glass displays in a "white iridescent" colour. All include two USB 3.0 ports and a 3-in-1 media card reader in the display chin, as well as four USB 2.0 ports in the back, together with HDMI and LAN ports.

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Gartner: PC Prices on the Up

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Gartner: PC Prices on the Up

Gartner reports PC prices within the Eurozone are set to increase by up to 10% in 2015, as vendors raise prices in order to offset the effects of currency devaluation.

"We are currently seeing the sharp appreciation of the dollar against most other currencies reflected in companies' earnings results," the analyst says. "PC vendors selling to Europe and Japan, where local currencies have fallen up to -20% since the start of 2015, have little choice than to raise prices to preserve profits."

W. European end-user spending is forecast to reach $116 billion (in constant dollars reflecting growth rates in local currencies)-- a 4% increase over 2014 and a reflection of expected increases in local currency.

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IDC: "Transitional" Q1 for EMEA PCs

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IDC:

According to IDC Q1 2015 EMEA PC shipments total 20.2 million units-- a -7.7% Y-o-Y decrease caused by decelerating business renewals, currency fluctuations and political tensions across various CEMA territories.

Portable PCs see better results than desktops (-3.6% Y-o-Y decline as opposed to -14%) thanks to the final 15-inch portable with Bing shipments in W., C. and E. Europe, even if resulting inventories across different channels appear to be high. Meanwhile the decelerating commercial market reflects the end of 2014 renewal waves caused by the end of Windows XP support.

Thus, W. European PC shipments are down by -2% Y-o-Y, CEE declines by -23% and MEA by -10%. Curiously the consumer market shows better-than-expected results in W. Europe (thanks to the aforementioned Bing notebooks), while commercial PCs see "strong" increases in Greece, Italy, Portugal and Spain.

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The Asus ROG GR6 PC

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The Asus ROG GR6 PC

Asus Republic of Gamers (ROG) launches a followup to the GR8 console-style gaming PC-- the GR6, a miniature PC promising "power and bold styling" within a compact (238 x 245 x 60mm) package.

It carries a Broadwell Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB DDR3L RAM (upgradeable to 16GB), Nvidia GeForce GTX 960M graphics and optional SSD storage (via 2.5-inch storage slot). Asus claims operation is "whisper quiet at 20dB (idle)/28dB (full load).

Connectivity comes through gigabit ethernet LAN, 802.11a/b/g/n/ac wifi and 6 USB, 1 HDMI, 1 S/PDIF optical and 1 DisplayPort ports.

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PC Sales Weaker in Q1

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PC Sales Weaker in Q1

Early assessments are coming in from the leading PC analysts, IDC and Gartner, and both agree that the PC market saw a sharper decline than the previous two quarters, though slightly better than forecast. An early indication of this had already come from Intel, who issued a warning on 12 March.

IDC’s preliminary estimates saw shipments fall 6.7% YoY to 68.5M, which compares with drops of 2.4% in Q4 2014, and 1.7% in both Q2 and Q3. The company flagged inventory build ups of Bing-promoted notebooks, the end of Windows XP migrations and unfavourable economic indicators in many regions.

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