Enermax have decided to take a daring entry into the CPU cooler market. Their debut line-up consists of a tower style cooler and a top-down style, low profile variant. A pair of actual heatsinks creates the line-up but Enermax have intelligently created 5 different products by bundling the tower style ETS-T40 with 3 different fan variations and the top-down style ETS-T60 with 2 unique fan configurations. Today, we will be looking at the tower style ETS-T40-VD which is bundled with Enermax’s extremely popular Vegas Duo fan. Be sure to keep an eye out for our review of the ETS-T60-VD soon!

The ETS-T40-VD is built around a single tower design consisting of 4 direct touch, 6mm copper heatpipes and an aluminium fin array. Enermax claim to have reached a “New Milestone” with their heatsink’s 0.09°C/W thermal resistance. The 3 innovations responsible for this value of thermal resistance are Enermax’s patented Stack Effect Flow (SEF), Vortex Generator Flow (VGF) and Vacuum Effect Flow (VEF). A single 120mm Enermax TB Vegas Duo fan is bundled with the ETS-T40-VD which utilizes the 4-pin PWM connector and is capable of reaching 1800 RPM while shifting up to 76 CFM of air.

Compatibility comes in the form of support for every modern Intel and AMD socket other than LGA 2011. At 160mm in height and weighing around 610g for the cooler alone, Enermax’s ETS-T40 cooler range should fit perfectly in most mid tower and above cases. Enermax have also included an extra pair of fan clips for enthusiasts who want to unlock every ounce of potential from the ETS-T40 heatsink.

With a retail price of around £37/€35 for the Vegas Duo version or less than £30/€30 for versions equipped with different fans, Enermax could have a CPU cooler which brings the aesthetic appeal to the table, but leaves the extortionate price tag behind.

Since releasing the very popular Matterhorn earlier this year, Alpenföhn have been working extremely hard to build upon that success. Their CPU cooler line-up has widened tremendously while VGA coolers, HDD coolers and notebook coolers are just some of the other product markets Alpenföhn have expanded into. Today we will be taking a look at one of their low cost solutions which targets system builders on a budget.

The Alpenföhn Civetta utilizes a triplet of 6mm copper heatpipes feeding into an aluminium fin array. The H.D.T. design should allow for fast heat extraction from the CPU, off-loading that heat to the aluminium fin array for it to be dissipated by the 92mm 2,800 RPM PWM fan.

Available for just €17.90 Alpenföhn set the Civetta at a price point which everybody can afford. Weighing in at a mere 290g for the heatsink alone and with a maximum height of just 120mm, Alpenföhn’s Civetta could be the perfect low cost CPU cooler for users with space constraints. Will the performance on offer allow the low profile crown to be passed on to the Civetta?

Zalman has done the same today by releasing the ZM-OC2011, a retention kit upgrade for the WEB5 and WB5 Plus water-block to support Intel’s latest LGA 2011 socket.

Sandy Bridge-E is after all made for enthusiasts, Zalman is therefore allowing those already using their water-block to change processors without the hassle of buying a new cooler.

The kit consists of brackets that not only let’s you use the LGA2011 socket, but also all of the previous sockets, making it an extremely versatile mounting solution. Intel sockets supported are therefore LGA775, LGA1366, LGA1155/1156. Also included in the package are the nuts and bolts needed for instalation

Now currently on the Japanese market, it is priced at around $19.

Source: TPU

Intel Corporation today reported full-year revenue of $54 billion, operating income of $17.5 billion, net income of $12.9 billion and EPS of $2.39 – all records. The company generated approximately $21 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $4.1 billion and used $14.1 billion to repurchase 642 million shares of stock.

For the fourth quarter, Intel posted revenue of $13.9 billion, operating income of $4.6 billion, net income of $3.4 billion and EPS of 64 cents. The company generated approximately $6.6 billion in cash from operations, paid dividends of $1.1 billion and used $4.1 billion to repurchase 174 million shares of stock.
“2011 was an exceptional year for Intel,” said Paul Otellini, Intel president and CEO. “With outstanding execution the company performed superbly, growing revenue by more than $10 billion and eclipsing all annual revenue and earnings records. With a tremendous product and technology pipeline for 2012, we’re excited about the global growth opportunities presented by Ultrabook systems, the data center, security and the introduction of Intel-powered smartphones and tablets.”

Not wanting people to neglect the usefulness of a buzzing forum, we want you to head on over to ours and get discussing. The more discussion the better and the easier we can serve your needs and deliver you more interesting content. Today’s daily forum activity is the question: ‘AMD or Intel’, its certainly one of the longest standing battles amongst computer enthusiasts, so far 27 of our readers think AMD and 23 Intel.

Show your support for AMD or Intel by voting here.

When we know who you like the most we will decide which type of motherboard or processor to review next! So get voting.

Intel has today launched a new program for replacing CPUs that were killed by overclocking incidents.

Called the “Performance Tuning Protection Plan”, it is currently in its pilot phase, this new plan comes as an ‘add-on’ to the 3-year warranty already offered along the CPU and guarantees a single processor replacement.

The difference this makes is that, while the current warranty only concerns replacement of CPU that failed ‘ under normal usage’, this new protection plan will provide a replacement for CPUs that failed due to overclocking or over-volting.

Now, such a plan won’t come free, but it’s not what you can call expensive. Applied on a series of processors, it varies between $20 and 35$ depending on the model.

The additional program can be purchased in a select list of resellers: CyberPower, Canada Computers and Electronics, Scan Computers, and Altech Computers. Intel also plans to add more resellers on February 13.

The models on which the plan is applicable and the price are:

• Core i5-2500K – $20
• Core i7-2600K – $25
• Core i7-2700K – $25
• Core i7-3930K – $35
• Core i7-3960X – $35

As previously said, the plan launched today and will last for six months.

For more information, please refer to Intel’s Performance Tuning Protection Plan web page here, and you may also read the FAQ  as well as the Terms & Conditions, you never know what may happen.

Latest news from the front, Intel’s Core I 3000, the first Ivy Bridge processor to come out as well as the world’s first 22 nm processor, is planned to start shipping in April, including both the desktop and notebook segment.

This doesn’t come as a surprise, it has been said for a while now that Ivy Bridge is coming in April, the real news is that the first to launch will be a quad-core processor, the dual-core launch is said to follow approximately a month later.

While it remains some sort of mystery as to why the delay between both launches, Intel seems to want to keep quad and dual apart at launch.

Intel seems to be competing with itself on the mainstream and high-end market, and with Ivy Bridge looking like quite a strong product, the company is not in any rush.

Source: Fudzilla

Arctic has today revealed on their website that they’re preparing a new cost-conscious cooling solution, a CPU cooler called Alpine 64 PLUS.

This new cooler will bring cooling efficiency with a small price tag specifically made to support AMD’s socket 939, AM2(+), AM3(+) and FM1.

Small both in size and weight, it measures 115 x 98 x 70 mm (LxWxH), weights only 430 grams and is the perfect companion for costumers looking into small size PCs.

The all aluminium heatsink is cooled by a 92 mm FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) fan operating from 600 to 2000 RPM. It also comes with pre-applied MX-4 thermal compound.

The Alpine 64 PLUS is backed by a six-year warranty and will be available starting February 20th for the price of $14.95/€11.27.

Source

Three news into one, all relating to a single company whose products we either love or hate, Intel.

Starting off with the announcement of even more CPUs being discontinued, most certainly this time to clear the way and make some room for the upcoming launch of the 22nm Ivy Bridge which is planned, last time we checked, for April 2012.

Over 25 existing desktop CPUs are included according to industry sources in Taiwan who told the DigiTimes. Intel hardware partners were notified of the schedule which will comprise the suspension of the supplies for the Core i5-661/660, Core i3-530, Pentium E5700 and Celeron E3500 which will cease the production of those models in the second quarter of 2012.

Other models that will see a cease in production are the Core i7-960/950/930/870/880S/870S, Core i5-2300/680/670, Pentium G960/E6600/E550, Core Duo E7500/E7600 and Celeron E3300, which is planned for the second quarter of 2012 as well.

Slightly earlier however, planned for the first quarter is the termination of production of the Core i7-875K/860S, Core i5-760/750S/655K and Celeron 450/430.

As previously reported, this will not only make way for Ivy Bridge, but Intel is also planning on launching 40 new processors in the first half of 2012, all of which will be Intel Xeon processors based off either Sandy Bridge-E architecture or Ivy Bridge architecture.

On a somewhat a side story, four Taiwanese engineers were caught by what would be the local equivalent of the FBI for selling engineering samples of CPUs on eBay.

As reported by EE Times:

Detectives had been tracking the suspects since September, conducting a raid on their homes last month, taking 178 sample CPUs – worth an estimated $82,500—into police custody.

According to the CIB’s statement, the suspects admitted to selling more than 500 Intel engineering sample CPUs since 2009.

Moreover, these four suspects who worked for “Intel’s OEM manufacturers in Taiwan” allegedly peddled “rare” chips with unlocked multipliers and sold them while trying to turn the entire thing into an industrial enterprise.

Although it hasn’t been said whether or not the suspects put any pre-release chips for auction, these “rare” chips are most probably prized among overclockers who took the chance when they saw it.

Source 1; Source 2

Intel is apparently planning on releasing a new series of Atom-based system-on-chip (SoC) processor for the network-attached storage (NAS) and entry-level servers.

As the years passed, NAS have seen some new technologies including a more independent system of its own. Obviously, users were and are looking into smaller sizes, with a smaller power draw while continuing with high-performance processing cores, so that NAS devices can take on tasks such as bit-torrent downloads etc.

Helped by the low market demand for the netbook-based Atom CPU, Intel decided to shift their aim and go for the NAS market with the new Atom CPU, codenamed Centerton, that will be based on the 32nm process and will feature a SoC design.

Through the use of the slim architecture and low power consumption, Intel is planning on targeting various performance and power-draw segments.

Furthermore, in addition to the 32nm Centerton (Saltwell) CPUs that should see the light in the second quarter of 2012, Intel is also planning to release 22nm Silvermont-based Atom processors in 2013 as well as 14nm Airmont-based Atom parts in 2014.

Source

When Thermaltake released their Frio a short while ago, much of the enthusiast market were somewhat surprised by the class-leading performance on offer. The single tower CPU cooler managed to show excellent cooling potential that put it ahead of a large proportion of the single tower cooling market and even some of the dual tower market. Since then though, there has been a lot of change. More high performance CPU coolers have been released from the likes of Phanteks with their PH-TC14PE, Corsair and Antec with their all-in-one liquid cooling units and even Thermaltake with their own upgrade to the original Frio, the Frio OCK. Today’s sample, the Thermaltake Frio Advanced, definitely has some tough competition.

As the name suggests, Thermaltake have kept some of the cooler’s fundamentals the same. Changes come in the form of 5 6mm copper heatpipes in a H.D.T. design, a slightly revamped aesthetic design and a different pair of fans. The 130mm fans that Thermaltake choose to use are capable of up to 2000 RPM and use the very convenient 4-pin PWM connection. 2 high powered fans coupled with a dense aluminium fin array should make for excellent heat dissipation potential. The benefits of the H.D.T. design base’s heat transfer rate should become evident when used in conjunction with the aforementioned heat dissipation features. Let’s hope that our hot Core i7 2600K doesn’t saturate the claimed 230W heat extraction limit of those 5 copper heatpipes.

Thermaltake have designed their Frio Advanced to support all modern Intel and AMD sockets including the brand new LGA 2011. Priced at a very appealing £50/€50, the Thermaltake Frio Advanced could be a huge success in the budget conscious enthusiast market. So, without further ado, let’s put the Frio Advanced through our barrage of demanding tests and see if it can handle our extreme 4.7GHz overclock test which only the best few coolers are able to complete.

After announcing their entry in the graphics card market as well as their new water cooling unit, Zalman is launching another CPU cooler; the CNPS10X Optima.

While there is nothing especially particular about this CPU cooler, it is a good product for the people looking for a simple and effective cooler for their build.

It can be used with a wide range of Intel and AMD sockets including LGA 1155, 1156, 1366 and 755 for Intel as well as FM1, AM3+, AM3, AM2+ and AM2 for AMD.

Four copper heatpipes make use of the Direct Touch Heatpipe (DTH) technology to dissipate the heat through the aluminium fins of the tower CPU cooler.

Measuring 132 x 85 x 152 (LxWxH) and weighting 630 grams, it comes along one 120 mm FSB (Fluid Shield Bearing) fan equipped with Shark Fin Blades which provides increased airflow while reducing noise and vibration. It operates between 1,000 and 1,700 RPM for a noise output ranging between 17 and 28 dBA. Also included with the cooler is a pinch of ZM-STG2M thermal grease.

The CNPS10X Optima is now available for pre-order at the price of €22,76, the cooler itself should become available sometime in January.

For more information please refer to the official product page.

Source

With Sandy Bridge-E now on the loose and Ivy Bridge waiting in the backstage for its grand opening, Intel hasn’t been resting as they’ve recently decided the fate of some older processors.

These processors come from the LGA1366 and LGA1156 range and include the Core i7-930, i7-950, i7-960, i7-980 and i7-990X as well as the Pentium G6950, G6960 and Core i3-540, i5-650, i5-660, i5-670, i5-680, i7-860 and i7-870.

These 45nm and 32nm CPUs will remain available for order until June 29, 2012 and will continue to ship either until supplies are depleted for the boxed version or until December 7, 2012 for the tray SKUs.

While there is still some time remaining, before the end of next year we’ll these CPUs out of the market.

Source

Arctic are preparing the launch of two new CPU coolers with cooling capacities of 320W. The i30 and A30 CPU coolers are being launched on the 15th January and the i30 is a specifically Intel orientated cooler while the A30 is a specifically AMD orientated cooler. The coolers provided these features:

• Unmatched cooling performance – 320Watts
• Ultra quiet interchangeable 120mm PWM fan installed in a fan holder
• 4 double side direct touch heatpipes for efficient heat dissipation
• Flexible 4 directional installation to customize airflow preferences
• Rubber shock absorbers to minimize vibration and noise levels
• Included MX-4 thermal compound
• Sturdy mounting mechanism with metal clips and a solid backplate

Both coolers look identical except come with different sets of mounting brackets. They are targeted at high TDP overclocked processors such as the AMD FX-8150 and Intel i7 3960X. The RRP is $49.99.

More information on the A30 here and the i30 here.

Source: Press Release

NZXT is known for many of their products, from their cases to their CPU coolers along with accessories of all sorts. Today we see this world leading manufacturer unveiling its latest product with the HAVIK 120 CPU cooler.

The HAVIK series has always been there to solve heat issues of the overclockers, with the HAVIK 120, NZXT is stepping down from the 140 but is still offering overclockers the cooling ability from its bigger brother.

By reducing the size, NZXT is providing a more compact and versatile cooler. The 120mm fan with 13 blades will provide intense cooling while remaining mostly silent.

The nickel-plated copper base has four 8mm heatpipes attached to it which then passes through aluminium fins aero-dynamically designed for improved airflow. This standard yet necessary process guarantees more efficient and effective cooling.

Within the vast array of accessories we find rubber fan mounting for noise absorption as well as the various brackets for both AMD and Intel CPUs along with the usual such as the various screws, thermal paste etc.

More in-detail specifications:

As was its predecessor, the HAVIK 120 is a victory for any enthusiast looking for an inexpensive and high performing silent CPU cooler.

Price and availability should be announced soon.

Source