eTeknix » interface

Nvidia’s roadmap for the GeForce Kepler compiled

Gaetan Longree — Sat, 26 Nov 2011 17:46:10 +0000

The coming years look promising for Nvidia, during which we will see some big products launched and centered around the new DirectX 11.1 with the big transition to the 28nm.

ExpertsPC.com and 4Gamer.net have compiled informations into a table of what Nvidia’s next-generation graphics family could look like, included when it could potentially be released.

To avoid any technical issues with TSMC’s new 28nm manufacturing process, Nvidia is planning to follow a bottom-up product release model, which will also allow for the newly launched GPUs to keep on packing a higher number of transistors until the very top.

First up into next year’s GPU line is the GeForce Kepler 107 (GK107), on which will be based entry through lower-mainstream SKUs. Not a lot of data is revealed, although for what we can see, in addition to the 28nm transition, the GK107 will have a 128-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface, it will stay on the current PCI-Express 2.0 and will support DirectX 11.1.

Right after that is the GK106, which could be the base for the “sweet-spot” SKUs. The GK106 is going to be Nvidia’s first PCI-Express 3.0 GPU of the year and it will have a 156-bit wide GDDR5 memory interface.

Moving up the latter we reach the GK104, Nvidia’s high-performance GPU. The GK104 will have a 384-bit wide interface as well as supporting PCI-Express 3.0…getting more and more interesting.

Arriving at the end of 2012, we should see the GK110, which is basically some type of GTX590, as it will feature two of the GK104 to provide a SLI-on-a-stick product.

Beginning of 2013 should see the ‘grand finale’, after the 28nm process has achieved a certain degree of maturity, Nvidia will release a monolithic high-end GPU, the GK112 which is going to feature a massive 512-bit wide memory interface.

All in all, a pretty impressive roadmap for which we can’t wait to see the final products.

Source

Seagate GoFlex Upgrade Cables Overview

Simon Telford — Tue, 25 Oct 2011 22:58:38 +0000

We recently took a look at the Seagate GoFlex Ultra Portable Drive which for us came in the latest and greatest USB 3.0 form. However, the whole point of the GoFlex drives is that you can use whichever connection you want, and can, when a new interface is released (like USB 3.0) upgrade the drive. This makes a product very much future proof and is quite frankly a brilliant idea. It also means you can use it with multiple computers using multiple interfaces, and not have to separate drives for each computer.

While this is not a full review, we are going to take a look at the cables that come with the GoFlex range as well as cables that can be purchased separately.

There is obviously not much to these products and as such all look fairly similar with the only difference being the connector on the end of the cable. They all plug directly into the bottom of the Seagate GoFlex Drives and may require you to remove a pre-existing adapter which just clicks in place.

Included is also a warranty booklet and a quick start guide

The cables plug in to the bottom of the GoFlex drives:

Test Product

Seagate GoFlex UltraPortable 750GB Drive

Software Used:

HDD Speed
Windows 7 Home Edition

Our results while not a strict benchmark give you some idea of the 4 main interfaces available to most consumers and how the speeds differ quite dramatically. We also found that while USB 3.0 is reported to be up to 10x faster than USB 2.0 we only saw a performance increase of ~4x this is of course most likely due to the maximum capabilities of this drive. That said, we do already know that this drive, when used with USB 3.0 is pretty quick, and beats most variations on the market.

The results of this performance have highlighted the reason why FireWire has struggled to take off commercially and is mainly due to the fact that it always seems to be a few steps behind and a more expensive interface – for instance, both eSata and USB 3.0 gave faster speeds even though the data throughput of FireWire is similar to that of USB 3.0

Now we turn to pricing and value for money, but we must remember that you must have already purchased some form of Seagate GoFlex device for these to be a viable upgrade/exchange. You are also able to purchase a GoFlex drive with the right interface for you, but then may still want a secondary interface for your laptop for instance.

The Seagate GoFlex FireWire 800 cable retails at £13.18 on Scan.co.uk where as the USB 3.0 retails at £11.48 on Scan.co.uk and the cheapest of the options is currently the eSata which retails at £9.47 from Scan.co.uk .

In conclusion we do love the GoFlex range, the GoFlex drives are brilliantly simple and give impressive performance, and as the name suggests they give you the flexibility to chose which interface you want to use and how many (different) interfaces you want to use allowing any Seagate GoFlex drive to be a brilliant companion for your laptop and computer.

Silverstone release SATA III and SAS dual-lane interface Hard Drive pad

Simon Telford — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 09:17:00 +0000

SilverStone have once again tried to create an innovative and flexible storage product, part of the Stackable Drive Series – SD01. This time it is a high-grade hard drive ‘pad’ with a screwless design that can connect to a PC via eSATA to SATA or eSATA/SATA to SAS interface.

To those not familiar with SAS it stands for ‘Serial Attached SCSI’ and is the upgrade from the old parallel SCSI that was first around in the 1980s. SAS does offer backwards-compatibility with second-generation SATA drives, for instance, SATA 3 Gbit/s drives may be connected to a SAS backplane, but not the other way round.

The SD01 can enable data transfer with maximum compatibility and stability, making it a great choice for not only taking important data on the go, but also a convenient and reliable home/office storage device.

Special Features:

Unique stackable design for easy upgrades and expansion.
Support SATA and SAS interface hard drive.
Maximum 6Gbits data transfer speed via SATA or SAS dual-lane interface.
Plug and Play & Hot-swappable connection.(system with AHCI mode)
The power source synchronizes with computer.

Specifications:

Enclosure material	Aluminum/Plastic
Color	Black
Power requirement	12Vdc
Operating system support	Windows 2000, XP, Vista, Mac OS and Linux.
HDD size support	2.5 or 3.5 hard drive
HDD interface support	SATA / SAS hard drive
Enclosure interface	eSATA interface. (Max. 6Gbits) SAS dual-lane interface. (Max. 6Gbits)
HDD capacity support	Up to 2TB or more
Net Weight	180±10g
Dimension	195(L)x121.5(W)x31.5(H)

Attached files

SD01-01.jpg (19.5 KB) SD01-3.jpg (19.7 KB) SD01-34View.jpg (15.9 KB) Silverstone 446×121 colorful.jpg (24.5 KB)

Gmail getting a refresh

Simon Telford — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 10:35:00 +0000

Google are certainly continuing to push upwards with the launch of its Plus social network now well under way, even if it is in an initial limited-invite state. To help with the continuity lots of Google features are being refreshed, as they have stayed the same for quite a while now, and this includes Gmail’s user interface.

The redesign will hopefully give a much less cluttered user interface aiming to bring it into line with Google’s new homepage. More importantly they are trying to make Gmail more of a pleasant tool to use day in day out.

Google have, in my view, been quite clever and are releasing this ‘new look Gmail’ in two versions, where the only difference is the space between each element on the page, with the denser layout working better on small systems, such as netbooks or even Chromebooks.

The updated looks are available as ‘previews’ in Gmail Themes currently but there are a fair few creases that need to be ironed out. This is mainly caused by the Labs extensions that you are likely to be running, so if you want to try out the new looks you may have to disable some extensions.

Next in line for an update will be Google Calendar and I’m sure we will be hearing lots more about Google over the next few weeks!

Attached files

gmail_new_convo.jpg (28.9 KB) gmail_new_inbox.jpg (26.2 KB)