TechwareLabs News and Reviews From Around the Web

Reviews:

• NVIDIA GeForce GTX 550 Ti Debut With Zotac, MSI and Asus @ HotHardware.com
• Lite-On eNAU608 External Slim USB DVD/CD Writer Review @ ThinkComputers.org
• Nintendo 3DS Hands-on Preview @ Tweaktown

News:

LeadTek WinFastR GTX 550 Ti overclocked version has made 15% improvement on heat dissipation

The WinFast® GTX 550 Ti overclocked version is based on the new GF116 silicon, features 192 CUDA cores, a 192-bit GDDR5 memory interface, and core clock speeds of 930 MHz. Featuring 70% more memory bandwidth than the 128-bit interface, its memory clock (memory bandwidth) reaches up to 2050 (4100) MHz, delivering higher data transmission. The WinFast® GTX 550 Ti has 28% faster 3D performance under specific games and has 20% better performance per watt compared to the previous generation WinFast® GTS 450. The WinFast® GTX 550 Ti fully supports and exploits the features of Microsoft Windows 7, GPU-accelerated tessellation of DirectX®11 and Shader Model 5.0 designed for ultra high performance in the new API¡¦s key graphics feature and OpenGL 4.0 as well.

Club 3D announces the introduction of the new Nvidia GTX 550Ti

Step up to GeForce GTX and enter the incredibly detailed world of DirectX 11 with the Club 3D GeForce® GTX 550Ti CoolStream OC Edition graphics card card. Driving up to 6x the gaming performance of previous generation graphics*, Club 3D GeForce® GTX 550Ti CoolStream OC Edition transforms your PC into a next-gen gaming rig.

3DMark Vantage Basic Edition Now Available As Free Download

HELSINKI, FINLAND – MARCH 15, 2011 – Futuremark® today released an update for 3DMark® Vantage, the DirectX 10 benchmark for measuring PC gaming performance. The update brings 3DMark Vantage in line with the other Futuremark benchmarks 3DMark 11 for DirectX 11 and 3DMark06 for DirectX 9 by making the Basic Edition available to all as a free download. The Basic Edition allows an unlimited number of benchmark runs without registration or expiry. The update also adds display scaling enabling the benchmark to be used with a much wider range of DirectX 10 compatible notebooks, netbooks and desktop PCs.
3DMark Vantage version 1.1.0

– Trial Edition discontinued

– Basic Edition now free, was previously $6.95

– Added display scaling to all presets: benchmark now scales the output to best fit the display

– GPU physics acceleration is now disabled by default during the CPU tests

– Systeminfo component updated to version 4.0
Product range

– 3DMark Vantage Basic Edition, free download

– 3DMark Vantage Advanced Edition, $19.95

– 3DMark Vantage Professional Edition, $995.00
Special offer available until 10:00 GMT March 21

– Existing Basic Edition owners can upgrade to the Advanced Edition for only $4.95

3DMark Vantage is a performance benchmark for DirectX 10 compatible gaming PCs. It includes two graphics tests, two CPU tests and, in the Advanced Edition, six additional feature tests. Since its release in April 2008 more than 2.8 million results have been submitted to Futuremark’s searchable online database. The scores generated by 3DMark Vantage are unaffected by the update to version 1.1.0.

Free download 3DMark Vantage Basic Edition: http://www.3dmark.com/3dmarkvantage

Buy 3DMark Vantage Advanced Edition: http://www.3dmark.com/3dmarkvantage