Epic Demos Samaritan on Nvidia's Next-Gen Kepler GPU

During this years Game Developers Conference, Epic showed the infamous Samaritan Demo running on Nvidia's Next-Generation Kepler GPU. At the 2011 GDC conference, Epic introduced the Samaritan demo, which provided users a look at the next generation of videogame graphics. The demo utilized a host of advanced rendering techniques to create a realistic environment. The issue with the demo in 2011 was it took three GeForce GTX 580s to run the demo in real-time. At this years GDC, Epic showed the demo utilizing only one next-generation Nvidia Kepler GPU.

Windows Live Essentials

After playing around with Windows Live Essentials this week and now testing Windows Live Writer to upload this post to my blog, Microsoft has done a really good job this time around in Windows 7. How many times did I have people come up to me asking me to create sideshow for them to watch in there DVD player. Well with Windows Live Photo Gallery and Windows Live Movie Maker in Windows 7 they can finely do it them self's. No need to buy encoders anymore or use complex software that they’ll never understand just download Essentials and install the software your going to use, I didn’t have time to play with Mesh Sync not that I’m going to unless your working in a office environment nether did I play with Family safety because I have no kids that will be doing something bad in the first place. You can checkout the Tutorials under the Windows tab.

Microsoft Posts Detailed System Requirements for Windows 8

Before anyone jumps right in, it's a good idea to check out not only the system requirements, but the system recommendations. Microsoft detailed these in today's B8 blog post. Essentially, those who are running a PC with a Windows 7 logo sticker on it will be cleared for takeoff for Windows 8. Of course, since the Windows 7 requirements were no more demanding than those for Windows Vista, anyone with even a semi-modern PC from the last handful of years should be able to run Windows 8 – at least the Consumer Preview.

Microsoft recommends:

1 GHz or faster processor
1 GB RAM (32-bit) or 2 GB RAM (64-bit)
16 GB available hard disk space (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM 1.0 or higher driver

Windows 8 May Have Longer List of SKUs

But now thanks to the Windows 8 Consumer Preview released just days ago, we now have a longer list of SKUs to consider. After digging through the registry, Windows 8 Beta provides a completely different lineup than what the HP documents offered. The list includes the following:

Windows 8 Enterprise Edition
Windows 8 Enterprise Eval Edition
Windows 8 Home Basic Edition
Windows 8 Home Premium Edition
Windows 8 ARM Edition
Windows 8 Professional Edition
Windows 8 Professional Plus Edition
Windows 8 Starter Edition
Windows 8 Ultimate Edition

Given the list came from the public Windows 8 beta, there's a possibility it could change before Windows 8 goes live later this year. Engadget points out that Windows 8 Professional Plus Edition may have similar collaborative tools as Office 2010 Pro Plus which offers extra integration with Sharepoint and Office Communications Server. Windows 8 Enterprise Eval Edition is likely a trial for businesses itching to upgrade, but don't want to make the plunge quite yet.

DDR4 Memory Prototypes Demostrated at ISSCC

With DDR4 DRAM set to hit the market in 2013, two manufactures took the opportunity at this years International Solid-State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) to demonstrate their DDR4 DRAM. It is expected that DDR4 will represent 50 percent of the market by mid-2015, after its initial launch on the server side in 2013.

DDR4 is set to have a data transfer rates of 2133 MT/s to 4266 MT/s compared to 800 MT/s to 2133 MT/s of DDR3. DDR4 is also expected to have significantly lower voltage requirements than DDR3. It will require between 1.05 V to 1.2 V to operate, whereas DDR3 requires between 1.2 V to 1.5 V. The lower voltage requirement is expected to reduces power consumption by 40 percent compared to a 1.5 V DDR3 module. DDR4 will not be pin compatible with DDR3, which means they will not be backwards compatible.

Samsung's DDR4 DRAM module can achieve data transfer rates of 2133 Gb/s at 1.2V, compared to 1.35V and 1.5V DDR3 DRAM at an equivalent 30nm-class process technology, with speeds of up to 1.6 Gb/s. Hynix's DDR4 device works at 2400MHz (2400 Mb/s) at 1.2V and processes up to 19.2 GB/s of data per second with a 64-bit I/O. Hynix used its 38nm manufacturing process technology, while Samsung employed the 30nm node instead.

Western Digital Sells HDD Manufacturing to Toshiba

Western Digital (WD) and Toshiba announced that the two companies have reached an agreement under which WD will sell certain 3.5-inch manufacturing and distribution assets.WD is required to drop specific assets to receive permission to finalize the acquisition of Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (HGST). The sale will allow Toshiba tomanufacture and sell 3.5-inch hard drives for desktop and consumer electronics applications and will help Toshiba to expand its near-line HDD business.

As part of the deal, WD will take over TSDT Thailand, Toshiba's Thailand-based HDD production facilities. According to WD, TSDT manufactured hard drives, but was severely impacted by the Thailand flood and has not yet resumed production. Once the manufacturing capability is restored, WD intends to integrate TSDT's property, facilities and employees in Thailand into its Thailand operations. Financial details of the transaction were not disclosed.

According to IHS iSuppli, Western Digital shipped about 28.5 million hard drives in Q4 of 2011, significantly down from 57.8 million in Q3 2011. Including Hitachi GST's shipments the company reached 45.7 million drives, which is still behind Seagate (excluding Samsung), which won the quarter with 46.9 million drives.