COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2011 Thread

[siopao1984]

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Sapphire Shows Off New Motherboards and Graphics Cards at Computex

Sapphire had quite a few new and upcoming products on display at Computex this year, although not all of its upcoming products where displayed at the show. Click through for some pictures of Sapphire's upcoming AMD motherboards and graphics cards as well as some details on what to expect in the near future.

First up we have Sapphire's Pure Black 990FX-N motherboard which is a standard ATX board with five 16 PCI Express slots and two x4 PCI Express slots. The x16 slots are configured with the top slot being a full x16 and the remaining ones as x8 thanks to the inclusion of an nForce 200 chip which helps boost the available lane count. The fourth slot down will also operate in x16 mode if none of the other x16 slots are populated. The two x4 slots are open ended and there's a clip to hold x16 cards if used with the slot.



The board also has eight SATA 6Gbps ports, as well as another SATA port just behind the I/O ports, a right angle USB 3.0 pin header at the front of the PCB, two headers for four USB 2.0 ports, a power, rest and clear CMOS button, a POST80 debug LED display, a manual BIOS switch and a rather unusual looking 8+2 phase PWM design using vertically mounted chokes.



Around the back there's a PS/2 port, eight USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, a pair of Marvell powered Gigabit Ethernet ports, an eSATA port, a Bluetooth dongle and 7.1-channel audio with optical and coaxial S/PDIF out. Not a bad show and feature wise one of the more impressive looking AMD 990FX boards so far. Sapphire has still to prove that they can compete with the big guys, but this looks like a move in the right direction.



The next motherboard we had a look at was the Pure Platinum A75 for AMD's upcoming socket FM1 processors. This board is clearly targeting the mainstream market with a single x16 PCI Express slot, two x1 PCI Express slots, two PCI slots and a couple of slightly unusual additions. First up Sapphire has added an open-ended x4 PCI Express slot and we were told that the position of the battery will be moved so that x16 cards can be used with the slot.



The second addition is a mini PCI Express slot, so something like a notebook type Wi-Fi card could be fitted to the board, although it won't work with mSATA SSDs. We were slightly disappointed at the four SATA 6Gbps ports, although there seems to be space for a fifth port that will hopefully be added. There are pin headers for two front USB 3.0 ports and four USB 2.0 ports. Finally we have a power, reset and clear CMOS button as well as a manual BIOS selection switch and a POST80 debug LED.



Around the back we have a PS/2 port, four USB 2.0 ports, two USB 3.0 ports, an eSATA port, a Gigabit Ethernet port, 7.1-channel audio, but oddly enough no S/PDIF out, a Bluetooth dongle and a DisplayPort, HDMI and DVI connector. It's refreshing to see a motherboard manufacturer that has decided to give up on the D-sub connector and hopefully this will become the norm in the future.

[siopao1984]

On the graphics card side Sapphire was showing off its new passively cooled Radeon HD 6670 which comes with 1GB of GDDR5 memory and it's clocked at the same speed as Sapphire's fan cooled version. For those wanting something a bit more basic, Sapphire also offers a passively cooled Radeon HD 6570 which is in reality a low-profile card, although the passive heatsink makes it a little bit too tall to fit in really low-profile cases, but Sapphire does at least support a low-profile bracket.



Finally we have the Sapphire HD 6770 FleX edition which has a pair of DVI ports, an HDMI port and a DisplayPort where a passive adapter is provided for the DisplayPort which enables users to hook up three DVI monitors to the card. The reason why the passive adapter can be used is because Sapphire has put some additional components on the board which would otherwise be inside the active adapter.



We'll be visiting Sapphire's offices in Taiwan in a couple of months to take a closer look at some of its new motherboards and for a chat with its motherboard designers. Unlike the last time around Sapphire did motherboards, the company now has a full in-house motherboard design team, although the manufacturing is outsourced, but made entirely to Sapphire's specifications. What we can tell you is that Sapphire is busy working on a Z68 board, a mini-ITX A75/FM1 board and of course an Intel X79 model of which an early revision was on display at the Intel booth at Computex.

[siopao1984]

Enermax PSU Vibration Stress Test Video from Computex Taipei 2011 (Epilepsy Warning)

We found this demostration at the Enermax booth at Computex 2011 Nangang Exhibition Hall 1F to be strangely alluring. Check out our video recording after the break...

YouTube - ‪Enermax PSU Vibration Test @ Computex 2011‬‏

"To simulate the real vibration test in the lab, the machine moves the operational PSUs back and forth rigorously to test the product's stability and performance" - Enermax

[siopao1984]

ASUS at Computex 2011 - Republic of Gamers, TUF, SonicMaster, Eee PCs and More!

Easily one of the largest booths around, ASUS' Computex 2011 booth at Nangang Exhibition Hall showcases their latest products and innovations. Also check out our coverage of ASUS' full Republic of Gamers lineup.













Motherboards



ASUS C1X79 EVO engineering sample (Intel X79 Express)





ASUS Sabertooth P67 & ASUS Sabertooth 990FX



ASUS Maximus IV Gene-Z & ASUS Crosshair V Formula



ASUS Rampage III Black Edition



ASUS P8Z68 Deluxe & ASUS P8Z68 Pro



ASUS Server Motherboards



ASUS' Intel Motherboards



ASUS' AMD Motherboards



ASUS F1A75-I Deluxe & ASUS F1A75-I (A75 mini-ITX)



ASUS M5A97 EVO (AMD 770)



ASUS F1A75 (AMD A75)





Four-Way SLI running on ASUS Crosshair V Formula using ROG Xpander

Graphics Cards









ASUS Mars II & Matrix

[siopao1984]

Notebooks



ASUS ROG G74SX





ASUS U36



ASUS N45SF



ASUS N75SF



ASUS NX90SN

ASUS NX90SN

ASUS N55SF





ASUS UX Concept



ASUS Lamboghini VX Netbook

Netbooks





ASUS Eee PC Flare Series 1025 with Instant On



ASUS Eee PC 1215B powered by AMD Fusion APU



ASUS Eee PC 1025CE

Tablets



ASUS Eee Pad Transformer

[siopao1984]

P8B WS / P8P67 WS Revolution (LGA1155)



Z8NA-D6 (Dual LGA1366) and P8B-X (LGA 1155)



Z8PE-D12X (Dual LGA 1366) and P8B-M (mATX LGA 1155)



KCMA-D8 (Opteron 4100) and P8B-C/SAS/4L (LGA 1155 with SAS)



KGPE-D16 and P8B-E/4L



RS924A-E6/RS8 4 way Opteron Barebone



TC100 thin client

[siopao1984]

Networking Devices:





Powerline from ASUS



RT-N66U

Energy Saving Desktops:

[siopao1984]

ASUS All-on-One PC:





ET2410INTS



Responsive touch screen



3D Bluray Players:





Internal and External Writers

Wavi Xtion:

[siopao1984]

ROG Desktop



ASUS ROG CG8565



Monitors





ASUS ML239H



ASUS VS239H



ASUS PA248Q



USB-powered, 3D & net monitors.



ASUS IRIS Adaptive Personal Device Concept

Audio



ROG Vulcan ANC Headphones





SonicMaster Audio by Bang and Olufsen



Projectors



ASUS P1

Booth Babes

[siopao1984]

Computex 2011 Final Day Press Conference: The "perfect end" to the Asia's largest ICT trade show

After five eventful days of showcasing the latest technological advanvements in the field of infocommunication technology, the world's second largest such trade show, also known as Computex, has finally come to an end. And like how most major events are, TAITRA has organized a press conference at Hall 1 of the Taipei World Trade Center, where it talked about the success of this year's trade fair and its plans for the future of Computex. Read on to find out more...



As they always say, all good things have to come to an end, and keen followers of this year's infocommunication technology (ICT) trade show known as Computex will only be too aware of what the aforementioned saying means in this context. That is right: without many knowing, we have already arrived at the last day of Asia's largest ICT trade show for this year, and it will be a full 24 months before IT enthusaists and businesses will get the chance to congregate once again to show off the latest developments in the industry.

However, there can also be little denying that many have viewed this year's trade fair as a huge success, and TAITRA themselves are apparently pleased enough with the results to organize a press conference to announce some statistics for Computex 2011, as well as drop a few hints about the various changes visitors can expect to see in Computex 2012. And doing so at the event's opening address was TAITRA's executive director, Jeremy M.C Hong.



Describing the press conference as the "perfect ending" to Computex 2011, Hong described this year's trade fair as the most spectacular one in its 30-year history.

"We have attracted more than 125,000 visitors...and 1800 exhibitors which have occupied 5300 booths. This is a 9% increase in attendance as compared to the show last year, and we have seen a 3.1% increase in international visitors and buyers as well," he said.

Hong also spoke about how Computex has been evolving to allow for a convergence of various IT trends that have been sweeping Taiwan, and pointed to this year's fair placing particular emphasis on the likes of tablet PCs, eBooks, smartphones, 3D technology and cloud computing, while mentioning the official Computex 2011 app for iOS and Android-powered devices to prove his claim.



Last but definitely not least, Hong revealed at a Q & A session that TAITRA is planning to further enhance next year's Computex by aiming to host next year's trade fair at a central location, while ensuring that other vendors have more opportunities to secure a booth at Asia's largest ICT trade fair.


Hong and TCA's deputy secretary general Li Chang fielding questions from curious reporters

"We know that our weakest link stems from the fact that our exhibition grounds are not big and complete enough to accept more companies from coming in to participate in Computex. As such, we will be moving the entire exhibition to Nangang from next year onwards, and that there will be a second exhibition hall built there as well, and that is due for completion in the next three years. During these three years, we will house additional enhibitors at temporary locations near the main Nangang premises until the second exhibition hall is completed. That is our plan for now," he said in Mandarin.

Finally, before we leave, here are a couple of pictures of the lovely Ms Computex showgirls for Computex 2011: