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Based on information leaked from Chiphell, the new Ivy Bridge processors will have a maximum of 77 watts TDP (thermal design power), which is down from 95 watts for the current Sandy Bridge.

VR-Zone has provided what looks to be leaked roadmaps for the upcoming Ivy Bridge processors for 2012. The information is coming out of a Chinese forum (Chiphell), so the information can be taken as such, until official word from Intel. Based on the information provided, the new Ivy Bridge processors look to a have a peak TDP (thermal design power) of 77W for their extreme processors. The Ivy Bridge TDP looks to range from 77W down to 35W on their "power optimized" CPUs.   

The roadmap shows a complex diagram on Intel's plans for late Q1/early Q2 2012. The information on the left looks to be information on Intel's marketing segmentations for each processor. The map shows there will be the standard unlocked K SKU's, just like with current gen Sandy Bridge processors.  Intel's shrink to 22nm, alongside with its new "3D transistors", looks to be helping push down the TDP on the new Ivy Bridge processors. The quad core 65W S and 45W T SKU's are similar to what we are seeing on current Sandy Bridge CPUs. The new Pentium Ivy Bridge SKU's gain DDR3 1600MHz memory support, along with the rest of the Ivy Bridge chips.

There doesn't seem to be much of a format change for the upcoming Ivy Bridge CPUs and their name format. The higher-end CPUs will start with the i7 tag with unlocked versions followed by a "K" and lower power models followed by "S/I". Medium range CPUs will start with the i5 tag and the lower ranges will have the usual i3 tag. The CPUs will start with Core i7 37xx, Core i5 35xx, 34xx and 33xx, Core i3 31xx.  The Pentiums and Celerons are expected to get a fourth digit in front which will be a 2, so they will be Pentium G2xxx.

Intel looks to be taking a page from AMD on making the Ivy Bridge CPU scompatible with current gen Sandy Bridge platforms (though there are things to watch for). The easiest method is to go with the newer 7-series chipsets, which will support current gen Sandy Bridge and Ivy Bridge CPUs, according to Intel. If you are wanting to use your current motherboard, things get a little more difficult for the end-user. Bad news first, the Q67, Q65 and B65 chipsets will not support Ivy Bridge even with a motherboard firmware update. The Z68, P67, H67 and H61 chipsets look to all be compatible with a required UEFI update (this can be seen by recent announcements of motherboard makers coming out the PCIe Gen 3 support, which require the Ivy Bridge CPU). This will require a flash to Intel's ME8L (L for Legacy) UEFI code to provide support for Ivy Bridge on the motherboards (VR-Zone hints that the ME8L may not be available for updating at initial launch of Ivy Bridge).

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Asus’ ROG (Republic of Gamers) is set to release Rampage IV Extreme, its flagship motherboard for the upcoming release of Intel's LGA2011 (Sandy Bridge E) processors.

The Rampage IV Extreme has the standard red/black color scheme and comes packed with OC features and goodies.

The motherboard supports both the LGA-2011 and LGA 1366 CPU coolers by switching out the standard LGA-2011 bracket with a custom Asus bracket, which provides support for LGA-1366 coolers. As you look at the CPU socket, you’ll quickly notice the four DDR3 DIMM slots (two per channel) on either side of the socket for a total of eight DDR3 DIMM slots (DDR3-2400 OC). The CPU and memory VRM areas are located along three sides of the socket, all cooled by heatsinks that are connected by heat pipes. These VRM heatsinks share heat with the one over the X79 PCH, which is actively cooled by a fan.

The Rampage IV Extreme have four PCI-Express 3.0 x16 (red) that operate at x16,x16 in SLI / CrossFireX mode and x8,x8,x8,x8 when in 4-way SLI or CrossFireX. There is one PCI-Express 2.0 x4 and one PCI-Express x1 to round out the expansion slots.

The I/O panel offers 7.1 channel audio, Gigabit LAN, Bluetooth V2.1+EDR, 4 USB 3.0 ports, 2 eSATA ports, PS/2, 8 USB 2.0 ports, S/PDIF out (optical), and 2 buttons to activate ROG Connect and reset CMOS.  

There are two SATA 6 Gb/s (red) and four SATA 3 Gb/s (black) powered by the Intel X79 chipset, and 2 more SATA 6Gbps ports (red) provided by an ASMedia controller. In addition, you can plug in the "Subzero Sense" (black block on the right) to get the readings from the motherboard's temperature diodes during extreme LN2 sessions.

As with all ROG motherboards, the Rampage IV Extreme is packed with goodies for overclockers.  A “GO" Button to trigger MEMOK! before POST or O/C Profiles after POST, a DIP switch to enable/disable PCIe slots, Power/Reset Buttons, a PORT 80 display, LN2 "slow boot" switch and LEDs next to each voltage measurement point for easy troubleshooting of OC failures. An OC Key device (bundled with the motherboard) connects to your graphics card, which allows an adjustment to overclock settings in real-time without using additional software or hardware.

The motherboard’s power is drawn by the standard 24-pin ATX and 8-pin EPS but ROG adds an additional 4-pin ATX (CPU power) and a 6-pin PCIe to help with electrical stability during overclocking. The ROG connect feature lets you monitor and overclock your board from Bluetooth-enabled smartphones. 

The Rampage IV Extreme is slated to come with a free copy of Battlefield 3 Special Edition, upon its release. Pricing hasn’t been released but users should expect the motherboard to be around the $300 range.

Raidmax will be releasing the new Seiran series mid-tower case in mid-November.

The Raidmax Seiran is set to offer "tool-less installation, simple cable management, plus great expandability" in white, red or black. The case measures 18.9 (L) X 7.3 (W) X 18.9 (H) inches, and has a front panel with a 2-channel fan controller, USB 3.0 (x 1), USB 2.0 (x 2), audio ports, and LED light adjuster. It supports nine 5.25-inch bays (tool-free mounting system) with removed meshed bay covers for the possibility of nine external drive bays. The case has a space that's convenient for gripping, making it easy to transport or move. 

Cooling is provided by two 120mm fans (one with LEDs in front and one without lighting at the back) and an optional side window fan (120mm or 180mm fan). There is support for water cooling through three back panel tube outlets. It has a bottom mounted PSU with a removal dust filter, for ease of cleaning.

SYSTEM BOARD:10” X 12” Max Size ATX Form Factor / Micro ATXI/O PORTS:2 X USB 2.0 / 2 x AUDIO / 1 x USB 3.0DIMENSIONS:18.9 (L) X 7.3 (W) X 18.9 (H) Inches
SIDE:1 x 120mm LED fan or 1 x 180mm LED fan (optional)BACK:Black: 1 x 120mm Black frame with Red leaves fan
White & Red :1 x 120mm Black fan

Seiran should be available at release for a price around $79.99. Lean more about the RAIDMAX::Seiran at its product page.  

Does your system have the latest drivers for Battlefield 3 yet?

The wait is finally over. Battlefield 3 is here and ready to accept your countless hours of first-person gaming. This is what your gaming rig was meant to do.

EA estimates that there were close to 3 million pre-sales, making Battlefield 3 the biggest first-person shooter launch in EA history. 9.5 million gamers downloaded the September beta and collectively set new social online play records for EA with 42 billion shots fired and 1.6 billion kills registered, 21 million exploded M-Com stations and 19 million dog tags lost at the end of a knife.

Before you jump into the game any further, however, you should make sure that you have all the most current drivers for your game. Such is the joy of being a PC gamer.

Nvidia yesterday released a new driver set that's optimized for Battlefield 3, Rage and Arkham City. Battlefield 3 players will enjoy a performance boost of up to 11 percent GeForce 285.38 beta drivers.

AMD doesn't have an official new driver set yet, but those looking for best performance (along with Eyefinity 5x1 support) should get the latest Catalyst preview driver that's been tuned for Battlefield 3 and Rage.

Speaking of which, here's a bonus video of Battlefield 3 running in Eyefinity:

Battlefield 3 running on AMD Eyefinity

Happy gaming, everyone!

Intel sees pricing of ultrabooks as a major barrier for the adoption of this evolutionary notebook form factor.

An Intel executive recently called for an industry-wide effort to bring the prices of the devices down and indicated that it will not be up to the chipmaker to hit price points that resonate with consumers.

"More work needs to happen in the ecosystem. Even if we're giving the chips away for free, we couldn't hit the price point we want to hit if we don't work with the rest of the industry," vice president of sales and marketing and general manager for the Asia-Pacific region Navin Shenoy told Reuters in an interview.

That is a bold statement that may not sit too well with some of Intel's best customers, who are scrambling to get ultrabooks out for retail prices of less than $1000, which means that the actual cost to build those devices is somewhere in the $600 to $700 range.

According to Shenoy, about 40 percent of the consumer PC market may be occupied by ultrabooks by the end of next year, but this price-aggressive approach indicates that all Intel may be shooting for is a replacement of an existing market and not the opening of a new market - or a future market that builds on currently evolving trends, such as touch input models. As thin as ultrabooks are, they still follow the same general idea the original notebook, the 1984 Compaq LTE had: a keyboard and an attached screen. Touch never made sense on mainstream notebooks before and I would express some doubt that touch will suddenly make sense if notebooks are simply as thin as a Macbook Air, which the ultrabook trend aims to replicate.

New drivers provided by Nvidia are optimized for RAGE, Battlefield 3 and the new Batman title, Arkham City.

Monday Nvidia announced the release of its new GeForce 285.62 WHQL drivers that reportedly offer performance improvements in Battlefield 3, RAGE and Batman: Arkham City. The new drivers also bundle together all the enhancements and updates contained within the 285.27 and 285.38 beta releases, in addition to new SLI and 3D Vision profiles for many of today’s most popular games.

"For Battlefield 3 we’ve improved performance by up to 11-percent since the release of the GeForce 285.38 beta drivers, have included several compatibility enhancements, a new and improved SLI profile, and a 3D Vision profile," the company said. "Similarly, RAGE has received enhancements since the release of the same drivers, and Batman: Arkham City compatibility has been implemented."

In addition to a long list of improvements, Nvidia said that the driver timeouts experienced with the R285 beta drivers have been fixed, and that World of Warcraft players using an SLI system will no longer experience a flickering death. On Optimus notebooks, a Halo 2 crash has been rectified, as has an audio error that occurred when switching between 1080p and 480p resolutions.

"Updates contained within the earlier beta drivers have been carried over, such as the many performance improvements made to games --between the release of the 280.26 WHQL drivers and today’s 285.62 WHQL drivers-- when running on our entire range of 500-Series graphics cards," Nvidia said.

Gamers using a GeForce GTX 580 should see a 13-percent performance boost in Metro 2033, 8-percent in STALKER: Call of Pripyat, 7-percent in Civilization V, 5-percent in Crysis 2 with the DirectX 11 Ultra Update enabled, and more. GeForce GTX 560 users should see a 11-percent performance jump in STALKER but a mere 7-percent boost in Metro 2033.

To see Nvidia's long list of performance gains, head here.