Radeon HD 3870 X2

Today AMD announced the Radeon HD 3870 X2. This graphics card is based on the R680 graphics processing unit which consists of two RV670 GPU cores. Both cores are interconnected using a PCI-Express bridge chip and run in a CrossFire setup which is completely transparent to the end user. There is no CrossFire option to enable in CCC, nor is there one to disable it. It has a suggested price of $449 and that is aimed at hardcore gamers and will compete with Nvidia’s GeForce 8800 Ultra while waiting for a more powerful rival: dual-chip Nvidia GeForce 9800 GX2.



Review:
techPowerUp!
Tech Report
Legit Reviews

AMD launches 7 series IGP chipsets in China, also Radeon HD 3400, 3600 series GPUs

AMD launched three IGP chipsets in China on January 23, including the AMD 740G chipset with ATI Radeon 2100 graphics (RS740), AMD 780V chipset with ATI Radeon 3100 graphics (RS780C) and AMD 780G chipset with ATI Radeon HD 3200 graphics (RS780), while the worldwide launch of these products has been postponed to March 5, according to sources at motherboard makers.

The 740G is an upgrade of the previous RS690 chipset and therefore only supports up to DirectX 9, HyperTransport 1.0 and PCI Express (PCIe) 1.1a, but it is pin is compatible with the RS780. The chipset will target entry-level and OEM markets with motherboard pricing set around US$40-60.

The RS780 series includes two versions, the RS780 for performance/mainstream markets and the RS780C targeting lower-end markets. The differences between the two are that RS780C does not support AMD's UVD engine, Hybrid CrossFire technology or local frame buffer memory. RS780C-based motherboards will be priced around US$60-70, while RS780 boards will cost around US$70-90.

The guys at OC Workbench have posted what they say are benchmarks of the RS780G in action. The numbers only compare the RS780G with its predecessor, the 690G, but they nonetheless paint an interesting picture. In F.E.A.R., the RS780G is almost twice as fast as the 690G, scoring 29 FPS over the other contender's 15 FPS. And in 3DMark06, the RS780G scores 1162 points, up almost 400% from the 690g's 321 points. In terms of 3D graphics performance, AMD RS780 is 2x faster than AMD 690G. In 3Dmark06, the difference is shocking, 1162 vs 321. That is 3.6X difference.

AMD also announce new graphic card -- HD 3400 and HD 3600 series. In HD 3400 series, there are some models, like HD 3450 and HD 3470. They will costs around USD 49-65. In HD 3600 series, there is one model -- HD 3650, it will costs USD 79-99.



http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/13986

F4 Stamping Session & ZZ received interview - talks about Da S

Fans from all over gathered for the stamping session at Xi Men Ding:




After 5 years, F4 has come together again to launch a new album. But at today’s Meet the Fan and autograph session, all the focus was on the love relationship between ZZ and Da S. And ZZ spoke up for the first time to the media about his feelings concerning what has happened recently. Let’s take a listen.



Zai Zai of F4 and Da S announced that they have separated a couple of days ago. These few days, ZZ maintained a happy mood and is not affected by what happened. Many people outside are concerned about the reason for the separation, and this afternoon he made a statement:

"I feel that what Xi Yuan has issued in her statement is very well written. And before everything happened a few days (or before the statement was issued), we were on the phone with each other and we continue to feel that this is a good thing. So I can confidently tell everyone that what she has put in her statement is the same as mine. At first I thought…we thought that it will be enough once she issued the statement. Because there is really nothing that is unhappy about this matter. We continue to be in contact with each other daily. It’s just that now the relationship is more like family, more similar to our earlier sister-brother feeling. This feeling is even better and more suitable for now."

F4 Waiting For You Mini-Concert @ Taipei

After the end of "DaZai Lian", it's the first official appearance for Zai Zai at F4 Taipei new songs event, to not get all the spotlight on his relationship, Zai Zai refused to accept interviews from the press, his mood was very good and he talked and laughed with other F3, even shaked his bottom, as if he totally forgot about his heartbreak.



Without album for 5 years, F4 at Taiwan, Dan Shui Fishermen's Wharf had a "Waiting For You" presentation to all Asia for their new songs, attracting more than 20.000 fans to the place, with 10.000 overseas fans from Hong Kong, Korea, Japan and Thailand, etc. As the "Tourism board" endorsers, F4 had brought to Taiwan 200,000,000 NTD. Although this time it's only a new song presentation event, but SonyBMG had put in it more than 5.000.000 NTD to do this event. F4 only sang 8 songs in that 45-minute short show.





ZZ recently broken up with Da S, with whom he dated for more than 2 years, successfully avoided the more than 20 reporters. Reporters discovered that a mysterious bouquet had been sent to Zai Zai, with "Always supporting you!" written on it, the workers seeing the reporters showed nervousness making the flowers even more fishy, but Zai Zai fans who came to support their Idol shouted "Zai Zai ! Don't be afraid ! We are here for you!" Zai Zai after hearing it was very touched.

In Cinema: Vic first movie 'Linger'

Amid busy promotion schedules, today the first movie of Vic Zhou (Zai Zai) titled Hu Die Fei aka "Linger" was starting to show in cinemas of Taiwan, HK and mainland China.

Official website : http://www.encorefilms.com/linger/index.htm

Here's The Linger Review:

Taipei Times

The film is well cast. Taiwan's Vic Zhou succeeds in his silver screen debut, coming off as a lovable Prince Charming with a troubled past. Seasoned Chinese actor Yong presents a few good tear-jerking moments in the film as a father who has deep regrets. Leading lady Li also lives up to expectations by bringing out the dramatic and psychological intensity required for her role.

Though Linger is a romance flick through and through, audiences should expect more than the usual slobbery story about a lost lover. In Johnnie To's romance, love goes hand-in-hand with unresolved anger, guilt and forgiveness and is open to the oscillations of genuine human emotions. The father-and-son relationship, though a side story, adds dramatic tension to the film in a way that touches the heart.

A love story told through seamless transitions and editing that threads through the present and past, underworld and mortal realm, Linger is as unexpected as it is charming.

The China Post

It had to happen sooner or later. After watching his fellow F4 bandmates parlay their singing and small-screen success into movie careers, pop idol Vic Chou makes his feature-film debut in the Hong Kong romance turned ghost story “Linger”

New, English subtitled trailer for Johnnie To’s LINGER:

From CES : ATI Radeon HD 3800 X2 & Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series

As expected, ATI, graphics product group of Advanced Micro Devices, demonstrated its new ATI Radeon HD 3800 X2 graphics card at Consumer Electronics Show 2008. The new graphics card looks bulky, but it promises to demonstrate rather high performance.



ATI Radeon HD 3800 X2 graphics card is the first dual-chip graphics board from AMD’s graphics product group (former ATI Technologies) in many years. The first and the last time when ATI offered dual-chip ATI Rage Fury Maxx graphics card for gamers was back in 1999. That product was not a success, but AMD believes that its new Radeon HD 3800 X2 will face demand from enthusiasts.

The ATI Radeon HD 3800 X2 is based on two ATI Radeon HD 3870 (ATI RV670) graphics processors that work in multi-GPU ATI CrossFireX mode and carries 1GB of memory onboard. The solution has 640 stream processors in total and will fight against Nvidia’s GeForce 8800 Ultra and its successor. Each ATI Radeon HD 3800 X2 graphics accelerators have one ATI CrossFire connector, hence, can work in pairs, enabling 4-way ATI CrossFireX configuration, when four processors work in company to enable rapid rendering speed.

Check out ATI Radeon HD 3800 X2 at Consumer Electronics Show 2008 Gallery

AMD's turn at CES announcements has added the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3000 series, its latest graphics chipset for notebooks. Similar to what standard Radeon HD 3000 line did for desktops, the Mobility version is said to bring visual and interface features that have never been seen for portables; it adds new graphics shader support for games and other 3D apps that can use the new features of DirectX 10.1 or more recent updates to OpenGL 2.0, such as new lighting techniques.

The HD 3000 range also adds PCI Express 2.0 as well as the first-ever option of relaying video to DisplayPort monitors such as Dell's recently announced Crystal LCD, AMD says. The HD 3000 series is also more power-efficient than before while still maintaining useful extras such as full hardware decoding of 1080p video when exposed by software. AMD says it is already shipping a low-end HD 3400 chipset with 40 stream processors and a mid-range HD 3600 sibling with 120 stream processors in notebooks as of today, beginning with ASUS' M50 gaming notebook. Future versions, such as a likely HD 3800 version, are also expected in the first half of 2008.

AMD claims these graphics processors will pave the way for a notebook design called Puma.

ZZ and LBB in HK for 'Linger' Launch Ceremony

Zhou Yu Min and Li Bing Bing attended the opening ceremony of the movie 'Linger' in Hong Kong. This film, directed by Director Johnnie To, also invited a Lion Dance performance for the opening. During the event’s interaction with the audience, Zai Zai received big strong hugs from fans, making everyone there including the host to sigh, saying one can feel the warmth. When talking about his experience acting as a corpse in the movie, Zai Zai recollects that the make-up artist has to spend four to six hours on his body everyday which was rather tough. And when it came to the topic of the bed scene, Zai Zai explained that it is not as sensational as it looks, whereas Li Bing Bing frankly said that it was somewhat awkward at first but she has to overcome this barrier as a professional actor.



Zai Zai, Li Bing Bing, Wong You Nan and Yan Qing, were In Tunmen city square to attend 'Linger' promotional event and attracted around 500 fans, the whole thing was very lively. At the event, a female fan even hugged Zai Zai's waist in surprise making him completely stunned. Afterwards, Zai Zai shyly looked down, and even frankly admitted having been startled by his fan's passionate action, saying jokingly that it felt like he got pranked, but it was very funny.

At HK Movie Premiere:

Vic 'Linger' Promo in Singapore

Vic Zhou, a member of the sensational Taiwanese boy band 'F4', is in Singapore for his very first big screen debut 'Linger' on 4 January 2008.

As advised by Encore Films his tentative program will be as follows :

1250hrs : Arrival via Cathay Pacific (CX717) @ T1.

1500hrs : Press conference @ Kbox - K Union Cineleisure Level 8.



1830hrs : Public appearance at Plaza Singapura - Dhobby Ghaut MRT station Level 1. Then Event with radio station : y.e.s 93.3 fm. As judge of acting competition where 3 finalist will try to impress him by acting a scene from the movie.

2045hrs : Movie premiere (Red Carpet @ Cathay Cineplex Cineleisure Orchard, 8 Grange Road). Movie premiere by invitation only or thru contests. But public is able to see him walking on the red carpet. Vic would not be staying throughout the premiere screening as he would need to go for another interview.