So we were right about this. The secret card that was to launched today is in fact the HD7950.
And what a card this is turning out to be! Coming in at around R5500.00 inclusive (Newness Tax) it is a little more than the GTX580 at the moment although it comes in below the GTX580 in the international arena.
We’ll be posting a bit more here as soon as we’ve evaluated the specs.
Almost everyday there’s a new online computer store opening in SA.
Our laws do not regulate the formation of online stores at all so essentially anyone could create a store and go live in a matter of days, for both good or bad intentions.
To clarify this point: I am referring to the individual who opens such a store in as much that he/she needs no qualifications or prior skills. Only a little help in creating a website for which there are good software packages available now.
There is however an Act in place “The Electronic Communications and Transactions (ECT) Act 25 of 2002″ but this seems to be a simple guideline rather than a law that is being enforced.
Not wanting to sound like I have any rights to ownership of this public space but it does concern me that the integrity of the industry may be effected by fly-by-nighters who are out there to make a quick buck and dissapear as fast as they started.
So please, even if you don’t buy from us, do ensure you purchase from a reputable store that has information like a land-line number, email address linked to the store and some kind of review on Hellopeter or one of the price comparison websites available. Also take some time to read their return policies and see if they are CPA compliant.
Getting something at a good price is great but the true measure of any business is how they deal with returns and after-sales service.
Bulldozer seems to be a complete failure and even with bios updates and other mods there is simply no life to be squeezed out of this CPU.
As we commented a while back we were really hoping that this would be a success. However it is not and so much so that AMD has decided to move out of the high-end CPU arena to focus on notebooks, cellphones and tablet CPU’s rather.
At least their GPU’s are doing very well at the moment (and I must emphasize the word moment).
The 7970 is leading the pack in the single GPU performance charts and while still expensive it looks to offer a quite a bit in terms of “future-proofness” – red squiggles under this word clearly indicate that I’m entering uncharted word territory here 
News has leaked that a new GPU is set to launch next week (around Tuesday 02 Feb 2012). We suspect it will be the 7950 but other sources are sure it will be a nVidia 6 Series made as a stopgap to the brand new 7 Series.
Chances are that if it is a 6 Series it will be very close to the speed of the 7970 but more than likely just a little faster.
We’ll keep you all updated as soon as we know more.
We’ve never really been that impressed with Zalman products. That is until about a year ago when the Z7 and Z9′s were released.
Not only are they great too look at but they also have some great features like a built-in fan controller.
Build quality cannot be faulted and building a system in one of these is a breeze with ample space and well laid-out design.
Enter the new Z11
Although we have not yet seen it in the flesh, so to speak, we are very impressed with the design and price of these chassis.
The Z11 Plus features USB 3 and supports 290mm long expansion cards.
Both the Plus and the standards Z11′s have dedicated cooling vents and tunnels on side and top covers to ensure that the internals stay nice a breezy.
Looking forward to seeing these arrive early March 2012.
Zalman Z11 Plus Black no PSU ATX
I really wanted this chip to be AMD’s comeback to the highly successful Intel Sandy Bridge family of CPU’s but AMD has sadly disappointed us so far with very lacklustre performance.
As with Intel’s 775 chips when originally launched it may have a lot to do with the code and the fact that there may not be too many games or applications that are optimised for Bulldozer yet.
New BIOS updates are being released soon that may boost performance across the range and hopefully close the every growing gap between these two chip manufacturers.
That said I’m quite happy to have a 2500K under the hood at the moment running @ 4.5GHz 
The line up is:
Amd Socket AM3+ FX Bulldozer 4-Core FX-4100 3.6GHz
Amd Socket AM3+ FX Bulldozer 6-Core FX-6100 3.3GHz
Amd Socket AM3+ FX Bulldozer 8-Core FX-8120 3.1GHz
Amd Socket AM3+ FX Bulldozer 8-Core FX-8150 3.6GHz
Andy
We’ll have the brand new Intel Sandy Bridge 2700K 3.5GHz CPU in stock from next week Friday (11-11-11).
From reviews we’ve read these chips clock to 5.5GHz on air as easily as the 2600K did to 4.8Ghz!
No other changes here besides base clock is up from 3.4GHz on the 2600K to 3.5Ghz.
In real terms this won’t make a massive difference in gaming but for media encoding this will really fly at 5.5GHz!
Andy
Saitek have launched two white versions of the very popular RAT 7 mouse internationally.
The Albino will sadly not make it to SA due to Mad Cats/Saitek marketing strategies but we will see the Contagion reaching our shores for general consumers mid-to-late November 2011.
Apple stores in SA will however be getting stock in earlier (amazing what the colour white can do for a brand) at a very high price most likely though.
Let’s hope that these won’t be plagued with the problem of the original 7 and 9 (x and y axis issue).
Looks to be a very nice mouse to have in da house.
Andy
Can you feel the change in the world?
From the rioting in the streets to the silent protesting, we are waking up to a very different world – well that is my hope and dream.
Greedy corporates that simply do not care about people, only their bottom line
Blood-sucking banks who’s only concern is profitability
The illusion that our money is actually worth something besides the value of the paper it is printed on
Governments who dictate to us from a one-sided view
It all comes down to the Age of Aquarius and the point that people are worth far more than money.
People are not meant to be controlled and herded like sheep. We are all unique and need to feel that whoever is leading us is doing a great job and making our lives better.
Corporates and banks that see us as numbers and not as people need to start making some changes very quickly.
I predict the fall of money as a currency within the next 2 years and the return to gold or even Bitcoins.
There have been over 3600 money types since record that have failed, the one standard is gold.
Here’s to a brave new world!!!!
It looks like Bill Gate’s dream of a PC in every home running Microsoft software is another step closer to reality with the very sleek new version of Windows knocking on our doors.
Windows 8 is still very much in a toddler stage of development with only a “Windows 8 Developer Preview” available for download.
With that said the new OS looks “absolutely divine”. The design queues have been taking straight from Tablet and Cellphones to give that fluid feeling and everything opens into sub-menus as you would expect from your latest tab.
The Microsoft team have even managed to rewire the old BSOD that we are all so used to (lol) with a polite message as seen below with a sad face – l33t!
Sad Face makes me laugh
Not only will the new Windows look a lot nicer it seems it may actually be faster than the current version, 7.
Load times are up to 57% faster when rebooting a Windows 8 system and putting a notebook to sleep take only 47% of the time it did with 7.
- I’d like to see Windows 8 with a few games and drivers installed!
If you’d like to download and play a round a little please head over to the official Microsoft download website http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/home/br229518
Let us know on our Facebook page what you think of it.
Andy
For those of you who are in Cape Town and feel left-out because rAge only happens once a year in JHB, you may be feeling a little better this year.
Cape Town’s first i-CT2 Technology Expo will held @ Ratanga Junction from Friday 31 September to 02 October 2011 (the same weekend of rAge).
Little is known so far as to who will be exhibiting but as this is being organised by CafeViva (Sonic Informed’s retail division) we can expect a strong Coolermaster presence.
We received an update from Ricky Sparrowhawk from Tactics.co.za who corrected us by stating that they are the co-ordinators and founders of i-Ct2
Ticket pricing for a one-day pass ranges from R45 (non Rider) to R142 for the Adventurer Ticket. We assume these are inclusive of certain (maybe all) theme rides at the park.
CafeViva has however made discount vouchers available that can be downloaded electronically from their website: http://www.viva.co.bw/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/CAFE02.pdf
Prices drop on the Adventurer from R142 for the day to R100.00.
As we are at rAge this year we will not be attending but feedback from you on our Facebook page would be appreciated.
The Landmark Team