Computer Hardware Chart

AMD Radeon HD 6790 Graphics Card Launched $150

It is April 5, and as promised AMD today rolled out the Radeon HD 6790 graphics card. This one's a mid-ranger, targeted towards value-for-money minded consumers. Based on 40nm "Barts" GPU, the Radeon HD 6790 sports 800 stream processors, 40 texture units, and 16 ROPs.

The GPU also features 840MHz core clock speed, 1050MHz memory clock, 1GB GDDR5 memory, and 256-bit memory interface.

I/O options include Dual-link DVI with HDCP, HDMI 1.4a, and Displayport 1.2.

The Radeon HD 6790 GPU is priced at $150. Currently one of the online merchant is selling XFX Radeon HD 6790 for $173.

Check out the review of Sapphire AMD Radeon HD 6790 1GB video card here:

HD 6790 Reviews

http://www.anandtech.com/show/4260/a...p-short-at-150

http://www.bit-tech.net/hardware/gra...0-1gb-review/1

http://www.computerbase.de/artikel/g...adeon-hd-6790/

http://www.guru3d.com/article/radeon-hd-6790-review/

http://www.hardwarecanucks.com/forum...gb-review.html

http://www.hardware.fr/articles/827-...n-hd-6790.html

http://www.hardwareheaven.com/reviews.php?reviewid=1147

http://www.hardwaresecrets.com/artic...rd-Review/1236

http://www.hexus.net/content/item.php?item=29878

http://hothardware.com/Reviews/AMD-R...Graphics-Card/

http://www.insidehw.com/Reviews/Grap...he-Sleeve.html

http://www.kitguru.net/components/gr...sfirex-review/

http://lab501.ro/placi-video/amd-radeon-hd-6790-review

http://www.legitreviews.com/article/1585/1/

http://www.neoseeker.com/Articles/Ha...adeon_HD_6790/

http://www.pcper.com/article.php?aid=1105

http://www.pureoverclock.com/article1256.html

http://www.pureoverclock.com/article1257.html

http://techgage.com/article/amd_rade...90_1gb_review/

http://www.techpowerup.com/reviews/AMD/HD_6790/

http://techreport.com/articles.x/20715

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/...-460,2917.html

http://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/398...iew/index.html

Revisiting the Home Theater PC

It's been almost three years since I built my home theater PC. I adore that little machine; it drives all of our family entertainment and serves as a general purpose home media server and streaming box. As I get older, I find that I'm no longer interested in having a home full of PCs whirring away. I only want one PC in my house on all the time, and I want it to be as efficient and versatile as possible.

My old low-power Athlon X2 based HTPC generally worked great, but still struggled with some occasional 1080p content. And when you have a toddler in the house, believe me, you need reliable 1080p playback. Only the finest in children's entertainment for my spawned process, I say!

When I recently had to transcode Megamind down to 720p to get it to play back without stuttering or pausing at times… I knew my current HTPC's days were numbered.

(Megamind is hilarious and highly recommended, by the way; it's far better than its Metacritic and Rotten Tomatoes percentages would seem to indicate.)

Now that Intel has finally released their Sandy Bridge CPUs -- the first with integrated GPUs -- I was eager to revisit and rebuild. The low power Core i3-2100T is the one I had my eye on, with a miserly TDP of 35 watts. Combine that with a decent Mini-ITX motherboard and a few other essential parts, and you're good to go:

CPU	Intel Core i3-2100T	$135
Motherboard	ASRock H67M ITX	$100
RAM	Corsair 4GB DDR3	$45
Case + PSU	Antec ISK 300-65	$70
HDD	750GB 2.5'	$70

Now, I am fudging a bit here. This is just the basic level of hardware to get a functional home theater PC. I didn't actually buy a case, PSU, or even hard drive for that matter; I recycled many of my old existing parts, so my personal outlay was all of 300 bucks. I'm including the fuller part list as courtesy recommendations in case you're starting from scratch. You also might want to add a Blu-Ray drive, and perhaps a Windows 7 Home Premium license ($99) for its excellent 10-foot Windows Media Center interface.

The magical part here is the extreme level of hardware integration: the CPU has a GPU and memory controller on die, and the motherboard has optical digital out and HDMI out built in. It's delightfully simple to build and downright cheap. Just assemble it, install your OS of choice (sorry, Apple fans), then plug it into your receiver and television and boot it up.

My results? I'll just get right to the good part, but please bear in mind each step is about twice as powerful as the one before:

2005	~$1000	512 MB RAM, single core CPU	80 watts idle
2008	~$520	2 GB RAM, dual core CPU	45 watts idle
2011	~$420	4 GB RAM, dual core CPU + GPU	22 watts idle

I know I get way too excited about this stuff, but … holy crap, 22 tesla-lovin' watts at idle!

The kill-a-watt never lies. To be fair, it's more like 25 watts idle with torrents in the background. This little box is remarkably efficient; even when playing back a 1080p video it's not unusual to see CPU usage well under 50%, which equates to around 30-35 watts in practice. Under full, artificial multithreaded Prime95 load, it tops out at an absolute peak of 55 watts.

This is a killer setup, but don't take my word for it. There is an excruciatingly in-depth review of essentially the same system at Missing Remote, with a particular eye toward home theater duties. Spoiler: they loved the hell out of it too. And it compromises almost nothing in performance, with a Windows Experience score of 5.1 -- that would be a solid 5.8 if you factored out desktop Aero performance.

(Also, in case you're wondering, I intentionally dropped the analog cable tuner. All modern cable is now digital, which means awkward DRM-ed up the wazoo CableCard systems. I've cancelled cable altogether; I'd rather take that $60+ per month and use it to support innovative companies who will deliver media through the internet, like Netflix, Hulu, etcetera. Or as I like to call it: the future, unless the media congolomerates with vaults full of cash manage to subvert net neutrality.)

When all is said and done, I have a new always-on, does-anything home theater box that is twice as fast as the one I built in 2008, while consuming less than half the power.

I've been a computer nerd since age 8, and I just turned 40. I should be jaded by computer hardware pornography by now, but I still find this progress amazing. At this rate, I can't wait to find out what my 2014 home theater PC will look like.

Amazon Deal of the Day: Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 2 TB External Hard Drive – $94.99

January 15, 2011 by Geeks are Sexy | 0 Comments

For today’s edition of Deal of the day, Amazon.com has the Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 2 TB External Hard Drive for only $94.99! That’s 43% Off the drive’s regular retail price of $165.99.

The GoFlex Desk external drive delivers high-capacity storage, backup and encryption for all your files with its plug-and-play USB 2.0 connectivity. You now have versatile connection options to suit your needs. Simply pair the drive with a USB 3.0 or FireWire 800/USB 2.0 GoFlex Desk desktop adapter and instantly increase…

-Seagate FreeAgent GoFlex Desk 2 TB External Hard Drive – $165.99$94.99 [43% Off]

he Moneysaver: The Devil's Greatest Trick

You think you can catch Keyser Soze? You think a guy like that comes this close to getting caught and sticks his head out? If he comes up for anything, it'd be a 3-for-2 used games deal and free shipping.

Nominate your favorite movie to lead the next Moneysaver, and get starred if we use it! Thanks.

Hardware

• PS3 160GB Slim Console + $50 bonus credit is $295.88, free ship from Amazon. [Dealzon]

• Xbox 360 Live 12-Month Gold Subscription Card is $39.99, free ship from NewEgg and Amazon. Usually $49. [Dealzon]

• PS3 DualShock 3 Controller bundle with Killzone 2 is $48.99, free ship from NewEgg. Next best is $59. [Dealzon]

• Xbox 360 Chatpad is $19.99, free ship from Buy.com. Next best is $26. [Dealzon]

• Fable 3 Xbox 360 Wireless Controller is $39.99, free ship from Buy.com. Next best is $45. [Dealzon]

• Buy.com is offering Rock Band Guitar (wired) for Xbox 360 plus three bonus stand-alone games for $29.99 with free shipping. [LogicBUY]

• Xbox 360 Black Wireless Controller for $24.96 with free store pickup at Walmart [TechDealDigger]

• An Xbox 360 Kinect bundle with an additional Kinect game is $154 with $4.94 shipping or free site-to-store shipping from Walmart. Save more than $35. [LogicBUY]

• HP has a $500 coupon for configuring their refreshed 17.3" dv7t Quad Edition and 15.6" dv6t Quad Edition laptops with Intel's new 2nd Generation Core i7 processors to $1,399 or more. For the dv7t Quad, it can get you $250 worth of upgrades for $100 less than HP's public price for the base config. [Dealzon]

• Lenovo launched two IdeaPad laptops with 2nd gen Core i7-2630QM processors. The Y560p 15.6-inch with Radeon HD 6570M and Y460p 14-inch with Radeon HD 6550M. Both have 8GB RAM and cost $1,049 and $999, respectively, with their first coupons. [Dealzon]

• Amazon has the Logitech G35 7.1-Channel Surround Sound Gaming Headset for $71 after $30 Rebate with free shipping. [Slickdeals]

• Walmart has an Xbox Live 4000 Points Card for $43. [Slickdeals]

Software

• EA Sports Active NFL Training Camp (Wii) is $48.99, free ship from Amazon. Next best is $60. [Dealzon]

• F1 2010 (PS3) is $34.99, free ship from Amazon. Next best is $53. [Dealzon]

• WWE Smackdown vs Raw 2011 (PS3) is $19.96 + $0.97 shipping from Walmart. Next best is $40. [Dealzon]

• DJ Hero 2 stand-alone software (PS3, Wii, Xbox 360) is $26.99, free ship from NewEgg. Next best is $42. [Dealzon]

• Medal of Honor (Xbox 360/PS3) for $24.99 with free shipping at Newegg [TechDealDigger]

• Alan Wake (Xbox 360) for $19.96 with free store pickup at Walmart [TechDealDigger]

• Newegg has Dead Rising 2 (PC) for $19.99 with free shipping. Next lowest price is $24.95 at Buy.com store. [LogicBUY]

• Walmart offers Singularity (Xbox 360) for $14.96 with $0.97 shipping or free site-to-store shipping. Next lowest is Amazon at $26. [LogicBUY].

• Best Buy is running a Buy 1, Get Half Off a Second promotion on PlayStation Move video games. You'll also receive a free $10 gift card and free shipping on your order. [LogicBUY].

• Amazon has Castlevania: Lords of Shadow (Xbox 360) for $27 with free shipping. [Slickdeals]

• Amazon has Bomberman Land Touch! (DS) for for $11. [Slickdeals]

• Amazon has Dragon Ball: Revenge of King Piccolo (Wii) for $10. [Slickdeals]

• Amazon has Resident Evil: The Darkside Chronicles (Wii) for $16. [Slickdeals]

• Walmart has James Bond 007: Golden Eye Game (Wii) + Gold Controller + Exclusive "Cheaters" Shirt for $40 with free shipping. [Slickdeals]

• Amazon has NBA Jam (PS3) for $30 with free shipping. [Slickdeals]

• Amazon has Mass Effect 2 (PC) for $10. [Slickdeals]

• Amazon has James Bond 007: Blood Stone (PS3 or Xbox 360) for $27 with free shipping. [Slickdeals]

• Newegg has Medal of Honor (PC) for $20, Xbox 360 or PS3 for $25 with free shipping. [Slickdeals]

• Amazon has Rock Band 3 (Wii) for $30 with free shipping. [Slickdeals]

Digital Distribution

This listing of the digital download bargains, grouped by distributor, come courtesy of Deals4Downloads. You can see more at their roundup.

Amazon
• Tom Clancy s HAWX for $5.44, save 82 percent.
• Painkiller: Resurrection for $4.29, save 79 percent.
• Two Worlds Epic Edition for $4.66, save 77 percent.
• Silent Hunter ® 5: Battle of the Atlantic for $8.43, save 72 percent.

Direct2Drive
• King's Bounty Game Of The Year Edition for $7.50, save 75 percent.
• Divinity II: The Dragon Knight Saga for $19.95, save 50 percent.
• Drakensang the Dark Eye for $9.95, save 50 percent.

EA
• The Sims 3 for $19.99, save 50 percent.

GamersGate
• World War 2 Time of Wrath for $5.95, save 83 percent.
• Majesty 2 The Fantasy Kingdom Sim for $4.99, save 75 percent.
• Air Aces Pacific for $20.00, save 60 percent.

GameStop• Aion: Assault on Balaurea for $19.99, save 50 percent.

Gametap
• R.U.S.E.: The Art of Deception for $29.95, save 40 percent.

Get Games
• VVVVVV for $3.49, save 73 percent.

GMG
• Cryostasis for $2.65, save 73 percent.

Impulse
• Burnout Paradise: The Ultimate Box for $14.99, save 50 percent.
• Warhammer 40,000 Dawn of War Collection for $24.99, save 50 percent.
• Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit Limited Edition for $24.97, save 50 percent.

Mac App Store
• Chopper 2 (Mac) for $0.99, save 80 percent.
• Braid (Mac) for $4.99, save 50 percent.
• Ninja Chicken (Mac) for $2.99, save 50 percent.

Microsoft Marketplace
• Alpha Protocol for $14.99, save 50 percent.

Steam
• Chronicles of Riddick Assault on Dark Athena for $5.00, save 75 percent.
• Strong Bad's Cool Game for Attractive People: Season 1 for $14.99, save 50 percent.
• Mafia II for $29.99, save 40 percent.

Kotaku thanks our coupon partners for providing these and other great deals. Be sure to bookmark and search their Kotaku hashtags (#techdealdigger, #dealzon, #logicbuy,#deals4downloads, #slickdeals and #dealtaku) for updates throughout the week.

Further, to our friends across the pond and north of the border, check the #ukdeals,#europedeals and #canadadeals hashtags and be sure to flag any deals you might have with that.

As always, smart gamers can find values any day of the week, so if you've run across a deal, share it with us in the comments.

Send an email to the author of this post at owen@kotaku.com.