BitFenix rolls out the Shinobi XL

BitFenix introduced the full-tower Shinobi XL case, this model will start shipping in February for 139.90EUR.

The case specialist BitFenix is not simply growing the Shinobi Midi-Tower, but is also adding a long list of functionality to the Shinobi XL variant. USB 3.0, FlexCage, SuperCharge port to charge smart phones or tablets, the capability to hold two 360 and one 240 mm radiators, nine expansion slots, enough space for XL-ATX boards and a plethora of pre-installed fans make the case an evolution of its smaller brethren.

One of the secrets to the success of the BitFenix Shinobi is the clean, timeless exterior look. The straight and understated design from the front to the rear, closed and flat surfaces in addition to the well placed mesh stripes make it the perfect looking Midi-Tower. The SofTouch surface revolutionized the industry, clearly steering away from the glossy aspects found on many other enclosures.

For all those who considered the original Shinobi to be too small, BitFenix is now offering the perfect addition with the Shinobi XL - a full tower chassis which manages to deliver the same timeless look and feel, including the mesh strips on the sides. Below the large top metal mesh one may fit up to three 120 mm or two 230 mm cooling units, one of which BitFenix includes in form of their retail Spectre fan.

Another such 230 mm unit has been placed in the front, with enough space to be exchanged with up to three 120 mm variants. Two additional 120 mm ones may be installed in the floor of the chassis, while one pre-installed 140 mm fan pushes hot air out the back of the chassis. An excellent air flow is already given right out of the box, with the possibility to push the envelope even further if need be.

With water cooling being the pinnacle of modern day heat dissipation, the BitFenix Shinobi XL is able to hold an incredible setup without breaking a sweat. Next to the four openings in the rear to route water cooling tubes out the back, the Shinobi XL may hold a 360 mm radiator in the ceiling and a 240 mm unit in the floor of the chassis. On top of that, an additional 360 mm variant may be installed in the front of the case, while still leaving two bays free for the mandatory optical drive and one storage unit.

The BitFenix Shinobi XL measures 24.5 x 57 x 55.7 cm, which clearly makes it a full tower chassis. This makes the bigger brethren of the original Shinobi the perfect fit for an ultimate gaming system or high-end workstation as it can easily hold every component you may throw at it.

In addition to the five optical drive bays, up to eight hard drives may be placed with the chassis. One of the external bays may also be used for a 3.5 inch device like a card reader, if need be - thanks to the included adapter.

The hard drive cage is not an ordinary unit either. With the name of FlexCage, one may install the drives turned by 90� or remove the cage completely. Once out of the chassis, the Shinobi XL offers an incredible 492 mm of space - more than you will ever need for the biggest and fastest graphic cards in the market. Even with the FlexCage in place, 377 mm of space still remain.

Thanks to the plethora of expansion slots, the Shinobi XL can easily hold an XL-ATX mainboard. The large opening in the mainboard tray along with the many cut-outs around the board area make the upkeep and clean cable management a breeze within the chassis. This goes especially well with the 34.5 mm of space between the mainboard tray and side panel - plenty of space to route all cables nicely to their destination. With a clearance of 210 mm, even the tallest CPU coolers will easily fit within the chassis.

While the chassis manages to impress on the inside, the exterior manages to deliver with a list of unique features as well. Besides the pair of audio connectivity, the Shinobi XL offers four internally connectable USB 3.0 ports and the unique, yellow SuperCharge port. This plug delivers up to 2.5 Amps of power, allowing you to charge any of the power hungry gadgets like cell phones or tablets with ease. This port is connected directly to a SATA power cable of the ATX power supply.

Special features:
- Classic Shinobi Styling � Same sleek modern design of BitFenix Shinobi mid tower
- Superior Watercooling Support � Fits 360mm radiator on top, and 360mm in front or 240mm on bottom
- XL-ATX Compatibility � Fits the latest XL-ATX motherboards with 9 PCI slots
- BitFenix SuperCharge� Port � Supplies up to 2.5A for charging mobile devices
- Four SuperSpeed USB 3.0 Ports � Two 20-pin internal connectors with included 9-pin header for USB 2.0
- BitFenix FlexCage� Hard Disk Rack � rotate or remove for ultimate flexibility
- BitFenix Spectre� Cooling � Two 230mm and one 120mm Spectre� fan included
- BitFenix SofTouch� Surface Treatment � luxurious matte finish and soft feel
- Hassle-free Installation � Tool-free drive locking mechanisms, rubber grommets and filtered intakes

BitFenix rolls out the Shinobi XL - More news at DV Hardware

Foxconn head compares workers to animals

Neowin reports Terry Gou, the chairman of Foxconn's parent company Hon Hai, compared the company's workers to animals:

In a possible case of, "Choose your words wisely," the head of the parent company of Foxconn reportedly compared the workers at the company to animals. According to a report at Want China Times, Terry Gou, the chairman of Foxconn's parent company Hon Hai, said at a recent year-end meeting, "Hon Hai has a workforce of over one million worldwide and as human beings are also animals, to manage one million animals gives me a headache."

As if to further the comparison, Gou also invited the director of the Taipei Zoo to give a lecture to the executives assembled at the year end meeting on how to manage animals.

Foxconn head compares workers to animals - More news at DV Hardware

AMD gets rid of Fusion branding

After years of Fusion hype and disappointments, AMD decided to ditch its Fusion branding. Bit Tech writes the company has decided to rebrand its Fusion System Architecture (FSA) to Heterogeneous Systems Architecture (HSA).

With AMD supporting languages including C++ AMP and OpenCL for GPGPU offload, the company clearly feels it's time to bring the technology to a new audience under a more professional brand identity.

'We have built a heterogeneous compute ecosystem that is built on industry standards,' boasted AMD corporate fellow Phil Rogers in a statement regarding the renaming exercise. 'As such, we believe it�s only fitting that the name of this evolving architecture and platform be representative of the entire, technical community that is leading the way in this very important area of technology and programming development.

'FSA will now be known as Heterogeneous Systems Architecture, or HSA. The HSA platform will continue to be rooted in industry standards and will include some of the best innovations that the technology community has to offer.'

The move isn't purely a branding exercise, however: Rogers promises to reveal recent advances in the HSA platform design at the company's Financial Analyst Day on the 2nd of February that will offer a clear improvement worthy of the platform's new name.

AMD gets rid of Fusion branding - More news at DV Hardware

Acer predicts 25-35 percent marketshare for ultrabooks

Acer chairman JT Wang told DigiTimes that he anticipates that ultrabooks will account for 25 to 35 percent of total notebook shipments in 2012:

Sales of Acer's first ultrabook, the Aspire S3, totaled about 250,000-300,000 units in the first quarter after launch, and the company expects sales for its new Aspire S5 tablet PC will be even better.

While the sales prospects are still unclear for Europe this year, Acer expects strong sales gained in Brazil, the Philippines, Thailand and other Southeast Asia markets will make up slow sales in the US and Europe, Wang stated.

Acer predicts 25-35 percent marketshare for ultrabooks - More news at DV Hardware

Aeolus Gamer Storm Dracula heatsink for Radeon HD 7970 pictured

TPU found shots of the Dracula Radeon HD 7970 GPU heatsink from Aeolus Gamer Storm. This model has a nickel-plated copper base, six 6mm heatpipes, and two aluminium fin arrays. Tests by the company reveal a Radeon HD 7970 runs up to 35�C less hot with the Dracula + two 80mm fans than one with the reference cooler.

The heatsink is designed to handle thermal loads of up to 250W, when outfitted with fans. The heatsink design consists of a nickel-plated copper base (this particular variant has a circular bump where the GPU die makes contact), with the appropriate mount-hole spacing for HD 7970. Through this base, six 6 mm-thick nickel-plated copper heat-pipes pass, the opposite ends of these heat pipes pass through two aluminum fin stacks.

Aeolus Gamer Storm Dracula heatsink for Radeon HD 7970 pictured - More news at DV Hardware

Gigabyte reveals entry-level board with dual-UEFI BIOS

Gigabyte reveals the GA-H61MA-D3V rev 2.0, the company's first entry-level $50 board with dual-UEFI BIOS. Full details at TPU, the motherboard will start shipping in May.

In Japan, the company released the latest revision of the GA-H61MA-D3V (rev. 2.0), an entry-level socket LGA1155 motherboard based on the Intel H61 chipset, which features Dual-UEFI. Apart from this, the board also features GIGABYTE's Ultra-Durable 4 Classic component loadout, which consists of a new fiberglass fabric weave PCB that's more resistant to humidity that causes short-circuits, high ESD-resistance ICs, anti-surge ICs located on critical circuits, low RDS (on) MOSFETs, and a 100% high-grade solid-state capacitor design.

The CPU is powered by a 5-phase VRM, it is wired to two DDR3 DIMM slots supporting up to 16 GB of dual-channel DDR3 memory. Expansion slots include one PCI-Express 3.0 x16, and three PCIe x1. The move to exclude legacy PCI is not only progressive, but could also save GIGABYTE the cost of placing a PCI-PCIe bridge chip. Storage connectivity includes two SATA 6 Gb/s ports from Marvell 88SE9172 (since H61 PCH lacks SATA 6 Gb/s), and four SATA 3 Gb/s ports from the PCH. Other connectivity includes 6-channel HD audio (driven by Realtek ALC887), two USB 3.0 ports (driven by EtronTech EJ168), gigabit Ethernet (driven by Realtek 8111E), and a number of USB 2.0 ports. Display connectivity includes DVI and D-Sub

Gigabyte reveals entry-level board with dual-UEFI BIOS - More news at DV Hardware

Enermax Staray extended with two new models

Enermax debuts two new Staray series cases:

After its launch two years ago, the good-quality, pure and simple Staray case with its intensive Apollish light effects has successfully established itself on the market. Due to its excellent price-performance ratio, the midi tower is still very popular amongst end users as well as professional system builders. To open up new target groups, Enermax decided to extend the case series with two new models.

ECA3175-L - The First-Choice Entry-Level Case
The new Staray model ECA3175-L is a low-budget midi tower with basic equipment. Compared to the first version ECA3170-BL/-BR, the exterior design remains mainly unchanged: The clear shapes and the stable, air-permeable mesh front meets the public taste and does not follow short-term market trends. ECA3175-L is delivered with a powerful 12cm front fan and can accommodate up to three additional fans at the rear and at the side. Thanks to the USB 3.0 front interface, the new Staray model also supports the latest high-speed standard. The port can be connected directly with an internal 19-pin connector, so that the inconvenient cable routing through the back of the case can be avoided.

ECA3175-S - The Best Choice for Silent PC
The second newcomer is directed to users of silent PC systems. The ECA3175-S is equipped with the extremely popular T.B.Silence fans. They offer a perfect balance between cooling performance and noise generation. Enermax delivers the midi tower with two 12cm T.B.Silence fans - one in the front and one at the back of the case. Furthermore, the manufacturer has modified the case interior: It is coated completely in black and comes with a cut-out behind the mainboard tray to simplify the CPU cooler installation. USB 3.0 belongs to the standard equipment of the new Staray version. ECA3175-S provides two high-speed USB 3.0 interfaces with internal 19-pin connector.

Prices and Availability
Staray ECA3175-L is now available, the second new model ECA3175-S with two pre-installed T.B.Silence fans will be launched in March:

ECA3175-L: 49.90EUR
ECA3175-S: 64.90EUR
(MSRP incl. VAT)

Enermax Staray extended with two new models - More news at DV Hardware