Computex 2008 Part 3

VIA

VIA technologies was trumpeting it’s latest innovations using the Mini-ITX 2.0 platform based on the VIA Nano processor, competing head-to-head with Intel’s Atom processor.


One of the more recent interesting and surprising developments has been an alliance between VIA and NVIDIA. At last Thursday’s VIA press conference, they showed off a VIA 1.8 GHz Nano CPU paired with an NVIDIA 8600 GT running BioShock.

Sapphire

Sapphire was showing of an array of graphics cards based on the ATI 3870 and 3850 GPUs. The 3870 X2 is their high-end model featuring two 3870 GPUs on one PCB, which is consistent with ATI’s newly announced focus on scaling multiple GPUs rather than building bigger and faster GPUs.


Sapphire’s lineup of 3800-based cards is the largest with 14 different models, including even an AGP version.

MSI

MSI was promoting their personal robots, designed in conjunction with Japan’s Speecys Corporation. According to Alex Jeng, vice president of MSI CE BU, personal robots will grow in importance as developed countries populations’ age and have fewer children: “And it makes personal robot so important. He can talk, dance and has a good sense of humor; Moreover, he is willing to care, help and heal every family member by providing them with comfort, peace and joy.”

Shuttle

Besides small form-factor XPCs with the latest Intel P45 chipsets, Shuttle introduced a new low-cost SFF PC, called the KPC based on the 945GC chipset. They also launched the D10 Home Surveillance PC, which is designed to work as a media centre PC as well as with a home security system.

Foxconn

Lately, Foxconn has been moving into the retail motherboard and graphics channel in a big way. At Computex 2008, they were promoting their more environmentally-friendly GREEN line, which featured corn-based plastics and advanced system-wide power saving features. Their Quantum Force line is based for enthusiasts, with products such as the I45 Avenger motherboard designed for extreme overclocking.


Foxconn RnD’s resident overclocking guru Peter “Shamino” Tan demonstrated the Avenger’s abilities in a daily overclocking show at the Foxconn booth.

Elsa

Elsa were mainly showing off their Gladiac graphic cards based on various versions of the NVIDIA 9600 and 9800 GPUs. Both versions of the Gladiac 980GT and all Gladiac 960 models feature 2 to 4 pipe heatpipe-based cooling systems.