Pine Trail gets launched and tested

PINE TRAIL has arrived, and with it, Intel’s optimisations for the second generation of the Atom platform. A simpler chipset – with memory controller, graphics and CPU all in the same package – has resulted in a slightly less sloth-like performance and some very good power savings. No great overall performance gains, but it would be nice to see an Ion-based Pine Trail as GMA3150 is still anemic.

Here are the first looks:

Anandtech 1 and 2

Notebook Review

Laptop Mag

Linux for Devices

PC Magazine

Tom’s Hardware has sprung a nice little review on Fusion I/O’s new ioXtreme ioXtreme Pro PCIe flash storage devices. According to the numbers, just snap these babies into PCIe x4 slots and you can get 2x performance over, say, Intel’s X25-M G2.

PC Perspective has a look at SilverStone’s Sugo SG06 mini-ITX with a SST/TOB02 Blu-ray drive included. This isn’t the usual HTPC kitt that Silver Stone has, but a compact desktop case that can double-up as your entertainment PC. Full aluminium casing, here.

Hot Hardware tests the HP Mini 311, Ion-based netbook. Shawn seems to have taken a liking to it, as it widely improves on just about everything that the feeble GMA500 graphics did. Win 7, 2GB of RAM and all sorts of nice little details that make you feel happy about your spending.

If you want a second opinion on the HP Mini 311, you can actually look up Small Net Builder’s take on the same machine. Tim was a bit more critical, as the pricing seems to be quite high if you add up all the numbers.

Tom’s Hardware rounded up five high-end P55 motherboards, not too difficult considering LGA1156 pricing these days. There isn’t much room for differences up in the clouds.

German site Technic3D has a look at G.Skill’s new Falcon II 128GB SSD. G.Skill has a tradition of providing speedy memory and storage for a lower price, and the Falcon II looks like it’s headed the same way. For just 253 eurobucks you can pick one up.

Guru of 3D thinks it’s time to kick back and relax, sit down and watch a movie. Hilbert tests the Enermax Aurora Micro Wireless keyboard. This keyboard packs a laser trackball (you can even set the DPI, but we guess you won’t be sniping much) and a host of function keys into some really tight real-estate.

Why on earth would someone stick a PCIe x16 slot on an Atom-based motherboard? Well, we don’t know but George at Hillbilly Hardware seems to have the answer. He tested an ECS 945GCD-M, dual-core Atom system.

TechARP has some instructions on how to overclock Nvidia’s GT240 cards. Apparently you can squeeze some really good performance out of these cards (considering the price), especially in the GDDR5 department. No miracles, but just some added value for your GT240, really.

Inside HW has a face-off between several AMD and Intel CPUs, in the $60~90 range. That’s basically as cheap as it gets in retail. The Athlon II X3 435 edges ahead of the competition and gives AMD some bragging rights in the “dirt-cheap” CPU category.

Sapphire’s Vapor-X might not be today’s news, but it’s still the company’s exclusive. Fudo’s crew tests the HD 5770 Vapor-X edition. It’s a bit faster than the usual 5770 and *should* be quieter than the reference designs, but this is a preview, really. µ