The new ATi graphics card drivers, Catalyst 9.7, has been released today, and is WHQL certified for both Windows Vista and Windows 7. The release coincides with the announcement of the Windows 7 RTM (not surprisingly). This version of the drivers also has a UI overhaul for the advanced section, putting all items in the old “tree” into a drop-down menu, and having sub-selections as tabs. Check out some screenshots after the break

If you want to grab the drivers, head over to AMD’s website

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To mark the celebration of AMD’s 40th birthday, they have passed a shipping milestone: 500 million 32-bit (x86) processors to date. Unfortunately AMD had rather bad Q2, reporting a US$330 million loss, but this may change as AMD is gaining some momentum on the market where Intel is the big boss.

To celebrate the milestone, AMD has decided to give away four HP Pavillion dv2z laptops, which, of course, use the AMD Neo platform. To find out how you can get one, read on after the break

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It was only yesterday that we said when various people would be getting the final RTM copy of Windows 7. Well today, Microsoft has announced via the Windows Team Blog that Windows 7 has been Released to Manufacturers (RTM) and that the final build is 7600.16385.090713-1255, one build version up from the leaked copy of 7600 we saw last week.

OEMs should be expecting the RTM copy in around 2 days, with all TechNet and MSDN subscribers having to wait until August 6 to try out the final build of Windows 7. Keep tuned to hear our thoughts on the final copy of Windows 7 when we can get it.

Update: Windows 7 build 7600.16385 has hit several torrent sites

We’ve seen the motherboards, now we need the CPUs and it looks like we’ll be getting them on September 6th (according to Chinese sources). According to these sources, 3 new CPUs will be released on Sept. 6, all which use the LGA 1156 socket – the 2.66 GHz Core i5-750, 2.8 GHz Core i7-860 and the 2.93 GHz Core i7-870. All the new CPUs have 8MB of L3 cache, support DDR3 memory and have Intel’s Turbo Boost auto-overclock system that brings each CPU well past the 3 GHz mark when capable.

The above chart also lists some lower-clocked, lover-powered iterations of the same CPU to be released early next year, so look out here in the future for more announcements.

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Microsoft have recently announced via the Windows Team Blog that the Windows 7 RTM will be available on Technet and MSDN from August 6 (English version). Other languages have been promised to be available by October 1.

“When will I get Windows 7 RTM?”

• Independent software and hardware vendors can get Windows 7 RTM from Microsoft Connect or MSDN on August 6th.
• All other MSDN and Technet subscribers can also get the RTM on August 6th.
• Microsoft Partner Program Gold/Certified Members via the Microsoft Partner Network Portal on August 16th.
• Action Pack Subscribers on August 23rd.
• OEMs will receive images a couple of days after Microsoft officially RTM, due to the time required to create and distribute the images.
• Volume license customers: August 7th with a software assurance license, September 1 without an SA.

Most importantly, the general release date of Windows 7 for consumers is October 22nd. I can’t wait!

This case has to be one of the weirdest but most amazingly designed cases I’ve seen so far. The NZXT M59 Gaming Chassis is designed for, well, gamers and enthusiasts. It boasts maximum airflow and looks while only costing US$59.99 at its launch next month, which isn’t too bad when you consider what it’s got.

The case contains a fairly standard setup when it comes to gaming cases: 1x 120mm rear fan and 1x 120mmside fan are included with space for three more 120mm fans (2 on the top, 1 at the front). The case also contains four 5.25″ drive bays and seven 3.5″ bays, holes for your liquid-cooling system, bottom mounting PSU and a clear-smoked-black side screen with LED arrays around the case.

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We have been seeing a lot of solid state drive news over the past week, and we now have some more with Intel releasing two new 34nm drives. The drives, available in 80GB and 160GB, will be named the same as previous Intel SSDs: the X18-M for a 1.8″ drive and the X25-M for the 2.5″ drive iteration.

There are two benefits to 34nm SSDs – one is that they’re faster and the other is that they’re cheaper. These new SSDs can read at 250 MB/s but write speeds are still at 100 MB/s, but Intel noted that “while many specs have been improved, we do not expect any noticeable gains on application-based benchmarks.” Oh well, at least the drives are cheaper, with the 80GB coming in at US$225 and the 160GB at US$440; down almost US$300 from the 50nm models

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Now we have it: an actual motherboard that comes equipped with USB 3.0 – the new standard in USB that will allow up to 5 Gbit/s transfers. The new board packs 2 blue USB 3.0 ports along with 4 USB 2.0 ports on the rear I/O panel, as seen in the above picture courtesy of Xfastest. Other features include the LGA 1366 socket and X58 chipset, 6 DDR3 slots in triple-channel, the usual array of PCI and PCI-E slots, several SATA 6 Gbps ports and an awesome heatpipe display (check it out after the break).

Like most products these days, ASUS has refrained from giving us a price or release date, but we expect it to be soon. Unfortunately, Xfastest, who got their hands on the motherboard, cannot test and benchmark the USB 3 capabilities because of the… well… lack of USB 3 products at the moment.

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We haven’t seen a graphics card release for a while, and the wait might just be a little longer now that it has been rumoured that ATi’s next-gen Raedon graphics card release may ship in Q4 instead on Q3 like they usually ship. It seems as though ATi’s manufacturing plant (TMSC) is having 40nm yield problems, essentially meaning that they cannot produce the amount of chips needed. This problem also affects nVidia, as they use the same plant to manufacture their chips

nVidia has also been keeping in the silence, with it’s 300 series Direct X 11 cards predicted to come out in Q1 2010. This could mean a some old cards being re-released around the same time that ATi releases their card. The delay in both cards could benefit ATi though, as they can release cards alongside Windows 7 plastered with “Windows 7 Supported” stickers to entice the buyers with no direct nVidia competiton

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AMD’s Neo series of processors, designed to counter the netbook-oriented Intel Atom, hit the market earlier this year, but the uptake wasn’t to AMDs liking, with only a few vendors opting to use the range. So AMD has a new strategy, chuck them in nettops and all-in-one PCs. The processors can easily handle tasks such as 720p decoding and multi-tasking, two things the Atom struggles with, which si why they would make the perfect CPU for nettops and AIO PCs.

Bob Grim, marketing director for AMD said that Neo was designed for ultra-thin laptops/netbooks but “we’ve known all along that this type of technology would really work well in multiple platforms and multiple types of form factors.” Hopefully we’ll be seeing this platform out soon

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