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Seasonic announced that its power supplies are ready for Intel Haswell processors. A key requirement for Haswell-Shark Bay is the power supply's ability to maintain a minimum current load of 0.05 Amps on the 12V rail for the CPU.

Seasonic's press release:

"Sea Sonic Electronics congratulates Intel on the launch of the Haswell Processors. We are inspired by the continuing efforts made by Intel to push the boundaries of performance and at the same time, be environmentally conscious through reduction of energy consumption.

"These are the exact same attributes which have driven Sea Sonic for the past 35+ years. As we strive for industry leading performance, we continue to research the long term effects of each of our design. By continuously improving our efficiency we try to achieve maximum energy savings and by using high quality components we aim to prolong product lifetime; all to achieve long term sustainability.

Last week, some six weeks after the review was originally posted, I received a third sample of the Seasonic 520W Platinum. This one is apparently representative of the current production models. I tested the new sample 3 times, with many hours of steady modest load (<100W) and also standby between high load testing, over a period of 5 days. All this was to ensure that no changes occurred as the unit "broke in".

Overall, the level of whining noise of the third sample is very low and did not change over time or load. It is very unlikely to cause any negative reaction with 99% of potential users. (The 1% who might complain are the ones who would never be happy with any product.) [Hit Read More to read more.]

Seasonic USA is offering skookum deals on their great products for SPCR audiences though Newegg. These are offered only for a very limited time, so take advantage of them quickly!

Seasonic SS-520FL (N82E16817-151122) Fanless Power Supply Promotion
Discount: $15 | Code: 4SILENTPCREVIEW | Promotion Period: Jan 4 to Jan 6, 2013

Seasonic SS-520FL (N82E16817-151122) Fanless Power Supply and Fractal Design Define R4 Mid Tower Case Combo Promotion (N82E16811352021)
Discount: $20 | 1 week combo promotion: Jan 7 to 13, 2013

Discuss this news in the SPCR forums.

Dustin Sklavos of Anandtech revisited AVADirect's Quiet Gaming PC with GTX680 after its SPCR Certification as a Quiet PC and concluded that despite questions about the value of our certification and the use of a case he doesn't like, it is "Worth Considering In This Configuration." Forum discussion link.

Slashgear posted a review of AVA's Gaming PC, a quieter variant of which recently received a SPCR Certification as a Quiet PC. Forum discussion link.

Noctua, noted Austrian heatsink & fan company, just announced a partnership with a noise reduction specialist called RotoSub to develop PC fans with integrated Active Noise Cancellation. This is not the first time that ANC technology is being used to combat computer noise, but as yet, no ANC products for computers that you can buy have materialized. This project seems more concrete; a specific goal is to improve Noctua's NF-F12 FocusedFlow fan: "Our performance target is to achieve about 80% more airflow and 120% higher static pressure at the same noise level as the original NF-F12... within the next 12 to 18 months." Noctua says a prototype ANC NF-F12 fan will be publicy demonstrated at Computex in Taipei. Look for my report next week. * Discuss this news *

Wikipedia is protesting against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out English Wikipedia for 24 hours. SOPA and PIPA represent two US bills in the House of Representatives and the Senate respectively. Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, but in Wikipedia's opinion, do so in a way that infringes free expression while harming the Internet.

"They put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines. And, SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression."

Wikipedia (and SPCR) urges US citizens to call your government representatives and tell them you oppose SOPA, PIPA and any similar legislation. For more information, please visit Wikipedia's SOPA and PIPA page

SPCR discussion on SOPA & PIPA

Techpowerup / Wall Street Journal: Samsung exiting HD business, Seagate front-runner to buy it.

* EXPreview: Hands-on Intel 320 series SSD
* Seagate Momentus XT SD24 firmware update tested at StorageReview; SD25 firmware is near release.
* TechPowerUp: Single-slot, slot-powered Radeon HD 6850 surfaces in Asia
* TechPowerUp: SAPPHIRE launches HD 6950 FleX, simplifies Eyefinity for gamers
* CowcotLand tests 12 PSUs from 400W to 600W including 80 Plus Gold & Platinum favorites
* How LCD panels work by Bill Hammack aka engineerguyvideo on YouTube
* Gizmag: Silicon molecules + polyvinyl alcohol = 'First-ever' permanent anti-fog coating

Click Read more for details

* AMD to refresh E-Series APUs lineup in Q3, adding Turbo Core technology.
* AMD FX ''Zambezi'' Processor Box-Art Revealed
* AMD Bulldozer chips in June, Llano (Fusion) in July. (Llano is the desktop/mid range option)
* Pricing for systems with Bulldozer and A Series Fusion chips leaked.
* TechPowerUp Radeon Bios Editor v1.28 released
* Scythe Announces New Card Reader Kama Reader Jr
* Antec Sonata IV case review

Click Read more for details

* Anandtech reviews HuntKey Jumper/R90 300W 80Plus Gold PSU
* MSI, ASUS, Gigabyte to raise motherboard prices shortly
* WD to acquire Hitachi Global Storage Technologies (one less HDD manufacturer in the world)

Click Read more for details

* Superflower Golden King 550W (80 Plus Platinum) reviewed at JonnyGURU
* Corsair announces USB 3.0 Upgrade Kit for Obsidian Series Cases
* Musing on the state of motherboards at The Tech Report
* Thortech shows off 80 Plus Platinum power supply at CeBIT 2011
* MSI to launch AM3+ motherboards for Bulldozer in April, will have to use AM3 CPUs until June?
* Mazda Recalls 65,000 Cars... over Spider Webs

Click Read more for details

* MSI Afterburner v2.1.0 (2011-02-15) released
* Intel 510 SSDs released March 1st 2011 (Marvell controller like C300/C400)
* Intel 320 SSDs coming in mid-April 2011 (Intel G3 controller?)
* WSGF updates 3x1 and 5x1 Eyefinity Benchmarks. Tests AMD HD 6800/6900 cards.
* 2010 Engadget Awards -- Editors' Choice
* AMD to Showcase Bulldozer Microprocessors at CeBIT Show this week.
* Hardware-Infos: AMD Bulldozer CPUs compatible with AM3 (in German)
* Intel rumored to add cache logic to future chipsets to allow a SSD to work in hybrid mode with a traditional hard drive.

Click Read more for details

* AMD "Ready. Willing. And Stable." (SB alternatives suggested)
* Intel 510-series SSDs due to arrive on March 1
* CEA Study finds dramatic increase in TV energy efficiency
* SSD manufacturers will label 25nm SSDs differently

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* AMD Releases Catalyst 11.2 WHQL Drivers

* OCZ Vertex 2 25nm Review (OCZSSD2-2VTXE60G)

* OCZ Vertex 3 Pro Preview: The First SF-2500 SSD at Anandtech
# Anand discusses 25nm flash wear out.
# Vertex 3 Pro sample has 32nm flash, Vertex 3 retail will have 25nm flash.
# Kingston V+100 test results pulled from Anandtech's most recent charts. Drive to be retested next week.
# Sandforce 1200 TRIM limitations explored

* PhotoFast Announces GMonster3-XV2 Series SATA SSD (Marvell controller)

Click Read more for details