Unlike its unenthusiastically received 975X, which found its way onto only a handful of motherboards, the X38 shows all the signs of becoming a success. Motherboard companies are already pouncing on the chipset. As early as Computex 2007, every reputable company was showing off its designs. Let’s begin, however, with a quick look at the recent history of Intel chipsets. The 975X chipset, the X38’s predecessor, was introduced upon the launch of Intel’s 65 nm Pentium 4 processors in November 2005. These prohibitively expensive boards proved to be less than future-proof, however, as buyers were forced to purchase an updated revision if they wanted to use a Core 2 processor. The mid-range i965P, on the other hand, had no such problems and ran just fine with the new Core 2 line.
(Full article ‘Intel X38 Chipset: A Porsche with the Handbrake On’)

Japan’s Hitachi Ltd. is mulling options for its ailing hard disk drive business, including bringing in a strategic investor to turn the business around, sources close to the matter said.

Hitachi, Japan’s biggest electronics conglomerate, has not posted a profit in its hard disk drive business in any year since buying it from IBM for $2 billion in 2002 (see “IBM to consolidate hard drive business with Hitachi”).

According to several financial industry sources, investment firm Merrill Lynch has sounded out private equity funds that may be interested in the unit.

The Carlyle Group, Kohlberg Kravis Roberts & Co., Bain Capital LLC and Silver Lake Partners are among the funds cited as possible investors, the sources said.

Hitachi may seek a fund to buy an equity stake in the hard disk drive business and then work with the fund to help revive it, one financial industry source said.

It was not immediately clear whether Hitachi would look to sell the entire business or just part of it.

“The negotiations have just started.

(Full article ‘Hitachi may sell stake in hard drive unit, sources say’)

Nvidia is rolling out a graphics microchip that will be embedded in the main collection of components that make up a personal computer, as the company goes toe to toe with Intel Corp in the integrated graphics chip market. Nvidia is expected to say on Tuesday that its new GeForce chips for desktop PCs give the performance of an entry-level separate graphics processor unit, as compared to traditional integrated graphics chips such as those made by Intel.

Read the complete story here.

Last year we wrote about a low-cost dual core processor that could be overclocked from 2.66 GHz up to an incredible 4.1 GHz. It was the good old 90 nm Smithfield core based Pentium D 805, which delivered an incredible overclocking margin and amazing performance for a moderate $130. While this processor is still available at some places, a new overclocking champion is emerging. Intel’s current low-budget processor, called the Pentium Dual Core, is based on the Core 2 microarchitecture, which means that it is energy efficient and fast, despite its low clock speeds. It offers an even larger overclocking margin of up to 80%, and comes at a price that is almost ridiculously low: how does $89 sound for a boxed processor with cooler?
(Full article ‘$89 Pentium Dual Core that Runs at 3.2 GHz’)

While the evidence is mixed as to think big corporate resellers such as Softmart or CDW — in the first half of this year had Vista installed on them, according to the NPD Group Inc.

Meanwhile, less than 1% of the PCs sold from January to July in the U.S.