GIGABYTE X79S UP5 Highly recommended by TechPowerUp

Cadaveca has published his detailed review of the GIGABYTE X79S-UP5 motherboard and we’re happy to see that it has left him feeling pretty damn impressed. The X79S-UP5 is currently the only consumer 2011 socket motherboard on the market that sports the Intel C606 chipset. This means that the X79S-UP5 is a great option for server and workstation builds with server-class technology like SAS, Intel Xeon processors and ECC memory support.

Cadaveca was compelled to give the X79S-UP5 the TechPowerUp Here’s a Highly Recommended Award. Here’s a sample of what he had to say:

“The addition of SAS support and a PCI slot, things that are specific to the Intel C606 chipset, are quite obviously focused on Workstation users, but given todays HD media, managing large amounts of storage is something that many users are familiar with. Adding support for as many drives as the Gigabyte X79S-UP5 WiFi offers would normally cost an arm and a leg, simply to cover the cost of a RAID card to add all those ports. Here, that functionality is provided nearly for free.

I was completely blown away when Gigabyte informed me of the price. There are a couple of other Workstation-centered products for SKT 2011 on the market already, and the Gigabyts X79S-UP5 WiFi really outstrips them in both functionality, and cost. And if it doesnt beat the competition in one category, it certainly does in all others. I think Gigabyte has a winner here, and I just might have to swap to a blue and black rig.:p”

To learn more about the GIGABYTE X79S-UP5 board, click here.

Here’s the full and detailed review on TechPowerUp.

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Brix PC behind remote controlled sailing promo run by Vodafone NZ

Imagine you had a helicopter and could navigate a 60-foot trimaran (i.e. giant sailboat) using nothing other than your smartphone from that helicopter. Sounds pretty crazy, but that is exactly what Vodafone NZ and Samsung guys are up to in New Zealand.

Vodafone’s got a promotion at the moment, where one lucky guy or girl will get to fly in a helicopter and remote-control a 60-foot sailboat using their phone. Not only that, but they will race Jimmy Spithill, the famous America’s Cup winner and a champion Aussie yachtsman.

Here is the best part: It turns out, the automation/remote control process is run by the GIGABYTE Brix Pro Core i7 PC! Coooool!

GIGABYTE is quite proud of its innovation and to see one of our new technologies powering such an awesome project gives everyone at our company a special satisfaction.

Playtech, Vodafone’s Brix PC supplier, has added that “Playtech is happy to supply the GIGABYTE Brix GB-BXi7-4770R to be used in the Vodafone Sailing project. It meets the requirements that are set out by the project team that only demands the best performance from the latest Intel Core i7 CPU yet are compact enough to be fitted inside a very small space. The GIGABYTE BRIX quality is top in the industry to make sure the BRIX will operate flawlessly under the rough condition that it gets put through in the race.”

GLOBAL BRIX GIVEAWAY: This story has such an unusual project for our Brix PC that it got us thinking to give away a GIGABYTE BXBR-1900 Brix PC running a 2GHz(2.41GHz turbo burst) quad core Celeron. Our good friends at Corsair have donated a 4GB DDR3L memory module and a super fast Force LX 128GB SSD drive as a perfect complement for Brix to complete the hardware (all you need to do is acquire and install the operating system). To participate in the giveaway, please visit the official GIGABYTE Facebook page, find the story about Brix PC powering Vodafone promo and post your dream Brix project in the comments. We will announce the winner on Facebook and blog.

Check out the YouTube video put out by Vodafone NZ.

Now to figure out how to win the main prize so I can fly in the helicopter and crash land this trimaran (juuuuuuuuuuuust kidding!).

Comin’ in hot, too hooooot!

Thanks to Vodafone and Playtech for letting us share this cool news with our followers and thanks to Corsair for supplying the memory and SSD to complete the Brix PC hardware for the global giveaway!

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