April 15 - 6:50pm EDT   Alienware recently updated its Aurora gaming desktop to include an upgrade option for the AMD Phenom 9850 Black Edition processors, which feature the latter company's HyperTransport technology. The Phenom 9850 is a quad-core processor that provides users increased system bandwidth and true multitasking, while also supporting up to four ATI CrossFireX video cards. In addition, users can run either 32-bit or 64-bit applications without additional hardware, and the processor's Cool'n'Quiet technology reduces power consumption, heat output and noise. [full story]

December 19 - 4:40pm EST   AMD has begun shipping OEM units of the Phenom 9600 Black Edition, a special version of the company's flagship quad-core processor. Like the regular CPU, each Black Edition is rated at 2.3GHz, with a 3.6GHz HyperTransport bus and 2MB L2 and L3 caches. The difference is that the Black Edition is effectively "unlocked," ready for overclocking past 2.3GHz without having to adjust power ratings. The thermal design power (TDP) of the chip is normally 95W. System builders should be able to pick up a Black Edition for approximately $283. [via Impress Watch] [full story]