monica bellucci | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net KitGuru.net - Tech News | Hardware News | Hardware Reviews | IOS | Mobile | Gaming | Graphics Cards Mon, 05 Sep 2011 14:39:37 +0000 en-US hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.4.3 https://www.kitguru.net/wp-content/uploads/2021/06/cropped-KITGURU-Light-Background-SQUARE2-32x32.png monica bellucci | KitGuru https://www.kitguru.net 32 32 Exclusive KitGuru interview with CaseKing boss Toni Sonn https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/faith/exclusive-kitguru-interview-with-caseking-boss-toni-sonn/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/cases/faith/exclusive-kitguru-interview-with-caseking-boss-toni-sonn/#comments Mon, 05 Sep 2011 11:14:00 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=58811 On 15th January 2003, Toni Sonn and his partner Kay, opened a tiny little web site in Germany called CaseKing. Like thousands of budding businessmen across the globe, their dream was a simple one. To sell tons of components, build a serious brand and reap the enormous benefits that would follow. Unlike thousands of businessmen …

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On 15th January 2003, Toni Sonn and his partner Kay, opened a tiny little web site in Germany called CaseKing. Like thousands of budding businessmen across the globe, their dream was a simple one. To sell tons of components, build a serious brand and reap the enormous benefits that would follow. Unlike thousands of businessmen across the globe, Tony and Kay did exactly that. KitGuru caught up with the worryingly young entrepreneur.

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If you build PCs, then you buy cases. The average person probably upgrades their desktop PC every 3 years or so.  Technically competent KitGuru readers do this much more often than the man in the street, but anyway you look at it – it's still a lot of cases. In the 8 years that have passed since founding CaseKing, Toni Sonn has bought and sold over 1 million chassis.

We'll say that again. On a new line. For added impact.

Toni Sonn has bought and sold over 1 million cases.

Not only that, but his business is expanding. New customers, both at home and abroad, are flocking to CaseKing – drawn in by the way this Teutonic company does business.

Shot taken on the massive CaseKing stand at GamesCom 2011, shows Xigmatek mega-mod in the foreground while Toni Sonn discusses European strategies with Sacha from Coolermaster (top right)

“Can you imagine, that a British or French customer would choose to buy from a German?”, asks Toni. “Do you know how hard we must try and how much better we must be for this to happen”.

KitGuru can imagine. Quite easily. Buying from a German supplier would not seem to be the logical choice – and yet everyone of his UK customers speaks about CaseKing in glowing terms. So, let's go back to the start. whose idea was CaseKing in the first place?

“My partner Kay and me were both hardware enthusiasts before we founded Caseking”, he replied. “I was more interested in the technical hardware side, Kay was more interested in gaming and designs. Because computers in that time were looking boring, we decided to found Caseking – to provide a one-stop-shop for everything you need to make your computer run faster and look better. To let you express your own character and individuality”.

In a tough economic environment, KitGuru wanted to know how Toni has been able to carry on growing as fast as it has?

“No matter how much product you want, technical purchasers want to speak with technical sellers. The key reason behind CaseKing's success is our awesome team”, said Toni. “We are all young, passionate and enthusiastic people, who really know about the products we are offering and we always do our best to guarantee a stressless purchase experience to our customers.”

“When I place an order online, I want to get the stuff immediately and if there is a problem, I don't want to call an expensive hotline to beg for support from somebody who has no idea about what I am talking about”, he explained. “At Caseking there is always a capable person available, who wants to take your question and give you a complete and honest answer – before, during and after you make your purchase”.

Toni added, “Anyone who orders from CaseKing for the first time will be impressed with our staff and procedures. I'm sure of it”.

While the market overall is slow, it is still enormous. We wanted Toni to take a little look into his crystal ball. How far can CaseKing grow?

“You'd be surprised how much time we spend listening to the community, speaking with customers and trying to understand what will be the most popular products in the future”, said Toni. “We are very confident that CaseKing will influence more and more markets. At the same time, we have powerful and open dialogues with suppliers to source and force the development of innovative new products which will fit the demands of the enthusiast community”.

While he might understand technology, Toni obviously does not understand marketing - and he struggles to make the CaseKing stand appealing to the 250,000 hardcore gamers who attended GamesCom 2011. Oh. Wait. That's not true!

Looking around the massive CaseKing stand at GamesCom 2011, there is very little emphasis on budget. All of the sections within the CaseKing stand were hosted by top brands, and the products on display were high-end. We think we already know the answer, but KitGuru wanted to hear from Toni, when the recession hit the world in 2008, did CaseKing focus on (a) internal cost cutting, (b) low end plastic chassis or (c) high-end products?

“When the financial crisis broke out in 2008, CaseKing had a very clear strategy not to jump on the cut-down-cost-train like most companies did”, he replied. “Historically, the name CaseKing has been synonymous with high-end, high-quality products so we concentrated on that segment, instead of cutting costs or focusing on low-end/volume products”.

Did it work? Again, we're sure we know the answer already.

“The development of many companies suffered during the economic crisis, while CaseKing continued to grow”, said Toni. “We believe that our policy of focusing on quality back then, has been a key factor in the speed at which CaseKing is continuing to grow today”.

KitGuru asked Toni which of the major UK resellers are his customer today. He smiled and replied, “Yes, we are working with some of the biggest UK brands, but it's not important for us to work with as many companies as possible. What is important is the quality of the relationship. CaseKing is only looking for long-term, sustainable relationships where the business of both partners flourishes”.

So should all of the UK's stores consider working with CaseKing?

“Well, from a business perspective, it's smart to consider everything”, with a smile. “What you do after you finish considering is another story”.

On a more personal note, KitGuru wanted to know a bit more about the man behind the million-chassis supplying enterprise. For example, what was his first PC?

“Wow, that was a long time ago. It was an Amiga with upgraded memory kit”. Hmmm, even at that age, this guy could not resist a modification.

When he's relaxing with friends, Toni prefers to show off his BBQ black-belt skills while listening to “Das Beste” from Culcha Candela – a German band which includes a friend he was at school with all those years ago. Again, we're seeing a theme in terms of relationships and long-term, mutual support.

OK, now that food has been mentioned, KitGuru pushes Toni to know what's best to order when you're in a restaurant. Also, we want to know which actress he's most like to star with in a film. The answers “Seafood” and “Monica Bellucci” have been used by a famous (but apparently un-named) marketing guru from across the ocean – but maybe these guys won't not mind sharing Monica and the fruit of the sea with Toni.  It's about partnership, right?

Poor Monica Bellucci struggles to choose between seafood lovers Mystery Man and Toni Sonn

KitGuru says: After spending time listening to Toni, you're left with the impression that he's a smart, driven, honest young man with a genuine passion for the enthusiast market. Along with his business partner, Kay, he has built a massive distribution empire – and their ambition has not been satisfied yet. If you're in the chassis business, in a country that's within striking distance of German logistics, then it's clearly time to step-up or step-out.

Comment below or in the KitGuru forums.

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Sasa Marinkovic analyses the launch of AMD’s A8 https://www.kitguru.net/components/apu-components/carl/sasa-marinkovic-analyses-the-launch-of-amds-a8/ https://www.kitguru.net/components/apu-components/carl/sasa-marinkovic-analyses-the-launch-of-amds-a8/#comments Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:49:55 +0000 http://www.kitguru.net/?p=52670 Intel’s Sandy Bridge series is powerful. No doubting that statement. But while most of the media attention has been focused on the 2500k and 2600k processors, that’s quite far away from what the average user will be buying in terms of price and performance. Most people won’t spend much more than £100 for a CPU. …

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Intel’s Sandy Bridge series is powerful. No doubting that statement. But while most of the media attention has been focused on the 2500k and 2600k processors, that’s quite far away from what the average user will be buying in terms of price and performance. Most people won’t spend much more than £100 for a CPU. At that level, you have AMD’s A8-3850 going head to head with Intel’s entry-level Core i3 chips. Almost 2 weeks after the launch, KitGuru caught up with AMD marketing guru Sasa Marinkovic to see how it’s going.

The A8-3850 is priced in almost exactly the same slot as Intel’s Core i3 2105. While Intel offers 2+2 performance with its physical + logical implementation, AMD has 4 full fat Phenom cores. In our testing, Intel edged most of the CPU-only tests. That said, the world changed completely when we went near graphics performance.

Plug your new AMD A8-based system into an HDTV and your gaming 1080p experience will be almost twice as fast – compared to the integrated Sandy Bridge experience. When you are benchmarking high-end graphics solutions, at maximum image quality settings the move from 60 to 120 frames a second (i.e. 100% boost) buys you very little in the real world. But in Dirt 3 with our testing, the A8-3850 delivered a playable 28 frames a second, while the Sandy Bridge integrated solution chugged along at just 18 fps. One was playable, the other one wasn't.

Unfortunately, Intel has blocked overclocking on the Core i3 processors. AMD hasn’t. It took our Henry no time at all to add another 600MHz to the A8 with modest cooling. This pushed in-game performance for Dirt 3 to 34 frames a second.  Now that is a boost that definitely makes a difference.

Sasa likes this, “People are visual beings. They pick up on image quality. With AMD Vision Technology they are telling us that it ‘Just looks better’”.

You can’t poke an 800 pound gorilla like Intel with a stick and expect it to sit still.

Right now, AMD has a substantial lead, but we’re all expecting Intel to come swinging back with Ivy Bridge in 2012. How long before AMD gets overtaken?

“We are committed to delivering the best APU every year, and by every year we mean next year as well”, says Sasa, smiling. “But today is about the AMD A-Series APU. Our advantages are discrete class DirectX 11-capable graphics, Dual Graphics upgradability and AMD VISION Engine Software. We only have one milestone really – turn our customers into our fans, everything else will fall into place”.

Again, KitGuru’s Henry can vouch for the Dual Graphics boost claim. Adding in a relatively cheap 6670 to the overclocked A8 test rig gave a Dirt 3 score of 63 frames a second at 1080p. Again, it's almost 100%. Not quite, but almost.

Looking at the overall market movement being predicted by the main analysts, getting the multi-nationals (Dell, HP and so on) to buy into AMD Fusion seems a lot easier than getting local system builders interested. Can AMD win a big part of these challenging – but significantly huge local markets?

Sasa Marinkovic: Head of Desktops and Fusion Software, Product Marketing at AMD

“I think it’s fair to say that multinationals have better presence in mature markets and local system builders have the advantage in many emerging markets”, said Sasa. “But I see the APU market not being a question of ‘if and who' but rather ‘when'.  We have very good presence in local markets and I am sure system builders will embrace the tremendous benefits that our APUs deliver to their customers”.

With the ability to overclock these chips, that has to be a possibility.

We wondered if that meant that AMD has set aside a huge war chest for TV advertising and the like.

Another smile, “We rely on experts and technology sites to spread the word”.

“Seriously, tech savvy audiences will get it from tech reviewers. Some will be influenced by their tech savvy friends and the rest will want to know that their PC can do what they want it to do – they will get this information from store salespeople or our OEMs. And we will ensure that those sales people and OEMs know what VISION Technology from AMD does for end users”.

In the words of legendary Canadian rocker, Pat Travers, people go for what they know. Let’s hope AMD’s strategy works.

We want to know how many companies have taken up AMD Fusion-class processors. Not including Apple, are there any major/global manufacturers who are NOT planning AMD Fusion-class desktop and laptop solutions for 2011?

“I can’t pre-announce any design wins on behalf of our customers – nice try!”, he replied.

OK then, let’s look at the way campaigns are created. When Sasa sits down with his team/beer/pizza to consider the next marketing drive – is there a big difference between the way they push the hardware and software?

“Hardware and software really go hand in hand, just like CPU and GPU”, explains Sasa. “You can have the best CPU, but if the GPU is bad, the overall experience is going to be bad. That is also very true for hardware and software – you can have the best hardware, but if your drivers are older and not updated on the regular basis, the overall experience is not going to be great”.

The graphics benchmarks we’ve seen tell a very clear tale. Is there something that AMD Fusion-class systems do really well – which is more difficult to explain to the market?

“Heterogeneous computing”, said Sasa. “Developers get it, OEMs get it, tech savvy people get it; but we still need to provide more education to a broad population. I am confident we will get there”.

“When 1080p came out, people did not know what it really did – but they saw the benefits of 1080p, one customer at the time. It’s similar to that – those who experienced GPU acceleration on Internet Explorer 9 will get it”.

Right now, it looks as though the launch has been successful enough, that AMD’s assault on the multi-national corporations (MNCs) is well under way – but they need to work very hard to educate the mass market on the benefits of having a Fusion-class chip.

Over the next couple of weeks, KitGuru will follow up on this topic with other experts in the field.

But, for now, interviews without a little background can be flat, so we love to find out a little something about everyone we speak with. When he’s not busy helping to drive AMD’s global marketing effort – Sasa told us that he’d “enjoy driving a high-efficiency/high-fun Mini Cooper”. But Sasa “prefers boats to cars”.

What about the soundtrack for the drive? “Maybe Red Hot Chilli Peppers in the city – maybe Manu Chao on the open road”, he said.

Fusion-class processors definitely bring stutter-free HD to systems at every price point. If Sasa had to star in a film, who would be the leading lady?

Helena Bonham Carter”. Instant answer.  Pause. Smile. “Maybe Monica Bellucci”.

KitGuru moves for safer territory with the next question. We asked Sasa what he wanted to be when he was 14.

He replies “25”.   Sasa says that he still wants to be 25.

So what about food?

“Seafood”. Simple enough. “Especially lobster bisque. But any kind of seafood is great. As a soup, as a salad, as an appetizer or a main course. I love seafood raw, cooked, seared, grilled or any other way”, said Sasa. “But always with good olive oil!”.

KitGuru also believes in a good oiling. And so, we believe, does Ms Bellucci.

UPDATE: KitGuru has since found out from outside sources, that initial production of the new A8 processors sold out almost immediately. This should have a positive impact on June figures for AMD. Looks like orders could start piling up for the next big delivery from production – due to land around the start of August.

KitGuru says: From our testing, one thing is sure. The AMD A8-3850 is cooking up decent game performance without the necessity for a graphic card, but adding one it certainly spices things up. Ivy Bridge will bring more of a challenge and we hear that Haswell will really raise the game.

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