March 8th, 2004 –
Here's a big bit of juicy gossip to throw on the rumour mill on a Monday, courtesy of Dave Baumann at [link=http://www.beyond3d.com]Beyond3D[/link], who spotted the below quoted post on [b]ATI[/b]'s section of the [b]Yahoo![/b] finance boards.
[blockquote]ATI TECHNOLOGIES INC. (ATYT)
May seek to merge with or acquire a graphics unit of Taiwan's Silicon Integrated Systems Corp., according to a report in the Economic Daily News.[/blockquote]
[link=http://www.elitebastards.com/#news3832][b]Read more[/b][/link]
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March 8th, 2004 –
[link=http://www.evga.com]eVGA[/link] have made available a new [b]Nvidia[/b] [i]ForceWare[/i] driver for [i]Windows 98[/i] and [i]ME[/i].
[blockquote][i]Corrected the following issues:[/i]
-rundll32 causes an error in nvdisp.dll or dibeng.dll after driver installation.
-Unable to open display properties with Desktop Manager enabled.
-System stop error when attempting to access NVPanel via quick access.
-Clone mode is changed to single display when NVIDIA systray menu clicked.
-Medal of Honor Spearhead demo crashes back to desktop.
-Half Life rendering is blank on LCD at 800x600 and below.
-Monitor loses sync after exiting D3D app while antialiasing is enabled. [/blockquote]
[link=http://www.short-media.com/request.php?232][b]Download[/b][/link] (16.1MB)
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March 8th, 2004 –
Ever wanted to be able to install [i]Windows XP[/i], all its updates, and all your favourite applications, in one go, automatically? Well if so, then you should check out this site.
[blockquote]Have you ever wanted a Windows XP CD that would install Windows XP by automatically putting in your name, product key, timezone and regional settings? Followed by silently installing all your favourite applications along with DirectX 9, .Net Framework and then all the Pre-SP2 hotfixes, updated drivers, registry tweaks, and a readily patched UXTheme.dll without any user interaction whatsoever? Then this guide will show you how you can do just that!
[/blockquote]
[link=http://unattended.msfn.org/][b]MSFN's Official Unattended XP CD Guide[/b][/link]
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March 8th, 2004 –
A new version of the widely used stand alone memory tester for x86 based computers has been released.
[blockquote]Enhancements in v3.1
-Added processor detection for newer AMD processors
-Added new "Bit Fade" extended test
-Fixed a complile time bug with gcc version 3.x.
[/blockquote]
[link=http://www.memtest86.com/#download1][b]Download[/b][/link] (52.4KB)
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March 8th, 2004 –
A new verison of the popular P2P software [i]BitTorrent[/i] has been released.
[blockquote][i]New in 3.4:[/i]
-Client no longer complains of connection to tracker problems when transfers are still working
-Lots of bandwidth savings
-Lots of bug fixes
[/blockquote]
[link=http://bitconjurer.org/BitTorrent/download.html][b]Download[/b][/link] (2.7MB)
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March 8th, 2004 –
[b]Adobe[/b] is set to expand its electronic forms with new capabilities for adding bar codes to forms based on the company's portable document format.
[blockquote]The technology, announced Monday, will allow faster processing of forms ultimately intended for printing. Early backers include the Internal Revenue Service, which will experiment with adding bar code capacity to several PDF-based tax forms this year.
[/blockquote]
[link=http://news.com.com/2100-1012_3-5170996.html?tag=nefd_top][b]The full report[/b][/link]
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March 8th, 2004 –
Good review of a new product ...the [i]Hydor (Seltz) L30 II[/i] pump.
[blockquote]The Hydor (Seltz) L30 pump has become quite popular with PC water-cooling enthusiasts during the past year. When our good friends at Crazy PC offered to send us a new Hydor L30 II pump to review, I was excited about the opportunity to check one out. In this review we will take an in-depth look at the Hydor L30 II and see how it performs. The specs for the Hydor L30 II are nearly identical to those of the Eheim 1250 but its size is closer to the Eheim 1048, so we will also include side-by-side comparisons with these two pumps.
[/blockquote]
[link=http://www.systemcooling.com/hydor_l30ii-01.html][b]Check it out[/b][/link] - [i]Submitted by[/i] csimon
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March 8th, 2004 –
Intel takes X86-64 for the Yamhill that doesn't exist, so AMD decided to use SSE3 in an upcoming core revision of their 64 bit line. The catch? It'll be faster than Intel's SSE3 implementation. It is unknown at this time if the Opteron will receive a similar upgrade.
[blockquote]...Both processor lines will feature full compatibility with SSE3. In fact, it may actually be somewhat better than Intel's SSE3, as the AMD chip will dynamically translate some of the SSE instructions into operations specifically tailored to the "Hammer" design, in some cases lowering latency down to as little as one cycle. Intel's latest "Prescott" iteration of the Pentium 4 design requires many more cycles to complete the same work due to its higher clock speed and deeper pipelines.[/blockquote]
Look out media performance! Here comes AMD!
[link=http://www.geek.com/news/geeknews/2004Mar/gee20040303024101.htm]Go go gadget geek.com[/link]
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March 8th, 2004 –
[link=http://www.extremereviews.net/data.php?recordID=91&page=1&type=review]eXtreme Reviews - Cable Organizer Cord Caddy[/link]
[link=http://www.madshrimps.be/gotoartik.php?articID=126]PowerColor 9800XT - Upgrading to DirectX 9 @ Madshrimps[/link]
[link=http://www.thecrucible.ca/reviews/venus12/]Thermaltake Venus12 AMD K8 Heatsink @ TheCrucible.ca[/link]
[link=http://www.atruereview.com/nyko/index.php]Nyko Air Flo Mouse @ A True Review[/link]
[link=http://www.modthebox.com/review301_1.shtml]DFI LanParty NFII Ultra B Motherboard Review @ MODTHEBOX.COM[/link]
[link=http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/control.php?cid=26&id=1008&src=3rd]EPoX Mini Me eX5-300S @ HardwareZone[/link]
[link=http://www.xtremenews.net/modules.php?name=Sections&op=viewarticle&artid=112]Danger Den Z-Chip block @ Xtremenews[/link]
[link=http://envynews.com/index.php?ID=633#start]Soltek SL-5900-FD @ Envy News[/link]
[link=http://www.bytesector.com/data/bs-article.asp?ID=249]Thermaltake Aquarius III Water Cooling Kit @ ByteSector[/link]
[link=http://www.subzerotech.com/index/module/sz_reviews_display/id/188]AcoustiFan @ SubZeroTech[/link]
[link=http://justfps.com/reviews/acces/frontx/index.php]FrontX Port Extensions @ JustFPS[/link]
[link=http://www.htpcnews.com/main.php?id=zalman_pipe_1]HTPCNews Hardware Review: Zalman ZM80C-HP[/link]
[link=http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/rw2/]ATI Remote Wonder 2 Multimedia PC Remote Control Review @ Tweaknews[/link]
[link=http://www.bjorn3d.com/_preview.php?articleID=417]Laptop Mouse Comparison - Targus vs Microsoft @ Bjorn3d[/link]
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March 7th, 2004 –
[b]Microsoft[/b] are almost ready to let loose their next revision of [i]MSN Messenger 6[/i], version 6.2. Although this version won't be a heavy upgrade like 6.0, there will still be minor improvements and features for users. [i]MSN Messenger 7.0[/i] isn't due till later this year and is widely expected to be intergrated into MSN 10 - the next generation MSN Explorer.
[blockquote][i]Update list[/i]:
-Animated Display Pictures (still unsure whether there will be animated custom emoticons)
-Launch Site renamed "Fun & Games"
-Fun & Games adds: Music Exchange (thought to be like the 3° way of sharing music)
-Shared Browsing Enabled for MSN Subscribers
-MSN Messenger "Connection Troubleshooter" (automatically solve many network connectivity problems)
[/blockquote]
Source : [i]In-house[/i] - [link=http://www.short-media.com/comment.php?1069][i]Related news[/i][/link]
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March 7th, 2004 –
Worried that the full release of its [i]Windows XP[/i] Service Pack 2 (SP2) will break and disrupt existing applications, [b]Microsoft[/b] has created an online training course for developers to explain the intricacies of the security-centric OS update.
[blockquote]The launch of a training course is an unusual move for the software giant, which has changed many Windows XP defaults to tighten security and to simplify the software update process. "[SP2] is more than a normal roll-up of bug fixes. It is also being used to deliver a significant upgrade to enhance Windows XP security," the company said on its Microsoft Software Developer Network (MSDN) portal.[/blockquote]
[link=http://www.internetnews.com/ent-news/article.php/3322381][b]Read more[/b][/link]
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March 7th, 2004 –
A new version of [i]Nero 6[/i] has appeared on [b]Ahead[/b]'s FTP site. Please bare in mind this latest version hasn't been released as an official update yet.
[blockquote]Nero is a flexible, reliable, and easy-to-use application designed to write both data and CD audio to CD-R and CD-RW discs. It supports ISO 9660 images as well as ISO mode 1 and XA mode 2, and allows for on-the-fly disc recording in addition to overburning (if supported by hardware). Nero also supports multisession and mixed-mode recording, HFS, ISO/HFS hybrid, UDF, PSX, OFAS (optimal file access speed), track-at-once (TAO) and disc-at-once (DAO) writing, digital audio extraction, and more. In addition, Nero can dynamically disable automatic-insert notification, offers support for multiple languages, and works with all major models of CD-R and CD-RW drives.[/blockquote]
[link=ftp://ftp2.nero.com/philips/Nero6306c.exe][b]Download[/b][/link] (35.5MB)
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March 7th, 2004 –
What would you prefer - no spam or free email?
[blockquote]If the U.S. Postal Service delivered mail for free, our mailboxes would surely runneth over with more credit-card offers, sweepstakes entries, and supermarket fliers. That's why we get so much junk e-mail: It's essentially free to send. So Microsoft Corp. chairman Bill Gates, among others, is now suggesting that we start buying "stamps" for e-mail.
[/blockquote]
[link=http://www.cnn.com/2004/TECH/internet/03/05/spam.charge.ap/index.html][b]The full report[/b][/link] - [i]Submitted by[/i] csimon
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March 7th, 2004 –
[link=http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/control.php?cid=29&id=1026&src=3rd]LG GSA-4082B 8x SuperMulti DVD-Writer @ HardwareZone[/link]
[link=http://www.3dgameman.com/vr/zalman/headphones_rs6f/video_review.html]Zalman Real Surround Sound Headphones "Theatre 6" Video Review @ 3dGameMan[/link]
[link=http://www.frostytech.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=1555]Thermal Integration TI-A8736N Heatsink @ FrostyTech[/link]
[link=http://www.atruereview.com/memorywatch/index.php]MeMIX Memory Watch @ A True Review[/link]
[link=http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/memory/PMI/PMI3200-1024DGL/index.htm]PMI3200-1024DGL Dual Channel DDR Memory Kit [/link]
[link=http://www.overclockercafe.com/Reviews/cases/Z-Alien/index.htm]A-Top Z-Alien Case Review @ OverclockerCafe[/link]
[link=http://www.3dxtreme.net/index.php?id=chenbrohornetpc-805661]Chenbro Hornet PC-80566 Micro-Tower Case Review @ 3DX[/link]
[link=http://www.creativemods.com/content.php?content.80]Modder Of The Month March @ Creative Mods[/link]
[link=http://www.swemod.com/e/index.asp?action=review&sid=0&artikel=18]Silverstone HTPC Case - LC-02 @ SweMOD[/link]
[link=http://www.rbmods.com/Articles/Trust/Ff380/1.php]Trust FF380 racing wheel @ Rbmods[/link]
[link=http://www.extremereviews.net/data.php?recordID=90&page=1&type=review]eXtreme Reviews - Cable Organizer Cable Management Kit[/link]
[link=http://www.thecrucible.ca/reviews/sleeving/]PSU Sleeving Guide @ TheCrucible[/link]
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March 5th, 2004 –
[link=http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/control.php?cid=29&id=997&src=3rd]Plextor PX-708A Dual Format 8x DVD Writer @ HarewareZone.com[/link]
[link=http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/control.php?cid=10&id=1028&src=3rd]80GB/platter SATA HDD Shootout @ HardwareZone.com[/link]
[link=http://www.cluboc.net/reviews/drives/burners/plextor_px-708uf/index.htm]Plextor PX-708UF 8x DVD Burner @ ClubOC.net[/link]
[link=http://www.voidedwarranty.com/modules.php?name=Reviews&op=viewarticle&artid=92]Flexiglow FxGame Pad @ voidedwarranty.com[/link]
[link=http://www.vr-zone.com/?i=560&s=1]EPoX eX5 Mini Me @ VR-Zone.com[/link]
[link=http://www.modthebox.com/review300_1.shtml]ClearPC "Secret Agent" Briefcase Review @ MODTHEBOX.COM[/link]
[link=http://www.viperlair.com/reviews/video_graph/his/9600xt/]HIS Excalibur 9600 XT Turbo @ Viper Lair.com[/link]
[link=http://www.htpcnews.com/main.php?id=acoustifan_1]HTPCNews.com Hardware Review. AcoustiFan 80mm Silent Fan[/link]
[link=http://www.gideontech.com/reviews/actiontec_wap/]Actiontec 802.11G WAP/PC Review @ GideonTech.com[/link]
[link=http://www.gruntville.com/reviews/cases/antec_p160/]Antec Performance One P160 Mid-Tower Review @ GruntvillE.com[/link]
[link=http://www.tweaknews.net/reviews/mx900/]Logitech MX900 Bluetooth Wireless Optical Mouse Review @ Tweaknews.net[/link]
[link=http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=318]Corsair TWINX1024-4000PRO XMS4000 Memory @ TrustedReviews.com[/link]
[link=http://www.hardwarezoom.com/viewcontent.jsp?ReviewID=194]Nokia Bluetooth Digital Pen Review @ HardwareZoom.com[/link]
[link=http://www.controlled-insanity.com/modules.php?op=modload&name=Reviews&file=index&req=showcontent&id=20]SilverStone Technology SST-SDF01 Fans @ Controlled-Insanity Pc Mods[/link]
[link=http://www.hwhell.com/articles/his_excalibur_radeon_ati_9600xt_turbo/]HIS Excalibur Radeon ATI 9600XT Turbo Review @ HardwareHell.com[/link]
[link=http://www.techseekers.net/modules.php?name=Reviews&file=index&rop=showcontent&id=74]ABIT KV8-MAX3 Athlon64 motherboard @ Techseekers.net[/link]
[link=www.extremeoverclocking.com/reviews/motherboards/ABIT_KV8_MAX3_1.html]ABIT KV8-MAX3 Motherboard @ EOC.com[/link]
[link=http://www.iamnotageek.com/articles.php?aid=5&page=1]Can Cooler @ IANAG.com[/link]
[link=http://www.thecrucible.ca/reviews/xp/]Microsoft Windows: Evolution Article @ TheCrucible.ca[/link]
[link=http://www.ocia.net/reviews/948/948-1.shtml]Thermalright SLK-948U @ OCIA.net[/link]
[link=http://www.extremereviews.net/data.php?recordID=89&page=1&type=review]Xtreme Gaming Mat @ ExtremeReviews.net[/link]
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March 5th, 2004 –
[blockquote] We are comparing three different Intel cores to AMD's one and only Opteron core, so let's focus on the Intel cores first. Intel's Prestonia core is the 0.13-micron heart and soul of the 2-way Xeon processor now. The latest and greatest Prestonia based Xeon runs at 3.2GHz and features a 512KB L2 cache as well as a 2MB on-die L3 cache. This Prestonia should sound very familiar as it is basically a Xeon version of the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition, which was a Pentium 4 version of the Xeon MP at a higher clock speed. Yes, Prestonia is a server version of a desktop version of a server processor. In fact, the only difference between Prestonia and the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition (other than packaging) is that the Prestonia only supports the 533MHz FSB. Front Side Bus bandwidth is actually a very serious issue when it comes to Intel CPUs, but we'll talk about that shortly.
Next we have the Xeon MP processors based off of Intel's 0.13-micron Gallatin core. The Gallatin core is what the Pentium 4 Extreme Edition was derived from, and offers 1MB, 2MB and now 4MB on-die L3 cache configurations. Prior to this article the largest cache size available on a Gallatin core was 2MB, but today Intel is launching their 4MB Gallatin parts. Both the Gallatin 2MB and 4MB parts continue to use a 400MHz FSB, which is the Xeon MP's Achilles' heel. The Gallatin 4MB parts are available in speeds of up to 3.0GHz, which we are including in this review today.
AMD's offerings are much simpler; the Opteron is available in 1-way, 2-way and 4-way+ configurations: the 1xx, 2xx and 8xx series respectively. AMD's offerings haven't changed since our [link=http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.html?i=1935]web server comparison[/link], although we should see 2.4GHz Opterons debut in the near future. [/blockquote]
[link=http://www.anandtech.com/IT/showdoc.html?i=1982]Anandtech Article[/link]
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March 5th, 2004 –
[blockquote]The original idea was to use either an NES or SNES emulator as a real world framebuffer upload benchmark. Emulators of aged consoles can use the CPU to emulate the entire system and just send frames over to the GPU as fast as they are cranked out.
Something like this may still be a possibility, but as we delved deeper into the depths of the emulator community, we discovered much more exciting things that we could bring to the table. We finally settled on benchmarking a PlayStation emulator.[/blockquote]
[i]Either fortunately or unfortunately (depending on your preferences), this is where most of the playing time in Final Fantasy games is spent. Welcome to the battle system. Here, we see offscreen drawing, framebuffer uploads and framebuffer effects in full swing. This portion of the game is also rendered at full framerate[/i]
Final Fantasy IX: Battle System (Athlon 64 3400+)
ATI Radeon 9800XT 176.1
ATI Radeon 9800Pro 170.0
ATI Radeon 9600XT 130.2
Nvidia 5950 Ultra 81.1
Nvidia 5700 Ultra 64.2
[link=http://www.anandtech.com/video/showdoc.html?i=1986]Anandtech Article[/link]
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March 5th, 2004 – Shorty
A powerhouse performance PC can require a solid power supply to back it up. Power hungry components can demand a lot from a power supply. These components soon alert the user to just how disgruntled they are by sudden reboots, crashes and the dreaded BSOD. The power supply is often the source of these problems. Tagan offers a solution with the 480w "Ultra-Silent" Power Supply to battle against "lack of power hell". Tagan confidently backs up their promise with a surprisingly long 36-month warranty.
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March 5th, 2004 – MediaMan
460 Watts of power more than meets the demand of power hungry systems and Silverstone Tek has learned from the competition by providing what others don't. However, Silverstone Tek may have not learned everything.
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March 5th, 2004 –
Well, here's to NOT making vaporware... The demo kicked serious ass, and now the full game is gonna be hitting store shelves in a couple of weeks. Can't wait to get my hands on this one!
More info [link=http://us.atari.com/press/?id=1464]here[/link]....
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March 4th, 2004 –
[link=http://www.legitreviews.com/Reviews/coretemp_1.shtml]Core Temperatures Examined @ Legit Reviews[/link]
[link=http://www.trustedreviews.com/article.aspx?art=315]Buffalo AirStation G54 WLA-G54C 802.11g Access Point @ TrustedReviews[/link]
[link=http://www.bytesector.com/data/bs-article.asp?ID=248]Rio Cali (256MB) @ ByteSector[/link]
[link=http://www.atruereview.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=251]Diabolic Contest @ A True Review[/link]
[link=http://www.bjorn3d.com/_preview.php?articleID=413]SilverStone Temjin SST-TJ01 Case Review @ Bjorn3d[/link]
[link=http://www.hardwarezone.com/articles/control.php?cid=29&id=979&src=3rd]CyQ've 52x24x52x Internal CD-Writer @ HardwareZone[/link]
[link=http://www.rbmods.com/Articles/Shuttle/Xpc/1.php]Shuttle SN85G4 XPC barebone @ Rbmods[/link]
[link=http://www.uniquehardware.ca/guides/guide02/guide2.1.php]Unique Hardware Guide #2 - Stealthened CD/DVD Drives[/link]
[link=http://www.pcstats.com/articleview.cfm?articleID=941]Invensys Powerware 5125 1000VA UPS @ PC Stats[/link]
[link=http://www.3dxtreme.net/index.php?id=evercoolwc-2011]Evercool WC-201 Water Cooling Kit Review @ 3DX[/link]
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