Galaxy Zeus 5900 XT Review

Mar 31 2004 @ 12:50PM by MikeC

Guru3D takes a look at a GeForce FX 5900 XT from Galaxy.

"High quality cooling for sure. What's nice to see is that the memory is 2.6ns BGA Hynix memory. BGA stands for Ball Grid Array. The 5900 was a magnificent overclocker reaching 475 MHz for the core frequency and check this out ... 880 MHz for it's memory."

Read the review

 

Shuttle's XPC SB75S mini-barebones Review

Mar 31 2004 @ 12:49PM by MikeC

TechReport takes a look at a barebone system from Shuttle.

"But when the XPC SB75S arrived, something different happened. I got to looking at its stark, sleek lines and white pearlescent finish, and something clicked. I really like this thing, well beyond what a simple reskin of the XPC SB75G2, with the exact same motherboard, deserves. I know that rationally. But I also know that if a fire broke out in Damage Labs, I'd probably be carrying out the backup tapes under one arm and the SB75S under the other."

Glad to know where the priorties are :) Read the review

 

nForce 3 with PCI Express

Mar 26 2004 @ 06:49AM by MikeC

It's no surprise that with the upcomming PCI Express technology, we're seeing more and more support for it. Seems like nVidia is developping a new nForce 3 chipset (or is it nForce 4) to have PCI Express capabilities.

"NVIDIA IS PUTTING ITS Nforce 3 chipset on the PCI Express. The chipset will slither into a saddleback and thunder from post to post, down highways of vitually endless bandwidth."

The Inquirer has the article.

 

Autopsy of a Hard Drvie

Mar 26 2004 @ 06:40AM by MikeC

Ever wonder what the insides of a hard drive looks like? Well seeing as they had one die on them, the guys at Tech Report decided to pry her open and see what her guts look like.

Take a look at what's inside!

 

Corsair TwinX1024-4400PT Platinum Memory Review

Mar 26 2004 @ 06:38AM by MikeC

PCStats reviews some memory from Corsair.

"Corsair has recently celebrated their 10th anniversary, which is quite a milestone for a memory company! I think it's high level of customer service that sets apart successful companies from the rest, and a growing trend in this corporate schmooze-fest with consumer loyalty is the manufacturer run support forum. Now, instead of emailing an anonymous tech support guy the same question a hundred other people have asked, you can read through a support FAQ, or post a thread in the support forums and someone will answer. In Corsair's case, "RAM GUY" dishes out the info and advice on using the companies memory products. Imagine if Microsoft had their own support forums for everyone who ever suffered the rather of the "BSOD"! Anyway, getting back on topic, today PCstats is testing out a pair of Corsair's TwinX1024-4400PT dual channel DDR memory. This is the latest memory from Corsair, and remarkably difficult to get a hold of... even for us. Apparently! , a shortage of good low latency DRAMs has meant that companies are reserving most of their best memory for you, the consumer."

Read the review

 

MSI GeForce FX5900XT-VTD128 Review

Mar 25 2004 @ 07:45PM by MikeC

HotHardware reviews MSI's GeForce FX5900XT.

"We've just posted a review on HotHardware of the latest card to arrive in our lab powered by a mainstream GPU, the MSI GeForce FX5900XT-VTD128. This card is equipped with 128MB of RAM, it has a near silent cooler and it's got video-in / video-out (ViVo) capabilities as well. If you think any of your readers are in the market for an affordable gaming video card, with a few extra bells and whistles, they'll want to check this one out..."

Read the review

 

NVIDIA Launches Comprehensive Shader Model 3.0 Developer Kit

Mar 25 2004 @ 06:46AM by MikeC

Nvidia seems to be gearing up for their next generation with the launch of this new Developer Kit.

?The latest NVSDK gives developers the software tools they need to create and deploy advanced shader effects more quickly and efficiently,? said Mark Daly, vice president of content development at NVIDIA. ?With tools like FX Composer, developers actively working with DirectX 9.0 are encouraged to push the envelope with new levels of visual effects, knowing that NVIDIA will soon deliver a high-performance graphics hardware platform that is able to exploit DirectX 9.0 to its fullest.?

Read the press release

 

NVIDIA's GeForce FX 5700 Ultra with GDDR3

Mar 25 2004 @ 06:35AM by MikeC

TechReport reviews nVidia's newest card on the market. Their FX5700 Ultra with GDDR3. See how this new memory improves this mid range card.

"Although the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra is already familiar, NVIDIA's new spin of it provides an early look at GDDR3's potential for graphics implementations. Read on to see what GDDR3 does for the 5700 Ultra, and what the new memory type could do for next-gen graphics products."

Read the review

 

ATI All in Wonder Radeon 9600 Review

Mar 25 2004 @ 06:33AM by MikeC

TweakNews takes a look at the ATi AIW 9600.

"With yet another All in Wonder weapon in its arsenal, ATI is yet again proving to the market that it has no intention of slowing down and taking it easy. Sure they have taken a huge market share that has been held tight by their rival for years, but ATI is not stopping. With a product cycle coming close to the lifespan of a suicidal lemming, it seems that every time I have a review of an All in Wonder written and finalized, there is another one at my door waiting for some attention."

Read the review

 

Last AGP 8X cards

Mar 24 2004 @ 06:13AM by MikeC

Digitimes has an article out with some details on the next ATi and nVidia cards. Apparently these are the last AGP8X cards that will be rolled out on the market as they are preparing to migrate over to PCI Express.

"The two new chips are ATI?s R420 and Nvidia?s NV40. Both chips were highlighted at CeBIT 2004 held in Hannover, Germany, this week. The two chips will be the last generation mainstream AGP8X chips before the PCI Express chips take the reins, said the sources."

Read the article

 

Hot Intel

Mar 24 2004 @ 06:07AM by MikeC

No, I don't mean stolen Intel processors. I mean Intel has hit a new milestone or at least is getting there: HEAT. According to this article at The Inquirer Intel's Prescott core has hit a wacky 120W of heat. Crazy isn't it? Looks like the tides have turned on Intel as AMD used to produce the hotter running processors on the market.

WE HEAR THAT Prescott CPUs that were tested in Taiwan actually pump out even more heat than the magnificent 103 Watts we reported about last summer.
Sources told us that to cool a system as much as 120W should be removed.

<...>

As far as we know, AMD's latest chips should be at 89W, which is still significantly less than Intel's.

Read the article

 

Abit A7N Review

Mar 24 2004 @ 06:01AM by MikeC

Think your Athlon XP is junk now that the Athlon 64s are taking all the glory away from them? Think again! The guys over at theTech Report shows there still some kick left in this badass processor. If you've still got an XP processor, it's still worth keeping around, it still has some potential.

"Of course, taking advantage of that potential requires the right equipment, and that starts with the motherboard. In our Athlon XP-M article, we achieved our greatest success using Abit's AN7 board. During the course of that test, we decided that the AN7 was interesting enough to deserve a look of its own. Wondering what caught our eye? Read on."

Read the review

 

Aerocool HT-101 CPU Cooler Review

Mar 24 2004 @ 05:55AM by MikeC

Aerocool is a realtively new commer to the cooling department. Overclocker's Club reviews one of their new coolers: the HT-101.

"Aerocool is rapidly making a name for itself in the performance air cooling market. They have been very successful in the past with their use of super conductor tubes (Heatpipes). Back in January I looked at the Deep Impact DP-102, and today we will be looking at another unique super conductor tube based heatsink, the High Tower HT-101. Can Aerocool repeat the success they had with the DP-102? Read on to find out!"

Read the review

 

Dead Athlon 64 3200+ gets Adjustment

Mar 22 2004 @ 07:53PM by haysonw

ipKonfig.com writes:

"Break on me will you?! Here's saying goodbye to an old friend. We had a lot of fun together, but, heh, he decided to get wasted one night and cause all sorts of problems. I ended up having a talk with him, which he didn't take to kindly to. So, I gave him some perspective; he understands now."

To see the gruesome photos of an Athlon 64 gone wrong click the link here.

 

AMD Athlon 64 FX-53

Mar 18 2004 @ 12:03PM by haysonw

Well the cat is out of the bag, and the AMD Athlon 64 FX-53 is making headlines as everybody is putting this chip through it's steps. You can check out the reviews at a host of sites to see if this is an enthusiast chip or just expensive! Either way, it's blazing fast and gives AMD bragging rights for a while longer. This 940 pin chip could just be a window into the future 939 pin desktop chips just around the corner. It's nice to see the FX-51 has a big brother that it can look up to and of course the next question is, will the FX-55 be just as accepted in the family?

Check out AnandTech's write up here.
You can also get a glimpse of the techreports Graphical Article
And last but not least, HotHardware's take on the scene.

 

An Enthusiast AMD 64 chip - Newcastle

Mar 16 2004 @ 06:24AM by haysonw

AMD has been quietly trying to up the ante on the 64 bit processor market by slowly increasing the output of Newcastle core chips.

The Newcastle-based chips, which have recently become available in model numbers 2800+ and 3000+ and will soon include 3200+, may be the most notable change afoot. The new processors use half the Level 2 cache of AMD's original Athlon 64 desktop chip. Instead of coming with 1MB of Level 2 cache, the newer chips incorporate 512KB.

Most users won't feel the difference of losing half the L2 cache, and gives AMD a great chance to increase their hold on 64bit sales.

For more news, check out the article on news.com

 

Techsite vs. Manufacturers

Mar 14 2004 @ 09:12AM by haysonw

Viperlair.com has an interesting article on manufacturer's demanding content changes from techsites posting reviews of their hardware.

If you're in reading about the HardOCP vs Infinium labs controversy and NDA's and exactly how a techsite stays afloat, then head over and read the article.

 

Intel planning CPU naming change

Mar 13 2004 @ 05:53PM by haysonw

Well it was inevitable. With Intel already copying the AMD 64 architecture, it was only a matter of time before they started with the marketing numbers. We've all grown accustomed to the AMD alternate numbering system, but this means that we're going to have to learn a new one.

Intel plans to assign a new numbering system to its Pentium and Celeron processors to better illustrate their performance to consumers, according to a source familiar with the company's plans.

Wonder what kind of numbers their marketing department will come up with.

Globetechnology has the article.

 

CATALYST 4.3 released for XP

Mar 11 2004 @ 07:34AM by haysonw

For those of you enjoying the eye candy of ATI graphics cards, then you'll be pleased to hear that ATI has released version 4.3 of their CATALYST drivers for Windows XP.

Click for a some sweet Catalyst Goodness

As with most CATALYST? releases performance has increased in various situations. The following performance gains are noticed:
* The Pixel Shader performance of our DX9-class products has improved considerably with Catalyst 4.3.
* Halo and Tomb Raider framerates are up 3-7%.
* Shader-specific technology tests such as ShaderMark show gains in the region of 10-20% or more.
* 3DMark03's Mother Nature scene runs 2-5% faster across the entire DX9 product line. Our 3DMark03 Pixel Shader 2.0 framerate improves 7-15%.
* Aquamark 3 performance has also improved slightly, at higher resolutions.

 

Vulnerability in Microsoft Outlook Could Allow Code Execution

Mar 11 2004 @ 07:05AM by MikeC

This isn't particularly new news. News.com reported on Tuesday that there was a hole in MS Outlook 2002 that could allow for a malicious person to execute programs on your computer. What is new is that the severity rating has gone from moderate to critical.

Who Should Read This Document:
Customers that are using Microsoft® Office XP and Outlook 2002

Impact of Vulnerability:
Remote Code Execution

Maximum Severity Rating:
Critical

Recommendation:
Customers should apply the update immediately.

Security Update Replacement:
None

If you are affected, I strongly suggest you get the security update here

 

ForceWare ImageSharpening Bug Fix

Mar 11 2004 @ 06:52AM by MikeC

Guru3D has released a patch to fix a minor little bug that might be annoying some of you out there. This patch works in conjunction with the RivaTuner! software and the new ForceWare drivers.

"Guru of 3D released a small ImageSharpeningBugfix patch script that corrects control panel's code and eliminates the annoying image sharpening bug that is still not fixed by NVIDIA in the control panel. So if you are annoyed with image sharpening problem you may fix the problem with this script ."

Installation and download instructions can be found here.

 

nVHardPage updated v1.95.1b

Mar 10 2004 @ 07:19AM by MikeC

This piece of software lets you tinker with some of the features in your ForceWare control pannels. Overclocking, Direct3D and OpenGL tweaking, etc.

New features include:

• added override function for detection 2D/3D
  
• overclocking mode
  
• added override control for:
  • pixel shader
    
  • vertex shader
    
  • multitexturing
    
  • antialiasing
    
  • anisotropic filtering
• added support for new ForceWare drivers rel.55
  
• added force mipmaps control for Direct3D
  
• added application profile page control
  
• added new skin
  
• updated Performance monitor option
  
• integrated skin selection into main program
  
• improved Spanish translation
  
• fixed few bugs in user interface
  
• some others small fixes and changes

Grab it here if you need it.

 

nVidia cuts prices

Mar 09 2004 @ 06:11AM by MikeC

Well, that is on their MX 4000 chips. They want to maintain their market share in entry level video cards. This won't really affect all the power users out there, or people looking for power machines, but will help out those people who are looking to buy their first computer, or just need something for internet browsing and word processing.

"Nvidia has lowered the prices of its GeForce4 MX4000 chips to US$17 per unit from the previous range of between US$18 and US$19, aiming to maintain its market share in the entry-level segment, according to sources at Taiwanese graphics card makers."

Digitimes has the article.

 

Trillian Basic (0.74H)

Mar 09 2004 @ 06:01AM by MikeC

Trillian's basic version 0.74H was released yesterday. There's a full version as well as a patch version for those of you who already use Trillian.

Grab it here if you need it.

 

Gigabyte FX5700 Ultra Review

Mar 09 2004 @ 05:54AM by MikeC

Gruntville reviews Gigabyte's FX5700 Ultra videocard.

"I received a Gigabyte Nvidia FX 5700 Ultra (GV-N57U128D) for review. Gigabyte states, ?GV-N57U series provides studio-quality color and incredible cinematic gaming effects, without breaking the bank.? I have to agree that $185.00 is a great price for a performance level video card that ?guarantees powerful 3D blazingly fast performance to the performance users.? Before getting excited about the price, I need to determine if this performance card?can really perform."

Click here for the review.