[H]ard|OCP

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition

nForce2 Reviewage:

Hexus has one of the first reviews up of the ABIT nForce2 board, the NF7. Sadly they do not seem to be very impressed with it. I have been testing our sample since late Wednesday and have run into some of the same problems that Hexus is stating. Seems to me that the PCI bus is holding back OCing on our board but ABIT engineers claim the PCI bus is locked at 33MHz. More when we know it, but make sure you check out the Hexus review.

I was a little dismayed to see our unlocked XP2400 only booting into Windows XP at a maximum FSB of 188, even though it would boot into BIOS at 205FSB+ with ease (no hard drive). Whether this is a PCI issue is unclear, as a competing nForce2 motherboard definitely has a locked PCI BUS. What's clear, though, is that it can definitely run the 166FSB processors with ease.

We are testing with a retail 2400+ as well and it will run fine at 166MHz bus (but not at 168MHz) and the performance is awesome with the dual channel memories.

Dark Underbelly:

This sort of stuff goes on all the time in the "review industry". We have seen even large companies in the past do their best to control the press. GeekExtreme lays the documented facts out. While a lot of the bigger sites do not find this pressure...much, you can rest assure the "small guys" have companies try to get control over their content all the time.

GeekExtreme is a fair and unbiased review site. We do not accept editorial control over our products. We never will. HoloMAXX now accuses us of being unable to be fair and unbiased, because we will not accept their agreement.

Extermination Needed:

While it could be, this is not about any fanboy sites. What it is, is an interesting read on the state of our software. Thanks Iceman.

The National Academy of Sciences earlier this year urged lawmakers to consider adopting legislation to hold software vendors liable for security breaches.

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

Very Cool to See:

ChefBoy drops us the 411 on the new Xeons being shown off over at Akiba. Socket 604 CPUs rated at 2.4GHz with a 533MHz bus. While the CPU itself is awesome to see, check out the ducted cooling system that comes with the CPU.

nvHardPage:

Of course the Guru3D's utility would be near and dear our hearts. Today they have an update to the utility that plenty of new features. You can check out the free dl here.

New WHQL DETs Leaked:

Also while you are over at Guru3D checking out the HardPage, you can grab the latest DETs to hit the streets. Be advised these are not NEDS but WHQL'd 41.04 drivers. Thanks Jason Jean.

I Feel Woozy:

If you just got done with a 44oz or any other mind altering substance, you might not want to look at this Flash file for too long. It does have that whole Escher feel to it though. Blame Graham Reeds if you get sick.

Shhhh, Quiet PC Ahead:

If you are wanting to make your box a bit quieter, it is always good to see how other folks are going about it for ideas. The blokes at Spode's give us a peek at their latest project.

This goes a long way to help keep the peace in my kitchen, and the wife no longer complains about my "experiments" hiding under the bar :D

Free Pr0n:

Why not just go to the library? Thanks Iceman.

Gillette police say they're looking for a burglar who's been breaking into homes. Apparently, the perpetrator is just using the homeowners' personal computers to surf pornographic Web sites.

[H]ardNews 1st Edition

OCing 102:

ModTheBox throws in their two cents on how to get the biggest baddest OCs out there.

Welcome to the second in MTB’s series of overclocking articles. In our previous article, Overclocking 101: Overclocking Fundamentals, we introduced the reader to the most basic concepts of overclocking. Multiplier adjustments and front side bus increments are basic elements to tweaking a processor beyond its specifications. However, modifying these settings alone will not result in high-level overclocks. In this instalment in our series, we will cover how clock dividers can help increase the total overclock on a given system.

Wetter is Better:

OCIA takes a watercooling kit and puts it to the test. Is it worthy of your hard earned green? Personally is does not look up to snuff from the pictures and apparently OCIA think about the same.

In conclusion, I honestly cannot recommend this unit, at least not at its current state. I feel this is an excellent design, but it still needs some refinement before it will fit my bill.

Yamaha Burner:

The crew at BenchHouse have found some Yamaha action that has gotten them exicted. Worth a look if you are about drop some cash on a new optical drive.

In the last few months, we were witnessing a serious lull in the CD-RW world, as new burners, except for questionable speed increases, didn’t offer anything new. In light of events like this, it’s refreshing to see something as unusual and impressive as the Yamaha 44x writer, maybe not entirely adequately named – F1. Although it is not really a Formula 1 in the world of CD-RW burners, this device definitely sets new standards

Wetter is Better II:

I have yet to see a bad review of Switech equipment. AMDMB reviews the inline pump to keep you PC cooled down with whatever liquid you desire.

At roughly 3/4ths the price of the Eheim 1048 pumps the MCP300™ has almost 50% higher flow rates making it more comparable to the Eheim 1250. The pump is, as are all Swiftech products that I have tried, of an excellent, well constructed and thought out design.

ClubOC:

ClubOC has a ton of new stuff posted, six reviews to be exact. From front mount control panels, to flashy lights. Check it all at ClubOC.

[H]ardNews 6th Edition

Granite Bay Look I:

AMD3D has a look at the board from Asus. I read the review and it leaves a couple of my questions unanswered about the abilities of the chipset itself, but we are working on getting those answered. It looks to be a screamer OCer. This is the same engineering sample board we tested in June.

In fact the Asus P4G8X is one of the fastest P4 motherboard I've reviewed. It's performance is beyond anything I have ever seen to date.

Granite Bay Look II:

While I don't think the DFI board is going to be even close to the popularity of the Asus boards here in the states, performance is still certainly worth a look over at Hexus. Also, we have a fully working sample of the MSI Granite Bay board as well in testing now.

Dual-channel DDR, in the guise of Intel's 'Granite Bay' chipset, looks likely to be manufactured and marketed by the larger first-tier motherboard manufacturers only. That's why it's nice to see a relative minnow produce and market a strong and viable alternative. Inherently expensive, but rather quick, the DFI NB80-EA is a fine example of an emerging technology.

MSI 4200-8X:

AMD3D reviews the card but they don't OC it. I think that is what most of the folks reading here would want to know anyway as we all know about NV25 technology by now.

The NV25 technology has slower memory chips than the NV18 cards. I would therefore assume that the ability to over-clock is not as great as the NV18 cards. I did not over-clock this card myself. My thoughts on over-clocking are, if you are confident with it do it. But for reviews I will keep the settings as factory default as the majority of the market do not over-clock.

Then again, maybe it is best that he did not OC it.

[H]ardNews 5th Edition

Madison @ 1.5GHz:

If you think Intel is sitting around waiting to see what the Opteron is going to do, you would be very wrong.

Intel said the size of each Madison will be 374 square millimeters, will consume a maximum of 130 watts, and will have 410 million transistors, the basic circuitry elements out of which chips are assembled. Until now, Intel had said only that the processor would have "about half a billion" transistors.

Wow, going to be interesting to see a couple of those stuffed in a 19" 1U. While at Comdex we did talk to AMD about putting a couple of their Opterons in close quarters and they explained that they had not seen any issues under the most adverse datacenter conditions.

Beer Q&A:

You really should know more about something, especially when you put so much of it into your body at one time. How Beer Works.

Have you ever wondered what "malt" really is, and how you get malt from barley? And what about hops, and why do we need yeast? Barley, water, hops and yeast -- brewers combine these four simple ingredients to make beer.

If you really want to get up close, personal and friendly with beer, may we suggest some home brew. A fun weekend project for sure. Thanks Blair.

Benchmark Needs:

ViperLair waxes poetic about benchmarks, their value, and what exactly their need is. No doubt that a lot of what we do around here is benchmark, but we know that benchmarks are becoming less and less important. What is becoming more important is a comprehensive subjective analysis of the products we are interacting with and we will of course be trying to do a better job at communicating that as raw numbers become less and less important to some extent.

Am I using this benchmark because I want to bias the reader into accepting an erronious conclusion? Is there any other benchmarks that I can use to find out the full potential of this hardware? Do I want to spend time/effort on a benchmark to make the review better?

Hey dude, you spelled "erroneous" wrong. And yes, we know that is the pot calling the kettle black, but it is still funny.

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

Ping Me in C Minor Please:

This will be a really interesting read for you sysadmins out there.

Chafe reckons the technique could be used as an audible check of the health of a network connection before embarking on critical telesurgery, where minute changes in network delay could be dangerous.

"Telesurgery", that is a new one on me. Thanks WickerBill.

Golden Kernels:

THE NEW KERNEL IS HERE, THE NEW KERNEL IS HERE. This is the kind of spontaneous publicity, you're name in print, that makes kernels. It's in print! Things are going to start happening to the kernel now.

Sorry, it just felt right. Thanks Trey.

Totally Twisted:

Getting tired of seeing folks "review" light bulbs? Me too. The guys over at TwistedMods have a new take on an old bulb. I can see this turning into the next new mod fad.

Are you sick of those old 12” perfectly straight cold cathodes? Wish you could bend and contort it to fit around your window or curve it to fit into your fan grill? Well in this guide I’ll show you exactly how to do this.

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition - Blair's Tech Ed.

3D Circuitry at IBM:

However, one problem with 3D circuit stacking that the IBM paper does not seek to address is how to get the heat out. While the IBM research is based on measurements of simple circuits the 3D stacking technique would clearly come into its own if circuits of contemporary complexity could be stacked two, three, or more layers deep. However, some single-layer 2D circuits are already providing thermal challenges and multi-layer stacking to form a glass block would exacerbate this.

Star Gazers:

Scientists in the United States, armed with a $10 million grant from the National Science Foundation, are building a National Virtual Observatory (NVO) that will make the world’s huge store of astronomical data available to anyone with a Web browser.

No More Needles:

'Cellular machines' such as this could be used as 'nanofactories' that transport reactants in, and products out, of a biological membrane. There may also be applications for converting solar energy into electrical current.

But Can It OC?

The strange properties of the quantum world should allow a quantum computer to outperform any existing computer. While classical computers process binary digits (bits) of information, quantum processors use quantum bits, or qubits, encoded in the quantum states of particles such as atoms, photons and electrons. Since such particles can be in several states at once, qubits would allow huge numbers of computations to be carried out simultaneously.

Smooth Criminals:

A device hidden in the door recorded the card's details while a fibre-optic camera trained on the keyboard spied the customer's code, and the data was passed back electronically via antenna concealed in a bicycle to a control car parked nearby.

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition - Blair's Funny Ed.

Gummi Balls:

A DIVER takes a look at one of the thousands of monster jellyfish which have invaded a stretch of coastline.

We hear if they are not stopped soon, Tokyo will summon Godzilla.

Sure You Are Straight:

Mr. Iwanyk, 32 years old, first suspected that his TiVo thought he was gay, since it inexplicably kept recording programs with gay themes.

Nice Panties:

A glitch at the Victoria’s Secret Web site allowed customers who purchased items there to view other customers’ orders in some cases, MSNBC.com has learned.

[H]ardNews 1st Edition

ABIT Reviewage:

While integrated graphics mainboards are not high on the enthusiast list of must-haves, they do bring something to the party that is worth thinking about. When you are ready to upgrade to a new mainboard, having integrated graphics on your old mainboard make the transition into a server case, folding box, or Aunt Sally's PC that much easier. MBReview gives the ABIT i845GE the go ahead.

The Abit BG7E clocks in with a total of 92 points, enough for the MBReview.com Editor’s Choice Award. The BG7E certainly lives up to the Abit slogan of “Speed, Stability, Power”.

9700 Pro Reviewage:

If you don't know how good it is by now, you really should read up. With usable 4XAA and 16XAF, the 9700 can pretty up some even mediocre-looking games. GamingHorizon has the 411. Best thing is, this is the shortest VidCard review I have ever read.

VIA NEDs?

OK, by definition, they are not NEDs, but they are drivers available on the VIA FTP that are not announced on their site. Maybe they are just shy and did not want to tell us about their new v4.40 AGP driver. Consider we suggest caution on official driver releases, you might want to back up your back up when playing with this one. Thanks t0ad.

HSPaste Reviewage:

I remember back when we used nothing but bologna grease to smear in between our CPUs and HSFs. Now days it has just got all plumb fancy...dagnabit.

As for which one to buy, for performance Nanotherm Silver XTC is worth your consideration. In terms of ease of use and cleaning up, the XTC, Ice II (and Blue II), and Arctic Alumina would be my choices.

Feeling Worn?

The Big Bad Ocers Down Under give a update to their once favorite mousepad to let us know how it fared over time and abuse.

Switching to my old Ratpad or even the bare top of my desk reduced this effect noticeably.

Don't worry guys, the new RatpadzGS is almost upon us and we will be making sure all the web guys get their mitts on them....even Down Under. Also a lot of you have been asking about current style Ratpadz. We have stopped production on them and will not be producing any more.

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

Swiftech's Peltier:

ExtremeMHz is testing the Thermo Electric Cooler unit that Swifty now has in production. Extreme MHz is exactly what the unit is built for so I am anxious to see how it does.

They show a 600MHz OC and the unit is something really nice to see as the Swifty guys do beautiful work.

Corsair in Austria:

DarkTweaker turns out some Corsair XMS3500 and lives to tell us about it. Yeah, it is fast, compatible, and stable.

Dan THE Answer Man:

It is time again for another edition of Stump Dan from DansData. Should be good for a post-turkey stuffing outing.

"Aplus" motherboards are a craptacular rebadged pseudo-brand which, I think, only exists in Australia. That's why you can't find a Web site for this "manufacturer".

MOZ 1.2:

GameTraveler lets us know that he read on the front page of ARS that Mozilla 1.2 is out and has some neeto keen features you might be interested in.

You can also now set your "start page" as a number of tabs, so you tab freaks out there can now help choke the 'net by opening your 6 favorite sites simultaneously!

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition

Shhh, Hunting Wabbit:

Even if you are not hunting wabbit, this commercially produced "silent" box still might let you sleep better at night or even better if you share your computer room with someone.

Due to this steady evolution, ARM Systems say that their current offerings are quieter than the original model, despite being many times more powerful. Both AMD and Intel processors are offered in their Stealth line.

*MDZone Loves Intel!

They seem fully biased against Intel to me and will not even spell "Intel" correctly on their site, but the banner really threw me off. Seems to me as though Intel's money is good with *hris *om though at his Zone. Thanks to Tim Backstrom.

More MX700 Feedback:

Stephen Murphy shares his experience with the new Logitech Mouseware (linked below) and his MX700.

Thanks for share on this Thanksgiving Stephen.

41.09 NEDs:

Get you hot NEDs right here. Thanks t0ad.

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

HTD:

Happy Turkey Day to all you guys out there in the great US of A. For all you guys not in the US, well, Happy Thursday. Today we are supposed to remember what we are thankful for and if you don't mind, I will share a couple of mine with you.

I am thankful for my 9700 Pro mostly...and the kids...and the wife too I guess. Seriously, we here at the [H] wish you and your family the best for the holiday season. And remember, if you can't have the best for yourself or your family, you can always buy a Celeron.

MX700 Again:

While many MX700 owners may be filled with anticipation that Logitech has new Mouseware out today, here is what Schmoozer had to say about it.

Tried them and they didn’t fix the current gaming issues with the mouse…hopefully other people have better luck.

A fix that works for most that will get the wheel working in many games and smooth scrolling is further down the page....

Pretty Panel:

MonkeyReview, not to be confused with anything you might see in the zoo, has reviewed Vantec's new front panel unit.

It’s looks, versatility and easy installation make it a good choice for anyone looking for the features it offers. Regrettably the unit also has a few shortcomings...

Good Deal:

I know many of you are always looking for a good deal on a VidCard and QwertyJuan just passed along one. You can direct buy an ATI 64MB 8500LE for US$79.00 plus $15 shipping. Correct link to the ATi store is: https://apps.ati.com/naorder/store_prod.asp (will not work for some reason internal) Not a bad deal for a card from the manufacturer. For you guys that like to go into the store and get it yourself, we have been told that Best Buy will have a BFG Asylum GF4 Ti4200 128MB Video Card for $89.99 after $55 instant rebate and $55 mail in rebate on Black Sunday.

Both are sweet deals if you are looking for a card to fill in till DOOM]|[ actually shows on the shelves.