[H]ardNews 5th Edition

Two Dual Opteron Mainboards:

AMDMB has two dual Opteron mainboards going head to head in their latest review for your viewing pleasure. Check out the Tyan Thunder K8S and the MSI K8D Master and see how well they performed against one another:

At the onset of this article, I pretty much knew what the outcome was going to be. Both the Tyan Thunder K8S motherboard and the MSI K8D Master, being based on the same chipset and using mostly the same bridges and tunnels, performed very similarly in almost all the benchmarks we have seen.

Where Are They Now?

For those of us who remember the glory days of 3DFX this article at Sudhian, titled A Fallen Titan's Final Glory, will certainly bring back a bunch of fond memories. I remember very well running a Pentium 133MHz OC’d to 166MHz with a Monster3D VooDoo 4MB card running GLQuake thinking I was just the coolest guy around. Ahhh, the memories. Go read the article and you too can take a trip down memory lane.

The Voodoo wasn't the first 3D accelerator on the market, but it was the first 3D card on the market worth using. The S3 Virge, in fact, performed so badly that it earned itself the nickname 3D "Decelerator" while Rendition's Verite technology offered competitive video performance to a bowl of lukewarm tapioca—some of the time. The Voodoo, in contrast, was fast, powerful, packed a whopping 4 meg of RAM on board, and was offered as an add-on card to a user's primary video adapter.

Shareware & Utility Article:

SimHQ has a small write up that outlines some pretty useful freeware utilities to keep your PC running good, with links to each utility. Definitely worth checking out:

Are the freeware and shareware utilities any good? There are tons of them. Whether they are useful is up to the user. I’ve tried my share of utilities that were meant to do something that DOS or Windows didn’t. Some work and some may screw up your machine and take some undoing to get rid of. I have found only a handful that I care to continually use.

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

Chaintech 9CJS Zenith Mainboard

TweakNews has posted a Chaintech 9CJS Zenith Canterwood mainboard review today. Those of you not familiar with the Chaintech Zenith line of boards, let me give you a mini description…think black, think big and think bundled and you’d have an accurate description of the this line of boards. Want to know more? Read the review:

With a package and onboard feature bundle that has it all, the Zenith 9CJS is THE one stop product for the performance enthusiast that wants it all in one purchase. With the included 7.1 channel audio, dual LAN, remote control, extensive front panel and all around good looks coupled with decent performance, this product would be a recommended buy for anyone wanting a "turn key" approach to building an elite computer.

HIS Excalibur Radeon 9800Pro:

HardCoreWare has posted a review of the HIS Excalibur Radeon 9800Pro 128MB video card today that is certainly worth checking out. Nowadays, with all things being the same on these reference style video cards, what comes with the card could make or break a deal. Let’s see what is bundled with the Excalibur:

HIS has done very well with their rendition of the 9800 Pro, putting together a nice software package at almost no extra cost. If you're one of those people who are worried about it being simply "Powered by ATi", this card kicks ass and I'm sure it's every bit as good as something ATi built.

ClearPC Interview:

Frank Goluza of Clear PC fame is interviewed by the fellas at Next Gen Electronics. The interview covers the clear cases that got Frank started with his own business to the new watercooling site about to be opened. *Warning* There is some “colorful language” used throughout the interview:

Of course, I expected you to publish word for word, I apologize for the expletives, but those are my personal faults and not in any way representative of my company's professionalism which I take extremely seriously.

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition

AMD Cuts Prices:

AMD cut their prices for most all of their CPUs. AMD’s current high end processor, the Athlon XP 3200+, is still a bit on the high side at $464 each in lots of 1000. The real bargains can be found in AXP 2400+ thru AXP 2700+ still though. Check the pricing for yourself.

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

MS Dominating Browser Market:

Imagine that, Microsoft IE6 is up in global usage with over 66% of everyone using it. Internet Explorer ( all versions combined ) are making up 95% of the global market. Damn.

The global usage share of Apple's Safari browser has increased with 0.14 percent from 0.11 to 0.25 percent since February 2003. The global usage share of Mozilla has increased with 0.4 percent from 1.2 to 1.6 percent since February 2003.

Linux Review:

This may chap a few hides of the alternative OS faithful, but ZDNet reviews the latest version of SuSE’s Linux Desktop and had more than a few things to pick at. Most of it was “nit-picking” though.

With the machine set up, what was the experience of working with it over an extended period? Surprisingly unremarkable, actually -- which is in itself rather remarkable. Most of the time, it didn't seem to matter that we were using Linux and not Windows, since everything worked more or less in the expected way. However, over time a few annoying quirks did begin to show up. Individually, they made little impact on productivity, but taken together they made us question just how easy it would be to migrate to Linux desktops en masse.

660w PSU Review:

We don’t post a lot of PSU reviews, but this 660w PSU review is interesting just because it is a 660w PSU. What the hell would you do with 660W of power.

For this conclusion, I wish I had a multimeter to test the true readings of the volt rails. Since we do not, I will have to base my conclusion solely on the stability of the EG851AX-VH 660W PSU

You really should have the necessary tools on hand to review an item before you set out to review something….or at least you’d think so.

[H]ardNews 1st Edition

ATi Overseas:

ATi is forming a new Asia-Pacific headquarters according to this news story posted at Digitimes today. Presumably this HQ will oversee the Hong Kong and Malaysian branch offices, not telling what it will do to the relationship they have with the company currently doing the “overseeing”.

ATI Technologies is establishing a new official Asia-Pacific headquarters, according to sources. Its official name and functions have yet to be determined. The company already has branch offices in Hong Kong and Malaysia. However, most of ATI’s business in Asia, excluding Japan, is handled through its Taiwan agent AMI Technologies.

New RIAA Head Honcho:

We can file this one in the “I wonder how long this one will make it” file and just sit back and wait. Anyone that is intentionally looking to head up such a controversial post can’t be playing with a full deck. We’ll see though.

The Recording Industry Association of America has tapped a former Republican Senate staffer to replace Hilary Rosen as chief executive, firming up the group's leadership during one of the most controversial moments in its history. The big record labels' trade group said Monday that Mitch Bainwol, former chief of staff to U.S. Senate Majority Leader Bill Frist, will replace Rosen at the RIAA's helm.

Best Buy Sells Apples:

Well, I suppose that headline is better than saying “Best Buy sells Lemons”…now doesn’t it? Our undercover [H] agent sends word that the first crates of iMac and eMac computers arrived at BB today…no word on if they will get the BigMac ( G5 ) in at a later date. Smart move on the part of Apple getting their product out there in a large chain like BB will help boost sales. You never know, they might even get more than the 5% market share they currently have.

[H]ardNews 12th Edition

[H]ardware Workshop @ QuakeCon:

We got all the particulars down finally and we will be serving up the [H]ardware Workshop at Quakecon this year. It looks as though we will have over 30,000 square feet to work with and seating for over 1000. The [H]Worshop will take place on Saturday, August, 16 at 1PM and will be at the Adam's Mark Hotel in Downtown Dallas. There is NO CHARGE for this event but registration is required. Anand of AnandTech fame will be joining us as well!! We are rounding up prizes for sponsors currently.

id Software has also signed off on RatpadzGS for this year and is allowing us to supply a FREE RatpadzGS to every person bringing a machine into the BYOC. The estimated BYOC count for this year is over 2000 folks!!!

So all in all, even if you cannot get into the BYOC, as it is booked, we would love to have you come down for our workshop. There will of course be vendor areas and plenty of other stuff going on that is yet to be announced.

[H]ardNews 11th Edition

NV-Linux Drivers:

NVIDIA Corporation, the worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, has just posted new Linux drivers for its award-winning GeForce graphics processing units. The new drivers are version 1.0-4496 with a release date of July 28, 2003.

Springdale Review:

Metku reviews the i865PE board from Asus that is equipped with the PAT-like "HyperPath" BIOS. Better get them while you can as they will be gone soon as the BIOS tweaking is stifled by Intel.

Asus P4P800 is probably fastest i865PE motherboard around. Performance is extraordinary compared to other i865PE solutions and easily reach i875P levels. Overclocking features are rich excluding somewhat low Vmem setting.

Undoubtedly it is fast, but the ABIT is a good pick as well, but you will not be unsatisfied with either.

New HL2 Movie:

Get the 185MB dl from FileShack but check out the others you may have missed on this ShackNews page.

9600 Review:

Too lazy to read? Did we wear you out here going through the news? Never fear as Rodney "I got a video for you" Reynolds shows off the FIC Radeon 9600 Pro 128MB video card.

This card offers great gaming performance, crisp 2D, dual display and many more features. While this is not the fastest Video Card on the planet it has definite bang for the buck.

Canterwood Review:

This i875P board has everything except the kitchen sink. Envynews reviews the Chaintech Zenith series of board that will get your Pentium 4 hopping.

I was easily able to bump the FSB speed up to 240MHz at default voltage without any problems. My goal was to have my 2.4C hit 3GHz, which coincidentally is 250MHz FSB with the 5:4 memory divider running the RAM at 200MHz. I’m glad to say I was able to surpass this mark, even running the system with a 260MHz FSB for a short while.

How to OC:

The basics of overclocking are covered today by the crew at CyberCPU.

Overclocking has been the new trend amongst computer enthusiasts for quite a while. This leaves the High-End and High-Clocked components for the conservative users or those too afraid of pushing up a bit the limits of their systems. In this article I will review the essential notions and basic steps on How To overclock your computer.

Cooling:

Zalman Waterblock @ BitTech - VANTEC NEXUS Fan Controller @ TechDreams - Ramsinks @ NVNews

Etc.:

Altec Lansing 5.1 @ XtremeTek - Cool New Sony Phone @ ByteSector - iRock MP3 Player @ G3D

[H]ardNews - Blair's News

Screaming MiMi:

Games & Entertainment:

EA is limited in some ways; if a location wasn't specifically mentioned in any of the films EA's team couldn't include it in a game, Young says. On the other hand, he adds, "Vivendi can't make a Frodo that looks like our Frodo."

We hear that they get upset if you pull on their Frodo as well...

Summer Wonderland:

He's running a small ski area in Plymouth, N.H., using a new technology that allows snow to be made regardless of the temperature outside. The ski area Egan now manages, Tenney Mountain, was open on July Fourth weekend for snow tubing and limited snowboarding, in 90-degree weather. Call it "EndlessWinter: The Sequel."

Interestingly enough, I used to work for a division of the Aggreko company that rented Oil Free Air Compressors to those snow blowing guys. Big business.

Greecy Gamers:

The European Commission has warned the government of Greece about a law it passed last year that appeared to prohibit all computer games, a ban that stirred up anger after it resulted in several arrests and the closure of Internet cafes.

Hope Lost:

Bob Hope passed away this weekend at the age of 100. Whether or not you were ever touched by him as an entertainer, rest assured that he aways took time to support our US Armed Forces wherever they were about the world. You have to respect him for that hard work.

[H]ardNews 9th Edition

Job Opening:

ThePlanet is the company that takes care of our co-location and bandwidth needs and I have to say they are damn good at it. They reached out to us last week in helping find a person for a position at their facility. Here is the scoop.

Hardware Technician Needed - Primary Responsibilities: MUST HAVE BURNING DESIRE FOR LEARNING AND NEW HARDWARE. Responsible for provisioning new hardware and co-location customers in The Planet datacenter in Dallas, TX, USA. Must be proficient in all X86 server lines: SuperMicro, Micron, Dell, HP, Compaq, and others. Must also be able to load basic operating systems including Windows, Linux, BSD, and Solaris. Sun, IBM AS400, and HP-UX considered a plus. Typical install includes assembly of server, loading of OS and basic applications, rack mounting and connection to network. High volume datacenter with customer base ranging from entry level dedicated servers to enterprise solutions. Terrific opportunity for hardware gurus wanting to get into the hosting industry. This is a full time position with salary, benefits, and perks. Please send resumes to Jobs@theplanet.com

If this does not fit your needs, but you think a buddy might be interested. Pass along this link for direct access.

[H]ardNews 8th Edition

BitBoys? Really:

The next Radeon-killer is here....uh not quite. Still after a long R&D process and becoming the butt of every vapor-ware joke on the planet, Bitboys is back and telling the world they will be at Siggraph...this year, with their Acceleon line of graphics processors. You will not be finding these in your gaming box, but possibly in your PDA or new phone.

Germans Crack XP Activation:

The TecChannel shows you how to crack WinXP Activation and shows you were to get the tools to do it. This is all in the name of "testing" of course. Thanks Wade Arnold.

This article closes this gap by documenting the protocol employed by Internet-based product activation. We will be looking at the case of Internet-based product activation without the optional registration.

Tiny PC:

This little box from ECS goes beyond the SFF label to give you "Mini PC". Just don't forget where you put it. JSIHardware has the scoopage.

[H]ardNews 7th Edition

64-bit & You:

The guys at PCWorld nail it on the head and tell you exactly what 64-bit desktop computing is going to mean to you.

Once Windows catches up, there's still the issue of making today's PC hardware 64-bit ready. "The biggest challenge is going to be the device drivers in 64-bit mode," says Microprocessor Report's Krewell. "You need all new drivers for all of your key components [graphics cards, hard drives, and the like]--all the stuff that the operating system needs to work well," he says. "If you want 64 bits because you want performance, you can't have a bunch of 32-bit drivers mucking things up."

The bottom line is that it is highly unlikely that the enthusiast will see any impact from the world of 64-bit for a year or two. Much to the likes of SSE and other special instruction sets, it is going to take a while for software applications to catch up. If you do professional video editing, CAD, or other 3D graphic work, I would think that you would be the first to see real-world benefits from Opteron and upcoming Athlon64. Thanks to Mark Nordick for the link.

RAMBUS & You:

I am sure this will warm all your hearts and souls. Blame Blair.

Foxtrot & You:

A funny storyline from a funny comic. Thanks John Bryan.

3200+ & You:

Don't want to wait around and see if AMD delivers on the Athlon64 finally? We totally understand. PureOC shows you about the latest and the greatest from AMD in the form of the AthlonXP. One thing is for sure, it ain't slow.

But then the question is should you buy it? And my answere is yes, because AMD would really need the money right now and no because there is cheaper Barton CPU's out their that can be overclocked to the same speed without a problem.

[H]ardNews - Blair's Technology

JEDEC Thinking Ahead:

It is great to see these guys getting ahead of themselves on this.

The group, part of the JC42 memory committee of the JEDEC Solid State Technology Association, is expected to present an initial concept for a standardized fully buffered DDR2 DIMM in September. Desi Rhoden, JEDEC chairman, said present buffered DIMMs will be unable to handle the memory requirements of the type of high-speed servers that would run on DDR2 at speeds of 667 to 800Mbits/s.

Cookies, No Milk:

Have you ever heard some geek start talking about your cookies and immediately were filled with dread that he was in your kitchen while you were sleeping. HowStuffWorks fills you in.

In this edition of HowStuffWorks, we will take a look at the basic technology behind cookies, as well as some of the features they enable. You will also have the opportunity to see a real-world example of what cookies can and cannot do using a sample page that we developed here at HowStuffWorks.

New Diamonds:

In the online edition of the Journal of the American Chemical Society (DOI: 10.1021/ja035177) Chen's team reports that the first diamonds reached diameters of about a quarter of a millimetre. While that is far too small for gems in wedding rings and necklaces, it is ideal for use in industrial cutting tools and abrasives.