[H]ardNews 3rd Edition

Catalyst Comparo:

For all of you Radeon owners out there wondering which driver is the best one for your PC, Tech Connect is here to help with a Catalyst driver comparison. The review covers Catalyst 4.10, 4.11 and the last beta 4.12 driver performance on an Athlon 64 system in games like Half Life 2 and DOOM 3. Oddly enough, the drivers are only compared on a Radeon 9800 card so performance numbers won’t exactly represent what X600/X700/X800 owners can expect.

If you are only playing Half-Life 2 then we recommend you to install the Catalyst 4.12 Beta drivers because they just rock! For any other game it's not that much important to download the beta version, just the latest final 4.11 is good enough.

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition - Mods & Ends

Cooling:

SilenX iXtrema 120mm Copper CPU Cooler Review @ nVnews - Scythe Kamakaze 2 HSF @ Ap0calypse

Etc.:

Logitech MX 510 Review @ AuphanOnline - Plantronics Audio 90 Multimedia Stereo PC Headset @ TheCrucible - Ultra 8 in 1 MP3 Player @ Raptor-Mods - A4Tech NB-30: Battery Free Wireless Optical Mouse Review @ CoolTechZone - Ultra ULT31434 Connector Kit @ SLCentral

Cases & Modding:

SunBeamTech Samurai Case Review @ CTZ - HyperCube2 Case Mod @ Hypercube - Logisys UV Blue Acrylic Case @ OCIA - Logisys Special Edition Dracula Case @ Overclocker Café

[H]ardNews 1st Edition

NVIDIA to Present at Upcoming Conference:

NVIDIA Corporation today announced that key executives of the Company will present at the Credit Suisse First Boston Annual Technology Conference at the Phoenician Resort, Scottsdale, Arizona on December 2, 2004 at 11:30 a.m. MST. A live audio Web cast of NVIDIA’s presentation at the Credit Suisse First Boston conference will be available through the following URL: http://www.corporate-ir.net/ireye/ir_site.zhtml?ticker=NVDA&script=1200.

Sidewalk Santas Get Help From MSN:

"MSN Shopping and its customers are helping us feed thousands of hungry families," said Linda McNeil, acting president and CEO of Volunteers of America of Greater New York. "We're thrilled to work with them, and we know that their generosity will make a real difference in people's lives this holiday season." In addition to its donation, MSN Shopping will feature links to allow customers to donate directly to Volunteers of America.

[H]ardNews 5th Edition

Half Life 2 Tweak Guide:

TweakNews has posted a Half Life 2 Tweak Guide today for those if you trying to get the most out of their HL2 playing experience.

This guide refers to the latest version of Half Life 2 which is Version 1.0.1.0, including the recent "Stuttering Fix". Note that most of the tweaks in this guide will also apply to other Source-based games, including CounterStrike: Source, Half Life 1: Source, Day of Defeat: Source and Vampire: The Masquerade.

Creating An Unattended XP SP2 CD:

AseLabs has posted a handy guide to making an unattended XP SP2 CD. If you regularly install or re-install your OS, this can come in very handy.

I'm sure you've seen the newer Microsoft XP Home and Professional boxed editions with service pack 2 already integrated into the install. Some of you must be thinking that it would be nice to have one of those newer copies. Break out that old Windows XP CD and prepare to turn it into a slipstreamed SP2 and we'll also make it unattended. Time is money after all.

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

VIA Hyperion 4in1 v4.55:

All you VIA chipset owners should know that there are brand spanking new VIA Hyperion 4in1 v4.55 available for download at VIAArena today. Grab them if you need them, the total package weighs in at less than 2MB.

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition - Turkey Day Mods & Ends

Cooling:

Thermalright SI-97 @ Steamed Turtle - Danger Den 12V-D4 Pump Review @ DreamWare Computers

Etc.:

Logitech Z-5500 5.1 Digital 500 Watt RMS Speakers @ Tweaknews - Aspire Concord ATX-MR500W PSU @ Buddha's LAN Room - Logitech MX1000 Wireless Laser Mouse @ XYZ Computing

Cases & Modding:

SilverStone Lascala SST-LC03 HTPC Case @ The Tech Zone - NZXT Nemesis Elite Computer Case @ A True Review

Game Reviews:

DOOM 3 @ Hexus - Half Life 2 @ The Crucible - Half Life 2 @ Guru3D - Half Life 2 @ Total 3D

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

Playstation 2 Portable Mod:

Now I know this isn’t a PC mod, but it is amazingly cool anyway. Check out what Ben Heckendorn did with a Sony PS2, a portable DVD battery and a lot of time. Great work.

[H]ardNews 1st Edition - Thanksgiving Press Releases

Intel Recognizes Technical Achievement:

Intel Corporation today announced the appointment of two individuals to the position of Intel Senior Fellow and four individuals to the position of Intel Fellow. The new Senior Intel Fellows are Stephen S. Pawlowski and Ian A. Young. The new Intel Fellows are Boris A. Babayan, Timothy L. Deeter, Albert Fazio and Shiuh-Wuu Lee. The title of Intel Senior Fellow represents the highest level of technical achievement within the company.

Microsoft Awards Zoo Grant:

Microsoft® Game Studios announced today that the Tulsa Zoo is the winner in the "Zoo Tycoon® 2" America's Favorite Zoo contest. A $25,000 (U.S.) grant has been awarded to the zoo to help fund habitat maintenance, assist with animal care and repopulate endangered species. In the search for the "Zoo Tycoon 2" America's Favorite Zoo, 50 zoos from across the United States were selected to participate in the competition in which one lucky zoo would be awarded the grant.

[H]ardNews 11th Edition

Half Life 2 Update:

No more st-st-st-stuttering in HL2 news. Thank f-f-f-god. F-F-F-Fix is here. Dunno about you, but this was driving me cr-cr-cr-crazy.

This update will fix sound stuttering that users were experiencing that would last for longer than a few seconds during normal gameplay. This update will also eliminate this same behavior following a quicksave or autosave. There will still be a short pause while the autosave happens, but not the more drawn out stuttering behavior.

Of course when you own a fairly new video card, degrading the video quality that you paid so dearly for really sucks ass.

[H]ardNews 10th Edition

Memory Performance Guide:

Is your memory fading fast? Does it seem that your memory isn’t as snappy as it used to be. This memory performance guide at Spode’s Abode should help.

This article is aimed at understanding how memory works and what to look for when buying it. We also take a look at gaming performance on the Pentium 4 platform and see how different factors such as latency, and frequency can affect it. We also cover DDR and DDR-II memory.

80 Work Week Questioned:

I just thought this was kinda amusing and I know a lot of you will as well. The big “Ask Slashdot” question today asks can programmers really work 80 hr weeks? The guy seems to think it is impossible to do without self destructing or something. This question comes about because of that whole EA programmer sweatshop story we told you about last week.

In my 35 years of coding experience, any time I try to work on a complex program for more than, say, 60 hours a week (coding, not just showing up) for a couple weeks at a time, I'm just asking for trouble.

Honestly, I'll bet there are a ton of you guys working construction, manual labor, firefighters, military and police officers that wouldn't mind trading places with this guy. Obviously this only applies to people who voluntarily work 80 a week (and are compensated for it) and has nothing to do with the EA story because we all know that EA sucks for what they do to their programmers.

Shuttle Giving CPU Coolers With BTX SFF:

DigiTimes is saying that Shuttle will be giving free CPU coolers with their new BTX XPC. The only question I have is this…aren’t all XPCs and SFF barebones supposed to come with a CPU cooler?

To promote the first production run of its PCIe-enabled pico-BTX XPC model SB86i, Shuttle Computer will bundle a free BTX CPU cooler with each barebones system, according to sources.

[H]ardNews 9th Edition

Top 10 Bad Games Identified:

We pointed this out to you the other day before the list came out but now CNN Money has their hands on the actual list. Wouldn't you know it, the people compiling this list concluded that M rated games are bad for kids. In another shocker, we have word that R rated movies aren’t good for children 10 and under. No word yet from this group on whether parents buying beer and cigarettes for toddlers as Christmas presents is a bad idea either.

The warning list to parents in only one such list due out Tuesday. A coalition of groups -- including the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) and Mothers Against Violence in America -- also unveiled 10 "most violent video games," in which 5 of the games, "Doom 3," "Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas," "Half Life 2," "Halo 2" and "Mortal Combat: Deception," were mentioned on the National Institute on Media and the Family list. All ten games carry an M rating, meaning they are intended for a mature audience. But the group says that too many parents ignore the ratings

Instead of placing the blame on parents…they are taking action against the game companies. Typical.

MPAA Suits Slowed:

A California judge has put the skids on the MPAA lawsuits because they improperly lumped to much stuff together in the suits. Damn shame when they get so excited to sue that they cannot even get their filing right.

Late last week, Judge William Alsup said the MPAA had not shown good reason to bundle together 12 separate cases. He allowed the first of the suits to go ahead to a discovery process, in which the identity of the alleged file swapper will be requested from Internet service provider Pacific Bell, but he put the other 11 cases on hold.

[H]ardNews 8th Edition

DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb:

If you have a socket 754 Athlon64 CPU and need a motherboard, this DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb would be a decent choice. Read what 3DVelocity had to say in their eight page review:

For a company that built their kingdom on no-frills OEM products made with a leaning towards low returns rather than high performance, DFI have created a genuinely impressive motherboard that should leave even the most anal of users wanting for nothing.

Heh...he said anal.

Corsair TwinX XMS4400C25PT:

3DXtreme has a review of Corsair’s TwinX XMS4400C25PT high performance memory. If you need good memory for your rig, it is hard to go wrong with Corsair.

Whether you are looking for memory that can run tight timings at DDR400 or the ability to run 1:1 DDR550+ these modules will fit the bill.