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From everyone here at [H]ard|OCP we wish you all a very Happy New Year! If you are going out to party tonight, then by all means party [H]ard but please do it responsibly and keep your eye out for each other because we want each and every one of you to be back here with us next year! Be safe and have a [H]appy New Year!
Not everyone on the Athlon64 upgrade path is heading straight to the socket 939 boards, there is still life in the socket 754 boards. Driver Heaven has one such Athlon64 board, the MSI K8N Neo nForce3-250Gb. You can see our review here from April for comparison purposes.
Other than lacking the Dual Channel option that the S939 based K8N Neo Ultra offers this motherboard has enough tweakability to satisfy most users.
If you need a great mid-range graphics card from a company with the best warranty anywhere, check out this BFG GeForce 6600GT OC AGP review at Neoseeker.
While the 6600GT is a great upgrade, the 6600GT OC is an even better one. The extra memory bandwidth in particular allowed BFG's card to stay a step ahead of the reference 6600GT and just behind the 6800.
HotHardware has cranked out a year end special (not like that, don’t be gross) review of both the LANParty 925X-T2 and the 875P-T motherboards.
Each board had its share of benchmark victories, but the 925X-T2, thanks to its chipset, use of higher-clocked DDR2 RAM, and its PCI Express interface, was the "faster" board overall.
Ahhhh, we’re all gonna die! Oops, wait a minute, that is just the JPL/Caltech robot float, complete with internal webcam. There is a movie you can download right now and watch of the robot being set up.
JPL and Caltech are very excited to have a float in the upcoming, New Year's Day 2005 Rose Parade! Our float will tower 50 feet above the ground and promises to be spectacular! The view from the top will be out of this world! And we don't want you to miss it!
There is no doubt that 2004 was a roller coaster of a ride in the technology world. New Scientist has put together a list of links to the year in technology. Everything from MyDoom to fly eating robots (we linked earlier today) is covered. I’m actually surprised we haven’t seen more of these types of articles in the last few weeks. Check it out.
The year 2004 began with a war of the computer worms and ended with running robots as technology stories continually hit the news.
Be sure to check out the Top 10 news stories of 2004 while you are there.
If you want to put your 939-pin Athlon64 into a spanky new SFF, this nForce3 powered Shuttle XPC SN95G5 might just be the way to go. Even though Shuttle is king of the small form factor, this unit did have a few drawbacks.
Luckily, performance and looks make this an otherwise attractive SFF solution. Installation was great, and essentially half finished for you. The only thing I didn't like was the close proximity of the SATA adapters to the CPU.
Keeping with the “smaller” theme, this FIC P4M-RS350 MicroATX motherboard might be a candidate for your next miniPC / HTPC project.
FIC, along with ATI, has packaged a lot of punch in a small package. Although the graphics might not impress those of us with high end video cards, it is enough to get you playing a few games on the go.
The mCubed T-Balancer Fan Controller must be really good if the crew at BigBruin had these kinds of problems with the software but still gave it a recommendation like this:
Even with the problems I encountered in the delivered software and the somewhat unfinished version 2 software that m-Cubed has on their website, I found the T-Balancer and incredible device with no match or even close second in the industry.
Simply put, without AZZO there would likely be no HardOCP. AZZO was one of the first online hardware suppliers to take us under their wing and help supply hardware for review back in the late '90s. The folks at AZZO now want to move onto other tech projects and have put their online and B&M business up for sale.
Many thanks to the owners at AZZO, we wish you guys only the best.
Since it is slow and not much happening, why not try out this spray paint keyboard mod on some old crappy keyboard you have laying around. If you try this mod at work, remember to have good ventilation and cover your desk with newspaper first. Oh yeah, and keep a look out for your boss while you are doing it.
Considering this mod cost about eight dollars and took a little more than and hour and a half from my life, I am very happy with the results.
Just for fun the folks at TheInq have some NFORCE 5 chipset rumors that say the chipset will operate running a 1200MHz FSB using 300MHz multiples instead of 200MHz.
THE NFORCE 5 CHIPSET will be a highly overclockable chipset. Our sources confirmed that the Nvidia Pentium 4 chipset will go up to FSB 1200MHz, using 300MHz rather than 200MHz multiples.
If you are out there downloading music and video off the internet, be careful or you might end up downloading adware, pop-ups or both. We are not just talking downloading from Kazaa or the likes, this can apply to any file available for download on the internet, legal or not.
PC World has learned that some Windows Media files on peer-to-peer networks such as Kazaa contain code that can spawn a string of pop-up ads and install adware. They look just like regular songs or short videos in Windows Media format, but launch ads instead of media clips.
Having real time communication with a doctor while you are in an ambulance just seems like a no brainer, doesn’t it? I’m sure they have some wrinkles to iron out but this is a great idea and a good use of technology.
Researchers are developing technology for ambulances to improve communications and perhaps more importantly, place virtual doctors inside in transit.
This is cool no matter how you look at it…a robot that catches and eats flies for energy. No joke. Thanks to both Blair and Joe Alpert for this one.
Scientists at the University of the West of England (UWE) have designed a robot that does not require batteries or electricity to power itself. Instead, it generates energy by catching and eating houseflies.
DigiTimes is reporting that both Intel and AMD are sampling their next-gen to select clients. Intel is sending out its 600-series chips while AMD is getting dual core samples into the hands of motherboard vendors. If everyone stays on track it looks like 2005 will shape up nicely for both companies.
Intel has sampled one of its 600-series CPUs to some of its clients in Taiwan and has also given more details of technology support for its 945/955 chipsets for the dual-core Smithfield CPUs, which are slated for launch in the second quarter of next year, according to sources at Taiwan motherboard makers.
Gigabyte 3D Rocket Cooler Pro @ Bjorn3D - Jetart JACSH1 VGA Cooler @ Techniz
Sunbeam Lightbus @ LAN Addict - ATake Laser LED @ ComputekReviews - A4Tech Easy Go AK-5 @ AseLabs - Amptron 726A 17" TFT-LCD Monitor Review @ The Moditory
SilverStone LC03V Case Review @ OCModShop - Cooler Master Wavemaster LE @ ClubOC
The employees of Microsoft Corp. express their deepest sympathy to the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the Indian Ocean tsunami. In response to this tragic event, the company is announcing a commitment of $3.5 million (U.S.) in financial support for relief and recovery efforts.
Intel Corporation today announced that its venture investing organization, Intel Capital, has made three additional investments in companies developing innovative technologies for the digital home. The new investments, made from the $200 million Intel Digital Home Fund, include a first-time investment in Gteko Ltd., an ease-of-use networking and support software company, and follow-on financing for Synacor Inc., a provider of portals and technology for delivering bundled online services, and Zinio Systems Inc., a digital magazine distributor.
One of the things SLI has brought to the table is the ability to put great gaming power on a payment plan. People on a budget can get a nice card like this MSI GF 6600GT reviewed by Gamers Depot today and then add another one in later when your budget allows for it. Kinda like layaway for gamers. The fellas also reviewed the AGP version as well.
NVIDIA and MSI have a clear upgrade path to ultimate performance levels via SLI and any gamer out there should highly consider it if they want the best gaming experience going. If you’re still stuck with AGP, then this AGP offering should provide you with a nice upgrade over a previous-generation graphics card.
Move over TV, here comes the internet! It looks like the internet is taking a chunk out of your quality TV time. Maybe it is because on the internet, I can watch / do as I please. With TV, I am stuck with what they chose to show me. Am I right?
The average Internet user in the United States spends three hours a day online, with much of that time devoted to work and more than half of it to communications, according to a survey conducted by a group of political scientists.
