[H]ardNews 3rd Edition

Tyan Trinity KT400:

The Tech-Report has a great review of the Tyan Trinity KT400 mainboard posted today. Tyan has renewed focus on the enthusiast market lately, so it will be interesting to see just what the Trinity KT400 brings to the table and how it performs.

TYAN WAS ONCE known primarily by server admins and power users who lusted after Tyan's line of stable, SCSI-packed server and workstation motherboards, but much has changed since those days. The SCSI-rich server and workstation boards are still there, but Tyan has added a couple of new products to the family that are more appropriate for enthusiasts and *gasp* even overclockers. The first of these new products was the Tachyon G9700 Pro graphics card.

MSI Ti4800SE-VTD8X:

The MSI Ti4800SE-VTD8X is reviewed today at AMDWorld. The tongue twisting Ti4800SE-VTD8X is actually a Ti4400 with updated 8X AGP capability, hence the “SE” added to the Ti4800 name.

Once again MSI pull of a good product release and certainly the TI-4800SE is a highly powered video engine. Perhaps not in the class of the recent ATI 9500/9700 series but certainly is worth considering. It runs quiet and is more than capable of delivering a high frame-rate for gaming enthusiasts.

Multithreaded Multi-Core CPU:

Sun says they plan on offering a CPU capable of 32-way symmetric multiprocessor on a chip or the equivalent, on one chip by 2005. That would be interesting, to say the least.

Declaring a new era in computer design, Sun Microsystems announced plans for an aggressive approach to multi-core, multithreaded processors that essentially puts a server on a chip. Sun's new H-series line of microprocessors will debut in 2005 with one variant expected to offer the equivalent of a 32-way symmetric multiprocessor on a chip. Sun hailed the move as a third wave of computer architecture it calls chip multithreading following its introduction of RISC processors and symmetric multiprocessing systems.

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

Hercules Radeon 9500Pro:

Guru3D has decided they like the Hercules Radeon 9500Pro, and why not? Hercules makes a great video card for a decent price and the 9500Pro is a hell of a card for those of you on a budget…kinda hard to go wrong here ain’t it?

It's often close or faster to the GeForce 4 Ti 4600 yet this one is DirectX9 compatible. For not an extreme amount of money it has everything you want and need for quite a while, stability wise everything was peachy perfect on our test-platform, even VIA's KT400.

Ad-Blocking Killing Websites?

Adrian’s Rojak Pot has an editorial that needs readers input. It seems the fellas are in a situation many websites have had to come to terms with…ad-blocking. It seems the massive backlash against pop-ups and such is hurting their site and they are unsure what to do.

Initially, we noted an advertising reach of only 11%, which means that only 11% of our visitors are actually viewing any banners at all. The remaining 89% are evidently using some form of ad-blocking software. You will note that I have mentioned this sad trend a couple of times here. I guess no one's really reading because our ad reach is getting worse as we get more visitors and use up more bandwidth! This month, our ad reach has plummeted to a low of 8%! That means 92% of our visitors are blocking our ads! I don't have to tell you that this is really an impossible situation for us.

ATi A-I-W In Europe:

Now our friends in Europe have a chance to get in on some of that bad ass All-In-Wonder 9700Pro action too. ATi officially launched the card in Europe yesterday, here is a clip from the PR:

ATI Technologies Inc. today announced that the award-winning ALL-IN-WONDER® 9700 PRO, featuring the world’s fastest graphic chip – RADEON™ 9700 PRO – is now available to European customers. ATI’s latest multimedia video card joins the successful ALL-IN-WONDER® 9000 PRO already shipping to the European marketplace. “We’re excited to offer our European customers the world’s fastest multimedia video card -- the ALL-IN-WONDER 9700 PRO that delivers cool and quiet performance,” said Peter Edinger, Vice President and Managing Director, ATI Technologies (Europe). “Not only does it feature the fastest graphics available for today’s and tomorrow’s games, the ALL-IN-WONDER 9700 PRO carries on the ALL-IN-WONDER family tradition of multimedia functionality, usability and excellence.”

Matched Memory:

With dual channel memory platforms becoming more popular, thanks to Granite Bay and nForce2 chipsets, having Corsair TwinX matched memory modules is a very good idea.

With any pair of memory modules your system can only ever be as good as the worst of the two and although buying high quality memory like Corsair's XMS series can reduce the risk of any performance degradation caused by running your memory in pairs there's really only one genuinely safe way to make sure you're getting the best and that's by getting someone to test it for you. That someone in this case is Corsair themselves.

[H]ardNews 1st Edition

Tim Sweeney On Intel:

I missed this post on Slashdot Monday made by Tim Sweeney from Epic Entertainment. This is in response to an article we showed you guys last week outlining the stance Intel is taking toward a 64-bit desktop solution being “end of the decade” stuff. This post is self-explanatory:

UnWheel Mod Interview:

We pointed out a cool UT2K3 Driving mod last week that looks like it will be a blast. Well, now UnrealOps has an interview with the man behind the mod. Here is a snippet from the interrogation:

Here is an image of one of the vehicles currently in the UnWheel mod. Check out the UnWheel website here.

[H]ardNews 9th Edition

Chaintech Zenith 7NJS:

If you are one of the bajillion people interested in the nForce2 platform for your next PC-project, the Chaintech Zenith 7NJS nForce2 board is reviewed by them overclockers from New Zealand today. Have a look.

Overall, the Zenith is quite a good board. Its performance is on par with other nF2 boards, which is a great improvement from the Apogee board. The Zenith is pretty strong in overclocking as well, reaching a maximum FSB of 200 MHz. Lastly, it comes with a very impressive package, from rounded cables to Cbox2. Zenith's price is perhaps the only weak point.

CNC-CPU ST92 HSF:

A good HSF is usually expensive, but not all expensive HSF units are good. Legion Hardware looks at a cooler, the CNC-CPU ST92, that is reminiscent of the old “Core” cooler that came out a few years ago. The fellas were not to impressed with the performance and price on this HSF…but it sure looks purdy.

I guess I was very disappointed with the ST92 as I was excited about looking at this new design. I was so disappointed that a clip was the undoing of a cooler that has so much potential. Struggling to compete with the much cheaper and easier to install Thermaltake Volcano 11 again makes this product impossible to recommend.

Mods & Ends:

Cool UV Fans @ PCAbusers - EasyStream2 HSF @ R&B Mods - Paralell LED Mod @ HeatSeekerz - Bonzai USB Drive @ VNRoundup - X-Window Diamond-Bubble 5 @ OCIA - Cooler Master case @ System Cooling - Gyration Cordless Mouse @ Voided Warranty - Spire Cooler Round-up @ ModFactor

[H]ardNews 8th Edition

Albatron PX845PE Pro II:

Maximum3D has a little 845PE mainboard review action for you today. The Albatron PX845PE Pro II is sitting on the ol’ M3D test bench and getting some pretty decent results. Here is a snippet from the review:

The Albatron PX845PE Pro II is quite a full-featured motherboard. It incorporates some of the latest technologies including SATA with a stable and overclocker friendly package. But, the fact remains is that there are so many other boards like it, with greater availability as well.

XFX GF4 Ti4200:

Another 8X AGP Ti4200 card on the market, this one from XFX. I have heard a lot about XFX cards…but never actually seen one. Kinda like that Bigfoot guy.

The performance of the XFX GeForce 4 Ti 4200 8X AGP was best when compared to the MSI GeForce 4 Ti 4200 8X AGP. The card was outperformed by the more expensive Radeon 9500 Pro.

Side-Channel Attacks:

Blair sent me this interesting story about an exploit that was found and fixed before it became a problem. Just the way we like em’…nipped in the bud before they spread.

Researchers at the Security and Cryptography Laboratory at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Lausanne found that email passwords sent via SSL are vulnerable to a form of "side-channel" attack. Unlike normal attacks on code that involve comparing the unencrypted and encrypted message and attempting to recover the encryption key, side-channel attacks look at other information in an attempt to crack the code, such as the time taken to perform an operation and how power consumption changes. In this particular case, the researchers attempted to decrypt the SSL data and closely monitored the time it took to get an error message sent back.

[H]ardNews 7th Edition

Bogus or Not?

Still seeing a bit more controversy about the dual Socket A nForceFX board drawing we posted yesterday. Asus PR has been stating, "It is a FAKE." That was the statement that they made to us yesterday. Lear Chen said it was simply a drawing of an A7M266-D that was modified, but comparing the two, it is obvious that it is not.

The interesting thing is that the board drawing came from Asus, much like the Canterwood pictures shown below. So I would have to guess that Asus is the one showing off "fake" board drawings? Funny that they did not tell everyone they were "fake" at the time.

BFG Delivers:

[H]ardNews 6th Edition

Canterwood Mainboard:

The 800MHz bus is on the way to you soon. This page shows some specifications from the upcoming Asus P4C800 that is sporting support for Intel Pentium 4 CPUs at 3.6GHz with HyperThreading and dual channel DDR. Lots of features as well including native USB2 and Firewire. Note this is the new Intel ICH5 southbridge as well that supports SATA. The headers are shown circled in the second pic.

[H]ardNews 5th Edition

AMD Editorial:

Riva3D has posted an AMD Editorial that seems to give a lot of credit to AMD right now, where others have not. At the same time the editorial seems to think Intel is forgetting a portion of their customer base. I guess only time will tell. Heh, you have to check out the article just to see Ross lay down a little smack on what he called "an industry dumbass".

While this all sounds neat and good, I think Intel is a bit out of touch with reality, as they underestimate the huge number of "early adopters" that exist in the market. "If you build it, they will come" has never been more true than in the PC industry, and, if anything, AMD will gain a bigger share of the market due to Intel's indifference. Get ready to watch Intel scramble to "reinvent" the Itanium 2 for home use.

VIA EPIA 800 Review:

JillaJang has reviewed the VIA EPIA 800. Although these guys use it for everyday tasks, we have seen these used time and time again for killer MP3 boxes or DVD / entertainment PC’s.

It fits (quite literally) into a niche market, which I think has great potential, for growth, as people start realizing that they don't need the fastest and biggest computer on the planet, just to surf the net, and do some word processing.

VIA EPIA 10000:

VIA has taken the EPIA to the next level. With 1GHz processing power, and more bells and whistles jammed onto that tiny little mainboard, I think VIA will find more and more people picking these things up for their great applications as a fileserver / HTPC / MP3 box. I am waiting to see someone simply mod one of these right into their entertainment center at home.

[H]ardNews 4th Edition - Blair Tech Ed.

Rescuers Use Baseballs:

By implanting a microphone and transmitter inside a baseball, members of the university's acoustics program say they can listen for survivors in the pile while work is going on up above. "It's something that could be done very quickly at low risk to the rescuer -- he doesn't have to go out into a dangerous area and lay cables," said Thomas Gabrielson, associate professor of acoustics and a senior research associate at Penn State's Applied Research Laboratory. "If it doesn't come back, it's not a problem. These are cheap enough that if the pile breaks down, fine, you just leave it there."

Robotic Arm Tech:

Arm wrestlers of the world beware -- engineers are scheming to build a humanlike robotic arm capable of overpowering a living contender. NASA scientist Yoseph Bar-Cohen said he challenged the engineering community to develop a robotic arm that could defeat a human. Just do not expect to see any robo-wrestlers performing at a bar near you anytime soon. The technology remains years away.

Hynix 12” Fab Plans:

Hynix Semiconductor is set to kick off construction of its first 12-inch fab this year and expects to enter volume production in the fourth quarter of 2004 at the latest, stated a US-based Hynix board member in an interview with The Electronic Times. The company plans to move in equipment by the end of this year, said the board member, adding that 12-inch technology development at the South Korean DRAM maker is winding up and fundraising is flowing more smoothly than before.

90nm Coming Soon:

Volume production of 90nm designs will emerge in 2004 but the hurdles to get there are still significant, a panel of executives said Monday. The panel, assembled for a meeting of global electronics journalists here and chaired by EE Times senior editor Ron Wilson, navigated through the many pitfalls of ultra-deep submicron design and manufacture.

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition

FIC AU11 nForce2 Review:

The FIC AU11 nForce2 may not be as popular as some of the other nForce2 boards out there, but this inexpensive FIC nForce2 board seems to be holding its own in this review at VR-Zone.

FIC is definitely turning many heads in the industry. They have transitioned themselves from a more OEM and bare-bone manufacturer to one of the better known and lower priced enthusiast manufacturers.

Water Cooling Giveaway:

A reminder that this is the last week of the Danger Den water cooling kit giveaway that I have going at that freaky little corner of the internet I call Hypothermia. There is one week left to win this kit, then we have a complete Swiftech kit up for grabs after that. Very cool stuff.

This is the last week of our Danger Den Giveaway. We have three more complete water cooling kits to be given away after this contest is over, the next giveaway will feature a complete Swiftech kit. What are you waiting for, you have to get in it, to win it!

UMC and ALi:

After raising its stakes in Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS), United Microelectronics Corporation (UMC) recently acquired 40% of ULi Electronics through its 42%-owned affiliate Unitech Capital, further strengthening its operation in the chipset market. ULi Electronics was formerly the chipset division of ALi Corporation. ALi spun off the division as an independent subsidiary to better develop both its chipset and multimedia chip businesses.

UMC seems to be acquiring large shares of these chipset makers…makes you wonder who, what will be next.

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

ABIT AT7-MAX2 Review:

OCAddiction has a look at the extremely popular ABIT AT7-MAX2 mainboard. A quick look at this review, and you will see why the AT7-MAX2 is so popular, though the review is a little short in the benchmark area.

The AT7 MAX2 has been a pleasure to have on the OCA workbench. The board layout, minus the AGP lock down tab issue, is well thought out, and easy to navigate when installing/troubleshooting/upgrading hardware. With the exception of the VIA KT400 chipset not having the 1/6 divider, overclocking went well.

Mars-X Case:

Good cases are from Venus, crappy cases are a Mars-X. Well, according to this review anyway. Sometimes it is just as important to bring you a review of an ass-like product so you know what to avoid, as it is to bring you reviews of great products.

I'm sure you've figured out by now that the negatives far outweigh the positives!

Nanotechnology News:

Is nanotechnology paving the way for miniature devices? Well, of course it is, this News.com article outline the where and how of it all.

Disposable satellite transmitters, inexpensive medical testing equipment and sensors for automatically tracking inventory or traffic patterns will become possible over the next 10 years through developments in nanotechnology, speakers at the Nanotech 2003 conference said Monday.

[H]ardNews 1st Edition

ABIT NF7-S:

Lost Circuits has a little ABIT NF7-S action for those of you looking into a mainboard for their AMD box. As usual, a very good write-up from Michael and the Lost Circuits gang. You can see our review of the NF7-S here for comparison.

The layout of the NF7-S has some unique features as well, from the omission of the first PCI slot to pushing out of the DIMM slots to the far right periphery of the PCB, which clears the AGP area but interferes in some housings with the mounting of any hard disk drive.

Big Brother Stuff:

Just when you thought our country was going overboard on keeping track of us, you end up reading something like this. Holy cow talk about freaky.

Ireland has had a secret data retention regime for almost a year, after the Cabinet confidentially instructed telecommunications operators to store traffic information about every phone, fax and mobile call for at least three years. Data Protection Commissioner Mr Joe Meade revealed that former Minister for Public Enterprise Ms O’Rourke issued secret Directions for data retention last April when a dispute arose between the operators and his office over how long they should hold such data.

AMD's Gift to Intel:

So what could AMD's greatest gift to Intel actually be? Read on my friend, read on:

A year ago we were expecting Hammer by the end of the year. A year ago AMD was on track for Hammer while producing Athlon XPs that competed admirably with Northwood P4s (albeit somewhat less than with Willamette P4s). A year ago the future seemed bright for AMD, and the possibility of x86-64 becoming mainstream was almost a certainty. A year later and oh, how the mighty hath fallen. I'll say it simply: AMD has handed Intel the future of x86 computing.

Sound Deadening:

I have personally found that the best way to use this stuff here to block sound, is to roll it up and stick it in your ears. Hey, it is faster than lining your case with it.

If you use traditional ways of cooling, you will have very loud fans. For exactly this reason I was so excited about writing this review on Extreme Alterations' Akasa pax.mate acoustic absorption mats. This material claims to reduce fan noise and stop case vibration.