[H]ardNews 5th Edition

865 Come Back?

You kind of have to wonder how much impact the PAT-like 865 boards have had on these numbers. I think it is very possible that many folks passed on the Canterwood and opted for a Springdale here recently.

NV Rumor Mill:

NFI has this to say about an upcoming NVIDIA part to dethrone their current 5900 flagship GPU.

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

3D Budget Showdown:

Want to save some pennies but still have the ability to have some gaming action? OCAddiction delves into the land of the sub-$100 video card and faces off the GFFX 5200 with the Radeon 9200.

Both the FX5200 and the R9200 can run UT2K3 at 800x600, and depending on how smooth you like to frag, 1024x768 is achievable by both cards. Although the FX5200 consistently performs better than the R9200, their performance is still very close, and probably undetectable to the eye.

AIW Action:

If you are looking for the ultimate home entertainment card that doubles as an ultimate gaming card, check out the Radeon All-in-Wonder 9800 Pro at GamingNexus. Bring your wallet and a load application too.

If you have the money and you want the best all around card out there, then the All-in-Wonder 9800 Pro is the beast to get.

Ram Review:

When it comes to overclocking DDR Ram, going with a name brand solution with a good reputation is probably going to consistently yield the best results. Metku reviews Corsair's DDR400.

This wasn't totally stable for getting all the benchmarks done so I dropped it a bit, to 271 MHz (DDR542MHz !) and allowed the CPUBurnMMX to test the setting for 15 minutes. Because the motherboard is limiting the DIMM voltage to maximum of 2.7 volts I wasn't able to clock the modules any further.

Add-in RAID:

For some reason, the name "RocketRAID 404" just does not make me think of something stable. It makes me wonder that something is missing.... ViperLair tells you their experience with the 404.

SATA maybe making headway in the marketplace, but the 404 card can provide you with a speed boost for your current drives, peace of mind or both. And with its ability to add a total of 8 devices, can be a great way to get some extra storage into your existing setup.

875 Review:

Andy seems a bit smitten with the new LAN Party board from DFI featuring the 875P Intel chipset. Certainly there are some more robust solutions out there, but DFI is pointed in the right direction.

GFFX 5600:

EnvyNews shows you what you can get out of a sub-$150 video card now days.

With so many Radeon reviews out there and the GeForce FX 5900 finally beating the ATi camp, we decided to bring you a review of a cost-effective FX review from Soltek...

Have they been reading the same reviews we have????

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition

Cooling:

Speeze HSF @ BigBruin

Modding:

Custom Window Etching @ PimpRig - Aluminum Fan Adapters @ Bens - Bad Lite @ CompShop - Kingwin Alum Case @ SystemCooling

Etc.:

USB2 Pen Drive @ MonkeyRev - 550 Watt Enermax PSU @ IPKonfig

[H]ardNews

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[H]ardNews 5th Edition

9800 Pro 256:

If you are shelling out the big bucks for video card glory, this Radeon has best be on your short list. DH covers the flagship Radeon card from ATI.

As the tests show the Radeon 9800 Pro 256mb does provide faster performance than its 128mb counterpart. From an image quality perspective you will see no change in normal use; both cards have very high image quality in 3D and 2D when performing the same tasks.

VIA KT600:

Looking to see if VIA approaches greatness with their now shipping KT600 chipset? MBReview puts the Gigabyte board through the grinder.

First and foremost, let's talk about the stability. We can say that without a doubt, the stability of the 7VT600-L is a solid foundation for any computer system. We did not experience one single crash during normal benchmarking or torture tests. The motherboard ran flawlessly right out of the box.

Cooling:

VANTEC NEXUS @ FuriousTech - Zalman HSF @ HWGuru - DigiDoc 5 @ GidoenTech - VANTEC Fan Controller @ R&B

Modding:

VANTEC CCFL Kit @ Datafuse - VANTEC NEXUS Faceplates @ PirateSoftware - ChenMing Case @ TechMods

Etc.:

ZBoard Keyboard @ DriverHeaven - HDD Noiseblocker @ HWGuru - BitTech Interview @ Ohls

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

Dorkus Infustus:

SALT LAKE CITY -- Retired World Championship Wrestling professional Maxx Payne filed a $10 million lawsuit against a group of video software developers for allegedly stealing his persona to create the game "Max Payne."

DIY Pyramid:

Ottawa's Nick Raina may have solved one of the world's greatest mysteries. Brushing aside hundreds of years worth of theories by historians and archeologists, the 69-year-old man claims he can build a Great Pyramid just like the one constructed by the Egyptians, in approximately 2450 BC, using simple hand tools and minimal force.

Giddy Up:

"Longhorn is a bit scary. ... We have been willing to change things," Gates said while trying to eat a fruit salad and drink a Diet Coke during lunch at Microsoft's annual financial analyst meeting at the company's Redmond, Washington, headquarters.

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition

Albatron PX865PE Pro:

How about a little Sunday afternoon mainboard review action? OcPrices posted a review of the Albatron PX865PE Pro i865PE mainboard today. Overall it seems like a decent board from the tone of the review but I’ll let you be the judge of that. Here is a clip from the review:

Albatron has done it yet again. The PX865PE Pro is a rock solid board, and at less than $100 in the US it is an excellent value. You get all of the performance and most of the features of the $190 PX865 ProII for a lot less cash, and it's certainly hard to argue with that.

Fans and Stuff:

Aluminum fan adapters like these are pretty cool ( pun intended ), especially when they are coupled with a decent lighted fan like this unit here. Here is a little clippage from the fan review:

If you are looking for a bit of different from the normal lighting for some case fans, these are it. These are, really sweet. :) I can see a case decked out with either of these bad boys, or, if you have a good heatsink, one of these fans would look very slick showing through a window contrasting any other kind of fans you have in your box.

Max Payne Lawsuit:

Ex-Pro Wrestler Maxx Payne sues the maker of Max Payne the video game for $10 million bucks. Kinda like putting them in a full nelson until they cough up the cash. *Ding**Ding* …fight!

"I left wrestling to come home to Utah and be with my family and I find myself in the biggest battle of my life — to save my identity," said the ex-fighter, whose real name is Darryl Peterson. "They stole something from me that I'm not going to give up."

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

H20 Kit Review:

This CompuVision H20 kit review is a little different than a normal H20 “kit” reviews because this system is basically a kit thrown together from existing parts on the market and not a custom kit like Danger Den or Swiftech.

Needless to say, I was quite satisfied with the results. Overclocking the chip to 2.4GHz was achieved on the first attempt (200FSB*12x) and proved to be completely stable. I was extremely please to see that overclocked idle temps were less than 5 degrees above ambient. Lots of computers in my basement makes for extra summer time heat!

Double Vantec Review:

OCAddiction is busy with a few Vantec reviews today, one being the 3.5” Vantec Nexus NXP_201 fanbus and the other being the Vantec Nexus NXP_301 for a 5.25” drive bay. Killing two birds with one stone at OCA today. Here is a quote from the first review:

The Vantec Nexus Multi-Fan Controller is not a must have item. That said, it is a really nice "want" item that actually serves a purpose. That purpose is to lower the ambient noise level emanating from your PC case. If you are not PC modder then you probably won't see a use for this item.

Hercules Prophet 9600Pro:

And we round things out with a German review of the Hercules 9600Pro…you might need a translator for the review, unless you are just gawking at the pictures and graphs like I do. The graphs and pics really do speak for themselves though in these kinds of reviews, but you can find a decent translator here.

[H]ardNews 1st Edition

Computex In September:

After Computex was put off this year because of the whole SARS epidemic, they had to reschedule for September 22-26 of this year. Here is a clip from the announcement.

At a packed and festive atmosphere a joint press conference with the theme "BACK-ON-TRACK COMPUTEX TAIPEI 2003" was held today July 22, 2003. This morning's joint press conference was to affirm that this year's show, which was originally scheduled on June 2-6, 2003 was postponed due to the wide effect of SARS, will be held on September 22-26, 2003.

And yes, that is our pal Anand in one of those pictures.

Catchy Title:

Not something we would normally cover, but the catchy “Verizon Glitch Fix Is a Bitch” title and the fact that most of us use cell phones and text messaging won me over.

The software bug was discovered three months ago by ThreeZee Technology, a security research company in Bridgeton, New Jersey. The company said it tried to notify Verizon when it first discovered the glitch and even spoke with company representatives, but the bug remained. Verizon didn't fix the glitch until Wired News called for comment.

NVIDIA Selling Speed?

Everybody and their brother has posted links to the quasi-mysterious SPEED announcement / hint / teaser image that is making the rounds. You have to admit using speed to hook new buyers is a pretty smart idea, hell it’s been working on the streets for years. Heh.

[H]ardNews 6th Edition

Opteron Supercomputer:

Well, the number 3 spot for worlds fastest supercomputer, formerly held by a 2,304 Xeon processor machine, now belongs to the Dawning 4000A a machine powered by 2000 Opteron processors.

China plans to create the world's third most powerful supercomputer, which will also be among the first such machines to use the Opteron processor from U.S. chipmaker Advanced Micro Devices. According to China's People's Daily, Chinese supercomputer maker Dawning Information Industry will use 2,000 of these chips to make the Dawning 4000A, with help from AMD. The 4000A will be a cluster comprised of computers that run a Chinese-designed Linux operating system and mainboard chips, the report said, and will aim to hit 10 teraflops in computing power.

2000 Opterons sound impressive? That ain’t nothing…they are making a supercomputer as we speak named Red Storm that uses 10,000 Opteron processors. Wow.

[H]ardNews 5th Edition

Sapphire Radeon 9800Pro 256MB:

You cannot go anywhere this week without seeing a Sapphire Radeon 9800Pro 256MB review posted somewhere like this one at UKGamer. Is it just that popular of a card? Let’s see:

The Sapphire Radeon Atlantis 9800 PRO 256MB Ultimate Edition, apart from having an annoyingly long name is an exceptional product. Exceptional in a number of areas, Sapphire have decided to stick their neck out and produce something that is obviously a niche product. Not only a niche product, it's a niche within a niche and producing a product that performs very well, by virtue of having the excellent R350 processing unit from ATI.

Kingston Hyper 1GB DDR:

Legit Reviews posts a review of the Kingston Hyper 1GB DDR 434Mhz kit. What makes this memory better than anyone all the rest? Let’s find out:

With an MSRP of US ~$350 the 1GB Kit of HyperX DDR 434MHz may be out of reach for many users, but it is some of the best high performance memory on the market today. This is also the first pair of 512MB modules from any company that we successfully have been able to run ABIT's "Game Acceleration Technology" at the most aggressive F1 mode.

Alphabet Soup:

Dan is answering a bunch of letters again, I believe this is the 55th Edition of letters to Dan. This time Dan answers the nagging question in everyone’s mind about the new Zalman heat pipe hard drive cooler:

Yes, it looks cool, but... is it just me, or is this a device with heat pipes that don't go to a heat sink? It looks as if they're just connecting one side of the drive to the other. If a heat pipe is warm at both ends, it doesn't do anything.

Good Vibrations:

USB Vibrators are nothing new, we post links and make fun of them all the time…kinda like I am doing right now. After our news about Ms. QuakeCon we posted earlier, we thought you might want to pack one of these for the trip. Blame Chris for this one.

The USB Vibe Personal Massager makes sitting at your computer easier. From long airplane trips to being trapped behind a desk, the USB Vibe vibrates away stress, pain and fatigue. Multi-surface massage head oscillates at 3600 vibrations per minute - 60 vibrations per second.

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

More QuakeCon Stuff:

If you are planning on attending QuakeCon this year, Multiplayer Doom3 is not the only game in town. The powers that be have also arraignment to host a Ms QuakeCon tourney as well for the ladies. What makes that news so special? Check out the “rules” page and you be the judge of that:

Spectators may not interact with players during the match. If this becomes a problem the Tournament Director will disqualify the player. AMMENDMENT: Any player being harassed by npc may elect to ask for a pause in the game to beat the offender with a large black dildo (provided by the tournament). You must be FEMALE to participate. (Sex change operations must be completed 6 months prior)