[H]ardNews 6th Edition

BIOS Guide Update:

Adrian’s Rojak Pot has arguably the best BIOS optimization guide around. The fellas have updated the guide again to include handy info like the AGP secondary lat timer BIOS feature. Don’t know what the hell that is? Read more:

After months of probing and analysis, I am confident that the motherboard manufacturers are wrong yet again. The AGP Secondary Lat Timer does not refer to the AGP bus’ secondary latency timer. And unlike what I have been told, it has implications on the performance of both AGP and PCI buses!

Heh…he said “probing”.

Bridge It!

Game developer and publisher Auran Games, in conjunction with NVIDIA, and Chronic Logic, the creator of the original award winning game Pontifex II, today announced Bridge It, an addictive PC game that uses cutting-edge 3D technology to immerse players in the challenging world of bridge building. A public demo of Bridge It can be downloaded today exclusively at www.nvidia.com/nzone. Set in the picturesque surroundings of colorful deserts and dense forests, Bridge It challenges players to strategically design and construct a variety of engineering masterpieces. Once a bridge is built, players watch in eager anticipation as the game tests the soundness of their designs as unsuspecting motorists, heavy freight trains, and tourist riverboats approach their bridge.

New ASUS KT8T800 Board:

Shuttle Mod:

Modding your SFF isn’t as easy as sawing some holes in your computer, slapping in some Plexiglas with a few blow holes in it….ummm, waitadamnminute, maybe it IS that easy. Pirate Software did it, they think you can too.

Like most modded computers, lets start with the now standard window (standardised moddin', hmm). Nothing overly fancy with the design of the windows, want to keep with the lines of the Shuttle case. Then a lighting colour scheme.

[H]ardNews - Blair's Tech Ed.

Criticize Microsoft = Fired:

The chief technology officer for a technology firm that works closely with Microsoft Corp. lost his job after he helped write a study critical of the insecurity of Microsoft software. Daniel E. Geer Jr., an expert with nearly three decades studying technology and computer security, learned Thursday he was no longer employed by AtStake of Cambridge, Mass. AtStake declined to say whether Geer resigned or was fired.

Better, Faster, Wireless:

The IEEE has begun to develop a standard that will raise the effective throughput of Wireless Local Area Networks to at least 100 Mbps, which is more than triple the current maximum IEEE 802 WLAN speed of 30 Mbps. The higher-speed standard, IEEE P802.11n, 'Wireles LAN Medium Access Control (MAC) and Physical Layer Specifications: Enhancements for Higher Effective Throughput,' will help WLANs meet the expanding bandwidth needs of enterprise and home networks, as well as those of WLAN hot spots.

Deeper 3D Display:

When it comes to three-dimensional displays, there are usually compromises. Some methods have narrow viewpoints that require a user to view the image from directly in front of a screen. Some methods require that the user look through special glasses. Other methods don't provide a lot of depth. Researchers from Seoul National University in Korea have found a way to deepen one type of three-dimensional display method—integral imaging—that has historically suffered from relatively shallow depth, but does not require users to wear glasses.

Survey For Job Seekers?

If high-tech workers and executives want to get a new job, chances are they're going about it the wrong way, a new survey says. The 2003 Survey Of High-Tech Employers, conducted by executive recruiting firm Perry Martel International and the Canadian Advanced Technology Alliance, found that while industries or countries have no differences in the way they fill high-tech jobs, the major differences are between executives and non-executives.

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

Overclockers Dream?

Is the 2.4GHz Pentium4 C an overclockers dream? ClubOC seems to think so, and they wrote an article telling you why this CPU should be on every overclockers short list. The fellas seem to think that 1GHz OCs are something new though, even though people have been hitting that ( and higher ) for a long time. Here is a clip from the review:

With the 2.4GHz CPU being the first of the C Models, it is a good guess that this CPU will overclock the highest. Possibly even overclock high enough to match the Flag Ship in this series, the 3.2GHz CPU. That is quite a HUGE jump in clock speeds, and would normally have been thought of as being impossible. In fact, it would be impossible if it wasn't for Intel's new chipsets like the i865 and i875 series, along with cutting edge memory like the PC4000

Gigabyte Radeon 9800Pro:

The big bad card on the block right now is the Radeon 9800Pro. The gang at the Mod Fathers have the Gigabyte Radeon 9800Pro strapped into their review rig for a quick and dirty one page review.

The Gigabyte card is also not that cheap. At over £300 it is more than £30 dearer than the Crucial version. However this is not the thing that makes me hesitate with this card. Its what's above that counts. If you are going to be spending £311 on a graphics card then for another £80 you can get the Gigabyte 9800Pro 256Mb DDRII.

PowerColor Radeon 9800Pro:

ATi-News takes the Radeon 9800Pro from PowerColor out for a spin. The review itself requires a translator but, everyone say it with me, “the graphs and pictures are universal”. Careful you must choose your translator young jedi, or Yoda this review will read like.

The PowerColor Radeon 9800 pro leaves a very good impression. Only the software package precipitates somewhat leaner than with the competition such as Sapphire, Hercules and gigabyte. Whereby the PowerColor Radeon 9800 pro the gold Award conceivably scarcely around 2 points missed.

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition

Athlon64 Nudie Pics:

T-Break has some heatspreader-less pics of an Athlon 64 posted today. Always interesting to see the CPU without the heat spreader. Hopefully they had an easier time getting their heatspreader off instead of having it “pop” off under extreme temperatures like this one did at 4.2GHz. Who cares and why even bother doing something like this? Here is the simple answer:

I was curious & couldn’t resist.

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

Computex Day #4:

Ninja Lane busts out their Day #4 coverage of Computex 2003. More mainboards, a few video cards and lots of booth babe pictures. I noticed two or three different Taiwanese versions of NVIDIA’s Dawn floating around the show too. Here is a quote from the article that talks about the dual processor XGI vidcards.

XGI had a suite here in the Grand Hyatt just a few floors below room. The XGI display was rather small but quite impressive. Pictured here are two of their cards both using the same graphic processor. The Volari Duo has two graphics processors, 512megs of DDR2 memory, and boasts a 5633'ish in 3Dmark2k3. (If you're into that sort of thing) The single processor version is basically the same with half of the specs.

More Computex Coverage:

Hitech Mods has 13 pages of pictures from this years show. The gang covered everything from SFF PCs to Xbox speakers. Take a look at all 114 pictures right here.

SwiftTech MCX462-V™:

Swiftech has a very cool looking heatsink out with splayed heli-coil pins named the SwiftTech MCX462-V™. If you haven’t seen this monster, you owe it to yourself to check it out.

Heatsink makers keep trying to make better performing heatsinks to keep us happy, and them in business. SwiftTech has one they hope to be among the elite of cpu coolers, introducing the SwifTech MCX462-V™ heatsink for AMD® processors.

[H]ardNews 1st Edition

DNC List Turnaround pt. II:

After a house measure passed in record speed yesterday, it looks like the DNC list is facing another challenge…lame decisions like the one from this judge. This second ruling is blocking the DNC list using the whole “free speech” argument.

The Senate and the House of Representatives worked swiftly Thursday to overwhelmingly approve the measure after another federal judge ruled Tuesday that the FTC needed a legislative mandate to create the wildly popular list. The legislation is now headed to President Bush, who is expected to sign it, his spokesman said. But U.S. District Judge Edward Nottingham issued an opinion blocking the list based on telemarketers' free speech rights, which could be more difficult for advocates of the list to sidestep.

It is actually pretty funny to hear telemarketers claim that the DNC List could cost them $50 billion a year and cause massive layoffs…how can that be? If the DNC list is made up of people who do not want to be called and would never buy anything from them in the first place, how could this list cost them a single penny?? Think about it.

[H]ardNews 9th Edition

MPAA Following RIAA?

The MPAA may be following the steps of the RIAA but they are learning from the mistakes of the RIAA. The studios will be launching a new “stealing is bad” (duh) campaign in the near future to help stop downloading.

If Hollywood executives have learned anything watching their peers in the music business grapple with online file sharing, it is how not to handle a technological revolution. While the major labels in the music industry squabbled among themselves about how best to deal with Internet piracy and failed to develop consumer-friendly ways to buy music online, the movie industry has gone on a coordinated offensive to thwart the free downloading of films before it spins out of control.

Honestly, I think more extras on the DVD, outtakes and bloopers, behind the scenes stuff which is damn near free ( bloopers and outtakes cost nothing ) and keeping the prices lower than most new CDs in most cases is what will keep the MPAA from being perceived as the RIAA is. The RIAA is frowned upon by most people because they are a self serving organization. After all, the only thing you get with a $20 CD is a free colon cleansing.

Shuttle SB65G2 XPC:

SFFTech has the Shuttle SB65G2 XPC on deck. This Intel powered box has some pretty cool features, the wireless support is kinda cool. You can get a SFF and not give up too much of the features you are used too with your big box.

Shuttle has succeeded the popular SB61G2 with their latest advance into the SFF market, the SB65G2 XPC. Sporting the popular G2 series case design, including the all aluminum front faceplate, the SB65G2 has a lot to offer. While this system doesn’t feature many visible new additions from the outside, it certainly packs a punch on the inside as you’ll soon see.

Awesome HTPC:

The biggest problem with HTPCs is making them fit in your living room without standing out like a sore thumb. Check out this bad ass HTPC posted over at Bit-Tech. Nice wood finish with UV reactive acrylic layered in between the wood. Very cool stuff here.

Sure, wooden cases have been done and there are some really nice ones out there. However, this would be my first one but I wanted mine to stand out and one way was to hybrid in some various materials together. I borrowed a technique from a well known artist Kerry Vesper that makes amazing sculpture and furniture out of plywood along with other types of wood.

[H]ardNews 8th Edition

DNC List Turnaround:

This is proof the government can do anything in a very short period of time. The judge who ruled against the Do No Call List must be surprised to see his ruling stir up a hornets nest. Things like this restore a little faith in our political system.

The quick action comes a day after a federal judge ruled the FTC needed a congressional mandate to create the wildly popular list. "Fifty million Americans can't be wrong," Rep. Billy Tauzin, R-Louisiana, declared Wednesday, referring to the number of people who have signed up to block the unwanted solicitations. Votes to overturn the judge's order are expected in the Senate today as well, according to Republican leadership aides.

My condolences to the telemarketers…heh, heh..heh...hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha.

[H]ardNews 7th Edition

Computex Day #3:

More great coverage of Computex Day #3 at NinjaLane today. There is all kinds of goodies to see like cases, heatsinks, watercooling stuff and mainboards. Check it out.

Day 3 of Computex was a little more relaxed than previous days though it really depended on what hall you decided to visit. Hall 1 and Hall 3 were relatively empty. Hall 2 on the other hand was standing room only; I'm not sure exactly why but I think it had something to do with the free Intel laptop giveaway.

Zalman ZM-WB2:

The TechLounge has a Zalman ZM-WB2 Water Block in house for a little wet & wild action. UGH..bad mental picture…bad mental picture!!! Arg! Gotta scrub my brain with soap or something now.

Overall I am pretty impressed with Zalman's attempt at a water block. The quality is superiour, there are many accessories included (more mounting hardware and fittings than any block I've seen) and the performance is up there with the Swiftech block. The ability to mount it on the upcoming Athlon 64 is nice and saves you the cost of buying a new block if you do upgrade to AMD's new chip.

Innovatek Tank-O-Matic:

MTB has n Innovatek Tan-O-Matic reservoir being tested. It looks better than the Tupperware containers and mason jars most people use.

The Innovatek Tank-O-Matic comes pre-assembled and ready for use right out of the box. The unit is comprised of a solid clear plexiglass cylinder which measures 50mm (W) x 280mm (H) and weighs 540g (without water). The Innovatek Tank-O-Matic is capable of holding approximately 280ml of fluid which should be sufficient for any standard water cooling system.

[H]ardNews - Blair's Tech Ed.

Intel Invests In Micron:

Intel Corp. invested US$450 million in Micron Technology Inc. and said it would team with the memory chip maker to develop next-generation chips that work with future Intel products. The investment by Intel's strategic investment program Intel Capital gives the Santa Clara, California, chip giant a 5.3 percent share in Micron, of Boise, Idaho, the companies said in a joint statement.

Microsoft 360° Webcam:

Microsoft is showing around a prototype product, called the Ring Cam, designed to make Web conferences more like face-to-face meetings. Combined with Web-conferencing software that Microsoft acquired this year, remote-meeting participants would be able to view and hear a live, 360-degree image of participants in another location. Few details are known about when products might result from the prototype. A Ring Cam--actually multiple FireWire cameras--would stitch together images from its surroundings.

Father Of The PC?

Canada is the birthplace of the telephone and cellphone. Now it has been recognized as the home of another invention — the first personal computer. It never made a rich man of its inventor, Mers Kutt, who still works with computers and ekes out a living from his Toronto house. But the MCM-70 Microcomputer, unveiled by Micro Computer Machines 30 years ago today and built at least four years before the Apple, has been recognized as the first of its kind in a recent issue of IEEE Annals of the History of Computing, a respected journal based in the United States.

Nanopage Digital Screen:

Jean Chretien Favreau refers to himself as an “architect/inventor”. He seemed to have been wearing both hats when he first got the idea for Nanopage, a flexible digital screen. “I would do a lot of computer-assisted design and I was always frustrated by the small-sized screen,” he said. “So I imagined a screen you could roll up like a blueprint.” That little idea has come a long way since Favreau registered his first patent in 1998.

[H]ardNews 5th Edition

XFX GFFX 5600Ultra:

If you are a serious gamer and you plan on playing any upcoming titles, we recommend buying as much graphics card as you can. If you are on a budget, we do not recommend you buy less than a Radeon 9600Pro or the GFFX 5600Ultra. Speaking of budget blasters, OCAddiction looks at the XFX GFFX 5600Ultra today and gives you their take on the card.

Are FXs really true DX9 accelerators or are they simply DX8 powerhouses modified to tackle DX9 code? Why can't they handle native DX9 code as well as ATI cards? With the advent of the latest pixel and vertex shaders, video card performance seems to no longer be dependent on memory bandwidth; instead, performance is likely based more on GPU power and efficiency.

The Braid-ing Bunch:

Tired of plain ol’ PSU cables? Spode’s Abode shows you how to braid your cables for better looks and airflow. Personally we have skipped braiding and are moving on to experimenting with corn rows.

It took a bit of doing (a bit fiddly and took about 1.5hrs) but I think this was worth it. The cost is minimal: braiding was £1.50+VAT for 3ft, the heat-shrink tubing was only sold in 3ft lengths at £4.99+VAT but I used less than 6 inches of it. I'll definitely more of the braiding to finish the job on the second chain, given that delivery is also free.

Albatron GFFX5600 Ultra:

Overclockers New Zealand has an Albatron GiGi GFFX5600 Ultra video card on their test bench today. We’ll see what the video card with the funny “GiGi” name can do:

Nvidia's initial FX5600Ultra was a very short-lived product; it did not have the performance to compete with ATi's R9600Pro. Now, armed with flip-chip packaging and a higher working frequency, the FX5600Ultra is ready to go head to head with ATi's R9600Pro. Without further delays, let us take a look at Albatron's FX5600Ultra

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

Intel FREE Wireless Day:

Get FREE wireless today from the fine folks at Intel. All day today there will be free wireless access at thousands of locations across the country. I will personally try this out today and let you know what I think, but for now…what the hell, if you are out and about today, go check it out. Thank Michael Burns for reminding me.

Drop by local events — or wirelessly access the Internet for free at thousands of public hotspots nationwide. On Thursday, September 25, Intel will be teaming up with leading wireless Internet service providers, notebook manufacturers, retailers, hotspot location owners, and content and software providers in the U.S. to bring you a day packed with wireless excitement. Free wireless Internet access for the day! Bring your wireless-enabled notebook and try Wi-Fi* access free for one day only at thousands of locations like hotels, cafes, airports and restaurants across the country.