[H]ardNews 5th Edition

[H]ardForum [H]appenings:

Yeee Haw! It’s Friday folks, time again for another edition of [H]ardForum [H]appenings! Plan on overclocking your Mac Mini? This guy is…and he has plans for water cooling it too. Yikes. Deal of the day goes to this 19” LCD for $279. Pretty sweet deal. Runner up in the deal of the day category is this Midtower Case & 400W PSU for just over $25. Speaking of cases, the DOOM3: Project Mars City thread has been updated with more pictures! If you haven’t seen this case yet, you are seriously missing out. Well…what are you waiting for? There are currently over 1,000 people in the forums right now as we speak…get in there and see what everyone else is doing! I’ll meet you there.

[H]ardNews 4th Edition

Admins Beware MySQL:

System administrators using common or easy to guess passwords are at risk of having a flaw in MySQL exploited and ending up with their system being overtaken by the MySQL bot. The sad part is that, to date, no one is even sure if the vulnerability has been addressed or not.

The malicious program, known as the "MySQL bot" or by the name of its executable code, SpoolCLL, infects computers running the Microsoft Windows operating system and open-source database known as MySQL, the Internet Storm Center said in an advisory published Thursday.

MGM DVD Settlement:

Apparently some of the wide screen DVDs released by MGM over the last few years have been pan & scan versions or "Open Matte", not true wide screen so portions of the movie were cropped off when you viewed them. If you have bought a MGM DVD in wide screen format over the last few years (see list) you have until March 31st to join this class action lawsuit. If it bugs you, join the suit...if it doesn't, move along..there is nothing to see here.

If the proposed settlement is approved by the Court, Class Members who submit timely and valid Claim Forms may exchange each Eligible DVD for (i) a new MGM DVD from a list of 325 titles or (ii) $7.10. To request a Claim Form, call 1-800-285-2168 (toll free). Before requesting a Claim Form, please verify that your DVD is an Eligible DVD by reviewing the Eligible DVD List. To view the Eligible DVD List, please click here. Claim Forms must be returned to the Claims Administrator postmarked on or before March 31, 2005.

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition - Mods & Ends

Cooling:

Evercool WC-202 Watercooling Kit @ Tech-Mods

Etc.:

Akasa Integral 3.5in External HDD Enclosure @ Mikhailtech - How to Choose A PC @ BigBruin - 3-way Enthusiast PSU Shootout @ Bit-Tech - Projector Buyer’s Guide @ Hardware Zone - Delphi MyFi xm2go Portable XM Satellite @ The Tech Zone - APC Back-UPS CS 500 @ TargetPC - CTX X701A 17" LCD Monitor @ Tweaknews - Suncore BlueWiFly Combo USB Adaptor @ A True Review

Cases & Modding:

Enermax CS-718B Maxflow Case @ 3DXtreme - ThermalRock OceanDome Aluminum Chassis @ Techniz - USB Powered Disco Balls @ EverythingUSB - ATXPowerSupplies 753AB Chassis @ ExtensionTech

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

Random [H] Sighting:

To be totally honest, today’s random [H] sighting isn’t really too “random”. We stumbled upon this [H] sighting while having a custom stereo vinyl box made for the backseat of my freshly restored 35 year old Camaro (last page). I needed a way of getting killer tunes into my 35 year old car without removing the original AM radio, I wanted something removable, self contained…what I got was something totally [H]ard thanks to the creativity of the person making the unit. Here is a work in progress photo:

[H]ardNews 1st Edition - Press Releases

MicroComputer Awards First Place to NVIDIA:

NVIDIA Corporation, a worldwide leader in graphics and digital media processors, today announced that its GeForce™ graphics processing units (GPUs) have won first-place awards in the “Reader’s Choice” and “Leading Installed Base” surveys sponsored by MicroComputer, one of China’s most influential technology publications. With approximately 100,000 participants participating in the surveys, the results demonstrate the growing popularity and market share of NVIDIA products in China.

MS Reports Record Revenue:

Microsoft Corp. today announced record revenue of $10.82 billion for the quarter ended December 31, 2004, a 7% increase over the results in the same period of the prior year. Operating income for the second quarter was $4.75 billion, which was an increase of $3.27 billion over the same period in the prior year. The results of the second quarter of the prior year included $2.21 billion in compensation expense incurred in connection with the Employee Stock Option Transfer Program. Net income for the second quarter was $3.46 billion. Diluted earnings per share exceeded the company’s guidance by $0.04 and were $0.32 including stock-based compensation expense.

[H]ardNews 11th Edition

MSI GF 6600GT PCI-E:

The fellas at VR-Zone have the MSI GF 6600GT PCI-E (aka MSI NX6600GT-TD128E ) on the test bench today. Not only did they like the card, they felt it was the best GeForce 6600GT they have ever had their hands on.

Through our testing today, we can conclude that the MSI NX6600GT-TD128E is a top notch graphics card; in fact, it is the best GeForce 6600GT PCIe card we've tested in our labs.

Notebook Buyers Guide:

Looking at a desktop replacement or just shopping for a laptop? HotHardware has a Notebook Buyers Guide that might help.

First and foremost, certain notebooks are designed with certain people in mind. Five or six years ago, not everyone was cut out to own a notebook, for a variety of reasons; which of course included pricing versus desktop systems.

Personally I have a 3GHz Dell Inspiron XPS with a Radeon 9700. Yeah, it weighs almost 10lbs, but it kicks major ass. Our review of the Inspiron XPS in June last year convinced me to buy one.

[H]ardNews 10th Edition

Microsoft Earnings Top Expectations:

Microsoft says that strong consumer and business markets helped earnings top expectations. Although strong PC sales get credit for profits the real story, for Xbox fans such as myself, is the fact that Xbox pulled a half billion dollar turn around to pull in profits of $84 million. The first time the Xbox division has posted a profit since the console launched.

Buoyed by strong Xbox sales, The Home and Entertainment unit posted an $84 million profit on revenue of $1.41 billion. A year ago, the unit saw losses of $397 million on sales of $1.27 billion.

BlasterMaster Facing Time:

I was going to make a huge “getting blasted in jail” joke about the BlasterMaster facing 3 years in prison and a $600,000 fine but I decided him going to jail was funny enough.

Prosecutors are asking for the maximum sentence of three years in prison and more than $600,000 in damages in the case of Jeffrey Lee Parson, a 19-year-old who admitted that he wrote and released a Blaster worm variant.

[H]ardNews 9th Edition

CS_Compound News:

If you haven’t fired up Steam lately you have most likely missed the two CS_Compound screenshots and news that the map is still on track for a February release. Sweet. Those of you who are not Steam powered can head over to ShackNews to check out the screenshots.

This week a few of us at Valve have been playtesting the upcoming Counter-Strike: Source map, cs_compound. The map is still on track for a February release.

[H]ardNews 8th Edition

IWill ZMax DP Available:

Sharp eyed [H]-reader Dave Graham pointed out that the IWill ZMax DP dual Opteron small form factor PC is now available for purchase on the IWill website. The pricing might leave a little (a lot) to be desired though at $750 - $825 depending on vendor and/or quantity. Wow.

*Update* It looks like you guys killed IWill’s server. The whole IWill website is unavailable right now so you’ll just have to keep checking back.

[H]ardNews 7th Edition

nForce Professional 2200 MCP:

Take a minute to check out at PCPerspective’s preview of the nForce Professional 2200 MCP today and see what NVIDIA has cooking for the server and workstation market.

On the chipset side of things, NVIDIA has been moderately successful with the nForce3 Professional line, but the market didn’t truly accept what was really just the same product that was later released in the retail market. NVIDIA plans on changing that with this release.

Maxtor DiamondMax 10:

The Tech Report crew has a massive 13 page review of the Maxtor DiamondMax 10 SATA hard drive with 16MB cache. We don’t cover a lot of hard drive stuff around here, leaving the job of reviewing them to others like our friends at TR. This quote sums up the reasons why we don’t cover hard drives:

Hard drives occasionally get a spindle speed or cache size boost, but for the most part, they're only treated to expanding storage capacity—not that more storage capacity is a bad thing; it's just not that exciting.

Gigabyte 3D1 Dual 6600GT:

The dual GPU, single card Gigabyte 3D1 6600GT is on the test bench at Hexus. While the idea of a dual GPU, single card SLi card is cool, the fact that it only works on one motherboard isn’t. Here is a quote from the review:

'Two heads are better than one' - So the saying goes. It's common knowledge in real life that having two people around to work on a problem often pays dividends, but the same has rarely been said about video cards, particularly when it comes to putting two GPUs on a single PCB.

[H]ardNews 6th Edition

[H]ardForum [H]appenings:

Let’s just start out today’s edition of [H]ardForum [H]appenings with the Deal of the Day, shall we? Deal of the Day is this Swiftech MCX462-V w/ Fan $25. No fuss, no muss, no rebates. Runner up in the DotD category is this $25 Antec case w/ 300W PSU after rebates. Not a case mod, but a very cool case or the ugliest thing you have ever seen. You be the judge. I want one. Are you wanting to get an Apple mini? Me neither, but this guy did and he seems pretty jazzed about it. I have a few things I need to get so I am off to the For Sale & Trade forums to get what I need. Need something? You’ll find it in the forums.

[H]ardNews 5th Edition

Shuttle XPC SN95G5:

ArsTechnica has posted a review the nForce3 250Ultra powered Shuttle XPC SN95G5 small form factor PC. You can see our review of the SN95G5 here for comparison purposes.

Remember your first PC? Chances are, it came in some monstrous tower or desktop form factor. It was probably loud, slow, and took up far too much space. Fortunately, those days are long behind us.

Socket 939 Shortages?

More news from the rumor mill. A little birdy told us that the “official” word from AMD to some overseas retailers is that there is no ETA for socket 939 chips right now. Of course this is just what we heard, so we are not sure what to make of this. Of course we will let you know if we get anything official on the subject.