Dell Offering Systems With No OS

Dell is now offering complete line of systems that ship without an OS installed. Good news for all you alternative OS folks out there, you can finally can get a Dell system without having to pay for an OS you aren’t going to use.

Dell's new open-source n Series desktop solution provides customers with a DimensionTM E520, E521 or C521 desktop without an installed or included Microsoft® operating system. With the n Series desktop, customers have the flexibility to install an alternative operating system (such as a version of Linux® ), and help reduce the price of this system.

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NVIDIA MXM Failure - Depends Who You Ask

We still don't have easy access to upgrade our notebook graphics, but why? The technology is there. Here is the scoop on that. Digg here please. Discuss here.

AMD To Remain At Low-Point Until 3Q

According to DigiTimes, Taiwanese motherboard makers are saying that AMD may remain at its current low point until the launch of the Socket AM2+ platform in the third quarter of 2007.

AMD reported net losses of US$574 million for the fourth quarter of 2006 on revenues US$1.77 billion. Fourth-quarter gross margins dropped to 40% from 52% in the previous quarter, and fell on year from 57% which the company recorded for the fourth quarter of 2005.

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AMD Makes Bold Quad-Core Claims

ZDNet has an interesting article about AMD’s upcoming quad-core processor plans. AMD's corporate vice president for server and workstation products lays out AMD’s plans to ramp up performance and go head to head with Intel.

"We expect across a wide variety of workloads for Barcelona to outperform Clovertown by 40 percent," Allen said. The quad-core chip will also outperform AMD's current dual-core Opterons on "floating point" mathematical calculations by a factor of 3.6 at the same clock rate, he said.

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Microsoft Extends Support For XP

Microsoft is now offering buyers of Windows XP Home Edition and Windows XP Media Center Edition an added 5yr customer support for both operating systems.

The "extended" support, which kicks in after April 2009, will bring the two products on par with Microsoft's Windows XP Professional for businesses. Microsoft previously reserved its five-year extended support feature to only enterprise-grade products.

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ASUS P5B-E

If you are upgrading to a LGA775 motherboard any time in the near future, I recommend you give our ASUS P5B-E evaluation a read, you’ll be glad you did. Here’s a quote to get you started:

While feature-wise this board appears to be aimed more at the mainstream user, the P5B-E has the power and performance to stand up to the best of the current Intel boards. From the well designed board layout to the plethora of BIOS options available for configuration, the P5B-E seems to ooze a winning attitude.

CPU Gaming Showdown & ASUS Overclocker

Make sure you don’t miss this week’s AMD/Intel CPU comparison using 8800 GTX SLI. Also today we are serving up an ASUS P5B-E motherboard review that we could use your help on. Discussion here.

Games For Windows Event Coverage

There is a one page recap of the Games For Windows event that took place yesterday. No real new news, PC gamers will be able to play against console gamers and you’ll have access to your gamertag on multiple platforms.

I won several matches against a gamer that was using a PC. Take that, controller naysayers! While we didn't get to see much of the Live Anywhere initiative in action, it's definitely an exciting development. I mean, how can you not get excited about being able to access your gamertag, saves, and downloads on a variety of machines?

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ASUS Offers Vista Ready Motherboards

ASUS has four new motherboard models specifically designed for use with Windows Vista. The motherboards include features like the AI Remote, AP Trigger, ScreenDUO and the ASUS Accelerated Propeller (ASAP). Hit the link for all the info and pictures.

The ScreenDUO provides a second display panel to enable the user to conveniently view important information without having to start up the PC. ScreenDUO can synchronize information from the PC or websites; display RSS messages, meeting schedules and other important information. This saves the user time and hassle to switch on the PC every time to view vital information.

AMD Reports 4Q Loss

Although AMD’s processor shipments grew by 26% over last year, the company reported a 4Q loss citing heavy costs related to its acquisition of ATi.

A brutal price war and Intel's increasingly competitive processors also weighed on AMD's earnings, as the company said overall shipments of its high-margin server chips were essentially flat compared with the third quarter and that selling prices for those chips were down significantly.

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P4 Overclocked To 8GHz

Nordic Hardware is saying that the OC Team Italy has taken a Pentium 4 631 and, with the help of volt mods and LN2, hit the 8GHz mark. Thanks to Brian B. for the linkage.

OC Team Italy had unpacked it golden Pentium 4 631 to throw some liquid nitrogen on it. With a non-modified ASUS P5B motherboard they managed to reach a whopping 7520MHz, but pointed out that the motherboard made it impossible to go any further. Now that they have once again mounted the copper pipe and made the necessary voltage modifications, the liquid nitrogen once again did its thing and made it possible for them to finally reach 8000MHz!

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Intel Speeds Up Delivery Of Faster Wi-Fi

C|Net says that Intel has confirmed plans to ship its next-generation wireless chips ahead of schedule as part of its Centrino program.

The new Wi-Fi chip is based on the draft 802.11n wireless standard, which is on track to be finalized later this year. It will become the newest piece of Intel's Centrino package of chips, which includes the Core 2 Duo processor, a mobile chipset, and a wireless chip.

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