[H]ardNews 1st Edition

MSI K7N2G nForce2:

DeviantPC has a handful with the latest from MSI, the K7N2G nForce2 board. If we have said it once, we have said it a million times, the nForce2 is “the board” to have for all you folks on an AMD platform. Here is a clip from the review:

NVIDIA have proved beyond doubt that the nForce 2 platform is an ideal contender for the AMD performance crown. NVIDIA's good reputation with driver design should perhaps improve the performance of the graphics on the IGP, which is substantially less than a GeForce 4 MX440. This, coupled with MSI's striking red PCB looks and good reliability should provide an ideal solution to those in the mid-range and business markets.

nForce2 Drivers:

There are brand new WinXP nForce2 drivers listed on the NVIDIA website you will want to grab a hold of. Here is what was listed at NVIDIA as changes.

WHQL certified kit for nForce and nForce2, Added nForce2 IGP support, Audio performance enhancements, SPDIF on ACI support, Adds support for audio with the ASUS A7N8X Deluxe product. Windows XP users must install Service Pack 1 prior to attempting to install this package. Failure to do so will result in the inability to support USB 2.0. Audio drivers will not install on the following nForce2 products: Chaintech 7NJS. Please use the drivers that come with these products to enable audio functionality.

Video Game Widows:

Blair sent me this little gem about what women losing their spouses online to the internet or online video games. They use EQ for an example, but it can be applied pretty much to all online games and the intarweb in general.

"I'm not ugly, stupid, or selfish, and I don't understand why he would choose imaginary people over me," says one posting on the EverQuest Widows group at Yahoo. "The sad truth is that in many ways, EQ is better than real life. It is easier to succeed in EQ; I can be beautiful, fit, and healthy. In real life I am chronically ill, and there isn't much fun or achievement to be had," writes one gamer.

Video Card Retrospective:

The Elite Bastards have a small write up that covers the history and blunders of the big three video card makers. Kinda cool to see some of the old cards they are showing. I still have a Voodoo 1 card and a pair of V2 12mb boards around here somewhere for nostalgia sake.

From here on we will be keeping score of blunders and awarding blunder points for them. Please keep your own score and compare it with mine later. There will be three sections on 3Dfx, ATI and nVidia. I try to give my best view of the three through out the given time period.