[H]ardNews 3rd Edition

NV40 & R420 Testing:

Part two of the NV40 & R420 performance test at Spode’s Abode is online. The round-up covers the GFFX 5950, GF600, GF6800 Ultra, 9800XT, X800 Pro and X800XT PE.

Following up on Part 1, we have now had a bit more time with the cards in question, so we can give a more accurate comment on their performance. Over the past few months drivers have been released, fixing bugs, increasing performance and image quality from both sides.

Swiftech MCX159-R:

Everyone needs good chipset cooling nowadays. Check out this Portuguese review of the Swiftech MCX159-R . Translator required for reading, pretty pictures and graphs are universal.

The Swiftech MCX159-R impresses since the unpacking time. It looks great, has an excelent construction and it is a top-performer. It can cool any chipset in any situation even if we use high voltages and frequencies.

Corsair PC3200XL Pro:

Another Corsair PC3200XL Pro review has hit the web. This time around the crew at PC Unleash have thrown together a quick and dirty one page review of Corsair’s latest in low latency memory.

The speed of the RAM comes into play in serious applications as well as in the newest, memory-consuming games. Although I have to admit that the 3200XL is not the most cost-effective product, It has succeeded in achieving the incredibly low timing of 5-2-2-2 at 2.7 volts.

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

Nacona On Monday:

There has been a bunch of different stories about the upcoming 32/64-bit Nacona over the last few weeks but News.com has an article today that says the wait is over, the Nacona will be released on Monday. Comparing the Opteron to the Nacona should make for interesting reviews over the next few weeks.

The 64-bit squabble will heat up Monday, when Intel comes out with its first 32/64-bit chip for workstations and servers. Nocona, the code name of a Xeon chip from Intel, can run both 32-bit software, the kind found on most PCs today, and 64-bit software such as complex databases. The chip is expected to debut at 3.6GHz and lower speeds and come with an 800MHz system bus.

[H]ardNews 1st Edition - Mods & Ends

Case & Power:

NZXT Guardian ATX Case @ 3DXtreme - Akasa PaxPower 460W PSU @ Trusted Reviews - GlobalWIN YCC-1102 MATX @ Systemcooling - QTechnology 460W PSU @ Dirk Vader

Cooling:

Alpha PAL 8150T HSF @ Dark Tweaker

Misc.:

Stealth HTPC Mod @ ExtentionTech - Compro VideoMate USB 2.0 TV Tuner/Capture @ OCAU - Vantec EZ Grip Molex Connectors

[H]ardNews 10th Edition

Online Games = Addictive?

Chris Morris covers massively multiplayer online games (MMOG) and the impact they are having on the industry, you and the legal ramifications of “addictive” game play. More and more you are seeing court cases that involve everything from suing over online “property”, abuse and neglect all being blamed on the game industry. As always, some really good reading:

"Oh, don't worry... In the gaming world, addicted means something different than in the real world. You see, here it's something to strive for. Heck, everybody's trying to paint their games as addictive. Some companies even use the word in their marketing and advertising."

[H]ardNews 9th Edition

Soltek Qbic EQ3801 SFF:

People looking to put together a nForce 3 powered, Athlon64 small form factor system will certainly be interested in this Soltek Qbic EQ3801 SFF review at SFFTech.

Today, when looking at an Athlon 64 based SFF, the decision comes down to features and aesthetics. However, offering the only nForce 3 250Gb SFF on the market today, Soltek is the clear choice for those looking to invest in nVidia’s latest AMD chipset.

You have to admit, that is pretty funny. I imagine that it is hard NOT to be the “clear choice” for a SFF with AMD’s latest chipset when you are the only company with a nForce3 250Gb SFF.

High Performance Windows:

Microsoft has been working with the Cornell Theory Center on parallel computing and says they will have a high performance version of Windows ready by second half of 2005 that is designed specifically for parallel computing.

Microsoft is developing a version of its Windows Server 2003 operating system that's designed to handle applications running across dozens of single- or dual-processor computers working in parallel, the company said Wednesday.

[H]ardNews 8th Edition - Mods & Ends

Cases:

CoolerMaster Cavalier 4 HTPC Case @ Viper Lair - Logisys Armor Gaming Case @ Fastlane HW - Travala C138 MiniITX Case @ Hard-h2o

Cooling:

CoolerMaster Hyper 6 HSF @ XYZ Computing

Misc.:

Simple Talent USB 2.0 Flash Drive @ CoolTech Zone - Samsung Yepp MP3 Player @ PCStats - Actiontec Bluetooth Headset @ NewTechInfo

[H]ardNews 7th Edition

RIAA Lawsuits Not Working:

The New York Times has an Op/Ed that says the RIAA lawsuits aren’t working. We have said for a long time that song swapping is not the reason that CD sales are in decline. Personally I believe there are many other factors with far greater impact on CD sales than file sharing, and suing your customers sends the wrong message. I believe this author is right on the money when they say “Given its hold in our culture, downloading, in some form, must be part of any solution to this impasse”.

In other words, at the exact moment file-sharing activity rose, so did CD sales. These numbers supported an economic study by Profs. Felix Oberholzer-Gee and Koleman S. Strumpf. Their findings indicated that file sharing had no measurable effect on music sales. "At most, file sharing can explain a tiny fraction of this decline," the professors concluded.

[H]ardNews 6th Edition

SiS Chipset Roadmap:

Our friends at the Tech Report have taken a look at the SiS desktop roadmap and laid out their thoughts on the direction SiS is heading and what it means to you. Good Stuff.

Enthusiasts tend to view SiS as a low-end player, and given the company's strong presence in budget motherboards, it's easy to see why. However, few enthusiasts are aware that SiS also makes high-end chipsets that perform well enough to run with the fastest core logic offerings from Intel, NVIDIA, and VIA.

ASUS AX800 Pro/TD:

If you are in the market for an ATi X800 video card be sure to check out the ASUS AX800 Pro/TD reviewed by the crew at Legion Hardware.

Overall, if it's performance you want its performance you will get with the ATi Radeon X 800 Pro. It would seem ATi’s recent experience in making first class high-end products has served them well.

XFX GF 6800 Ultra:

The other high-end video card that has everyone’s interest is NVIDIA’s GF 6800. Hexus has the XFX branded GF 6800 Ultra reviewed today for your viewing pleasure.

If you're prepared the pay the price however, there's a lot to recommend with the XFX. A good games bundle, attractive presentation and VIVO capability are the highlights, the board's intrinsic performance does the rest.

Craig Barrett On Itanium 2:

Intel’s CEO, Craig Barrett, says the Itanium 2 is ready for battle. The article quotes some interesting questions and answers from an interview with Mr. Barrett. Thank Joe Alpert for this one.

[H]ardNews 5th Edition

Motorcycle Computer Mod:

We have all seen the CarPC mods, but have you ever seen a Motorcyle PC mod? Long time [H]’er, Jeremy Erb, sent in this link to a motorcycle PC mod that is pretty damn spanky. Now all he needs to do is make a motorcycle jacket for the driver that has a keyboard and ratpadz built into the back of the jacket so that the passenger can surf the net or play games while he’s driving.

[H]ardNews - Blair's Tech Ed.

Free Software To Residents:

Check it out, free software for Indiana residents. The software is called SimIndiana and was made for e-mail; remote printing; spread sheets; calendars and is free to anyone who wants it.

Any Hoosier with a computer and internet access will be a mouse-click away from free software that will provide e-mail, word processing, file sharing and other tools. Lt. Gov. Kathy Davis announced the new SimIndiana program this morning at the Indiana State Library.

Stickers Against Piracy:

How about a bumper sticker campaign against piracy? Sounds crazy? It might be, but they are still doing it in Taiwan.

The sticker campaign is organized by the Intellectual Property Office of Singapore (Ipos) and members of its Honour Intellectual Property Alliance, such as Microsoft, Nokia, Symantec, the Motion Picture Association and the Recording Industry Association (Singapore).

Defrauding Google = Bad:

What kind of jackass tries to extort money from Google in a hairbrained scheme like this one?

A California man has been arraigned on federal extortion and wire fraud charges arising from a software programme he claimed could allow spammers to defraud Web search company Google of millions of dollars.

Juice On Demand:

Here is some cool battery technology that allows a car to give juice where it is need while curbing electricity to the not so significant functions.

An automotive technology that prioritizes and regulates the power supply to a car's electrical systems could ease the growing burden on the beleaguered battery. Developed by researchers at Siemens, the power trader system distributes available electric power depending on the driving conditions at any given moment.

[H]ardNews 3rd Edition

BFG 5900OC:

HotHardware has the BFG Tech 5900OC on the review bench today. One thing for sure, the 5900OC is a whole lotta card for the money. You can see our review of the 5900OC here for comparison purposes.

First, we fully expected this card to beat out the other cards in the mid-range market - there's no surprise there. Also, it comes overclocked right out of the box, meaning that all other things being equal, it's more powerful than any standard GeForce FX 5900XT.

ASCII Inventor Died:

Bob Bemer died yesterday. One of the inventors of the ASCII coding system and also contributed the backslash and the escape key to the computer language.

Bob Bemer, a computer pioneer who published warnings of the Y2K problem in the early 1970s and helped invent a widely used coding system, has died after a battle with cancer. He was 84.

9800Pro Volt Mod Guide:

If you are looking for a Radeon 9800Pro Volt Mod Guide then Rojak’s Pot has got you covered.

As the title suggests, this guide will be all about volt modding the ATI Radeon 9800 Pro. I will cover all existing voltage modding methods as well as a new and easier method that I discovered and personally tested.

[H]ardNews 2nd Edition

Web Surfers Beware:

If it isn’t bad enough that we have to worry about spam, virus, worms and so on…now we have to worry about visiting compromised web sites that have been hijacked by crooks exploiting the latest two unfixed IE bugs.

Researchers warned surfers to be on guard after uncovering evidence that widespread Web server compromises have turned corporate home pages into points of digital infection. The researchers believe that online organized crime groups are breaking into Web servers and surreptitiously inserting code that takes advantage of two flaws in Internet Explorer that Microsoft has not yet fixed.