Content and news by Rob Williams

It seems like just seven months ago that AMD was rumored to be releasing three-core processors. Oh wait, it was seven months ago! Of course, we knew for a while that it was much more than a rumor, and AMD proved that today with the unveiling of their X3 8xxx processors.

Our friends at PC Perspective have taken the latest CPU from AMD for a spin and their conclusions overall were mixed. Not surprisingly, the three-cores were put to use in numerous applications, but in others, the scalability was absolutely minimal. But, like a Quad-Core, only certain applications will take advantage of all the available cores, so the X3’s will offer similar experiences.

Other than that, it’s what you’d expect. It’s a Dual-Core… with an extra core thrown into the mix. But with a 2.4GHz chip for just under $200, the 8750 might just be a great choice and a threat to Intel’s E8400. While that processor is 3.0GHz, it has two cores, so if put to good use, the 8750 might just prove more beneficial. Of course, the E8400 can overclock to 3.8GHz and higher on air… which is hard to discredit. Without question, it’s going to be interesting to see how well these sell and what the initial reaction from consumers will be.

As it stands now from the performance outlook, the AMD Phenom X3 series of parts it pretty intriguing. In most of our tests the performance of the X3 8750 CPU was better than dual-core processors including AMD’s own Athlon X2 6000+ and the Intel X6800 2.93 GHz part. There were some mixed results though including in our multimedia tests where only one of the three video encoders put the X3 8750 ahead of the X6800 or E6750 from Intel.

Source: PC Perspective

Is there such thing as a “good” DRM? As far as I’m concerned, there isn’t. As I’ve mentioned in the past (one hundred times, at least), DRM and other forms of copy protection hurt the legal consumer only. Why would someone purchase music legally and then turn around to distribute it? Very few would. Those who do want illegal music… will just go download it. It’s simple.

But I digress. Ars Technica has posted about the upcoming death of MSN Music’s DRM service, meaning all music purchased through the service (when it existed) will no longer be able to be licensed after August 10, 2008. Up until that point, you are able to make regular use of your music, including transferring to another PC. But when the date hits, you will have to listen to the music on whatever PC it’s currently on… or tough luck.

I think it goes without saying that this is a clear reason why DRM should die, right now. Companies who sell DRM music have the ability to turn off their service at any time, and when that happens, you are have the equivalent of a digital paperweight. You will either have to purchase the music again elsewhere or go without. Though on a positive note, more and more online music stores are indeed moving towards offering DRM-free files for the bulk of their collections, so we are on the right track. The progress just can’t happen fast enough.

This doesn’t just apply to the five different computers that PlaysForSure allows users to authorize, it also applies to operating systems on the same machine (users need to reauthorize a machine after they upgrade from Windows XP to Windows Vista, for example). Once September rolls around, users are committed to whatever five machines they may have authorized—along with whatever OS they are running.

Source: Ars Technica

Targeting newer photographers, the Nikon D60 is priced right and includes a fantastic feature set. On top of the 10MP sensor, the D60 includes an automatic sensor cleaner, a vibration reduction kit lens, fast 3FPS performance, high ISO modes and a lot more.

When it comes to performance memory, what’s the company to first pop into your mind? OCZ? Corsair? Mushkin? Well today, Super Talent can officially say that they offer the best DDR3 kit currently available. At DDR3-1800, it’s not the fastest kit out there, but what makes this one special is the fact that it’s 4GB… no other 4GB kit available reaches that height.

The kit is made even sweeter with the rather tight latencies of 8-8-8-24 at 1.9v. Given the sheer speed and density of these, those timings are rather impressive and a good sign of what’s to come. DDR3 hasn’t even been commercially available for a year, and the differences between today’s kits and what was available at launch are totally night and day.

So what will it take to own this blazing-fast kit? Why, only $499! Sure, it’s high, but the humorous thing is that $500 just 10 months ago would have scored you a 2GB DDR3 kit with very embarrassing specs. By years-end, the prices could even be half of what they are now, spec for spec. As for purchase, Super Talent is only offering this particular kit at eWiz.com for now, but it’s currently not in stock.

Super Talent’s Project X memory is widely regarded as the world’s most advanced DDR3. “This represents another major first-to-market milestone for Super Talent”, commented Super Talent Marketing Director, Joe James. “While competitors are only able to produce 4GB kits up to DDR3-1600, we’ve engineered a kit that performs at elevated clock speeds while still supporting aggressive latencies.”

Source: Super Talent

Well well, it looks as though popular e-tailer NewEgg is looking to be much more than a simple computer hardware e-tailer, and who can blame them? They have the crowd, so launching a new service split off from their primary business seems like a good idea. That’s where NewEgg Mall comes in, a service that’s poised to compete with Amazon.com, on a small level at first, of course.

The service is up and running, but according to Kris at DailyTech, it’s not to officially launch until late May. So consider this a “beta” phase. Like Amazon, sellers are able to sign up as a merchant and begin selling their wares, and apparently NewEgg’s final sale fee works on a similar scale to Amazon’s. That leads me to wonder what motivation there would be to move on over, but since neither service charges you unless there is a sale (correct me if I’m wrong), then the more the merrier.

Though not officially launched, merchants can sign up now, if interested. This is a new look for NewEgg, and I’m looking forward to seeing where it will go. But for now, I’ll just continue being disgruntled since they don’t ship to Canada, despite demand…

The end result is, well, Amazon. Consumers can buy from the NeweggMall site, and products are drop-shipped from the reseller. Newegg takes a portion of the revenue from the sale, which it justifies by handling the portal and logistics. Depending on category, that portion can range from 6 to 15 percent, nearly identical to the revenue share structure at Amazon.com.

Source: DailyTech

With ASUS’ brand-new Eee PC 4G now hitting e-tailers and retailers with Windows XP pre-installed, it’s almost hard to resist, right? Well, that might depend on how much you want to give Intel’s latest Atom architecture a go, because if rumors prove true, the same Eee PC that was just released, will be re-released in June using the brand new processor.

With that in consideration, the decision to purchase now is made difficult. Once Atom is inside the Eee PC, pricing shouldn’t change even in the slightest. Compared to the current Eee PC Celeron processor, the Atom CPU will be more efficient overall, resulting in lower power draw and higher frequencies.

If you need an Eee PC now, I don’t think this news should stop you, since it is a month and a half away. But those who can wait, might not regret it. Intel boasts the fact that over 25 low-cost notebooks are soon to be equipped with Atom, so it shouldn’t be too much longer before we see performance benchmarks and can understand just how much better it will be.

Atom is the name of the processor formerly called Diamondville. It was designed for low-cost laptop PCs, ultramobile PCs, Mobile Internet Devices (MIDs) and other small devices aimed at connecting to the Internet. The processor is tiny, less than 25 square millimeters, will be priced low, and run at a battery-efficient 0.6 watts to 2.5 watts thermal design power, according to Intel.

Source: PC World

Sometimes, Microsoft does something that is worth bragging about, so we hear about it everywhere. Other times, they do something different and don’t want anyone to know about. This is one of those times, with the initial test of offering ad-supported software. The software in question is Works 9, a lightweight Office (it’s rare to see good reviews on the product).

The idea is simple. Offer up the application with small ads displayed within the word processor and spreadsheet editor and get paid that way, rather than straight out of the users pocket. It’s hard to say now, but this could be something small that will turn into something huge at some point. Works is a very small product, and at only $35 retail, Microsoft is not taking too much of a risk here.

The interesting thing is how quiet the company is keeping. Right now, you can only acquire the product with a new PC, but good luck finding out which new PC. According to the Beyond Binary blog, Packard Bell is offering it on a few systems in the UK, while Sony is offering it within the US. It will still require a keen eye to spot, however.

Microsoft remains cagey on the details of where you can find Works SE. The company has been testing Works SE in 5 countries: The United States, France, Canada, Poland and the United Kingdom. It is available only through select computer makers and Microsoft won’t say which computer makers those are.

Source: Beyond Binary

With Vista SP1 having been out for just over a month, isn’t it about time that Windows XP gets the love it deserves? If you say yes, then don’t worry, it will happen next Tuesday, according to a TechNet forum post. At that time, it will become available as a direct download off of the Microsoft web site, and also become available through Windows’ built-in updater.

Should you be excited? Not really. Not unless there is a specific feature you know that’s going to be added, because after installation, the noticeable differences are minimal. According to the Defense In Depth blog at News.com, SP3 will prove useful for network administrators far more than home users, but everyone should upgrade on release for the sake of being up to date.

Initial installation reports are good, and when I installed the RC1, I also had no problem, so I only imagine that the RTM is all the better. Worth the download if you can find it now, but for those who don’t mind waiting, look forward to it next Tuesday.

Microsoft says the service pack includes functionality previously released as updates. Perhaps that’s why the download and installation for SP3 was effortless on our test system. XP SP3 took only 30 minutes to download, and 10 minutes to install.

Source: Defense In Depth

It’s been quite some time since Western Digital has issued a follow-up to their Raptor line-up, but that happens now, with the help of their “VelociRaptor” VR150 drive. What’s this mean to you? More space, faster speeds, quieter operation and oddly enough, lower power consumption.

The biggest issue with previous EL150 drives was their density. Granted, 10K RPM is undoubtedly fast, but when you only get a maximum of 150 GB out of the drive, it’s a definite trade off. Most things were done right with the VR150, however. Despite being physically smaller (2.5″ compared to 3.5″), it has faster seek times, higher data rates and as I mentioned, lower power consumption. It seems like the perfect drive.

But even at 300 GB, there are a few issues. The first is the price, at $1 per GB. The second is that the drive utilizes a 16 MB Cache, whereas most other high-end desktop drives use 32 MB. What differences could be seen are unknown, but it would have been a nice number regardless. Our friends at the Tech Report were so impressed with WD’s new offering, it deserved their Editor’s Choice award, so don’t hesitate to take a look at their (exhaustive) review.

Credit: Tech Report

The VelociRaptor offers excellent performance across a wide range of applications, but its most spectacular showing was easily with IOMeter’s multi-user workloads. These workloads don’t simulate typical desktop environments, of course, but they’re the most demanding tests we run. And they make a heck of a case for an enterprise derivative of the VelociRaptor. The 2.5″ form factor is perfect for rack-mount systems where the VelociRaptor’s low power consumption and strong multi-user performance will surely be appreciated.

Source: Tech Report

Intel today has announced price-drops on many models from their 65nm line-up, including the Q6600 and E6850. The Q6700 sees the biggest drop, from $530 to $266, while the Q6600 sits comfortably at $224. For some Dual-Core action, the fast E6850 has dropped 31% in price, and all three Xeon-equivalents to these models have had their price dropped respectively as well.

While these prices drops are nice to see, I wish we saw them sooner. Because Intel’s own 45nm line-up is becoming more readily available, the decision between these price-dropped models or the newer product is made more difficult. This of course excludes the Celeron’s and Pentium’s, since there are no 45nm models for those, yet.

The Q6600 drop is a good one though, since even the lowest 45nm Quad-Core (Q9300) sits at $290 on most e-tailers. The E6850 is well-priced at $183 as well, but if that’s a “to e-tailer” price, then it would still be priced the same as the E8400, which we find to be a much better option. If you happened to read our review of the E8400, then you’d know why.

When a company boasts products that emulate Apple’s own offerings but for a fraction of the price, people tend to listen. Such was the case with Psystar over the course of the past two weeks. The company seemed to come out of nowhere, and then offered a product no one would have ever expected.

If you’ve been following the story, then you are likely aware that there is a lot of skepticism surrounding the company, and for good reason. Over the past week, Psystar changed their business address no less than four times, and at one point even had to disable their checkout system. Sketchy, indeed.

The company has now updated their site announcing that all orders up to now are now shipping, and that the initial orders have now shipped. That’s a good sign, but I still remain skeptical and would not recommend going through with a purchase until we see others with actual systems in hand. If this is legit, who can help but be excited to see how Apple handles this?

To all, we challenge you, let’s see if we can max this one out. Regarding shipping, orders placed the week of April 7th are currently being shipped. We will be shipping units out of our new facility starting Monday, April 21st, including those orders placed the week of April 14th.

Source: Psystar – Via: One More Thing Blog

It was discovered the other day that most, if not all of the initial Grand Theft Auto IV reviews are overwhelmingly positive, but if that wasn’t enough to get you excited, then maybe the latest rumor to hit the wire will do the trick. According to Computer and Video Games’ new GTA Collector’s Edition magazine, Rockstar may be planning to include complete cities as downloadable content.

At first glance it’s easy to think, “Yeah, right!”, but the fact of the matter is, it is possible. But as usual, there are so many facts to look at. First and foremost, the revamped Liberty City in GTA IV will be smaller than the map in San Andreas, so adding another city seems unlikely. But on the other hand, Microsoft did pay $50 million for the rights to exclusive content. Could the game itself even cost $50 million to develop?

The fact of the matter is, and also the sad reality, is that the Xbox 360 will be seeing the bulk of the DLC, whether or not it will be an entire city… completely unfortunate for those who plan on purchasing the PS3 version. Like most things, we’ll just have to wait and see how it all plays out.

…but GTA IV is set to completely redefine the idea with expansions that are to GTA IV what Vice City or San Andreas were GTA III. Yes, Rockstar is clearly hinting at new downloadable cities; and the chances of them being London, Vice City or SA again are slim to none. So that’s new as in brand new. GTA IV’s Liberty City is the beginning. Think about that and be excited.

Source: Kotaku

I doubt it will take many people by surprise to learn that PayPal and eBay are two of most popular sites vulnerable to phishing attacks, and even though it might not be evident, both have been taking that fact seriously. Recently, PayPal has put forth a plan to ban certain browsers from accessing the site due to their lack of anti-phishing features. Though most of the browsers are outdated, Apple’s Safari is looking to be a notable current browser to be banned – at least until it includes anti-phishing protection.

The sad reality is, though, that this added protection will only affect those who regularly visit PayPal or eBay, because that’s the only way someone will find out about a browser incompatibility. If a user doesn’t visit either site and receives a phishing e-mail, nothing stops them from clicking it. The ideal scenario is that a user will visit either site, see the warning and then proceed to upgrade to a different browser. Then from that point forward, they’d be less likely to fall for a phishing attack.

This is a fantastic move and one that should have been implemented a bit sooner. However, once in place, it should better prevent poor saps from falling into these attacks. PayPal boasts that over the previous two years, their efforts have resulted in far less phishing e-mails being sent out, so we can only hope this latest step will further push them towards nothingness.

Third-tier browsers are the only browsers that would be blocked from accessing PayPal altogether. Again, PayPal is light on the details, though the company does state that both Internet Explorer 3 and IE 4 fall into this category. The most surprising part of the company’s presentation, in fact, may have been its revelation that some PayPal users are actually still using IE 3 at all.

Source: Ars Technica

At 2.53GHz and $133 USD, the E7200 promises to become the new Dual-Core budget superstar. After taking a hard look at the upcoming offering, we would have to readily agree. Overclocking only sweetens the deal further, with 3.0GHz on stock voltages being more than possible. We have a winner!

By now I’m sure many of you are either well aware of GT5 Prologue’s launch, or you could already be playing it yourself. I purchased yesterday and managed to drag myself away from the PC for a few hours to get some good game time in, and I have to say, it’s a well put together title. It has problems, but does good to help hold people over until GT5.

I don’t believe the game to be worth the $40.00 asking price though. Granted, that’s still $20 less expensive than most new PS3 titles, but this game lacks a lot of content. Six tracks, sixty cars, no customization/upgrades… and a general lack of functionality. Even the tracks themselves are shorter than they should be (when compared to their real-world counterpart). In all fairness, I’m still early in the game, so those might grow.

The graphics are not too mind-blowing, but the presentation is still sharp at 1080p. The car models themselves are what make the game though, and they all simply look gorgeous. Each car offers stock color options, which was nice (M3 Sparkling Graphite, ftw!), but again, each manufacturer only includes a few different models, so it’s a little bland in that regard. At least what’s there, kicks ass (well… minus the Suzuki Cappuccino).

GT5 didn’t “floor” me, but it’s the classiest racer out there and includes a lot of great music on top of having decent online play. I personally have a few odd issues (such as the date being incorrect, even though it’s correct on the console) and found the online play to be incredibly laggy in some online races, but hopefully you’ll avoid both of those issues. If you have $40 to blow and want a solid racer, this game will definitely kill your entire weekend.

Alright. Who out there thought for a second that Grand Theft Auto IV was going to be a lackluster title? Come on, admit it. None of you? Well that’s great, because had you thought that, you would have been kicking yourself right now because of how WRONG you would have been.

In a Take-Two shareholders meeting, Chairman Strauss Zelnick let it slip that he’s seen pre-reviews of the game from major publications and is quoted, “to a one, they are perfect scores.”

Outright lying during a shareholders meeting is generally frowned upon, so it’s likely that the game is indeed going to receive some rave reviews. Whether or not all of the reviews are actually going to award “perfect” scores to the game, from all we’ve heard so far, it is definitely shaping up to be one heck of an experience. April 29 cannot get here quick enough…

It’s no surprise that GTA IV is garnering great reviews, as all previous major GTA releases have as well. It is interesting that the reviews are apparently flawless – not to mention that Zelnick has revealed this information ahead of time.

Source: GamePolitics

When Intel first launched their Quad-Core processors in late 2006, people wondered what the point was. Just how could someone reap rewards from four cores? It’s been a while since that time, and now more than ever, multi-threaded applications are popping up in droves. But even now, some of the most common applications are still not multi-threaded, and some that are, won’t even use more than two cores.

Of course, that’s for the majority of people, and don’t be surprised if we see a whopping 12-core (Dozenal-Core?) later this year. According to DailyTech, engineers have admitted to great things ahead, which includes a revised HyperTransport 3.0 clock generator and also 6-core offerings, to help combat Intel’s upcoming Dunnington chip.

With the upcoming “Istanbul” 6-core offering and the fact that dual-die models are in the works, it would be possible to see a 12-core chip. The big question is whether we actually will or not, because there isn’t exactly a huge need for it, except in workstations and servers. However, it’s one thing to actually need something, but it’s a completely different thing for it to be amazing to think about nonetheless.

But sextuple-core processors have been done, or at least we’ll see the first ones this year. The real neat stuff comes a few months after, where AMD will finally ditch the “native-core” rhetoric. Two separate reports sent to DailyTech from AMD partners indicate that Shanghai and its derivatives will also get twin-die per package treatment.

Source: DailyTech

For those who might have missed it, our resident audiophile, Rory Buszka, has posted an article that compares Creative’s native EAX to ASUS’ clone, called DS3D GX 2.0. Essentially, this article stemmed from a complaint that Creative sent their press release list which stated that ASUS was wrong in claiming that their Xonar cards supported their EAX technology, and technically speaking, that was correct.

I won’t get deep into the whys and hows here, since Rory took care of that in his article, but the goal was simple: Can ASUS’ GX 2.0 compare to native EAX? Would a casual gamer notice the difference? The results are somewhat surprising, because even though ASUS’ solution wasn’t perfect, it came amazingly close to actual EAX, minus the buggy drivers and all that nonsense.

Many posters in our forums have mentioned that we should have performed more testing, including performance, however, we should reiterate our goals. This was not a “Creative vs. The World” article, but rather a look at how the competition’s EAX “emulator” and general gaming audio stacked up against the reigning king. So check it out, especially if you are in the market for a new audio card.

While ASUS support of EAX 5.0 isn’t true “EAX” – they haven’t licensed anything from Creative – the DirectSound3D GX 2.0 extension set aims to free the positional 3D audio market from Creative’s grip by performing the same functions in EAX 5.0-enabled games, without the Vista compatibility issues of hardware-acceleration, and the half-baked ALchemy solution.

Source: Creative EAX vs. ASUS DS3D GX 2.0

When you hear the word “free”, do your ears perk up? If so, then you’ll love the fact that TrackMania Nations’ “sequel” is just that… free! With it comes 65 brand-new tracks, full ability to customize and edit those tracks and also the ability to play online with owners of the full-blown $40 game.

So what does “Forever” lack that the full version doesn’t? Forever is maimed in that it allows Stadium races only, so for everything else, you’ll need to fork over the money. However, this is one game I’ve never heard a bad thing about, from anyone, so chances are that this free offering will sell you. It’s a quality game from a quality company who actually cares about… quality. If only we had more of that in this industry.

Many sites are hosting the game, but I tend to have good luck with either Gamers Hell or FileFront. For you Steam users, you can download the game that way. If you happened to have already owned TM on Steam, it should now be converted to Forever and auto-update next time you log on.

The latest version of anything-goes arcade/puzzle racer Trackmania is out, and it’s free. Unfortunately the Trackmania Nations Forever website is currently taking more of a hammering than would, if I had a hammer, the morning, and the evening, all over this land. Having eventually had it working long enough to reach the download page, turns out it’s actually a forward to Filefront. The download is 504 of your Earth megabytes.

Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun

The big SSD-related news of late comes courtesy of Seagate, the world’s largest hard-drive manufacturer, but it’s not all good. We would hope that as the world’s largest drive maker, then they themselves would be announcing their own SSD, but no. Apparently, all current SSD manufacturers are infringing on four Seagate-owned patents related to the technology.

News.com asks the question of whether or not Seagate actually owns the patents to what we know as an SSD, but at this point, it’s difficult to know for sure since a single patent could have such a wide scope, and this is one product-type that would be difficult to sum up. With their recent lawsuit towards STEC, the answer might soon be seen.

Being a long-time fan of Seagate, I am hoping that they actually have a reason to sue. Even still, I find is strange that they seem to have no intention of releasing such drives themselves. Even if the CEO finds no use with them, where there is demand, sales will be seen. It’s been well documented that while not perfect, SSDs do indeed have some incredible benefits.

So if the patent is so good why would Seagate go after STEC? To set an example. In the tech world, companies typically don’t like to sign license and royalty agreements. Potential licensees often make the patent holder sue one or more companies first. If the potential licensees prevail, the conflict can fade away.

Source: C|Net News.com