Content and news by Rob Williams

“Soon we are going to celebrate the anniversary of the new PCI-Express interface (PCI-E). But over more than 9 months of actual sales, PCI-E based products (both video cards and motherboards) didn’t manage to conquer even half of the market (its corresponding segments, of course).

The demand intensity for new products with AGP interface already begins to decline, but still too many users want to buy exactly AGP video cards. It must be admitted that NVIDIA had a better forecast of the future situation. That’s why the company designed an all-purpose HSI bridge from the very beginning. It had been initially used to manufacture video cards with old AGP chips, but equipped with a PCI-E connector. Then, vice versa, it was used to transform more advanced and interesting solutions with a GPU-embedded PCI-E interface into similar AGP products (GeForce 6200/6600/6800).”

Check out the full review over at Digit-Life.

Seoul, Korea May 11 , 2005 – NCsoft, the world’s leading developer and publisher of online computer games, today announced that it is continuing its licensing relationship with Epic Games by licensing Epic’s Unreal® Engine 3 technology and tools. NCsoft has been working with the prior version of the Unreal Engine and Comment (0) -->

“Taking a stab at the security world and, further, a punch at anti-virus giants Symantec and McAfee, Microsoft said it will release Windows OneCare, a subscription PC tuneup and firewall service to ride along with virus and spyware protection.”

At a projected $80 per year, that’s not so bad, considering it’s an all in one package. Hopefully it will prove to be a killer app. Read about it at Web Pro News.

“GameBanshee recently had the opportunity to chat with Obsidian Entertainment’s John Morgan, Ferret Baudoin, and Chris Avellone about their upcoming Neverwinter Nights sequel. In the interview, the three developers discuss the game’s storyline, multiplayer enhancements, follower system, and even hint to the fact that they have indeed purchased the rights to the Comment (0) -->

“Another Contest!! We are giving away a PNY GeForce FX 5200 Verto! All you have to do is have 5 posts in the forums and submit your case to the case gallery. Once you have posted your case reply to this topic with a link to your case in the case gallery. It’s that simple! This contest will run for 3 weeks, so get in the Case Gallery and post your case!”

Check out all the details at Think Computers.

“Two of the most innovative design firms in the world-San Francisco-based Astro Studios and Osaka, Japan-based Hers Experimental Design Laboratory Inc.-came together to craft a sleek, stylish system that conveys the very essence of Xbox 360.”

Read about it at Hexus.

“Well after spending days with the case and playing around with the VFD, I have to say it has been a learning experience. The whole package is excellent from the finish to the design. Silverstone have done it again and as always I walk away from a review of there hardware impressed, ok there are a few cons but these are minor and can be rectified easily with a simple fan speed control cable to silence those rear 60mm’s a bit…..”

Head over to Xtreme Computing for the full review!

“Tritton hints its SEE2 – the industry’s first USB 2.0 to SVGA adapter – is going to be Mac mini-compatible beginning July 5th. That means when the SEE2 for Mac mini releases, it will be the only option of extending or mirroring desktop area to another monitor. That is unless someone makes one with FireWire 400.”

Check it out at Everything USB.

“A few weeks ago we took a look at the Thunder 8 Gaming Pad. Its surface was great for gaming but a little small for some of us. Today, we look at the Thunder 9 Gaming Pad with the same great gaming surface, but a bit larger in size. Let’s find out if it as good of a pad.”

Check out the full review over at A True Review.

“Personal computing is becoming friendlier by the day. With so many enthusiasts working with portable electronic gadgets, Sunbeam’s 20-in-1 Superior Panel can come in really handy at times.”

Head over to Insane Tek for the full review.

“Performance in our tests was pretty good. In all the game tests, except Doom 3, the x800XL did very nicely providing playable frame rates in basically all situations. Doom 3 is playable at 1024*768 with 4X AA and 16X ansiotropic filtering, but going higher isn’t too recommended.”

Check out the full review at Viper Lair!

This nForce v6.xx Beta mix for nVidia nForce2/3 contains the below components:

• Audio driver version 4.60 (WHQL)
• Audio utility version 4.51
• Ethernet NRM driver version 4.75 (WHQL)
• Network management tools version 4.75
• GART driver version 4.40
• Memory controller driver version 4.40
• SMBus driver version 4.45 (WHQL) with updated uninstaller files
• Installer version 4.60
• Win2K IDE driver version 5.18 (WHQL)
• Win2K RAIDTOOL 2.7 application version 4.82
• WinXP IDE driver version 5.18 (WHQL)
• WinXP RAIDTOOL 2.7 application version 4.82

Use at your own risk, and get it here!

" ECS has brought something very new to the table – a motherboard that carries a number of modern features and one that opens up the way for multi-CPU support. In the oft-boring, stagnant world of motherboard design, the ECS ELITEGROUP PF88 Extreme is a breath of very fresh air."

Now, this is far from a normal motherboard. See how it made out at Hexus.

“The Pentium 4 3.2E LGA775 (Land Grid Array) Socket 775 processor is based on the same 0.09 micron manufacturing process as its Socket 478 Prescott cousin. Actually, the CPU is based on the same ‘Prescott’ core as is found within Socket 478 CPUs; and includes the 31-stage pipeline which is 50% longer than that found in the ‘Northwood’ core Pentium 4 processors, with a 16KB L1 cache and a large 1MB L2 cache.”

Head over to PC Stats for the full review.

“According to reports surfacing from Taiwan overnight, graphics card supremo nVidia looks set to show its next generation of GPU (graphics processing unit) within the next few weeks.

Carrying the pre-production moniker of G70, nVidia’s new GPU should deliver twice the performance of the current flagship series, the GeForce 6800, in a move clearly aimed at taking the limelight away from current tech sector darling ATI.”

Check out the posting at Spong.

“Microsoft Corp. co-founder Bill Gates says Apple Computer Corp. shouldn’t get comfortable atop the portable music playing world.

“I don’t think the success of the iPod can continue in the long term, however good Apple may be,” the former chairman of Microsoft, the world’s biggest maker of computer software, was quoted as telling German daily Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung in an interview published Thursday.”

One CEO bashing a competitors product.. go figure. However, I can’t see iPOD’s going away soon. You can read the full report at Forbes.

“Though numerous leaks have burst Microsoft’s secrecy bubble, the show must go on. MTV will debut the Xbox 360 to a worldwide audience on cable and satellite networks tonight. The unveiling marks the first time a video game system has been revealed through a major television network.”

Be sure to tune in! Read about it at Punch Jump.

“On Wednesday, Microsoft announced that it was working with the state of Massachusetts to stop one of the world’s largest spam rings, which was working out of the Boston area. The civil complaint resulted in a state judge ordering the shutdown of spam operation, which had been generating millions of unsolicited spam messages each month.

“We applaud [Massachusetts] Attorney General [Tom] Reilly for his strong leadership and sustained anti-spam efforts because spam is not just annoying, in this case, it’s illegal,” says Microsoft senior vice president and general counsel Brad Smith. “Spam can be devious, intentionally deceptive and is sometimes loaded with either viruses that crash computers or trickery designed to get you to give up your personal information.”

Who says Microsoft is all bad? Kudos to them.. ANYTHING to stop spam. Read about it at Windows IT Pro.

“As the consumer electronics and personal computing worlds continue to converge, the companies believe high-quality digital media technologies are bridging the two arenas and enabling new and exciting scenarios that deliver a shared vision of multimedia content available anytime, anywhere.”

Read more at E-Commerce Times.

“This EverGlide Ricochet Pro does everything it says it will do while looking, smart, clean, neat and tidy on our desks. What more can you ask of a mouse mat. And with the easy at which our mice slip-slide over the surface game playing is a breeze while making it ideal for everybody.”

Check out the full review at A1 Electronics.