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Our 2008 Contest Ends in 10 Days… Go Enter!
You know what time it is? Time for a contest reminder! It’s drawing ever-closer to the end of the month, so if you haven’t entered our birthday contest, there is no better than than RIGHT NOW. As a reminder, we are offering up a gaming PC valued at over $4,500 to one lucky winner… and all it takes is filling out a quick survey. What do you have to lose? You are online all day anyway, so spend three minutes on something that may just pay off in a huge way!
For those of you who need a friendly shove push, the PC consists of EVERY component you need. ASUS have included their killer Striker II SLI-capable motherboard along with two EN8800GT 512MB cards and also the Xonar D2 card (which half of our staff owns)… and to power the beast, we have Intel’s latest 2.66GHz Core 2 Quad Q9450.
Other such components include Dell’s brand-new 2408WFP 24-inch wide-screen, D-Link’s awesome DGL-4500 gaming router, Ultrasone’s HFI-550 closed-back headphones, Logitech’s G51 speakers, MX5500 desktop and G9 mouse and even an LG Blu-ray reader!
Once again, we thank all of our sponsors who made this contest possible, including ASUS, Crucial, Dell, D-Link, Intel, LG, Logitech, Microsoft, Seagate, Thermaltake, Ultra Products, Ultrasone and Zalman.
So what in the world are you waiting for?!
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We put our prize together with care. With much discussion of the staff, the resulting PC is very similar to what most of us would have built ourselves if we had $5,000 to spare. Each one of the components included were chosen by us, and from companies that we personally trust.
Source: Techgage 2008 Birthday Contest
Cracking RFID Using an $8 Scanner
By now, many of you are well aware of the false securities that are imposed by many institutions, including banks, but a new video at Boing Boing further proves the fact that we are are less secure than ever.
RFID chips are nothing new, and now, many credit cards, ID cards, employee ID cards and others are equipped with the technology. What’s supposed to be secure, is not so much, as proven in the video. According to hacker Pablos Holman, all you need to read an RFID chip is an $8 scanner that can be had on eBay.
In the video, he shows just how easy it is to read these cards. In a real scenario, walking up behind a person is all that it takes to read their RFID tag, unless of course, they have a metal wallet, in which case it would block the signal. But, that kind of situation would be rare. For $8 though, a malicious person could simply rub up behind you and grab your credit card and possibly even all of your identification. Scary stuff, but a blatant reality. RFID has its uses, that’s for sure, but they don’t belong in our credit cards.
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But on today’s episode of Boing Boing tv, hacker and inventor Pablos Holman shows Xeni how you can use about $8 worth of gear bought on eBay to read personal data from those credit cards — cardholder name, credit card number, and whatever else your bank embeds in this manner.
Source: Boing Boing
Can’t Find an E8400? Pick the Xeon E3110 Instead!
I’ve posted a few times this week regarding stock of 45nm Xeon Quad-Cores that are becoming available all over the place, but now it’s time to focus on the Dual-Cores, since there are many people who are looking for them, but are out of luck. It’s hard to believe, but it’s already been over fifty days since we reviewed the 3.0GHz Core 2 Duo E8400, and they still cannot be found in regular stock.
We posed the question earlier this week, and it applies here as well. Why not consider a Xeon? The E8400 equivalent is the E3110… the specifications are identical, so what’s to lose? Nothing, that’s what. In fact, you gain in most cases. While the E8400 retails for around $260 from most e-tailers when it’s actually in stock, the E3110 costs $30 less.
I have to give props to NCIX, because they have been kicking ass lately with their stock and pricing. They are currently selling the E3110 cheaper than anyone else, at $207. Yes… this 3.0GHz Dual-Core offering is $207! The second-best price I could find was at PC Connection, where it’s $230. Sadly, Canucks have to pay a small premium, but it’s on par with the E8400, at $250.
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Though I’d still be quicker to recommend the Quad-Core X3350 that I mentioned in yesterday’s posting, for those who insist on a Dual-Core (or straight-out don’t need a Quad), then the E3110 is the right choice. Though overclocking success is different with each chip, our E8400 (retail chip) overclocked to a stable 3.83GHz using stock voltages, and chances are that the E3110 should not be much different.
- Xeon E3110 3.0GHz – NCIX Canada ($250)
- Xeon E3110 3.0GHz – NCIX US ($207)
- Xeon E3110 3.0GHz – PC Connection ($230)
Update: Thanks to werty316 for finding a better NCIX Canadian link that has the E3110 for $220!
Choosing a “Perfect” 30″ Monitor? Impossible!
If there is one thing I’ve discovered recently, it’s very difficult to find a “perfect” 30-inch display. No matter what one you point your finger at… there will be a nice list of pros and cons, making weighing out your options an arduous chore. Last week, we posted a review of Gateway’s XHD3000, which does a lot right, but is still not perfect.
One thing I’m confident in, is knowing that I am not alone in thinking the process of choosing a 30-inch model is less fun than walking up a massive hill. With iron boots. In the past few weeks, I’ve read through numerous forum threads, and surprisingly, that didn’t help much. There is just no perfect model out there! Though I liked the XHD3000 a lot, (I did give it an Editor’s Choice, after all), Dell’s 3008WFP stood out to me thanks to the higher color gamut. But after much reading around, I am glad I looked the other way.
Though it may be a limited problem, I found many threads with users complaining about their personal 3008WFP units. The largest issue is with bad backlight-bleeding, which seems to be common on IPS panels, although my 24″ Dell 2408WFP exhibits no such issue. Input lag was another common problem, and while the Gateway doesn’t escape that issue, I never found it to be so bad that it would cause someone to not play a game. The absolute deal-breaker for me was seeing many forum posters talking about their second or third RMA for that display… it’s kind of needless for a model in that price-range ($1600 – $2000).
After a whack of pondering, I decided I wanted the Gateway, for many personal and obvious reasons. It offers a superb upscaler, includes plenty of connections and has a nice bright picture, at 400 cd/m2. The problem though, is that since I live in Canada, my options were few. Best Buy and its online web site are the only locations in the entire country that stock them. During the entire time I had Gateway’s review sample, the BB web site didn’t have the display in stock once. Luckily though, I checked last night and it finally happened… so I ordered one right away.
So, if you read the review and needed more proof that the XHD3000 is a great display, this is it. One of the main reasons I needed/wanted it is due to the upscaler. I need an all-in-one display, and because the upscaler chip helps make the Xbox 360 / Playstation 3 / Blu-ray movies look so damn good, it was pretty much a no-brainer. Sure, not everyone needs those secondary features, but I do, so I am glad Gateway has delivered a killer all-in-one. I go further into my thoughts regarding the purchase and also the state of things in our forums, so check out the thread!
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I looked around at other competitors, but the main problem there is that none of those have upscalers, which I love. I am confident that no other monitor out there (minus the 3008WFP, perhaps) would make the Playstation/Xbox and Blu-ray movies look so good. The upscaler on the XHD3000 is superb in those regards. It could be better, of course, but at this point in time, I have no complaints. Plus, with those scenarios, I didn’t really notice any input lag, so it could be that it will only be noticeable when playing fast FPS PC games.
Source: Related Forum Thread
Can’t Find the Q9450? How About the Xeon X3350 Instead?
Yesterday, I posted about Intel’s new 45nm Quad-Cores and the fact that they are seemingly non-existent. But, if you have been wanting to pick one up, chances are good you are already well aware of this. As mentioned in that post, there are comparable Xeon models that you can keep in mind instead, as they offer identical specs and are priced pretty much the same.
As it stands, there are two e-tailers I can find that are stocking the mid-range version of the three, the X3350. This is a 2.66GHz offering, includes 12MB of L2 Cache and a 1333FSB… identical to the Q9450. Right now, NCIX has good stock and are selling for $389.99 CAN, while PC Connection is selling theirs for $385.04, at the time of writing:
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If you are looking to delve into the 45nm Quad-Core world right now, I have no reservation in recommending the Xeon X3350. Though marketed as a server chip, there will be no loss of performance when compared to the Q9450, so you can buy now or wait a few more weeks until e-tailers get their desktop-variant stock in. If you are interested in the other Xeon models, here are the ones to look out for:
- X3360 – 12MB L2 Cache, 2.83GHz, 1333MHz, 95W
- X3350 – 12MB L2 Cache, 2.66GHz, 1333MHz, 95W
- X3320 – 6MB L2 Cache, 2.50GHz, 1333MHz, 95W
Gran Turismo 5 Prologue Hits 1 Million Euro Pre-Orders
Sure, it’s no big surprise. In fact, we knew this would happen, but it’s cooler when it’s official. The upcoming GT5 Prologue has hit over one million pre-orders in Europe. From what I gather, pre-orders from other PAL regions are included in this number. An impressive feat, but again, not much of a surprise since the game should prove to be a must-own for the PS3.
Personally, I cannot wait. For one thing, the game will offer its graphics in gorgeous 1080p, and for the first time we will be able to hop in many new cars, including the both a 2007 BMW M3 and 135i Coupé, in addition to the 2007 Nissan GT-R, a 2000 color-changing TVR Tuscan Speed Six… and not to mention the introduction of Ferrari with the 599 and F430!
The game will be released in North America on April 17th, while the lucky blokes in Europe will be treated to a March 28th launch. If NA follows Europe and Japan, then the game will both be offered as a downloadable game or store-bought Blu-ray version.
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The upcoming Gran Turismo 5 Prologue for PlayStation 3 has already reached a milestone, with SCEE confirming the title has reach one million in European pre-orders. That pretty much assures the racer of hitting platinum status within its first week of release.
Source: Joystiq
AMD Updates CPU Launch Schedule – Phenom 9850 Due In a Few Weeks
According to industry-tracking web site DigiTimes, AMD have revised their roadmap to include a few new models, all of which should launch in the coming weeks. The Phenom 9050 models will include the 9850, 9750, 9650, 9550 and the 9150. Although the 9850 was initially due to launch with a 2.6GHz clock speed, difficulties have kept it from hitting that goal, so it will be released at 2.5GHz instead.
Triple-core 8×50 Phenom’s will be launched in late April and include a TDP of 65W, and we should also be seeing dual-core Athlon 64-branded X2 Black Edition 5600+ and 4600+’s by the end of this month. For those awaiting high-end Phenom Quad-Cores, the company is still on track to launch those sometime in the third quarter.
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For the dual-core CPU market, AMD will launch the Athlon 64 X2 5600+ Black Edition and 4600+ by the end of March and will follow with Phenom-based Athlon 6250 and 6050 CPUs by the end of the second quarter. The company has also informed customers that final orders for Athlon 64 X2 6400+, 6000+ and 5600+ (89W versions) will be taken at the end of March, the sources added.
Source: DigiTimes
Are SSDs Causing Notebook Defects?
Up to now, SSD seemed like an unstoppable technology. The drives are super-fast, ultra-light and incredibly durable. But according to a “large computer manufacturer”, return rates on their notebooks equipped with such drives are as high as 20 – 30%. This is staggering when comparing them to the 1 – 2% return rate for notebooks equipped with regular hard drives.
The reason for the defects are unknown, or what the actual problem is, but return rates like that do not bode well for the future of flash. According to one Dell representative, flash-based drives, although fast, can actually prove slower with certain applications – particularly those that exchange data in small packet sizes.
In the end, this manufacturer could have potentially just received a massive batch of bad drives, so it’s far too early to judge what will happen. If stories like these begin popping up often, then it will become a notable problem.
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While the returns are bad news for notebook makers right now, the problems also dim the outlook for the flash industry in general. Flash manufacturers are looking for applications that will suck up the large volume of chips coming out of factories right now. The industry went on a building spree in the last few years.
Source: C|Net Crave
700MHz Auction Ends at $19.5 Billion
The auction that felt like it was never going to end, has finally ended. The FCC-sponsored auction of the 700MHz spectrum hit a staggering $19.5 billion, far exceeding original expectations. As Ars Technica points out, $19 billion was hit in early February, so the last $0.5 billion really dragged things out.
Not surprisingly, the auction winners have not been disclosed, but the FCC promises the names to be revealed within ten days. Potential names are Google and Verizon, although many speculate that Google halted their bids early in the auction, which would be surprising to say the least.
As it stands though, the spectrum is not entirely freed up, and won’t be until analog TV signals are ceased next February. It will be at that time when the winners will begin building their networks, so it may very-well take until late next year before we begin to see products using the spectrum.
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One of those new entrants may be Google, which was one of the companies approved for participation in the auction. It’s more likely that one of the major wireless players like Verizon will walk away with Block C; however, the FCC is expected to release the identities of the winning bidders soon.
Source: Ars Technica
Where In Quad’s Name Are They?
We posted last Monday about the possibility of Intel’s 45nm desktop Quad-Cores hitting e-tailers, and as X-bit predicted, it did happen. What we didn’t expect though was the fact that the allocations would be incredibly tight, so as a result, it’s as though they were never released at all.
In talks with various e-tailers, it seems that replenished supplies will not come until the end of the month, and even then, units will be scarce. With demand so high, it would not be unexpected to see whatever stock hits to sell out almost immediately. Regular stock should improve by mid-to-late April.
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For those who want a piece of the 45nm Quad-Core action as soon as possible, an alternative option would be to consider a Xeon equivalent. Though marketed as a server processor, specs-wise, they are identical to the standard Core 2 Quads. NCIX.com let us know that they are expecting a shipment of such Xeon’s sometime this week. For those interested, here are the models to be on the lookout for:
- X3360 – 12MB L2 Cache, 2.83GHz, 1333MHz, 95W
- X3350 – 12MB L2 Cache, 2.66GHz, 1333MHz, 95W
- X3320 – 6MB L2 Cache, 2.50GHz, 1333MHz, 95W
Note that the specifications are identical to the Q9550, Q9450 and Q9300, respectively. I’m also told that these processors will be priced almost identically to what the Core 2 Quads will be, and will remain so until the regular C2Q stock gets in order.
Vista’s Service Pack 1 Is Now Publicly Available
Last week, we learned that Vista’s SP1 should be available this week, and lo and behold, it is! You can grab the download here, as a 434.5MB download. It’s noted on that page that SP1 is also available through Windows Update, so it would be smart to check there first, as the download would be far smaller.
For our most recent testing, we’ve been using Vista Ultimate as our primary OS, but will begin using an SP1-equipped version now that it’s public. Assuming no problems arise, of course. You can read all of what’s new in the service pack here, but beware… it’s a huge read.
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Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1) is an update to Windows Vista that addresses feedback from our customers. In addition to previously released updates, SP1 will contain changes focused on addressing specific reliability, performance, and compatibility issues; supporting new types of hardware; and adding support for several emerging standards. SP1 also will continue to make it easier for IT administrators to deploy and manage Windows Vista.
NVIDIA Launches 790i Chipset & 9800 GX2 Graphics Card
NVIDIA kicked off two brand-new releases today, both of which we’ll take our own look at in the near-future. The 790i chipset is a variant of their 780i offering, but is tweaked to cater to the enthusiast in all regards. It’s the first NVIDIA chipset to offer support for 1600FSB processors and also DDR3-2000 memory. Now that’s high-end.
Also launched in the 9800 GX2, NVIDIA’s “Dual-GPU” solution on a single card. Although not a truly new architecture, the GX2 essentially throws two 8800GTS 512 cards into a single GPU, and is priced right around that idea, at $600.
Our friends at HotHardware have taken a look at both of the new products and can’t help but be left very impressed. The 790i board offers incredible performance and a great feature-set, while the 9800 GX2 outperforms the HD 3870 X2 by a rather sizable margin. Though the 9800 GX2 costs $150 more than the SRP for the HD 3870 X2, it’s looking like it’s a worthy investment if you want the absolutely best card available on the market.
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As for the GeForce 9800 GX2, it is clearly the most powerful single graphics adapter currently available. In all of our in-game benchmarks, the GeForce 9800 GX2 outpaced every other single graphics card configuration including the Radeon HD 3870 X2. It was only in 3DMark06 that the Radeon had an advantage, but that didn’t translate into any benchmark wins with actual games at the high resolutions we tested.
Source: HotHardware
Exteel Goes Live
Exteel is NCsoft’s full metal mayhem online Free-to-Play game.
“In Exteel, players take command of giant fighting Mechanaughts, clashing in furious deathmatches and team-oriented battles against other players or computer-controlled enemies. You can upgrade your Mech as you earn in-game credits and by purchasing NCcoin.” Exteel’s ESRB Rating is TEEN with FANTASY VIOLENCE and requires an active Internet connection.
Find out more: http://www.plaync.com/us/games/exteel/
Apple Releases AirPort Express Mobile 802.11n Router
Networking gear doesn’t catch my eye too often, but the latest release from Apple is rather cool. The AirPort Express is a small device that plugs directly into a power socket, and doesn’t seem much larger than a regular cell phone charger. This is built for mobility, though, so it’s perfect for solo business trips or trips with numerous people.
The device doesn’t support a wired connection, but that’s unsurprising given its size. Instead, the goal is to provide wireless access, using 802.11n speeds, and not take up much room in the process. For a home environment, having a standard router would make more sense since wired connections tend to be far more stable, but this unit seems to be perfect if you require a mobile router.
In addition to supporting 10 simultaneous connections, it also acts as a print server, allowing you to connect one via USB. Setup should also prove quite easy, but it will require Mac OS X or Windows. After that point, anyone should be able to connect. The Airport Express retails for $99 and is available now.
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Apple’s AirPort Utility software provides easy step-by-step instructions for setting up and configuring AirPort Express; and with its advanced security features, AirPort Express safeguards data on networked computers with support for Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA/WPA2), 128-bit WEP encryption and a built-in firewall. Apple now includes 802.11n as standard in its entire line of AirPort base stations and Mac notebooks as well as iMac(R), Apple TV(R) and Time Capsule(TM).
Source: Apple AirPort Extreme
Star Wars Retrospective Part 1 Released
One of the most recognizable franchises on the planet is Star Wars, but you knew that. What you might not have known, however, was that since the early 80s, there have been countless games created around the series. Alright, maybe not “countless”, but after checking out the Wikipedia page dedicated to listing them all, you might just be impressed.
Last summer, GameTrailers released a series of retrospective videos surrounding the Final Fantasy series, which proved to be some of the best gaming-related videos I’ve seen in a while. Of course, it catered to the big FF fans, and their new Star Wars retrospective is pretty much the same.
Part one was launched on Saturday, and though I’m unsure of how many parts there will be in total, this is no doubt going to be a must-watch for any Star Wars fan, whether you are a modest fan or one with an incredible desire to know everything about the series. The first video takes a look at many titles that spanned across the Atari 2600 and arcades… and chances are, you didn’t know half of these games existed.
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Despite the franchises choke hold on the children’s collectible market, a video game depicting the events from the trilogy wouldn’t arrive until 1982. Following the 1980 release of episode five, The Empire Strikes Back, with the meager resources of the 2600, Atari and Parker Brothers made a simple flight game that attempted to recreate the Rebel’s desperate escape from the Imperial invasion of the ice planet Hoth.
Source: GameTrailers
Our ASUS VW222 Review Has Been Updated
Last week, I posted that our ASUS VW222 monitor review would be updated, and it now has been with the help of an addendum at the end of the review.
It does turn out that our original review sample was defective, and the replacement model improves on a few aspects. However, even with these improvements, the monitor still doesn’t impress us. The color and gradients have been improved, but the very sub-par image quality remains, which we hold great weight to.
The fact that this monitor didn’t do too much to impress us is surprising, since it’s the first-ever ASUS product we’ve reviewed that we were not entirely pleased with. I have personally taken a look at two of their displays in the past and was pleased with their performance overall, but the VW222 didn’t deliver quality even comparable to those.
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ASUS is a company that likes to excel at what they do, and they have taken heart to our considerations and criticism, so I have little doubt we will see more impressive displays from them soon. They have just released their first 24″ display, the MK241H, which offers fantastic specs, such as 450cd/m2, 3000:1 digital contrast ratio, 2ms GtG response time, a 1.3 megapixel webcam, HDMI and DVI-D support and on top of that, it boasts a 130% color gamut.
We are unsure of the panel used, and it’s difficult to guess given the low response time and high color gamut. We are touching base with ASUS to see if we can find out which is used, and possibly deliver a review in the weeks to come.
Source: ASUS VW222 Review
Game Consoles – Great Target for Credit Card Theft?
Credit card theft is not entirely uncommon, but it might be surprising when thinking about all of the places that your personal numbers are scattered about. There’s an on-going thread at Evil Avatar, where one member had his house broken into and had numerous items stolen (including his truck). Although of far less importance, it didn’t take him too long to realize his credit card was being used for purchase of online goods, thanks to his Xbox 360’s storing of his credit card information.
I am not sure how the entire process played out, but it seems like the Xbox 360 stores the credit card information without much security. His console was then used to purchase MS points – but if that was the case, wouldn’t it be easier to track down who purchased them? I can’t see too many thieves stealing a console just to purchase points for the original owner, although it could happen (out of spite, perhaps).
In the end, this story kind of woke me up to the reality that this kind of thing can happen to anyone, at any time. The fact that our credit card numbers are stored literally all over the place doesn’t help things. The thread goes into the issue further, though, as it seems Microsoft isn’t too helpful when it comes to having the credit card information removed. There are a billion different reasons to make sure your private information is kept safe, but this is a good one to add to the pile.
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At this point a few things ran through my mind. First, was credit card fraud, which was bad. The other was that someone had my Xbox and was playing games I had never owned and downloading and buying content, including every single piece of downloadable content for NHL 08. Oh Canada.
Source: Evil Avatar
Grand Theft Auto: The Inside Story
There’s little arguing over the fact that the Grand Theft Auto series is one of the best of all time, for more than one reason. GTA III, GTA: Vice City and GTA: San Andreas all offered a huge world to explore, resulting in some amazing gameplay experiences. When you can have a lot of fun in a game without even focusing on the main storyline, it’s a superb title.
Edge have published part one of their rather sizable look inside the GTA series, with the help of an interview with Rockstar Games’ president Sam Houser. If you are fan of the series, you owe it to yourself to read through this article, as it very well could help you appreciate the series even more.
The entire article will consist of two parts, although the second hasn’t been posted (it should have been on Sun). The first is a whopper, though, at almost 6,000 words. Don’t let the word count scare you. Although I like the series, I wouldn’t call myself a huge fan, but I still thoroughly enjoyed the article.
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“I think what was very special about the GTA III development process – and it’s something we still cling on to – was the fact that ideas would come into the game from anywhere and everywhere in the company; it was the son of so many great minds and opinions and attitudes and energies, and everybody was just throwing it in the pot.”
Source: Next-Generation, Via: CrunchGear
Intel to Launch First Mobile Quad-Core in Q3?
According to DigiTimes, mobile Quad-Cores are on their way, finally, but the initial batch are not going to be cheap. The new Quad-Core will come courtesy of Intel and debut as an Extreme part, similar to how new desktop models are debuted. If these rumors are fulfilled, the 2.53GHz part will cost $1,038 to system builders.
The chip will undoubtedly be targeted towards the serious enthusiast and also to those who need a mobile workstation. Besides carrying similar benefits of the 45nm desktop parts, the QX9300 will include 12MB of cache, have a TDP of 45W and a FSB of 1066MHz.
Despite this first offering being very expensive, it’s good to finally see them en route. According to Intel, mainstream mobile Quad-Core adoption will not occur until the latter-half of 2009, so we may not see more affordable parts until sometime until Q1/Q2 2009. I am most curious about the cooling-solution, since Quad-Cores on the desktop side can get very hot… which is bad news for a notebook.
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With the market demand for top-level notebooks still below average, Intel expects the quad-core notebook CPUs will not become standard in the performance/mainstream notebook market until the second half of 2009, and therefore should not impact the desktop PC market, noted the sources.
Source: DigiTimes
EA Determined to Purchase Take-Two
Late last month, we posted about the desired takeover of Take-Two by EA, and since then, it hasn’t left the news. At all. I refused to post more about it since it’s rather boring, but now it’s beginning to get more interesting.
EA is getting impatient and we are coming down to a “take it or leave it” situation. For Take-Two’s shareholders, a take-over would be a good thing (especially on their pockets), but Take-Two themselves are remaining defiant. But EA is so determined, they have now gone straight-past Take-Two themselves and are targeting the shareholders directly.
EA’s deal is simple… to purchase all shares from the holders for $26 a pop. That figure was more impressive a few days ago, but now TTWO’s stock is almost at that point by itself, making the shareholders decision a little less easy. No one knows what will happen now, but EA is a powerful company are are unlikely to be defeated this easily. Either way, this is one show that’s getting fun to watch.
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EA states that the offer represents a 64 percent premium over Take-Two stock price on February 15, but now the $26 bid sits at around 4.4 percent above the current price. The tender offer is scheduled to expire April 11, 2008, unless the tender offer is extended. The release of Take-Two’s largest title of 2008, Grand Theft Auto 4, will be hitting stores two weeks after the close of EA’s offer.
Source: DailyTech
Intel X48 Motherboards to Show Up This Week
According to industry-tracking website DigiTimes, Intel X48-equipped motherboards will soon be making their way into the retail channel. The first set of shipments are small, but full-throttle shipments should occur in the coming week.
X48 is an evolutionary upgrade over X48, with the prime difference being an upgrade in the systems FSB, which will sit at 1600MHz. Because of this, the upcoming QX9770 processor will be natively supported. That processor is mysterious, because we first previewed it way back in November. It’s not often that we release reviews so far in advance of a product launch, so it’s looking like the launch could be soon, thanks to the X48 launch.
We’ve yet to take a look at an X48 board, but have plans to soon. Our first review will be the ASUS P5E3 Premium board, which I expect to be a great performer and feature a splendid bundle (if previous generations are anything to go by). This board is likely to be included in the initial launch as well.
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Although Intel has not yet officially announced its high-end X48 chipset, some first-tier motherboard makers started shipping boards in small volumes a few days ago. Mass shipping will start in the middle of March, according to sources in the channel. Asustek Computer and Gigabyte Technology both started shipping the motherboards this week.
Source: DigiTimes
Windows Vista SP1 Ships Next Week
Now that Windows 7 has a tentative launch-date, does Vista’s SP1 launch seem so meh now? No? Then you’ll be happy to know that the official launch for the new service-pack will occur next week. It will not become available through Windows built-in updater until April, however.
The latter method is the one I’ll take. Not that I don’t trust SP1, but I’m sure many others will be jumping on the bandwagon early and noticeable problems will become evident quick, swaying me even further from upgrading. If that’s not the case, then we can all feel more confident once it becomes available through Windows Update.
If you are at work or have some time to kill, you can read the lengthy page on what’s new in SP1 over at the official site.
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On March 18, Microsoft will post to its download site the manual installer for Vista SP1. This will be a big one, several hundred megabytes in size. On the Vista upgrade disk Microsoft sent me, it weighs in at over 400 MB. If you wait a month or so, Microsoft will deliver SP1 in April via Windows Update.
Source: TechBlog, Via: Download Squad
Intel’s D5400XS Should Hit E-Tailers In Coming Weeks
The other day, I posted about the lack of the Intel D5400XS motherboard on the market… the key piece in building a full Skulltrail system. Since that post, I’ve found out quite a bit, so much so that I’ll be posting a brief article on it next week. For now, I can delve into the basics.
The reason no D5400XS motherboards are available right now is because Intel have allocated their inventory to system builders, which left e-tailers with none. Apparently, there were far more Core 2 Extreme QX9775 processors than the motherboards themselves. D5400XS availabilty at your favorite e-tailer should come within a few weeks, according to Intel.
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For those who don’t want to build their own Skulltrail rig, so far there are very few who are taking orders, but Maingear and Puget are there and waiting. You’d better have the cash and stomach for it, however, as their pre-configured systems both begin close to $9,000! Is building an affordable Skulltrail rig looking more tempting?
Windows 7 Launch Confirmed for 2010
We have posted news of Windows 7 in the past, but specific details of what to expect are somewhat scarce. One piece of info isn’t, though, the release date. It’s been speculated for a while that 2010 (or -late- 2009) would be the set date, and as it seems, the guess couldn’t have been much closer.
According to a Microsoft e-mail sent to Softpedia, the launch will be three years after the consumer version of Vista, which would put us in a timeline of around January 2010. It’s far too early to speculate whether the OS will drop during that month or not, but I’d be willing to guess it won’t. Vista also had high-hopes of being launched early, but it didn’t happen, so there’s no telling whether the same thing will happen with 7.
Although I’ve disliked Vista for the most part since its launch, I have it installed on my main Windows machine now, and have for a few weeks, and don’t have much issue, so I am impressed there. But, there are still obvious issues, that should have been taken care of pre-launch. So, I’m willing to bet Microsoft will try a bit harder to make sure 7 is easier to deal with at launch than Vista was. We will see…
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Microsoft explained that it would deliver Windows 7 three years after the consumers launch of Vista. “We are currently in the planning stages for Windows 7 and development is scoped to three years from Windows Vista Consumer GA. The specific release date will be determined once the company meets its quality bar for release,” a Microsoft spokesperson revealed to Softpedia via email.
Best Way to Deal With Game Piracy: Focus on Something Else
There’s been so much mention of piracy in the game industry lately, and really, it’s for good reason. However, there are a few people who look at the matter in an entirely different way than most, and it makes perfect sense to me. Rock, Paper, Shotgun has a quick article that discusses why it’s best to avoid piracy and focus on more important matters, such as making sure your game is the best it can be.
“Because the Pirates don’t count. They have no direct financial impact. There’s a second side of this too, however.”
Pirates don’t count, so why worry about them? The fact of life is that people will always be there to steal a game, but it’s more important to focus on games that people who legally buy the them, will buy. It’s become brutally obvious over the past few years that copy protection and other piracy-fighting measures have done nothing, and it’s amazing to me that game companies are still so clueless about this. I’ve said it a hundred times… these protections affect legal customers only. Sometimes, even the crackers themselves are not too inconvenienced. Some titles are now cracked before they are even released!
Stardock’s Brad Wardell has the same thoughts with his Windows-customization software, where he mentions that people who buy WindowsBlinds probably have a different taste in what they are looking for than the pirates who have the software. He raises this point because it seems to be the pirates who are deciding what kind of games are being made. I could go on for a while about this, but to save writing a novel, I recommend reading the article.
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Websites earn money from people who have no interest in paying for the game. If there’s several million pirate-only FPS fans, they’ll swell the page-impression count too. If there’s four million people who want to read about Call of Duty 4, even if only 400,000 want to pay for it, a website will earn more money by writing about it, rather than trying to do something for the 400,000 people who actually want to read about Sins of the Solar Empire, even if every single one of them buy the game.
Source: Rock, Paper, Shotgun