Tech News

CompUSA Officially Closing Up Shop

I grew up and still live in Canada, so I am not familiar with CompUSA at all. However, it’s easy to see the impact it had on B&M stores since it’s first opening in 1984. The franchise closed many stores earlier this year, so the writing was on the wall. The rest of the stores will either be sold off as assets or closed altogether, including online properties. Total stores closed this year would total 229.

Of course where there is bad, there might be some good. In CompUSA’s case, it means that stores should have some amazing deals before they close up shop. If you are near a CompUSA, you should remain in the lookout.

The upside, if there is one, is that we will see some great deals at the remaining stores, just as we did in February during the closure of 126 stores. Gordon Brothers Group promises that consumers will be able to find “attractive holiday bargains” as part of the sale process—I know a good number of geeks who will be making a mass exodus to the soon-to-be-extinct stores over the weekend to get some holiday shopping for themselves done, for sure.

Source: Ars Technica

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ASUS Launches 1GB GDDR3 EN8800GT

ASUS announced last week the first 8800GT card equipped with 1GB of GDDR3, courtesy of Qimonda. Equipped with the extra memory, the EN8800GT is destined to allow the highest of resolutions while keeping maximum quality settings. Of course this is said of all cards, but the real test will be a direct comparison of a 512MB version to this one, an experiment we hope to have results for in the coming weeks.

The big question of course is whether or not the extra memory is actually going to improve performance. The card will still have a 256-bit memory bus, which will still be a limiting factor. Regardless, other features of the card include a Glaciator heatsink that promises temperatures 7°C lower than that of reference models. Because of this, ASUS believes that a 10% improvement on the shader clock can be achieved with minor overclocking. Keen.

FREMONT, CA (December 6, 2007) – ASUS, worldwide leader in component and notebook design and manufacturing, today released the world’s first EN8800GT graphics card with 1GB of Qimonda memory: The EN8800GT/HTDP/1G. Rocking NVIDIA’S latest generation Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) and an unparalleled amount of memory, this card is designed to provide a feature-rich DirectX 10 gaming and multimedia playback experience at ultra-high resolutions and maximum quality settings.

Source: ASUSTeK Press Release

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Amarok 2 for Windows Pre-Alpha – Now With Sound!

I began using Linux full-time about eighteen months ago, and since then I’ve come to enjoy it so much that I’ve have a very difficult time moving back to Windows if I had to. Oddly enough, one of the reasons is thanks to a single application: Amarok. It might sound odd to be obsessed with an audio player, but Amarok’s ease of use and feature-set easily surpasses all others I’ve used… Linux or not. For those not familiar with the player, you should check out my article for Top 5 Amarok Tips which covers a few of my favorite features and add-ons.

Fanboism aside, I couldn’t help but notice a new entry on the Amarok blog that announced a version that’s actually functioning on Windows. Though in pre-alpha, it’s coming along nicely with many features functioning, including sound. I didn’t give it a try myself, but it’s great to see another solid open-source offering making it’s way to another OS. The final release might be a ways off, but it should be worth it.

Source: Amarok Blog

The bad news for all those drooling over the prospect of this is that Amarok 2 is still pre-alpha software, and there’s a lot more work to do to get it ready for release on any platform, let alone Windows. So for now, unless you’re comfortable with a compiler and a debugger, Amarok is still a few months away. Until then, get your fix with screenshots and progress here. World domination will have to wait … but it will happen!

Source: Amarok Blog

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Intel to Release Celeron E1000 Dual-Core on Jan 20

Intel’s Celeron processors have been designed for value-conscious consumers since their inception, and that is not about to change. However, as the rest of Intel’s line-up continues to grow and improve, so do their budget offerings, which is evidenced by the new E1200 1.6GHz. According to DigiTimes, this sku should launch on Jan 20 for a price of $53 per 1,000 units.

What sets this model apart from other Celerons is the fact that it’s dual-core, so despite being slower overall to begin with, the second core will greatly boost performance in applications that support multi-threading. As expected, other features are kept to a minimum, such as the 800MHz FSB, 512KB L2 cache and of course, the price, at $27 per core. For those with a specific need to keep things strictly budget, the E1200 will be a great choice. For the rest of us, Intel’s E8200 (2.66GHz, Dual-Core, 1333MHz, 6MB L2 cache) at $163/1,000 will be a hard deal to beat.

Meanwhile, Intel will also roll out the quad-core QX9770 processor which features a frequency of 3.2GHz, 1600MHz FSB, 12MB cache and TDP of 136W with a price tag of US$1,399 in thousand-unit quantities in January. Before March, the company will also introduce a high-end quad-core QX9775 processor with a frequency of 3.2GHz, 1600MHz FSB, 12MB L2 cache and 150W TDP. Pricing in thousand-unit quantities will be US$1,499, said the sources.

Source: DigiTimes

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Time Crisis 4 Requires Purchase of Two Games for Two-Player Action

Ripoffs in video gaming is nothing new. Whether it’s EA’s downloadable content for items that can be acquired through regular gameplay or rechargeable gamepad battery packs that need to be purchased separately… it sucks getting played for a fool. The latest case is with Namco-Bandai, creators of a great arcade-style shooter called Time Crisis 4. To mimic a true arcade experience, a normal gamepad is not used, but rather a Guncon 3 gun peripheral.

More often than not, if a game offers a special peripheral that’s required, spares will be sold separately. This makes sense for more than one reason – namely, if it breaks. The Guncon 3 is apparently special however, and requires the game to be repurchased. For a game that costs close to $100, this is needless. I’m not familiar with Namco-Bandai’s policies on third-party peripherals for their games, but it’s unlikely we will see a unique mockoff anytime soon.

Source: Joystiq

Some non-game playing exec at Namco Bandai has decided that the gun controller that ships with Time Crisis 4 for the Playstation 3 cannot and will not be sold separately, even though there’s a 2-player mode in the game. Their CSR’s helpful suggestion? “You will need another copy of Time Crisis 4.” It’s as if the game is a license to use one gun controller—if you want more gun controllers, simply buy more licenses!

Source: The Consumerist – Via: Joystiq

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Seagate FreeAgent Dislikes Linux, Reports of Units Dying

There are few companies that leave me constantly impressed, but Seagate is one of them. Their products have never left me disappointed, which is why all my computers use their hard-drives. Even their RMA process is rather painless – something I figured out a few years ago when a hard-drive passed on. With a company that focuses so much on quality, it was no surprise to see Rory award their FreeAgent Pro a 9 out of 10 earlier this year.

However, what we failed to test was Linux compatibility. This wasn’t a huge issue, however, as I am the only one on the staff who uses Linux on a regular basis, and the drive was not in my possession. But ignoring that, I had assumed that Linux interoperability would have been no problem. After all, it’s just an external enclosure.

Apparently not, according to the the Inquirer. Because the drive inside the FreeAgents use the NTFS file system, it creates obvious problems for Linux users. It can be worked around, but at that point, you might as well go with a competitors enclosure that will not waste your time. Since most enclosures utilize FAT32, I am going to assume that Seagate chose NTFS because that’s the filesystem their recovery software natively handles.

On a related note, there has been an ongoing discussion in our forums for the past month with numerous FreeAgent users who’ve had their units die. One user had his unit die after a single week of owning it. This could be a bad batch, I’m unsure. When presenting Seagate with the thread, they said they’d take a look at the issue, but nothing happened from there that I am aware of. We’d be interested in knowing how many out there are having issues with their FreeAgent. If you are a FreeAgent owner and have had one die, or even if yours is still kicking, feel free to post in that thread.

The NTFS is only a slight hurdle to Linux users who have a kernel with NTFS writing enabled or can work mkfs. But the “power saving” timer is a real bugger. It will shut shut the drive off after several minutes of inactivity and helpfully drop the USB connection. When the connection does come back it returns as USB1 which is apparently as useful as a chocolate teapot.

Editor’s Note: In our experience, it appears to be the basic FreeAgent drives that are failing, and not their pricier siblings, the FreeAgent Pro. Lest we risk guilt by association between the two products, we can only assume that because of the lack of feedback on the “Pro” version, that no problem exists with those models. The original review sample continues to perform well. – Rory Buszka

Source: The Inquirer

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Playstation 3 to Receive Blu-ray Profile 1.1 Later This Month

I have to admit something. I love the Playstation 3. Despite not playing it as often as my Xbox 360 (which recently died), I get excited each time I turn it on simply because it’s well-designed and offers plenty of power. Another plus is the fact that Sony has been treating their customers well with constant system updates that add new functionality and fixes.

Well, PS3 owners have another reason to be pleased, because the latest Blu-ray profile (1.1) will be heading to the console later this month. This should come as no surprise, considering that the PS3 is one of the primary reasons for the Blu-ray adoption. Profile 1.1 unlocks “next-gen” features such as PiP, better support for downloadable content and other playback fixes.

Furthermore, Sony aims to ensure that the machine continues to perform as a strong Blu-ray player as well as a gaming console by releasing the firmware update, Profile 1.1. This new update adds support for next-gen Blu-ray playback features such as picture-in-picture playback, which for 2 separate viewing windows, one where the director could be talking while in the other, the film playing. The other features range into step categories like support for downloadable content.

Source: Playstation Universe

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AMD Comments on Errata Issue

We reported yesterday regarding Tech Report’s look into the errata issue that is plaguing all current Barcelona-based processors, including the desktop-aimed Phenom. The issue resides within the TLB logic for the L3 cache which can, on a rare occasion, crash the computer. That in itself isn’t a major issue given the fact it can be patched, but it’s the erratas fix that makes this a big problem. As discovered in Scott’s testing, the performance degradation can be significant.

According to DigiTimes, AMD knew of the problem before Phenom’s launch and provided the channel and board partners with an appropriate fix. Whether or not this was kept mum on purpose, no one knows. However when taking a look at the facts, it’s no surprise that AMD would want to keep the patch and errata issues quiet. Even without the patch, Phenom proves slower overall than Intel’s equivalents. If the patch was applied before all reviewers performed their testing, the Phenom launch would have gone horribly wrong.

Hope is far from lost, however. Tech Report also reported that Phenom revisions in the form of 9550 and 9650 will be launched in January, fixing the errata problem without the need of a patch. So for those planning to upgrade to a new AMD Quad-Core, it would be wise to wait until these new models hit the street.

In response to recent reports of the existence of an erratum involving the L3 cache of AMD’s new Opteron (Barcelona) and Phenom processors and that shipments of the parts have been delayed, AMD clarified that the company sent notice to clients about the erratum and offered a BIOS fix prior to November 19 and that the company is shipping Phenom parts to channel, system builders and OEM customers.

Source: DigiTimes

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EVE Online Patch Breaks Windows XP

The latest entry to the “How the hell did this happen” files has to do with EVE Online’s latest game patch, which adds a slew of functionality and upgrades and also manages to kill off a Windows XP installation. For those not aware, Windows XP uses a file in the root folder called boot.ini, and inside that file is a simple boot loader configuration. If this file is corrupt, the Windows will not boot.

Somehow, the latest EVE patch got out the door with the ability to overwrite that file, effectively angering many gamers. Players using Windows Vista have nothing to worry about, since the boot.ini boot loader has been replaced by a far more tedious and difficult boot loader that requires more than a simple file edit. If you happen to find yourself with a borked Windows XP installation thanks to this patch, you can follow these steps which can re-write the boot.ini:

• Boot up with a WinXP CD-Rom
• Once inside the installer, you will have the option to hit “R” to enter recovery mode.
• The screen will turn black and you will have a list of one or more Windows installations you can choose. Choose the primary.
• Once at the prompt, you can type in fixboot which should re-write the boot.ini file and undo the damages that the latest patch caused.

If you dual-boot XP with Vista, chances are good that your XP installation should still be fine, as the boot.ini would be stored on a different partition. How did this happen CCP? There are no excuses for this.

Source: Patch Page, Thread 1, Thread 2 Via: Slashdot

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Long Beta to Blame for Tabula Rasa’s Lukewarm Reception?

MMORPG titles first hit the gaming scene in a big way eight years ago with the help of Asheron’s Call and Everquest, and since then, things have changed drastically. Back then, all titles were unique… there just wasn’t that much competition at the time. Nowadays it’s a different story. There seems to be a new MMO game released every other day and because of that, it’s difficult to grab the attention of gamers.

One of the main reasons is obviously World of Warcraft, which now has well over 9 million subscribers. How can a company compete with that? By being completely unique and creating a game with killer gameplay, two things that Tabula Rasa doesn’t seem to include. I’ve not played the game, because I’ve seen it go through so many changes, I’ve just lost interest. Not surprisingly, sales have been somewhat lackluster, which Richard Garriott blames on the games long beta process. Long beta or not, I think any MMO game is going to have a rough time selling until WoW begins to lose it’s appeal.

“By having an open beta, anyone who cares about MMOs will have already played it,” continues Gillen. “And when they compare their experience to a reviewer, they tap the side of the head knowingly. Because they’ve played it, and it was a bit nob.” “But Tabula Rasa turned out pretty neat and now it’s got a large number of people who’ve played the game who’ll roll their eyes at its existence if mentioned,” he concludes.

Source: Shacknews

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Microsoft to Release Vista SP1 Publicly Next Week

Vista has proven to be a popular operating system over the past year, but mostly thanks to the fact that it’s bundled with the majority of new computers sold… desktops or notebooks. To catch on even greater though, problems need to be fixed. Service Pack 1 is supposed to fix numerous issues that make usage of the OS an absolute chore. Up to this point, the SP1 beta has been delivered to a select few. Next week will change that with the first publicly available version – Release Candidate 1.

All information regarding the SP1 can be found in the official whitepaper. For those who would rather avoid SP1 even at final launch, you can install a blocker patch that will disallow installation via Windows Update. I am going to wait until the final release before giving Vista’s first service pack a test, and it sure can’t come fast enough.

Today we’re making available the release candidate (RC) of Windows Vista SP1 via Microsoft Connect, and tomorrow subscribers to TechNet and MDSN will have access to those RC bits too. In addition, the RC will be available to the public next week via Microsoft’s Download Center. The release candidate phase of beta software is typically the final phase before the RTM (release-to-manufacturing) of a product and indicates that the code has attained a significant level of performance and stability.

Source: Windows Vista Blog

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Errata Plagues Phenom Performance

AMD’s Phenom line-up should have been the product to save the company from the slump they’ve been in for the past year, but as we are all well aware, that was not the case at all. In fact, clock-for-clock performance put Phenom below Intel’s offerings, all while having a rather sizable disadvantage in power consumption. As if things needed to get worse, they have, in the form of an errata in all Barcelona processors.

Our friends at the Tech Report have been on the case for the past week and have come along nicely in their investigations. First and foremost, the errata sits with the TLB Logic for the L3 cache which can cause the computer to crash in a rare occasion. To make matters worse, a “fix” for the problem causes a further performance degradation.

Thanks to a fresh BIOS from MSI which enables the TLB patch, Scott was able to test the performance differences between various synthetic and real-world benchmarks. Things do not look that hopeful – some benchmarks show significant differences. However, some do not show a difference at all, such as Sandra’s FP and Int tests.

The fact of the matter is – this is not a small issue. Applying the patch effects performance, which is unacceptable regardless of how it’s analyzed. If you run out to purchase a Phenom CPU, you are purchasing a semi-maimed offering. Applying the patch degrades performance, but on the other hand, you might not ever run into a problem without applying it. It’s up to you to decide whether or not the hassle is all worth it. For those who want Phenom but wish to wait until the product is fixed, that should come early next year with the 9550 and 9650.

The most troubling results here are the applications where we see large performance drops with the TLB erratum workaround active, including the Firefox web browser and the picCOLOR image analysis tool. If one happens to spend a lot of time running an application whose memory access patterns don’t mix well with the TLB patch, the result could prove frustrating. The BIOS-based workaround for the TLB erratum may achieve its intended result—system stability—but it comes at a pretty steep price in terms of performance.

Source: Tech Report

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Next Internet Explorer To Be IE8

It’s official: The next version of Internet Explorer will be called Internet Explorer 8. To all out there who knew this years ago, pat yourselves on the back. Though, since the browser has followed the same naming scheme for quite a while, it’s best to not gloat too much. At least they are not calling it Internet Live Explorer Ultimate, I suppose.

New features have not been mentioned for obvious reasons, but should include faster browsing, better protection, better functionality and everything else we are usually promised and never delivered.

The confirmation came during his speech at the “Mix and Mash” conference taking place this week in Redmond, Wash. In a posting on the IE blog, Microsoft general manager Dean Hachamovitch jokes about some of the names Microsoft ruled out, such as “IE 7+1” and “IEVIII.”

Source: News.com

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Facebook Apologizes for Exposing Users Data

Facebook, the home of around five-trillion apps and several dozen users, have issued an official apology for the issues caused by their Beacon shopping feature. The feature is designed to show your friends what you have recently purchased online. However, the feature was enabled on all Facebook accounts, sparking obvious controversy.

All said and done, it took a handful of weeks before the problem was actually fixed. The excuses are not important, but the fact that it took so long is rather ridiculous. I don’t care for others to know what I bought, and I am not sure who would. Just another reason to add to the pile of why I personally dislike using Facebook.

The company last month introduced Beacon. But last week it made it easier to opt out of the system after 65,000 of its members signed a petition imploring Facebook to scale it back. Some members were outraged that Facebook was deploying technology to shadow their online habits in an attempt to pursue advertising revenue.

Source: USA Today

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Special Windows/Office for OLPC Next Year

If there is an immediate downside of the OLPC, it’s the fact that it runs Linux and not the most popular desktop operating system on the planet. That will change in the near-future though, as Microsoft is actively working on a special version of Windows XP and Office that all runs off of a simple 2GB SD memory card. OLPC has no problem with this idea, and has added SD slots for the very purpose.

As you would expect, this special Windows/Office combination will not be sold/available in US or Canada. Pricing is not revealed, but it could be that it will be free to those who own an OLPC in a developing country. Microsoft doesn’t need to charge a cent. Their goal right now is to get their OS into as many hands as possible. Since giving out a free OS would plant a seed in these users, that’s all that will likely matter to them, at this point.

It won’t be offered to anyone in the US or Canada, even quasi-philanthropists participating in the Get One, Give One program. But, we’re guessing the anti-copying measures won’t be particularly hardcore, meaning it’ll probably make its way to the internets not long after launch. Bootable Windows on an SD card would be pretty nice on our side of the world too, actually.

Source: Gizmodo

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Rob’s Red Ring of Rawr

Xbox 360 owners all share the same fear – the dreaded Red Ring of Death. Like many, I picked up my Xbox 360 at launch and played the beast for months on end with nary a complaint. After a while, the RRoD problem rolled onto the scene and many had their systems cease to function. Launch consoles had the highest RRoD rate, but somehow I continued to escape the issue.

Until this past weekend, that is. While out of town, a family member decided to kick some ass in Halo 3 online, only to be welcomed by three red rings. It’s hard to complain though, since I have had the system work fine for just over two years without much of an issue, whereas others have gone through multiple consoles. I was one of the lucky few.

Source: Techgage

To some degree, I might have seen this problem coming. I picked up Need for Speed: Pro Street a few weeks ago, only to have the entire console halt after about ten minutes of gameplay. I turned off the console and decided to use the PS3 instead. It’s now that I realize that the halt could have been the beginning of what was to come. If you find yourself in a similar situation where a game crashes for no apparent reason, be warned of what could happen.

The big question… when will I find myself in the mood to deal with Microsoft support?

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GameSpot Editor Firing Prompts Ethics Discussion

Last week, a GameSpot editor (Jeff Gerstman) was fired after publishing a negative review of the new game Kane & Lynch: Dead Men. We can’t say for sure whether the two events were related; Jeff wrote the review, and was fired after it was published. (Draw your own conclusions.) Gerstman’s employer, GameSpot, was quick to publish a statement afterward, saying it takes editorial integrity “very seriously”. The entire incident has prompted a wide-ranging discussion on everything from the possibility of foul play in the GameSpot scandal itself to the more general ethical considerations in a medium supported by advertising dollars.

The discussion continues at Ars Technica, where columnist Ben Kuchera tackles the ethical concerns in the game journalism world, but it’s exceedingly relevant to the hardware journalism world, as well as the rest of the software journalism world. Editors and reviewers balance ethical concerns with the concern for perpetuating the journalistic enterprise – and the sobering truth is that in some cases, ethical considerations have had to give way to self-preservation.

Currently, it’s Techgage editorial policy not to bow to pressure from hardware manufacturers and software publishers to pad their review scores, even if they have advertisements on our site. We strive to uphold our role as advocates of the consumer first and foremost, and ultimately we believe this arrangement is the most beneficial, both to our readers and to manufacturers and publishers. If a company is dissatisfied with the outcome of a Techgage review, we will oblige them by re-examining the methodologies and attitudes present in the review itself, but that’s as far as it goes. If the methods used in testing and reviewing the product are legitimate, we’ll ultimately stand behind our reviewers’ opinions, and invite the company to submit a different product which may fare better in our review process. But we have it a little easier than sites that specialize heavily in game reviews – because of the diversity of content we publish, we have a much broader base of companies that we can go to for advertising. In gaming journalism, the market is dominated by several major players, which means that as a matter of survival, you’ve got to be very selective about who you tick off.

Source: Ars Technica

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Activision and Blizzard Join Forces

On Sunday, we received word that two of PC gaming’s biggest companies (one of which is also console gaming’s biggest, thanks to Guitar Hero) will be joining forces to take on the future of electronic gaming, which, apparently, involves mega-huge developers going toe-to-toe in epic style for gamers’ dollars. Vivendi Universal and Activision released a statement on December 2 stating that the new company would henceforth and evermore be known as Activision Blizzard.

In any such merger, the question eventually arises: “Who’s on top, and who’s on the bottom?” In this case, Activision’s CEO Robert Kotick will be the CEO of the new company, with Vivendi’s former CEO, Bruce Hack, ending up as vice-chairman and Chief Corporate Officer. Vivendi, however, will have a 52% stake in the new company once all is said and done with the 18.2-billion-dollar deal. The boards of both companies have approved the merger, but it currently awaits stockholder approval.

Mike Morhaime added: “Blizzard’s industry-leading PC games business, with a track record of nine consecutive bestsellers and a global subscriber base of more than 9.3 million World of Warcraft players, is an exceptional fit for Activision’s highly profitable console games business. From our interactions with the Activision team, it is clear we have much in common in terms of our approaches to game development and publishing. Above all, we are looking forward to continue creating great games for Blizzard gamers around the world, and we believe this new partnership will help us to do that even better than before.”

Around here, we’ll likely begin referring to the company as ‘Actiblizz.’

Source: IGN

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Unexpected Partners in DRM Fight: Amazon and Wal-Mart

Two of the world’s biggest heavyweights in electronic music distribution, Amazon and Wal-Mart, recently handed the music industry separate (though one in spirit) ultimatums – make your catalogs available in MP3 (DRM-free) format…or else. According to Ars Technica, among the companies to receive ultimatums were Warner Music and Sony BMG. .

Wal-mart’s store discarded DRM back in August, providing DRM-free tracks from EMI and Universal. Amazon’s MP3 store, DRM-free since its inception in September, also features tracks from over 20,000 independent labels in addition to Universal and EMI.

With Amazon spreading the word next year in a big way for DRM-free media and Wal-Mart trying to knock some sense into more major labels, 2008 is already looking to be a strong year for the fight against DRM.

Source: Ars Technica

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Puppy Love: XM and Sirius Merger Could Be Approved Today

While we’d stop short of calling the subscription-based satellite radio business model a total failure, it certainly hasn’t quite revolutionized the way we receive radio in the way its pioneers had hoped. The message from consumers is clear (actually, there are two): 1) we don’t mind commercials, and 2) don’t make us buy expensive hardware (which also puts HD Radio in the toilet).

A long talked-about merger between XM and Sirius may be approved today by the U.S. Department of Justice, green-lighting the two companies to join forces. Though it’s true that a merger between the two companies would leave us with only one satellite radio provider, and it’s anybody’s guess whose current reception hardware will end up obsolete, the loudest sound in the radio industry is overwhelmingly the sound of nobody caring.

Many believe that the DOJ will issue its announcement before the bell on Monday, mostly based on Bear Stearns’ word that the deal will be approved as soon as last Friday or today. Of course, no one knows for sure except for the DOJ itself… but what do you think? Is today the day?

Source: Orbitcast

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EVE Trinity Launch

Trinity is EVE Online’s largest expansion to date and centers around a new graphics system.

The time for EVE to evolve from beautiful to gorgeous is approaching! Trinity, EVE Online’s newest content expansion, will be deployed on Wednesday 5 December, commencing at 0200 GMT. Tranquility and the EVE forums will be unavailable for the length of the deployment, both are expected to return to service by 0200 GMT on Thursday 6 December.

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Quad FX Gets The Boot

From the We Hardly Knew Ye (And We Liked It That Way) Department: The last hurrah for enthusiast multiprocessor systems has hurrahed its last. Power-hungry, hot-running, expensive, and limited by poor memory bandwidth, AMD’s Quad FX is finally being taken behind the woodshed. According to DailyTech, AMD has “discontinued future planning and development” for Quad FX, which means – in short – that the platform has been canned.

So what does this mean for multiprocessor enthusiast systems? The simple fact remains that multiprocessor systems require more power, generate more heat, and cost significantly more than their single-CPU counterparts, and they only appeal to a tiny fraction of enthusiasts, which represent only a fraction of the wider PC market. Though Intel’s offerings are the flavor of the month (or year), there’s reason to expect that Intel’s Skulltrail won’t go far either. Oh, sure, we’ll see a few offerings for the sake of establishing Intel’s fire superiority in the gaming market – but don’t expect much market penetration…at all. Enthusiasts would rather hold out for octal-core CPUs, which will likely cost less. We suspect that with the end of Quad FX, multi-CPU gaming platforms have been effectively kicked to the curb once and for all.

After all the promises ad statements by AMD that Quad FX was the companies enthusiast future, AMD has apparently decided to all but kill the platform off. The few enthusiasts who plunked down the big dollars required to adopt the platform should be feeling a bit uncomfortable right now.

Source: DailyTech

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iPod Touch Fails To Gain Retail Traction

Of all the Apple iPod players I ever thought I might buy, the iPod Touch grabbed my attention most of all. The promise of Wi-Fi internet access and the eye-catching “awesome” factor of the bright touch-screen were the chief benefits that put the Touch on my personal list of must-have techie toys. (That is, if I were in the mood to purchase my over 5,000 PlaysForSure tracks on iTunes.)

However, according to this article from AppleInsider, though the iPod Touch captured the most consumer interest out of Apple’s current line of music players, all that interest hasn’t translated to sales. It seems that when it comes time to buy, capacity is still king – and overwhelmingly, retail customers are walking out the door with the 8GB iPod Nano (known affectionately around here as the “fattie”) instead of an 8GB Touch.

Also, a lot of consumers seemed to opt for iPhones over iPod Touch because iPhones facilitate all that iPod can do (and more), but the opposite is not true,” the analyst further advised clients. “Older individuals preferred iPod Touch because of its interface and Wi-Fi capability, while iPod Nano was more favored by younger individuals (children and teens).

I suppose that makes me ‘old.’ Rats.

Source: AppleInsider

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MSI Takes Motherboard Watercooling A Step Further

MSI’s new HydroGen X48-based motherboards don’t bother with fans, heatpipes, or fins of any sort – instead, according to photos obtained by Bit-Tech, MSI has developed a cooling solution that appeals specifically to watercooling enthusiasts, featuring a copper tube that channels the cooling water from one heat-producing component to the next.

The MSI waterblock doesn’t include barbs – just threaded holes, which means enthusiasts will be able to match tubing sizes throughout their liquid-cooled rig. The question remains to be answered, however, about whether the exclusively watercooled solution will catch on – given the limited market penetration of liquid cooling systems, even in the enthusiast market.

MSI claims up to 20 percent more power efficiency and up to six times longer life because of the continually reduced component temperature. We expect this also means there should be some better potential overclocking too – providing the BIOS (and new X48 chipset) is up to it.

Source: Bit-Tech

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AMD Slips Past Number 10 On Key List

The embattled AMD has certainly lost a lot of blood this year, with only (really) the RV670 GPU and 790FX chipset to show for their efforts. Phenom was a bust, to say the very least, and even the Radeon HD2000 series fell short of expectations, relegated to the bargain bin. The Black Edition CPUs did virtually nothing to help AMD regain its standing with the enthusiast market, either, despite the Black 5000+’s overclocking headroom.

As if AMD’s Year in Review didn’t already look bleak, now there’s more bad news – the lone Intel rival has slipped past the number 10 spot on iSuppli’s ranking of the world’s top ten chipmakers. The impression we’re getting is conflicting, however, since AMD just made its first appearance on the top-ten list of IC Insights, another industry research firm. The key is in the third quarter – the only quarter IC Insights considered for their most recent rankings. And despite dropping off iSuppli’s list, the research firm indicates that they expect AMD’s market share to grow in the fourth quarter – albeit to nowhere near where it was just a year ago. Should AMD fans and investors even hold out hope that the chipmaker will be able to regain its former footing and go toe-to-toe with Intel once more? Stockholders, place bets now!

For the fourth quarter of this year, iSuppli is predicting that Intel will hold onto 78.8% of the market. The analysts also estimate that Intel will bring in $7.24 billion in revenue this quarter, while AMD is expected to bring in $1.3 billion, which is just shy of the company’s $1.35 billion in fourth quarter, 2006, revenue.

Source: PC World

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