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- Intel Launches Sleek Single-Slot Arc Pro A60 Workstation Graphics Card
- NVIDIA Announces Latest Ada Lovelace Additions: GeForce RTX 4060 Ti & RTX 4060
- Maxon Redshift With AMD Radeon GPU Rendering Support Now Available
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Symphony OS 2006-05 Beta
After being dormant for several months, it seems that Symphony
OS 2006-05 Beta has been released — which signifies the first release
in nearly six months. Contained in this release are several improvements
from the previous 2005 release. If you will recall from our initial
Symphony Beta investigation, it features its own desktop environment —
Mezzo — and the focus of this operating system is at beginning PC
users. Certainly its appearance makes it attractive to the new users.
Check out the pictorial of this unique distro at Phoronix.
S3 Graphics Chrome S27 including MultiChrome
Concluding on the current state of S3 Graphics Chrome S27 is pretty easy. There are better products out there for the same or less money from ATI and NVIDIA. And while it’s not nice to say so, since another executing competitor in the mid-range and low-end consumer space would be brilliant, it’s the current reality.
The card actually does quite well compared to it’s direct competition, but S3 has a long way to go if they want to capture a significant amount of the market. Check out the full review at Hexus.
Thermaltake Purepower 600w PSU Review
All things considered I cannot fault the Thermaltake Purepower600. It has taken everything I can throw at it under normal use, and then some with the above testing, and it has never missed a beat. Anyone building all but a seriously powerful top end multi graphics card pc should consider this power supply. I would only hesitate to recommend it to someone using multiple graphics cards if they are using dual 1900xt’s or maybe 7900gtx’s anyone else should consider buying this power supply for their new / upgraded system, I am sure you will not be disappointed.
Check out the full review at Xtreme Computing.
Razer Armadillo Review
With spending a great deal of time preparing for the new
Computex launches and coverage to come next week, we have been a bit
busy around here but managed to spend some time with Razer’s Armadillo.
While the Armadillo is not nearly as fascinating as the Razer
Copperhead, Krait, or Tarantula, it certainly is an interesting little
piece of hardware.
Check out the full review at Phoronix.
nPowertek TTIC NPH K8-1 Heatsink Review
The Thermal Transtech International Corp. NPH K8-1 Socket 939 heatsink looks deceptively simple at first glance; but at the heart of this socket 754/939/940 Athlon64 heatsink is a huge copper cylinder. The large copper column supporting its many copper fins is not technically a heatpipe as we know it, it’s what TTIC call a “heat column.” This column, 25mm in diameter and made from a hollow copper cylinder which is vacuum sealed, has a chemical coating on the inside that works to the same effect as a wick in a traditional heatpipe…
Check out the full review at FrostyTech.
Asus EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A Videocard Review
My personal favorite are 100% silent videocards. Devices like the Asus EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A videocard won’t eat up the 8GB/s worth of bandwidth the PCI Express x16 bus has to offer, but this passively cooled graphics card strikes a good balance between price and 3D rendering power. The Asus EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A is supported with 256MB of GDDR3 Infineon memory, and the software package that comes with the Asus EAX1600XT Silent/TVD/256M/A is strong.
Check out the full review over at PC Stats.
OCZ 1GB Mini-Kart USB Flash Drive Review
There are so many USB drives in the market that no one really takes note of a new one. But you will take note of this new USB flash drive from OCZ Technology simply because of its size. Introducing the slimmest and smallest USB flash memory drive in the world – the new OCZ 1GB Mini-Kart USB flash drive!
Check out the full review at Rojak Pot.
HD interview – NTL Telewest’s Mark Horley
NTL Telewest’s head of TV strategy, Mark Horley, answers a bunch of high-def questions posted in the HEXUS.community, as well as a couple we threw in for good measure. He sheds some light on NTL’s plans to introduce a high-definition service early in 2007 – accompanying Telewest’s existing HD service – and sorts out some technical queries. Hopefully, his responses will be informative and useful when you’re considering which high-definition TV service to choose.
Check out the full interview over at Hexus.
Hell Freezes Over: Dell Goes AMD
Today’s announcement that Dell would be using AMD’s Opteron processors in its servers marks a new significant chapter for Dell. Many of Dell’s customers had been repeatedly asking the Round Rock computer company to start using AMD processors because of their superior performance and power efficiency.
Finally! A Choice! Now where’s our AMD desktops and mobiles? Read all about it at DailyTech.
Symantec Sues Microsoft, May Delay Vista
Symantec filed a lawsuit against Microsoft over patents on the volume management technology in Vista. They’re seeking an injunction to stop Vista from being sold until the suit is completed. Given the recent Supreme Court ruling it should be interesting to see if the injunction is granted, since Symantec does produce software which uses the patent. If it is granted, expect MS to settle to prevent another Vista delay.
Rumors are abound that speculate Microsoft paid Symantec to help them ‘delay’ Vista. Yes, all we wanted to hear is that Vista gets -another- delay. Regardless of how this lawsuit plays out, here’s to hoping that Vista owners won’t have to suffer with a pre-installed version of Symantec software. Check out the full posting at Slashdot.
Counter-Attack! Apple Sues Creative
Apple has filed a suit against Creative, claiming that Creative infringed on patents that it owns over the iPod. According to Creative however, Apple never mentioned about these patents when Creative and Apple held discussions with each other.
Apple currently holds eight times the market share that Creative does, and maybe that’s just because Creative players and software suck? Check out the full posting at DailyTech.
AMD64 Technology Takes Dreamworks Animation Up And “Over The Hedge” In Upcoming Movie
SUNNYVALE, CALIF. — May 19, 2006 –AMD (NYSE: AMD) announced today that HP servers and workstations powered by AMD64 processors contributed significantly to the digital magic behind DreamWorks Animation’s (NYSE: DWA) comedy, “Over the Hedge,” which opens today.
You can read the full press release here.
Hardware Roundup for May 19
- SilverStone LC20B-M HTPC Case – Think Computers
- Thermaltake Armor Jr – Bjorn3D
Cases & Enclosures
- Aerocool Dominator Cooler – Pro-Clockers
- Scythe Quiet Drive HDD-Box – Technic3D
- Thermaltake Mini/Big Typhoon Heatsink – Motherboards.org
- Zalman VF700-Cu LED Ultra Quiet VGA Cooler – TweakNews
Cooling
- ABIT AN8 32X – TweakPC
- Foxconn 975X7AA-8EKRS2H – PC Stats
- MSI K8N Diamond Plus nForce 4 SLI x16 – Viper Lair
Motherboards & CPU’s
- Helios HVD2085 HD DVD Player – BIOS Magazine
- Logitech G15 Gaming Keyboard – OCIA
- Logitech MX610 Left-Hand Laser Cordless Mouse – Virtual-Hideout
- Silverstone Zeus ST56ZF 560W PSU – Xtreme Computing
- Super Talent 2GB MEGA Screen MP3/FM/Recorder Player – Big Bruin
- Thermaltake ToughPower 550 – TweakPC
- Thermaltake ToughPower 550 – 3D Gameman
Peripherals & Power Supplies
- The ASUS AGEIA PhysX P1 Card – Legit Reviews
Video Cards & Monitor
- Apple’s Video iPod – Putting the Conversation Back on the Right Track – Digital Trends
- Linux: LG3D LiveCD v2.5 (Project Looking Glass) – Phoronix
- Leecho’s Creature Case Project Part 2 – ModTheBox
- Soundgraph iMON VFD – techPowerUp!
- The Economics of Ergonomics – Gideon Tech
Etcetera & Contests
GR: Advanced Warfighter Review
To be honest with you, while I would have loved to tear this game to shreds for it’s molasses Gameplay (in my opinion), there are many, many merits in terms of audio, video, Gameplay and tactical sense. While the game is unrealistically difficult on the early settings, it is made up for by the fact that your team mates are not blundering idiots. While they may run into the path of enemy fire, they are intelligent enough to take cover, and actually take down your foes, rather than getting stuck half a map back running into a wall eternally. That being said, this title is absolute perfection for fans of the tactical simulation genre, earning full merits for all things it excels in, but to us, fans of the run n gun genres, it’s just too bloody slow, and way too difficult to be fun.
Head on over to GamePyre for the full review!
Infinium Labs CEO Faces FCC Charges
Timothy Roberts, chairman and former chief executive of Infinium Labs, has been charged by the Securities and Exchange Commission for having a hand in illegally inflating Infinium’s stock price while he sold his shares. Roberts allegedly hired someone to send junk faxes to thousands of investors telling them that the vaporous Phantom console was going to be released.
Why anybody thinks they will get away with this is beyond me. But what’s funny from the entire mess, is despite all of these issues that arise, Infinium is still working towards releasing products in the future. Head on over to DailyTech to read more.
nVHardPage SE 3.4 Released
Our NVIDIA tweaking tool underwent quite some changes. nVHardPage nVidia videocard tweaker is tweaking utility for nVidia display adapters running under Windows 98 (SE) / Windows ME / Windows 2000 and Windows XP. With this tweak utility you can enable/disabe hidden features in nVidia control panel, tweak nVidia Direct3D and OpenGL settings and overclock your nVidia display adapter.
- added support for G71, G72 and G73 series
- added transparency antialiasing controls
- added gama correct antialiasing controls
- added spanish translation (thanks to Gaston Magnere)
- updated performance Wizard
- fixed pair mistakes in polish translation
- fixed bug in Profile editor
- fixed bug in Prerender limit setting
- some others small fixes and changes
You can snatch the new version over at Guru3D.
Every Intel CPU from 4004 to P4 up for grabs on eBay
Well, not all of ’em – some are still sitting in folks’ PCs, after all – but rather one of each type, many of them highly esoteric but “historically significant”, in the words of the seller, who claims to have spent eight years putting the collection together. The selection runs from the original 4004 through to the Pentium 4.
If you are a huge Intel fan and want to own a huge part of history, it will only set you back $2,500. It’s expensive, but it’s also one impressive collection. You can check out Reg Hardwares posting and the eBAY auction here.
Micron to release 8-megapixel image chip
MAKER OF chips and bits, Micron is to release a thumbnail-sized digital sensor that enables pocket-sized cameras and cell phones to snap 10 high-quality photos in a second. The 8-megapixel digital image sensor will be released early next year with the device appearing on products later in the year.
I never previously liked Camera phones due to the usual 1MP quality, but 8MP quality is something I can handle! Check out the posting at The Inquirer.
Pioneer Blu-Ray PC Recorder Now For Sale
For those who cannot wait to get on the Blu-ray train, Pioneer’s BDR-101A PC Blu-ray recorder is just starting to trickle into the retail channel. Tiger Direct has just listed the BDR-101A for sale at a mere $999.99. Many analysts had speculated that Pioneer would drop the price of the BDR-101A significantly after NEC and Toshiba both announced PC HD-DVD recorders for under $500.
There’s nothing better than owning a piece of useless hardware, for only $1,000! If you can find the blank discs, they will run you around $50US, for 50GB or 60GB. Read more at DailyTech.
Would You Believe The RIAA Would Go Back On Its Word?
Following the news of the RIAA suing XM for daring to come up with a device that lets people record their satellite radio offerings, it seems worth reminding the RIAA how they swore up, down, left and right that they would never, ever file such a lawsuit.
The RIAA does something morally wrong? Rubbish. Check out the full posting at TechDirt.
Microsoft Fixes Windows XP SP2 Laptop Battery Drain Problem
The Core Duo battery drain saga that was originally reported by Tom’s Hardware has resurfaced. Anand Shimpi later correctly proved that the battery drain bug had absolutely nothing to do with Core Duo, but was actually a problem with Windows XP SP2. Just yesterday, Microsoft got around to publishing a fix for the problem.
A patch has been released, but it doesn’t seem to target the problem specifically, but rather fixes a problem that could prevent the PC from entering idle state. If you have need for the patch, you can read the article and grab the link to it at DailyTech.
Hardware Roundup for May 18
- AMS Venus GoGo 2.5″ OTG Enclosure – Virtual-Hideout
Cases & Enclosures
- Scythe Samurai SCSM-1000 Heatsink – FrostyTech
Cooling
- G. Skill F1-4000BIU2-2GBHV – Driver Heaven
- OCZ Mini-Kart Ultra Slim USB 2.0 Flash Drive – TweakNews
- SuperTalent 2GB PC2-8000 – Bit-Tech
- Western Digital WD5000KS 500 GB Hard Drive – XYZ Computing
Memory & Storage
- ASUS P5WD2-E Premium – Motherboards.org
- ECS MVP PA1 Rev 2.0 – Futurelooks
- Gigabyte’s GA-G1975X G1-Turbo – HotHardware
Motherboards & CPU’s
- Sennheiser HD435 Headphone – Digital Trends
- Thermaltake PurePower 600w – A1-Electronics
Peripherals & Power Supplies
- Nvidia extends GeForce 7800 family? – NGOHQ
- Sapphire Radeon X1900 GT – Firing Squad
Video Cards & Monitor
- DLO TransDock Micro for iPod – Think Computers
Etcetera & Contests
SiN Episodes Patch Released
An update for SiN Episodes: Emergence has been released and will be applied automatically when the Steam client is restarted. Here’s the changelog:
- Fixed a bug sometimes causing the challenge to never ease up on the player, making it unforgiving.
- Fixed a bug that may have been causing sound-stuttering issues for some players.
- Fixed a bug where changing the fov made you a cheater.
- Fixed player stats not always reporting while you are in the car or otherwise locked in place.
- Fixed the instantaneous challenge rating sometimes reporting 0.
- Fixed a texture problem that was causing a lock-up on some video cards when loading in U4Labs.
- Fixed a texture problem that was causing a crash on some video cards when fighting the Quadralex.
- Fixed a texture problem that was causing a crash on some video cards when inside of green poison gas.
- Fixed a path-finding issue preventing the game from progressing after talking with Radek at his headquarters.
- Reduced point-size on some fonts to fix some close captioning to not fit for some languages.
- Fixed a path-finding issue with one map.
To get the update, simply open up Steam!
Sony Fakes Blu-Ray Demo?
Lance Ulanoff of PC Magazine reported on Sony’s recent event showing the new VAIO AR desktop with a Blu-Ray drive, observing that Sony faked the high-def demo by using a plain old DVD+R of House of Flying Daggers. Even before the rootkit fiasco, Sony has seemed increasingly desperate, but the general consensus seems to be that Sony is looking pretty sad and pathetic.
The verdict is still out on this one, because theres debate that there were two different laptops side by side, one with Blu-Ray and the other with the DVD+R. Seriously though, if they were trying to pull this off, there’s no way a DVD+R could contain the quality that Blu-Ray is supposed to deliver. Check out the full posting at Slashdot.
RIAA Sues XM Satellite Radio
The RIAA is suing XM Satellite radio contending that the ability to store songs in memory makes it similar to an iPod, but with no income involved for the RIAA. “XM said it will vigorously defend this lawsuit on behalf of consumers and also called the lawsuit a bargaining tactic. […] The labels are currently in talks with XM and its rival Sirius Satellite Radio, to renegotiate digital royalty contracts for broadcasts.”
The RIAA attacks again! These guys are getting more ridiculous by the day. It seems as though they are getting bored of suing little girls and the deceased, now they have to try suing internet radio. Check out the full posting at Slashdot.