Tech News

ATI Technologies Inc. Buys Shanghai-based XGI Technology Inc. Alliance Company

Posted on March 7, 2006 10:50 AM by Rob Williams

TORONTO & SHANGHAI, China–(BUSINESS WIRE)–March 6, 2006— ATI Technologies Inc. (NASDAQ:ATYT) (TSX:ATY) today announced the acquisition of Shanghai-based Macrosynergy, an XGI Technology alliance company, as well as related personnel working out of XGI Technology’s Santa Clara, California location. With the acquisition ATI immediately increases its presence in Shanghai, China, considered to be the epicenter of China’s burgeoning technology market. At the same time the company acquires the research and design expertise of an organization best known for its multimedia add-in boards for personal computers.

You can read the full press release here.

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Hypersonic Aviator CX7 Review

Posted on March 7, 2006 10:42 AM by Rob Williams

We ordered the Hypersonic Aviator CX7; a “desktop replacement” that cost us $2604 after shipping. We decided to go with a 1.86GHz Intel Pentium-M 750 Processor. We also got two gigabytes of RAM and a 60GB 7200RPM SATA hard drive.

I think I’m drooling. The addition of a 7800GTX Go certainly makes this one sweet computer. Check out HardOCP to see how well the laptop stands up to their tests.

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Rainbow Six: Vegas in development

Posted on March 7, 2006 10:41 AM by Rob Williams

GAME OUTFIT Ubisoft has confirmed that it has started work on Tom Clancy’s Rainbow Six: Vegas, for all available consoles. According to an Ubisoft press release, the game tells the story of how Las Vegas, a sort of Disneyland occupied by the guests of Jerry Springer, gets held to ransom by terrorists.

You can read more at The Inquirer.

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Sapphire claims a first with HDMI cards

Posted on March 7, 2006 10:39 AM by Rob Williams

Sapphire looks like being the first ATI partner to ship such a card. It plans to show off its Sapphire Radeon X1600Pro HDMI card at the Cebit show in Hangover this week, and says it will be ready to ship those cards in April.

Despite being an X1600, this could prove to be one of the best media center cards available… for now. We’ll see how long it takes for others to include HDMI support with their products. Check out the posting at The Inquirer.

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First Conroe Block Diagrams

Posted on March 7, 2006 10:39 AM by Rob Williams

As soon as we got to the Spring Intel Developer Forum 2006, Intel gave us exclusive access to the Conroe block diagram before the keynote. As expected, Conroe uses a shared L2 cache with independent L1 caches per core.

You can check out the diagram at Daily Tech.

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Intel Unveils New Chips to Battle AMD

Posted on March 7, 2006 10:36 AM by Rob Williams

Reuters is reporting that chip giant Intel hopes to get back on track in their continued market share war with AMD when they unveil a new line of chips at their upcoming twice-annual developers forum. From the article: ‘AMD, once content to mimic Intel’s advances, has set the technological pace in recent years with innovations such as putting two processing cores in a single chip — moves that have helped it gobble market share from its much-larger rival.

A few years ago, who would have thought the tables would turn like this? It will be interesting to see how well these new chips will benchmark compared to AMD. Check out the full posting at Slashdot.

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Hardware Roundup for Mar. 7

Posted on March 7, 2006 10:14 AM by Rob Williams

There’s a lot of great reviews up for your reading pleasure this morning. If you are in need of a GPU or CPU cooler, check out the cluster of reviews below. Hardware-Review has posted their review of the AC Accelero X1 cooler which we also took a look at the other day. It didn’t perform as well for them as it did me and was easily surpassed in performance by the Silencer. EclipseOC takes a look at a few modules from a company you probably have not heard of. These are certainly ‘Xtreem’ modules though, hitting DDR600 speeds at 3-3-3-8 timings! I should mention that is only at 3.0v :)

Craving a GPU upgrade? Well, you are in luck because numerous cards have been reviewed today. GD Hardware takes the ultimate high end ATI card for a spin, and Legion Hardware runs the X1800XT through it’s paces. If you are one of those people that ‘have’ to have 512MB in their graphics card, then read up at Pure Overclock on their 7800GT 512. On the lifestyle side of things, Design Technica takes a look at the Slingbox, which proves to be a great DVR.

    Memory & Storage
  • TeamGroup Xtreem 2x1gb Cronus – Micron – EclipseOC
  • OCZ XTC DDR2 PC2-4200 Gold Dual Channel – OC Modshop
  • WD SecureConnect Serial ATA Cable – Legit Reviews

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Star Wars: Empire At War Review

Posted on March 7, 2006 9:41 AM by Rob Williams

Ladies and gentlemen, yes it has finally happened. We have a truly awesome 3D Star Wars RTS. Featuring so many things we as gamers have longed for from the Star Wars genre, Empire at War seamlessly melds them together into one (although not too innovative) highly polished work of art. From the awesome detail, to the dual story lines, then on to the dual levels of play, one cannot hope for more. The galactic economy base isn’t too complex yet still does its job to drive you in your conquest for more.

Check out the full review at GamePyre.

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World’s First Reduced Latency 1GHz Memory from OCZ Technology Group

Posted on March 6, 2006 2:30 PM by Rob Williams

Sunnyvale, CA—March 6, 2006—OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced the release of the fastest memory product available on the market—a new DDR2 series capable of 1000MHz (1GHz) speeds at CAS 4 latency (4-5-4). The PC2-8000 DDR2 Platinum XTC Extreme Edition was designed to be the ultimate memory solution for today’s PC enthusiasts that demand leading-edge PC hardware.

Read the full release right here. I can’t wait to see these modules in action!

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ATi Technologies confirmed to acquire XGI sweetness

Posted on March 6, 2006 11:45 AM by Rob Williams

Earlier today X-bit Labs Anton Shilov, otherwise known as “the sweet boy from Estonia” as me mate Fudo always likes to remind him, has been trying to wax his lyrical about a rumour first published by “Chinese-language web-site HardSpell”. Well HEXUS can exclusively confirm that sometime around close of trading today ATi Technologies will confirm its acquisition of the Shanghai design and technology centre of graphics upstart XGI Technologies.

When you think about it, such an acquisition could prove really beneficial for ATI. But who really saw this coming? Check out the full read at Hexus.

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Notebook Drives At Up To 160 GB Put Under the Microscope

Posted on March 6, 2006 11:01 AM by Rob Williams

Current 3.5″ desktop drives offer capacities of up to 500 GB, with the 750 GB capacity point to be hit around the middle of this year. Compared to this, the 160 GB drives that are currently available for 2.5″ drives seem almost small. Does this mean that 2.5″ drives are falling behind?

This is a great look at the top 160GB drives on the market. In the end, it looks like Seagate takes the cake with it’s perpendicular magnetic recording technology. Check out the in-depth read at Toms.

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Wine 0.9.9 Released

Posted on March 6, 2006 10:59 AM by Rob Williams

It looks like Wine has a new version, which puts us right before the big 1.0!

  • Many new features and improvements in Richedit.
  • More Web browser support.
  • Recursive directory change notifications.
  • Wine installation is now fully relocatable.
  • Direct3D 8 and 9 now use the same code.
  • Many debugger improvements.
  • Systray is now handled by the explorer process.
  • Lots of bug fixes.

You can read the full announcement over at WineHQ.

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Who wants or needs 64 bits?

Posted on March 6, 2006 10:57 AM by Rob Williams

Nearly two and a half years have passed since 64-bit processors started going into PCs. But the software to take full advantage of these chips remains scarce, and customers aren’t buying much of what’s out there. The 64-bit chips provide greater performance than their older 32-bit counterparts, but that’s because of speed upgrades and other architectural enhancements.

I personally have never found solid evidence of a 64-Bit helping an application perform better, but I hope to see it happen soon. I believe we will see Dual Core processors be far more beneficial than a 64-Bit CPU, at least for now. Check out the read at News.com.

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MS Thinks OOo is 10 Years Behind

Posted on March 6, 2006 10:51 AM by Rob Williams

In a recent interview with IT Wire, general manager of business strategy for the Information Worker Group at Microsoft, Alan Yates expressed the opinion that Open Office is at the same level that MS office was around 10 years ago. Supposedly only suitable for the single desktop, isolated user. After all, it doesn’t even have an e-mail client!

Hahahaha. I can’t currently visit the site Slashdot links to, but I have no idea on what grounds they think OOo is that far behind. Check out the post right here.

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George Lucas Predicts Death of Big Budget Movies

Posted on March 6, 2006 10:49 AM by Rob Williams

Before the red carpet had cooled at last night’s Academy Awards, George Lucas told the New York Daily News that big-budget movies will soon be history. The market forces that exist today make it unrealistic to spend $200 million on a movie,’ said Lucas, a near-billionaire from his feverishly franchised outer-space epics.

If this is the case, then movie makers will have to focus more on a good storyline than big realistic explosions. Check out the posting at Slashdot.

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AMD releases X85 parts

Posted on March 6, 2006 10:47 AM by Rob Williams

AMD JUST SORT OF LAUNCHED the latest dual core processors, the X85 parts. They are, wait for it, the 185, 285 and 885 models, all running at 2.6GHz, more or less FX-60s in a new package. And previously reported by us before the press release hit news wires like a brick, natch. As usual, they fit in the family thermal envelope, because chips they are small these days and don’t need a Jiffy Bag anymore, honest.

The AMD page on Processor Pricing has been updated today, and man they are some expensive CPU’s! You can check that page here. You can check out the posting over at The Inq.

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Five things I dislike about SUSE 10

Posted on March 6, 2006 10:45 AM by Rob Williams

I’ve been running the retail version on SUSE Linux 10.0 as my production desktop machine since early November. I like its online update facility; it’s a great way to keep the system refreshed with the latest security and bug fixes, and I’m not the only one who feels this way. But I’ve found a few things in SUSE 10 that I’m not too fond of, and that make me start thinking about changing distros.

Most of his opinions I agree with, which is why I haven’t been using the new version either. Check it out at Linux.com.

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Mac OS X hacked under 30 minutes

Posted on March 6, 2006 10:16 AM by Rob Williams

Within hours of going live, the “rm-my-mac” competition was over. The challenger posted this message on his Web site: “This sucks. Six hours later this poor little Mac was owned and this page got defaced”. The hacker that won the challenge, who asked ZDNet Australia to identify him only as “gwerdna”, said he gained root control of the Mac in less than 30 minutes.

Very interesting… I wonder how long it will take Apple to find and patch these exploits. A half hour is not a long time! Check it out at ZDNet Aus.

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Corsair Unveils the World’s Fastest Production DDR2 and DDR1 Memory at CeBIT 2006

Posted on March 6, 2006 9:55 AM by Rob Williams

Fremont, CA (March 6, 2006) – Corsair Memory®, the worldwide leader in design and manufacture of high performance memory, today launched the world’s fastest DDR2 and DDR1 memory solutions for the Intel® and the AMD® platforms. Rated at scorching fast 1066MHz, the new TWIN2X1024-8500 from Corsair delivers the highest memory frequency currently available to Intel users. Simultaneously, the new TWINX2048-4400PRO takes the lead with its rated 550MHz speed to unleash maximum performance on the AMD platform. Live demonstrations of the world’s fastest memory modules can be seen at the Corsair booth in Hall 22, Stand 16B, Booth B6-8.

You can read the full press release here. That’s some fast memory! It will be interesting to see how difficult it will be to actually get them to that speed though.

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Hardware Roundup for Mar. 6

Posted on March 6, 2006 9:11 AM by Rob Williams

There are a lot of computer case reviews up today for your viewing pleasure. If you are looking for a case that offers BTX support, check out TweakPC for their look at Thermaltakes latest offering. Pro-Clockers takes a look at the latest offering from Ultra, which is a fantastic case overall and looks great. If you are interested in paying a lot for your server CPU, check out GamePC’s review of the 285 Opteron. XYZ Computing is taking a look at the top ATI offering available, the X1900XTX 512MB. It doesn’t overclock extremely well, but who reallys needs to overclock such a massive card? ;)

    Cases & Enclosures
  • Sunbeam Silent Storm Mid-Tower Case – ModTheBox
  • Thermaltake Tenor HTPC – HTPC News
  • Thermaltake Tuba The way to the new BTX standard – TweakPC
  • Ultra Aluminus Case – Pro-Clockers
    Cooling
  • Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5 – Future Looks
  • Sytrin KuFormula VF1 Plus VGA Cooler – OCIA
    Motherboards & CPU’s
  • AMD Opteron 285 CPU – GamePC
  • DFI’s LANParty UT NF4 SLI-DR Expert – Tech Report
  • ECS KA1 MVP Evaluation – techFEAR
    Video Cards & Monitor
  • Albatron 6600 512 DDR2 Video Card – Legit Reviews
  • Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 10.1 – Rojak Pot
  • PowerColor X1900 XTX 512MB – XYZ Computing
  • XGI Technology Updates (Merger, etc…) – Phoronix

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Guitar Hero Review

Posted on March 6, 2006 9:10 AM by Rob Williams

Dance mats are for parties when you’ve had a few to drink and don’t mind looking a bit of a pratt. Guitar Hero is for whenever you fancy stepping into the fantasy world of being a rock god. So rather than slipping Led Zeppelin into the CD player and grabbing that tennis racket, boot up Guitar Hero and get as close to playing the songs as you ever will without 2 years intensive guitar lessons.

Check out the full review at Hexus.

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GeIL Value DDR2-1000MHz PC2-8000 Review

Posted on March 5, 2006 9:11 AM by Rob Williams

Last year we had the Ultra PC2-5300 memory from Golden Emperor
International LTD. This memory ran respectively at DDR2-667MHz and it
had maxed out at DDR2-843MHz speeds. Since then GeIL has released a new
set of memory modules — GeIL Value PC2-8000 DDR2 Dual Channel Kit.
Today we have the modules that are rated to run at 1.0GHz and are
designed to break the performance barrier with Intel 955X Chipsets. We
have cradled the GeIL DDR2-1000MHz modules inside of an Abit AW8-MAX
v1.0 and are taking these modules for the ride of their life.

Check out the full review of these speedy modules at Phoronix.

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Vizo Windstorm and Muffle Case Fans

Posted on March 5, 2006 9:10 AM by Rob Williams

Ok, this is the tale of two little fans. The first little fan was quiet and low spinning, while the second fan was loud and fast. The first fan would sit in the rear of the case letting hot air escape. The second fan would take its place on top of an overheating processor. Ok, before I get carried away with this silly introduction, Vizo has provided me with two 80mm cooling cases. Each one fits the descriptions of the tale above. Let’s see what the Muffle and the Windstorm is all about.

Check out the full review at Pro-Clockers.

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VIZO Luxon USB/SATA 3.5" & HDD Enclosure Review

Posted on March 5, 2006 9:05 AM by Rob Williams

With all the included cables and easy HDD installation, along with the fact that it’s plug-and-play, you can’t go wrong with the VIZO Technology Luxon External HDD Enclosure. It’s sleek, it’s sexy, and easy to use. What more can you ask for?

Head over to Virtual-Hideout for the full review.

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Logitech Cordless Desktop MX5000 Laser Review

Posted on March 5, 2006 9:04 AM by Rob Williams

All in all, Logitech has added yet another amazing product to their
line-up. The Logitech MX5000 Cordless Desktop Laser is sure to be a hit in
the Bluetooth input device industry, along with Logitech’s own diNovo Media
Desktop Laser. It’s only a matter of time before we see new Bluetooth
keyboard/mouse combinations from Logitech itself and its competitors.

Head on over to Overclockers Online for the full review.

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