- Qualcomm Launches Snapdragon 4 Gen 2 Mobile Platform
- AMD Launches Ryzen PRO 7000 Series Mobile & Desktop Platform
- 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
Social & RSS Feeds
Latest Videos
Latest News
Tech News
Zalman ZM460-APS Noiseless Power Supply Review
Zalman introduced the ZM460-APS power supply around 2 months ago as an ultra quiet 460W power supply supporting Intel and AMD based systems. We have gotten the opportunity to shed some light on this new powerful but noiseless power supply which meets the latest ATX power standards. Zalman has on top of their older already very silent power supplies improved their noise prevention system by using an auto controlled cooling fan. So without holding you all up let’s dig into the new Zalman ZM460-APS PSU.
Check out the full review at MVKTech.
ASUS EAX1300PRO Preview
Even with ATI’s X1900 series launch this week, there continues
to remain no official support for the X1000 series under Linux. Although
the support should be appended in the near future, today we have a
preview of the ASUS EAX1300PRO as well as some exclusive Linux
information pertaining to the most recent Radeon offerings.
Check out the full preview at Phoronix.
Thermalright HR-01-775 (High Riser) Passive CPU Heatsink Review
When looking for a heatsink or cooler there are a few things you want to look for. Normally look for one which is copper or copper/aluminum combination, but this will increase the cost. This heatsink is all aluminum but it utilizes 8 towering heatpipes and countless fins. This more than makes up for it not being copper, although if it were copper the performance would probably be even better. That being said, the performance of this heatsink is excellent and that’s what counts…
Check out the full review over at 3D Gameman.
Silverstone TJ06 Entry Level Server Case Review
Full tower cases have dominated the modding and corporate marketplaces for years. It is not too often that you see a store bought computer inside a full tower case now is it? If you work inside your PC often, and don’t usually move it around, a full tower case is often a great solution for your PC casing needs. Today I have the Silverstone TJ06 full tower entry level server case.
Check out the full review at Extensive Mods.
Noctua NH-U9 Heatsink Review
A relative new-comer to the heatsink market, Noctua have started on the right foot by embracing the latest technology; heatpipes. Their two latest heatsinks, the NH-U9 and the NH-U12 are the first products we see from this company. With a surface area of 5000cm² (NH-U12) and 3800cm² (NH-U9) and the ability to have either a 120mm (NH-U12) or 92mm (NH-U9) fan coupled with it makes for promising stats, but do the figures relate to high performance?
Check out the full review over at Pro-Clockers.
Spire RockeTeerV 500W EZ-Cable Gaming Power Supply Review
Today 3DXtreme is taking a look at the new Spire SP-500W – RockeTeer Vâ„¢, 500W EZ-Cable Gaming Power Supply. Some of features that it boasts are Modular EZ-Cable Power Connectors, Two Blue LED Dual Ball Bearing fans, 3 Speed Variable Fan Speed Auto-Control, Two SATA Power Connectors, Thermo-Reactive Cooling System and a few others that we will be covering with the review.
I had no idea that Spire made power supplies, but this one looks pretty solid. It actually reminds me a lot of the OCZ PSU’s. Check out the full review at 3D Xtreme.
eBuyer set to withdraw from the US market
Speaking exclusively to HEXUS, eBuyer one of the UK’s home-grown etailers, has confirmed its intention to close the doors on its US business activities. Apparently its staff in the US were informed of this decision several weeks ago.
For those unaware, eBuyer is like a NewEgg, but in the UK. They have some huge competition over here to deal with, so that likely has something to do with it. Check out the posting at Hexus.
Samsung SH-B022 Blu-ray Burner Review
It’s not every day you get to play with a pre-production Blu-ray burner, but the team at Germany’s CT Magazine were able to get their hands on a Samsung SH-B022, and liked what they saw. The burner, which doesn’t have AACS copy-protection, was able to burn a 25GB disc in about 43 minutes, and had no trouble playing a range of CDs and DVDs. The reviewers also found that the drive didn’t generate as much heat as some other models they’ve tested; it reached a manageable 107 degrees after a burn. The final model is due out in April for about $500, and will include copy protection, along with the ability to write double-layer 50GB discs.
Ow, $500 smackers! Well, DVD burners cost around the same at launch and they couldn’t burn 25GB! You can check out the translated review right here. Source: Engadget.
Abit offers $10,000+ of prizes in mobo survey
THE NEWLY INCARNATED Abit is conducting a survey of its mobo users and is offering prizes worth over $10,000 plus, it said.
The survey is divided into three sections and each completed section earns you a raffle ticket.
Auction planned for 1,000 patents
An estimated 1,000 patents spanning software, hardware and networking are destined to be sold to the highest bidder in San Francisco by a merchant bank this spring.
Ocean Tomo is hosting the first in a series of two planned patent auctions this year, in a move the company believes will help – not hurt – innovation in IT.
Now this is an interesting way to do business. I couldn’t find an actual list of the Patents being auctioned, though. Check out the posting at Register.
openSUSE: SUSE Linux 10.1 Beta2 Announcement
Created within the openSUSE project, SUSE Linux 10.1 is designed for individuals looking to work with latest open source technologies–a stabilized Linux operating system, solutions for desktop productivity, application development, web hosting, security and more completely integrated to make the world’s most usable Linux. SUSE Linux 10.1 supports the Intel and AMD x86 and x86-64 platforms as well as the PowerPC platform…
There are a couple lingering bugs that I hope to see ironed out in this new BETA. Check out the full news posting at Linux Today.
Transparent OLED On the Way
With transparency, a display could be illuminated from the back or front. That means the OLEDs could be embedded into laminated glass—that means a car windshield, or even the windows in an office building, could offer a clear view out but also be turned into display panels when needed. Fascinating stuff, no idea how long until we see these on the market. They are still perfecting the manufacturing process for larger surfaces, so expect to see it in handheld devices first.
This is very cool technology and would be great to see it in use in the future. Only downside right now though, is that OLED tech is still very expensive so it would be quite a while before it would be remotely affordable. Check out the full posting at Gizmodo.
Court date set for Google lawsuit
Google’s attempt to fend off the government’s request for millions of search terms will move to a federal court in San Jose, Calif., on Feb. 27.
U.S. District Judge James Ware on Thursday set the date for the highly anticipated hearing, which is expected to determine whether the U.S. Justice Department will prevail in its fight to force Google to help it defend an anti-pornography law this fall.
Hopefully this will turn out in Googles favor, because they are doing us a favor by protecting our search terms. It’s going to be an interesting case, and probably a tough one to win. Read all about it at News.com.
Torvalds says no to GPL 3
Bottom line: he’s not thrilled with it, notably provisions meant to prevent the use of digital rights management (DRM) technology in GPL software. The proposed anti-DRM measures are so problematic that Linus said that he does not intend to move from GPL version 2 to version 3.
Check out the full posting right here. If you want to know all about the GPLv3, you can read all about it at News.com.
BIOS Rootkits???
One rootkit expert at the conference predicted that the technology will become a fundamental part of rootkits in the near future. ‘It is going to be about one month before malware comes out to take advantage of this,’ said Greg Hoglund, a rootkit expert and CEO of reverse engineering firm HBGary. ‘This is so easy to do. You have widely available tools, free compilers for the ACPI language, and high-level languages to write the code in.
It looks to be only a matter of time before this becomes a real problem. Rootkit or not though, there are tools that could essential aide in bricking your system, if people were malicious enough. Check out the post at Slashdot.
Hardware Roundup for Jan. 26
There’s not too much going on today; maybe people wanted to get a head start on the weekend? If you are just getting into the SLi world, you will want to check out Tech-Hounds today. They have a great article that goes through the myths and realities of the technology and explains how it works. SPAM undoubtedly is one of the biggest gripes on the internet, but NGOHQ is taking a look at a program to help combat it. SPAMfigter looks to be hopeful, but sadly only works with Microsoft’s clients.
- Antec P180 Advanced Super Mid-Tower – Mod The Box
- Coolermaster Stacker 830 – Red & Blackness
- Xilence X2 Case – Technic 3D
Cases & Enclosures
- Arctic Cooling Freezer 64 Pro – System Cooling
Cooling
- CoolerMaster Musketeer 3 – PC Modding Malaysia
- PCToys System Maxx Fan Controller – OC Mod Shop
Peripherals & Power Supplies
- Gateway FPD2185 21-inch Monitor – Design Technica
- Powercolor X1300Pro Bravo Edition – Byte Sector
- SLI: Myth and Reality – Tech-Hounds
Video Cards & Monitor
- ATI EverLAN Winter 2006 – Think Computers
- NGO NVIDIA Optimized Driver v1.8310 – NGOHQ
- SPAMfighter 4.3.0 – NGOHQ
- “The Year of the HTPC” – XYZ Computing
- Wicked Lasers Spyder SeriesT Portable OEM Lasers – MVK Tech
Etcetera & Contests
Heroes of Might & Magic V Delay Petition
With Heroes of Might and Magic 4 having received poor sales in comparison to its predecessor, Heroes 5 is seen by most as a make or break game. If it fails, so will the entire Might and Magic franchise. If it succeeds, then the product line would gain the support it needs for a long term at Ubisoft. After the rough start and continued issues of the Open Beta, and some investigation, these leaders realized that there was little time to act. Ubisoft’s fiscal year ends on March 31, coinciding with the release date. Ubisoft was also the target of a takeover bid in December of 2004, something they are not likely to forget easily. Wanting to hit or exceed their yearly targets could be a reason for the March 31 release date. However, such short-term plans are exactly what doomed Heroes 4, New World Computing and The 3DO Company. SaveHeroes.Org is now open to try and prevent such a thing from happening.
Now this is what I love to see. It would be nice if the company actually listened to their players, but we’ll see. Source: ShackNews.
Seed Dev/Media Chat As Presented by Stratics
The developers of Seed were gracious enough, with their busy 4 days ’til beta schedule, to invite several sites to an informal chat about the wonderful things the team is doing with the game!
Stratics was granted entry, and we’d love to share with you the new and exciting information we learned!
[RGD]Relic: On the subject of player-types (who do we appeal to): People who are used to PVP-oriented or quest-oriented MMOGs are not our first and foremost audience. We’re hoping to hook types like the storytellers, the crafters, and the explorers. We hope to offer dialogue with some meaning to it, and a sense that the world is going on even if you are not there. That not everything is scripted towards you specifically but rather towards a story. The way we build the world – both mechanics and feel – is the way we would like it to be ourselves, and we have a good feeling we’re not alone.
The entire chat can be read right here! And in the next few days, we’ll unveil our Seed portal, for all your needs as a citizen of Da Vinci!
Google the top brand name in 2005
This year Google wrestled the coveted top spot from incumbent Apple. Both companies dominate the charts, soaring far above the rest of the contenders. Next in line is Skype, followed by Starbucks and Ikea. To the astonishment of many, Firefox made the top ten, beating Sony and eBay.
This isn’t too much of a surprise… Google really shined in 2005 with countless new projects and other projects coming out of BETA. Check out the full posting at Ars Technica.
Emoticons? Patented! :(
However, even so, how in the world could this possibly deserve patent protection? Animated smileys are common just about everywhere, and not because of some brilliant “invention” that deserves protection, but because it’s an obvious idea.
Just when you thought that patents made sense, this comes along. I can see it now.. IM clients are forced to disable use of any emoticons. Ridiculous! For a lot more info, check out the posting at Techdirt.
Rumor of the day: Yahoo buying Digg?
Yahoo is at the center of the latest rumor sweeping the blogging world. Several sites are reporting that the media company is getting ready to acquire Digg.com, an online news community that’s quickly become one of the popular gathering spaces for technophiles.
This would only make sense since Yahoo owns other ultra-popular social networking websites. Check out the full blog entry at News.com.
Nintendo Announces DS Lite
Nintendo President Satoru Iwata today announced Nintendo DS Lite, a slimmer version of the best-selling Nintendo DS. Also featuring brighter screens, Nintendo DS Lite will launch in Japan on the 2nd of March. Nintendo DS Lite will be less than two-thirds the size of the original Nintendo DS and more than 20 percent lighter.
Usually I shrug when I hear that Nintendo has released a different version of the same console, but this one I can agree with. The original DS just isn’t that comfortable, so hopefully a slim version will be. Check out the posting at Slashdot.
Super Talent Announces Ultra-Performance 2GB DDR Kits
San Jose, California – January 25, 2006 — Super Talent Technology today announced two new ultra high performance DDR memory kits. Both kits consist of a pair of 1GB DDR memory modules.
Both kits have some great timings, so it will be interesting to see how well they shape up in reviews. Check out the full release here.
VNU Business Media Europe buys the INQUIRER
VNU Business Publications Ltd, the London-based publishing arm of VNU Business Media Europe (BME), has purchased The Inquirer, www.theinquirer.net, one of the leading technology news sites. The investment is part of VNU’s ongoing strategy to enhance its online portfolio and transform its business into a fully cross-media content publishing organisation.
This was quite a sudden surprise. Hopefully this will mean only good things for the Inq, as it’s already a pretty reliable tech source. You can check out the full press release here. Hexus were the first ones to bring this to our attention.
Hardware Roundup for Jan. 26
3D Xtreme is taking a look at the Max 4 HDD Enclosure from TT. It includes a seperate power supply and a very sturday chassis. It’s too bad that it doesn’t offer S-ATA support though. Adrian has added quite a few options to his BIOS guide, so definitely head over there if anything related to your BIOS puzzles you. 3D Gameman takes a look at a fairly smaller, but feature packed PSU. The Nexus 350W NX-9003 has many connectors, but only one PCI-E. Of course, who would run SLi on a 350W? The coolest feature of this PSU though, is the security fan that *only* turns on when the sensors reach a certain temp.
- Thermaltake Max 4 HDD Enclosure – 3D Xtreme
Cases & Enclosures
- Sytrin KuFormula VF1 Plus – PyroCPU
Cooling
- Nexus 350W Silent NX-9003 SFB Power Supply w/ Security Fan Backup – 3D Gameman
- Titan Power Inverter HW-150 – A1 Electronics
- X-Micro Video MP3 400 1GB – Think Computers
Peripherals & Power Supplies
- Club-3D 7800GT 256MB – Viper Lair
- Gigabyte GV-3D1 6800GT – GamePyre
- PowerColor X1300 – XYZ Computing
- XFX 7800GT – Motherboards.org
Video Cards & Monitor
- CES 2006 Spotlight: Flexity PowerSquid Surge Protector – Design Technica
- Do It Yourself PC System Guides – Legit Reviews
- Samsung ML-3561N Laser Printer – XYZ Computing
Etcetera & Contests