Tech News

Hardware Roundup for Dec. 9

Posted on December 9, 2005 10:54 AM by Rob Williams

For being a Friday, it doesn’t seem to be overly busy around the web. As always though, there are some great reviews available today. If you need a 1GB kit, then head over to Extensive Mods today. They are taking a look at some Mushkin DDR400 modules which are not overly fast, but would be great for a modest rig. For some faster modules that envy overclocking, TweakNews is reviewing the Corsair PC4000 Platinum 2GB. They offer a lot of bandwidth and speed, no doubt.

PC Stats is evaluating the Gigabyte dual 6600GT card, despite it’s G8GT name which would lead you to believe that it’s a dual 6800GT. It’s a solid card, but why buy an oddball card like this when you can pay a little bit more for a 7800GT? Speaking of oddball, if you enjoy using the not so usual Linux distros, you may want to check out the pictorial that Phoronix has released today of the newest Helix release. It’s security based and looks to offer all the basics plus some cool extras.

    Cases & Enclosures
  • GlobalWin YCC-S27 HTPC – Tech-Mods
    Memory & Storage
  • Corsair PC4000 DDR500 TWINX2048-4000PT 2Gig – TweakNews
  • Mushkin 1GB Redline PC3200 Memory Kit – Extensive Mods
  • OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Gold GX XTC Dual Channel – OCIA
  • OCZ PC-3200 Gold Voltage eXtreme Dual Channel – Rojak Pot
  • X-Micro DisGo – Overclockers Online
    Motherboards & CPU’s
  • Asus P5ND2-SLI Deluxe Intel nForce4 SLI Motherboard Overclocking – Madshrimps
    Video Cards & Monitor
  • Gigabyte Geforce 6600 GT Silent-Pipe II GV-NX66T256DE – InsaneTek
  • Gigabyte GV-3D1-68GT Dual-GPU – PC Stats

Read More Comment (0)

New L2 Game Time Card Package

Posted on December 8, 2005 11:12 AM by Rob Williams

AUSTIN, Texas, Dec. 7, 2005—NCsoft® North America has released a new feature-packed game time card package for Lineage® II: The Chaotic Chronicle™, the market’s premier player-versus-player (PvP) massively multiplayer online PC game. The new Lineage II game time card package is available at retail outlets in the U.S. and Canada.

The package includes a 60-day pre-paid Lineage II game time card and a game pack with the full version of Lineage II, including the latest content expansions: Chronicle 1: Harbingers of Warâ„¢; Chronicle 2: Age of Splendorâ„¢ and Chronicle 3: Rise of Darknessâ„¢.

Additionally, players will find a 14-day free trial game code for purchasers to share with a friend.

“This new Lineage II game time package is an outstanding value for the more than 70,000 North American Lineage II subscribers,” said Adam Davidson, Lineage II’s North American producer. “Lineage II has created a very strong and extremely loyal following among PvP fans and this game time package will allow them to share their adventures with friends.”

Lineage II provides players a deep, rich environment where the elite PvP gamers gather to take on the challenges that the world of Lineage II delivers. Since the launch of the game in 2004, NCsoft has added more than 1.5 gigabytes of new content with massive updates delivered regularly for free to its active subscribers. The next expansion, Chronicle 4: Scions of Destiny is expected to be released in early 2006.

The new Lineage II sixty-day game time card packages are available at many North American retailers and at the NCsoft online store for a suggested retail price of US$29.99. To purchase the game or other Lineage II merchandise, go to the NCsoft store at: https://store.plaync.com.

For more information about Lineage II: The Chaotic Chronicle, go to: http://www.lineage2.com.

The game is rated Teen by the Entertainment Software Rating Board.

About NCsoft

NCsoft – North American is headquartered in Austin, Texas and is part of Korea-based NCsoft Corporation. NCsoft, with its own development and publishing offices in Texas and California, also works with subsidiaries and third party developers throughout North America to develop and publish innovative online entertainment software products. The company launched two massively multiplayer titles on the same day last year: Lineage II and City of Heroes®, and in 2005 the hit games Guild Wars® and City of Villains® were released. In 2006, NCsoft is poised to launch two more massively multiplayer titles: Auto Assaultâ„¢ and Tabula Rasaâ„¢. More information about NCsoft can be found at http://www.PlayNC.com.

Read More Comment (0)

The Register wants the EFF to curl up and die

Posted on December 8, 2005 10:54 AM by Rob Williams

The Register, never averse to poking a hornet’s nest, stirred up a swarm of of activity yesterday when it ran an editorial piece bashing the Electronic Frontier Foundation. The EFF is a non-profit group that promotes digital civil rights, but the Register argues that their work is, er, less than effective. The EFF has recently agreed to argue one of the legal cases against Sony over their “rootkit” software, and the Register ain’t happy.

The Register certainly isn’t giving any credit where it’s due, but Ars sets some of the record straight. Check out the posting here.

Read More Comment (0)

No Definition For Half Of HDTV Owners

Posted on December 8, 2005 10:51 AM by Rob Williams

With HDTVs in 16 million homes by the end of the year, one would hope that the people putting these new sets into their homes have an understanding of the reason why they’ve just paid a premium over a normal television. Well, apparently confusion still abounds. HD programming still has a long way to go, so while it’s not that surprising that 49% of HDTV owners don’t utilize their HD functions, what is surprising (and a little scary) is that a quarter thought they were watching HDTV all along. Consumers clearly need to be educated more. If people are so easily duped, why are engineers working so hard to solve the world’s problems? Just slap on a sticker that says what you want your product to do, head home and crack open that beer.

I can relate to this, since HD is hardly widespread where I live. Check out the posting and comments at TechDirt.

Read More Comment (0)

Pirates stunting software growth

Posted on December 8, 2005 10:42 AM by Rob Williams

About 35 percent of the world’s software is pirated, coming down only 1 percent a year, research group IDC found in a study commissioned by the Business Software Alliance, which represents about 50 software companies. The study, covering 70 countries representing 99 percent of the world’s information technology spending, said a worldwide reduction of software piracy by 10 percentage points to 25 percent could generate 2.4 million jobs and $400 billion of economic growth.

Read all about it here.

Read More Comment (0)

NVIDIA 7800 GT Mini-Roundup

Posted on December 8, 2005 10:37 AM by Rob Williams

The NVIDIA GeForce 7800 series has been around for a while now and there’s no denying that these are among the most powerful cards available right now. Only recently has ATI released a graphics card that could compete with the mighty 7800 GTX, and though the X1800 XT does compete, current prices still favor NVIDIA over ATI parts in terms of value. This is especially significant given the time of year, as sales, obviously, will be high for both companies, but it’s value that will ultimately determine which parts the average consumer will buy.

I love my 7800GT and certainly don’t regret choosing the eVGA. They also take a look at XFX and ASUS as well. Check out the full mini-roundup at AnandTech.

Read More Comment (0)

Microsoft confirms 360 hard drive shortfall

Posted on December 8, 2005 10:28 AM by Rob Williams

4GB is provided for game ‘caching’ or other hard drive-specific experiences developers want to build for their game,” said a Microsoft spokesperson, referring to the need for games to copy certain files from the game disc – which can be read only slowly – to the hard drive, where they can be accessed quickly.

The article goes on to explain what the other gigabytes are used for, such as the OS and other system use. I don’t mind having 13GB, it’s still a hefty amount for what we use it for. Check out the posting at Games Radar.

Read More Comment (0)

Hardware Roundup for Dec. 8

Posted on December 8, 2005 10:27 AM by Rob Williams

There is not too much going on in terms of reviews today. If you are thinking of using a RAID and have S-ATA drives, then you will want to read the in-depth article at Tech Report today. They take a look at the performance on various chipsets, to help with your buying decisions. PC Stats reviews the latest DFI board as well today, which is basically an upgraded SLi-DR. They are so hard to come by right now, but it is definitely the enthusiasts board if you can manage one.

    Memory & Storage
  • Chipset Serial ATA and RAID Performance Compared – Tech Report

Read More Comment (0)

Hynix debuts 512Mbit GDDR4 DRAM

Posted on December 7, 2005 1:11 PM by Rob Williams

Hynix Semiconductor announced the availability of its 512Mbit GDDR4 DRAM for graphics applications on December 2. Hynix will soon begin to sample its GDDR4 products to leading graphic chipset suppliers and the company plans to start mass production in early 2006.

Graphics memory seems to be way ahead of the game lately, because we still don’t see DDR3 for desktops, or even DDR2 for AMD processors yet. Check out the full posting here.

Read More Comment (0)

Internet Explorer 7 to see early 2006 public beta

Posted on December 7, 2005 1:06 PM by Rob Williams

Internet Explorer fans can look forward to a public beta of the upcoming version 7 of that popular browser sometime in the first quarter of 2006. That fact, revealed on the Microsoft Developer Network web site today, may herald a return of the browser wars.

The term “Internet Explorer fans” makes me laugh, but either way this will be interesting. Check out the posting at Ars Technica.

Read More Comment (0)

Xbox 360 shortages mean people walk away

Posted on December 7, 2005 1:03 PM by Rob Williams

THE UK MARKET is suffering like the US market was last week from a shortage of Microsoft Xbox 360s.

And, according to a report from consultancy Sungard, many people will just give up and buy other presents instead as the race to Yule turns into a shopping frenzy.

Whether this is accurate or not, I’m not sure, but it could be the case. No doubt Microsoft is busting their asses off trying to pump out systems for the holiday though. If they miss this holiday season, then they will certainly lose, since PS3 and Revolution are out next year. Read about it at the Inquirer.

Read More Comment (0)

MS to pump $1.7bn into India

Posted on December 7, 2005 12:49 PM by Rob Williams

Microsoft will pump $1.7bn into India over the next four years, in the process creating 3,000 new jobs. Most of the cash will, according to Bill Gates, go towards improving the software giant’s research and development capabilities.

Gates told a forum of Indian business leaders in New Delhi: “This amount is to be deployed across select focus areas over the next four years in line with Microsoft’s strategic vision for India,” adding: “We have 4,000 professionals in India today, we will increase it to 7,000 over the next three to four years.”

Check out the full read at The Register.

Read More Comment (0)

ECS and Intel Giveaway @ Viperlair

Posted on December 7, 2005 12:48 PM by Rob Williams

No lame forum registrations, no minimum post counts. To enter the contest, simply copy and paste the questions below into an email, and email the correct answers to [email protected], with CPU/Mobo Contest in the subject line.

It just doesn’t get any easier than this! Instead of wasting your next two minutes on deciding what you want to do, just shoot them an e-mail, you may be happy you did!

Read More Comment (0)

OCZ Gold EL PC3500 GX Review

Posted on December 7, 2005 12:44 PM by Rob Williams

OCZ is a company well known among the enthusiast and overclocking crowd. We recently got a 2x512mb set of some Gold PC3500 GX, which uses UTT-BH chips, and is rated for 2-2-2-6 at stock speeds. It was quite fun to play with, go have a look!

These are some pretty nice modules, hitting 258MHz, although at a staggering 3.6v! Check out the full review over at Eclipse OC.

Read More Comment (0)

Hardware Roundup for Dec. 7

Posted on December 7, 2005 12:42 PM by Rob Williams

Whew, sorry for the late posting news! I woke up abnormally late today for some reason, but I kicked myself in the ass so don’t worry. There’s not a lot of reviews today oddly, but there are still a few great ones. There’s a fair amount of graphics cards being looked at, if that needs to be your next purchase. Extreme Tech takes a look at the new X1600XT card, but are hardly impressed. You may want to splurge on the 7800GTX that PC Stats is reviewing today.

    Cases & Enclosures
  • Cooler Master CM Media BTX-B260 Case – 3D Gameman
  • Enermax Laureate Series Enclosures 3.5HDD and 5.25 CD/DVD – Think Computers
    Video Cards & Monitor
  • ASUS EAX1800XL 256MB & HIS Excalibur X1800 XL 256MB PCIe – Hexus
  • ATI Radeon Mobility X1600 GPU – Trusted Reviews
  • ATI Radeon X1600 XT Video Card – Extreme Tech
  • EVGA e-GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB – The Tech Zone
  • Gainward PowerPack! Ultra/3550PCX, GeForce 7800 GTX, 512MB GDDR3 – Hardware OC
  • Mobile GPU Comparison Guide Rev. 4.3 – Rojak Pot
  • MSI NX7800GTX-VT2D512E 512MB – PC Stats
  • XGI Volari 8300 Graphics Card Pictorial – Rojak Pot
    Press Releases
  • Women in Games International Conference in San Francisco Game Industry Leaders Discuss Hot Career Topics – Read PR

Read More Comment (0)

Asus P5WDG2-WS: Intel 975X goes to Work

Posted on December 6, 2005 10:35 AM by Rob Williams

Asus’s new series of Main Station motherboards are designed specifically for high-end computer and workstation users. With the release of this series, Asus is concentrating on providing additional storage options, improved cooling performance, and scalability for the business user. The board will fully support the soon to be released Pentium XE dual-core CPU, which offers two independent 2MB L2 cache, 1066MHz front-side-bus, Hyper-Threading Technology, and Virtualization Technology for improved multi-thread operations.

This is a hopeful board, and has some great features. You can actually use either Crossfire or SLi with a BIOS flash, which makes your buying decision easier. Take a look at the very in-depth look at the new board and chipset at AnandTech.

Read More Comment (0)

AMD Athlon FX60 slower than FX57

Posted on December 6, 2005 10:25 AM by Rob Williams

This is obviously true, since one is 2.6GHz and the other 2.8Ghz. If 3D Mark supported dual core processors, I would be quite interested to see the differences.

Even though the FX 60 has two cores, the slower clock results in poorer performance. Two X1800 XT Master card edition in Crossfire with standard X1800XT scores 13560 with the FX 60 CPU while the FX 57 scores 14200 in 3Dmark05. It’s very simple – the faster clock beats its competition.

Check out the full posting here.

Read More Comment (0)

Playboy Begins Video "Bodcasts"

Posted on December 6, 2005 10:20 AM by Rob Williams

What’s one way to know video podcasts have gone mainstream? When Playboy announces plans to do their own. The company known for its centerfolds today said they would begin offering their own daily downloadable “Playboy Bodcast” on their website.

Wow, how retarded is this. I mean, the show is fine, but anything that includes ‘odcast’ should be shunned like the plague. Read more Design Technica.

Read More Comment (0)

Korean Xbox 360s Look Better Than Yours

Posted on December 6, 2005 10:17 AM by Rob Williams

I think we got ripped personally… because my plain white 360 is looking awful boring after checking out this Gizmodo article.

There are of course many auctions on eBay that sell sticker sets to allow you to skin your 360, but it’s not the same :(

Read More Comment (0)

Kazaa Blocks Aussies

Posted on December 6, 2005 10:14 AM by Rob Williams

Over the past week, the Australian government threatened to shut Kazaa down if Sharman Networks did not install filters to prevent illegal downloading of songs and movies. Well, Sharman Networks had a workaround in mind.

From Monday night, Australian users of the site were greeted with the message: “The download of the Kazaa Media Desktop by users in Australia is not permitted.”

How classy! Check out the full read here.

Read More Comment (0)

NFS Most Wanted Review

Posted on December 6, 2005 10:08 AM by Rob Williams

While there were indeed many disappointments to claw at the heels of success, Need for Speed Most Wanted turned out to be an absolutely amazing title. With the return of the cops, an entirely new dimension of Gameplay has opened wide up, one which was sorely lacking in the short lived Underground series. If you like race games you will love NFS Most Wanted. So Get ready armchair racers Most Wanted is right in time for the Holiday season, so rev up your engines.

This is a great game, but dang it get’s hard quick! Check out the full look here.

Read More Comment (0)

Hammer & Sickle Review

Posted on December 6, 2005 10:07 AM by Rob Williams

Lately, the theme of a lot of games has been World War II. Most of them have been first person shooters. Today I am looking at something a bit different; it is billed as a Tactical-RPG, or role playing game. It is from a well known company call CDV, they have lots of great games in their catalog, if you are a gamer I’m sure you own one of more of their titles. So, today for review I have Hammer and Sickle the PC game. I have been a long time fan of RPG games, but most I played were all fantasy based, so this is something different for me, I do like the WWII theme though, and who doesn’t like any game that allows you to shoot people?!

Check out the full review over at Think Computers.

Read More Comment (0)

ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 GPU Preview

Posted on December 6, 2005 10:05 AM by Rob Williams

On the ASUS A7G Notebook running an Intel 760 (2.0GHz), 1GB DDR2 memory, and the ATI Mobility Radeon X1600 PCIe card we were able to hit an amazing 3797 3DMarks. To put this into perspective we can compare this to the ASUS Z71V notebook that we built uses the same chipset (i915PM). It features an Intel 770 processor, 1GB DDR2 memory, and a Geforce Go 6600. It scored 1706 3DMarks when run with the default drivers…

Now that’s a mobile GPU I wish I had in my notebook! My GeForce 5200 FX just doesn’t cut it anymore. Actually, it never cut it! Check out the full first look at Legit Reviews.

Read More Comment (0)

Contests Roundup!

Posted on December 6, 2005 9:57 AM by Rob Williams

There are a few contests floating around today, and I am sure more will become available as the holiday nears. Both GamePyre and Motherboards.org are holding a contest where you could win an ECS mobo and Intel CPU. It’s not some small CPU either, but a Dual Core 3.0GHz P4! Check out the details here and here.

Tech Report realizes that most geeks don’t live in geek famlies, so how are your gifts possibly going to please you? They remedy this problem by having a kick ass contest where you can win some components to build a killer rig, including an X2 4200+! You can check out the full details right here.

If you are in need of a graphics card, then how does a Leadtek Winfast PX7800GT Extreme card sound? NGOHQ is offering up two of these babies. All you have to do is register in their forums and tell them how much you love them… how much easier could it get? Check out the details for this contest here!

Read More Comment (0)

Hardware Roundup for Dec. 6

Posted on December 6, 2005 9:42 AM by Rob Williams

If you have been on the lookout for a hard drive enclosure, then you will want to check out both A1 and MVK Tech today. The Speeze and Spire enclosures both look pretty good, but are more basic than some others on the market. If our review of the newest Corsair 4GB thumb drive is too much to handle, then take a look at Techniz, where they are examining a Crucial model, weighing in at a wimpy 2GB ;)

techPowerUp! looks at the updated OCZ Gold 2GB modules today. Well, the only thing updated is the heat spreader, but they are some fine looking modules! Also on the storage front, Bit-Tech is throwing up a bout between Pioneer and Plextor, both wicked brands, to see who comes out on top. The winner may surprise you; it surprised me. Lastly, Overclockers Online and Guru 3D are both taking a glance at a new PSU from Thermaltake, and it looks to be a winner. It’s hard to describe how unique this product is, so definitely check out either of those sites for the review.

    Cases & Enclosures
  • ABS Stealth ATX Chassis – Viper Lair
  • I-Star Nitro AX Full Tower Case – XYZ Computing
  • Speeze GigaPod III 3.5″ external HDD enclosure – A1 Electronics
  • Spire GigaPod III External Drive Enclosure – MVK Tech
    Memory & Storage
  • Corsair Twinx2048 4000 DDR500 – Ninja Lane
  • Crucial Gizmo 2GB Flash Drive – Techniz
  • Dual-Layer DVD Duel – Pioneer vs. Plextor – Bit-Tech
  • Kingston 15-in-1 Flash Memory Reader – Legit Reviews
  • OCZ Technology EL PC3500 GX Gold Edition Dual Channel – TweakNews
  • OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 2GB Gold GX XTC – techPowerUp!
    Motherboards & CPU’s
  • ASRock 939S56-M AMD Athlon 64 Socket 939 PCIe – OC Inside
    Video Cards & Monitor
  • BFG Technologies GeForce 7800 GTX OC 256MB PCI Express Video Card – Bona Fide Reviews
  • MSI NX6800GS – T-Break
  • XFX 6600 DDR2 & MSI X1300 Pro – Bit-Tech
    Press Releases
  • OCZ Technology Announces Partnership with UK-Based VIP Computers – Read PR

Read More Comment (0)

< Older Posts

Newer Posts >