We've felt comfortable for a while now saying that we'd be done with the game in 2003, and we still hope to have it out this year. That said, we won't release the game until we are happy with it. Our game design has been done for over a year now, John Carmack is basically done with the rendering system, and almost all the other systems are in and working. We've definitely transitioned from the technology-building phase to the game-building and content-creation phase, and it's exciting to see the game being more visually realized every day.

And this? Oh, I think this speaks for itself.  

NVIDIA continues to dominate the desktop market with a 64% market share and is gaining on ATI in the portable market.

In the desktop standalone segment, where Nvidia dominates, the company lost one percentage point to 64 per cent while ATI gained two points to 28 per cent.

Joe Osha, an analyst at Merrill Lynch & Co., said in a report yesterday that since ATI has had an advantage with its newer graphics chips, "we were surprised to see that the company has not gained more share from Nvidia."

In the portable standalone segment, where ATI leads, its share grew four points to 60 per cent while Nvidia gained six points to 31 per cent.

The conference call will include a question and answer period, which will be limited to questions from analysts and institutional investors.

We have both Windows 98/ME and Windows 2000/XP available. Furthermore all nVidia graphics cards to date are compatible with these drivers and thus includes the newer GeForceFX 5200, 5600 and 5800 series.

The changelog is here.

Analysts had already expected TSMC to show an improvement in the second quarter because customers like Nvidia Corp (NasdaqNM:NVDA - News) were accumulating stockpiles of new products. However, they were unsure of consumer demand for these products later in the year.

*cough* NV35 *cough*

For overclockers, you have a wealth of options available in the BIOS, and although the v2.0 PCB adds 200FSB Barton support, as we've seen here, the v1.2 PCB appears to be up to the task. Just remember to disable the onboard IGP if you plan on memory overclocking, and to make sure your BIOS is at least v1.6 to gain access to additional FSB options.

• Gamer's Hell - XFX GeForce 4 4200 8X Turbo

• Gamer's Depot - Hercules 3D Prophet 9800Pro

• PC Stats - Albatron GeForceFX 5200

• BoogleTech - Inno3D GeForceFX 5200

• Hot Hardware - Leadtek's A300 Ultra TD MyVIVO

• Overclocker's Cafe - Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX 5200

• MadShrimps - Gainward FX 5800 Ultra

• UK Gamer - ASUS V9900 Ultra

Since that time, the 70-person startup has been reinvigorating ATI with efforts that are now starting to bear fruit on several fronts. "The center of gravity for ATI has definitely shifted from Canada to California," said one observer who asked not to be named.

• New Effects & Tools
• New Photo and Graphics Features

Apparently, average selling price of a current-generation high-end graphics processor over its lifetime is $18, so, either graphics card maker gets RADEON 9800 PRO or the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra, it pays roughly $18 per chip depending on the timeframe. I believe that high-end graphics processors from NVIDIA and ATI are priced more or less equally and do not account for a substantial part of graphics cards’ costs.

The Biostar M7NCG is a well-built Micro-ATX motherboard, based on the NVIDIA nForce2 chipset. It's a complete solution with the all the peripherals needed for a basic computer system integrated into the motherboard. The video is powered by the built-in GeForce 4 MX graphics, and the board has a fast DualDDR 400 memory controller, which delivers up to 6.4 GB/s of bandwidth. The M7NCG provides Dolby® digital 5.1-channel sound for real-time cinematic 3D (positional) audio. All of this is topped off with an AGP 8x slot, USB 2.0, IEEE 1394a (FireWire), and LAN ports

With the Radeon 9700 pro began to develop ATi in August last yearly a dominance in the DirectX 9 diagram map market. Because nVIDIA still no DirectX could offer 9 accelerators at this time. But many more badly it probably was to lose the speed crown to the Canadian who stated from August to until recently alone the field.

Only with the conception of the first GeForceFX 5800 Ultra maps in January this yearly could unlock nVIDIA to ATi from the achievement, however not in the measure, as it was actually planned. Additionally it is added for nVIDIA making more difficult that the GeForceFX 5800er maps is sometimes hardly and/or not at all available and will probably only emerge in April on the market. The actual Top becomes model, which GeForceFX 5800 Ultra, probably only in very small number of items the final customer market to reach.

• Albatron PX845PEV-800 Special Edition Review @ Nexushardware
• X-Trac Pro HS Optical Mouse Pad Review @ pcextreme
• Asetek WaterChill review @ hardtecs4u
• AMD goodness from Hardtecs4u
• Sapphire Atlantis Radeon 9200 64MB Review @ Beyond3d

It supports all versions of Detonators drivers starting from Detonator 2.08 under Windows 98 / Windows 98 SE / Windows ME (Detonator 5.08 or higher under Windows 2000 / Windows XP).

What's new:

• Added Detonator 43.45 and 43.51 support.
  
• Added databases for the Detonator 43.45 and 43.51 for both Windows 9x/ME and Windows 2000/XP.
  
• Updated AnisoBoosterOGL, AnisoBoosterD3D, NV25AALines, NVStrap antiprotection and LODBiasFix patch scripts for the Detonator 43.45 and 43.51 for both Windows 9x/ME and Windows 2000/XP.
  
• Added 8xS and 16x OpenGL FSAA for the Detonator 41.80 and higher. Revised naming D3D FSAA naming scheme for the Detonator 41.80.
  
• Updated 1032-compatible SoftFireGL script for ATI FireGL drivers. Antiprotection scripts for the control panel and some other components of 1032+ FireGL drivers are now also included in RivaTuner.
  
• Updated SoftR9x00 scripts for Dell Catalyst v6334 for Windows 2000/XP.
  
• Added nVidia nForce2 to the list of supported northbridges.

The new driver is to be called Detonator FX and it will result in five to 50 percent of "ballistic" performance increases depending on the application while the realistic rather than the ballistic indicates the number will be between 20 to 30 per cent.

The second tells us the clockspeeds for NV35: 425/425 for the non-Ultra and 450/450 for the Ultra. And Uttar, as usual, was correct--it is DDR, not DDR2.

Boy oh boy oh boy, I can't wait for E3..

If my memory serves me right you have a A7N8X deluxe also. Well I just got mine yester day and was chugging along fine, you know benching a little gaming a little. Then I started to add all the other goodies like USB & Game port add in card. Well, the USB when in fine but the Game port didn't. Seems I got it in alright but on row of pins off. As you can guess a stream of smoke poured into my case and my cold cathode came one....WTF!!! I don't have a cold cathode!!! That was the wire bright as a bolt of lighting in my case.

After I yanked the power cord out of the PS and after I stopped shaking like a whipped puppy I said a prayer, hooked up the power and turned it on. You know the funny thing is when the system whent to POST and I heard the beep command I first thought of you. I said vamp would love to post this or make a front page "What Not to Do" story on Nvnews. LMAO so have at it. If it would make a good story for ya then by all means use it or you can just chuckle at my stupidity.

• Opinion: Your Right To Hack the Xbox

• Nvidia Reached Tentative Deal with SEC

• NVIDIA CORP - Annual Report (SEC form 10-K)

• Thermaltake Volcano 9 CoolMod SocketA Cooler Review @ Techseekers
• Galaxy 120mm UV Reactive Fans Review @ PCextreme
• Vantec Nexus Review @ PCextreme
• CFI "e-cube" S768 Barebone Review @ BitBenderforums, what a cool name :)
• CoolerMaster CoolDrive 3 hard disk drive heatsink cooler review @ A1-Electronics
• Ghetto PCI card cooler @ Twistedmods
• ATi All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro Review @ Viperlair
• Samsung SM-352 52x24x52x16 CD-RW/DVD Review @ PCStats
• Zalman ZM400A-APF Power supply Review @ OCPrices

In short, although the Geforce FX 5200 is the baby of the family it offers adequate performance for the casual gamer with good overclocking potential yielding a 10%-15% performance increase in most games on a typical P4 2.53Ghz. With an expected retail of around the €120-€140 euro mark, it represents very good value for money

Still no word from Asus, but this does bode well--the two have the same onboard SATA RAID controller. First we get a 400Mhz FSB from a BIOS update by Abit, and now they fix SATA RAID... gotta say that I'm impressed.

Nvidia is set to formally introduce its new NV35 graphics chip at the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3), to be held in Los Angeles from May 14-16.

...

The chip adopts the same core as Nvidia’s NV30 (GeForce FX 5800 series) but delivers much improved performance, sources said. According to graphics card makers, the NV35 will support the more popular DDR memory standard, rather than the DDRII architecture supported by the NV30.

Core: Hammer
Clock: 1.4GHz
Cache Size: 1MB

The NVIDIA Personal Cinema digital entertainment solution delivers all of your entertainment choices--including TV and DVD viewing, video editing, digital music, 3D games, and more-in a single solution that transforms your PC into a high-tech entertainment center. Enjoy, save, control and play the latest digital media content. NVIDIA Personal Cinema is the key to unlocking the media center experience in your PC.

During the past few years I've posted tidbits from my older son Steve's baseball games. It seemed like only yesterday that I gave him his first glove and now his high school career with the Kecoughtan Warriors is coming to a close.

I've always known that Steve would turn out to be a fine pitcher. While he's 17 years old and still growing, Steve is putting together a senior season that would make any father proud.

Statistics for the district leaders were published in the local paper today, and Steve ranks 1st in strikeouts with 51, 2nd in innings pitched (40) and 3rd in earned run average (1.75).

In the first game of the season, Steve lost a 2-1 decision against Menchville. Mechville has turned out to be the surprise team in the Peninsula district and the following stats show why.

These guys can flat out hit as they have 4 of the top 8 batters. Tommorrow, Mechville visits Kecoughtan in a re-match, which should turn out to be an exciting game as Steve is getting the start.

Note that Kecoughtan has two ties this season. They were a result of not being able to finish a game because of darkness as none of the high schools in our city have lights :)

On a related note, my condolences go out to Menchville player Adam Creekmore and his family. His father, who was an assistant coach, recently passed away after suffering a major heart attack while he was pitching batting practice.

All in all, I'm impressed with the Soltek SL75FRN-L motherboard. While not having all of the features of the Asus A7N8x Deluxe, it's performance is right up there with Asus's board. Further, at a pricepoint of $91 on Pricewatch, this board is reasonable priced enough to warrant my recommendation. In comparison to Asus's nFORCE2 board, the price difference of $35, makes this board an excellent value.

Version: 1.0-4363
Operating System: Linux IA32
Release Date: April 24, 2003

Release Highlights:

Bug fixes since 1.0-4349

NVIDIA Linux Update

GeForce FX and Quadro FX support

Support for Red Hat Linux 9, Mandrake Linux 9.1, and SuSE Linux 8.2

Be sure to check out official Linux Support Forums on our message board.

1. It's using the Unreal engine.

2. It's being developed by Irrational Games, the people who developed System Shock 2 and Freedom Force.

Perhaps there is hope...

vampireuk: Can you hear the faint sound of the horse being flogged in the background? I'm going go squeeze a stone, I have a good feeling about it this time.

Today 3dXtreme has the great pleasure of reviewing the Soltek (Nforce2) SN-75FRN-L. This motherboard is geared towards the budget crowd looking for the perks of an Nforce2 board while shopping on a budget. Soltek has produced a few different versions of the Nforce2 based motherboards which allows them to blanket the market for users at different levels. The SN-75FRN-L comes in the "Golden Flame" packaging, including a few eye catching options that are advertised right on the front of the box. Dual Channel DDR 400 support, AGP 8x and support for the 166 mhz CPUs are a few of the latest features seen on the AMD motherboards.

Remember the good ol' days when 3D accelerators were new and card makers were trying to convince you to make the leap to 3D? Back then we paid serious money for new and unproven technology, so to further entice us all kinds of goodies made their way into the box. If you didn't get at least one new game you were ripped off, and you felt pretty gypped if you didn't get at least two. Not to mention custom drivers and utilities, of course. Today you'll get a whole lot more hardware for a lot less money, but you're usually lucky to get a few pieces of crippleware or shovelware along with your scant documentation and outdated reference drivers.

Equipped with 64MB of DDR memory and an AGP 8x interface, the Millennium P-Series features professional-level multi-display technologies such as improved DualHead and standard dual-DVI outputs with dual-display gamma correction, dual independent, gamma correctable video overlay support and adjustable proc-amp settings for both the video window and TV*. While both boards offer crystal clear, fully-symmetric RGB outputs at resolutions up to 1920x1440, and offer superior dual-DVI outputs at resolutions up to 1600x1200 per display, the Millennium P750 additionally features unique-to-Matrox Dual-display plus TV output support and TripleHead output. The Millennium P-Series has been designed to provide real-world benefits for corporate users, non-linear editing (NLE) professionals, AEC & entry-level MCAD professionals and home entertainment enthusiasts.

Our main goal was to create an untamed wilderness with lots to see and do. There are no roads on Solstheim. If you are going to go out into the wild, you have to prepare for it. Stock up on health and cure disease potions. We have over 30 dungeons for you to explore, and we probably have about double the amount of content compared to our last expansion, Tribunal. We overdid it a bit, I think -- there's almost too many quests.

Two types of broadband delivery would be covered in the FCC review: “access,” which uses medium voltage (1,000 to 40,000 volts) power lines to deliver Internet and broadband services to homes and offices; and “in-house,” which would use existing utility wiring to link computers and printers in local-area networks.

volt: We've had working prototypes of this system in Poland for quite some time now :)

"AMD needed to bring down a big domino and it did," said Mike Feibus, an analyst at TechKnowledge Strategies in Scottsdale, Ariz. "They had a compelling solution from a technical perspective. But this was also a political issue in terms of who would support AMD."

Currently, all of the GF:FX 5800 and 5800 Ultra cards on the market are produced by Nvidia. So you do not need to worry about the card's quality. Each manufacturer may have a different package/bundle and HSF. In Compro's case, it is basically a reference card with a reference HSF on top.

All of GF:FX 5800 cards need an external power source (the molex plug) to ensure a constant and clean flow of juice. If the molex plug is not connected before power up, the driver will give you a warning message once we entered Windows.

The Barton initially didn't impress me when compared to the Thoroughbred clocked at the same speed. But after playing with the CPU, and seeing what it was capable of, it surely impressed me. With a quick check on pricewatch, the price has dropped down to the $130 range which in my book, for the performance, makes it a very worthwhile upgrade if you are running a slower CPU.

The Barton I have initially didn't clock as high, but with a steady burn in, and use for the past month it is now hitting some respectable numbers. The Barton was placed in the peltier system for this review, but it had ran +2400 MHz water cooled, which again, isn't too shabby. AMD is squeezing every last bit of performance out of the XP line, and that is a good thing. AMD users haven't had to upgrade a motherboard to gain extra chip performance due to changes in the socket design.

I just hope the Barton will tide us over until the Athlon64 comes out, and AMD has some other tricks *cough*400 FSB*cough* up their sleeves to keep in step with Intel.

SANTA CLARA, Calif., April 23 /PRNewswire-FirstCall/ -- NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA - News) today announced that Michael Hara, Vice President of Investor Relations and Communications, will present at the Hardware Heaven Technology Conference hosted by Merrill Lynch at the Palace Hotel, San Francisco, California on April 30, 2003 at 9:50 a.m. PDT.

Of course, if these things don't work out, AMD could always fall back on the Apple option: sell cheap SMP systems with slower individual processors and older memory technology. The AMD64 platform today is much, much better suited in both software and hardware for multiprocessor systems than the Mac was when Apple went to duallies. (Just think: AMD could double theoretical memory bandwidth by dropping in a second CPU.) Still, that is not a pretty fall-back option, and I'd rather not contemplate it any further. Let's hope AMD can get the Athlon 64 recipe right, and such things won't be necessary.

• Nvidia unveils nForce3 Pro chipset for Opteron-based workstations

• As IBM enters the game, IC designers get more bargaining power

• AMD slashes Athlon XP prices

• TSMC and VIA deny rumors that the latter may move orders to IBM

• Chipset designers put greater concern on new K7 products

The mother ship is twin turbojet aircraft with a 25-metre wing span, called White Knight. The eight-metre spacecraft, called SpaceShipOne (SS1), has a crew of three and is slung under the belly of White Knight, which carries it up to 15,000 metres.

At that point, the SS1 separates and its rocket engine ignites, powering it into a steep climb at speeds of up to 3.5 times the speed of sound. SS1 will peak at an altitude of 100 kilometres. A long free fall back to Earth follows during which SS1's three astronauts will experience about 3.5 minutes of micro-gravity in a "shirt sleeves environment".

Here is another story on it over at MSNBC.COM

While NVIDIA are going ahead and unveiling their new products, the AIB's are busily getting on with the job of selling their current line as some of these products are still a little way away for them. Fortunately for the AIB's the GeForce4 family is very successful and is still going very strong. Here XFX have sent us their latest GeForce 4 Ti4200-8X board to review

Now is an exciting time to be a gamer looking to upgrade your system. ATI and NVIDIA have revamped their video card product lines. With the new products coming down the pipe from both companies, it may be time to start looking in the bargain bins for that video card upgrade you could not justify a few months ago. Despite so many bargains that are sure to be available in the upcoming months, the question still arises as to how much gain there is over your current video card

NVIDIA Co., the worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, today announced that leading workstation system integrators are adopting the new NVIDIA nForce3 Professional platform technology for their upcoming professional workstation computing systems. Optimized for NVIDIA Quadro graphics solutions, as well as the new 64-bit AMD Opteron processor, NVIDIA nForce3 Professional incorporates advanced platform technology solutions—including enterprise-class networking functionality, fault tolerant storage designs and a single unified driver architecture—that are paramount to providing a compatible, stable, and reliable platform for deployment in professional computing environments.

• Designed specifically for the new AMD Opteron 64-bit processor and professional workstation computing environments
• High-performance, single-chip solution
• Industry's only 1P workstation solution for Opteron
• Two products: nForce3 Pro 150 (available now) and nForce3 Pro 250 (available this fall)
• Enterprise-class 10/100 and Gigabit Ethernet networking features including IP v. 6 and ASF
• Hardware accelerated RAID 0, 1, and 0+1 solutions
• NVIDIA committment to a minimum 6-quarter product availability
• Optimized for NVIDIA Quadro graphics solutions

Intel releases the i875 or Canterwood chipset which is as revolutionary as anything Intel has ever done before. Official support for DDR400, fully integrated SATA along with Communication Streaming Architecture to provide different buses for the full duplex Gigabit and the I/O - mass storage channels are a huge step away from the conventional concept of PCI buses and legacy ATA.

• Based on the Official 43.45 drivers. (9x/Me/2k/XP)
• Support for new cards: GeForce FX 5x00 and Quadro FX x000 (9x/Me/2k/XP)
• Added the new Nvidia taskbar utilitie. (9x/Me/2k/XP)
• Updated the included Omega utilities to their most recent versions. (2k/XP)
• Removed a tweak not used in Dx9. (9x/Me/2k/XP)

Somebody try them, let us know how they are in the Detonator Driver Forum. I'd try em, but seeing as how I'm without a motherboard at the moment...

• Maya 4.5 Cg Plug-in Update

  The AliasWavefront Maya 4.5 Cg Plug-in has been updated with a new feature that allows file references to be kept as relative paths from the project path. This allows greater ease of use when moving Maya content from one machine to another. Full source code is also bundled with the package.

• CgFX Viewer and 3ds max Cg Plug-in Update

  The discreet 3ds max Cg Plug-in and the standalone CgFX Viewer have both been updated with new features, such as scripting support, and also a heavy focus on bug fixes and stability. More importantly, full source code is available to these key tools giving developers a clear, comprehensive example of how to integrate support for .fx files in their pipeline.

• OpenEXR 1.0.5 Released

  The new release includes a hardware accelerated version of the "exrdisplay" application that uses a Cg shader to implement the full display pipeline. This allows users with GeForce FX or Quadro FX hardware to interactively change controls for exposure, defogging and gamma correction and see the results in real time.

• UMC’s John Hsuan may be elected to Princeton Technology’s board

• Winbond 6-inch fab operating at close to full capacity

• DRAM contract prices in the second half of April up by 3-4%

• Intel licenses 800MHz FSB technology to ALi

• VIA updates 800MHz-based P4 chipset roadmap

• TDK Indi DVD 4x +R/RW Burner @ HardwareZoom
• Logitech Desktop Comfort Review @ Dukgamers
• Creative Inspire 5200 5.1 Speakers Review @ Geekshelter
• SunbeamTech EL Strip & Laser LED @ Monster-Hardware
• Intel I875P "Canterwood" Chipset Review @ TweakTown
• Asus P4G8X Granite Bay Motherboard Review @ TweakTown
• Soyo P4X400 Dragon Ultra Platinum Edition Motherboard Review @ TweakNews
• Altec Lansig 221 Speaker Review @ OCAddiction

Last week, EETimes published a related article that claims IBM is considering abandoning the SiLK low-k spin-on dielectric material for advanced semiconductors.

It's been reported that NVIDIA had planned planned on TSMC to incorporate low-k technology on the NV30, which would have resulted in a cooler running part had it been successful.

Participants at the Dallas meeting said that in an effort to lead in technology, IBM decided in the late 1990s to use SiLK—a spin-on dielectric from Dow Chemical Co.—because it was the only material with a k-value below 3.0 available at the time. IBM announced in June 2000 that it would use SiLK in its 0.13-micron process technology.

The choice of a spin-on dielectric was well ahead of the rest of the industry. In 2001, several companies, such as Fujitsu Ltd. and United Microelectronics Corp., announced that they too would use SiLK. But in February 2002, UMC said it was giving up on SiLK and would use the Corel CVD dielectric from Novellus Systems Inc. at the 90-nanometer node. UMC also canceled its process technology licensing agreement with IBM.

Shane, over at Bjorn3D.com, has posted a review of the Gainward GeForce4 PowerPack! Ultra/750-8X XP Golden Sample.

I had no problems at all overclocking to Ti4600 clock speeds (300MHz core/650MHz memory), and I'm willing to bet it could go a little higher easily thanks to the 3.3ns Samsung RAM Gainward chose to use. Plus, with Gainward's ExperTool, overclocking couldn't be any easier. It's nice to see a video card company include such a handy utility that is newbie and diehard guru friendly. Since this Golden Sample card is guaranteed to work at the "enhanced mode settings," you have no reason not to clock it at least that high.

NVIDIA moved from 36th in 2001 to 20th in 2002. The top five in 2002 were Hewlett-Packard, Intel, Cisco, Sun, and Solectron. Maxtor is ranked 13th, AMD is 16th, and Electronic Arts is slightly ahead of NVIDIA at 18.

It’s late, gets too hot, makes too much noise, and is pricey. On top of that it has worse image quality than it's predecessor (and the competitors) and performance doesn't reach ATi's level when running with maximum quality.

NVidia’s dual channel DDR nForce 2 chipset is currently the undisputed performance leader for Athlon desktop systems. Unlike its predecessor the nForce 2 chipset is well performing and easy to overclock. Thanks to very competitive pricing nForce 2 based mainboards became immediately the enthusiasts’ choice after the launch in Autumn 2002. The Taiwanese manufacturer ABIT is targeting exactly this group of budget oriented enthusiasts with its nForce 2 based NF7 series of mainboards.

• Radeon 9800 Pro Voltage Mod Pics @ Maximum OC
• Gigabyte 7VAXP-A Ultra Motherboard Review @ icrontic
• Sunbeam Rheobus Review @ Gaming in 3D
• Cooler Master Cooldrive 3 Review @ Viper's Lair
• Albatron PX845PEV-800 Motherboard @ Monkey Review
• Plextor PX-504A DVD Recorder Review @ TweakHound

We start off today with Viperlair's review of the MSI K7N2G-ILSR Motherboard. Here is a snippet.

Knowing that, the shopper faces a mini dilemma where they'll have to sort through which nForce 2 will best suit their needs. Questions such as stability, and speed come to mind, but for the most part, all of the boards perform within a few percentage points of one another. No, that won't do. There needs to be a bit more to sway a shopper to consider one brand over another. Good overclocking ability is a natural requirement, as is any extra features would also be nice. Finally, all this has to be packaged in a price they can afford.

MikeC: Welcome back vamp. But we all know there's one thing that's better than NVIDIA in the morning 
vampireuk: Can we say that this early during the day?

A question being raised over at nForcesHQ, and nV News, is can Asus do the same for customers of their nForce2 based motherboards such as the A7N8X? Or is revision 2.0 of their motherboard the only upgrade path Asus can offer?

Thanks for the tip Mr. McFragger :)

Worried about Barton support in ABIT motherboards? Well, there's no need to listen to all the rumours! We will dispel all those rumours in our editorial on Barton Compatibility In ABIT Motherboards!

So far, it looks like NF7 and A7N8X rev. 2.0 are the two boards that support new Bartons with 400MHz FSB's.

Xbit-labs sends a word that they got a hold of an engineering sample of the AMD Athlon 64 2800+ processor.

We couldn’t help testing it, of course! In this article we are going to discuss the major features and benchmarks results for this processor.

Looks like the site is quite dead :(

Set up the screensaver to turn on itself after 1 minute, so you don’t have to wait too long. After the screensaver starts, you’ll hear the fan on the GF FX 5800 Ultra start spinning. Just wait around 5-10 secs and you’ll hear the fan stop! The 3D screensaver will continue playing on the screen, and after some time (depending on the screensaver) you’ll start seeing artifacts, or in the case of DiveVisions, the screen will look like the monitor was having some interference from a strong magnetic source. You can leave the screensaver running as long as you feel its safe, but don’t overdo it. We tried this around 10 times and were cautious enough not to let it run to long, as the temperature on the card, according to the drivers, reached 95-100C.

• GamePC reviews the reference GeForce FX 5600.
• x-bit labs reviews the reference GeForce FX 5600 Ultra and 5200 Ultra and the GeForce FX 5200 from Albatron.
• Overclocker Café reviews the Albatron GeForce4 MX485.
• 3DCenter examines the new 8X, 12X, and 16X antialiasing modes on the GeForce FX.

For those that don’t know, Gainward has become one of the leading manufacturers of NVIDIA based 3D Accelerators. Ever since the launch of PowerPack! series their cards have gained a lot of respect. The Gainward GeForce PowerPack! Ultra/650-8X XP “Golden Sample” is no different. The board is based on NV28 chip (NV25 with AGP8x). There are no other major differences from a regular Ti4200. You will read more about the features later on.

Version 2.0, in my case brought much needed stability when overclocking Barton based processors as both V1.0 and V1.2 were unable to get my 2500+ stable at 200MHz FSB. Version 2.0 not only allowed me to run it stable at 200MHz FSB but also allowed me to reach 225MHz FSB while Overclocking the 2500+ itself to 2250MHz. I was impressed to say the least.

For now, Carmack plans to remain close to earth - and id. Doom III will spawn spinoffs: a mission pack with more single-player features, a multiplayer expansion add-on, possibly a program to dynamically render unique new levels on the fly. Eventually, he'll begin work on his next graphics engine. Doom III won't be his last, he says, but the days of hammering out a new engine every few years are coming to an end. Soon, he says, "hardcore programmers won't have a good reason to write engines all the time. They'll do it because it's kind of fun."

• Overclockers New Zealand - Leadtek A280TD MyVIVO GeForce4 Ti-4800SE 128MB

• Legit Reviews - MSI Ti4800SE-VTD8X

"It's mostly PR talk, since it's pretty much the PR you'll get at launch, but it's still quite interesting"

CineFX ( TM ) Shading Architecture

Support for the Microsoft DirectX® 9.0 Pixel Shader 2.0

Support for the DirectX 9.0 Vertex Shader 2.0

Long pixel programs up to 1,024 instructions

Long vertex programs up to 256 static instructions with up to 65,536 instructions executed

Dynamic, conditional execution and flow control

256-bit advanced memory interface combines a wider memory data path with next generation controller technology for superior performance and throughput.

Full 128-bit, studio-quality floating point precision through the entire rendering pipeline with native hardware support for 32 bpp, 64 bpp and 128 bpp rendering modes

Accelerated pixel shaders allow for up to 12 pixel shader operations/clock

Up to 16 textures per rendering pass

Support for sRGB texture format for gamma textures

IntellisampleTM performance technology, a Hi-Res compression technology (HCT), increases performance at higher resolutions through advances in compression and anti-aliasing technology.

Shadow Volume Accelerator – accelerates shadow volumes by maintaining them more accurately and discarding useless information.

Full nViewTM multi-display technology capability

Integrated NTSC/PAL TV encoder supporting resolutions up to 1024x768 without the need for panning with built-in Macrovision copy protection

Microsoft® Video Mixing Renderer (VMR) creates support for multiple video windows with full video quality and features in each window

DVD and HDTV-ready MPEG-2 decoding up to 1920 × 1080i resolutions

Dual, integrated 400 MHz RAMDACs for display resolutions up to and including 2048 × 1536 @ 85 Hz

Dual DVO ports for interfacing to external TMDS transmitters and external TV encoders

Dual internal TMDS encoders (one single and one

Dual link) able to drive next-generation flat panel displays with resolutions greater than 1600 × 1200

Digital Vibrance Control 3.0

0.13 micron process technology for higher levels of integration and higher operating clock speeds
40 mm × 40 mm, BGA 1309 flip-chip package

Comprehensive Microsoft DirectX® 9.0 (and lower) and OpenGL 1.4 (and earlier) support

DirectX and S3TC texture compression

More info in our Forums. If you would like to discuss the above, please pop into our IRC channel.

volt: Notice that DDR II is not listed. The rumors could be true :)

I am very impressed by the features, stability and performance. Although I could not be satisfied with the onboard graphics, it should satisfy a large percentage of computer users, including those looking for an office PC. The onboard sound exceeded my expectations. I have no use for many of the advanced integrated features yet, but they will be there when I need them.

• Intel, AMD to cut processor prices to boost demand

• SARS hurting demand for Taiwanese consumer ICs

• Mobo makers conservative about Canterwood sales contribution in 2Q

• TSMC to get 10% more orders from VIA post litigation

If you don't plan on overclocking this system and need an all-in-one motherboard, this motherboard has what you need in the way of performance. But the lack of overclocking options removes it from the overclockers options. It is ideal if you want to build an small multimedia PC.

I have to disagree here, as I've seen some great FSB numbers for it.

3Dvelocity has reviewed the Chaintech Zenith 7NJS nForce2 motherboard. I believe this is the priciest one of them all. None the less, it's a great board packed with features and an awsome bundle. Take a look:

For the enthusiast, this is a very respectable motherboard. You get enough in the box to justify spending a few extra bucks. If you have a window mod in your case, the matching round cables and gilded HSF look sweet. The performance is more than can be expected from the nForce2 with a powerful BIOS and performance gains over the KT400 substantial enough to render them embarrassing. The base performance isn't good enough for you, then the headroom of an extra 18MHz (36DDR) from the FSB should push it over the edge.

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• Hartware - (German)
  
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The mix between the nForce2 + MCP-T and the small form factor make for an impressive piece of kit. The Shuttle SN41G2 builds upon all the qualities of the previous generations of SFF, to make an almost perfect PC. Dual Monitor support, Firewire, USB2.0, Dolby Digital support and encoding, TV-Out, and onboard 10/100 LAN is an extraordinary list of features and the performance of the SN41G2 is also inline with any similar specified full blown PC.

• Intel 845PE/GE Motherboards Roundup @ Digital-Daily
• mikhailtech review the heaviest case I have ever seen
• GeIL PC3500 DDR433 Dual Channel Memory Kit Review @ pcstats
• Corsair TWINX512 - PC3200LL Review @ explosivelabs
• Seagate Barracuda ATA V Plus Review @ Hardwarezone
• External Drives from Western Digital with 200 and 250 GB @ Tomshardware
• Mobile Athlon XP and KT266A: A Superior Combination? @ Tomshardware
• Soyo SY-P4I i845PE Motherboard Review @ Sharkeyextreme
• Transcend Radeon 9700 Review @ Sharkeyextreme

Albatron recently released the GeForce4 Ti-4800V 128MB graphics card based on Nvidia's GF4 Ti-4800 GPU. Nvidia GF4 Ti-4800 GPU is an improved version of the good old GF4 Ti-4600, with the addition of AGP 8X capability. Do not get over excited with 8X AGP though, as it the improvement over 4X AGP is less than 2%. We shall see in the following benchmarks how Albatron Ti-4800V performs.

Micro-Star International, or MSI has seen a tremendous amount of growth in the last few years. It has transitioned itself from a reputable and reliable brand into one of the world's top three motherboard manufacturers, continuing to grow as other companies continue to see shrinking revenues. Even with the MSI and ATI controversy we saw a few months ago, MSI continues to be one of Nvidia's best partners and is launching their GeForce FX line of NV30 based graphics cards very shortly. This new launch has pushed the older NV28 based graphics card into the performance mainstream markets, making them very attractive buys at under $200.00

Idiot British Youth

Well first of all I had a classic argument with the uneducated slobby youth that my country is currently producting in vast numbers. Apparently I am a racist and betraying my country because I defended someone who was recruiting to join a clan. Then a barrage of swears was launched against myself, while they still claimed they were winning the argument. It's a shame I don't have logs of this, as I'm sure some of you would appreciate the read. Lets just say I tore their entire argument to shreds and had them contradicting each other. I am saddened by the nationalist froth that is spewed forth by these kids who have no idea about anything. They make a prime candidate for my "Don't hold strong opinions about things you don't understand" award.

Expansion Packs

I was recently wandering around one of our odd high street shops, when I spied The Road to Rome expansion pack for the price of £29.99. What the heck is that?! That is way over the RRP, and the RRP is way too much anyway. I refuse to pay good money for a expansion pack that makes the game what it should have been in the first place. Here is a hint, follow what Activision did with Soldier of Fortune 2. Three patches adding new levels, weapons and bug fixes, the cost? Nothing!

I would continue the rant by targetting RIAA, but they would then kick down my door and claim a pack of unopened AA batteries are hiding [insert random talentless pop stars name] latest gathering of unseasonable trash. For those of you wanting news, I'm now off on my trawl of sites to find you some. Stay tuned :)

It's version 43.51 for Windows 2000/XP. The archive's files are dated 2 April 2003 which makes this the newest set available.

The archive includes a setup.exe for easy installing. Language files are removed for a smaller archive which makes these drivers visible in English only.

Size 8.8 MB

After installing all these components, which was a breeze because of the removable motherboard tray and heavy use of thumb screws, I was ready to see how my temps changed. I fired the system up, with all the fans on their default full (No fan controller being used) and man, it sounded like a loud lawn mower had just been started, a few feet away from my workspace. No matter, I continued with my testing. I ran my system idle for 12 hours and I got an average of 32°C!

Amongst the underdogs or rather under-canaries in the current mainboard scene are the boards manufactured by Soltek, regardless of whether it is the P4 or else the Athlon platform. Changes in the ownership of the different Doing Business As SoltekUSA" have led to a rollercoaster ride on the American market over the last few years, sometimes going periods of time without any distributor. This is all about to change now with a strong committment from the current supplier

• AngelMod Cold Cathode 80x25mm Fan Light Kit Review @ pcabusers
• VIA EPIA M-E6000 Mini-ITX Mainboard @ Techseekers

• Antec TrueControl 550 PSU Review @ Bjorn3d
• ME-770 USB 2.0 Hard Drive Enclosure Review @ Ripnet
• Plextor PX-504A DVD+R/RW CD-R/RW Review @ Monkey Review

Leadtek has taken a different approach in cooling the A300. The WinFast A300 features a new generation active cooling system called the "WinFast Twin Turbo II". The entire card is housed in a metal case. There are 2 fans, the one near the video connector end of the card brings air in while the one closer to the front of the card blows out air. You can hear the fans kick to high when going into 3D but it you get used to it quickly since it is not very loud at all. This is a big improvement over the FX FLOW that many card makers use. Based upon Leadtek’s specifications, their Twin Turbo II cooling system uses patented “wind tunnel technology” that you might have heard about on TV. Besides the names, it does pass air over both the GPU and memory chips (atleast on the near side of the card).

That's all I need to say about that...

NVIDIA and Electronic Arts Form Exclusive Strategic Alliance

SANTA CLARA, CA—APRIL 10, 2003—NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA), the worldwide leader in visual processing solutions, today announced that it has formed a strategic relationship with Electronic Arts (Nasdaq: ERTS), the leading worldwide publisher of PC and console games. The two companies will work together to produce and market next-generation 3D content under the EA GAMES and EA SPORTS brands, which include such top-selling games and franchises as Madden Football, Command & Conquer, James Bond 007, Tiger Woods PGA TOUR Golf and Battlefield 1942. By supporting NVIDIA® graphics processing units (GPUs) for desktop and notebook PCs, including the new NVIDIA® GeForce™ FX family of GPUs, EA is able to deliver innovative and rock-solid gaming experiences to PC consumers worldwide.

I for one welcome this news, post your views in this thread

• Cooler Master ASC-V73 Aero 7 Review @ Rojakpot
• Cremax Icy Dock Multi-Function Transfer Rack Review @ overclockersclub
• AOpen AX45-4D Max, SiS 655 chipset Intel Pentium 4 motherboard review @ a1-electronics
• Seagate Barracuda Serial ATA V Hard Disk Drive Review @ Xbitlabs

My first impression of the Gainward 5800 Ultra was one of awe - and that was just because of the packaging!
The box is the same size as one that would usually contain a quality-brand motherboard, and weighed in just under 2kg. Opening it was a further surprise. In addition to the graphics board, I was confronted by a 5.1Ch audio card with optical-out, and a 4-port FireWire card! Another compartment held an extensive array of accessories, cables, driver and game CD's and manuals

But that's exactly what Intel's Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) project aims to do--- to replace the BIOS with a totally different approach that will change the way PCs set up, boot and run; change how you handle low-level system maintenance; and change how you back up and restore your system.

And that's just the tip of the proverbial iceberg: The BIOS, system slots and buses, ports, hard drives--- it's *all* about to change. In fact, it's already happening, with the first of a new generation of components--- "serial ATA" hard drives--- coming to market right now.

The Baron: While I'd like to see computers without serial ports, floppy drives, and all that as much as the next guy, EFI kinda scares me. It seems like it could easily be used as a way to force digital rights management down our collective throat, and that scares me. Guess we'll just have to wait and see.

MaxPower:  I'll second that. There's something to be said of a "dumb" interface at that level.

Anyway, Microsoft has confirmed that x86-64 specific versions of Windows, both desktop and server versions, are in the works for the Athlon64 and the Opteron...

Microsoft said Wednesday that it will offer a 64-bit version of Windows Server 2003 for AMD's Opteron server chip. The software giant also intends to release a 64-bit variant of Windows XP for the chipmaker's Athlon 64 processor for desktops and notebooks.

OK, so now we have Athlon64 and 64-bit Windows--now once we get CrushK8 from nVidia... good times.

The Logitech Z-640's create sound that is much better than I would have expected from a $70 set of speakers. On top of the admirable performance, the Z-640s are also very attractive. Logitech has designed stylish enclosures for the Z-640s that will look great in any environment.

Fairway is currently embarking on a retail drive -- after being so long in the "background", they now feel that the time has come for them to enter the more lucrative retail market. In addition to what is being reviewed here -- the Radeon 9000 PRO 64MB -- Fairway covers the entire range of ATI's Radeon product-line, including the latest R350-based Radeon 9800 PRO.

Today we are going to take a closer look at the first SerialATA hard disk drive, which has already started selling: this is Seagate Barracuda ATA V. Our goal will be to check how well the SerialATA interface works and to compare the performance of SATA and ATA hard disk drives.

• OCTools - Compro Poladyne GeForce FX 5800

• PC Hardware Australia - Gainward Ultra/1000 Plus

Athlon XP Barton 3000+ with FSB400 = 2.1 GHz real core clock
Athlon XP Barton 3200+ with FSB400 = 2.2 GHz real core clock

Athlon XP 2100+ 1.73@2.86Ghz by Tasos - 08/04
Athlon XP 2100+ 1.73@2.82Ghz by BILKO1 - 08/04
Athlon XP 2100+ 1.73@2.75Ghz by Spaceboy - 08/04
Athlon XP 2100+ 1.73@2.6Ghz by Krairach - 08/04
Athlon XP 2100+ 1.73@2.51Ghz by LACERS - 08/04
Athlon XP 1700+ 1.47@3.1Ghz by YAO - 08/04
Athlon XP 1700+ 1.47@2.82Ghz by wosmile - 08/04
Athlon XP 1700+ 1.47@2.71Ghz by Onepagebook - 08/04
Athlon XP 1700+ 1.47@2.67Ghz by T@nker-xXx - 08/04
Athlon XP 1700+ 1.47@2.64Ghz by Hoko - 08/04
Athlon XP 1700+ 1.47@2.61Ghz by Steve - 08/04
Athlon XP 1700+ 1.47@2.58Ghz by Holman - 08/04
Athlon XP 1700+ 1.47@2.52Ghz by Daootu - 08/04
Athlon XP 1700+ 1.47@2.34Ghz by xBytes - 08/04
Athlon XP 1700+ 1.47@2.1Ghz by Benny - 08/04

Probably one of the best things that Soltek has going for it is its price, with the SL-75FRN-R going for around $115.00 with shipping at various online retailers throughout the country. This is around $20 less expensive than the high end ABIT solution and just over $30 less than the high end ASUS nForce 2 motherboard counterpart.

Asylum GeForce FX 5600 with 256 MB DDR, VIVO, VGA and DVI out.

Asylum GeForce FX 5200 Ultra with 128 MB DDR, VGA, DVI, and S-Video out.

Asylum GeForce FX 5200 with 128 MB DDR, VGA, and S-Video out.

BFG is planning on releasing these cards this month, with the FX 5600 Ultra version following a month after.

• NVIDIA - Maya 5 with Quadro FX Smashes Rendering Barrier.
• NVIDIA - Advanced GPU Programming Techniques Call For Participation.
• DigiTimes - Intel, VIA Settle Patent Infringement Cases.

• DigiTimes - TSMC and UMC May Lose 0.18-Micron Orders Due to Higher Price.

• DigiTimes - Tight Supply of Some Nvidia and ATI Chips to be Resolved with Rising New Chip Output.

• 3DVelocity - MSI GeForce4 Ti 4800SE VIVO graphics card review.

• OcPrices - Hercules Radeon 9700 Pro graphics card review.

• GamePC - Samsung LCD Syncmaster 240T widescreen display review.

• Xtreme PC Tceh - X3D Viewing System review.

• ipKonfig - DangerDen Maze3 water block review.

• Adrian's Rojak Pot - Bose QuietComfort Acoustic Noise Cancelling Headset review.

"TopCoder doesn't just identify the best programmers in the world, but it recognizes the best programmers who are passionate and determined to win," said Daniel Rohrer, Manager of DirectX Graphics for NVIDIA. "TopCoder provides NVIDIA with a quality source of dedicated and motivated programmers who will thrive at NVIDIA and will be challenged working with our driven team of world-class engineers and developers."

While I think all the boards tested have good and bad points, the board that really seems to stand out is the Soltek SL-75FRN2-L. Priced at only $140, the Soltek board is near 15% cheaper than the next board.

If you dont want to spend more than what the cheapest FX card goes for, then by all means get the least expensive card. If you want some added functionality then the Gainward does make a good choice. And once the overclocking options are opened, we're sure the Gainward card will produce good results as Gainward cards generally do. We also like the fact that Gainward bundles the firewire card but we're not too sure about the C-Media sound card as someone willing to spend that much on a graphics card will surely opt for a better sound solution.

Go get a Radeon 9800 Pro if you want a high-end graphics card. As time passes, I continue to marvel at how much ATI got right with the R300 chip and its derivatives. It simply has very few weaknesses. The technology is sound, and the choices they made in building the product were very smart.

Nvidia is planning to shortly introduce a new-generation core logic chipset to support upcoming 400MHz FSB (front-side bus) Barton-core Athlon XP processors from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD), said Drew Henry, Nvidia’s senior director of platform product management, in a telephone interview.

In comparison to the (GeForce4) Ti4200, NV31's single texturing fill-rate is just a little higher which is as we'd expect, albeit possibly to a greater degree. With twice the texture sampling abilities per pipeline, though, Ti4200's multi-texturing rate is higher than NV31's, whose clock speed advantage isn't able to make up for the deficit in texturing fill-rate.

The NV35 is to be officially announced at E3, which is May 13-16. Expositions are May 14-16. The E3 page shows nVidia at booth 1636, with a "First Looks" logo, proving they're debuting a product. ATI is not debuting any product at E3.

Also, Uttar will be upgrading his GPU:RW system. Here is a snip:

In order to get a better coverage of rumors, I'm considering a new system. Let me explain.

You would be able to ask for rumor posting privileges. I would only grant them to people who already proved, in one way or another, that they're knowledgable. But what they would post is 100% anonymous - only me would be able to see who they are. And why should I be able to see who they are? To rate the reliability. Some people get stuff right more often than others, obviously, and we don't want another Inquirer.

As you can guess, it's pretty much a rumor central. And I'd still add things I see on the forum, because some people might not like that system.

So, what do you think of this system? Please feel free to comment on it in a rumor poster / viewer point of view.

Uttar

2. At the moment a number of game developers wonder whether it makes sense to develop games for just another "FX", if only several millions of these are to be available following one another at a terrific rate?

The answer can be divided into two parts. The first is about presentation: you should agree that backed with a comprehensive bundle of new special effects, game should look much more attractive for users than one utilizing capabilities of Riva TNT only. Second, the current high-end hardware (for example, NV30), up to DX10, will be stepping down to the mainstream segment or even lower in about a year. Games being developed today will be selling in a year exactly, so it will look strange if they do not utilize mainstream hardware capabilities of that time. As a GPU making company we have to put forth certain efforts pushing game developers towards the real support of maximum current and even oncoming GPU features.

Magda Savin, from Iasi, says she intends to ask the authorities to ban youngsters from internet cafes after 10pm.

Mrs Savin told National newspaper: "My son spends his nights and days in front of the computer playing this game."

So in summary the Athlon XP 3000+ is a step in the right direction for AMD and a good example of their ability to actually ship new processors manufactured with their new 0.13-micron process. A triumphant victory over Intel’s 3.06GHz Pentium 4 with HyperThreading is however a little beyond the capabilities of the Athlon XP 3000+.

• 1024x768
• 32 Bit Color
• 16xAA
• 8x Anisotropic Filtering
• Intellisample Set to Application

Unfortunately, the Gainward Ultra 1000 Plus is not available in the US as of yet, and Gainward was hesitant to give me estimates or pricing on when it will be. nVidia has not been giving a good quantity of FX and FX Ultra chips to Gainward it seems, so general availability of this card is mostly dependant on nVidia pumping out those NV30 chips. We would love to see these cards get to market as soon as possible, as nVidia and Gainward both need FX/FX Ultra products on store shelves selling. Those "top-of-the-line" GeForce4 Ti4600 cards can't keep selling forever.

Adrian Wong over at Rojak Pot has updated his editorial regarding the SoundStorm solution. According to Bryan Del Rizzo of NVIDIA's Integrated PR Manager only three motherboards pass the SoundStorm / Dolby certification:

Ten years ago, you were still well off with storage capacities of 250 MB. And no one had even dared to dream that hard drives would grow by a factor of 1000 within the span of a decade. In fact, this growth has not even been achieved by microprocessors - if you start out with a 486 with 66 MHz, you'd theoretically end up with 66 GHz today. With this in mind, the two new storage giants do deserve a certain amount of respect, because high growth of this kind is a rarity - even in the IT industry.

• Watercooling goodness @ Monster-Hardware
• ThermalTake Xaser III Super-Tower Review @ Systemcooling
• Usb portable storage @ Techtastic
• Corsair TWINX Dual Channel Memory Kit @ Viperlair
• Mushkin PC3500 DDR SDRAM @ Tweaktown

"The Epox EP-8RGA+ Motherboard is based on the nForce2 chipset and has onboard LAN, USB2, 6 channel Audio, Video etc... Not only does this mobo have onboard Video but it's capable of dual display which is a first for onboard video. One loaded product which is stable and fantastic at overclocking. Watch the Video to find out more..." ~3dGameMan.com

After some weeks break we can present you again a new base A test board. We regarded the last days the Epox 8RDA+ Main board with Nvidia's nForce 2 chip set. Somehow it became in the letzen months very calmly around the new conceptions round around AMD and accessories. Also the boards have somehow Indian-eat lost, until Nvidia announced a new chip set. This should lift the memory performance and the speed in the whole system. There many customers and magazines became natural awake.

When we took our first look at the nForce2 chipset, we were very impressed overall with the performance that it provided, along with some of the more unique features it brought to the surface, such as it’s DualDDR technology. At that time, the only motherboards that were available were based off of the SPP Northbridge, however in recent weeks the new IGP Northbridge has made its way onto the market. Today we’ll be taking a look at Abit’s nForce2 IGP offering, the NF7-M. The NF7-S has received a large amount of praise, especially in its later PCB revisions. Will the NF7-M live up to our expectations? Well, you’ll have to read on to find out. First off let’s take a look at the specifications of the board and the product package.

Abit NF7-S v1.2 (Deviantpc)

This board is the Abit NF7-S v1.2, featuring the nForce2 SPP (without integrated graphics). One reason for not reviewing this board earlier is the revision process that it has undergone - as soon as we could get a board in the UK, a newer revision was announced that would supercede it. Even at this time, there is a revision 2.0 just around the corner, but fortunately this offers little extra and we shall talk about that later.

We have gone through quite a few generations of AMD DDR chipset in the past 18 months, from Via KT-266A to Nvidia nForce 2. During this time, Via had released three different chipsets, KT-266A, KT-333 and KT-400 while Nvidia has released its nForce 1 and nForce 2 chipsets. Consumers are dazed with the number of motherboards on the market now, with all sort of different chipsets. Thus, OCNZ bring you the following: a round up of Via KT-266A, KT-333 and KT-400 and Nvidia nForce 2 motherboards.

• I-Star TC-500R8A vs. Enermax EG651P-VE Power Supply Review @ athlonxp
• ATI Radeon 9800 Pro review @ Guru3D.com
• Albatron KX400-8XV Pro KT400 Motherboard Review @ pcstats
• Thermalright SLK-800U Review @ a1-electonics

So, we received an SL-75FRN-L of the "Golden Flame" series. Originally, "exclusive" boards were meant to be sold under this mark. That was announced in the press-release regarding the launch of SL-85FR-R (Granite Bay) motherboard. But afterwards it was decided to produce all nForce II motherboards under this mark. In fact, "Golden Flame" simply means a combination of yellow/golden tint of the PCB with bright yellow color of the slots and connectors.

Oles mentions that the game will run fine on both cards, but NVIDIA card owners will get a set of unique special effects as a result of working closely with NVIDIA engineers.

Additional comments can be read by clicking the headline.

volt: snippet: "Prior to GeForceFX I worked with Radeon 9700 but I am currently developing the Stalker engine on NV35" :)

Among the negative trends likely to weigh on the foundries, the Deutsche note points to the increasing complexity of chip designs and production, a slower migration to new technologies and increasing competition, which will weigh on prices. Deutsche Bank has banking relationships with both Taiwan Semiconductor and United Microelectronics.

And while the foundries have lately seen some short-term strength, Deutsche says it doesn't reflect a resumption of sustainable growth. "The recent strength in wafer loading seen at TSMC and UMC can be attributed to inventory restocking only and not real demand," writes analyst Kishore Suratkal. "Intel's marketing push for Centrino [is] driving new graphics processors and start-of-the-year product launches of new function phones has resulted in an order loading rush.

Nvidia Corp., the maker of high-powered 3-D graphics chips that are popular among players of shoot-'em-up PC games, is bringing the same technology to the battlefield.

Military hardware -- ranging from Apache helicopters and F-22 Raptor fighter jets to Bradley fighting vehicles and M-1 Abrams tanks -- uses display systems powered by the Santa Clara firm's graphics processors.

Digital displays -- which can tell fighter pilots how high or fast they are flying as well as showing real-time video from infrared cameras -- have begun to replace conventional analog dials.

"When we think about the opportunity to use 3-D graphics (in the military), we have barely scratched the surface," said Rob Csongor, Nvidia's director of embedded and mobile graphics.

JonathanM: Wow, there's a sucker born every minute... :)
vampireuk: How many people do you think will be chasing the postman today?