Tech News
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Abit NF7-M Review @ TwistedMods
Published: Monday, June 23, 2003 | By: DennisBy the looks of it Abit has a standard layout for all of their mainstream "gamer" boards. If you don't believe me check out our Abit IS7 Review then compare the layout to the NF7 at TwistedMods.
"Here you notice that there are only five PCI slots. There is an unusually large gap between the AGP and the PCI connections. You can also see the South Bridge, not cooled, and the sticker in place of the RAID chip. This board, instead of RAID, has onboard video however….which is totally and completely unimpressive to me. " -
Corsair Announces XMS3700 DDR Modules
Published: Friday, June 20, 2003 | By: DennisGood News from Corsair!
"Fremont, CA, June 20, 2003: Corsair Memory, Inc., an industry leader in ultra-performance DDR DRAM modules for gaming and overclocking applications, has announced new XMS3700 additions to their popular XMS family of memory modules. These ultra-fast new modules raise the bar for extreme performance, giving PC enthusiasts further headroom for overclocking their memory bus. Corsairs XMS3700 products are available immediately from resellers worldwide.
Corsairs offering includes 256 MByte and 512 MByte modules available individually or as matched “TWINX” pairs. The new additions consist of eight products, the following four clad in either black or silver (PT) heat spreaders:
- CMX256A-3700: 256 MByte, 467 MHz DIMM module
- CMX512-3700: 512 MByte, 467 MHz DIMM module
- TWINX512-3700: 512 MByte, 467 MHz DIMM module pair, kit consists of two matched CMX256A-3700 DIMMs
- TWINX1024-3700: 1 GByte, 467 MHz DIMM module pair, kit consists of two matched CMX512-3700 DIMMs
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And not yet posted on their website. So you heard it hear first.
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Intel asks Mobo Clients to Drop Claim of PAT Support on Springdale
Published: Friday, June 20, 2003 | By: Dennis"Intel has asked motherboard makers to stop promoting 865PE boards as supporting PAT (Performance Acceleration Technology) to avoid depressing sales of its 875 (Canterwood) chipsets.
In response, companies including Asustek Computer, Abit Computer and Epox Computer have stated that their 865PE boards have a functionality "similar" to Intel’s PAT and are their proprietary technology designs. Asustek calls its memory bus speeding function "Hyper Path," while Abit calls its "Game Accelerator.""
I was wondering when Intel was going to speak up about this. -
MSI Enhances Performance with MAT
Published: Friday, June 20, 2003 | By: Dennis"Users of Micro-Star International’s (MSI) 865PE/G Neo2 series motherboards now have an opportunity to upgrade performance. With a simple BIOS update, MSI has made its proprietary Memory Acceleration Technology (MAT) available to users of this high-end board supporting the latest 800MHz FSB (front-side bus) Pentium 4 CPUs. MAT optimizes the data transfer rate between the CPU, north bridge chip and memory, enhancing memory performance and effectively increasing bandwidth by up to 10%."
Abit is going the same with their game accelerator technology. My bet is that by next month we will see just about everyone offering this option. -
Mobo makers see stronger ASP performance
Published: Friday, June 20, 2003 | By: Dennis"First-tier motherboard makers have been reporting better product ASPs (average selling prices) so far this year, thanks to an easing in the price war and introduction of more expensive 865 (Springdale) series boards.
According to data from the companies, Asustek Computer, Micro-Star International (MSI) and Gigabyte Technology all enjoyed higher ASPs for the first five months of 2003 than for the full year of 2002. With an increasing proportion of 865 motherboard sales, board makers expect their ASPs to rise further in the third quarter."
Be sure to check out the price charts at the bottom. -
Jab-Tech Pyramid Smart Fan Controller @ 3dXtreme
Published: Friday, June 20, 2003 | By: DennisNow isn't this interesting its a pyramid that is smart, controls your fans, and even lights up. How cool is that?
"This is one of those products that can't really be rated by a number. If this is the type of product you are looking for then this will cover your needs quite well." -
Made It Another Day
Published: Friday, June 20, 2003 | By: DennisYesterday was quite exciting over here in the Ninjalane camp, the Soltek Springdale Review was posted, though posted with the wrong board number. For sanity sake the board number is and SL-86SPE-L not an SL-85SPE-L. My bad, sorry.
Anyhow some of you may have noticed that the site was having a little trouble yesterday. As it would turn out the server was having a little trouble handling the load and kept restarting IIS. I have been told that the problem has been solved and shouldn’t happen again. We shall see if this is true. 
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Comdex to emerge on smaller scale
Published: Thursday, June 19, 2003 | By: Dennis"The number of attendees and exhibitors at the splashy tech trade show had been falling for two years, and doomsayers wondered if Comdex would go the way of the dot-coms.
Comdex's organizer, Key3Media, insists the annual Las Vegas show will go on -- and so will the company. Key3Media will emerge from bankruptcy today with a new name, Medialive International, and a lot less debt." -
PantherStream CPU Cooler Review @ 3dXtreme
Published: Thursday, June 19, 2003 | By: Dennis"Speeze has opted to use a 70mm thermally controlled fan for the PantherStream as well as a copper slug on the base of the heatsink itself. From the picture below there is a black thermal sensor which is visible coming out of the side of the fan (near the power cable). This controls the speed of the fan from 3000 RPM to 5500 RPM."
Depending on where the thermal sensor is placed this can be a good thing or one of the worst design decisions in history. The sad part is many thermally controlled heatsinks fall into the "worst" category. -
Eumax Multi-Function Transfer Panel Review @ Ohls-Place
Published: Thursday, June 19, 2003 | By: DennisThis is actually a very handy little item. The panel moves your data ports up to the front of the case and even has a spot for a hard drive and cooler fan.
"Overall I think Eumax has a very solid product. I think with the combination of USB, audio and IEEE connectors being pretty common on front panel unit now, the addition of the 3-position LED temp display is what sets this unit above the rest on the current market."
The material is kind of flimsy though.
