Tech News
-
CeBit Pictures @ TeamHardware
Published: Thursday, March 13, 2003 | By: DennisGo Team!
They got some funky looking cases at CeBit this year, check out page 5 -
AOpen AX4GE Tube-G Review @ Techware Labs
Published: Thursday, March 13, 2003 | By: DennisThis is one of those boards being shown off at Comdex this last year featuring the Intel i845PE chipset and the AOpen specific TubeSound Technology.
"Sound wise, vacuum tubes are known to produce a more "harmonic" and "warmer" sound than solid-state amplification. The sound is said to be more realistic, and it's this that vacuum tubes have their advantages over transistors (especially in the mid-high ranges)."
They didn't really dive into how the board overclocked but could get it to run at 117Mhz FSB.
I also discovered something else from the review; the tube only amplifies the front stereo channels with the rear channels using non-tube amplification. -
Athlon 64 Special
Published: Thursday, March 13, 2003 | By: Dennisamdboard has what they call the first ever collection of Athlon 64 motherboard mfgs and motherboard names. Check out the list and see if you see anyone familiar.
They are calling the Soltek board "light brown" instead of golden. -
Springdale. Details and First Benchmarks @ x-bit labs
Published: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 | By: DennisHere is an industry first, Springdale info including benchmarks. As usual there is tons of info on the x-bit site so happy reading.
"This way only dual-channel DDR333/DDR400 SDRAM or PC1066 RDRAM will suit for building well-balanced systems based on Pentium 4 processors with 533MHz bus. Moreover, the transition to faster 800MHz bus will require only dual-channel DDR400 SDRAM. So, we have every right to state that the transition to dual-channel DDR400 SDRAM is hundred percent justified. " -
Soyo P4I i845PE Review @ Overclockers Online
Published: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 | By: DennisLooking at this board reminds me of the old DRAGON boards that Soyo use to build. The PCB is still black with purple PCI and memory slots, though the Overclockers Online reviewers seem to think something is missing.
"Soyo did a very nice job with the P4I 845PE, which is very interesting considering the very low pricetag! Although it is not a "Dragon" board, meaning it doesn't have the full-feature RAID controller, lacks 6-channel sound, a "real" manual and some other goodies"
If I remember correctly the DRAGON boards never had a full featured RAID controller, it has was always been the "lite" version for added functionality. -
MSI 655 Max Review @ HardOCP
Published: Wednesday, March 12, 2003 | By: DennisPardon the lack of brackets and pipes.
There are no overclocking results for this board, which is really atypical for any HardOCP review. It would seem that they continually had OS corruption at any FSB above 150Mhz FSB and decided to scrap the results. I think the editor’s note at the end sums everything up.
"Editor's Note: Sadly, by the time this chipset matures into an ethusiast champion, if it ever does, Intel's Canterwood will already be here delivering 800MHz FSBs, DCDDR400, and HyperThreading. If you are thinking about jumping on the dual channel DDR bandwagon and riding the SiS655 chipset for a while, I would suggest you will be suffering for a terrible case of buyer's remorse come April."
Canterwood? Even though Canterwood will support DCDDR400 I'm pretty sure it is designed for the server platform. -
BIOS Hot Swap
Published: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 | By: DennisNormally you don't use another bios chip to boot your dead computer but it would appear that his technique worked.
" A Quick check with Google showed it too had a 3.3V Flash. Hmm, I wonder will the Epox BIOS boot the ABIT board.. so I tried a quick swap, using my homemade BIOS removal tool, puting the Epox bios into the Abit board and Eureka.. it booted."
I've been meaning to do a little write-up about this very subject but thus far haven't corrupted any of my BIOS chips, knock on wood.
-
Gigabyte GA-8PE667 Ultra Review @ Guru3D
Published: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 | By: DennisWe have seen quite a few Gigabyte boards over the years and everyone has really good things to say about them. Personally I like the onboard RAID features and ample overclocking controls. I could do without the psychedelic colors but that’s just a personal preference
"Overall the mainboard is excellent despite the tiny minor points I just pointed out to you. It really is high value and the total package is truly great, I mean you get a lot with this board and won't propbably have the need to upgrade for a long time. Two thumbs for Gigabyte up and definitely recommended. Editors choice award is in order here."
This board come with Gigabit Ethernet too, how appropriate. -
VIA Still Holds Lead?
Published: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 | By: Dennis"VIA Technologies on March 10 introduced its latest Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) K7-platform chipset, the KT400A, hoping to fight against the growing threat from Nvidia’s nForce2 with the new product’s enhanced performance and competitive price."
It will be interesting to see what the mobo makers do with this new chipset. -
New CoolerMaster Products
Published: Tuesday, March 11, 2003 | By: DennisYou can officially add 2 new heatsinks and a harddrive cooler to the CoolerMaster line of products. You can see one of the new items, the XDreamSE in the reviews section. The other products include the Aero 7 (similar to the XDreamSE with a big blower instead of the typical fan) and CoolDrive 3. All should be available on April 1st. Check out the press release for more info.
