Tech News
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ASUS P4B8X Deluxe Review @ LostCircuits
Published: Monday, December 16, 2002 | By: DennisDual Channel DDR Granite Bay style, as always the LostCircuits review is very informative and basically tells us unless you are a die hard Intel fan you might want to wait for the Springdale release. It will have more features, better speed, and cost less.
I'm still willing to fork over the cash for one, then get a Springdale later
"Other manufacturers as well have announced a handful of boards only. There is a good very good reason for the limited quantity, though, and that reason is that the E7205 as a chipset is targeted towards the workstation market however, it is being pushed into the enthusiast market by the mainboard vendors. Early in 2003, there will be a desktop version of a dual channel DDR board (Springdale) supporting both DDR333 and 400 and that, of course will make Granite Bay-based enthusiast boards obsolete in both performance and production cost. "
As we mentioned earlier Soltek is only making a total of 900 E7205 based boards using a limited edition gold PCB. -
Soltek SL-KT400-A4 KT333CF Review @ Overclockers NZ
Published: Monday, December 16, 2002 | By: DennisThis board is being sold as a KT400 enabled motherboard using the VIA KT333CF chipset. This is kind of confusing since it really doesn't do much more than either of the previous two chipsets.
The Overclockers NZ guys did get the board to run at 197Mhz FSB! So it can’t be that bad.
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Albatron PX845PE Pro II Review @ guru3D
Published: Monday, December 16, 2002 | By: DennisThis board from Albatron is blue, has onboard raid, and a dual bios option. Who else do we know of that has these features? Yes, you guessed it Gigabyte. Makes you wonder if this really is a new company or just a fancy "offshoot".
All things aside the board does perform quite well and comes with a variety of overclocking options, definitely worth a look.
Or save some time and get a Gigabyte. -
Vantec Stealth 420 watt PowerSupply Review @ 3dXtreme
Published: Monday, December 16, 2002 | By: DennisI'm sold, peek output for this 420watt unit is 520watts!, Aluminum case, aux power plug, and triple fans.
"Overall the Vantec Stealth 420 Watt Power Supply is a winner. Combining an Aluminum housing with 3 Fan switchable operation along with rock solid performance you cannot go wrong with this unit...."
Though as with all powersupplies now days the power cables are numerous and way to long. -
Netscape 7.01 Released with Pop-up Blocker
Published: Friday, December 13, 2002 | By: DennisStop the popups with the new version of Netscape. The only drawback is that many sites, including this one, use popups to extend functionality and Netscape will allow you to add these sites to an exceptions list.
btw it is true that Netscape 7.x is very similar to the Mozilla style browser which has had popup blocking enabled for quite some time.
Just be sure to do a "custom" install to disable some of the more annoying "features" that Netscape installs. Get the new version here. -
Superflower SF-402 Review @ MadShrimps
Published: Friday, December 13, 2002 | By: Dennisphj34r d4 5hr1mp!!
This is one of the cleaner looking ALU cases that I've seen the only drawback would be in cooling. The current provisions are weak at best.
"I picked the case up @ ColorCase and just brought it home by bike. When I took the case out of the box, I was really amazed by the weight: only 3 kg! The front looked good ( unlike those SF 201’s, yuk) and was nicely finished. The side panels were rather of lower quality and didn’t have a mirror finish at all, but that’s okay for such a cheap housing ."
I think this says it all. -
3 Hercules Sound Card Reviews @ ExtremeTech
Published: Friday, December 13, 2002 | By: DennisThey take a look at the 3 newest sound cards from Hercules including the DigiFire 7.1, Fortissimo 3 7.1, and Muse 5.1. The reviews are informative but have that "biased" feel to them, not to mention the lack of product photos.
Personally, if given a choice, I would go with the Fortissimo 3 though would have liked to see more digital connectors. -
Asustek Intel Orders Said to be Springdale
Published: Thursday, December 12, 2002 | By: DennisA couple of days ago Digitimes reported that Asustek won a contract with Intel to create motherboards. At the time nobody was sure what boards they would be making.
"The motherboard orders Asustek Computer is said to have landed from Intel are the chip giant’s forthcoming Springdale products, industry sources revealed. Estimated at three to four million units in total, the orders are expected to start shipments in the first quarter of 2003 in time for Intel’s scheduled launch of its Springdale platform in the second quarter." -
DFI NB80-EA Granite Bay Review @ Hexus
Published: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 | By: DennisThis is really more of an overclocking review but still a very impressive display.
2.4b @ 3.1Ghz
4334/4331 Sandra memory score @ 172Mhz FSB!
"DFI have produced a exceptional motherboard in the NB80-EA, especially when you consider that it is using a brand new Intel chipset. There are reports of instability and problems with the Granite Bay chipset, none were evident on this board which is a real achievement." -
AMD's True Performance Initiative @ Tech-Report
Published: Wednesday, December 11, 2002 | By: Dennis" For the future, the company has big plans. AMD is promising "an industry-wide initiative to develop a new and more complete measure of performance that end-users can trust." This new performance metric is due for rollout in 2002. "
Scott Wasson from Tech-Report set up an interview with a Hal Speed, a TPI head honcho, to get details and progress info on the True Performance Initiative that AMD promised back in 2001. The details are sparse but it would appear to still be on track for release sometime next year.
