News

Intel is reducing prices acrosss the board to make way for the newer cpu's coming out of thier fabs. Price lists at Xbit-labs.

Well folks it was bound to happen. Many of the big record label have employed copy protection to prevent the masses from copying or playing music for that matter on your PC. Unfortunately the copy protection prevents a lot of stand alone CD players from playing it too, along with a host of other problems. At least one manufacturer has refused to go along and that's Phillips. More info at http://zdnet.com.com/2100-1103-817929.html\">ZDNet. Gee, maybe we ought to go back to buying LP's and tapes again.......

Anandtech has a round up of a bunch of KT266a boards, the KR7-Raid from Abit comes in first. They throw in an XP333-R for fun.

I'm not sure if it's true but there are some performance details of the upcoming AMD Hammer cpu over at Xbit-labs.

For those of you that missed the site dearly like I did GURU3D is back online again!! Welcome back guys!

The Inquirer has the story about AMD moving to .13 micron CPUs with the 2500+.

While there will be a slight decrease in raw megahurts when AMD moves from .18 micron to .13 micron, performance is expected to jump substantially, according to our reliable source, becauseof additional gates and a better design.

The Inquirer has details of the move to green instead of brown on AMD CPUs.

We have broke the 200 mark for the number of Registered Users!!If you are a user, hang out at the forums!! If you aren't a user, register!!

AMDzone has a review of the KG7-Raid from Abit. This board uses the AMD 760 chipset.

The Inquirer is also reporting about the Xbox hindering Intel's profit for the last quarter.

The Inquirer has the details of the KT333 and the KT333a (yeah, already) chipsets.

There is thread in the forum about a bad flash, and how we helped to solve the problem.

I have fried my Radeon OEM 250/250 AGP Card

Also, Steven sent me an email of his entire story and allowed me to post it here for everyone to see.

Radeon 8500 flashing nightmare, and the solution.

While perusing the news items over at, 3DChipset I saw a review posted there about pitting a GF3 against the VooDoo5. Quite an eye opening review from Papadoc. The old VooDoo5 actually ran over the GF3 and spit out the GF3 card quite a few times in a number of benchmarks!! For a 3 year old card that isn't bad at all!

There was a patch posted over at RTCWCentral today. The version is listed as 1.1

Here's an interesting article I ran across about microprocessors and thier place in the grand scheme of things and how they place in the world of electronics. ExtremeTech

Apparently ATI's next offering is going right in nVidia's face with clock speed advantages as well as DX9 support. Now if ATI can get thier driver support going, they just might put nVidia in thier place. Further details at The Inquirer

VIA has announced the introduction of the ProSavage video and the P4X266(A) chipsets into thier line of P4 motherboards. Here is the news announcement-

Taipei, Taiwan, 14 January 2002 - VIA Technologies, Inc., a leading innovator and developer of core logic chipsets, microprocessors, and multimedia and communications chips, today announced the VIARAMA mainboard approval program for mainboards based on the VIA Apollo P4X266 and P4X266A chipsets, and the VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 chipset. The VIARAMA program brings to market a range of mainboards from some of the leading mainboard manufacturers, and ensures high levels of quality and performance.

All VIARAMA mainboards support the latest Intel® Pentium® 4 processors and feature the advanced architecture of the latest core logic chipsets from VIA, such as the highly acclaimed VIA Apollo P4X266 chipset, and its successor the VIA Apollo P4X266A chipset. Both chipsets harness high-performance DDR266 SDRAM, providing the most balanced and cost effective platform for Intel® Pentium® 4 processor based PC systems, workstations and servers. The VIA ProSavageDDR P4M266 is the world’s first chipset with integrated graphics for the Pentium® 4 platform, and also supports DDR266 SDRAM.

The integrity of VIARAMA mainboards is guaranteed by the stringent standards and test procedures of the VIARAMA program, which demands high levels of performance and reliability. All VIARAMA mainboards approved by VIA carry official stickers of authenticity, located on the retail box and on the PCB of the mainboard itself.

Two of the first VIARAMA mainboards to market include the 478-pin P147 and 423-pin P047. Both boards are based around the VIA Apollo P4X266 chipset and provide support for up to 3GB of DDR266 SDRAM, five PCI slots, an AGP 4X slot and onboard AC’97 audio, in an ATX form factor. The P047 and P147 are both available in retail stores now.

“The VIARAMA program will further increase the availability of VIA Apollo chipset solutions for the Pentium® 4 processor, while the stringent approval standards will ensure the quality of those solutions. At a time when consumers are screaming out for better value for money solutions on the Pentium 4 platform, without compromising on performance, this can only be seen as a good thing.” commented Richard Brown, Director of International Marketing of VIA Technologies, Inc. Further details of the VIARAMA program and mainboards currently available can be found at the VIARAMA website: VI

Just click link. I find it funny .

The Inquirer is reporting that the KT333, VIA's new Athlon chipset, will be announced soon. The chipset will support ATA133 and DDR333.

Tom has an article on how to build a mini PC. He used a P3 1Ghz which throws off a load of heat. I would have used a C3 CPU. Regardless, it is an interesting read.

AMDZone has a review of the Leadtek GF3 Ti500. Seems like it has some problems with some of the tests.

The 8500 flasher is here! This deal is only for registered users, so if you aren't one, join.

If you are, click here to get the file. Again, I WILL NOT BE RESPONSIBLE FOR ANY DAMAGE THAT OCCURS!

Over at the Inquirer, Mike has details listed about the upcoming Geforce 4. 128MB of 300Mhz DDR memory, with clock speed slower than that. Also included is AGP 8x. How many need 4x right now?

ATI and Hercules have signed a deal to make video cards using the Radeon chip. I wonder if nVidia suits are having fits right about now. Further info here at ExtremeTech

Apparently Intel doesn't want you to have those nice shiny new Northwood P4's for your older 423 pin motherboads to upgrade with according to reports over at The Inquirer. Apparently they aren't for the end user, just the boys in the suits that want to sell you that bright and shiny new system. Almost smacks of the Rambus fiasco when they wanted to force you to use that memory if you wanted an Intel based system.

GotApex? has a comparison of the Radeon 7500 mobile and the Geforce 2 Go. They test them on a DELL notebook and the Radeon wins.

The Register reports that the rumor that Google has been allowed and had the access to make ALL AIMs sent from everyone searchable. This turned out to be a hoax. That is a funny rumor if you ask me.

Creative has a new sound solution called the Extigy. It could be quite useful for those having a need to not have a PCI slot used up or notebook users who wish to have something better than the standard sound that comes with them. The Extigy connect via a USB port. I guess this is Creative's way of solving the problems they cause with VIA chipsets.

nVidia is just about ready to unleash the 415-D chipset to the masses. This chipset comes without the GeForceMX 2 core which should provide increased performance and acceptance among motherboard makers. As of now the current 420 chipset hasn't gone over to well among mobo makers. Shipping dates have yet the be announced. Further details can found at The Inquirer

AMD is set to release a new 1.3Ghz Duron around the 21st of January as reported in The Inquirer.