EA shows what could be next

lectronic Arts has grown to the point where it's no longer just the biggest player in the games industry. It's now a major figure in the entertainment and technology markets at large, lending weight to the opinions and predictions of its top executives. Most recent, chief financial officer Warren Jenson held forth at the Credit-Suisse First Boston Technology Conference, where he discussed EA's prospects in the ongoing holiday season and its plans for the next few years. Jenson kicked off the presentation with a brief tease of what EA might be able to produce with the technology offered by Sony and Microsoft's next consoles. "Imagine that the characters in a football will be capable of showing real emotion," he said, among other possibilities. "That's what's going to be possible with the next generation of technology."..... Click here for the full story including pictures of what the next generation of the madden and need for speed series games could become.

Posted: December. 05, 2004 @ 12:23PM GMT +10 by BenSW

Doom Movie Update

Dark Horizons has posted some updated information concerning the Doom 3 movie. There is a translated summary of a story a Czech reporter has written when he visited the Doom 3 movie set in Prague. The story outlines the differant aspects of the movie which will diverge from the game's story. Here's a snip: The story follows eight marines, teleported into a command centre of a secret base on a remote planet. There, they learn that something strange is happening and soon monsters start to appear. The monsters aren't from hell, but rather people mutated by some nasty super-virus although the monsters look very similar to those in the game. ...Producers claim that the film will be more of a horror than an action shooter. There will be loads of shooting though, especially in the end where a large number of sequences will be shot purely in "first-person" perspective of the leading character (Karl Urban). The chainsaw and Bio Force Gun do appear in the film.

Posted: December. 05, 2004 @ 08:36AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Driver Updates

Here are the latest drivers: Radeon Omega Drivers v Beta) # based on the Catalyst 4.12 Beta drivers. # New Radlinker installation method, now it should install correctly every time. # Fixed gamma issues with color control panel. # WMV acceleration is now off by default, you can turn it on in the Options panel. # New quick shortcut for Radlinker, just right click your desktop and go directly to all the Advanced 3D settings. # Fixed Standby/Suspend/Hibernation bug. # Added a lot of new resolutions for wide screen monitor/dfp users. # Fixed the Forced Anisotropic settings, now they should not reset to Performance mode. # Removed the special Counter StrikeL from the package, now that CS:S is available, this is no longer necessary. # Fixed some uninstall issues, now the drivers should completely be removed if you select to do so. Beta Forceware 67.03 released The issues that some users have reported seeing when using the GeForce 6600 GT AGP are due to a driver bug which causes 3D corruption when this GPU is used with certain motherboards, most notably SIS motherboards. The fix is included in this release. ForceWare 66.96 64-bit Drivers This is a beta package of ForceWare drivers is for use with Microsoft Windows XP 64-bit Edition for Extended Systems build 1069 or later. TCTools: ATI Optimized driver 1.8 Main features: * Based on Catalyst Beta 4.12b2 * Added ATI Catalyst Control Center (Optional) * Added Softmods! * TwoL drivers for your selection * Added ATITool to the package * AddedL driver switcher

Posted: December. 05, 2004 @ 08:22AM GMT +10 by BenSW

ATI has a big problem

ATI HAS A PROBLEM WITH USB on the newest Radeon Xpress 200 chipsets. If you look at the Tech Report report on the new chipset, specifically page 17 here, you will see that the USB performance isn't exactly stunning. What we were hearing is that chipset has USB issues, but technically meets the spec. There is a re-spin coming in Q1, but ATI declined to be more specific than that. While they would not say what is being reworked, the south bridge is the obvious target for their affections. A few mobo makers we talked to said they didn't plan to put out boards before the respin, so if you are pining for a Radeon Xpress for the non-political merry winter gift-gibing festivities, you might have to wait a bit. I would expect new rev boards to be on the shelf by late Q1. www.theinquirer.net

Posted: December. 04, 2004 @ 09:15PM GMT +10 by BenSW

New system optimization guide

I have posted a new guide to full system optimization and benchmarking in the AusFX forums. It is made to help you tweak your system, to achieve the highest possible benchmark scores. It covers all aspects of system optimization including tweaking necessary settings in microsoft windows, the bios, system drivers and settings, and optimizing graphics card settings. You can view the guide here. Hopefully this guide should help a lot of people get started. Enjoy

Posted: December. 04, 2004 @ 07:32PM GMT +10 by BenSW

Latest hardware reviews

Memory: Corsair XMS 3200 XL Pro Corsair TwinX1024 3200XLPRO Mushkin 1Gb P2c4200 DDR2 dual memory Video cards: Gigabyte Radeon X800XT Platinum Ed Radeon X700PRO vs. GeForce 6600GT ASUS Extreme AX700Pro 256mb Storage: Mega Roundup 4: 16 Hard Disk Drives with 200GB+ Storage Capacity Ultra Portable HDD Enclosure 2.5"

Posted: December. 04, 2004 @ 08:50AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Nvidia's NV50 canned as well?

Apparently Nvidia's next gen chip NV50 has been canned as well as the NV48 chip we reported on earlier in the week. I guess both were not fitting well into Nvidia's picture. We don’t have any idea as yet what lead to such a decision, but Nvidia does apparently think it's now time to make its next breakthrough chip. All we know is that Nvidia made a huge u-turn or a right turn in its roadmap as Intel describes it, and we don’t yet know where that leads. We also know that Nvidia is very dedicated to win the graphic fight and to move away from the deadly embrace with ATI. In the current generation, it's not important what you get as both Nvidia and ATI cards are performing almost identically. Nvidia still strongly believes that SLI is something that will become very important in the future. Source: The Inquirer

Posted: December. 04, 2004 @ 07:37AM GMT +10 by erock

X850XT PE review

With RADEON X800 XT Platinum Edition still impossible to find at retail, ATI has decided to turn to a pair of alternative high-end and mainstream solutions to compete with NVIDIA's GeForce 6 family. Their codenames? R480 and R430! These new chips boast all the features of previous X800 offerings, only now with even more performance in the case of RADEON X850 XT PE (R480) and price/performance for R430. See how they compare to NVIDIA's offerings in this article! Read the review

Posted: December. 04, 2004 @ 06:41AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Valve releases DM updates

Valve Software has released an update for the new Half-Life 2: Deathmatch gameplay mode, Source SDK, and Source Engine. This update includes improved player animations, a bunch of bug fixes and more! You can find a list of what's new right here.

Posted: December. 04, 2004 @ 06:39AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Albatrons heatpiped 6600 Ultra

ALABATRON NEVER believed in reference coolers and it always liked to experiment with its own custom cooling. It's done so many times in the past. It has just introduced PC6600 Ultra PCIe card cooled with heatpipe marchitecture. The Albatron uses 6600 standard chips to save some cost but uses a heatpipe to cool the card down and let you overclock it. It shipped the card overclocked to 350MHz while the standard 6600 works on 300MHz. It comes with 128MB 2.8 ns BGA memory and Albatron claims that its performance comes close to 6600GT scores. It should run around 24 per cent faster than a standard 6600 card. And the thing should be out soon. Source: www.theinquirer.net

Posted: December. 04, 2004 @ 06:34AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Nforce 5 is two chip design

WE LEARNED that the next generation Intel Nforce chipset comes in a two chip combo. Nvidia usually stuck to one chip design but I guess it ran out of space with its Nforce 5 Pentium 4 silicon. Nvidia managed to place all of its AMD Nforce chipsets on one chip. We can now confirm that Nvidia's Pentium 4 chipset has support for two PCIe graphic ports. Yes, it's SLI compliant and that supports DDR 2 memory. It will be the first Pentium 4 SLI chipset. The only chipset to fight Nforce 5 is ATI's own SLI chipset that is due to arrive in Q2 2005. Read more

Posted: December. 04, 2004 @ 06:32AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Sony Launches iPod Killer

SONY will begin selling in Japan two new hard disk portable music players that support the MP3 format. Two models, the 20GB NW-HD3, and the 1GB flash memory NW-E99, go on sale in Japan on December 10, Sony spokesman Shinji Obana said. "Many users have lots of MP3 files and want to be able to play them, and we believe adding that feature will benefit consumers," he said. Although Sony began selling players that support MP3 files in the United States and Europe in October, this is the first time the Japanese electronics and entertainment giant will be selling them in Japan. Sony has been pushing its own format called ATRAC3plus. Sony's new products will continue to support the format. The company didn't disclose sales targets for the new models, which will also sell in Great Britain in December, and later be sold in the United States and other parts of the world. Apple's iPod has been an explosive hit in Japan, where the top-selling music players have been all iPod models. Source: Australian IT

Posted: December. 03, 2004 @ 02:54PM GMT +10 by flawmatt

Optus porn role exposed

OPTUS has a dirty little secret - a highly lucrative business based on internet phone pornography lines that has been exposed in a Supreme Court judgment against the nation's second-biggest telecommunications company. Optus acted as the middleman in the trade of internet porn from Vanuatu to the US and Europe. The company also hosted computers in its Australian data centres from which Gibraltar-based porn merchant Gilsan served graphic sex photographs and videos directly to its mostly US and European customers. Read more

Posted: December. 03, 2004 @ 02:51PM GMT +10 by flawmatt

Broadband powered by ... power

Tasmanian power company Aurora Energy has completed an initial trial of broadband over electricity lines, achieving speeds of between 10 and 30Mbps. Broadband over power lines would completely bypass existing broadband delivery methods, including Telstra's DSL network, with its attached monthly line rentals. Aurora is planning a larger pilot of broadband over power lines in mid 2005 but it will be restricted to a limited number of customers while they better understand its potential. Whilst the technology was trialed in Tasmania, there's no reason it can't be made available throughout Australia, according to Aurora. The company told Whirlpool that other utilities are looking into broadband over power lines and are likely to make some announcements over the next few months. Piero Peroni, the Business Development Manager for Aurora is optimistic on how BPL will compare to current ADSL services. "It is early days but we expect to deliver a very competitive service, at higher bit rates to ADSL, fully symmetric [same upload speed as download], and available from every room in the house." To access the broadband a PLC modem can be plugged into any power point in the home to receive the broadband signal. Thanks to Whirlpool.net.au

Posted: December. 03, 2004 @ 12:57PM GMT +10 by erock

HL2 Multi Benchmarks

AMDZone have some Half Life 2 benchies for the Official HL2 Deathmatch update! Half Life 2 remains to be the hot game this holiday season, and it just got better. We have already looked at graphics benchmarks, CPU scaling, and the hidden multiplayer mode. Well now Valve has enabled the actual Half Life 2 multiplayer full of models and maps and we could not be happier Simply login to Steam and the Half Life 2 multiplayer download is just over 30MB. We will take a quick look at the new multiplayer, and throw in some benchmarks just for fun from our own custom demo. First we begin with screenshots from each of the two multiplayer levels including in the new download: DM_Lockdown and DM_Overwatch. Check it out

Posted: December. 03, 2004 @ 12:53PM GMT +10 by erock

DriverWatch

Beta Forceware 67.03 released ATI Catalyst 4.12 beta 2

Posted: December. 03, 2004 @ 12:49PM GMT +10 by erock

New Ruby and Crytek Demos

ATi has released some new demos for the Radeon X8X0 line. Quite impressive stuff, if you got the right hardware. Download Ruby demo Download Crytek demo

Posted: December. 03, 2004 @ 07:17AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Nvidia starts sampling Intel Nforce 5

TAIWAN HAS ALREADY seen the first batch of C19 chipsets and tier one motherboard manufacturers are playing with them as we speak. C19 is Nvidia's well kept code name for its Pentium 4 chipset project. Without a doubt, it’s a Pentium 4 SLI capable chipset and it's already started shipping/sampling. R&D departments of tier one motherboard companies are playing with them and they should have some sample boards ready even now. It's not yet ready for retail shipping but this actually might happen in very early 2005. This will make Nvidia dominant in the SLI market for a while and we can only hope that ATI will make its SLI work in early Q2, as we suggested before. Read more

Posted: December. 03, 2004 @ 07:12AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Nvidia has canned NV48

ATI's RADEON X850XT PE is the last speed refresh that we will see this winter. Usually ATI's announcement comes close to Nvidia announcement but this time it won't happen. Nvidia decided to cancel its NV48 project and reliable sources are claiming that you won't see those cards at all. According to the original plan we were supposed to see those cards in Q1 2005 but Nvidia realised that it made no sense at all to push a 20 to 30 MHz faster card. Read more

Posted: December. 02, 2004 @ 08:47AM GMT +10 by BenSW

X850XT PE out at 540/1180 MHz

ATI LIFTED ITS now famous NDAs on the X850 and new X800 cards but our friends, the NDA reviewers, received only faster X850 cards. R430, X800XL and standard are still not ready. You will have to go to the review sites to get some of the performance numbers but they are not that magnificent, compared to the famous Florentine Lorenzo the Magnificent. It is without a doubt, the fastest single card for some games but it cannot go against more expensive but still mucg faster SLI setup. It can not even go against 6800 Ultra in Doom 3, Unreal Tournament 2004 but it wins in all the other games. It's dual slot cooling, and no one seems to bother about it and it's $50 more expensive than the last generation that was a rather expensive $499. It should be available so let's hope that you will get it in January as ATI promised but life taught me to be a bit sceptical about launch dates. I must be getting old. At least they are not a secret anymore. Source: www.Theinquirer.net

Posted: December. 02, 2004 @ 08:47AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Half-Life 2: Deathmatch & SDK Released

Valve Software has released an updated SDK for all you mod makers out there, but the really exciting news is the release of a multiplayer deathmatch mode! They have also announced a deathmatch map making contest, with the winner taking home a cash prize of $5,000. Click here for all the details!

Posted: December. 01, 2004 @ 08:00PM GMT +10 by BenSW

101 Gbit per second

What kind of future internet connection speeds will you be getting? Well, if the Supercomputing Bandwidth Challenge is anything to go by, something like 101 Gbit per second (Gbp/s) is pretty close to the mark. That was the sustained data transfer rate recorded between Pittsburgh and Los Angeles during the challenge. This is more than four times faster than the previous record set last year. Made possible because of the Fast TCP protocol developed by Professor Steven Low and his Caltech Netlab team, the data transfer speed is equivalent to downloading 3 DVD movies every second! It was made possible by the se of seven 10 Gbp/s links to Cisco 7600 and 6500 series switch-routers provided by Cisco Systems at the Caltech Center for Advanced Computing. There were also three 10 Gbp/s links to the SLAC/Fermilab booth near Chicago. The applications of these kinds of internet transmission rates are staggering. Source: www.techspot.com

Posted: December. 01, 2004 @ 10:09AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Intel outlines future plans

HIP FIRM Intel has given its customers more details about the 6XX range of Pentium 4 processors, according to an internal document seen by the INQUIRER. As we've reported earlier, the 6XX range of processors will have 2MB of level two cache, will have bus speeds of 800MHz, and will also support the firm's EM64T technology. So far, Intel has only incorporated the 64-bit features of EM64T in its Xeons and in processors designed for workstations. The chips, which are set to launch next year, are already sampling to customers, and the firm is contemplating releasing them in late February of next year. The processors will be compatible with the 915/925 Express chipsets and future chipsets codenamed Glenwood and Lakeport. They will also include a better "Halt State" for power management when PCs are idling, and a fresh version of Speedstep technology. The tech, called the Enhanced Intel Speedstep Technology (EIST), means system noise can be reduced. Read more

Posted: December. 01, 2004 @ 07:30AM GMT +10 by BenSW

ATI's X800XT PE is Dells toy

THE MOST UNAVAILABLE ATI card of all time, the Radeon X800XT PE will remain that way unless you decide to get it with a Dell machine. Dell "Gamer's edition PCs", a well designed machine, comes with the X800 XT Platinum edition card and such machines are usually available. In retail it takes weeks before you can get a pre-ordered X800XT PE card. Surprise, surprise. Friends of the INQUIRER from the US, Europe and Canada were waiting for the X800XT PE cards for weeks and most of them cancelled their orders after constant and persisted delays in the shipping date. Even ATI's own web shop cannot get you a card. You might be waiting for weeks or months now for your pre-ordered card and there is a fair chance you won't get the card at all. ATI's web site told "customers" in September that they will have more cards in October than delayed it to November and at the end of November most of them are still waiting and hoping to get the cards. Read more

Posted: November. 30, 2004 @ 08:55PM GMT +10 by BenSW

ATI's Radeon 9800 Pro in shortage

ATI PLANS TO fight Nvidia's 6600GT with its Radeon 9800PRO cards. Of course we are talking about AGP cards as there is no such thing as 9800PRO PCIe. It's a chimera. Regardless of ATI's dreams, we know there is a huge shortage of 9800 PRO cards in both shops and through distributors. Oddly, an Asian source tells us that there's no shortage in Mr Raffle's little colony, Singapore. In fact there appear to be floods of them over there. Many sources close to ATI and the ones that are actually selling those cards tell us that you can of course place an order but it will take quite a few of what we call in the trade "weeks" before you see the cards. With 6600GT AGP already available, ATI's partners might be in trouble as they need all the 9800PROs that they can get. Or not get, as is the case. We hope that the situation is going to change but in the last few commercial weeks remaining in this year of delays, things don’t look too bright in the northern hemisphere. Read more

Posted: November. 30, 2004 @ 08:53PM GMT +10 by BenSW

Lycos Releases Spam Fighting Screensaver

Internet portal Lycos has made a screensaver that endlessly requests data from sites that sell the goods and services mentioned in spam e-mail. Lycos hopes will it make the monthly bandwidth bills of spammers soar by keeping their servers running flat out. The net firm estimates that if enough people sign up and download the tool, spammers could end up paying to send out terabytes of data. Source: www.warp2search.net/

Posted: November. 30, 2004 @ 03:27PM GMT +10 by BenSW

Sony IBM Unveil PS3 Engine

IBM, Sony Corporation and Toshiba Corporation unveiled for the first time some of the key concepts of the highly-anticipated advanced microprocessor, code-named Cell, they are jointly developing for next-generation computing applications, as well as digital consumer electronics. The four companies also announced that they would reveal technical details of Cell at the International Solid State Circuits Conference (ISSCC) to be held from February 6th to 10th, 2005, in San Francisco. Specifically, the companies confirmed that Cell is a multicore chip comprising a 64-bit Power processor core and multiple synergistic processor cores capable of massive floating point processing. Cell is optimized for compute-intensive workloads and broadband rich media applications, including computer entertainment, movies and other forms of digital content. Read more

Posted: November. 30, 2004 @ 03:26PM GMT +10 by BenSW

In South Korea, email is for old people

Want to feel old? A survey of a middle, high school, and college students in South Korea found that over two-thirds of students there rarely or never use email and supposedly young people are starting to think of email as something overly formal that you use only for business purposes or to communicate with your less tech savvy parents or grandparents who are still stuck in the Nineties (when email was king). For them it’s all about text and instant messaging, and by comparison, even email seems like an incredibly slow way to communicate. Do they even have postal service in Korea anymore?

Posted: November. 30, 2004 @ 11:07AM GMT +10 by Tokemon

Half Life 2 Causing Headaches?

Hundreds of buyers of "Half-Life 2," the hotly anticipated shooting game released last week, are reporting in developer Valve Software's user forums that they feel queasy and often develop a bad headache after playing the game for as little as an hour. Far from sounding aggrieved, enthusiastic players greet the incipient hurling as evidence of the game's sophisticated graphics. "I am impressed and sickened (http://www.ausfx.com/spacer.gif) by the level of detail," one player wrote. Players have all kind of theories for beating the curse of the green gills, from taking Dramamine 30 minutes before playing the game to adjusting monitor settings to avoid possible conflicts with overhead lights. We look forward to "Half-Life 3" being packaged with an airsickness bag and a Scopolamine patch Source: CNET News

Posted: November. 30, 2004 @ 09:35AM GMT +10 by flawmatt

Latest hardware reviews

Galaxy GeForce 6600 256 MB PCI Express Inno3D GeForce 6600GT-PCI-Express Corsair TwinX1024-3200XL Memory Review Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu Ultra Silent CPU Cooler CoolRiver Deluxe Watercooling Kit 1A-Cooling SET-5Z280V1 Water Cooling Kit MSI MS-7093 ATi Radeon Express 200P (RX480) Soltek SL-K8TPro-939 Motherboard Asus P5AD2-E - 1066FSB & DDR2-711

Posted: November. 30, 2004 @ 09:07AM GMT +10 by BenSW

nForce 6.31 REMIX Beta Drivers

New NVIDIA nForce Remix drivers are available! Featuring: Audio driver version 4.57 (WHQL) Audio utility version 4.50 Win2K ethernet driver version 4.58 WinXP ethernet driver version 4.58 GART driver version 4.40 Memory controller driver version 4.40 SMBus driver version 4.45 (WHQL) with updated uninstaller files Installer version 4.58 Win2K IDE 2.7 driver version 4.64 (WHQL) with 4.74 raidtool WinXP IDE 2.7 driver version 4.64 (WHQL) with 4.74 raidtool Download them here

Posted: November. 30, 2004 @ 08:59AM GMT +10 by BenSW

RadLinker 2.023

A few version of RadLinker has been released. Heres whats new: # Removed the RadClock service as it is no longer needed. # Created a new installer to help solve installation problems. # Fixed some problems with standby/hibernation modes with laptops. Download here

Posted: November. 29, 2004 @ 10:36AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Winamp 5.06 Flaw Allows Attacks

eWEEK reports users of America Online Inc.'s Winamp media player are at risk of remote code execution attacks because of a flaw in the software, according to a warning from a security research firm. The flaw, which Secunia rates as "highly critical," has been reported in Winamp versions 5.05 and 5.06. Prior versions also may be affected. Full story here

Posted: November. 29, 2004 @ 10:33AM GMT +10 by BenSW

SiSoft Sandra 2005

SiSoft have released an updated version of their popular benchmarking and system information program, Sandra. Sandra 2005 has a few new features including a client-server setup, cooling/power monitoring and multi-core CPU support. As well as SMP (multi-processor) and SMT (multi-threading/Hyper-Threading) support we have added multi-core support for future AMD and Intel CPUs. The benchmarks have been optimised to schedule the optimum number of threads on the optimum (virtual) CPU on both multi-core and Hyper-Threaded computers. Download here

Posted: November. 29, 2004 @ 10:30AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Asus makes big push into small form fact

ASUS IS MOVING into small form factor PCs in a big way. For the company, once known only as a motherboard manufacturer, it's part of a diversification strategy that helps Asus extend its reach into the consolidating - and increasingly competitive - market for PCs and related consumer electronics. Asus's barebone team, based at the company's headquarters in Taipei, has already developed a number of small PCs based around MicroATX motherboards, but recently turned out its first cube-shaped SFF PC, following a trail originally blazed by Shuttle Computer. The S-presso is immediately distinguishable from competitors by features like a moulded plastic case that give it a rounder, albeit slightly wider, shape than most other SFF PCs. The two models currently available both use the same motherboard, based around an Intel 865G/ICH5 integrated graphics chipset. The more feature laden S1-P111 includes a TV/FM Tuner card, and Linux-based instant-on software that can play DVD, CD, MP3 music or FM radio within a few seconds of power on. Read more

Posted: November. 29, 2004 @ 07:52AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Latest hardware reviews

PSU/Case: SunBeamTech Samurai Case NZXT Nemesis Elite Mid Tower Computer Case SilverStone SST-LC03 Logisys UV Blue Acrylic Case Cooling: 5.25" Drive Bay Kit-Multi-Function Hardcano 13 Thermaltake BigWater Watercooling Kit Thermalright SI-97 Memory: PQI PC4000-1024DBL TURBOmemory Corsair TWIN2X1024-5400C4PRO DDR2 Corsair TwinX1024-3200XL Memory

Posted: November. 29, 2004 @ 07:50AM GMT +10 by BenSW

AMD roadmap drops AthlonXP

AMD has updated its public roadmap. The biggest change: the death of its Athlon XP brand. AMD has fully committed itself to Sempron, and adds a couple of new 90nm processors to the line-up. Indeed, there's a clear shift toward 90nm over 130nm across the roadmap. Previous roadmaps have continues to list Athlon XP parts running right out into H2 2005, albeit with the company's "as market requires" caveat. As far as the XP line goes, the market clearly doesn't require it, and AMD has dropped all references to the brand, even though the latest roadmap goes no further into the future than the previous one. Instead, the roadmap shows a renewed focus on Sempron. Having shipped its 90nm Low Voltage Mobile Sempron, aka 'Sonora', it disappears from the H1 2005 column, to be replaced in H2 2005 by a new addition to the roadmap, 'Roma', simply described as a 90nm LV part. Read more

Posted: November. 28, 2004 @ 11:08AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Half-Life 2 smashes PC game sales record

Highly anticipated PC game Half-Life 2 has broken Australian sales records. The game has sold more than 20,000 copies since going on sale on 17 November, according to Vivendi Universal Games. Previously, Electronic Arts held the top spot with Sims 2. Half-Life 2 broke the old record by 50 percent. Vivendi Universal Games managing director Pascal Broshier said: "Half-Life 2's ground breaking technology and immersive gameplay mark a new era in PC gaming and we are proud to be a part of it." The 20,000 figure does not include copies purchased via 'Steam'. The new online delivery system is believed to account for an even larger number of purchased copies. Steam is administered by the game's developer Valve. Source: ITNews Australia

Posted: November. 28, 2004 @ 08:33AM GMT +10 by erock

ATI Tray Tools 1.0.1.410

Ray Adams has released a new version of his tweaker for Radeon cards: ATI Tray Tools 1.0.1.410! Heres whats improved: # Improved TV/Display support. A lot of bugs fixed. # Added support for Radeon X850 Series # Added Support for Enable/Disable Extended Desktop. Also added hot key for this operation. # Added Screenshots system. Look for options in "General Options" dialog box. Added Hotkeys for Screenshots. # Added new Apply 3D setting mode. You can switch it off in Options dialog box if its doesn't work for you. New method will be applied only if your device supports this method. ATT can automatically detect if your card doesn't supported and switch back to old method even if you enable new method in Options dialog box. # Audio options moved to "General Options" dialog box # Fixed some bugs in installation procedure. # Fixed bug with Hot Key editor. You can download this program here

Posted: November. 28, 2004 @ 07:43AM GMT +10 by BenSW

ATI Smiling as 9800 Topples GF 4 MX

It seems that after a very long delay, ATI is now beginning to reap the rewards of its very expensive deal with Valve. Statistics coming back from Steam users, following the release of Half-Life 2, indicate some good news for the Canadian graphics giant. For over a year now the company stood to one side as Valve's troubles adversly effected the company's planning but ATI knew that if it remained patient it would eventually benefit from its choice to partner with Valve. According to figures released by Valve regarding the hardware profiles of Steam users, for the first time in recorder history the mighty GeForce 4 MX has been toppled from the top. The new King of Steam is ATIs 9800 series board which, surprisingly, even beats the 9600 series, a cheaper DirectX 9 card. This change in leadership was observed immediately following H-L 2s release in The U.S. and in the rest of the world. The leading quartet of boards is made up of two card from each manufacturer as the GeForce4 MX is still hanging to 2nd place, with the Radeon 9600 in 3rd and the GF 4 trailing in 4th place. The Steam figures are a testament to the excessive pricing by both manufacturers in their war for the speed crown, since their flagship boards, the 6800 Ultra and the XT800 XT PE both have a ludicrous 0.31 per cent share of Steam gamers. Other graphics setups worthy of a mention are Intel's 810 with 0.47 per cent and nVidia's TNT2 which still hangs on to a 1.38 per cent share. So Steam is also useful for collecting user hardware information, we are certain however that Valve asks for permission before collecting user information. Source: www.Megagames.com

Posted: November. 28, 2004 @ 07:37AM GMT +10 by BenSW

950W PS Units Sneak into Market

A Japan-based company has started to sell its power supply units with maximum output of up to 950W, which is the world’s highest performance for desktops. As modern central processing units and graphics cards continue to devour more and more power, high-end personal computer’s PSU requirements will continue to increase and such PSUs are likely to gain popularity. SNE, a Japanese maker of various hardware aimed at enthusiasts and overclockers, recently started to sell its 950W, 900W and 850W power supply units, claiming the world’s record PSUs. The devices, however, can draw peak wattage only in extreme cases. In typical cases the power of the PSUs is 750W, 700W and 650W respectively, which is still among the world’s top power supply units. PSUs from SNE can power typical ATX as well as EPS12V systems, which means that the devices can be used for both desktop and workstation/server computers. The power supplies are equipped with 5 connectors for Serial ATA, 4 connectors for mini-Molex and 4 connectors for Molex plugs. The top, 950W (model FSRP950LGA), PSU can draw 34A on 3.3V and 5V connectors and from 14A to 18A on various 12V connectors, which is not higher compared to top offerings from companies like Antec. This may mean that the PSUs from SNE are designed for server and workstation platforms that require extreme wattage to feed multiple hard disk drives and microprocessors, rather than ability draw extreme current on high-speed components, such as top graphics cards or latest processors. Read more

Posted: November. 28, 2004 @ 07:23AM GMT +10 by BenSW

South Korea bans Ghost Recon 2

Citing a plotline that goes "way too far", South Korea's Media Rating Board has rejected approval of Ubisoft's Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon 2, according to American military newspaper Stars and Stripes. This (obviously) forced the game's Korean publisher to abandon its plans for a localization of the squad-based shooter. While disappointing, it is unsurprising that Ghost Recon 2 would rile South Korean censors. Its near-future storyline is set in the year 2007 on the PlayStation 2 and 2011 on the Xbox, and features commando missions into a conflict-wracked North Korea. Mass warfare on the Korean peninsula is a touchy subject, since North Korea is still technically at war with South Korea. That nation's capital, Seoul, has an estimated 11,000 artillery pieces aimed at it by its northern neighbor, whose Stalinist dictator, Kim Jong Il, has said he could turn the city into a "sea of fire" any time he wanted. It also won't be much of a shock that Ghost Recon 2 is not popular with the North Korean government either. A preview of the game at this year's E3 prompted one North Korean newspaper to write some choice words: "Through propaganda, entertainment and movies, [Americans] have shown everyone their hatred for us. This may be just a game to them now, but a war will not be a game for them later. In war, they will only face miserable defeat and gruesome deaths." Read more

Posted: November. 28, 2004 @ 07:10AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Q&A Updated

HCGamer has caught up with Bethesda Softworks' Pete Hines for a quick chat regarding their upcoming RPG, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. They cover everything from combat to the engine. Snip: HCG: Are there going to be any combos during combat? If yes, how effective are they going to be? Could you make an example? PH: This time we've realized how much combat people really do in a game like this and made it more of a priority for us to get right. We did three whole new combat systems before settling on the one that's in the game now. We really are striving to get the kinetic energy of guys bashing each other with swords down, and do it right, because no one has yet. So it plays better, and it looks better. You're in control of it more. There are special moves you can perform and the blocking is active. So the timing of it becomes a key strategy in fighting. It's also bloody. Not from a standpoint of we want lots of gore, but I think when you really smack someone with a sword you expect a certain level of blood to come spewing out. Read the rest here

Posted: November. 28, 2004 @ 07:05AM GMT +10 by BenSW

Nvidia and ATI cards working together

THE DAY HAS come and we are happy to say that we saw ATI and Nvidia card working together in Nvidia own SLI setup. We have to thank our friend Lars Borsti from Pabster place who informed us that he made such a thing works. He plugged Geforce 6800 Ultra in first SLI graphic slot and X800XT card in second PCIe graphic slot and was able to run 3Dmark on both cards. Don't get too excited as cards where not working in SLI but you can chose to work with either 6800 Ultra or X800XT PCIe card. Still they are plugged at the same Asus SLI setup. As Lars suggested this is ultimate and answer on what to use Nvidia or ATI. We can agree that you can use it both. It will cost you a fortune but you will be able to run Half life 2 and Far Cry on ATI and Doom 3 on Nvidia and have Shaders 2.0b or 3.0 whatever your heart wants. Source: Theinquirer.net

Posted: November. 26, 2004 @ 08:45AM GMT +10 by BenSW

ATI rolls out X300, X800 mobile GPUs

ATI has extended its PCI Express-based mobile graphics processor line-up further upmarket and downward with the addition of high- and low-end chips to its Mobility Radeon X series. The X800 tops off the range, providing 12 pixel processing pipelines and six vertex shaders. The part is fabbed at 130nm using low-k dielectric insulation. It provides a 256-bit memory interface supporting up to 256MB of G-DDR 3 SDRAM. Unlike the Mobility X300 and previously released Mobility X600, the X800 is based on ATI's most up-to-date Radeon architecture and is equipped the HD versions of ATI's SmartShader, VideoShader and SmoothVision technologies. In that sense it has more in common with the Mobility Radeon 9800 that the other X-class GPUs - what defines the latter is PCI-E support rather than latest-generation technology. Read more

Posted: November. 25, 2004 @ 10:16AM GMT +10 by BenSW

AMD ships Mobile Sempron 3000+

AMD today extended its Sempron budget CPU family, adding a part rated at 3000+ to its thin'n'light-oriented Mobile line-up. Clocked at 1.8GHz, the new part contains just 128KB of L2 cache, paving the way for a 256KB L2 3200+ in the not-too-distant future. Like other Mobile Semprons for slimline notebooks, the 3000+ sports a 754-pin interface and incorporates its own Northbridge. Click Here The 90nm chip offers 3D Now! and SSE 2 support, and can work with Windows XP Service Pack 2's 'no execute' anti-virus system, which guards against memory buffer overrun attacks. AMD announced that PC makers Packard-Bell and Gericom had committed to ship notebooks based on the new chip in Europe, with an introduction "expected... in time for the holiday shopping season", AND said. The Mobile Sempron 3000+ is available in volume now. AMD did not provide a price

Posted: November. 25, 2004 @ 09:30AM GMT +10 by Tokemon

Latest Video Card Reviews

Asus Radeon X600 XT review by PCStats Albatron Trinity GeForcePCX 5750 PCIe review by TweakNews nVidia GeForce 6600 GT AGP review by Bit-Tech XFX GeForce 6800 GT PCIe review by GamePC Gigabyte Radeon X800 Pro review by InsaneTek GeForce 6600 GT vs Radeon X700 XT by LegionHardware Sapphire Radeon 9600 XT review by TeamHardware ATI Radeon X600 XT roundup by TweakTown MSI Radeon X800 XT review by Viperlair

Posted: November. 25, 2004 @ 08:04AM GMT +10 by erock

Java flaw could lead to Windows...

"A flaw in Sun Microsystems's plug-in for running Java on a variety of browsers and operating systems could allow a virus to spread through Microsoft Windows and Linux PCs. Security information provider Secunia posted information about the flaw that rated it a "highly critical" threat. The Java plug-in enables small Web programs, known as applets, to run safely on a user's computer. But the security flaw allows a malicious Web site accessed through a victim's browser to bypass those protections." Full story

Posted: November. 25, 2004 @ 02:38AM GMT +10 by [DBE]killer

AMD puts dual roadmap in place

CHIP FIRM AMD put a fresh revision of its server, desktop and notebook roadmap on its site, confirming our earlier stories that the current 130 nano Opterons will soon become dust. At the same time, it gave more details of its dual core plans. AMD has started producing 90 nanometre versions of its 800, 200 and 100 series codenamed Athens, Troy and Venus. The Athlon MP is practically unobtainable now, and will exist for as long "as the market requires". In the first half of next year, AMD will shift its FX and A64 chips to the San Diego, Venice and Palermo 90 nanometre SOI chips, displacing existing .13µ (micron) processors. Read more

Posted: November. 24, 2004 @ 08:17PM GMT +10 by BenSW

Valve shuts down 20,000 Steam accounts

VALVE SOFTWARE has disabled the Steam accounts of 20,000 people it has said were attempting to use pirated copies of Half-Life 2. In a statement released to Shacknews, Valve said that reasons for closing the accounts included credit card fraud, theft of other people's accounts and using cracked versions of Valve games. All these nefarious means, the Seattle-based company said, contradicted the Steam Subscriber agreement that players must sign up for. Read more

Posted: November. 24, 2004 @ 08:15PM GMT +10 by BenSW

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