Tyan dual processor motherboards

Tried to post these specs recently but have only just been able to get into Tyan's website for some reason.  Lots of interesting boards for dual CPU fans, especially the Tiger 230.  Here's some of the specs:

Dual PGA370 Sockets for Pentium III, VIA Apollo Pro 133A Chipset, four 168-pin 3.3V DIMM sockets, supports up to 2 GB at 100 MHz, up to 1.5 GB at 133 MHz, PC100/133 SDRAM and VCM SDRAM (no DDR though), one 2x / 4x mode AGP slot, five 32-bit PCI 2.2 slots, four USB ports, up to four EIDE devices, UDMA 33/66/100 

All the Tiger details here.

Iwill KA266-R DDR motherboard review

Overclockers.com have benchmarked one of these with a Pentium III 700E @ 1050 MHz and an Athlon Thunderbird 750 @ 956 MHz, running 128MB of Crucial DDR RAM (an engineering sample).  They got some pretty impressive results, here's the review

3D Mark 2000 and Nvidia drivers

As you know this subject is close to my heart at the moment, particularly as I can no longer get 3D Mark v. 1.1 to run properly with any Detonator drivers.  Hmmm.  Anyway Tweaker's Asylum have a shedload of benchmarks for your perusal using the 6.18, 6.31, 6.47, and 7.17 drivers.  Like me they got the best results with the 6.47 version.  This way for all the figures.

Addtronics 6890A full tower case

A user friendly case this one, apparently.  Stacks of space and also a slide out motherboard tray, which is a must have for the dedicated tweaker.  My case, a Juno P3 mid-tower, has a swing out tray - works fine except that the rat's nest of cables is still in the way.  But anyway back to the Addtronics case - there's a full review at Speedy3D.  And if you find that you've got a bit carried away with your overclocking this weekend there's also an article on stability testing your PC, so you can find out where you've overdone things.  Enjoy!

That's all folks.  Have a good week.
 

New net names get the okay

Yes you can now call your website .biz, aero, name, coop (isn't that where chickens live?), info, pro or museum.  Slightly underwhelming in my humble opinion, can't imagine a frenzied rush to buy these up.  Details are at CNet News

Mouse overclocking

Okay so you've overclocked your CPU and your graphics card, what's left?  The humble PS/2 mouse of course.  I kid you not, the boys at SavageZone have an article that tells you how.

NT / Win2K gamers tweaking guide

These OSes are supposedly no good for gaming, since they're not optimised for it.  However they do win out (ahem) on stability, security, and so on.  NTcompatible.com have a tweaker's how to that details a whole host of ways you can squeeze a few more frames per second out of your machine.  I certainly intend to try it and then I'll give you my two pennies worth.  Here are the tweaks.

The first dual Athlon motherboard on the market?

Could be ... Tyan displayed a dual Athlon board, the S2462 at Comdex.  It's due for release early next year, so may well appear before the delayed 760MP from AMD.  Tyan are being pretty cagey with specs so far, but here's a little to be going on with:

Slot A for dual AMD-K7 Athlon 200MHz/266 FSB processors, 4 x DIMM sockets holding up to 2GB RAM (probably DDR), 1 x AGP Pro and 5 64bit PCI slots, on board SCSI, dual 10/100 Ethernet, onboard video

Which all sounds rather nice.  More info can be had from PCStats

Home made RAM sinks

As you've probably seen a number of video cards now ship with heatsinks fitted to their RAM.  If you're feeling inferior because your card hasn't got any you can either buy some (quite cheaply) or else do what the chaps at Apu's Hardware did, and make your own.  Not as cheap, lots of effort, and as for the results ... well I'm not saying I could make any better but you really should have a look at their article.  Cheered me up no end.

And finally ...

Geek.com have a rather gentle dig at Intel's ad campaign for the P4 (P4?  Never heard of it)

Intel:  "Watch in awe as MP3s download more quickly and graphics flow more smoothly."

Geek:  That's some good Intel marketing at work. Yeah, I'm sure a P4 will speed up your V90 modem. It will magically change your analog phone line into a fibre-optic connection direct to the Internet backbone. On top of that, the P4 will change your graphics accelerator into a GeForce2 Ultra.

That settles it , I've got to buy one.  Maybe it'll even make FreeServe work properly.

Pentium 4 available from Monday

Intel certainly seem to be getting their act back together.  The P4 will officially be on sale from Monday, initially at 1.4 and 1.5Gigs.  As yet the chips can only work with RDRAM but VIA are reportedly working on a deal with Intel to produce a chipset that will allow the P4 to support DDR SDRAM.  Be interesting to see how AMD come back at this... The Register has more details.

Case modding

Guru3D take you by the hand and lead you through adding some cooling fans to your case.  Apparently this involves a hammer amongst other things, so maybe not one for the squeamish.  If you think you're up to it the article is here  I actually did some similar mods to my own case a while back and got some good results.  The article is still in the pipeline, honestly.

Overclocking Intel chips

This guide from TweakTown has absolutely everything  you ever wanted to know about overclocking Pentiums and Celerons but were too afraid to ask; memory timings, cooling and stepping, voltages, software overclocking, links to utility downloads, I could go on.  And indeed frequently do...  The guide runs to eleven pages and is well worth reading, then save it for reference!

GlobalWin FOP38 review at SavageZone

GlobalWin are known for quality cooling products, and there's no reason that this CPU cooler shouldn't follow in that tradition.  Just don't use it on Socket A - SavageZone will tell you why.  If Socket A is your preferred flavour of processor you could do worse than head over to Overclockers Australia, where there's a review of seven different coolers, checked out on a Duron 600 @ 850MHz and a Celeron2 566 @ 850MHz.  Even better was the fact that the page doesn't load upside down ...

More news on RIP

That's the infamous Regulation of Investigative Powers Act, rather than me.  Did you know your employers are quite within their rights to read any e-mails you send or receive from  your workplace?  Oh and they can listen in to your phone calls too, so watch what you say about the boss!  There are some more details here.

Mobile GeForce review

Now you can get some super smooth 3D on your laptop with the Nvidia GeForce 2 Go.  Sweet Hardware give you the lowdown.  Wonder why it's called Go?

AOpen AX35 Pro i815E motherboard

Another catchy name appears in the motherboard market.  This one has FSB and CPU core voltage adjustments through the BIOS among it's many feature, and gets thoroughly worked over at SharkyExtreme

Motherboards 'r' us

One of the many big news stories from Comdex is the spate of DDR motherboards being showcased, including the VIA Apollo Pro 266 chipset for the Intel Pentium 3/Celeron and VIA Cyrix III processors.  Full details here  Abit are unveiling no fewer than seven new boards including two, the VR-20 and the KG-20, that support DDR SDRAM.  These boards use FCPGA and Socket A respectively.  RojakPot has the specs.  There's a full review of one of these boards, the SA6R, at FiringSquad.  Among this board's many features is the 815 chipset, RAID, and SoftMenu III.  According to FiringSquad this is:

....one of the most powerful BIOS interfaces we've ever seen.

Dream machines at AnandTech

High spec PCs, for lottery winners and successful bank robbers only.  As a taster AnandTech's wish list for this beast includes dual 933MHz Pentium IIIs and 512MB of RDRAM - so the memory alone will set you back $1000 (yes that's three zeroes there folks).  Go here and dream.... Or if your bank account isn't that obscenely healthy maybe you could stretch to a new set of surround sound speakers.  If that's the case take a look at the VideoLogic DigiTheatre LC 5.1 speaker system.

AOpen HX08 full tower review

Well the CDI Alaska Cool Case is admittedly very desirable, but perhaps a little extravagant for us mere mortals.  More in your price range, but also a most effective piece of kit for the overclocker, may well be this full tower from AOpen.  It's cheap, has a 300W power supply and more drive bays than you can shake a large stick at, and the Cold Shop have awarded it 8 out of 10.  So read their review!

Peltiers and air not cold enough for you?

So you're a pretty hard core overclocker are you?  Perhaps you should try out a water-cooling rig.  Athlon.oc have a review up of a Luefken water-cooling kit; if the idea of mixing mains power and H2O inside the computer you've spent a small fortune on doesn't terrify you then maybe you should get over there and take a peek.  And then you can get back to your base jumping and alligator wrestling...

CDI Alaska Cool case review

Sharky Extreme takes a look at a superb full tower case, just right for the overclocker who likes a little space for expansion!  It features a range of colour options (possibly including beige?) and 11, yes 11, cooling fans.  The price is pretty cool as well at $300, don't know if they're available over here yet.

Intel fight back continues

After Intel's strong hints that the Pentium 4 will be available at 2GHz speeds early next year, it seems AMD may have shot themselves in the foot by declaring that their CPUs will not be shipping at 1.5GHz until the second quarter of 2001, with a maximum projected speed next year of 1.7GHz.  Read the full story here

HP Deep Forest v. Apple Cube?  Well, maybe

Hewlett Packard and Intel have revealed their new PC concept, Deep Forest, aimed squarely at the Apple G4 Cube.  It's a sealed unit containing a Pentium 4, 10/100 Ethernet, seven USB ports and a 4x AGP  graphics card.  Probably a few other bits and pieces too I'd guess.  The companies stress that Deep Forest is only a concept at the moment, stating that it's "a technology demonstration and not a product for sale".  The Register has more details.

Overclocking the Prophet is the next step - watch this space for the results.  Meanwhile in other news today ...

Benchmarking guide

How do you know if the driver you've just updated is any good?  Have you in fact just degraded the performance of your system?  Get yourself some free benchmarking utilities and make sure the tweaks you apply are good ones; and you can make sure the benchmarks you use are giving you some reliable figures by reading this guide at the Hardware Pub.

IBM Deskstar GXP75 review

Yesterday TechnoYard were singing the praises of this range of hard drives, today Hexus.net have got a review of one for you.  Here's a clip of what they thought of it:

IBM have dramatically raised the performance of this drive compared to its last offering, which at that was a very fast drive. I could go on and on with more improved features...

Whistler review

Have a look at what Microsoft's replacement for WinME and Windows 2000 has in store for you.  Combining the best features of it's two predecessors, and with prices rumoured to be similar to those for WinME, the new OS should be good value - once all the bugs have been fixed.  Go here for all the details.

Intel fight back with faster Pentium 4

The Register are carrying a report from an Intel spokesman which suggests pretty strongly that 2GHz Pentium 4s will be available in January 2001, far earlier than expected.  There will also be support for DDR RAM later in the year, and of course the chips are optimised for the newly released DirectX 8.  Here's the article

A reminder for X-Files fans - it's now showing again on the Beeb.  Wednesday 15th, BBC2, 2100 GMT.  And so to the news.

New Celerons at Sharky's

SharkyExtreme have some benchmarks of the newly released  Celeron 766MHz chip.  Intel and AMD are still battling for supremacy in the low-end processor market (yep 766 can count as low-end!), but with the Celeron still running on a 66MHz FSB is it any match for the Duron?  Go here to find out.

DiamondMax Plus 45GB review

Technoyard give one of the new DiamondMax Plus range of hard drives a damn good looking at.  45GB, 7200 rpm, and ATA 100 compatible.  So what's it like then?  Here's a clip of what they thought:

Looking at the test results you can come to the conclusion that the DM plus 45 isn't the fastest drive in town, yet it definitely is not the slowest either. Out of the tests I believe IBM's Deskstar 75GXP still holds its position as the best IDE drive around. However there's a significant cost advantage by opting for the DM plus 45. Besides the IBM drive doesn't lead the tests in great margin to the DM plus 45, so for the price it's offered at, I think the DiamondMax Plus 45 is certainly a good deal to go for.

Pioneer CDRW/DVD review

Okay so combination drives have been around for a while now, even I've got one.  But this drive from Pioneer, first shown at the Comdex exhibition in the States, is a DVD re-writer as well.  Now you can re-write up to 4.7GB of data onto each side of a DVD.  Back up your hard drive to a single disk maybe?  No news on write speeds, or prices, as yet.  Full story is at The Register

Just a quick update on the Hercules Prophet.  With supplied drivers it gave 66.0 fps in Quake 3; wouldn't run 3DMark.  Upgraded to 5.32 drivers and got 74.6 fps, and 2737 points in 3DMark 2000 - which is nice but I expect to get more!  Intend to get DirectX 8, some better drivers (think the Detonator driver is supposed to be good), and do a bit of overclocking (obviously!)  Watch this space for more details, and a full review of the card in due course.  Now I'm off to bed ...

DirectX 8.0 released

Microsoft have released the latest version of their multi-media must have.  It supposedly does wonders for gaming performance in Windows 2000, OverclockedCafe have some benchmarks running it against DirectX 7.  You can download DirectX 8 here

DVD at Ace's Hardware

Ace's have an in depth article today with all you need to know about running DVDs on your PC, or setting up an output to your TV if that's what you prefer.  Here's a sneak preview:

If you have a 17 to 20-inch monitor, DVD on the PC looks beautiful...if your PC can keep up, that is. Everybody knows by now that a 500 to 600 Mhz PIII or Athlon is more than strong enough for DVD playback, but what if you want your PC to do other (boring) tasks at the same time? How much spare processing power does your CPU have? Can you download the latest trailer in the background while watching a DVD movie at the same time?

Intel - work on 0.13 processors complete

Yep, Intel have announced that development work on their new 0.13 micron processors is all done, and they're ready to start production.  The new process promises faster chips with a smaller power demand.  Guess we'll have to wait and see!  Read the Intel press release for all the details

Got a spare PC lying about?

As you tend to have... But if you've been busy upgrading you may well have enough old bits and pieces to make up a second PC relatively cheaply.  And then you can hook them up and get yourself a home network.  Make the process a whole lot easier by reading Hexus.net's article on PC networking

AMD 760 chipset - your questions answered

The new DDR supporting chipset from AMD shows a lot of potential, but are you sure what you're going to get?  Do you know which processors, motherboards, and memory you can use with it?  If the answers no get over to HighspeedPC and have a look at their FAQ 

High end PC buyer's guide

Got a couple of thousand burning a hole in your pocket?  Feel free to send it in to me!  Alternatively take a look at SharkyExtreme's latest PC buyer's guide.  This month they turn the spotlight on a high-end gaming system.  All the drool worthy details here

New CPU/video card price updates at AnandTech

If Sharky's guide has got you in the mood to spend a little money check out AnandTech first.  They've just started a new CPU and video card price listing, which will be alternated weekly with a memory and motherboard price list.  All prices are of course in the mighty dollar, but if exchange rates start to move in the right direction again importing may become an attractive prospect.  The price listings are here.

AMD news - high speed and high sales

You probably won't be surprised to hear that AMD are selling Athlons faster than they can make them at the moment.  But some of the projected CPU speeds in this article might make you blink.

BMG on line to merge with EMI?

These two are apparently having talks right now, The Register reported today.  A planned merger between EMI and Warner, both of whom are members of the "Big Five" that took Napster to court, fell through earlier this year.  If the two companies do get together there will be a far larger catalogue available on the new look, subscription only Napster.  But you'll still have to pay for it...

Microsoft still getting hacked

I'm beginning to wonder how much longer a Microsoft hack will count as news.  The flying Dutchman, aka Dimitri, who we reported getting into Microsoft's networks on 04 November, has done it again.  Ho hum.  There's more here if you must! 

Distributed computing standard policy

In an attempt to combat the usual computing practice of allowing half a dozen developers to come up with totally incompatible protocols for a new concept, a number of major companies including Hewlett-Packard, Compaq and SGI are collaborating on an industry wide standard for distributed computing projects.  Here's a taste of the article from CNet:

How to fit a hard drive

Okay, so hard drives are most definitely not exciting.  But like lots of other very ordinary bits and pieces inside your case they are still absolutely essential, and as operating systems, games, and other software applications get more and more "feature enriched" (or bloated if you prefer) you may well rapidly find yourself struggling for disk space.  Luckily for us drives are getting larger and the prices per gigabyte are getting lower, so it seems like a good time to treat your PC to another hefty dollop of storage.  Installing a drive is not rocket science, but it's still kind of nice to make sure you get it right!  To help you do this JSI Hardware have rather kindly produced a guide to hard drive installation and configuration.  Why not check it out and set yourself up for the first 1 Gig OS?  It can't be far away ...

ELSA Gladiac ULTRA review at Guru3D

Dutch graphics card specialists Guru3D have a detailed look at the latest contender in the Ultra GeForce market.  A superb card no doubt, with blistering performance, but at what price?

Whistler news - security issues

The new Whistler OS from Microsoft will incorporate a security mode that prevents code from executing on your machine unless it carries a digital signature.  Although this may at first sound like a great idea it brings to mind some of the snags encountered with Windows 2000 and digitally signed drivers.  If a driver you tried to update on a Win 2K PC was not digitally signed (i.e. most beta drivers, such as for 3D cards) you would receive dire warnings of impending doom in a dialogue box generated by the OS.  The Register has more details, here's a snip:

It might work for corporations, but the notion of having to get permission before you can run your apps on Windows is not the PC industry as we have known it.

Abit VP6 release date?

Hexus.net have it straight from the horse's mouth.  Here's what they were told:

The board is going in to production tomorrow (8th November), and it will be going through testing for FAE approval testing and then they will be sending it on to Tech sites to look at within 2 weeks, after which then we will see it on the shelf within 3 weeks a month maximum! The problem has been down to CPU SoftMenu III. But all problems are gone now!

Although graphics cards are admittedly very nice bits of kit you shouldn't neglect the more mundane components of your PC, which are probably just as important.  Keyboards, mice, and monitors provide your direct interface to the computer, and if you skimp on these you'll make life more difficult for yourself than it should be.  Equally you can never have too much RAM in your system to help keep things running smoothly.  So today RipNet has sniffed out a couple of articles on these workhorses for you.  Here they are; while you're enjoying the articles I'm off to play with my new toy!

KingMax PC150 SDRAM

Many newer motherboards run at a 133MHz FSB.  Try even some mild overclocking and you may well be pushing your memory beyond it's limits, which can give you all sorts of strange errors and might even corrupt your data.  Bad news.  So memory development is a fast moving area, and Virtual Hideout have been trying out some PC150 RAM from KingMax.  Here's a clip:

KingMax also has employed a new type of design: TinyBGA. The TinyBGA form factor utilizes extremely small chip size, which reduces PCB size and thus cuts cost. The end result? The KingMax PC150 module utilizing TinyBGA is only 66% the size of standard DIMM modules

Logitech Optical Wheel mouse

Mice are boring, and you normally don't even notice them.  They only tend to make their presence felt when they clog up with dirt, stop working properly, and become a complete pain in the neck.  Which is where the optical mouse comes into it's own - no roll-ball to get gunged up.  And this one has a scroll wheel to make life even silkier.  Click your mouse here to head over to JSI Hardware and find out what they have to say about Logitech's bid for your money.

GeForce MX roundup

Just to prove that I haven't become completely boring and sensible I've also gathered up some GeForce news for you.  PlanetSavage have some benchmarks of the LeadTek WinFast, GainWard, and Sparkle GeForce2 MX cards, and One2Surf put the Hercules 3D Prophet II MX 32MB and the ELSA Gladiac GeForce2 MX head to head.  These cards represent good value for money, and you can expect prices to drop further as newer and faster GeForce models are released.  At the moment a GeForce MX will set you back £120-130.

Fancy a share in Napster?

BMG have reported that they may sell off shares in Napster once their deal is finalised and the peer to peer trail blazer becomes a "legitimate business", but they don't foresee this happening in the near future.  Full details at CNet News.

Distributed computing - now you can get paid for it

Distributed computing schemes are now not only widespread (SETI, RC5, various other scientific projects) but they are also becoming big business.  A group of companies in the States called Distributed Science has hit on the idea that if people are willing to give you their spare CPU time for free, then perhaps you can get more out of these same people by offering to pay them, and then selling on this time to other companies who need it.  Sounds intriguing but don't get too excited about retiring yet, Distributed Science reckon the average contributor will make about $10 a month.  The Register has the full story.  Personally I'm going to stick with SETI - should hit 500 units anytime now, you can check the team stats here

How not to upgrade your PC

The Register again, this time with an amusing collection of tips to avoid like the plague.  Learn how incontinent cats and PCs don't mix, among other things.  If this tickles your fancy there's a load more here including how to partition your hard disk with a hacksaw.  Tell me he's not serious, please...

GeForce GTS 2 Ultra review

The latest in the never ending stream of new 3D cards gets a good going over at Stomped.com  This poor card has to struggle along with a mere 64MB of DDR RAM.  Is it worth breaking the bank for?  Here's a taster of what they think:

For those that want all the eye candy of higher resolutions without slowdowns, and have the money to achieve it, the GeForce 2 Ultra is the one for you. If you’re the type that runs at lower resolutions with the details off in Quake 3, the GeForce 2 Ultra is going to be a waste of your money that could be better spent elsewhere. The Ultra ranges in prices from around $415 to $520. That’s a huge chunk of change for almost everybody I know, including myself. Most people would be fine spending $160-$220 on a 32meg GeForce2 GTS and get quite acceptable performance, even at “pretty” resolutions. The GeForce2 MX is really the steal of the bunch, ranging from $91-$150 for a basic board. The MX is a great board for upgrades to systems with lower end CPUs due to its GPU taking the load off the CPU. Just be aware that at least the Hercules OEM GeForce2 MX board comes with slower RAM and memory speed, hurting performance a bit.

So, it's a monster of a card.  But the most interesting part of that clip has to be the US prices.  Head over to PCIndex and see how much an Ultra will set you back in sterling (Tip: I should sit down first).

Blue is the colour

At least it is for Blue Orb chipset coolers.  If you've taken a look at the overclocking page you'll have seen that I use ThermalTake Golden Orb coolers to look after my CPUs, and an old 486 fan to de-stress my BX chipset.  Well ThermalTake now produce a very natty blue orb, sized just right to keep your graphics card or motherboard chipsets cool.  SavageZone have a review on this lovely little piece of kit - even if it didn't work (which it does) you'd have to get one, it just looks so cool.....

Dual Pentium motherboard reviews

If you think two is better than one get over to Xbitlabs and check out their review of the VIA Apollo Pro 133A chipset.  This supports dual Pentium IIIs and of course 133MHz FSB; they've tried it out in Abit's new VP6, the Gigabyte GA-6VXDC7 (catchy name...), the MSI 694D, and the Tyan Tiger 133.  See how they got on here

ISP problems?  Why not buy your own?

Used ISP for sale, one careful (?) owner, yours for £340 million.  At that price I'll take two and keep one as a spare I think.  Rumours abound that LineOne may be up for sale, though not many of it's competitors seem eager to buy.  Full story at The Register

ATI Radeon 64MB vs. GeForce 2 GTS 32MB

No contest right?  Well if you've just splashed out a lot of cash for the latest Radeon I'd advise you not to read this article by Bootmax.  They pitted ATI's monster against a GeForce 2 GTS 32MB, which promptly outperformed it in all but very high resolutions (we're talking resolutions where you need a VERY large monitor here).  But the ATI has video in/out, so that's okay.  Any disappointed Radeon owners looking to get rid of their cards cheap please feel free to drop me a line!

DDR chipset for the Pentium 4 is looking likely

Although Intel were originally opposed to VIA's plans to produce a DDR supporting chipset for the P4 (similar to AMD's 760 for the Athlon), it seems they may be warming to the idea.  Particularly as the deal they are tied into with Rambus could prevent them making their own DDR chipset until 2003.  If you remember Rambus is behind the infamous RDRAM - twice the price of SDRAM for the same performance.  Now that sounds like a bargain doesn't it!  The Register has more details.

Case cooling problems ?  Try this for size

Overclockers Australia have some pics of a case that should be able to cool just about anything (including tinnies I should think).  Words fail me for once, go here and see for yourself!

How good is your ISP?

If it's anything like mine, pretty bad.  This article details UK providers only and makes for some interesting reading.  After numerous connection and low throughput snags I was somewhat unsurprised to find my ISP has been voted the worst in the UK.  So it wasn't a "hardware failure in my modem" as their pop-up suggested, thought not!  I won't name them here, as I think they have enough publicity without my contribution.  See if its worth making a change...

Microsoft's big plans for Whistler 

Talk now of a staggered (as opposed to staggering) release for Microsoft's new OS, intended to bring Windows 98 and 2000/NT under one all-encompassing platform.  Quite how Whistler will address the differing needs of business and home users still remains to be seen.  The full story is here

Fast forward to later - here it is as promised - a whole feast of goodies for the weekend.  Whether you prefer to spend your spare time gaming or tweaking your hardware there's something to interest you, as well as more news on the Microsoft hack, the Pentium 4 and the AMD 760, and a little bit of Napster.

Free games - no catch?

If you're one of life's cynics like me you probably think that there's no such thing as a free lunch.  However it seems that there is such a thing as free computer games (maybe you already know ware to get them...)  Freeloader.com promises to let you download free games, no fees, and they won't flog your e-mail address to half a million spammers (so they say).  Apparently they get all their money back from advertising.  Sounds reasonable to me so far, but what about the games?  It's just  a selection of the dross that no-one could ever sell, isn't it?  Well actually, no.  Among the many titles on offer are Halcyon Sun, Hidden & Dangerous, Three Lions, Spec Ops, and Grand Theft Auto.  I haven't tried downloading anything yet, but if you've got a free and reasonably fast connection this has to be at least worth a look.

Breathe new life into your K6

Those nice chaps over at AnandTech are trying to save you money again.  They've just posted a new guide to upgrading your old AMD K6-2 or -3, rather than shelling out lots of the hard earned on a new chip and motherboard.  Here it is.

SharkyExtreme's hard drive guide

Staying with upgrades, here's how to decide just what sort of hard drive you need to buy so that you've got enough space to handle the latest bloated OS.  Here's a snip:

"This is not meant as a guide for advanced users who already know all the details about hard drive technology. Instead, this is a broad and not-too-technical look at the general technologies available. If you're building a new machine and thinking about SCSI but don't know much about it, or if you've heard about IEEE 1394 but don't know what it is, this guide is for you."

Sounds like my kind of guide, hope there's not too many long words.  Go here for all the details.

DDR GPUs from Nvidia

Is your GeForce getting long in the tooth?  Just not fast enough?  Maybe you need to grab yourself the AMD 760 and then throw in a 266MHz graphics card (and then overclock it, obviously)...Nvidia are now making 3D cards specifically designed to work with the new DDR chipset.  Be interesting to see what the next quantum leap brings us.  Electronic News has the story.

Watertight security at Microsoft?  Not quite...

Seems MS may not have plugged all the holes in their network.  PCWorld report that a Dutch hacker claims to have got into their servers, despite the tightening of security in the wake of the recent break in.  Oops.  And he also maintains he managed to get into their download site, where he could have quite easily added a virus to any of the patches that are provided for the software you use.  Although this was intended as a wake up call rather than a malicious attack, it's a timely reminder.  When did you last update your anti-virus software?

Universal refuse to join forces with Napster

Universal claim they already have an identical service to what Napster seem destined to become with BMG (i.e. a monthly subscription mp3 library), so they've no intention of changing sides.  And it seems they're not going to drop the lawsuit either.  Might as well make the best of a bad job, as Universal themselves have admitted that the lawsuit against Napster has ''raised their profile in a way that should never have happened.''  CNet News have all the details.

And finally

Got yourself completely stuck in an upgrade?  Unsure which mega-fast CPU to spend all your money on next?  You need some help, and HouseofHelp could be just the people to provide it.  It's an online forum covering just about everything PC, and quite a lot else besides.  If they persuade you that what you really need is a Pentium 4 try grabbing the ferry over to Belgium, where a dealer DPI has them on his pricelist already.  And very reasonable they are too, at only twice the recommended retail (cough).  For some more realistic pricing try a visit to Pricewatch or PCIndex for the best US and UK prices respectively.  For dual fans the twin Pentium supporting Abit VP6 has now appeared on both sites.  The only UK supplier is Dabs (okay, no problem), and they say the board is "temporarily unavailable" (problem).  Bit like the digital camera I'm still waiting for them to send me then...

I finally got around to unzipping Mother Board Monitor 5 today.  Function wise it seems virtually unchanged from version 4.18, but the user interface has been totally revised.  Unfortunately it isn't any simpler to set up, so you will still need to spend a few minutes getting everything to your liking.  But it still does its job just as well as before (which is what really counts of course).  MBM sits quietly in your system tray keeping an eye on temperatures, voltages, and fan speeds for you, and will give you a visual and/or audible warning if anything wanders outside the limits you have set.  Which is just what it says on the tin....

Web and traditional music industries finding common ground?

It appears that at least some Web firms are realising that they need to carry out some form of "real" business to survive and live up to their often enormous notional values.  At the same time the music industry giants have been forced to open their eyes to the fact that strong arms tactics don't always work; perhaps more importantly they've cottoned on to the fact that although enterprises such as Napster don't receive any money in return for the files they provide to their customers they do get back something even more valuable - information.  Napster already has a huge database of information it has gathered on it's users, detailing exactly what kinds of music they are most interested in, and to companies like EMI that kind of marketing data is quite probably worth a fortune.  More on this at CNet News

IBM and Intel close to blows over P2P?

More water stirred up by Napster and their use of P2P, this time at IBM and the Intel sponsored P2P Working Group.  Seems some fairly influential people have been throwing on their sackcloth and ashes, proclaiming P2P to be the end of databases as they currently exist.  "Not so, stop panicking the troops", is IBM's reply, as they quite reasonably argue that applying Napster's methods to all database management would pretty rapidly end in chaos.  Looks to me like Mother Nature will again enforce her laws, and an equilibrium will eventually be reached on middle ground somewhere between the two camps.  But read some more at The Register and decide for yourself.

AMD 760 still on target for November release?

Opinions still seem to be pretty divided on when AMD's new DDR chipset will be available.  Geek.com are plumping for a mid-November release (they do mean this year, don't they?), on the basis of how the AMD press statement was worded.  They've looked at things quite closely, so lets hope they're right.  While you're waiting you may well like to head on over to Tom's Hardware and find out what he made of the 760.  Tom knows his stuff and has a fair bit of clout in the IT world; remember what he did to the 1.13Gig PIII.... so if he's impressed with the DDR chipset (and he is) it could very well be worth the wait.

Microsoft hack - FBI may be on a cold trail

Although the cracker who got into Microsoft's internal networks allegedly gained access to nothing of major value, the firm has moved pretty fast to close down any areas he managed to sneak into.  Well, good idea, you might say.  Unfortunately this means that although the systems have now been secured, the cracker has become virtually impossible to trace.  Which of course leaves him free to do it all over again, just as soon as he can find another way in.  More details here

AMD 760 chipset delayed?

Rumours today that the release of AMD's new SMP capable chipset is to be delayed, probably until the middle of next year.  This probably means that the 760 DDR  will be held back too.  Not good news for Athlon fans, but I expect Intel are heaving a sigh of relief, as it gives them some breathing space to sort out the Pentium 4 and maybe start making up some lost ground.  Tech-Report picked up the story from a German website and are currently trying to get a comment out of AMD.

Duron and Athlon overclocking guide.

Well if you're going to be stuck with just a single solitary AMD chip for the next few months you'd better learn how to overclock it!  Point your browser to Maximum3D who have a new guide to unleashing the full potential of your budget chip.  There's a related article on Socket A Athlons over at AnandTech with a lot of interesting stuff including unlocking the multipliers.  These CPUs are great overclockers - I've even considered buying one, but since I got my BP6 I'm afraid I only buy my chips in pairs.

DDR chipset for the Pentium 4

Looks as if the sun may finally be starting to rise again on Intel's side of the street, or is it just a false dawn?  VIA are talking about releasing a new chipset early next year, the PX266, which enable the P4s to utilise DDR RAM.  Previously these chips were only designed to work with Rambus, but with this costing twice as much as normal RAM for very little (if any) performance gain, Intel have had to go through a major rethink - again.   The full story is here at CNet News.

Whistler betas released

Microsoft issued beta versions of it's latest OS to selected testers yesterday.  Whistler is intended to be the replacement for both Windows Millennium and Windows 2000.  Whilst WinME is essentially an update of Win98 and 2000 is sourced from Windows NT, Whistler is a brand new OS.  You can read more about it here  Wonder if the chap who cracked Microsoft's internal networks has put any little tweaks in the code?