Mobo Shipments for Big Four Up

Subject: Motherboards | September 12, 2005 - 05:39 PM | Ryan Shrout
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Digitimes is reporting that the motherboard shipments for the "big four" have gone up for the month of August, a good sign for the industry as a whole. 

First-tier motherboard makers Asustek Computer, Elitegroup Computer Systems (ECS), Gigabyte Technology, and Micro-Star International (MSI) shipped a combined 8.93 million motherboards in August, up 25.8-27.6% from the 7-7.1 million units they shipped during the same period last year.

As demand picked up in the traditional peak season,

Computer Case Cornucopia & More

Subject: Cases and Cooling | September 12, 2005 - 12:17 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Miss one Monday, and a dozen new reviews come out.   First up today we have the MGE Titanium at Think Computers, a case that seems to incorporate every new innovation in case design from the past year into one case.  It is roomy, it still has enough space for a watercooling setup, and all that, and a price tag around the $100 mark.  If that's not the case you're looking for, there are almost 20 other reviews to choose from!

'Pre-mod computer cases, it se

Icy Cold TEC Waterblocks & More

Subject: Cases and Cooling | September 9, 2005 - 12:02 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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If you've never heard of Wintsch, they are a company making waterblocks with thermoelectric cooling built in.  I'm not sure if you are comfortable running something that makes ice in your box, but as Pimprig found in their tests, it can give you a bit of room for overclocking ...

Fred Weber Leaves AMD

Subject: Processors | September 7, 2005 - 07:23 PM | Ryan Shrout
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This is surprisingly big news coming from AMD today.  A press release hit my email box just today that discusses Phil Hester, the new CTO of AMD and mentioned very briefly is the "departing CTO Fred Weber."  Fred being the primary designer of the K8 architecture that has brought AMD such success, I can't help but wonder why AMD would have let him go and how this will affect future products.

Prior to joining AMD, Hester was the founder and CEO of Austin, Texas based Newisys

R520 Spy Pics?

Subject: Graphics Cards | September 7, 2005 - 07:05 PM | Ryan Shrout
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It looks like some pics have finally leaked of the upcoming R520 product along with specs on possible card line ups. 

The card you are seeing is the R520 XT.

Master Card Requirement to Stay in R5xx Series

Subject: Graphics Cards | September 7, 2005 - 03:25 PM | Ryan Shrout
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The Inq believes that the upcoming R520 will still require the use of a master graphics card and won't be able to sell just a single GPU as NVIDIA is doing.

ATI SIMPLY didn't have enough time to remove the necessity for the master—slave card concept in R520 and the other R5xx cards. We learned that a handful of R520 master cards should be available at launch date and that customers will get them a few weeks after the launch.

ASRock 939Dual-SATA2 ULi 1695 Review

Subject: Motherboards | September 7, 2005 - 03:14 PM | Ryan Shrout
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Wesley over at Anandtech has posted a review of the ASRock board featuing the ULi 1695 chipset that sports both PCIe and AGP video card slots.

Many have been looking forward to the arrival of the first ULi chipset retail motherboards since our review of the ULi Reference boards. In the first Reference board review and the updated second ULi Reference, we found the performance of the on-board PCIe and AGP 8X to be both uncompromised.

Future DVD VIdeo Wars Compromise?

Subject: General Tech | September 7, 2005 - 03:11 PM | Ryan Shrout
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Well not really, but you can expect to see lots of devices coming out like this new Samsung player that plays both the upcoming Hi-Def video standards: Blu-Ray and HD-DVD.

Samsung will bring out a DVD machine next year capable of playing both Blu-ray and HD DVD if backers of the rival standards fail to agree on a unified format, a newspaper said.

Newegg Case Mode Contest Winners

Subject: Cases and Cooling | September 7, 2005 - 03:07 PM | Ryan Shrout
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Newegg sent along word about their latest Case Mod contest winners.  The winner built a PC in a Ford Bronco model

So I started making a model out of clay and spent about 3 months getting it right. I found a 12.1'' LCD screen on EBay for $100 that was just the right size for under the hood. After the clay was done and all measurements checked out I made a rubber mold.

Heatsink Shootout & More

Subject: Cases and Cooling | September 7, 2005 - 12:02 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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X-Bit Labs takes 4 coolers from Thermaltake, 

the  Big Typhoon, Silent Tower, PIPE101 Rev.2 and Sonic Tower, and sees which comes out on top as the best cooler from Thermaltake right now.

"Today we are going to witness a breath-taking race among four processor air coolers from Thermaltake Company.

Intel Pledges 1500 PCs, Wireless Access Points, Technical Support For Hurricane Katrina Disaster Rel

Subject: General Tech | September 3, 2005 - 08:59 PM | Joe White
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 2, 2005 - Intel Corporation today announced it is coordinating the donation of 1,500 laptop personal computers to the American Red Cross for distribution to shelters in support of Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts. In addition, Intel will donate 150 wireless Internet access points to enable wireless local area connectivity in all permanent shelters and is providing fifty Wi-Fi transmitters for installation in the New Orleans downtown and airport area.

AMD To Power The Governing Body Of World Motorsport

Subject: General Tech | September 3, 2005 - 07:09 AM | Joe White
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SUNNYVALE, CA -- September 2, 2005 --AMD (NYSE: AMD) today announced it will become the Official Technology Partner of the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA), the international non-profit organization concerned with automotive, motoring and mobility issues and the governing body of world motor sport.

AMD Comments on Intel's Answer to AMD's U.S. Federal District Court Antitrust Complaint

Subject: General Tech | September 1, 2005 - 08:16 PM | Joe White
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SUNNYVALE, Calif. - Sept. 1, 2005 - AMD (NYSE: AMD) released the following statement today regarding Intel Corporation's answer to AMD's complaint filed in U.S. federal district court in the district of Delaware on June 27, 2005, which asserts that Intel committed illegal antitrust violations to exclude competition.

"Intel's response is not surprising considering what they are trying to hide, but the facts of illegal monopoly abuse are clear and undeniable," said Thomas M.

Intel Files Response To AMD Complaint

Subject: General Tech | September 1, 2005 - 08:07 PM | Joe White
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 1, 2005 - Intel Corporation today filed its response to a lawsuit recently initiated by Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) regarding Intel's business practices. In the response, Intel refutes AMD's claims and states that its business practices are both fair and lawful.

Intel Donates $1 Million To American Red Cross In Support Of Hurricane Katrina Disaster Relief Effor

Subject: General Tech | September 1, 2005 - 08:04 PM | Joe White
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SANTA CLARA, Calif., Sept. 1, 2005 - Intel Corporation's philanthropic arm, the Intel Foundation, announced today that it will make a $1 million donation to the American Red Cross in support of Hurricane Katrina disaster relief efforts. The Foundation will also match dollar-for-dollar employee contributions in support of the relief effort during September.

ASRock and ULi Announce M1695-based Motherboard

Subject: Motherboards | August 31, 2005 - 03:10 PM | Ryan Shrout
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I got this in my email box this morning from both ULi and ASRock.  The ULi 1695 chipset supports both PCI Express x16 and native AGP 8x graphics interfaces.  This particular board from ASRock also supports CPU upgrade modules and they are touting support for future M2 processors next year via one of these modules.  Below is the full release I received.

Taipei, Taiwan--(BUSINESS WIRE)—August 31, 2005-- ULi Elect

ECS Editor's Day

Subject: Motherboards | August 30, 2005 - 04:27 PM | Ryan Shrout
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This is just a post to point you all to my quickie coverage of the recent ECS Editor's Day that I posted in my blog yesterday. 

Their other, even more daring offering, is something called Scalable Dual Graphics Engine.  SDGE is an attempt to make dual GPUs a more affordable and more open platform.  Theoretically, you can buy a motherboard based on any chipset that comes with two x16 PCIe slots, one of which has no PCIe actually going to it.&nbsp

ECS Editor's Day

Subject: Editorial | August 30, 2005 - 04:12 PM | Ryan Shrout
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As you might have been able to tell from my recent post enews showing the upcoming CrossFire motherboards from ECS, I was recently in attendence at the ECS Editor's Day in San Jose last week.  ECS has always been one of the largest manufacturers of motherboards in the world, but they have not been known to be an enthusiast class motherboard maker.  Recently, this has begun to change, as you can see by reading our