Overclocking the Athlon 64 3500+

Subject: Processors | March 31, 2005 - 10:30 AM | Ryan Shrout
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Want to read about one sites experiences overclocking the 3500+ Newcastle core processor?  They say that buying a CPU is luck of the draw on whether you get Newcastle or Winchester, or any core, but if you look around at most online sites like Newegg, they specify for you.

There's little doubt that the AMD Athlon64 3500+ is the processor that most enthusiasts will go with as it offers a higher multiplier than lower end models but does not break the bank either.

Interview with AMD's Fred Weber

Subject: Processors | March 31, 2005 - 10:28 AM | Ryan Shrout
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I was some how left out of this endeavor to AMD this week, but no matter.  Anandtech has a good quality article up on what comments they got from Fred Weber, who was the lead architect on the K8 core.

We also asked Weber about his thoughts on wafer and die stacking; he sounded particularly interested in them, but added that for a microprocessor it's far too early to count on die stacking because of yield concerns.  He said that the time for the technology to be used on microprocessors would only exis

Seagate's Barracuda 7200.8 hard drive

Subject: Storage | March 31, 2005 - 10:26 AM | Ryan Shrout
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The guys at The Tech Report are reviewing the new Seagate 7200.8 HDD with 400 GB capacity.  Seem a bit much?  They don't think so.  But what about performance?

Our benchmark results were mixed, making it hard to unreservedly recommend the Barracuda 7200.8 over the other drives in the test group.

Power up your aircooling & More

Subject: Cases and Cooling | March 30, 2005 - 12:06 PM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Thermaltake just keeps the innovations coming, not only a new heatsink, but a new 'toolless' retention clip.  Feast your eyes on the K450, brought to you by the folks at Techtastic.  This cooler performs, but as with most targeted at the A64, it is huge, weighing in at 438g, and with a fan it's over 100mm tall.  If you have a tight fit in your case right now, maybe you should think about cutting out a blower!

"Today we take a look at Thermaltake's K450 which is part of a new line of heat sinks developed by

MSI NX6800GT-T2D256E Review

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 29, 2005 - 01:45 PM | Ryan Shrout
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Man, that model name looks like something Gainward would think up!  [H]ardOCP is out with yet another review today, only this time featuring the 6800GT GPU from NVIDIA. 

Honestly, you have to put in context what we are testing here. The MSI NX6800GT is based on the GeForce 6800 GT GPU, which is only second to the fastest GPU available from NVIDIA at this time. It really isn't that much slower than a 6800 Ultra considering the only difference is that it is clocked at a lower speed.

Epox EP-9NPA+ Ultra Review

Subject: Motherboards | March 29, 2005 - 01:39 PM | Ryan Shrout
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HardOCP has reviewed the Epox 9NPA+ motherboard based on the nForce4 Ultra chipset.  I actually had a review of this board ready for print this morning, and it should go live tomorrow some time.

However, there was one strange thing I encountered with the 9NPA+ ULTRA — its lack of overclocking ability. In testing the board, I only was able to get it to a 250MHz FSB and at that speed, the board wasn't as stable as I would've liked.

Corsair Explains Memory Latencies

Subject: Memory | March 29, 2005 - 01:33 PM | Ryan Shrout
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Today Corsair has posted a PDF document on their website that explains the magic of memory latencies and how they affect performance.  You can find it llsted under the "RAM Guy's Topics" section on their homepage. 

It takes a sequence of instructions to read the RAM. First, the ACTIVE command must be issued to the row containing the desired data. Then, READ commands can be issued to read data from the active row.

Gigabyte K8VT890 Review at Tech Report

Subject: Motherboards | March 29, 2005 - 01:30 PM | Ryan Shrout
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The Tech Report has reviewed a Gigabyte VIA K8T890 motherboard with PCI Express support for under $90.

Despite the fact that GA-K8VT890-9 offers a fair bit of value at its bargain-basement price point, enthusiasts will no doubt be frustrated by the BIOS's lack of a PCI Express clock lock and temperature-driven fan speed control. Those features could perhaps be added in a BIOS update, as Gigabyte has done with more extensive memory timings, but they're not available yet.

Form & function in PC Cases & More

Subject: Cases and Cooling | March 29, 2005 - 11:57 AM | Jeremy Hellstrom
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Pimprig checks out Mutant Mods' stylish new acrylic case.  You know they mean business when the case comes complete with gloves to use when you are installing your pieces.  It is also a little smaller and thinner than most cases, so if you are looking at any of the larger CPU fans, then you may want to reconsider your cooling ...

Deep into the Night...

Subject: Editorial | March 29, 2005 - 01:57 AM | Ryan Shrout
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Still plugging away at two seperate test setups trying to get them far enough along that I don't feel like I failed the entire day to complete something.  If anyone has any skills writing some complex Windows scripting to help me with some more automated testing than I already have, please email me!  Anything you want can be yours!  :)  It looks tomorrow will be pretty busy as well as I have to send a couple parts BACK to where they came in time for overnight shipping, which means by 5:30pm here.  Everything needs to be done by then, so sleep will come at the bottom

A Week Cut Short

Subject: Editorial | March 28, 2005 - 11:33 PM | Ryan Shrout
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It's a Monday night and I've been sitting in my office pretty much non stop since 10:30am.  Anyone who said the life of an online reviewer was all glam and glory, is sadly mistaken.  But at least I have all the comforts of home here, so I can't complain too much. 

I've been trying to mix up the article content that I am writing, getting away from just motherboard reviews and trying to branch out into newer, more exciting and different PC items.  The DFI 855 Pentium M article was the first in that department

AMD Announces 7.75 Percent Senior Notes Exchange Offer

Subject: General Tech | March 28, 2005 - 08:38 AM | Joe White
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 SUNNYVALE, CA -- March 23, 2005 --Advanced Micro Devices, Inc. (NYSE: AMD) today announced it has commenced a registered exchange offer to exchange up to $600 million aggregate principal amount of its 7.75 percent Senior Notes due 2012, which have been registered under the Securities Act of 1933, as amended, for all outstanding 7.75 percent Senior Notes due 2012 which were issued and sold by AMD on October 29, 2004 in a private placement offering.

Two Executives To Leave Intel

Subject: General Tech | March 28, 2005 - 08:36 AM | Joe White
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 SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 23, 2005 - Intel Corporation today announced that two senior executives are leaving the company to pursue other interests. They are John H.F. Miner, vice president and president of Intel Capital, Intel's strategic investment arm; and Pamela L. Pollace, vice president and director, Corporate Communications Group.

Intel Declares Regular Cash Dividend

Subject: General Tech | March 28, 2005 - 08:35 AM | Joe White
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 SANTA CLARA, Calif., March 24, 2005 - The Intel Corporation board of directors has declared an $0.08 per share quarterly dividend on the company's common stock. The dividend is payable on June 1, 2005 to stockholders of record on May 7, 2005.

Epox EP-5NVA+ nF4 SLI Intel Edition

Subject: Motherboards | March 25, 2005 - 10:32 PM | Ryan Shrout
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Epox sent over a PR release on their upcoming nForce4 SLI Intel Edition motherboard.  You can see the image below, or see all the specs that I posted in our forums to avoid the long post here. 

3DLabs Wilcat Realizm 300 MultiGPU

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 25, 2005 - 10:13 PM | Ryan Shrout
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Anandtech is looking at the 3DLabs Wildcat Realizm 300 multi-GPU setup today.  They only test SPECviewperf, so you might not get a whole lot of this for an enthusiast user. 

We are very interested in comparing this solution to NVIDIA's SLI option. If NVIDIA is able to adapt their SLI profiles to workstation applications effectively, we could see some very impressive numbers. NVIDIA isn't choosing to focus on performance as the main selling point of Quadro SLI though.

Asus CT-479 Pentium M Upgrade Kit

Subject: Processors | March 25, 2005 - 10:09 PM | Ryan Shrout
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Legit Reviews has another look (with actual benchmarks this time) of the Asus CT-479 Pentium M upgrade kit. 

The idea to put Intel Pentium M — the chip originally designed for mobile computers — into desktops has been around for a quite while, and Legit Reviews sees the trend staying around in the future.  With Intel seeing companies selling Pentium-M adapters and desktop boards it may be only time till Intel jumps on board and designs a mobile desktop solution.  If corporate buyers pic

BFG Tech Announced 512 MB 6800 Ultra

Subject: Graphics Cards | March 25, 2005 - 10:07 PM | Ryan Shrout
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It looks like the first comany to announce a product on NVIDIA's 6800 Ultra reference platform is none other than home-grown BFG Tech. 

Lake Forest, IL — ( March 24, 2005 )— BFG Technologies®, Inc., a leading U.S.-based supplier of advanced 3D graphic cards and other PC enthusiast products, announced today that they will offer an overclocked 512MB PCI Express™ version of their award-winning BFG GeForce 6800 Ultra OC™ graphics card.

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