HOT HEADLINES
The Inquirer is reporting that AMD's Socket 939 replacement which has been referred to as "Socket M2" for nearly a year is now being renamed to "Socket AM2". Armed with 940 pins (no, it is NOT compatible with current 940-pin CPU's and motherboards) this new socket will help usher in AMD's new crop of next-generation CPU...
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The X-Mystique 7.1 Gold brings Dolby Digital Live technology to an add-in sound card. DDL can take DirectSound3D and EAX sound streams and translate them into Dolby Digital 5.1 streams. This can also take place with CDs, MP3s and WMV-HD movies. If you're a HTPC buff, this card can bring some features to the forefront...
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Tweaknews has a look at Thermaltake's Swing VB6000SNS ATX Computer Case. This case aims to have an elegant appearance without sacrificing performance. Personally, I think the case is pretty sharp, with good looks, a decent feature set and it's priced to sell. If you're...
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Cluboverclocker has a review of the Cooler Master AMMO 533 ATX PC Enclosure. This is a full gaming case with carry handle and a real industrial look. It kind of reminds me of a Pevey guitar amp. Nonetheless, these guys were impressed with the Ammo 533 ATX case, so take a look...
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Today Nvidia purchased chipset vendor, ULI. That wasn't the only purchase going on though, as GUS has purchased PriceGrabber.com. The popular online shopping site came with a $485 million dollar price tag, with profits expecting to grow by about %50 this year."GUS is now becoming almost an Internet stock rather than a retailer,'' said Stuart...
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5.1 Channel HDA audio, onboard video, Gigabit LAN, PCI Express, and ASUS Quality? You're looking at one decent motherboard, and one that won't break the bank. PCstats takes a look at Asus's A8N-VM CSM GeForce 6150, which is a quality board for the $106 price tag. "The Asus A8N-VM CSM motherboard...
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Software that's able to take advantage of multiple CPU cores has been around for some time now, but the gaming industry is just getting into it. With the release of AMD's and Intel's dual core CPUs, and next gen consoles featuring multiple cores, there's been an added push for more software...
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ECS & HotHardware Holiday Giveaway! Hello everyone! We'd like to remind everyone about the contest we've got running, that's open to all current and new HotHardware forum members. In conjunction with ECS and Intel, we'll be giving away three Pentium D 830 Dual-Core Processor / ECS 945P-A Motherboard combos, to three lucky people. ...
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Seemingly out of nowhere, NVIDIA has announced that they have signed a definitive agreement to acquire the chipset vendor ULI. This has to be some extremely upsetting news to ATI as they have worked closely with ULI in the past (primarily for southbridge chipsets). Without question, the addition of ULI's technology and experience will no doubt...
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ASUSExtreme AX1800XT TOP/2DHTV Click Images For An Enlarged View... ASUS Computer International, a leading provider of graphics solutions, today introduced the EAX1800XT graphics card, which incorporated the powerful ATI Radeon X1800XT VPU (video processing unit) to provide robust video performance for the enthusiast and...
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Well, as Designtechnica reports, Blue-ray seems to be gaining more acceptance and support. With backers like Sony and various movie studios, this format certainly isn't going away. The other contender in the HD department is HD DVD, which is backed by Microsoft."At Twentieth Century Fox...
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Microsoft is still trying to catch up to the feature reach FireFox browser, and today PCstats gives a bit of an IE7 preview. Given Microsoft still maintains browser dominance, there's a lot they need to do to keep it that way. "PCSTATS looks...
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Our friends at PC Perspective have just posted a preview of the latest enhancements Valve is about to release for its Source Engine. Above all, the enhancements are iamge quality "effects" which can custom tailor the gaming environment to the storyline for a much more immersive experience. Ryan's article clearly outlines these new...
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We just received word from Dell that they have just significantly increased security in their mobile products through BIOS-level hooks for Absolute Software's Computrace PC Tracking and Loss Control Service. Beyond the standard-level protection, these new BIOS-level hooks make defeating the program significantly more difficult. Fortunately...
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Dave at Beyond3D has just posted an interesting bit of news regarding whether ATI's All-in-Wonder graphics cards could ever be used in a Crossfire configuration. In the past, ATI has hinted that this sort of combination would certainly be possible. However, Dave does a good job of outlining the pros and cons as to whether this configuration...
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Anandtech has taken a look at the latest and greatest new chipset from ULI for the AMD platform. With nearly all the features of the nForce4 chipset (its main competition) and solid performance to back up those features, the more economical ULI chipset could prove to actually be a great alternative to NVIDIA's chipset. That is, unless you...
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The gang at HardOCP have taken a look at the ASUS Extreme N6600GT Silencer graphics card. Based on the GeForce 6600GT core and equipped with a totally passive heatsink assembly, this card certainly seems to lend itself well towards a HTPC or quiet gaming box. For comparison sake, you can see how the card faired on the Hot Hardware test bench...
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Fudo reports that a mobile variant of his namesake R520 "Fudo" core should be showing up in the retail channel in the very near future. Armed with sixteen pipelines and some power saving features that were implemented from the core's initial design, ATI could very well have a homerun with their latest mobile core.This chip features...
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Another driver release, another performance review. ATI has recently released their last driver set of the year, Catalyst 5.12. Today, TweakTown benchmarks the new Catalyst driver against last months version, and reports on some interesting results."As we near the end of the year, we see the...
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VoIP has quickly become a way to talk to anyone, almost anywhere, while bypassing the standard phone system. It can be cheap, but there are also cons, such as needing highspeed internet. BFR takes a look at the budding service, and explores the pros and cons of VoIP. ...
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Need an all-in-one panel in the front of your PC? Techniz reviews Akasa's AllInOne Multi-Function Panel, which includes a plethora of ports and memory card readers. If that doesn't do it for you, it also has an LCD that can display temperatures and fan speeds. "The multi-functional panel...
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Thermaltake has a new case out, "Swing". It's pretty fashionable for a $60 case, which is good if you're on a budget. The curved face plate might be a turnoff to some though. "Yet another case has been released by Thermaltake, and it goes by the name of Swing. Moving away from the...
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