W.I.L. Hardware Tech-News Highlights for May 2005

A look at the latest high-tech gadgets from Tokyo, some of which might soon be appearing on U.S. store shelves – link.

A report from the E3 gaming and technology show about the most interesting innovative solutions, which deliver ultimate gaming and graphics experience to you desktop platform, cell phone, or gaming console – link. More reports from E3 - Day 1, Day 2. E3 2005 post mortem – link.

Computex 2005 early bird coverage: nVidia’s G70, Athlon 64 BTX and more – link. Computex 2005 Day 1: ATI R520 Sighting, nVidia’s new chipset – link. Computex 2005 Day 2: ULi’s new Athlon 64 Chipset, G70, ATI CrossFire & more – link. Computex 2005 Day 3: Tidbits – link. Computex 2005:Looking Ahead – link. Computex 2005 in pictures – link. ExtremeTech’s top picks from Computex – link.

Systems

AnandTech’s mid-range to high-end system buyer’s guide is out. (Figure on spending around $1460 for a mid-range AMD-based PC, although $280 of that is a graphics card, $350 is a 19” LCD display, and $135 is for speakers) – link.

Apple upgrades iMac G5 – link.

Sun’s “entry-level” server, the Sun Fire V40z, is far more powerful that – review.

Puget Custom’s Pentium-M rig is ridiculously high priced and overengineered (watercooling a Pentium M!), but the machine is silent under most circumstances. And presumably, this indicates that Puget is capable of building quiet systems without taking the extreme approach used on this test machine – review.

What it takes to make a great home theater system – link.

How to move your television reception off coaxial cable networks and onto your LAN – link.

Grid computing a real-world solution? – link.

Microsoft unveiled its next generation console at E3 2005, beating Sony to the punch by a year. While the Xbox 360 certainly has the muscle for next generation games, one feels that Microsoft is missing the mark – link.

– Small Form Factor machines

AOpen’s even smaller Pentium M-Based desktop cube, the XC Cube Mini MZ855-II, is half the size of the company’s previous cube PC, and is very quiet, but is also very expensive (~$450 ex-CPU, RAM, and HDD!) – link.

Foxconn’s E-bot SFF system looks neat, but is lacking in the price, performance, and noise departments – review.

Biostar’s nForce 4 AMD 64 SFF system is a little winner – review.

Shuttle’s two latest SFF barebone models are fully loaded with the latest CPU, chipset and motherboard technologies for high-end users who want to put together either an AMD or Intel power computer – link.

– Notebooks

Acer’s AMD Turion laptop is no Intel Centrino killer performance-wise or battery use–wise, but is a great deal – review.

ASUS’s second-generation Centrino technology-based M5A notebook boasts cute appearance, good ergonomics, and adequate performance for office and business tasks – review.

ASUS’s W2P00VB notebook qualifies as a full-fledged desktop replacement – review.

Does building your own notebook really make sense? – link.

LinuxCertified LC2210D laptop reviewed – link. Linare Sub-$500 notebook reviewed (in a word: beware) – link. Acer starts selling Linux laptops – link.

Dell’s Inspiron XPS Gen 2 gaming notebook looks great, has blistering pace and is stacked full of features (at a price) – link.

Tulip Computers unveils luxurious AMD Turion 64 laptops, the most expensive of which will cost €283,000 (these pictures have to be seen to be believed!) – link.

CPUs, motherboards, chipsets

AnandTech CPU price guides for May – link.

IBM shoots itself in foot over dual core pricing – link.

Freescale, Soitec produce the industry’s first functional 45nm CMOS devices on bonded strained SOI substrates – link.

The Elitegroup PF88 Extreme can function as an Athlon 64 or Pentium 4 motherboard – review.

An update on AMD and Intel CPUs, and a few tips and hints that can help you get the right processor whether you are creating a new system or upgrading – link.

– AMD

AMD releases full specifications of virtualization technology, Pacifica, which is designed to efficiently run multiple OS’s and applications in independent partitions, essentially allowing one computer system to function as multiple “virtual” systems – link.

AMD formally launches dual-core Athlon 64 X2. The X2 4200+, 4400+, 4600+ and 4800+ are priced at $537, $581, $803 and $1001, respectively, in batches of 1000 – link.

Athlon 64 X2 4800+ & 4200+ dual core performance preview clearly shows AMD has the faster overall dual core desktop solution, and a great chip by any measure, but at a price that will be out of reach for most users – reviews 1, 2, 3, 4, 5. More review links here.

AMD Athlon 64 X2 4400+ dual core CPU uses the same 939-pin configuration as the Athlon 64 and Athlon 64 FX line, and actually uses less power than the single core FX-55 processor (and 60% less power than the Intel 840 XE processor) … and is overall an outstanding product. Too bad about the price. – review.

AMD prepares to switch to Socket S1, Socket M2, Socket F, as it readies new form-factors for 2006 processors – link 1, link 2.

Supermicro embraces Opteron, leaving Dell as only major Intel-only shop – link.

Apparently some Socket 939 Semprons can be had – link. Unannounced AMD Turion 64 chips make it to market – link.

ASUS’s A8V-E Deluxe Socket 939 motherboard’s built-in WiFi is nice, but does not make up for its other deficiencies – review.

Soltek’s SL-K890Pro-939 VIA chipset-based motherboard does not run up to par with many of the nForce 4–based boards out there, while selling at a comparable price – review.

Chaintech’s VNF4 Zenith VE nForce4-based Socket 939 motherboard is a low cost, no frills product that has a clean design and simple layout, but nothing earth shattering. And it lists for only $84 – review.

10 Socket 939, PCI Express motherboards tested, with Abit’s Fatal1ty AN8 and MSI’s K8N Neo4 Platinum Edition getting the nod – roundup.

ULi’s Socket-939 PCIe reference board shows ULi’s chipsets could offer performance close to that of nVidia, while also offering stability at a lower price point – link.

– Intel

The Pentium 4’s NetBurst architecture and its peculiarities dissected at great length – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

Intel mighty quiet in run up to Otellini coronation. A massive cull of what he considers dead wood would not be at all surprising – link.

Future Intel desktop, server, and mobile chips will share the same power-friendly design strategy – link.

Intel gets set to bring the “platform” (a la Centrino) concept to desktops – link 1, link 2.

Asus Socket 478 to 479, Pentium 4 to Pentium M, adaptor finally available – link.

Intel’s first dual-core desktop processors are ready to ship, and tests show they deliver some real benefit when you are performing multiple tasks simultaneously – link. Intel introduces dual-core for the masses – link. Intel Pentium Extreme Edition 840 dual-core CPU – review.

Intel will release a single-core and dual-core versions of 65nm Yonah notebook processor – link. Intel says 65nm output to surpass 90nm production by Q3 2006 – link.

Intel feels healthy and dual-core happy – link.

Intel end-of-life’s mobile Pentium 4 chips – link. Intel to halt production of Pentium Ms with 400MHz PSB – link.

AOpen’s Micro-ATX i915GMm-HFS Sonoma motherboard is able to support 533FSB Pentium M Dothan processors and has many onboard features that will entice consumers to buy this board for HTPC usage – preview.

– Other

Via introduces tiny, low power C7 CPU built on 90nm SOI process, slated for June introduction. Via claims 2GHz version will run at 20W peak power draw – link 1, link 2, link 3.

Via narrows performance gap with AMD, Intel with C7 – link.

Graphics

Sapphire’s Blizzard series of graphic cards uses an innovative cooling solution based on “liquid-metal” technology, allegedly far more efficient than water cooling (Sapphire is known for innovative coolers used on its graphics cards) – link 1, link 2.

AGEIA PhysX processor endorsed by game developers, receives broad support – link. AGEIA sets pricing below $300 on PhysX add-in cards – link.

Albatron releases PCI Express bridge for AGP 8x graphics cards – link.

Graphics cards makers offer 129 types of products, claims research firm – link.

XGI hopes to compete with the low-end graphics cards from ATI and Nvidia with its V3XT. Unfortunately, it performs apallingly – link.

Budget Battle: HyperMemory vs. TurboCache – link. Budget graphics strike back: Revenge of the RAM – link.

Integrated graphics shootout of ATI’s Radeon Xpress 200 vs. Intel’s GMA 950 shows advantage to the former. Only for those who truly do not need or care about 3D are integrated graphics fine – link.

Intel’s GMA950 integrated graphics core checked out: You will need to invest at least $60 in an add-on card to play 3D games, but GMCH will probably run Longhorn’s upper tier Aero Glass interface pretty well – link.

– ATI

CrossFire, ATI’s multi-GPU solution reponse to nVidia’s SLI, shows promising performance-enhancing potential. But initial tests are not enough to draw any firm conclusions, especially in comparison to SLI – link 1, link 2.

ATI’s 512MB Radeon X800 XL card gets extensively reviewed, mostly finding that the extra memory is a technology for the future … as opposed to the present – X-bit labs, The Register, ExtremeTech, AnandTech.

ATI’s new Radeon XPress 200M chipset adds DirectX 9.0 graphics to Intel-based notebooks – link.

ATI’s All-In-Wonder X800 XT provides killer gaming power for multimedia freaks – review.

ATI’s All-In-Wonder X600 Pro does not generate much excitement. Wait for better value and better-balanced cards that are in the offing – review.

ATI’s TV Wonder Elite, a $149 PCI analog TV-tuner card that you install alongside your existing AGP or PCI Express graphics board, is worth a miss – link.

Gigabyte’s GV-RX80L256V graphics card silences the Radeon X800 XL for a modest price premium, and includes some decent ancillary benefits to boot – review.

PowerColor’s Bravo X700 PCIe is a great card, with cool operational temperatures, extremely vibrant colors, quiet operational noise, dual DVI, and the list goes on … – review.

GeCube’s SilenCool Radeon X700Pro is probably the best solution to noise-free gaming – review.

ATI demos next-gen Radeon “R520” – link. ATI says R520 will feature hardware acceleration of the H.264 Advanced Video Codec, which is to be used with forthcoming HD DVDs and Blu-ray discs – link.

ATI’s Catalyst 5.6 driver update gives a big boost to PC games – link.

– nVidia

nVidia confirms sampling of chipsets with integrated graphics – link 1, link 2. nVidia to release integrated chipset for Intel CPUs later this year – link.

Leadtek’s WinFast A6600 GT TDH is a good choice if you are looking for an affordable modern AGP graphics card – review.

ASUS’s GeForce 6600 GT-based N6600 GT/TD card sports cute looks, highest quality of manufacture, and crystal-sharp 2D image, but the presale sample lacks accessories and runs hot. In all a good mid-range card – review.

nVidia starts working on SLI 2 – link.

Unlocking the 12-pipeline GeForce 6800 into an even more powerful 16-pipeline card without spending a dime – link.

Memory, storage

Memory market overview as of May – link.

AnandTech’s latest storage price guide shows SATA coming into preeminence, with SATA II now available – link.

If you value your data, forget about RAID 0 as a “backup” system – link.

Maxtor Diamondmax 10/300 and Hitachi 7K250 HDDs examined with an eye towards noise and heat, and are reasonable choices for low-noise systems if the drives are suspended (vibrationally isolated) – reviews.

Scythe’s Silent Box SBX-1000 HDD enclosure may provide that final bit of noise reduction in a system where even a quiet drive is still a major source of noise, or help quiet a large capacity drive – review.

Archos’s Arcdisk 4 GB micro-HDD combines fun, functionality, size and price per gigabyte in a well-balanced package – review.

Hitachi ships “world fastest” 100GB notebook HDD – link. Seagate to ship 120GB notebook drive – link.

Hitachi’s 400GB Deskstar 7K400 HDD boasts excellent performance and features like hot-swapping Serial ATA, active vibration compensation, and commands for processing streaming data. Hopefully smaller HDDs with the same electronics will be soon forthcoming – review.

Hitachi announces shipping of Ultrastar 15K147 HDDs with Serial Attached SCSI (SAS) and 4Gb/s Fibre Channel (4GFC) interfaces, marking the initial commercial availability of SAS drives (designed for use in storage area networking, file sharing, workgroup and scientific/engineering environments) – link.

Samsung ready to release 16GB solid state hard drives – link.

Samsung will begin offering a flash memory-based storage device for laptops – link.

Seagate 400GB Pushbutton Backup external HDD provides a simple method to back up your entire hard disk, and should be of ample size for most people – review.

Toshiba develops 45GB HD DVD – link 1, link 2. Blu-Ray/HD-DVD farce is storm in a tea cup – link. DVD Blu-ray war is a battle of surpassing egotism – link.

Western Digital ships Serial ATA II HDDs with 16MB cache – link.

Western Digital’s Raptor 74 and Caviar SE 250 use Fluid Dynamic Bearing (FDB) motors, with huge noise reductions vs. ball bearing motor drives – review.

Networked storage options for the home explored – link.

TDK has developed a prototype Blu-ray Disc that can store twice as much data, and record it at twice the speed, as existing Blu-ray Discs – link.

Toshiba has developed a slim-line optical disc drive with support for HP’s Lightscribe label-etching technology – link.

Cases, power supplies, cooling

Antec’s highly-anticipated P180 case has many unusual features, which are of interest to silencers as well as high performance seekers, and is the culmination of a year-long collaboration between Antec and the founder and editor of Silent PC Review. MSRP will be $160 – visual tour.

Build your own custom PC case – link.

Power supplies get smarter: 4 PSUs with alleged value-added features examined – link.

FSP Group PSUs are not flashy, but do have very good characteristics and ensure stable operation of your computer – roundup.

Thermaltake’s W0029 fanless Purepower 350 ATX PSU is interesting, and silent during low power use, but is a questionable choice except for very low power use systems – link.

Antec’s Phantom 500 “Hybrid” PSU is a good choice for silencing newbies with deep pockets. It will function well as a fanless PSU in most circumstances so long as airflow through the case is well managed – link.

Seasonic’s S12-500 and S12-600 PSUs are tops for efficiency, low noise, stable high power delivery, and for the minimalist approach that strikes a chord of quality for many users (if you do not need all the power, the lower power S12-430 is slightly quieter) – link.

Zalman’s VF700-Cu graphics card cooler is very quiet, has amazing performance, and is cheap compared to other high-performance options – review.

A test of three heatsinks showed Gigabyte’s G-Power as far and away the best – link.

Gigabyte’s Neon Cooler 8 is specially designed for AMD Athlon FX55/64 CPU up to 4000+. The large 94mm fan creates a high airflow that cool your CPU and the uniquely designed fan frame helps to cool the surrounding components at the same time – review.

Miscellaneous components and periferals

Today’s notebook connector PC Card (PCMCIA) format is giving way to a smaller, faster, and more desktop-friendly format called ExpressCard, and they will connect to desktops easily as well. PCMCIA officials project that next year, 70% of new notebooks will ship with ExpressCard slots, and no CardBus slots – link.

Creative’s new X-Fi audio processor is poised to bring huge tracts of audio processing horsepower to the PC. Will the new architecture rekindle the PC audio market, or does X-Fi mark the coda for discrete PC audio? – link 1, link 2.

Creative Sound Blaster Audigy4 Pro sound card is not worth the upgrade from Audigy2, or from integrated chipset sound solutions for that matter – review.

ADS Tech’s Instant Music lets you easily transfer any analog audio to a computer and convert it to the digital format of your choice. Too bad that the input is not amplified to allow a turntable to be plugged in directly, and that conversion is limited to 16 bits – review.

Epson’s Perfection 4990 Scanner can be recommended as a good buy, but it is not that much of an improvement over the previous Perfection line model – review.

LG’s 1980U 19” LCD panel screams “sleek and thin”, but price and mediocre display performance fail it in its attempt to best Dell’s 19” offering – review.

Samsung prototype promises super-skinny TVs – link 1, link 2.

Small enough to tote, portable printers complete your on-the-road office or traveling photo lab – link.

A bumper crop of digital cameras brings speed, slimness and quality (and lower prices) – link.

The Canon EOS 350D is incredibly impressive for an entry-level digital SLR camera – review.

Kodak’s new photo packages bypass the PC, include point-and-shoot cameras, software, and printers – link.

Sony shrinks high-definition camcorder’s size, price – link.

Phobile retro mobile phone headset is kind of pointless, but you gotta love it – review.

PalmOne’s Treo 650 is the best smart phone yet – review.

PalmOne LifeDrive “mobile manager” unveiled – link.

As the latest models prove, today’s cell phone is part TV and radio. Tomorrow’s is part electronic wallet and homing device – link.

Garmin’s iQue M5 GPS PocketPC may be the best GPS/PDA combo currently available – review.

Nokia announces Q3 availability of the Linux-powered, GNOME-based Nokia 770 Internet Tablet, a 230-gram device with an 800x480 color touchscreen display. Also announced is the creation of maemo, a development environment for the 770 (and its successors) – link.