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

The most interesting products and technologies demonstrated at Computex 2005 – link.

Systems

An $800 Gaming PC can pack a lot of punch – link.

Build a PC with the best bang for the buck – link.

ArsTechnica updates its “Ultimate Budget Box” recommended configuration, with a total cost of around $360 (pre-tax & shipping and ex-OS) – link.

A paperback-sized PC running Open Source software bids fair to become one of the world’s cheapest computers at just $200 – link. India closes in on the $100 PC – link.

Test of Apple’s G5 vs. x86, Mac OS X vs. Linux, shows OS X on a G5 is a fine workstation platform but a terrible server one – link.

– Small Form Factor machines

AOpen will begin manufacturing a product codenamed “Pandora”, a spitting image of Apple’s highly-succesful Mac mini but based on Pentium M CPUs and running Windows – link 1, link 2.

The xShuttle ST20G5 barebone system disappoints – review. But this review is more favorable.

Shuttle’s XPC SN25P is yet more proof why Shuttle is the clear leader in the SFF market – link.

AOpen fixes XC Cube EX915 fan noise problem, thereby garnering an unqualified recommendation as a system for the study and the living room alike – link.

Biostar’s iDEQ 210P and 300G barebone systems feature minimal size maximal functionality – review.

– Notebooks

Dell’s Inspiron XPS Gen2 notebook would probably make many gamers salivate, is silent, and the 17” screen has a resolution of 1920x1200 – review 1, review 2. The Toshiba Qosmio G25-AV513 sports almost the same features except for the graphic card and the high resolution screen – review.

Sony Vaio VGN-FS115ZR and Compaq nx8220 office notebook comparison indicates that the office/desktop-replacement notebook separating line is becoming ever thinner – link.

Sony’s Vaio VGN-T2XP has pretty much everything you need integrated into its svelte chassis but still manages to keep weight down to a minimum, with outstanding battery life and an integrated DVD writer to boot – link.

Acer’s TravelMate 4401LMi Turion-based notebook falls short on battery life and screen resolution – review.

IBM Thinkpad T43P is a perfect corporate workhorse – review.

CPUs, motherboards, chipsets

CPU basics examined, up close and personal – link.

AnandTech’s June motherboard price guide – link.

64 bit Xeons pitted against 64-bit Opterons on Linux database servers, with advantage to latter – link.

Chipset wars, AMD’s growing market share and more … – link.

AMD sues Intel, the monopolist – link, analysis. Can anyone compete with Intel? AMD says, “No!” – analysis.

Attack of the marketeers: why the AMD FX-55 lives on, and Intel’s patented rancid purposefully confusing product numbering scheme – link.

– AMD

Interview with AMD executives re model numbers, DDR2 and more – link.

AMD’s Pacifica hardware virtualization hardware revealed in full – Part 1, Part 2, Part 3.

ECS’s nForce 4 Ultra-based KN1 Extreme motherboard has many good features at a low cost – review 1, review 2.

AMD’s cheapest (but not cheap) dual-core CPU, the 4200+, has quite a bit of overclocking headroom – link.

AMD’s new FX-57: Is the performance gain worth the extra cash? – review 1, review 2, review 3,review 4.

AMD’s X2 4200+ (two 3500+ cores) compared against the FX57, a Dual Opteron 252, the 3500+, and the FX55 – link.

AMD’s Turion chip pops up in more new notebooks, including the Acer Ferrari 4000 – link.

AMD A64 4000+ underclocking lowers performance, but lowers heat and power requirements too – link.

A closer look at the state of AMD x2 processor support among motherboards, hopefully making your search for a new motherboard for an Athlon 64 an easier process – link.

A Look at Solaris 10 and Sun’s AMD 8-way Dual Core Fire V40z server – review.

Powercolor’s AX480A-GF motherboard is one of the cheapest Socket 939 boards out there, offers the best integrated graphics performance by far on any platform, and has features and specs that match more expensive boards despite lacking SATA II support (but you do get SPDIF in and out) – review.

DFI’s Lan Party nF4 SLI-DR is one of the best motherboards for the AMD platform – review.

MSI’s K8N Neo3-F Socket 754 motherboard introduces PCI Express to entry level boards and also pops in an AGP 8X slot Advanced Graphics riser – review.

– Intel

Intel on the offensive: roadmap details and analysis – link. Intel’s dream could still trouble AMD’s worst nightmares – link.

Intel fleshes out, prices up dual core Yonah chips – link.

Intel’s single core desktop processor crib sheet shows you can not longer rely on chip speed as a measure – link. Intel 64-bit Celeron Ds ready for Sempron war – link.

AOpen’s i915GMm-HFS 2nd generation Pentium M desktop board has a potentially fatal flaw in an otherwise very nice board: a deficient heatsink with no way to replace it – review 1, review 2.

The ASUS CT-479 adapter Intel Pentium M 780 is currently the best solution for bringing Pentium M processors to desktop computers, but the Pentium M architecture still needs some tweaking (which the forthcoming dual-core Yonah will have) to be efficient in modern desktop systems – link.

– Other

Via’s C7-M definitely looks like a low power performance winner and, if priced as low as VIA usually does, has the potential to allow for radically lower cost laptops – link. Via’s Eden platform to power HP thin clients, available mid-June – link.

Things have never looked so good for the PowerPC architecture, Apple’s defection notwithstanding – link. Despite Apple rebuff, IBM works to build coalition to nurture Power processor adoption – link. Mourning the Power PC – link.

Transmeta licensees processor manufacturing to 3rd-party – link.

Will the Alpha chip stage a comeback? – link.

Graphics

AnandTech’s June video card price guide is out – link.

TUL’s graphics cards have it over competitors’ hands down – link.

Samsung shows off 2.0GHz GDDR3 memory – link.

ATI’s HyperMemory and nVidia’s TurboCache collide in a new battle in budget graphics – link.

Sitecom’s USB-to-VGA adapter lets you easily add a second monitor to any computer with a free USB 2.0 port – review.

nVidia’s GeForce 7800 GTX is unquestionably the best performing video card to date, and uses less power than its predecessor … albeit at an unprecedented price tag – review 1, review 2, review 3, review 4, review 5, review 6, review 7a and 7b.

Geforce 6600GT-based cards rule the mainstream market for now – link.

ATI’s next 3 months of Catalyst examined – link.

ATI’s All-in-Wonder Radeon 256MB X800 XT provides a great combination of video capture and processing power – review.

Memory, storage

Giga-byte’s IRam is a card that connects to a PCI slot (for power) + SATA connector (for data transfer) with four DDR DRAM slots that is designed to be used as a PC drive. If Windows is installed on the IRam it boots up in seconds – link.

A closer look at Kingston’s (by far the world’s largest independent memory manufacturer) Taiwan manufacturing facility – link.

DDR2 speeds get up to speed, but DDR1 advances on – link. DDR2 memory adoption remains sluggish – link. DDR2 and DDR price gap narrows, DDR2 to become cheaper shortly – link.

Samsung’s 1Gb 90nm DDR2 chips are in production – link. Elpida touts “first” 2 Gb DDR2 chip. It is based on 80nm process technology, which paves the way for DDR2 clocked at 800MHz and up. Volume production is some way off – link 1, link 2.

DDR3 will eventually support twice the data transfer rates of DDR2 and consume less power … but it will be a while yet – link.

Samsung makes 4 Gb NAND Flash memory using 70nm process technology. Company says users will see a 50-percent performance boost – link 1, link 2. Samsung hopes to ultimately produce a 100GB flash drive that could replace a hard drive – link. Will flash drives replace HDDs in future Apple laptops? – link.

Corsair Flash Voyager 1 GB and Transcend JetFlash 512 MB flash memory sticks compared – link.

– Hard disk drives

Perpendicular magnetic recording the key to HDD industry’s future, IDC says – link.

Seagate HDD technology automatically encrypt a laptop’s data as it was written to the disk. Drives will start shipping H1 2006 – link.

What’s in a name? SATA II misconceptions – link.

Hard drive cheapness, capacity begins to be a problem as backups become problematic – link.

3 SATA II HDDs compared. It is probably more cost effective to buy a first-generation SATA drive if performance matters – link. Another 3 SATA II HDD drive comparison, here, shows the higher data transfer rate helps in audio/video data throughput more than in office productivity applications, while the drives struggled with game level loading times and real world file system tasks.

A closer look at a low-cost solution for implementing a RAID 0, RAID 1 or RAID 10 system with up to 4 SATA HDDs – link.

Seagate announces 2.5” 160GB notebook HDD that uses perpendicular recording technology – link 1, link 2.

Seagate touts 8GB 1” HDD – link. Seagate’s portable 5GB pocket drive and 400GB external HDD are put through their paces, and both receive seals of approval – review.

Sony’s Micro Vault Pro 5GB USB drive is comparable to its Seagate competitor. Price and design factor may be the final guiding variable – review.

Western Digital’s Scorpio WD800VE and Fujitsu’s SATA MHT2080BH 80GB notebook drives tested for noise, features – link.

A hard disk in a PCI slot? Upgradeware’s HD25-I/IS is a somewhat overpriced niche product, potentially useful in special situations – review.

Plextor’s PX-PH04U USB HDD features low cost, great design, and quiet, but is missing some value-added features of competing products – review.

Maxtor’s OneTouch II 100GB external HDD is a good and reliable external solution – review.

Toshiba’s MK1032GAX 100GB 5,400 RPM notebook HDD brings faster speed to high capicity notebook drives – review.

A Japanese university has shown a prototype 1” 10GB HDD, with 1” drives with capacities as high as 30GB in the offing – link.

– Optical drives

Divx 6 video compression codec offers better picture quality in relation to data rate than competitors Microsoft WMV 9 and Apple Quicktime 7, and offers fast encoding. It will be awhile before it competes with conventional DVDs encoded using less efficient MPEG-2, and only the powerful-CPU equipped need apply – link.

ratDVD allows a whole DVD complete with menus and all bonuses to be compressed by at least a factor of three and is sure to win many around. The MPAA may have yet another reason not to sleep so well at night– review.

What is next for LightScribe, HP’s optical disc labeling technology? – link.

Blu-ray and HD-DVD technologies battle for your home theater – link.

Cases, power supplies, cooling

Silverstone’s TJ06 PC case aims to maximize thermal management without blasting out too much sound, while Lian-Li’s PC-6070 is designed to keep your system running quietly while still allowing enough cooling to run the hottest components – reviews.

CoolerMaster’s CM Stacker PC case is an interesting but slightly flawed product, suitable for those willing to spend $200 on a case (sans PSU) – review.

Akasa’s PaxPower 460W v2.0 PSU is very nearly silent, and it the heat it generates is not a problem – review.

Scythe’s SCNJ-1000 Ninja fanless-optional heatsink can be confidently recommended for the most demanding CPU cooling challenges at truly whisper quiet noise levels when mated with the correct 120mm fan – review.

Silentmaxx’s Silent Fan(s) are good fans and have something to offer but they still have room to improve – review.

10 mammoth CPU coolers compared … size does matter – roundup.

CoolerMaster’s Hyper 6+ heatsink + fan is a good value and performing cooling solution, except the fan is noisy and should be replaced – review.

Aerocool’s Turbine Power 450w PSU features smart cable management, a black mirror surface finish and UV active plastic sleeving, and double layer 120mm fan blades – review.

Miscellaneous components and periferals

Netgear’s RangeMax MIMO wireless router claims a 1000% improvement in coverage and speed over standard 802.11g products – review.

ASUS’s WL-500G Deluxe wireless router is worth every penny you pay for it – review.

Audigy 2ZS video editor packs the best of Creative Labs’ sound card and video editing technology in a standalone box – review.

The sUrface 1030 MBA Limited Edition “mousing surface” is the best mousing surface ever, with a price to match – review.

Compro’s Videomate Action Ultra which is a compact USB 2.0 external tuner TV box. Supporting S Video, Composite video and stereo audio input, it has an integrated FM radio and has no need for an external power adapter. Also included are a decent software package, a small remote control, and an external aerial – review.

IBM LCD monitor dead. LCD monitor madness revealed – link.

HP’s Laserjet 4345 MFP is an outstanding workgroup all-in-one monochrome laser printer + color flatbed scanner + monochrome copier and fax – review.

Epson’s updated portable PictureMate 500 photo printer adds a color flip-up LCD monitor, improved menu system, speedier prints and battery support, allowing you output stunning quality photographs without having to connect it to a computer. Recommended – review.

Epson’s F-3200 film scanner is geared towards “professionals and photo-enthusiasts” – review. Epson unveils color lasers for SOHO market – link.

Sony’s DSC-M1 dual-function digicam promises extended video functionality through the use of MPEG-4 compression in addition to a 5-megapixel still image mode. Good video, disappointing pictures – review.

Canon’s IXUS 50 digital camera introduces a new usage mode, My Colors, and seems good value for such a versatile, high quality compact camera which looks so good – review.

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), as such, have run their course and it is all downhill from here on – link.