Gameguru Mania Updated:05:06 PM CEST Jun,18
AR Wallet

66 lottery login

91 club

okwin

bdg game

55 club

Playbonus.ca
CONTACT
Please e-mail us if you have news.

(c) 1998-2026 Gameguru Mania
Privacy Policy statement
SEARCH:
 Gameguru Mania News - Jan,12 2007 - tech 
TechNews - Cheaper GeForce 8800 Cards In Feb - tech
(hx) 12:09 AM CET - Jan,12 2007 - Post a comment / read (2)
  • Cheaper GeForce 8800 Cards In Mid Feb - The new cards will based on the same 8800GTS GPU (96 unified, 24 texture processors and 20 ROPs). It has the same core and memory clock speeds but half the memory size of the current 8800GTS cards. The performance is close to the current 8800GTS 640M but it is US$100 cheaper. Does a price tag of US$299 sounds good to you? :-D
  • 'Bearlake' chipsets to lack Netburst support? - According to a purported Intel document seen by HKEPC, future "Bearlake" chipsets will lack support for Netburst-based chips including the Pentium D, Pentium 4, and Celeron D 300 series. The chipsets will only support Core-based Core 2, Pentium E2000, and Celeron 400 processors....Who cares, it is basically Intel saying "Netburst is dead"
  • Foxconn FV-N88SMBD2-ONOC (GeForce 8800 GTS) video card - Performance wise, the FV-N88SMBD2-ONOC not surprisingly outperformed the BFGTech GeForce 8800 GTS, thanks to its higher out of the box clock frequencies. However, there were occasions at 1920x1200 where the image quality benefits were small or non-existent. Having said that though, the performance differences between this and BFGTech's cards are likely to increase as and when newer games are released.
  • Gigabyte GV-RX195P256D-RH ATi Radeon X1950Pro - Judging from the results, ATi R1950Pro made quite a come back in the mainstream market, offering plenty of bang for your buck; plus, the RV570 VPU totally eliminated the resolution limitation and the need for Master/slave cards under CrossFire mode. If you are living in a warm place, you surely will appreciate the use of 80nm process, which notably reduces the heat output.
  • NVIDIA G80: Image Quality Analysis - With largely orthogonal filtering and ROP hardware that doesn't care what its sampling from or filtering, in order to commit final pixels, we can't take issue with what it's capable of in that respect. On top of that, the driver doesn't seem to be playing tricks when it comes to setting up the hardware to do requested work, such that filtering issues prevalent in prior NVIDIA hardware appear to have disappeared.
  • Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 sound card - If you're planning on using the X-Meridian for gaming, then the news isn't good according to RightMark 3D Sound, which shows a much higher CPU utilisation than all of the other boards used in our comparison.
  • The First BitTorrent Optimized Microprocessor - The BitTorrent-optimized STR9810/20 microprocessors will be available in Q1, 2007. Two versions of the chip are available with various hardware-based acceleration levels. Both chips feature an ARM922-based core, network interface and dual USB 2.0 high-speed ports, allowing fast integration with existing embedded consumer products such as wireless routers, NAS, smart HDD enclosures, DVD players, set-top boxes and DLNA digital media appliances. The chips will be available to systems designers starting at $8.75 in quantities of 1,000.
  • Dell Launches Overclocked XPS 710 H2C Gaming PC, Displays
  • OQO boasts smaller, Vista-capable UMPC - Despite its small size, OQO's so-called "model 02" has enough horsepower to run Windows Vista. The device packs an ultra-low-voltage VIA C7-M processor running at up to 1.5GHz, a VIA VX700 chipset with integrated graphics, up to 1GB of DDR2 RAM, and a 1.8" hard drive with up to 60GB of storage. The model 02 also has 802.11g Wi-Fi, Bluetooth 2.0, USB, a built-in microphone, and both VGA and HDMI outputs. Display-wise, the model 02 has a lilliputian 5" LCD with a resolution of 800x480.
  • Catalyst 7.1 Comparison - Faster then Catalyst 6.12? See you in the following Catalyst Roundup up to Catalyst 6.6.
  • Google Earth 4 - The Google Earth page has some pretty nice pictures for those of you that want to see the new look without having to download the whole program.
  • MPAA Caught Uploading Fake Torrents - The admin of btjunkie.com has released patterns & IPs that incriminate certain groups based out of Las Vegas
  • Experience 1080p HD content now - Truly Kick Ass Quality Awaits! - You'll need a system running Windows XP or higher, a 3.0GHz processor or equivalent (all Intel Core 2 Duo processors regardless of clock speed will work perfectly fine), 1GB of RAM but 2GB is going to be better, at least a 128MB graphics card and display which is capable of a resolution of 1920 x 1200 or higher - a big and expensive widescreen LCD monitor is recommend, Dell's 24" UltraSharp 2407WFP does the trick quite nicely.
  • Hi-Def Video Formats: Post CES 2007 Snapshot - Yet another CES passes and we're left with more questions and uncertainty. Will BR's content advantage and the PS3 put an end to this war? Will HD DVD be able to persuade any of the Blu-ray exclusive studios to go neutral? Will combo players and discs rule the future? What effect will the anime and adult entertainment industry have on this war? The BR camp is already claiming victory and the HD DVD forces seem quiet, yet confident, in their resolve. A carbon copy of last year, in respect to mentalities. An quick recap of the major announcements for both high definition formats can be found on HWUpgrade
  • No Porn On Sony HD-DVD Blu-ray?- Has Sony gone mad? Prominent adult movie producer Digital Playground (site) says it is forced to use HD DVD instead of Blu-ray, because Sony does not allow XXX-rated movies to be released on Blu-ray.
  • LG's hybrid player has flawed HD DVD support - LG reportedly omitted to support the HD DVD format's HDi specification, which is used to implement interactive content in HD DVD movies. Without support for the technology, the LG player can play HD DVD video content, but users are unable to use menus or access interactive features. I'm sorry $1200 for an HD DVD player? Heh....WTF...
  • View Phil Schiller's Close-up Demo of Apple's iPhone - Apple, Inc's Phil Schiller shows John Blackstone of CBS the many features of the iPhone.
  • Nokia N93i officially announced - This phone focuses mainly on high quality video capturing capabilities. It captures video qualities that are equivalent to DVD quality. The MPEG-4 VGA adapter captures at rates of 30f.p.m. along with stereo audio. An amazing 3.2 megapixel camera captures pictures of resolutions up to 2048 x 1536 pixels and has a 3x optical zoom.
  • Cisco On Apple Phone Lawsuit - If you want to hear first hand from Cisco why the company filed the lawsuit against Apple you need to read this.
  • Wal-Mart Places Ads On Torrent Sites? - Variety is reporting that ads for Wal-Mart DVDs are being displayed on Pirate Bay, meaning Wal-Mart is indirectly giving money to sites that promote piracy.
  • Windows Vista and AMD to Send a Person to Space -Microsoft confirmed online speculation there are nearly a half million dollars in prizes, and that the eventual winner will secure a ride into sub-orbital space, courtesy of Rocketplane Limited Inc.
  • Do you agree with President Bush's plan to add 21,500 troops now?  - Live vote on MSNBC YES or NO?
  • Abrams and Shatner on Star Trek XI - Both J.J. Abrams and William Shatner have been talking about Star Trek XI, targeted for a 2008 release. Abrams ("Lost," Mission: Impossible III) confirmed to Entertainment Weekly that the script is done, and it will be trimmed sometime soon. Abrams said it's a story that even non-Trekkers can enjoy. "On the one hand, for people who love Star Trek, the fix that they will get will be really satisfying," he said. "For people who've never seen it or know it vaguely, I think they will enjoy it equally, because the movie does not require you to know anything about Star Trek. I would actually prefer [that] people don't know the series, because I feel like they will come to it with an open mind."
 Gameguru Mania News - Jan,11 2007 - tech
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 ForceWare Drivers 97.92 - tech
(hx) 11:45 PM CET - Jan,11 2007 - Post a comment
NVIDIA has released the second public ForceWare drivers for their GeForce 8800 GTS and GTX series of graphics chips. The 43.2MB drivers (which apparently are separate from the normal ForceWare drivers) can be downloaded at the NVIDIA web site. The 97.92 version also has some fixes (PDF) for various games including Splinter Cell Double Agent, Halo and Oblivion.
 Gameguru Mania News - Jan,10 2007 - tech
ATi Catalyst 7.1 Drivers - tech
(hx) 10:54 PM CET - Jan,10 2007 - Post a comment
AMD.ATI has released a new ATI Catalyst drivers bringing them up to version 7.1. The package contains Radeon display driver 8.33, Multimedia Center 9.16, HydraVision, HydraVision Basic Edition, Remote Wonder 3.04, WDM Driver Install Bundle, Southbridge/IXP Driver and Catalyst Control Center Version 7.1. The Windows XP full download (CCC, drivers, WDM) weighs in at just under 35MB, the package with just the display drivers alone is 12MB. There are versions for Windows XP x64 and Linux out today as well. Of course, no graphics card driver update would be complete without some bug fixes. ATI has delivered a round of those for Desperados 2, Rome: Total War, Sniper Elite, Splinter Cell Double Agent, and X-29. Other bugs in the Catalyst Control Center and other applications have also been fixed.  The new drivers also offer Crossfire performance enhancements with an Alternate Frame Rendering (AFR) Crossfire rendering mode.
TechNews - Apple Announces iPhone and Apple TV - tech
(hx) 02:08 AM CET - Jan,10 2007 - Post a comment
Philips Demonstrates 3D Displays
  • Intel Demos V8 - Intel is giving private demos of an eight core system called the 'V8' at CES
  • Sapphire Unveils X1950 Pro Dual GPU Video Card -  Hexus has the goods on a dual-GPU Radeon X1950 Pro being shown off in Sapphire's suite, and the card's a monster. Rather than mashing a couple of X1950 Pro reference designs together, Sapphire engineered its dual-chip card from the ground up, and they've equipped it with a gig of memory for good measure. Sapphire's apparently serious about bringing the behemoth to market in February, too, although it may not be cheap. Hexus reports that the card will cost around L250, which is roughly the same price as a GeForce 8800 GTS.
  • ASUS Unveils External Graphics Card - The XG Station is an external graphics card that allows laptop users to enjoy high end graphics performance while plugged in.
  • TV Wonder lets Vista PCs tune digital cable - The TV Wonder unit itself is not a traditional PC expansion card. Instead of being a PCI or PCIe card, the TV Wonder is largely its own device. The external version has its own case and power supply, and connects to the PC via only a USB 2.0 cable. The internal version fits into a PCI or PCIe slot, but only for retention purposes; it draws power from a floppy-drive-style power lead and connects to the PC via USB, like the external version.
  • Antec releases 'most powerful' case - The existing P180 is a bare case targeted largely at silent PC enthusiasts, but the new P190 includes dual power supplies and is touted by Antec as being the company's "most powerful [case] yet." Indeed, the P190's two power supplies have 650W and 550W ratings for a combined power output of 1.2kW. The case's cooling is handled by five fans, including two top-mounted 140mm models, one rear-mounted 120mm model, and a side-mounted 200mm behemoth Antec aptly calls the Big Boy.
  • Dell Launches New XPS 710 H2C Gaming System - This new system comes with a new custom oooling system that will allow Dell to overclock the Intel Core Extreme QX6700 quad-core processor to 3.2 GHz.  The XPS 710 H2C Edition starts at $5,499 and is available worldwide.
  • Misc CES 2007 coverage - Everything from electronics to booth babes is covered, here is a preliminary list of sites with coverage: OCIA, Overclockers Club, ThinkComputers, Tweaknews + Booth Babe Gallery @ ThinkComputers.org :P
  • Gates Unveils Vision For Connected World - Gates is not only taking about a connected home but a expanding that 'connectedness' outside the home as well.
  • Data Backup Guide - Online and Hardware Solutions Examined - There are plenty of online backup sites which will store your data for you on their servers - some free and some are paid services. There are also more expensive hardware backup solutions, such as the Freedom9 freeStor 4020, which we will be taking a closer look in this guide. These types of devices are designed more for SOHO and business users but if your data is important to you, it is money well spent no matter who you are.
  • NSA Helped MS With Vista Security? - That is cool and scary all at the same time!
  • My Next Live Messenger Will Be from Yahoo - If Yahoo can develop a Windows Vista version of its instant messaging application, why can't Microsoft?...
  • Pirate Bay founder: The MPAA are 'rabid, obsessed lunatics' - check it out
  • Visa to launch global cellphone payment system - Visa is launching a global payment system that would let people pay for goods through their cellphones.
  • HD DVD Gets Downloads - The HD-DVD press conference was full of announcements like video 'clip sharing', a download center, standard combo discs and the feasibility of a 51GB triple layered disc.
  • Apple Launches iPhone
    Apple Announces iPhone and Apple TV - Apple head man Steve Jobs has officially revealed the iPhone, a thin mobile phone with a screen, 2 megapixel camera and support for audios and videos via iTunes. Jobs also revealed more info on Apple TV (previously known as iTV) that can store up to 50 hours of video and then stream it to a PC or Mac. As news filters down to CES of the iPhone, Nokia's head of Nseries Computers gives his views, saying that it's good competition, confirms what Nokia's been preaching etc etc. And then slyly points out that the iPhone is 2G, not 3G.
  • Nokia Unveils New Mobile Devices - All three phones have QVGA displays and a number of advanced features. They are all due out this quarter. Nokia also announced the second generation of its internet tablet, the N800, which will be available immediately.
  • Zune To Have Games By 2008 - Peter Moore confirmed the plan yesterday, saying the Zune's large screen will offer a better way to play handheld games. He didn't specify what games would be offered.
  • id To Make Nintendo DS Games? Wired's Game|Life blog is reporting that id Software is thinking about creating Nintendo DS titles, starting with a port of Orcs and Elves, their mobile phone title designed by id John Carmack. There is no word on when this DS port will be released.
  • Mysterious Number 6174 - The number 6174 is a really mysterious number!
  • Don Frye VS Takayama Amazing Pride Fight - Check it out! /thanks iceb/
  • Japanese Potty Training - WTF :-) /thanks hoe/
  • Need a Good Painter? (This Guy Should Qualify) - Simply amazing, isn't it?
  • Scooby-Doo Creator Dies - Iwao Takamoto, the animator who designed the cartoon canine Scooby-Doo as well as characters on such shows as The Flintstones and The Jetsons, died Jan. 8 after suffering a massive coronary, a spokesman told the Reuters news service. He was 81.
  • The Invincible Iron Man Clip - ComingSoon.net's Superhero Hype! has a first look at a new clip from the The Invincible Iron Man, hitting DVD on January 23. The DVD includes an alternate opening sequence, "The Origin of Iron Man" featurette, "The Hall of Iron Man Armor" featurette, a look at the upcoming Marvel Animated Feature, Dr. Strange and more.
Microsoft Security Bulletin Summary for January 2007 - tech
(hx) 02:06 AM CET - Jan,10 2007 - Post a comment
Microsoft has released four security bulletins as part of its monthly patch cycle. Three of the bulletins are deemed "critical," the company's most serious rating; the fourth is tagged "important," a notch lower. All bulletins, however, address flaws that could allow an attacker to commandeer a PC.
CRITICAL:
- Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Excel Could Allow Remote Code Execution (927198)
- Vulnerabilities in Microsoft Outlook Could Allow Remote Code Execution (925938)
- Vulnerability in Vector Markup Language Could Allow Remote Code Execution (929969)

IMPORTANT
- Vulnerability in Microsoft Office 2003 Brazilian Portuguese Grammar Checker Could Allow Remote Code Execution (921585)
 Gameguru Mania News - Jan,09 2007 - tech
ASUS Unveils External Graphics Card - tech
(hx) 12:15 AM CET - Jan,09 2007 - Post a comment / read (1)
ASUS today announced the XG Station, a dedicated external graphics card for laptops. The XG Station is an external graphics card that allows laptop users to enjoy high end graphics performance while plugged in. As the XG Station is an external graphics it can be unplugged when portability is needed. The XG Station connects to any notebook's ExpressCard slot and provides a PCI Express x16 slot for graphics cards. Since ASUS has opted to equip the XG Station with a standard PCI Express x16 slot, the station can be equipped with any PCI Express based graphics card: AMD, NVIDIA or even Matrox. ASUS launched the default XG Station with an NVIDIA 7900GS powered graphics card. The XG Station is powered externally. A separate power brick plugs directly into the adaptor. An integrated LCD display and control also grace the XG Station. The display is customizable and can display information such as frame rate, fan speed, GPU temperature and more while the control knob can change various settings of the XG Station such as the core and memory clocks. The XG Station is currently scheduled to be released at the beginning of Q2 2007. Pricing of the XG Station is unknown at the moment.

So, if you wanted a GeForce 8800 board for a laptop, this is the only way to go (for now). Portability will hurt a bit, but it is by far lighter than lugging a full blown desktop rig. Nice for playing at a hotel or at out of town locations :-D
 Gameguru Mania News - Jan,08 2007 - tech
Nvidia releases Vista RTM drivers - tech
(hx) 05:09 PM CET - Jan,08 2007 - Post a comment / read (3)
In preparation for the retail launch of Windows Vista, which is scheduled for January 30, Nvidia has released a new set of WHQL-certified ForceWare drivers in both 32-bit flavor as well as the 64-bit variety. Nvidia says the drivers bring better application compatibility and performance than previous ForceWare releases for Vista, as well as a round of bug fixes. That said, the company stresses in its release notes (PDF) that some functionality, such as SLI multi-GPU support and DirectX antialiasing settings in the Nvidia control panel, isn't yet fully implemented. Grab them if you need them.
NVIDIA has released the following WHQL certified drivers for use with Windows Vista RTM that will enable you to test the basic features and capabilities of the new operating system. These drivers are only compatible with Windows Vista RTM build 6000 and higher, and should not be used with other versions of Windows Vista.
In other Nvidia-related news, the company has completed its acquisition of PortalPlayer. Like a number of Apple's previous iPods, the purported device will feature silicon designed by PortalPlayer, according to rumors.
 Gameguru Mania News - Jan,06 2007 - tech
TechNews - 1 TeraByte HDDs announced - tech
(hx) 03:43 AM CET - Jan,06 2007 - Post a comment
 Gameguru Mania News - Jan,03 2007 - tech
Building a Core 2 Duo gaming system for under $1000 - tech
(hx) 04:16 PM CET - Jan,03 2007 - Post a comment / read (1)
TechSpot published an article about building a Core 2 Duo gaming system for under $1000:
The question arises then on what parts present themselves as the best value solutions? At the time of writing the article "Building an affordable AM2 Gaming System" on November, the GeForce 7900GS was the best videocard option in the sub $200 price bracket. Now the Radeon X1950 Pro takes the spot, even with it does cost a little extra, we have found it to be more than worth the small premium. The Athlon64 3800+ is an amazing value at $135, but if you can afford to spend $180 on the Core 2 Duo E6300 we feel this is an even better value option.

Where we went wrong was with the motherboard, having originally selected the ASUS P5VD2-MX sporting the VIA P4M890 chipset. Having quickly replaced this motherboard with the Gigabyte 965P-DS3, we were much happier with the performance, feature set and overclocking abilities of our system. Although we are recommending that you do not purchase the P5VD2-MX for a gaming machine and suggest that you go with a motherboard such as the 965P-DS3, we left the P5VD2-MX results to show you the kind of gains dual channel can offer Core 2 Duo users.

Looking back at the Prey performance, you cannot deny the performance of the Athlon64 3800+ processor. This is such an old processor and at $135 it is incredibly cheap, yet it was able to hang with the new E6300 for the majority of the real-world testing. The AMD Athlon range has always been a gamers' best friend and it wasn't until recent times that Intel was able to stole some of AMD's thunder. While we do recommend the Core 2 Duo E6300 over an AMD Athlon64 processor, we still recognize the power and performance of these affordable AMD processors.

On a final note, while we tested these systems at 1600x1200 with a monitor other than the recommended Acer AL1917ABMD 19" 8ms LCD, running at native 1280x1024, the Radeon X1950 Pro paired with the Core 2 Duo E6300 delivered well over 100fps in Quake 4, UT2004 and Prey, along with an impressive 77fps in X3: Reunion. This means that at 1280x1024 users can expect to enjoy crisp image quality with heavy use of FSAA and Aniso settings without affecting performance. Overall, for roughly $1000 this Core 2 Duo system should keep any gamer grinning for some time to come.
TechNews - Sound Blaster X-Fi Issues Explored - tech
(hx) 01:11 AM CET - Jan,03 2007 - Post a comment / read (3)
  • MSI's P965 Platinum and 975X Platinum mobos - Both boards support CrossFire and Intel's latest Core 2 processors, but the 975X Platinum costs about $20 more.
  • GeForce 8800 cards not working with some mobos? - The Inquirer thinks the cards don't work because they aren't fully PCI Express compliant.
  • Israeli GPU Company Receives Funding from Intel - EE Times reports Israeli graphics company Lucid Information Technology Ltd has raised 12 million dollars for research and development. They are working on a traffic hub chip designed to route data between graphics processors. The chip can spread loads between as many as four GPUs, and Lucid is also developing an associated driver to make multi-GPU setups transparent to software. Lucid plans to have silicon samples out by the end of this year and to eventually kick off volume sales to a major board manfuacturer like Asus, Leadtek, or Gigabyte.
  • Gigabyte H663 Home Entertainment System - Your next HTPC? - The motherboard has an onboard Intel GMA950 graphics adaptor, but there is also a PCI-E Gigabyte GC-ADD2EF-RH graphics card with DVI and S-Video - this card isn't an independent graphics card in its own right, it simply expands the capabilities of the GMA950 adaptor.
  • ASUS WL-500W SuperSpeed N Wireless Router - This router can be combined with an external hard drive to set up a file server, or a printer to set up a print server.
  • Sound Blaster X-Fi Issues Explored - Two motherboards out of five caused the X-Fi to produce crackling and popping noises.
  • Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi series Vista Driver 2.13.0001 Beta -  This download is a driver providing Microsoft Windows Vista 64-bit and Windows Vista 32-bit support for Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi series of audio devices. This download supports the following audio devices only: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeMusic, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Platinum, Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty and Creative Sound Blaster Elite Pro.
  • Miranda IM 0.6 - Miranda IM (download) is designed to be resource efficient and easy to use while still providing many features including support for AIM, Jabber, ICQ, IRC, MSN, Yahoo, and more. The Miranda IM 0.6 release introduces UPnP support to improve file transfer and direct connect reliability through routers. Other changes include improved support for UTF-8 strings, improved tabbed options support, and numerous bug fixes. If you are using Miranda IM 0.5.1 or earlier, this is a highly recommended upgrade.
  • AIMFix 1.6.12.747 - Remove all known AIM viruses (download) with one consolidated removal tool.
  • How to crash a Windows mobile using MMS - It is still unknown which phones are vulnerable to this exploit. Collin's research has confirmed a vulnerability in the IPAQ 6315 and i-mate PDA2k, but it is quite likely that all Pocket PC 2003 and Windows Smartphone 2003 devices are also vulnerable.
  • Serious Gmail Vulnerability Fixed - The problem is only partially fixed. The vulnerability exposed through video.google.com has been patched up, but there are other subdomains where the problem still exists.
  • 10 registry hacks for hardening Windows XP security - Windows XP out of the box is not as secure as it could be. See how to make WinXP computers more secure by tweaking a few registry settings. In other news, this registry file enables you to modify that setting if you determine that your hardware can safely support S3 mode
  • The Definitive BIOS Optimization Guide v9.5 - Tech ARP has updated their BIOS Optimization Guide with an ACPI 2.0 Support section
  • Bluetooth Hijacking Demonstrated - If you own a Bluetooth enabled phone, you really need to watch this video :-D
  • AllofMP3.com Responds to RIAA Lawsuit - AllofMP3 has now responded to the lawsuit with a statement, and the company apparently plans to continue business as usual.
  • YouTube fails to meet copyright system deadline - The missed deadline could have to do with the Google buyout that followed, although Google itself stated in October that it would take a 'tough stance' on copyright infringement once it completed the acquisition.
  • Merger Approval Means Cingular Will Be Renamed AT&T - The biggest telecommunications merger in U.S. history just received federal approval.
  • BenQ Mobile faces liquidation - 'Unsustainable losses' have plagued Taiwanese hardware maker since it acquired handset division from Siemens.
  •  $100 laptop project launches 2007 - Millions of computers built for the One Laptop Per Child project could reach users by July this year.
  • Walletex developing credit-card sized MP3 player -  The Wallet MP3 player is billed as the world's slimmest MP3 player and builds on the innovations introduced with the Wallet Flash device. It will apparently come with a built in USB 2.0 connector that will be used not only for loading up those tunes, but also for charging and as the audio jack ("normal" headphones need not apply, at least without an adapter).
  • Science's 10 Most Beautiful Physics Experiments - Robert P. Crease, a member of the philosophy department at the State University of New York at Stony Brook and the historian at Brookhaven National Laboratory, recently asked physicists to nominate the most beautiful experiment of all time.
  • Aspirin - can it cure cancer? - Aspirin stops headaches, reduces fever and prevents blood from clogging. Now a new research shows that the familiar drug can also stop the expansion of cancer tumours.
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,31 2006 - tech
ATI R600 gets leaked on the web - tech
(hx) 08:09 PM CET - Dec,31 2006 - Post a comment / read (5)
Level 505 has leaked benchmarks  (thanks DailyTech) and specifications of AMD's upcoming ATI R600 graphics processor. In summary, the pre-release R600 is around 5% above the current 8800GTX in most tests, except the games, where it shoots up to 20% above the NV offering. So, prepare for a very interesting battle when it finally comes out: not only will ATI further optimise the drivers, so will Nvidia, on top of faster overclockers' editions of G80. The upcoming graphics processor is expected to launch in January 2007 with an expected revision arriving in March 2007:
64 4-Way SIMD Unified Shaders, 128 Shader Operations/Cycle
32 TMUs, 16 ROPs
512 bit Memory Controller, full 32 bit per chip connection
GDDR3 at 900 MHz clock speed (January)
GDDR4 at 1.1 GHz clock speed (March, revised edition)
Total bandwidth 115 GB/s on GDDR3
Total bandwidth 140 GB/s on GDDR4
Consumer memory support 1024 MB
DX10 full compatibility with draft DX10.1 vendor-specific cap removal (unified programming)
32FP internal processing
Hardware support for GPU clustering (any 2^n number, not limited to Dual or Quad-GPU)
Hardware DVI-HDCP support (High-Bandwidth Digital Content Protection)
Hardware Quad-DVI output support (Limited to workstation editions)
230W consumption
Multi-GPU cluster solutions will be available for the workstation market only until March, 2007.

Processing Power:
105,000,000,000 SOps (Shader Operations Per Second)
2,000,000,000 TCps (Triangle Calculations Per Second)
28 GTps (Gigatexels Per Second)
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,30 2006 - tech
TechNews - 6 GHz PC CPU To Be Revealed in Feb - tech
(hx) 12:33 PM CET - Dec,30 2006 - Post a comment / read (1)
  • 5 And 6 GHz PC CPUs To Be Revealed In February - The first-generation Cell Broadband Engine chip, co-developed by IBM, Sony, and Toshiba, has just appeared in Sony's PlayStation 3 game console and can run at 4GHz. The second-generation chip will run at 6GHz, according to the ISSCC program. In addition, the new chip will have a dual power supply that increases memory performance--a major bottleneck in computer designs today.
  • AMD 3000+ Sempron For $10 - I spotted this deal today for a socket 939 Sempron 3000+ that is only $9.97 after rebate. I don’t know about you but that is a pretty damn nice deal. You better hurry though, the deal ends on the 31st.
  • Notebook Trio: ASUS A8JS and G2P and ABS Mayhem Z5 - The ABS Mayhem Z5 is almost the exact opposite of the G2P: it is a true gaming notebook, with one of the most powerful mobile graphics chips currently available stuffed into its chassis. There are a few games that are beginning to tax the GeForce Go 7900 GTX these days, particularly if you want to run games at the native 1920x1200 LCD resolution.
  • Fuel Cell powered laptops run for a month - According to Engadget, the new docking station, which works with Samsung's Q35 ultraportable laptop contains a 1200-watt-hour fuel cell. The dock can power a laptop eight hours a day, five days a week for a month. Apparently the boffins are working on a miniature version which can power a laptop for more than 15 hours "on a coffee cup's worth of fuel". Although it is not clear how much fuel there is in a cup of coffee.
  • 1080p and 1080i High Definition Resolution explained - 720p and 1080i were initially set out as the two key standards for High Definition content, with Sky HD, HD DVD and the Xbox 360 supporting these formats. Any TV that supports 720p and 1080i is classed as HD Ready.
  • LabelFlash vs LightScribe - According to a news published at Digitimes, Pioneer is relaunching the LabelFlash technology to counteract Lightscribe's disc labeling system with its DVR-A12J, a 18x DVD Dual burner recently released in Japan.
  • Firefox Creator No Longer Trusts Google? - Blake Ross, one of the guys behind Firefox, says that he no longer trusts Google after the company announced that it will promote its own products over everyone else.
  • iHolic MP3 player with T-DMB support -  It features 2.4-inch TFT-LCD, T-DMB receiver, audio/video playback, image viewer, SD card slot and voice recorder.
  • Magnetic satellite launch system - The current LaunchPoint Technologies design has a large ring of superconducting magnets that would fling the object into space, or into orbit around the world. A high-speed accelerator would whip an object weighing up to 220 pounds around a circular vacuum tunnel that has a 1.5-mile-radius
  • PS3 Grill In Action - What about a real PS3 grill, cooking a steak?
  • Honda says fuel-cell cars can be mass-produced by 2018 - Japanese carmaker Honda believes it can mass-produce environmentally friendly fuel-cell cars by 2018.
  • OFF-TOPIC: Saddam Hussein hanged - Saddam Hussein, the former Iraqi dictator who spent his last years in captivity after his ruthless regime was toppled by the U.S.-led coalition in 2003, was hanged before dawn Saturday for crimes committed in a brutal crackdown during his reign.
  • Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy Exhibition: 42 games - A collection of Flash games produced as part of the London Science Museum's Hitchhiker's exhibition. They include some arcade games where you get to control Marvin and some trivia challenges
  • Family Survival Kit - Hah, check it out!
  • Best 50 hacks for your Life - Invest your time - read them.
  • Silent Hill 2 movie "well underway" - Gans confirmed in an interview with French magazine DVDrama, "There will indeed be a Silent Hill 2 and it is officially ordered and is already well underway. Once he has finished his adaptation of Driver, Roger Avary will be [working on the script], helped by his friend Neil Gaiman." Gans added that he may not have time to take on the project himself, due to his commitments on the adaptation of another video game project, Onimusha.
  • Britney Spears' #1 Fansite Closes Because Owner Says Britney's "Done" - Ruben Garay, who has hosted WorldOfBritney.com since October 2000, yesterday announced the site will no longer exist after January 31 because the singer is "losing her identity and credibility with fans and industry people."
  • Is Your Name... Hannibal Lecter? - Amazon in the U.K. has posted the new international trailer for MGM and The Weinstein Company's Hannibal Rising, coming to theaters in North America on February 9.
  • Indiana Jones 4 Coming May 2008 - George Lucas said Friday that filming of the long-awaited Indiana Jones 4 will begin next year with Harrison Ford set to star again. Lucas said he and Steven Spielberg recently finalized the script for the film.
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,28 2006 - tech
TechNews - HD-DVD Protection already hacked? - tech
(hx) 01:31 PM CET - Dec,28 2006 - Post a comment
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,26 2006 - tech
Rainbow Six: Vegas: A Performance Analysis - tech
(hx) 12:32 AM CET - Dec,26 2006 - Post a comment
The chaps over at AnandTech take a look performance in Rainbow Six: Vegas with mainstream/mid-range and low-end graphics cards from ATI and NVIDIA. The NVIDIA cards they tested Vegas with are the 7300 GT, 7600 GS, 7600 GT, 7900 GS, 7950 GT, 7900 GTX, and the 8800 GTS and GTX. From ATI, they have the X1300 XT, X1650 Pro, X1650 XT, X1900 XT 256, and X1950 XTX. Here's a taster:
Our performance tests show that in order to play this game smoothly with the resolution and quality settings at their highest, you will need at least an NVIDIA 8800 GTS (or possibly an overclocked X1950 XTX). The X1950 XTX and 7900 GTX at reference speeds can run the game at these settings without too much trouble, but they still see some choppiness when in a large firefight with a lot of stuff going on. Fortunately, the game still looks and plays well with the resolution and quality settings turned down, so don't despair if you aren't an owner of an 8800 yet and want to get a hold of this game. We still don't recommend playing Rainbow Six: Vegas on a low end card like the 7300 GT, because even at the lowest resolution and settings you will still probably run into choppy gameplay at certain points in the game, and the action can be fast-paced enough that this is a real problem. At this point in time, to really enjoy this game at a decent resolution you will probably want to go with at least a 7600 GT from NVIDIA or better yet an X1650 XT from ATI if you can get your hands on one. GeForce 7900 GS and Radeon X1900 GT are also good options.

Hopefully we will see some improvements in performance for Vegas on NVIDIA's hardware soon, because as it stands, the game clearly favors ATI parts, with the obvious exception of the 8800. That is a trend we've seen more of over time, however: G70 series hardware does very well at DX8 graphics, but when more DX9 effects are enabled the pixel shaders on many NVIDIA chips don't seem to do as well as ATI's hardware. We might have liked to see the kind of control over graphics quality in Vegas that we've seen in games like The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, especially considering that maximum detail settings result in performance that is often lower than what we saw with Oblivion. Still, kudos to Ubisoft on this nice addition to the Rainbow Six series, and we look forward to further enjoying this game, as well as seeing what else comes along using the Unreal Engine 3 in the near future.
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,22 2006 - tech
TechNews - Intel to break the 4GHz barrier in 2008 - tech
(hx) 02:17 PM CET - Dec,22 2006 - Post a comment / read (1)
  • Intel to break the 4GHz barrier in 2008 -The report says Bloomfield, one of Intel's upcoming 45nm quad-core processors based on the Nehalem architecture, will be clocked at speeds exceeding 4GHz when it comes out in 2008
  • AMD Socket-F Opteron vs. Intel Woodcrest - It would appear the major difference between the Opteron 285 and 2218 is power consumption.
  • Intel integrated G35 supports DirectX 10 - It is called G35 and this is a brand name not the code name, it seems. It supports Intel Clear Video marchitecture and DirectX 10
  • AMD Says DX10 Will Not Take Off Until 2H 2007 - AMD is speculating that demand for DirectX 10 compliant video cards will not take off until the second half of 2007.
  • Windows Vista Memory Test Round-Up - With Windows Vista, it’s a must to have good fast memory installed in your PC. In other news, TweakTown tested the Crucial's High-Performance RAM - Ballistix PC2-8000 EPP.
  • Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 750GB - Perpendicular recording at its best - The drive is not cheap coming in at around $400 USD (about $560 AUD in Australia) but indeed you get what you pay for.
  • Creative Live! Cam Optia - It captures video at up to 640x480 pixels, and photos at up to 1.3-Megapixel resolution (interpolated). With Certified Hi-Speed USB 2.0 connectivity, raw data is transferred from the Web camera to a PC without compression, providing video quality at up to 30fps (frames per second).
  • Why 99% of Power Supply Reviews Are Wrong - Learn why the vast majority of power supply reviews published on the web are wrong.
  • AutoPatcher XP Update December 2006 - AutoPatcher could be described as an offline Windows Update. AutoPatcher provides an interface to a large collection of updates, common applications and registry tweaks, that can be easily and quickly applied to your computer system.
  • CloneCD 5.3.0.0 - CloneCD (download) is a powerful CD-Copy program. It writes in Raw mode, which allows it to have total control on the data written. Therefore, it will produce real 1:1 copies of your CDs. This new version added full support for Windows Vista, including 64-bit versions.
  • Firefox 2.0.0.1 Update - The following list of security issues have been fixed ~ download
  • Thunderbird 1.5.0.9 - Mozilla Thunderbird (download / release notes) is a redesign of the Mozilla mail component.
  • FileASSASSIN 1.01 - FileASSASSIN can delete locked malware files on your system. It uses advanced techniques to unload modules, close remote handles, and terminate processes to allow the removal of the file.
  • Google Talk 1.0.0.103 - Google Talk (download) enables you to call or send instant messages to your friends for free–anytime, anywhere in the world.
  • Skype 3.0.0.198 - Skype uses P2P (release notes / download) technology to connect you to other users. Not to share files, but to talk with them for free.
  • Logitech SetPoint 3.15  - Logitech MouseWare is the software used to install and control Logitech mice. Incredible! 40 meg for a mouse driver... !
  • 'Windows XP Hack' E-Book (FREE) - An E-Book of Windows XP Hacks (download link) available for free to the masses.
  • VMware Virtualization for Mac Beta Program - The new VMware desktop product for the Mac, codenamed Fusion, allows Intel-based Macs to run x86 operating systems, such as Windows, Linux, NetWare and Solaris, in virtual machines at the same time as Mac OS X.
  • Multiple Processors + WinXPSP2 - May Experience Decreased Performance - Have an Intel dual core or multi processor system? Might want to get this patch (download)
  • Microsoft Starts Handing Out SUSE Linux Subscriptions - Redmond has handed out some 16,000 subscription certificates for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server.
  • Integrate software into your WinXP install CD - The whole procedure takes from 5 to 20 minutes (burning of the CD included).
  • Setting up HDMI on your HDTV - nVidia vs. AMD - When you connect a computer to your TV using a digital signal like HDMI, the process isn't as seamless as connecting a dedicated piece of AV hardware, like a TV tuner or DVD player. This is because AV equipment makes automatic allowances for overscan whereas graphics cards don't. To fix this, there’s a certain amount of manual tweaking required in the driver.
  • AllofMP3.com Sued by Record Labels - The labels claim in the lawsuit that Russia-based Mediaservices, parent company of AllofMP3.com, profits off copyrighted music without paying any royalties to the holders.
  • BBC moves to file-sharing sites - Hundreds of episodes of BBC programmes will be made available on a file-sharing network for the first time. The move follows a deal between the commercial arm of the organisation, BBC Worldwide, and technology firm Azureus.
  • Skype founders' TV-killer examined - Only problem with this one will be bandwith/traffic Not many people will be able to use it :-(
  • Sony BMG Music compensates its users - Sony has finally decided to compensate customers in California who were affected by the DRM software found on some Sony BMG music CD's.
  • Samsung SGH-Z560 'super 3G' phone - It's the first HSDPA model launched in Europe. HSDPA is a 3.5G technology that can transmit data at speeds up to six times faster than the 3G network, and its current top download speed of 1.8Mbps promises a meaningful mobile-based multimedia experience
  • Hypersonic Cruise Missile: America's New Global Strike Weapon - The Pentagon is now developing a critical new weapon for hitting elusive targets and the result is the X-51 hypersonic cruise missile which could travel 600 miles in 10 minutes thereby giving strike capability anywhere in the world in less than an hour. The X-51 destroys its targets by simply crashing into them at hypersonic speeds.
  • Microsoft Has Success With Xbox 360 Movie-TV Downloads - This Variety story reports that while exact figures have not been revealed, Hollywood studios are saying that video and TV downloads are doing as well or better on Xbox 360 consoles than similar services like CinemaNow, Movielink and Amazon's Unbox service, which are available on more widely available PC platforms. Analysts suggest that the Xbox 360's ease of use, its connection to TVs, and its support of HD downloads are part of the reason for its success.
  • Nintendo Wii review - EliteBastards has posted an extensive review of the Wii.
  • Xbox 360 Warranties Extended - Microsoft is retroactively extending the warranty period for Xbox 360s purchased in the United States and Canada from 90 days to one year, as it is most everywhere else. This will include refunds for those who have already paid for repairs that would have been covered under this warranty.
  • Seventh Harry Potter Book Named - JK Rowling has today given fans of the Harry Potter books the name of Book 7 of the very popular series via a Christmas present on her site, to get to the name you need to follow a complicated procedure but thankfully the name of the book has been revealed as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.
  • Star Wars done in Black & White Silent Film Format - check it out
  • Stargate SG-1 Films Given Shooting Dates - Before the last episode of the final season of Stargate SG-1 airs on the sci-fi Channel, the famous cast of the history-making television series will have already begun the production shoot for the highly anticipated new films in the franchise. (WARNING: Possible spoilers at the end of the article!)
  • Tarantino & Rodriguez's Grindhouse Teaser! - Yahoo! Movies has posted the new teaser trailer for Quentin Tarantino and Robert Rodriguez's Grindhouse, which Dimensions Films will release on April 6. Grindhouse is one full-length feature comprised of two individual films helmed separately by each director. Tarantino's film, "Death Proof," is a rip-roaring slasher flick where the killer pursues his victims with a car rather than a knife, while Rodriguez's film explores an alien world eerily familiar to ours in "Planet Terror."
  • Miss USA rocked by sexy new scandal - Miss Nevada Katie Rees - NSFW, but damned hot!
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,19 2006 - tech
TechNews - Core 2 prices to go down in Q2/2007 - tech
(hx) 01:24 PM CET - Dec,19 2006 - Post a comment
  • Core 2 prices to go down in Q2 2007 - The cuts will be quite significant, the site says, reaching around 40% in some cases!
  • AMD's Brisbane: 'Most energy efficient AMD CPU to date' - The reviewed chip is AMD's 65nm Athlon 64 X2 5000+ and from the outside, it looks just like a normal X2. The only way to tell that this is a 65nm chip is by looking at the OPN.
  • 5W Core 2 Solos coming next year - The two chips will be low-voltage models dubbed Core 2 Solo U2100 and U2200. The U2100 model will run at 1.06GHz, while the faster U2200 chip will be clocked at 1.2GHz.
  • Bloomfield To Hit 4GHz & Has 8MB Cache - VR-Zone posted a news story on Intel's upcoming Bloomfield architecture.
  • Passive Radeon X1950 cards are on their way - PowerColor is cooking up versions of both the Radeon X1950 Pro and the faster Radeon X1950 XT with a new, completely passive cooler designed by Arctic Cooling. VR-Zone says the passive Radeon X1950 Pro will hit stores in the first quarter of next year with a $10 price premium over the regular model.
  • Nvidia releases GeForce 8800 demos - All three demos require a GeForce 8800 GTS or GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card with Nvidia's latest ForceWare drivers.
  • Ray tracing in games explored  - PC Perspective has posted an interesting article on the use of ray tracing as a rendering method in games. The article was written by Daniel Pohl, a German programmer who wrote real-time ray tracing 3D engines for both Quake 3 and Quake 4.
  • Opera 9.1 released - If you are looking for an alternative to Mozilla or Microsoft to browse the web, you might want to give Opera a try. This new version adds some form of "phishing" protection - it displays a warning when visitors go to a site that may trick them into revealing passwords and other sensitive information.
  • Two NEC Desktops Reportedly Catch Fire in Japan - According to NEC, it has received two reports of Valuestar power supplies catching fire in Japan. The cause of the fires has been linked to a faulty coil within the power supplies. No injuries were reported in either case. 14,600 of the Valuestar desktop were shipped between November of 2003 and June of 2004.
  • iPhone Officially Announced - The iPhone has arrived, but not from Apple.  Linksys, a division of Cisco Systems, introduced two VOIP handsets adding to five others the company already offers.
  • Skype to launch Web TV service - The founders of Skype are close to launching a global broadband television service promising viewers, content owners and advertisers "the best of the internet with the best of TV".
  • LCD TV Prices To Drop In 2007 - According to DigiTimes, LCD TV makers say prices are expected to plunge by the end of 2007.
  • Sony's PSP to Get Movie Download Service - Sony's movie download service, which is scheduled to launch in the first quarter of 2007, will allow for movies to be downloaded to a PC and then transferred to a PSP. The movies would on one of Sony’s MemorySticks. According to Sony, as many as 10 full-length movies could be squeezed onto a 4GB MemoryStick.
  • Microsoft Updates Zune Firmware to 1.2 - There is no new functionality added with the update, but users do note that performance has been improved across the board with the player. Users note that everything from scrolling through albums to viewing pictures has been sped up.
  • Rotating Solar-Powered Skyscraper - Wired is pointing out a recent Gear Factor blog entry that highlights a new skyscraper in the works which will be solar-powered, and what's more will rotate with the sun
  • F-35 fighter wraps up first test flight - The F-35B is the STOVL variant which will replace the AV-8 Harrier currently in service with the US Marine Corps. The F-35C will be used by the US Navy where it will replace the F-18A/B/C/D.
  • Cartoon creator Joe Barbera dies - Joe Barbera, half of the Hanna-Barbera animation team that produced such beloved cartoon characters as Tom and Jerry, Yogi Bear and the Flintstones, died Monday, a Warner Bros. spokesman said. He was 95.
  • Rocky Balboa Reenters the Ring - ComingSoon.net talked to the man who created one of the greatest underdog stories, Sly Stallone. He was applauded by the journalists as he coolly strolled in the room and was all too eager to talk about his last time playing Rocky.
  • Top 10 Worst Movie Trailers of 2006 - IFILM posts their top 10 worst movie trailers of 2006.
  • Shrek The Third Trailer - After seeing some footage a month ago and now this Shrek The Thrid trailer, I can honestly say I'm looking forward to taking this one in some Saturday afternoon
Y.A.S.U (Yet Another SecuROM Utility) v1.05 - tech
(hx) 12:20 AM CET - Dec,19 2006 - Post a comment
CureROM Team has released Y.A.S.U v1.05 (download), a new SecuROM utility. This new version fixes the SecuROM Blacklist(s).Games Tested - SecuROM 7.x: Rainbow Six: Vegas v1.01, Rayman: Raving Rabbids (v1.0), Dark Messiah of Might and Magic v1.01, Splinter Cell Double Agent 1.01, Heroes Of Might And Magic V 1.4, SafeDisc 4.x: NFS:Carbon, Call Of Duty 2, Gun, Sims 2: Pets. Well I don't think that SecuRom loves this sweel tool, but who cares :-)
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,18 2006 - tech
UE3 Performance With Rainbow Six: Vegas - tech
(hx) 02:29 PM CET - Dec,18 2006 - Post a comment / read (1)
The 7600 GS takes the end but the 7950GX2 isn't too far away due to it being crippled by no SLI.
Rainbow Six: Vegas is one of the first PC games to use the brand new Unreal 3 engine. HDR, per-pixel lighting, and a highly improved facial animation system are a few of the changes UE3 has brought with it. Wondering how your PC will handle this game? The chaps over at AMD Zone have posted some benchmarks with video cards ranging from the NVIDIA 7600 to a new 8800 GTX. The test rig was equipped with a AMD Athlon FX 62, DFI LP UT NF590 SLI and Corsair XMS 2GB. Here's an excerpt:
The more one digs into Vegas, the more clear it becomes that the game has not been built to take fully advantage of the PC platform but is more of an Xbox 360 port. There are very few options to choose from overall and while there is a .cfg file in the directory, in fact possibly too many, without the proper commands it was near impossible to enable or disable features. The most glaring of which is the fact that there is no anti-aliasing in the video menu at all. That's right, you can't even tweak that and what you can is very limited. It is quite disappointing so as such we went with high on all settings and disabled hardware mapping because we chose to test a wide variety of cards. Something else we quickly learned is that SLI and Crossfire support are not enabled in the game. Perhaps this and other features will be addressed in a later patch but it is disheartening to see that Ubisoft is paying less attention to the PC platform with both this and the recent Double Agent game and there are also reports of numerous bugs and crashes within the game, conflicts with the 8800 cards, and much more.

Again we ran FRAPS and took an average of three scores. Not only did we do that, but we completely restarted our demo sequence if something wasn't nearly matched up with our benchmark run. As we were soon to learn, even some minor changes influenced the fps greatly. In fact we are going to go the extra mile here and post a FRAPS recorded video of us running through our sequence so you can try and re-create it. Feel free to get the 50MB file over at MegaUpload. Again, all settings are set to maximum of the few that are there except hardware mapping which is turned off for our more powerful CPU.
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,16 2006 - tech
TechNews - Worm Hits PC via Norton Antivirus - tech
(hx) 06:25 PM CET - Dec,16 2006 - Post a comment
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,14 2006 - tech
Tech Reading - Acrobat 8.x gets GPU acceleration - tech
(hx) 01:52 AM CET - Dec,14 2006 - Post a comment / read (2)
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,13 2006 - tech
ATi Catalyst 6.12 Drivers - tech
(hx) 11:23 PM CET - Dec,13 2006 - Post a comment / read (2)
AMD.ATI has released a new ATI Catalyst drivers bringing them up to version 6.12. The package contains Radeon display driver 8.321, Multimedia Center 9.16, HydraVision, HydraVision Basic Edition, Remote Wonder 3.04, WDM Driver Install Bundle, Southbridge/IXP Driver and Catalyst Control Center Version 6.12.
Issues Resolved in Catalyst Software Suite 6.12:

- Black&White 2: Slow frame rate is no longer noticed when playing the game under Windows XP when setting the graphics to the lowest possible settings. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23714
- Neverwinter Nights: Enabling super AA and CrossFire within the Catalyst Control Center no longer results in display corruption being noticed within the game's main menu. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23718
- Catalyst Control Center->CrossFire: Attempting to resume from a standby state no longer results in the Windows XP operating system failing to respond when using a Radeon X19x0 CrossFire Edition series of product. Further details can be found in topic number 737-23713
This release of the ATI Catalyst software suite introduces DirectX video acceleration for CrossFire enabled configurations. If you are using the GPU Folding@Home client you should not upgrade to Catalyst 6.12. Apparently there is an issue the new drivers and Stanford's GPU folding client that will be resolved in the next Catalyst release. AMD promises next month's installment will resolve the issue.
MS Security Bulletin Summary for December 2006 - tech
(hx) 10:36 PM CET - Dec,13 2006 - Post a comment
Microsoft has released six security bulletins as part of its monthly patch cycle. Of the seven flaws that were fixed, three of were considered critical:
CRITICAL:
 - Cumulative Security Update for Internet Explorer (925454)
- Vulnerability in Visual Studio 2005 Could Allow Remote Code Execution (925674)
- Vulnerability in Windows Media Format Could Allow Remote Code Execution (923689)

IMPORTANT
- Vulnerability in SNMP Could Allow Remote Code Execution (926247)
- Vulnerability in Windows Could Allow Elevation of Privilege (926255)
- Cumulative Security Update for Outlook Express (923694)
- Vulnerability in Remote Installation Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution (926121)
Microsoft has also released the first update for IE7 (not for Windows Vista). This update resolves a performance issue with the Phishing Filter. When visiting certain web pages, the Phishing Filter may increase CPU usage while evaluating the page contents and the system may become slow to respond. This problem occurs on pages that contain multiple frames or when multiple frame navigations occur quickly. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,12 2006 - tech
TechNews - AMD quietly adds faster Athlons - tech
(hx) 05:20 PM CET - Dec,12 2006 - Post a comment / read (1)
  • AMD quietly adds faster Athlons, renames chipsets - The new CPUs come in 5400+ and 5600+ variants, but the clock speed for both is the same: 2.8GHz. The difference is the amount of L2 cache per core.
  • Mid-Range VGA Mayhem - ATI and NVIDIA compared - Go for high performance with HIS or keep it cheap with Sparkle, or choose for both and stay with the PowerColor.
  • Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 Sound Card - If you are an audiophile yourself or you are looking for that perfect gift for an audiophile then look no further. The Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 has all of the features you could ever want in a 7.1 card and with a MSRP of $199.99 it won't break the bank either
  • MSI's mPC 51PV small form factor barebones system - The mPC 51PV is compatible with AMD's Socket AM2 processors and features an Nvidia GeForce 6150/nForce 430 core logic combo that's still the best integrated graphics chipset on the market.
  • Mousescore 2007 - Comprehensive 17-way mouse benchmarking - The performance benchmarks show that todays batch of laser mice can't keep up with the finely tuned optical ones. They do have slightly higher resolution, but not enough to make up for their poor performance at speed.
  • New phase-change memory 500x faster than flash - IBM, Matronix, and Qimonda have developed a material that made phase-change memory 500 to 1,000 times faster that traditional flash memory and requires half the power to record data.
  • Sun puts 16 cores on its 'Rock' chip - Rock-based servers, due to arrive in servers in 2008, will likely come as competitors' chips have at most eight cores, analysts say.
  • Vista volume license activation cracked already  - The hack might be a little too complex to let just anyone pirate Vista, but it could allow businesses and power users to get around paying for the software.
  • Microsoft Starts New VoIP Server Test - Microsoft Office Communications Server 2007, due for release in the April-June quarter of 2007, will push the software giant into the business telephone market at a time when many large companies shift to cheaper telecommunications powered by Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology.
  • Mozilla ships developer release of Firefox 3.0 - Gran Paradiso features better support for a number of graphics standards, such as the Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) language and the Canvas specification.
  • LCD price-fixing investigation grows - Japan, the United States and South Korea are probing price-fixing claims against LG.Philips LCD, Samsung Electronics and Sharp.
  • V-Moda Vibe Modaphones - Noise Cancelling earbuds - Naturally, they're feather-light (12 grams), so you'll barely notice that they are there.
  • Nintendo Sued for Wiimote Trigger - Interlink Electronics is suing Nintendo over the Wii Remote's trigger button, which Interlink claims to be its own original patented design (patent no. 6,850,221). Interlink states in its filing. Nintendo has made, used, offered for sale and sold in the United States, and continues to make, use, offer for sale and sell in the United States one or more controllers which activities infringe, induce others to infringe, and/or contributorily infringe the '221 patent.
  • A cell phone with dual displays, and not the way you think - Korean individual inventor revealed a prototype cell phone that places twin color screens beside one another.
  • Netherlands pulls plug on analog TV - Dutch government will save around $14 million annually from the switch, the cost it used to pay to broadcast the free antenna service that was used by only 74,000 households. In US, whose digital target is 2009, about 21 million people use antenna service, & another 20 million would need digital converters.
  • SAX-40 radically shaped plane is completely silent - The SAX-40, which has been developed by the Cambridge-MIT Institute, is a radically different shape of aircraft. The design is the result of three years' work and includes both new and existing technologies.
  • USB Airsoft Turrent - The gun shoots plastic BB with a velocity of 250 feet per second which is powerful enough to leave healthy welts on unsuspecting targets
  • Third Simpsons Movie Teaser Trailer  - The beginning of the third teaser is identical to the second teaser, with new footage following after.
  • Skydiver Nearly Gets Hit By A Plane - Guy jumps out, opens his parachute and almost gets hit by a passing plane.
  • Henry Rollins - America Is Under Attack -  He's slightly crazy most of time, but he knows what he's talking about! :-) Check it out!
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,09 2006 - tech
Y.A.S.U (Yet Another SecuROM Utility) v1.04 - tech
(hx) 11:26 PM CET - Dec,09 2006 - Post a comment / read (1)
CureROM Team has released Y.A.S.U v1.04 (download), a new SecuROM utility. This new version fixes the SecuROM Blacklist(s).Games Tested: Rayman Raving Rabbids, Dark Messiah of Might and Magic v1.01, GTR 2 v1.0, F.E.A.R v1.07 (Single Player), Ghost Recon: Advanced Warfighter v1.30, Prey v1.1, Titan Quest v1.15 (1.20 update removes SecuROM), SpellForce 2, FIFA 07. Well I don't think that SecuRom loves this sweel tool, but who cares :-)
NVIDIA GeForce 8800 ForceWare Drivers 97.44 - tech
(hx) 10:14 AM CET - Dec,09 2006 - Post a comment
NVIDIA has released the first public ForceWare drivers for their GeForce 8800 GTS and GTX series of graphics chips. The 39.1MB drivers (which apparently are separate from the normal ForceWare drivers) can be downloaded at the NVIDIA web site. The 97.44 version also has some fixes (PDF) for various games:
Issues Resolved in Version 97.44:
- Changing the default NVIDIA Control Panel Antialiasing mode to Override mode will result in corruption in some applications.
- Battlefield 2: Intermittent random z fighting problems on the terrain.
- Adjusting the Noise Reduction causes corruption flashes when launching a DVD.
- Rapidly switching HDTV Component format between modes may cause the display to go blank.
- Driver stops responding in SLI mode if the system boots up with no displays attached.
- Civilization 4: White blocks of corruption appear in the clouds when zooming out.
- Everquest 2, SLI: Flickering water textures/reflections occur when SLI is enabled.
- Pacific Fighters, SLI: With SLI mode enabled, there is a large performance drop–from 100-200+ fps–in DirectX mode when accessing the game control panel with enhanced antialiasing enabled.
- NVIDIA SLI does not activate for any application if Steam.exe is running and the application’s resolution does not match the desktop resolution.
- Battlefield: Objects and terrain are very dark. As you move closer, a block of area brightens in steps as you move around the map.
- Tomb Raider: Legend, SLI: No shadows appear when Next Generation Content is enabled.
- Splinter Cell: Double Agent Single Player has geometry corruption.
- Company of Heroes: There are flickering ground textures.
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,08 2006 - tech
TechReading - NASA finds water on Mars - tech
(hx) 03:06 AM CET - Dec,08 2006 - Post a comment / read (1)
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,05 2006 - tech
TechNews - AMD announces 'Brisbane' 65nm - tech
(hx) 06:08 PM CET - Dec,05 2006 - Post a comment / read (1)
  • AMD Announces 'Brisbane' 65nm Processors - Four Brisbane core Athlon 64 X2 processors are launching today - the 5000+, 4800+, 4400+, and 4000+. All 65nm Brisbane core processors are equipped with 2x512KB of L2 cache.
  • G84 is the next Nvidia chip - The DirectX 10 capable generation needs a mainstream contender and that's what G84 is all about. TheInquirer reports that the chip is derived from G80 and will have less real pipelines and of course will end up smaller. It is scheduled for late March or early April 2007 introduction.
  • AMD licenses new Z-RAM technology - Using this technology, a 65nm processor could theoretically pack 10MB of cache in an area of just 16mm2
  • AMD stealth price cuts detailed - Shoppers will enjoy reduced prices on AMD processors this month!
  • EPoX's Socket AM2 MF570 SLI Motherboard - Overall this board would be good if the price was cheaper than the MSI, since it comes in almost $20 higher, its hard to go past the MSI K9N SLI Platinum over this board. In other news, Virtual-Hideout take a look at the ECS PN1-SLI2 NVIDIA 590-SLI Intel Edition Motherboard.
  • XFX 8800 GTX: SLI Performance - The improvements in the testing ranging from just over 30% to just under 60% depending on the benchmark.
  • AMD and Intel Heatsink Roundup 2006 - The Coolermaster Eclipse disappointed at high speed but was able to claim a super low noise level at lower speed, surprisingly the temperature only climbed by ~30C, while the noise drop was close to 20dBA!
  • Gigabyte NX76T256D-RH Silent GeForce 7600 GT - If you're looking to spend absolutely no more than $150 on a new video card, the GV-NX76T256D-RH is a good one to turn to.
  • Seagate 500GB eSATA drive - Inside the enclosure, Seagate has included a 500GB, 7,200 RPM drive with 16MB of cache and support for Native Command Queuing and hot-swapping. Not surprisingly, this is right in line with Seagate’s 500GB desktop drives, which sport almost exactly the same specifications on paper.
  • Hitachi announces 100GB 1.8" hard drive  - Seagate's CEO dropped hints earlier this year that his company would launch a 120GB 1.8" hard drive in the fourth quarter, but Hitachi might have beaten Seagate to the punch on breaking the 100GB barrier. The drive uses perpendicular recording technology to achieve its high storage density, which Hitachi says adds up to 240.8Mb/mm² (or 155.3Gb/in².) Other specs include a 4,200 RPM spindle speed, 15ms access time, and a 100MB/s interface.
  • G80 Vista driver coming mid December - Nvidia still doesn't want to give away the driver to its partners nor the press but some key guys were informed that the G80 driver is in a good shape and works well.
  • UniveRSS - a 3D Vista RSS reader - The application only works on Windows Vista and requires a Vista Premium Ready PC (With WDDM drivers). I've heard it's fairly slow even on Nvidia 7600 :-o
  • Azureus 3.0 Launched - The latest release of Azureus 3.0 is a complete aesthetic departure from the 2.x series. Azureus 3.0 integrates Zudeo, which displays the web index on the BitTorrent client. Also, there's a clever search feature accompanying the client, which searches the Zudeo content layer for authorized content. There's even a section of Azureus dedicated to publishing authorized content.
  • Worm Uses QuickTime Video To Spread On MySpace - When played by a MySpace user, the video adds itself to the user's MySpace page and replaces the links on the user's profile with links to phishing web sites.
  • Illegal KMS server appears on the Internet - KMS, which stands for Key Management Service, is part of the Volume Activation 2.0 scheme to protect Windows Vista and Longhorn Server from piracy. As part of your license agreement with Microsoft you agree to not bring up a KMS server on the public internet. This server is a clear violation of that agreement, which I doubt they had.  To complicate matters this server appears to be setup somewhere in China. Which I assume would make things a little difficult for Microsoft from both a political and technical standpoint.
  • Windows Vista crack is actually a trojan - Malware makers are starting to take advantage of the number of users searching for cracks for the pirated copies of Vista floating around. A new download has started circulating around the crack boards called "Windows Vista All Versions Activation 21.11.06". It purports to be an activation crack for any version of Vista. However, the file is actually a trojan-carrier which will install Trojan-PSW.Win32.LdPinch.aze onto your PC. BitTorrent users who posted reviews of the crack said that a number of antivirus programs detected the malware, though Norton AntiVirus and NOD32 did not.
  • Microsoft delays Windows XP Service Pack 3 again - Microsoft quietly let it be known this week that it plans yet again to delay the release of Service Pack 3 for Windows XP users, this time until some point in the first half of 2008. At the beginning of 2006, I wrote that Microsoft was delaying SP3 until the latter half of 2007 in order to concentrate on development work for Windows Vista, the long-promised next new version of its flagship operating system. Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer had earlier said that SP3 would ship prior to the release of Vista.
  • Windows Vista Took 5 Years and 10,000 Employees - Imagine this. One of the world's most powerful monopolies puts 10,000 people to work for five years to create one new product. And nobody is really sure if anyone wants it
  • Will Red Hat Lose Customers Over Patent Protection? - Like him or hate him, one thing about Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is that he speaks his mind and seldom shies away from controversy.
  • Hackers succeed in ripping Blu-ray discs on a PS3 - While the 60GB hard drive may seem large enough for a couple of movies, let's not forget that Blu-ray titles can be as large as 50GB in size, assuming a fully filled dual-layer Blu-ray disc.
  • How to Copy HD-DVD's (using an Xbox 360) - This article outlines an interesting way to backup your HD-DVD's using an Xbox 360 with the HD-DVD add-on and a PC.
  • How to play HDTV content on your PC - This article attempts to clarify all the different file formats, and tells you EXACTLY what software you need to play HDTV content on your PC.
  • FBI Activates Cell Phones Remotely for Wiretapping - They can see us, read our emails, watch our IM conversations, and now even hear us whether we want them to or not.
  • NASA Announces Plans for Permanent Lunar Base - The base will be built at one of the moon's poles, as the poles should offer a mild climate and more sunlight than other locations. Four-person crews will initially spend short durations on the moon with teams constantly being rotated in and out, as with the current routine at the International Space Station. The scientists and researchers stationed at the moon base would be able to use the moon's natural resources to help maintain the lunar outpost. It is believed that the lunar base could be used as a stepping stone for future manned missions to Mars.
  • Open Document Format published as ISO standard - The Open Document Format has been published as an official standard by the International Organization for Standardization last week. What will this mean for the future of office apps?
  • UK unveils plans for new nuclear submarine fleet - Plans to invest in a new generation of nuclear submarines draws criticism from anti-nuclear MPs and campaigners, but approval from technical experts.
  • Say Hello to the Goodbye Weapon - A new radiation weapon that produces the "Goodbye effect" -- making victims run like crazy -- has been certified for use in Iraq. It feels like the skin is being ripped from your face, but the military says it's perfectly safe.
  • Detecting Tailgaters With Lasers - Police in Arizona are using laser range finders to detect and ticket tailgaters. An officer can now measure not only the speed of passing vehicles but also how close they are to one another.
  • In LA? Want a Free Pirates 2 DVD? - Walt Disney Home Entertainment is putting on a cool event in which you can walk away with a free copy of the "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (2-Disc Special Edition)" DVD.
  • Hitman Movie Update - Aint It Cool News has an update on the long-in-development movie version of Hitman, the third person action game series from Io Interactive and Eidos. According to the story writer Skip Woods (Swordfish) has completed a draft script for the 20th Century Fox and they hope to start filming soon for a release to theaters as early as fall 2007. Actor Vin Diesel, originally set to play Agent 47, is now apparently out with Timothy Olyphant (Deadwood) now in as the lead character.
  • Learning During Sleep? - Scientists at the Max Planck Institute for Medical Research in Heidelberg, Germany, have been investigating how memories might be consolidated. Their new study offers the hitherto strongest proof that new information is transferred between the hippocampus, the short term memory area, and the cerebral cortex during sleep.
Sempron 3000+ and Celeron D 331 tested - tech
(hx) 12:11 AM CET - Dec,05 2006 - Post a comment
Hardware Secrets tested the Sempron 3000+ and Celeron D, two CPUs targeted to the entry-level market. Here's a taster:
Even with lower operating frequency, Sempron 3000+ performed well and was much superior to the Intel processor in almost all the tests. In the benchmarking with Office apps the AMD CPU was in average 26% faster than the Intel CPU. Therefore it's the best choice if you're going to use the PC for Internet, texts, spreadsheets and office work. If you use Photoshop, the AMD processor is also the best choice. It accomplished the 12 benchmarking tasks in 11.9 seconds less than the Intel processor.

In games AMD advantage was even bigger. Sempron 3000+ was up to 73% faster on Doom 3, using the same video card. Besides being faster, the AMD processor consumes less power, heats less, makes less noise (since its fan is less demanded) and doesn't demand special cases or power supplies. So, for the moment, the best solution for low cost PCs is AMD, until Intel launches a low cost processor based on its new Core architecture.
 Gameguru Mania News - Dec,01 2006 - tech
Razer DeathAdder PC Gaming Mouse Announced - tech
(hx) 09:56 PM CET - Dec,01 2006 - Post a comment
Razer sent out a press release announcing their newest PC gaming mouse product called the DeathAdder. There is no word yet on a release date for the mouse. Here is some info:
Razer's 3G Infrared Sensor Technology is a quantum leap over current generation optical technology with enhanced precision of up to 1800 Dots Per Inch (dpi) and is fully optimized for high speed motions, factors that are critical to high performance gamers. The 3G infrared sensor rectifies swiping issues by almost immediately disabling surface tracking when the mouse is lifted off the surface. This is good news for gamers, as what was once considered a serious hindrance in professional gaming is now history.

The Razer DeathAdder boasts perfect control over the mouse in any gaming arena. The deadly 1800 dpi 3G infrared sensor when paired with 1000Hz Ultrapolling /1ms response provides pinpoint accuracy and lightning fast speed. Zero-acoustic Ultraslick Teflon feet and award-winning On-the-Fly Sensitivity drivers complete the Razer DeathAdder's deadly arsenal, making it the finest gaming mouse.
 Gameguru Mania News - Nov,30 2006 - tech
DirectX 10: The Future of Gaming - tech
(hx) 06:51 PM CET - Nov,30 2006 - Post a comment
NVIDIA's GeForce 8800 is already here, Vista hits today, and the first DirectX 10 games aren't far away. Bit-Tech take an in-depth look at what DX10 adds to the gaming and graphical experience, from geometry shaders to resources to render targets. Here's a taster:
All of the developers we have spoken to about DirectX 10 have greeted it with open arms. Many of those developers are working towards either porting an existing game to DirectX 10 or are in the process of creating a new game using the new API and acknowledge that the lower overheads associated with many heavily used functions will allow them to create scenes with more visual complexity and richness. Both AMD's and NVIDIA's developer relations teams are working with games developers to ensure that they have the necessary tools to make efficient use of DirectX 10's capabilities.

However, one of DirectX 10's benefits for game developers turns out to be a problem for end users. With DirectX 10 only being available under Windows Vista, gamers will have to not only purchase a DirectX 10 capable video card, but also upgrade their operating system too. In the past, gamers have only needed to buy new hardware to experience the new features and benefits bought to the table in a DirectX update.

Given what we've seen from the likes of Crysis on its DirectX 9 code path, we're confident that DirectX 9 will continue to progress until the developer's audiences start to really migrate to DirectX 10 hardware and Windows Vista. However, Crytek has already told us that Crysis will ship with effects that are exclusive to DirectX 10, and that it plans to implement more advanced effects through patches.

I think most gamers are hoping that Crysis will live up to the hype, but Crysis isn't the only game being developed for DirectX 10. Other games that have been confirmed for DirectX 10 include Age of Conan, Company of Heroes, Hellgate: London, Microsoft's Flight Simulator X, Supreme Commander and all games based on Unreal Engine 3, including the eagerly anticipated Unreal Tournament 2007.

PREV PAGENEXT PAGE