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March 2003 |
Gibbon spotted some speedy ADSL that might be on the way.
ModSynergy have a thermal compound shootout posted, and so do 8balls.
IPKonfig wonder how important clean water is for a watercooled setup.
FastSilicon are a new site.. they have a technical preview of Intel's 800MHz FSB, coming to a P4 near you soon.
Smokey spotted a very interesting, if lengthy, read about the evolution of cyborgs in our society.
Flash timewaster: Curve Ball from Arvosesh.
Reviews:
Elitegroup AIO A950 all-in-one PC on JSIHardware.
Logitech Quickcam Zoom webcam on GeekShelter.
Steelpad 3S mousing surface on Gruntville.
Pc Mods Powerdown Protector and LEDs on FuriousTech.
Leadtek K7NCR18G Pro nForce2-based socketA DDR motherboard on Hexus.
UT2003 Applique window decoration on ModSynergy.
Antec Cobra IDE and Floppy cables on DVHardware.
Acousti products AcoustiPack sound dampening kit on XtremeMods.
HP DVD300E 4x DVD+RW drive on HWZ.
MSI GNB Max FISR Granite Bay based P4 DDR motherboard on Nexus.
Folding Giveaway Week 2 Winners
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Monday, 31-March-2003 22:32:18 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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From Bollocks: The winner of the XP2000+ CPU is petercr and zeb00 managed to win the consolation prize of a jar of Hypermints.
This week we have up for grabs a 80G Western Digital 8Mb Cache IDE HDD donated by DGROMS.com and of course a consolation prize of a jar of Hypermints donated by CoolPC.
So far we have had 432 people nominate for the Giveaway with 54 of those new members and 45 previously inactive members, resulting in a total of 99 more people folding. We would like to push the number of nominations up to 500 this week.
Nominate yourself here, details on the Giveaway are here, check on your nominations here, Folding information here!
No news yesterday, shoulder was too sore. :( Special thanks to Channel 10 for not showing the Australian round of the World Superbikes that was on yesterday. Extra points for telling us the results anyway, so if we had a mate recording it from cable we now know what's going to happen before we see it.
It's come to light that in certain circumstances, WinXP SP1 can make a system run slower than before SP1 was installed. We're not talking about "hmm, feels a bit slower", but apparently up to 10 times as long to perform certain functions. Snoopy noticed Microsoft's explanation and patch and there's some more info on infoworld. Meanwhile, TheReg have info on a leaked SP2 build.
Tanus spotted this remote-controlled car. So what, you say? Well.. it's a real, full-size car - a Camry.
Apparently New South Wales has a new IT Minister, thanks blanko.
D-Silence have a short editorial about NVIDIA and NV35 posted.
New dets! v43.45 for your NVIDIA-based video card, thanks Val.
Sciby noticed that AusGamers have available for download a demo of Fighter Ace, a real 3D massively multi-player aerial combat game. Strap yourself into the cockpit of any one of over 95 World War II vintage fighters and bombers before taking to the skies against up 200 virtual pilots in one single air combat arena. Sounds pretty cool! They also have a trailer for the upcoming Enter the Matrix game.
Reviews:
Samsung sm332b DVD/CDRW combo drive on GideonTech.
Altech Lansing 2100 2.1 speakers on Tweakers.
MSI GF4 Ti4800SE VIVO video card on ExtremeOC.
Enermax TecTroid A5 multifunction panel on DVHardware.
PNY Verto GF4 Ti4800 video card on SchnacksHardware.
Dell 1900FP LCD monitor on MaximumOC.
Chaintech Zenith 9EJS1 i845PE-based P4 DDR motherboard on OCTools.
Sunbeam Tri-Colour CCFL Fan on GruntVille.
Bitspower Cold Cathodr Flourescent Light kit on RojakPot.
Improvements to AMD's Boxed CPUs
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Monday, 31-March-2003 09:55:01 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Nigel from PlusCorp sent over a document from AMD, detailing some changes to the packaging/accessories provided with their retail "boxed" CPU's:
1. Improved Heat sink - Smaller and Better
2. Improved Fan - Quieter More Efficient
3. Improved Retaining Clip - 6 Tab - More Reliable
4. Improved Identification - Bar-coded Chip with Chip Serial Number
Expect to see these improvements phased in over the next few months as we clear existing inventory levels. More info in this PDF (75KB), which I've mirrored on our server.
A smaller, lighter, more efficient cooler is certainly good news - although I don't recall being particularly troubled by the existing one. More interesting is that the retail cooler will now use all 6 socket lugs. That's great news, as anyone who's snapped the centre lug off a socket will agree.
Also, note that very soon, the only chips available from retail outlets will be boxed CPU's, according to another note from AMD. The only exception is the Duron 1.3GHz, which is still available as a "tray" or OEM, unpackaged CPU.
Saturday Afternoon
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Saturday, 29-March-2003 13:31:51 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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From Tori Lee: I want to invite the entire OCAU community to have a look at the entries in our March 2K3 Cook-Off ("The Eating of the Green") and rate them using the forum's thread rating system, based on how appetising (or not) they look. :) The contest closes on midnight of March 31. Winner receives bragging rights!
Bit-Tech compared ATI 9700-based video cards from Tyan and Crucial.
Another strange internet law on the boil in the USA, thanks Deej.
Digit-Life have an article about hooking up your Radeon to a TV using the different connectors provided.
Sciby spotted another fairly serious airborne laser project.
Perspex waterblock with LEDs in them look pretty cool, ModTown show you how to add one to one of the dangerden blocks.
Crusty spotted a sneak preview of the PlayStation3! I think we've seen it before. :)
Interesting Forum Threads:
Is the 8RDA+ really worth it? in AMD Hardware.
Overclocking Guide in Overclocking & Hardware.
Broadband Provider Survey in Networking & Internet.
Reviews:
ABIT IT7 Max2 Rev2 i845PE-based P4 DDR motherboard on PCStats, our review here.
Plextor PC-504A DVD+R/RW drive (video review) on 3DGameMan.
PC Power and Cooling 510W Turbo Cool PSU on MaximumOC.
Vantec 6040H CopperX socketA cooler on ViperLair.
Albatron GeForce Ti4800SE video card on Guru3D.
Gigabyte G-MAX FB2CB mini-PC on HWZ.
Logitech io Digital Pen on DesignTechnica.
Albatron KX400-8X KT400-based socketA DDR motherboard on LANAddict.
Albatron PX845PEV-800 Limited Edition i845PE-based P4 DDR motherboard on SubZeroTech.
Chaintech Summit 7NIF2 nForce2-based socketA DDR motherboard on OCrCafe.
Saturday Morning
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Saturday, 29-March-2003 11:36:31 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Seems that Windows Server 2003 is on the way.. more info here. Meanwhile, infoworld have concerns about the lack of a NT4 patch for a recent security hole.
The ArsMasters have checked out a disaster recovery tool called ERD Commander.
Interesting article from Greg about the Google Answers pay-for-info service.
ThinkTechie have a front blowhole guide posted.. hmm, not sure how an intake fan can be a blowhole, but ok. Lotsa pics anyway.
Hawk spotted that Westpac is the target of a similar scam to the Commbank one from last week - but this seems less likely to be effective.
AMDMB rounded up some 80mm fans.. 12 in total.
Sun say they'll be moving away from their custom linux and going with a more standard distribution soon.
Looking for video games? Razorprices have a price comparison engine for PC and console games now. TechWatch also have a hardware price comparison system.
Ethernet-over-power has been a pipe dream for a while, but it looks a lot closer with Netgear announcing this gadget, which allows users to access the Internet through ordinary electrical outlets at speeds of up to 14 Mbps.. thanks Simon.
Reviews:
Chaintech Zenith 9EJS1 i845PE-based P4 DDR motherboard on Tech-Report.
Albatron GF4 Ti4800 video card on HotHardware.
MSI 655 Max SiS655-based P4 DDR motherboard on HardWareZone.
Compro Poladyne Ti4200-8X video card on OCNZ.
Arkua 8568 P4 cooler on Gruntville.
Hercules Prophet 9700 Pro video card on 3DVelocity.
I-STAR TC-400R8A redundant PSU on ClubOC.
This is bizarre enough that it warrants its own news post: 'time traveler' busted for insider trading. Thanks Daemon!
Friday Afternoon
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Friday, 28-March-2003 14:50:16 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Masa was entry #4800 in the PCDB. I wonder who'll be #5000?
Shaft found something interesting: Corsair, more famous for their various memory products, have an external watercooling system in the works.
Apparently Australian IT managers are suffering from mental health problems more than usual at the moment. Speaking as someone who was an IT manager for a while, I think you'd have to be half-mad to take the position in the first place. :)
Spamming in China? Expect to get spammed back.. by the Government! Shame it only applies to billboards and not to the zillions of email spams that seem to go via China on the way to my inbox.
One unexpected email was actually quite well received recently, coz it told me there's a Good Food and Wine Show coming up in Sydney and Melbourne soon. Mmmm, hope both my arms are working properly by then, so I can stuff myself with maximum efficiency. Two words for any show organisers who read this page: free samples!
CDRInfo have a 52X IDE CDRW drive roundup.
Bigiain spotted this Australian article about making a media PC for MP3, DVD, personal video recording etc - with an interesting comparison between doing it in Windows and Linux.
Heatseekerz have CeBit 2003 coverage posted.
TheInq have a rant about Granite Bay and a recent Intel erratum about AGP 3.0 support, thanks Bern.
OCOnline have a compressor watercooling article posted.. kind've a cheapo DIY Vapochill.
More Dan, more letters.
From spydi: The TV series Astro Boy has him being created on the 7th April 2003. To celebrate his birthday there will be a new seried and movie. Also celebrations are planned in Japan for this occasion.
I think we already linked this, but Krpyt0n says Mandrake 9.1 is out now. Newbie-friendly Linux distro.
James found this list of microsoft codenames for their various products while in development.
Sudhian have been analysing and comparing RAM performance on an nForce2 system.
NT4 users are not going get a patch to close a particular RPC-based security problem, thanks alx-e. Meanwhile, there's another hole in win2k.. thanks Duncan.
Reviews:
ABIT SI7-G SiSR658-based RAMBUS P4 motherboard on VR-Zone.
Coolermaster 201C-SX1 case on DeviantPC.
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80GB HDD on Tech-Mods.
Evercool ND18-715 socket cooler on AllTechBox.
Hydor L30 320GPH water pump on OCAddiction.
From Thingy: For those who may be wondering, the shave went ahead at 3pm on the 14th of March at work. Pictures are located right here. Total amount raised, $844.45, deposited about an hour ago. Thanks to everyone for all the help raising this amount for the Leukaemia Foundation!
Intel's Anti-Overclocking Patent?
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Friday, 28-March-2003 11:42:36 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Top story of the moment seems to be that Intel have registered a patent to prevent overclocking. Info on Slashdot, TheInq, TheReg and overclockers.com. The actual patent document is here, thanks Greg. There's been a lot of jumping up and down about it, but from a quick (and painkiller-fogged) read it doesn't seem that big a deal to me. Intel applied for this patent a long time ago, when remarked chips were being sold on the market so it was a big concern for them - haven't heard of that going on in a long time now. Since that time the view of overclocking shared by the various manufacturers has matured greatly. No longer are overclockers viewed as evil people squeezing illegal speed out of products, but industry-driving enthusiasts who enjoy optimising performance. Look at the number of motherboards and video cards that say in big friendly letters on the box that they have overclocking features nowadays - clearly, plenty of marketing people think that it's worth pitching their products at those kinds of users. Finally, if Intel really go out of their way to alienate overclockers, it'll just send that (not huge, but not insignificant) portion of the market over to AMD. Of course, if it is implemented, it may well turn out to be - like AMD's multiplier lock - easily disabled by motherboard/chipset vendors or someone with a conductive pen, a pencil or a short peice of wire. I doubt our hobby is going to go away anytime soon.
The DirectX9a link in yesterdays news that didn't work, now works. Get it before they remove it again. Its the web installer only though. Iroquois points out this unofficial Microsoft statement as to why it was taken down.
BoogleTech has a guide to using Rage3D Tweak. Rage3D Tweak is a tweaker for ATI cards (like RivaTuner is for NVIDIA cards) that covers all the driver tweaks you could ever wish for, well almost all.
Schrambo found some screenshots of a Geforce FX 5600 Ultra running the nVidia demo. Shame about the leaves!
If one monster fan cools a heatsink well, why not add another? Viper Lair try to answer this question.
Hardware Accelerated have an article about PCI-Express, the upcoming replacement for the PCI bus found on current motherboards.
NinjaLane have put an Epox 8RDA+ and a Soltek SL-75FRN-L motherboard head to head. Which one came out in front? Its a close call.
Dan has posted some more letters, or received some more letters...which ever is the case.
If you are interested in what chipset plans Intel has in store for you, check out the latest Intel Internal Chipset Release Schedule at Adrian's Rojak Pot.
Shaun found an article that says IBM will be making the GPUs for nVidia's Geforce FX.
The timewaster for today comes from High-Fidelity and its called Mini Air Hockey. Mini, as in the car...
Reviews
Albatron PX845PEV-800 i845PE Motherboard at PCStats
Tyan Trinity KT400 Motherboard at Accelenation
Maxtor 6Y080P0 Hard Drive at Digit-Life
ViewMate Slim USB Keyboard at DesignTechnica
5 LCD Ultra-Thin Video Module review/howto at Extreme Overclocking
ToCool Novasonic Heatsink at Digital Ferret
Soltek SL-75FRN-L nForce 2 Motherboard at Hardcoreware
Albatron GF4 Ti4680P Turbo at Solidmercury
Enermax CS-10182 Case at Nexus
HardOCP compared the R9700 vs R9800, high end video offerings from ATI. They also checked out Abit's BH7 i845PE P4 motherboard aimed at performance freaks.
Meanwhile, TechSpot compared the R9700 and R9500 video cards from Crucial and Sapphire.
Digital-Daily have their CEBit 2003 coverage posted, presenting novelties from Asus, interview with nVidia, Abit and Gainward, modders' joys etc.
When a hardware site reviews a vacuum cleaner you have to wonder about their desperation for content.. but actually, HWZ's look at the Electrolux Trilobyte has me interested. A robo-vacuum for the ultra lazy.. wonder how it'd cope with my 3 dogs chasing it around and flipping it over every few minutes, tho.
We may not have "sharks with fricking lasers on their heads" yet, but laser-equipped aircraft are on the way thanks reax.
The RSPCA has joined the fight to shut down bonsaikitten.com (no, it's not real, but I do think it's pretty uncool), thanks dink.
Ownt compared Logitech's MX700 and MX500 mice.
Von Stalhein sent in this funny random American Military Operation Name generator.
Crusterminator (okey dokey) sent word that PC games could become cheaper thanks to some new legislation.
There's more of the usual whacky stuff in the latest issue of ZZZ Online.
Reviews:
Gigabyte GA-SINXP1394 Granite Bay based P4 DDR motherboard on NeoSeeker.
Albatron PX845PEV-800 i845PE-based P4 DDR motherboard on Hardware-Test.
MSI GNB MAX2-L Granite Bay P4 DDR motherboard on Hexus.
FIC A97P Radeon 9700 Pro video card on VR-Zone.
CrazyPC Case Wrap painting alternative on FuriousTech.
JMC 401100 Phoenix 70 Radial Fin P4 Heatsink on FrostyTech.
Soyo Dragon KT400 socketA DDR motherboard on OCPrices.
X-Sonic pre-modded case on OCModShop.
Custom Cases Window Applique kit on AusModders.
Samsung SyncMaster 172w widescreen LCD monitor on MonkeyReview.
Terratec DMX 6-Fire 24/96 high-end sound card on Guru3D.
First up today, this years OCAU Folding Giveaway is under way and the first round of winners will soon be enjoying their prizes. Week 1 winners are "Wolfspirit of the Gamers-Underground subteam". He has won a stick of 256 Mb PC2100 DDR donated by David Glasson (DGROMS.com). The consolation prize of a jar of Hypermints donated by CoolPC goes to "ScarletHippo". Congratulations guys. Next weeks prizes are an AMD XP2000+ (Palamino) processor with AMD cooler (donated by DGROMS.com) and a consolation prize of a jar of Hypermints (CoolPC).
DWPG take a look at the Prometeia Phase Change Cooler. Part 1 of their review is up.
A new DVD player to hit the market is the first to offer an Ethernet connection to connect to the web and is also the first to offer DivX support. Now why would we need DivX support? :) Thanks Darkness.
Bench House have posted a 16x DVD player roundup.
Cadal notes that DirectX 9a is out. Get it from Microsoft. (Hmm...MS seem to have taken it off the server. Maybe they decided it was not quite ready yet)
Zed came across a problem with his new Asus P4G8X Deluxe Gold (Granite Bay) motherboard and an ATI 9700 Pro video card. The problem seems to be with the chipset itself. Toms Hardware have more details about it.
The DDR Guide II over on Overclockers NZ has been updated with some new ram modules. I used this guide recently when getting ready to buy some new ram.
Interesting piece from eDust. "The GDDR2 SDRAM standard is close to being finalized. This will be used by the video card manufacturers for faster memory".
A curiously amusing article from NZ. Bandwidth bandit loses business. So, stealing bandwidth is bad OK! From Wolfman.
Here is a small collection of useful articles from Rainwulf...well...some might be useful, like the Tseng Labs card cooling :).
The next Supanova Pop Culture Expo is on Saturday 5th & Sunday 6th April at Wharf 8, Sydney. Sounds like fun. Thanks to those people who sent in the link.
Finally, this just in from Gareth. "Red Flag Lan Fest (large perth lan) signups open tomorrow at 9.30am. The event will be held at the Cannington Showgrounds for over 120 people on the 12th and 13th of April". Theres over $1800 in prizes to be had so get your rego in soon.
spankyofoz provided todays timewaster. Its Airwolf. Remember the show from the 80's. Am I that old!
Reviews
Kingston 5GB PC Card HDD & Reader at Mikhailtech
Intel D845GEBV2 Motherboard at Digital-Daily
Nexland Pro400ADSL ISB/ADSL Modem Video Review at 3DGameMan
Epox 8RDA+ Nforce2 Motherboard at 3dXtreme
PC Power and Cooling 510W ATX Power Supply at Extreme Overclocking
Gigabyte MAYA R9000 Pro II at AMDWorld
Sunbeam Rheobus at Boogletech
OCS C3 Clear Ice Acrylic Case at PC-Arena
Jetway 845PEA Motherboard at Digital-Daily
Let's see how this one-handed news goes..
Alx-e spotted this bio-battery that runs on shots of vodka.. what a waste, unless it's the cheap and nasty stuff. :)
Apparently Hotmail is restricting outbound email to help stop spam.
Thinking of building a PC to work with audio? AusMusician have a guide which may help you out.
Daniel spotted a fanless Radeon R9700 Pro on Akiba.
HWFusion have an interview with Creative, while ExplosiveLabs interviewed Intel.
Reviews:
PCToyz Powermaxx 520W PSU on OCWareHouse.
Tweakmonster BGA ramsinks on Gruntville.
Rounded Coloured ATA133 Cables on ComputerSphere.
CoolerMaster LED Case Fans (updated) on OCrsClub
Geargrip LCD Shield Harness lcd sling on ThinkTechie.
Corsair TwinX 512-3200LL paired DDR sticks on NordicHW.
Cooler Master XDream V81 and V83 CPU coolers on Hexus.
Digitrex DSC-2100 digicam on DansData.
ATI R9800 Pro video card on Digit-Life.
Compro Poladyne Ti4800SE video card on Bjorn3D.
AMD AthlonXP 3000+ Barton on Active-Hardware.
Antec LANboy case on A1 Electronics.
Newsposts, email responses and other things from me will slow to a trickle for a little while. On Saturday I managed to hit, of all things, a deer in the Royal National Park south of Sydney while riding my motorcycle. The deer fared the worst, but my 6-week-old Honda Fireblade seems likely to be written off also. I have a broken collarbone and 6 stitches in my knee, so using the PC for any length of time is a painful experience. Docs reckon I'll be in a sling for 6 weeks or so. So, if you get a short reply (or none at all) to your email, that's why. Hopefully I'll get back up to speed (so to speak) as my shoulder strengthens up in the coming weeks.
Remember the NetBank scam we linked to last week? It looks like the Federal Police have caught up with the naughty man responsible. More here. Thanks to all those who sent in the link.
Mibberz sent this link in. It has some interesting source code on the page if you care to have a look. Oh, it also shows a good cup holder.
This just in from Tim. "The next Zgeek/CLGA LAN is coming up on March 29th. There's room for 130 people, we're giving away about $800 worth of prizes, all are welcome and there are about a dozen slots of the 130 remaining when last I checked". Go here for more info.
Here's a promising idea. Reachable devices which don't need to be plugged in to charge them. See wireless recharging for more info. Link from Greg and others.
A couple of pieces from local news-hound eDust. Microsoft wants universities to teach hacking! Sounds unreal, well, it is kind off. The want people to be able to write secure code. Read the full story here. Also, an overview of how to use your iPaq PDA to solve networking problems.
Multi-Function Panels are becoming so popular, It wasn't that long ago one had to build their own. Enermax have one of the latest off the production line and it looks neat. HardCoreWare review it for you.
Hardware Avenue have an ad-hoc guide to building a home wireless network.
Here is an original mod. A Pneumatic PC. Air powered accessories. The sort of thing that inspires!
Reviews
Crucial USB 6 in 1 Card Reader at Viper Lair
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 80G SATA Drive at HotHardware
Fuji Xerox Phaser 7300 Laser Printer at HWZ
AOpen HP-590 Headphones with Vibration Bass at 3dXtreme
Spire MicroFlow I HSF at ModSynergy
Corsair CMX512-3200LL 512MB DDR at PCStats
Soltek SL-75FRN-L Motherboard at AthlonXP
PCToys Vga MaXX Heatpipe cooler at BoPC
Hauppauge WinTV-PVR-250 Digital TV Recorder at Sudhian
Gateway 700XL computer system at Design Technica
Why aren't PC games released on the DVD format? With many games being released on two or more Cd's, why not move to DVD? This article tries to answer that question. From Joseph.
Mods mods and more mods. phi came across these pics with some excellent looking machines. I love the microwave oven PC. phi also found this illuminated mouse pad.
If you're a big Counter Strike fan, and I'm told there are one or two around, then here is a competition where you could win NZD$5000 for playing your favorite game. Thanks mibberz.
z3us tells us that KXProject have an excellent driver set for the range of Sound Blaster cards powered by EMU10k* chipsets.
Need a laptop that can handle the knocks? This might be what you're after. "We drop each one 54 times from one meter, bake it in an oven, chill it in a freezer, vibrate it, and submit it to a shower of hurricane proportions". Link from Eric.
Bjorn3D are going to have an IRC chat with nVidia's Bill Rehbock on the 25th of March, thats tomorrow. To join in the chat, go here for details.
EliteCool have a video showing how to install a heatsink on your CPU. Have a look here. Might be handy if you've never had to do it before.
On New Scientist, an article which says Intel might have a way to permanently stop DDoS attacks. Now that would be handy if it works.
The flash thing for today is...umm...Penguin Chat. Walk around, chat to people you have no interest in and throw snowballs at them. Check out the bar for some cool tunes.
Reviews
Crucial USB Portable 6-in-1 Card Reader at 8BallsHardware
Creative Nomad MuVo MP3/WMA Player at Dead-Fish
Essentec MT. BLANC-1Z Heat Pipe Socket A Cooler at 3dXtreme
TOCOOLS Novasonic HSF at 3DVelocity
Msystems 32 mb USB Drive at R&B
Here's a handy "How To" guide for you. Lapping your heatsink is a very cheap and simple way to improve its performance. It doesn't take lots of dollars or days to do and the results can be well worth the little effort involved. 8Balls show you how to do it.
DV Hardware have set up a mirror for MBM5. If the Motherboard Monitor home site is slow for you, give the mirror a try.
More CEBIT coverage over on Hexus. They cover the SFF/XPC/HTPC area of the show with lots of goodies to look at. Also, lots of pics and other info on Overclockers Online.
This just in from Darkness. "OCAUMC has been open for a few days now with over 40 riders registered already. There are a few upcoming rides with the details on the site. Basic site for now and all comments/suggestions are to go in this thread".
Allen at Spode's Abode has reviewed the Poseidon Watercooling Kit from 3R Systems. It seems to be a reasonable entry level kit.
DeviantPC have posted a Noise Solutions article with a focus on the fanbus, baybus type setup.
I was just browsing the PCDB and I came across an entry called MrSHADOW2. Is it an ashtry? Is it a rubbish bin. I don't know but I like the look of it anyway.
Thats all for the moment, the suns coming up so I should go to bed before it burns me.
Reviews
OCZ EL PC3700/PC3500 Basic Series DDR at Mikhailtech
MSI CR52-A2 52/24/52 CDRW at Viper Lair
PCXmods X-Trac Pro HS Mouse Pad at Modsynergy
Melvine 'Blue Edition' HDD VU Kit at Bjorn3D
If you don't have the money, skill or time to paint your case then how about giving it a Wrap. Checkout PimpRig and some of the CaseWraps they review.
Things are looking up for Game Boy owners. Games utilizing the Quake and Quake2 engines could soon be on the shelves. More info here.
Does the nforce2-IGP packing EP-8RGA+ motherboard perform exactly like the EP-8RDA+? Find out at PCStats.
Yoshi has been at it again. A Lian-Li case crammed full of good stuff including an Atari 2600, Nintendo Entertainment System (8-bit), Microsoft Xbox, Nintendo GameCube, Sony PlayStation 2 and of course, a PC. Check it out here. Thanks Jamie.
Adrian's Rojak Pot have updated their BIOS OPTIMIZATION GUIDE. This is THE place to find out what all those BIOS options do and how best to use them. Well worth a look.
VIA to Launch KT600 Chipset! Read it yourself if you don't believe me. KT400A or KT600. What will it be? Thanks Michael for the link.
From mibberz comes news of the greatest advancement in personal computing EVER. Even if your PC won't make a coffee for you, with this little device it will at least keep it warm. I gotta laugh.
PCstats check out the advantages of an AMD XP CPU running at a 400Mhz bus speed. Full write up here.
Reviews
Antec LANboy aluminium case at Modders Australia
SOYO SY-KT400 Ultra motherboard at Bjorn3d
AOpen HP-590 Vibrating Headphone at Ninja Lane
RATPADZ GS Mouse Surface at Furioustech
SiS 655 Chipset at A1 Electronics
Yamaha CRW-F1 CDRW at BiT-Tech
OCZ Dominator 2-CU CPU Cooler at CyberCPU
Western Digital Raptor WD360GD HDD at Storage Review (Thanks EazyduzIt)
Matrix Orbital's MX2 LCD display at Tech-Report
Highpoint RocketRAID 1542 eSATA/SATA Adapter at 3dGameMan
Ars Technica have a Video Capturing Guide with a lot of good info on converting VHS to digital. Lots of other general capturing tips and hints as well.
TechSpot have put up a OS Updates section for all of those patches and other OS related bits we all need from time to time.
Those in the wireless world have probably heard already that Cisco Systems have announced their purchase of Linksys. Things might change a little in the world of no wires. Thanks mibberz.
DataFuse review a preview sample of the Pentalpha Aqualia water cooling kit. To say the least, they were not very impressed.
Luke found this nice Mini ITX mod for all the beer drinkers out there. If you aren't a beer drinker, then have a look anyway.
Looking to buy a new server? "Appro's system, with 80 dual-Opteron computers in a single six-foot rack, will cost between $160,000 and $320,000". Have a look here.
Telstra has got together with four major telcos to form an Asian wireless broadband alliance aimed at business travelers.
COMindico have announced some new unlimited ADSL products. Lets wait and see how long they stay unlimited!
Astronomers have witnessed the death of a star and the birth of a black hole.
A few interesting forum threads.
Waterproof Wireless in Networking and Internet
Official OCAU motorcycle club Site in Motoring
Dial-In access box ~150 users in Networking and Internet
Reviews
ASUS D1 Desktop Replacement (Laptop) at SFF
Yeong Yang Cube Sound Damped case at BurnOutPc
ABIT BH7 motherboard at ExtremeOverclocking
Antec Cobra UV Cable at Furioustech
Logitech Z-680 Speaker System at Designtechnica
AOpen AX4R Plus (Intel E7205) motherboard at HWZ
NexFan LED Fans at SubZeroTech
Swiftech MCX4000 Heatsink at ClubOC
VIA P4PB Ultra - P4X400 Motherboard at HotHardware
AOpen H340A Case
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Friday, 21-March-2003 11:37:31 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Wild has sent in a review of this MicroATX case from AOpen. These cases fill a space between full-size cases and the VIA Eden mini-ITX solutions. They're something of a compromise, but are they usable?
Click for the review!
After a week of double shifts, here is a small news post to get me back into the swing of things.
Gazza found some news about XBox Live and its release here in Australia. Still Waiting.
Iroquois notes that a recent Windows patch might cause more problems than it cures.
The new Swiftech MCW5000-A water block at ipKonfig. The Swiftech blocks always look so good. On the same topic, over on Monkey Review you can have a look at the Koolance Exos, a self contained external water cooling kit.
It looks like nVidia are ready for 64bit Athlons with their Crush K8 chipset ready to go. Now all we need is for AMD to release the chips.
Dave found a swedish site with some previously unseen (by me at least) screenshots of Longhorn (the next generation Windows) at work. The site is a little slow but the pics are interesting.
Reviews
Firefly USBee & Translucent Flash Drive at OCAddiction
M-Audio Revolution 7.1 PC Surround SoundCard at Tweaknews
Cooler Master's LED Fans at VoidedWarranty
TX50 64mb USB Drive at Mikhailtech
MSI GNB Max2-L (Intel E7205) Motherboard at HWZ
Abit KD7-E Motherboard at Bench-House
ExplosiveLabs have a 12-way i845PE motherboard comparison, while Hexus checked out some budget 2700 memory. Tech-Report rounded up some hard drives.
Guru3D have updated RivaTuner, for tweaking your NVIDIA or ATI video card.
ExtremeOC have a PSU guide to help you pick one. Meanwhile, XtremeTek have a couple of power supply mods posted, including adding a piggy-back power connector like they all had in the good old days.
Abit's BH6 was one of the boards to have back in the Slot1 days. Their new BH7 is apparently aimed squarely at overclockers also - it's a P4 board based on the i845PE chipset. VR-Zone have the first review that I recall seeing - will be reading that one with interest.
In a strange new twist, Dan has answered some more letters.
You know things are out of control on the case-lighting front when even ArsTechnica are reviewing sound-controlled cold cathode kits.
Mark noticed this weblog which is apparently from a person in Baghdad. I'm not going to get caught up in the politics or war debate, but it's interesting to hear the perspective from the ground. You kinda forget that there's still people going to work and buying groceries and stuff there.
From Gazza: Apparently Xbox Live is due in Australia in October this year. But if you are keen you can just import the kit from the US and use it now. The only potential problem that I can see is that once you have registered with the US server you may not be able to change it back to the Oz server when the time comes... may the fun begin!
VIA's mini-ITX platform has hit 1GHz now, report SilentPCReview.
Digit-Life have a virtual tour of NVIDIA's California headquarters.
From Falkor: This is just a reminder that the Sydney Cruise and BBQ is on this weekend, so if anyone isn't doing anything this Sunday then come down and meet us at Homebush (details here), chat about whatever and have a good day :) As well as a nice cruise in the sun! That's a car/bike cruise, not a "Love Boat" cruise..
Tim managed to dig up more evidence that alcohol is good for you. Hurrah!
ASELabs have some musings on Intel's mobile technology like Centrino.
Some more CeBit 2003 coverage: Guru3D and Tuneworld.. in German but good pics.
Flash timewasters: Greg says GLTron is a yet another Tron lightcycles game, with nice graphics. PraiseB sent in this who wants to be a millionaire game, but this is the US version and is apparently free.. didn't realise you had to pay the one linked yesterday.
Reviews:
SiS746FX AMD motherboard chipset on AMDMB.
ATI All-In-Wonder 9700 Pro (video review) video card with the lot on 3DGameMan.
BlueTake BW318 Wireless Access Point on Bytesector.
BlueTake BW002 USB Adapter on Bytesector.
EPoX 8K9A+ KT400-based socketA DDR motherboard on AMDWorld.. a little outdated now.
Sunbeam Rheobus fan controller on Pimprig.
Samsung 172T LCD screen on MBReview.
Corsair TwinX DR memory on Tech-PC.
CoolMax USB 2.0 Drive Enclosure on IANAG.
Antec SKL3700 case on SilentPCReview.
Intel P4 3.06GHz CPU on Beyond3D.
QuietPC SilentDrive enclosure on Bit-Tech.
AMS GBOX P4 mini-PC on SFFTech.
Chaintech AV-515M sound card on ViperLair.
Wednesday Afternoon
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Wednesday, 19-March-2003 14:01:50 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Those pesky hax0rs. They've attacked US Army servers through a new Win2K vulnerability, thanks Alex, and they're also having a go at windows broadband users, thanks Shrambo.
HardwareAccelerated have an interview with a company porting a Mac game to the PC.
DesignTechnica think that smart displays are a dumb idea.
Sniper sent in an article on securing XP Home and Pro.
Blagged-hardware have a project called Emubox - a PC that captures the large, flightless birds indigenous to central Australia. Or, plays old games or something.
MadShrimps checked out some high-end aircoolers for socketA, while Bjorn3D compared some high-end RAM.
Bern spotted more info about the Commbank scam we reported on yesterday.. MelbourneIT had a similar one.
There's an article here about how cable TV works. Not sure if it's the same in Oz, but I assume so.
Digit-Life talk about Dothan, Merom, Gilo, Alviso-GM and Crestine-GM. What's all that? Upcoming Intel mobile products, of course.
ZZZ number 163 is out now. Go the flying dog!
MVSeal sent in the flash timewaster for today: who wants to be a millionaire?. Apparently you can even win prizes on an upcoming version.
Interesting Forum Threads:
Unusual method for testing for leaks in Extreme Cooling.
R300 -> R350 soft(ware) mod released in Video Cards.
I've switched to Linux in Other Operating Systems.
Reviews:
MicroTracker Mouse Pad on ExtensionTech.
Coolink U1L2 CPU cooler on FrostyTech.
Abit NF7-S nForce2-based socketA DDR motherboard on LANAddict.
Playboy Bunny Window Applique by Smack01.
Mushkin EMS PC3500 DDR SDRAM on OCTools.
Crucial 6-in-1 Card Reader on ClubOC.
Thermaltake XaserIII V-1000D case on AthlonXP.
Pyramid V Fan Silencer on FuriousTech.
Samsung SM438B DVD+CDRW combo drive on NeoSeeker.
Gainward GF4 PowerPack Ultra/700-8X XP Golden Sample (phew!) video card on HWZ.
Vantec Nexus fan controller on CyberCPU.
Sunbeam Tech EL Strip case lighting on SubZeroTech.
VIA P4PB Ultra P4X400-based P4 DDR motherboard on OCProjects.
DangerDen Watercooling Kit on Nexus Hardware.
If you're still seeing the Santa-hat logo on this page and in the forums, try deleting your browser cache or forcing a refresh (CTRL-F5 in IE). We took those logos down about 2 weeks after Christmas but people are still emailing me and calling me a slacker for not having taken them down yet. It's your browser or proxy that's the slacker, honest. :)
MS Wireless Optical Desktop for Bluetooth
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Wednesday, 19-March-2003 02:10:17 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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James has reviewed this wireless keyboard and mouse setup from Microsoft. It's a little different to earlier wireless products, in that it uses the newish Bluetooth communication standard.
Click here for the review!
Folding Giveaway 2 - now on!
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Tuesday, 18-March-2003 23:17:09 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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The OCAU Folding Giveaway 2 is currently underway. All you have to do is nominate yourself in this thread, then be active in our Folding@Home Team and you could win some goodies from CoolPC or DGROMS.
Click here for info!
Exhilaration - Motorcycling for Women
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Tuesday, 18-March-2003 19:34:30 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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As many of you know, besides being a geek I'm also an avid motorcyclist. OCAU has sponsored Exhilaration, an expo in Sydney designed to entice women to take up motorcycling. It's a full day and it's open to men and women, should be very interesting if you're into bikes or you're thinking of taking up riding. Even better, all profit is being donated to the Royal Hospital for Women.
Full info at www.exhilaration.com.au - check it out!
There's a few LAN's coming up: ChookGamerz in Toowoomba and BFGLan in Hobart on this Saturday (22nd), while Valhalla in Adelaide and LANBash in Lismore are on April 12/13. Some forum-goers are pondering an 18+ LAN in Brisbane / SE QLD, see this thread for more info or if you can help out.
More coverage of CeBIT, the technology expo in Germany: HardwareAnalysis, Techseekers here and here, Beyond3D.
Leo sent in this cool cheap wireless network extension idea.
Warning: If your bedroom looks like this, you may have a problem.
Sniper spotted news of faster CPUs from both the Intel and AMD camps in April.
Migishu sent in Armagedtron, a Tron lightcycles game that can be played over the net. Little does he know that many OCAU admins were seriously addicted to this game about a year ago. :)
Reviews:
SanDisk Connect Low Power Wireless LAN card on Bjorn3D.
Raidmax 400W PSU (video review) on 3DGameMan.
Xoxide SS Warrior case on GeekShelter.
Creative SoundBlaster Audigy 2 sound card on TechSpot.
Vantec EZ-Swap Mobile IDE HDD rack on ViperLair.
CoolerMaster XDream SE CPU cooler on DVHardware.
ASUS A7N7X Deluxe nForce2-based DDR socketA motherboard on AMDWorld.
Zalman CNPS7000-cu P4 cooler on DataFuse.
Altec Lansing 5100 5.1 speakers on HardCoreWare.
Taisol CMK702151A copper heatpipe heatsink on FrostyTech.
Sunbeam Blue EL Cable on MikhailTech.
2x512MB Corsair XMS3500 DDR memory on IPKonfig.
NEC MultiSync 1850E LCD screen on Lollan.
Gigabyte SINXP1394 SiS655-based P4 DDR motherboard on HardWareZone.
CubesystemZ CF-S968 mini-PC on 3DVelocity.
Tweakmonster EL Applique for case windows on OCWarehouse.
Vantec Nexus fan controller on NexusHardware.
Lian Li PC-69 Mid Tower case on ArsTechnica.
From Callan: Nasty scam doing the rounds today, purporting to be an Email from the Commonwealth Bank. It lures you to post your Netbank account/password, either from an inbuilt form or by linking to a cleverly crafted link. The target website has been closed, (looks like a server was compromised), but as this internet nasty was better socially engineered than most, some people may have been suckered in. If anyone has, I'd jump online quick smart, check the balance, change the password and contact Whichbank.
I've parked a "disarmed" copy of of the offending Email, for your perusal here.
It will have suckered in more than a few. - it should act as a wakeup call not to believe everything you get in Email.
The dodgy grammar and not-Australian phone number should have tipped people off that it wasn't really from the Commonwealth Bank, hopefully..
Tuesday Morning
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Tuesday, 18-March-2003 10:11:32 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Lots of people sent in online TV guide websites for Australia. Turns out that the Yahoo one is still around, but a recent site change (I assume) made my bookmark invalid. Anyway, other suggestions included, in no particular order: yourtv.com.au, Citysearch (Sydney, but presumably other cities available) and NineMSN.
CNN have an article about redesigning the net to make it spam-resistant.
Nicely finished PC from Apovis2 in the PCDB.
Sudhian have an article about things they'd like to see in Doom III, when it arrives.
Tech-Report cast their eyes over Asetek's Vapochill PE here. We reviewed it here a little while ago. Stay tuned for our update with the SocketA mounting kit, too - 2100B and 8RDA+ are on the way.
MWGL has an interesting article about running Matrox's reef demo, originally intended only for their Parhelia product, on other cards (like NVIDIA or ATI products). They reckon you can even use it as a DirectX 8.1 benchmark.
Sniper noticed the broadband scene heating up in Oz, apparently.. more info here.
Flash timewaster: bike racing, from paulh.
More news on the way..
Reviews:
Kingston HyperX PC3500 DDR SDRAM on OCAddiction.
Samsung SyncMaster 191N LCD screen on TheTechZone.
Dual 12" Blue CCFL case lighting kit on TechFreaks.
Akasa glow-in-the-dark IDE cables on BurnOutPC.
3aCooler Z-Bra breast, err, CPU cooler on OCIA.
Matrix Orbital MX212 USB LCD screen on IPKonfig.
Beantech BT82 Acrylic case on PC-Arena.
Sunbeam 5'25" Rheobus fan controller on ModSynergy.
ExtremeAlterations rounded floppy cable on SubZeroTech.
Archive Updated
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Monday, 17-March-2003 02:04:35 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Well, a lot has happened since I last updated the Article and Review Archive. Check these out if you missed them the first time around, they're now in the archive:
VIA EPIA-M 933 C3 motherboard+CPU review from Baker.
Big Day In 2003 report from FoderMe.
Key-Start Switch Mod article from Baker.
nForce SoundStorm Technology overview from SpeedRacer.
Thermaltake Aquarius II watercooling kit review from SushiMOO.
Sunbeam Tech 80mm Cold Cathode Fan review from Sabretooth.
Klipsch Promedia 2.1 Speakers review from Noah.
YOPER RC3 Operating System review from Iroquois.
120mm Aluminium Fan Filter review from Whitey Ford.
Sunbeam Tech 80mm Quad LED Fan review from Sabretooth.
VIA Eden Colecovision PC Mod project from Baker.
Logitech Cordless Keyboard review from Noah.
Home-made Cooling Duct project from Marc.
EPoX 8RGA+ Onboard Graphics tweaking from MCWB.
A4Tech 3DMouse review from Wild (missed in earlier updates!)
Our flash timewaster archive was another recent big hit, as was the OCAU Forum Image Store provided by UGBox.
I just got an email titled "The Hotmail Hack" which is from someone claiming to be sending you a program to let you hack into the hotmail boxes of other people. There's even an .EXE file attached and, unsurprisingly, my antivirus software went crazy when the email arrived. So, if you get it, don't run it.. not that you would have anyway, right? :) Oh, and maybe update your virus software.. or get some!
Seems the Yahoo online TV guide has gone away.. so I googled and found this one, which seems pretty good.
Paulh noticed that the BBC has discovered case-modding.. click the numbered boxes for their amazed reports on painted cases and watercooling etc. :)
Sick of having to wear a tie to work? If things like this keep happening, you may not have to..
Cynical about the record industry? Well, the next chart-topper may be picked by a computer..
DJ-Studd spotted an article linking piracy and organised crime.
Dan's got more letters here and here, thanks Slatye and, well, Dan.
Owen sent in this Ball PC which is obviously a ripoff of this one in our PCDB. :)
Bored with flight sims? Anthony reckons you should buy this, then.
There's a LAN in Perth on the 12th and 13th of April.
Paint your keyboard.. simple idea, simple guide.
A fun way to respond to Nigerian Scammers from MoJoMaN.
This seems to be a download-executable timewaster rather than a Flash timewaster, but Gazob sent in TOCA Racedriver for your low-productivity Monday enjoyment.
Reviews:
Xoxide Wire Sleeving and Heatshrink on Tech-Mods.
Vantec Stealth PSU on FuriousTech.
Skyhawk Matrix Case on OCrCafe.
MSI GF4 Ti4600-8X video card on Bjorn3D.
Extreme Alterations UV Cold Cathode and UV Fans on Virtual-Hideout.
D-Link AirPlus Enhanced 2.4GHz Wireless stuff on Virtual-Hideout.
Abit NF7-S nForce2-based socketA DDR motherboard on AMDWorld.
Nathan noticed the people who brought us the motorcycle trials game have a couple of others up now.
Tweaknews wonder if the Hyperion 4.46 motherboard chipset drivers are worth installing. Meanwhile, MadShrimps play with the Catalyst 3.2 vs Catalyst 3.1 drivers for ATI video cards.
Lots of pics from CeBIT, the big european tech show, over on this site.. thanks Daniel.
Beyond3D have some developer comments on the "F-Buffer" technology in ATI's Radeon 9800 Pro.
If you think being thousands of miles away from the USA keeps you safe from being busted for piracy, guess again. The United States will seek to extradite an Australian accused of heading an organised software piracy scheme. Thanks Sniper.
MadShrimps spent some time pushing 2 nForce2 boards to the limit, comparing Abit and Epox offerings.
Bern noticed an article about water flowing on Mars.
Looking for an IT job in Melbourne? You could be in luck.. with about 1200 other people.
Whirlpool have info on a new ADSL provider with some hefty plans aimed at leechers, thanks Goofy.
Another flash timewaster, this time it's SWRON, a Tron lightcycles clone from Damien.
Reviews:
Skyhawk PSR5601 aluminium case on 8Balls.
Sony DRU500A combo drive (CDRW+DVD) on PlanetSavage.
Ratpad GS mousing surface on OCrCafe.
OCZ Gladiator II cooler on OCModShop.
Zalman CNPS7000 cooler on TheTechZone.
GeForceFX 5600 Ultra and 5200 Ultra video cards on Digit-Life.
Veritech 6-in-1 Card Reader on ModSynergy.
Ratpad GS mousing surface on AMDMB.
Vantec 420W Stealth PSU on BurnOutPC.
ClearPC Micro-ATX transparent case on TweakNews.
MSI CR52-A2 52x CDRW drive on HotHardware.
Aguatec Blue Ice cooler on AusModders.
Iomega 52x24x52x CDRW drive on HardWareZone.
Logitech MX700 mouse on OCAddiction.
Tyan Trinity KT400 DDR socketA motherboard on AMDMB.
Thermaltake Volcano 9 Coolmod on TweakersZone.
DangerDen Watercooling Kit on OCClubCanada.
Crazy PC Square Window Kit on ExtensionTech.
Chieftec Black Aluminium Case on MikhailTech.
Samsung SyncMaster 191T LCD screen on 3DNewsNet.
Zalman ZM80a-HP heatpipe video cooler on M:6.
CoolerMaster Black Front Bezel on DVHardware.
SiSoft Sandra 2003 SP1
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Friday, 14-March-2003 17:23:34 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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We now have the SP1 version of this popular system information and benchmarking program available. Download links and more info here.
Friday Afternoon
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Friday, 14-March-2003 15:45:35 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Jab noted that Catalyst 3.2 drivers are available for ATI cards now.. a list of what they update and fix is here. Some discussion here in our Video Cards forum.
On the mobile graphics front: Tech-Report check out ATI's Mobility Radeon 9600, while HotHardware previewed NVIDIA's GeForce FX Go GPUs. Bjorn3D preview the NVIDIA offering also.
NVIDIA say there's plenty of GF FX chips to go around.
Modsynergy have a blowhole guide.. a good first mod if you want to start attacking your case.
JimX spotted this artificial brain article on NewScientist. Well, part of the brain. This is pretty big news! The world's first brain prosthesis - an artificial hippocampus - is about to be tested in California. Unlike devices like cochlear implants, which merely stimulate brain activity, this silicon chip implant will perform the same processes as the damaged part of the brain it is replacing.
A nice tribute to Barry Sheene here, thanks boky.
Apparently DX9 is it for a while, according to GameSpot. I'm sure it does everything we need, and more.
Must be nice to cruise around with 8 billion dollars in your car.. thanks Jimx.
Asetek, makers of the VapoChill goodies we reviewed here, have turned their hand to watercooling.. naturally called WaterChill, thanks Muchacho.
Allan sent in this picture of dual or possibly quad AMD action on HardOCP.. mmmmm.
Flash timewaster: funny Space Invaders clone from Gaz.
Interesting Forum Threads:
Abit NF7 New BIOS in AMD Hardware.
3 Million Points in Team OCAU.
CD cracked while burning in Overclocking & Hardware.
Liability for online auctions in Networking & Internet.
First Australian casualty in Iraq? in Media & Current Events.
Reviews:
Seagate 10k.6 147gb Ultra 320 SCSI hard drive on VR-Zone.
Altec Lansing 2100 2.1 Speakers on Modsynergy.
EverCool Water Cooler on SubZeroTech.
CrazyPC Inferno side-panel on GideonTech.
CyberDrive CW099D 52X CDRW drive on Hexus.
Kingston DataPak Portable PC Card Hard Drive on ByteSector.
BlueTake BW001 PC Card Adapter on ByteSector.
Belkin Mini Wireless Optical Mouse on 3DVelocity.
MSI FX5800 Ultra-TD8X GF FX-based video card on HardWareZone.
The Guru of 3D have posted a guide to installing Windows XP Detonator drivers including how to cut the driver package down from 40Mb to about 16Mb.
Bern found this picture of a VIA Athlon64 motherboard. I said the same thing as he did. "Check out those heatsink mounts!"
Digit-Life are checking out some Socket A Chipsets. Check out the line up. NVIDIA nForce2-G/GT, SiS746 and SiS746FX, ABIT NF7-M on nForce2-G, Leadtek K7NCR18DG-Pro on nForce2-GT, MSI K7N2G-LISR on NVIDIA nForce2-GT, Soltek 75FRN-L on NVIDIA nForce2-S, Elitegroup K7S7AG on SiS746, SiS reference board SS81B on SiS746FX, ABIT AT7-MAX2 on VIA KT400.
I'm not sure if I've linked this before but for the audiophiles, here is a review of the AOpen AX4GE Tube-G Motherboard complete with vacuum tube sound solution.
There's some info about the mobile GeForce FX range over on Bjorn3D. The GeForce FX Go5200 and FX Go5600.
Sudhian have an article called "Could Higher End Audio Equipment End the MP3 Conflict?". I'm yet to read it but the title sounds intriguing.
If your wife or girlfriend is getting a bit much for you of late, try this link. Don't blame me if you get caught though. The link came from sabretooth. I wonder what he was looking for?
Some official details here about the AMD price cuts. Thanks Nigel.
Also from Nigel, after years in no mans land, the ".af" domain has finally seen the light of day. Afghanistan takes legal and technical control over the ".af" Internet suffix.
Dan has reviewed some glowy things. Pretty!
Flash time waster today is a Frenzirynth. From CrYpTo.
Reviews
TTGI 520SS Quad Fan Power Supply at Extreme Overclocking
Thermaltake Xaser Edition PSU at OCC
GeForce FX 5200 Ultra and FX 5600 Ultra at Hexus
Thermalright SKU-900U CPU Cooler at HCW
Coolermaster ATC-220B Case at Bit-Tech
Fortron/Source FSP350-PN Power Supply at Club OC
ATI Radeon 9800 Pro at A1 Electronics
Thermaltake Xaser III Silent Power 480W PSU at OCC
Sunbeam 4 Port Rheobus at OCIA
Chaintech Zenith 7NJS nForce2 Motherboard at MonkeyReview
Cendyne 48X12X48 CDRW at GideonTech
ATi Remote Wonder PC Remote at Viper Lair
This just in from PostModern. The Inaugural OCAU Brew Ha-Ha was won by Blakey's Little Nevada Pale Ale. A brew worthy of the craft. Congratulations to Blakey who, along with his new beer glass, wins the job of Brew Judge in the next OCAU Brew Ha-Ha! All of the entries scored well, apart from Speewa's Dark Ale, which... well, smelt like spew :\. Second place went to kukulkan's Smuggler's Ale. Although he doesn't win a prize, his effort is worthy of an honorable mention. Keep your eyes on the Geek Food Forum for news of the next Brew Ha-Ha! Well done Blakey.
Thursday Afternoon (again)
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Thursday, 13-March-2003 15:13:10 (GMT +10) - by Mred32
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Barry Sheene, Britain's world 500cc motorcycle world champion in 1976/77, died on Monday after a battle against cancer. RPM will have a tribute to Barry broadcast this coming Sunday on Channel Ten. Thanks Armunn.
Yesterday at CeBIT, AMD announced a new range of mobile processors. Bjorn3D take a look at what AMD have on offer and discuss the potential uses for these mobile chips.
FrostyTech have this to say about the Coolink U1P2 Heatsink. "this is an ugly heatsink - it's big, it's nickel plating doesn't look that great, and it uses two fans to achieve pretty damn good results". It does look ugly. I like that.
Those people who like the minimalist approach might like this little pc from MSI. The MSI Metis 266 Slim PC System.
I like the idea behind this. Settling corporate disputes by way of arm wrestle. Now if George and Saddam could give this a try the world might be a better place, then again, maybe not. From SnRuB.
torana found some info on overclocking an EPIA motherboard. Not an easy task, until now.
The U.S. Justice Department will seek to extradite an Australian man to stand trial on charges of conspiracy to commit criminal copyright infringement. Read more on News.com.
HotHardware cover Intel's Centrino Launch and give their impression of the platform Intel plans to change the world with.
Overclockers New Zealand has posted a review on the Abit NF7-S nForce2 motherboard. Find out what they have to say about this tasty nForce2 board.
Don't forget to check out the OCAU Forums for all the latest gossip.
A lot of people sent this link in. On Ebay, you can purchase your own SuperComputer, well it was the ducks guts back in 1996! But for now if you have a spare room to put it in and can afford the power bill and freight costs, it might be a bargain.
Silent PCReview are making noise with a list of recommended cases with details about things such as power supply, airflow, roominess and the likes. There are some well made cases on the list.
Hardware Fusion interviews Andrew Humber, European PR Manager for NVIDIA on the GeForce FX. This is part one of a two part interview.
VR-Zone have posted a review on the new Intel Centrino Mobile Technology. They look at the 3 key aspects; Pentium-M codenamed "Banias", Intel 855 Chipset family and a Wi-Fi module.
One of the guys from DigitalFerret has been playing around with the latest Longhorn Beta. It seems that this upcoming OS yields vastly improved benchmarks on RAID systems, compared to 2k.
Forum goer Shintaro found an article on the soon to be released Catalyst 3.2 drivers.
Falkor want to let you know that we have a OCAU NRL tipping comp going on in the forums. Check the link.
64-bit computing and x86-64. Its on its way and we will want to know more about it at some stage. Why not start now. Ars Technica have a good guide and intro to 64bit computing.
The folks at Bjorn3d have had a play with some e-Dimensional E-D 3D Glasses. They say "you need to get used to them".
Tom has a write up about the SiS655 chipset with dual channel DDR333. Read more here. Thanks Simon.
Albatron have released a Limited Edition Anniversary Mainboard. Its based on the i845PE chipset but it supports Intel's upcoming 800Mhz CPU's. ExplosiveLabs have some pictures if you want a look see.
Funky flash thing for today is Super Fighter.
Reviews
Altec Lansing 621 Speakers at HardAvenue
MSI GNB Max Granite Bay Motherboard at NeoSeeker
Soyo P4I 845PE Motherboard at Overclockers Online
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5200 Ultra at HotHardware
SanDisk ImageMate 6 in 1 USB 2.0 Reader at Extreme Overclocking
Albatron GF4 Ti4280PV at OCAddiction
Billion BIPAC-741 ADSL Firewall Router at Xtech (Thanks yday)
TaiSol K7 Heatsink at Furioustech
Gigabyte Maya II R9500 Video Card at Digital-Daily
Minolta DIMAGE F300 Camera at Digit-Life
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Hard Drive at Digit-Life
Altec Lansing 5100 Enhanced 5.1 Speaker System Video Review at 3dGameMan
Are you bored with the standard WindowsXP login screen? Forum member XG8 has come up with an OCAU Login screen that looks great. He also has the program needed to change the logon screen from the default WindowsXP screen. Check the forum thread for more details. Thanks snapshot.
The guys at Madshrimps show you how to keep things cool with heatsinks. Things like ram, mosfets, chips, videocards, HDDs, they sink the lot.
Tablet PCs are all the rage and Hardware Extreme have a Tablet showcase for you with nine different models on display.
Hardware Analysis take us on a virtual tour of a Datacenter. I you've ever wondered what goes on behind the doors of a modern datacenter then this article will give you some idea. The power supply room is impressive in itself.
Those BPA users in NSW & VIC can look forward to another 25% discount on the their bill next month. Whirlpool say it is because of a significant upgrade to Telstra's DocSis network. Yay.
If you have run into the "Corrupt Bios" problem with your nForce2 motherboard, TechSeekers have a guide to fixing the problem using the Hot Flash technique. You will need two nForce2 boards to do it though.
If you have an Epox 8RDA+ or similar motherboard with a two segment LED display, over on the AMDForums you will find a short and simple guide to displaying CPU temps on the LED. Thanks VooDoo.
Remember the 80's Pac-Man game? Who could forget that little yellow guy with the big mouth and great maze cracking skills. It looks like he's coming to a cinema near you. Thats right. The Pac-Man movie! From LoneWolf.
Forum goer Uberbanzai is organizing a LAN in Brisbane. ChurchieLAN, you can find the details in the forum thread.
Reviews
Power Color Radeon 9700 PRO at HardCoreWare
High Power 420W PSU at ExtremeOC
Pctoys Powermax 470W PSU at R&B
Microsoft SideWinder Force Feedback Steering Wheel at Hardware Fusion
Zalman ZM80-HP VGA Heatpipe Cooler at Frostytech
Abit BG7E (Intel 845GE) Motherboard at PCHardware
Logitech Elite Keyboard at Modfathers
DFI SiS Xabre X400-T2 64MB Graphics Card at Hexus
Gigabyte 8PE667 Ultra 2 Motherboard at Guru of 3D
MSI G4MX440-T8X Half Height Videocard at PCStats
One of the last bastions of token-ring networking, IBM's corporate network, is moving to ethernet.. thanks Sniper.
Interesting thing from Sciby about how car fans recognise their loves. Applies to a lot of other things too, I reckon.
3xtreme Lan 3 is on in mid April in Melbourne.. register here.
TheInq say a man has turned an Apple G4 Cube into an X86 Linux box, thanks Rockman.
Andrew spotted these pants that really do shrink your bum, or so the manufacturers claim.
There's some screenshots of the GeForce FX 5600 Ultra in action over on Bjorn3D's forums.
Flash timewaster: Rumble in the Jumble, the official Junkyard Wars game, from patto.
Interesting Forum Threads:
8INXP (E7205) vs SINXP (SiS655) in Intel Hardware.
8INXP and P4G8X comparison in Intel Hardware.
RIP Barry Sheene in Motoring.
Chances of getting a 2100+ B to 2800+ speeds? in AMD Hardware.
IQ Comparison: R9700 vs GF FX in Mother Nature in Video Cards.
Abit NF7-S v1.2 and Alpha PAL8045 users beware (pics) in AMD Hardware.
Tbred B Steppings - Post Your Overclocks (stable) in AMD Hardware.
Building the ultimate fantasy PC! in What/Where Should I Buy?
Prometia vs Vapochill New vs Vapochill Old in What/Where Should I Buy?
Slim/Micro ATX Desktop Case (improve cooling) in Overclocking & Hardware.
Reviews:
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra and 5200 Ultra video cards on Bjorn3D.
Philips 34PW9818 HDTV set on DesignTechnica.
MSI 746G Ultra-L SiS746-FX based DDR socketA motherboard on AMDWorld.
Shuttle SB52G2 XPC i845GV-based P4 mini-PC on Hexus.
ATI All-In-Wonder VE Radeon 7500-based video card with the lot on ViperLair.
Shuttle SB52G2 XPC i845GV-based P4 mini-PC on LegionHW.
Lamp Electronics CCFL case lighting on OCWareHouse.
Samsung 172B 17" LCD screen on TechWareLabs.
CoolerMaster XDream SE socketA cooler on A1-Electronics.
Tuesday Afternoon
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Tuesday, 11-March-2003 13:49:33 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Sadly, Barry Sheene died yesterday after a battle with throat and stomach cancer. One of the most genuine characters of the international motorsport scene, he'll be missed by many. RIP Bazza.
There's been some interesting recent additions to the PC Database, as we rush towards 5000 entries. Shayneflint's "luggable" custom case turned out well, as did this blue-wires-and-perspex project from AmericanFreak. Some serious Dremel time spent on blkwdo3, while this wins the ghetto award for today.
Rogue says there's a new BOFH episode.
Iroquois notes a new nasty virus doing the rounds.. more info here.
Nice to see one airline taking a lighter approach to marketing during this slump in their industry, thanks sabretooth. I know who I'd be flying with. :)
A few people sent word of new VIA Hyperion drivers.
TomsHardware checked out the 2003 Game Developers Conference, thanks Iroquois.
SpodesAbode have a watercooling guide posted. For more info, check out the wealth of info in our Extreme Cooling forum.
From Draffa: Afghanistan, where the Internet was banned during the rule of the purist Taliban, will formally inaugurate its ".af" domain for Afghan websites and email addresses on Monday (local time), the United
Nations said.
Reviews:
BTC Russian Keyboard on MilkhailTech (of course).
NVIDIA NV31 and NV34 video cards on Bjorn3D, thanks Daniel.
AMD AthlonXP 2700+ socketA CPU on NexusHardware.
CoolerMaster TLF-R82 Neon LED Fan on Tech-Mods.
VEXX Alien Green LE Case on FuriousTech.
Zalman 300W Quiet PSU (video review) on 3DGameMan.
Antec PlusView 1000 AMG case on DVHardware.
Thermalright SK6+ socketA cooler on OCIA.
Antec TruePower 430W PSU on Bjorn3D.
MSI CR52-A2 52x24x52 CDRW drive on 3DVelocity.
Abit NF7-S Rev 1.2 nForce2-based socketA DDR motherboard on VR-Zone.
Altec Lansing 2100 2.1 Speakers on LANAddict.
CoolerMaster HSC-V83 XDream Special Edition cooler on OCTools.
Shuttle XPC SB525G2 mini-PC on HWZ.
KT400A is here!
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Tuesday, 11-March-2003 01:12:48 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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VIA have announced their KT400A chipset today. We haven't seen all that much in terms of speed increase from KT400, KT333 and even back to KT266A and KT266. It's mostly been additional features or memory/FSB speed options with little real-world impact. NVIDIA's nForce2 seems to be the chipset of choice on the socketA side at the moment - will KT400A bring people back to VIA? (P)reviews on HardOCP, Tech-Report, AMDBoard, LegionHardware, AMDMB and Sudhian.
8Balls Hardware received some pictures from Gainward. Its Gainwards new Geforce FX Ultra/1000 Plus Golden Sample. Long name as well as an amazing looking cooling system. Fully sinked front and back. No info about the price though.
Virtual-Underground have reviewed a Power Down Protector. What is it? Its a device which will keep the power supplied to your fans for a period of time after you have shut down your PC. Its like a turbo-timer for computers.
CPU coolers. Heatsinks. Digit-Life have a massive roundup of them with 65 socket-A coolers covered.
The SIS 655 chipset is set to give Granite Bay a run for its money. Hexus review the MSI 655 MAX Motherboard to see just what this chipset has in store.
Reclaiming Resources under Windows XP is the title of an article over on DeadFish.
Digital-Daily put a Stepping C Northwood processor to some stress tests. They offer some advice on finding the best chipset to match this CPU with.
There is a good read about the testing procedures used by memory manufacturers and how they can breathe life into substandard ram modules. Thanks to Callan.
Over on The Age, Telstra acts against Usenet spammers. That was quick. No sooner do they receive warning about a possible Usenet Death Penalty and the problem is addressed. Thanks paulh.
News comes of a new model in the Shuttle Small Form Factor PC range, the SB52G2. Both desktop and server versions are available. Read about them on The Tech Report. Nice little boxes!
Reviews
Microsoft Force Feedback 2 Joystick at Hardware Fusion
Toshiba Satellite 2430-A620 Notebook at HWZ
Zalman ZM50-HP VGA Heatpipe Cooler at TweakTown
Kingwin KT-436B-WM Aluminum Case at OCAddiction
Gigabyte GA-7VAXP Ultra at Motherboard Review
Samsung Syncmaster 191N 19INCH TFT LCD Monitor at Tweaknews
Belkin Nostromo n45 Dual Analog USB GamePad at Virtual-Hideout
MSI K7N2 (MS-6570) Motherboard at Extreme Overclocking
Kingwin KWI-450WABK Divine Power Supply at Overclockers Club
Shuttle SB52G2 XPC Small Form Factor PC at SFF
Just a quick update on some reviews and other bits for you.
8Balls Hardware have reviewed the Logitech MOMO Racing Wheel. After watching the Formula One on the weekend, I might have to get me one of these.
As far as SATA drives go, this one has to be one of the fastest around. The Maxtor Serial ATA DiamondMax Plus 9 gets a write up over on EnvyNews.
NBk, our resident power tool :), sent this link in. Two new drills from Bosch get a casemod workout. Dremel also gets a mention.
There is a move in Britain to install 3000 Wi-Fi access points at local pubs. What a great idea. Instead of people getting smashed and then coming home to IRC, they can stay at the pub longer and dribble.
AnandTech have a 4 way PSU shootout. Vantec, Enermax, ThermalTake, Antec all have PSUs on test. Thanks Daniel.
Red Valdez sends word that the full version of the original Grand Theft Auto has been released as a free download. Get it from AusGamers.
Reviews
Gladiator II heatsink at OCC
120mm Antec red LED fan at Modders Australia
RatPadz GS Mouse Pad at GeekShelter
Sunbeam Round Cold Cathode Fan at GeekShelter
ThermalTake Xaser III V2000A Case at AnandTech
Aaron wants to tell us all about a new Australian Case Modding site. Check them out, www.OZcasemodz.Com
The guys at Madshrimps show you how to mod your Enermax fans and add some LEDs to them.
Game developer BioWare, who have brought us such big-name titles like Baldur's Gate and Neverwinter Nights look like being bought out by Microsoft. This might be a good thing or a bad thing. Read more here.
There is some info about the upcoming release of AMD's 400Mhz FSB Athlon over on Digit-Times. Thanks Danny.
An article over at Whirlpool, talks about Telstra's inability to deal with the huge amounts of spam from their servers that reach the usenet. Read more here.
There is an post on C-Net about the leaked version of Longhorn. They talk about some of the features we can expect to see in the next Windows.
Reviews
Zalman HP-80A heatpipe VGA Heatsink Video Review at 3dGameMan
GeForce FX 5600 Ultra and 5200 Ultra reference graphics cards at Digit-Life
Gigabyte Radeon 9200 at Digit-Life
Belkin Omniview 4-Port KVM at BoPC
Gsmart Minicam 2 Camera at Spode's Abode
Silicon Image 3112 Serial ATA Controller at Toms Hardware
Gainward GF4 Ti 4800SE Golden Sample at VR-Zone
Cobalt3 Fan Controller at Mikhailtech
Twintech 32 mb USB Drive at R&B
EPoX EP-8RDA+ Motherboard at ClubOC
Albatron Geforce 4 MX480 8X AGP Videocard at Tweaknews
EPoX 8RGA+ nForce2 IGP Motherboard at VR-Zone
TwinMOS PC3200/DDR400 Memory at OC Online
There is an Asus A7N8X Modding Guide over at Maximum OC. Some handy tips there.
Hardware Extreme have a summary of the Intel Prescott Processor. Its a brief run down on the specs for this CPU.
This from one of the UGBox guys. "The UGBox ImageStore, provided for free to the OCAU Forum community, now no longer watermarks your images when they are uploaded! The 'Hosted By' text is still being displayed, but we are looking at options for moving this to reduce impact on the original images. We would also like to thank the OCAU community for their support and feedback!". Thanks Crudmuffin.
Iroquois tells us that Yoper 1.0 had been released. If you're not sure what Yoper is, we have a review and introduction for you to read.
"K" sent us a link to this article. Its all about optimizing your WindowsXP system for gaming.
There is a LAN coming up in Melbourne. Rezidue LAN will provide 30 Hours of Gaming at Melbourne's newest LAN centre. "Dedicated tourney and public servers for TFC, CS, Quake3, BF1942 and other requested games, on a fully switched 10/100MB network. Open to 70 people".
Have you ever needed some music but didn't have any speakers handy? The SoundBug could be the answer. Plug it in, power it up, then attach it to any flat surface and you have yourself a speaker.
From Sniper170. Have a look at these motherboards. KT400 and nForce2 boards from different manufacturers that look surprisingly alike. also from Sniper170, "AMD doubled its worldwide market share among buyers of Windows-based mobile PCs in 2002” according to this report and VIA unveils their IDE RAID controller.
James sent in a link to a water cooled dual 1.33Ghz G4 Mac. Its a bit hard to see what is under all those bits and pieces.
Don't Click Here!. Ok, how many of you clicked it anyway? And why. Thats the question being asked at the other end of the link that you didn't click! Thanks eDust. Also from eDust, the SLAC physics research center sent 6.7 GB of data across a distance of 10,000km in 58 seconds, using Internet2.
GideonTech show you how to build a VU Meter for your HDD.
There is a new theory about how the universe will end. But don't worry, there is still a few years to go before it happens. From Chris.
Blizzard have put up a 23Mb video preview of "World of Warcraft". Thanks Steven.
Flash thing for today is CityJumper.
Reviews
Epox 8RDA+ nForce 2 Motherboard at Viper Lair
Cooler Master 201B-BXT Black Case at BiT-Tech
Thermaltake Volcano 11 CPU Cooler at HardCoreWare
Epox 4PEA+ I845PE Motherboard at OCNZ
Sharp LL-T1620 16" LCD Monitor at G3D
SunBeam 12" RGB Cold Cathode Kit at OCCC
X-Pider Aluminum Case at Overclocker Cafe
Abit NF7-S nForce2 Motherboard at AMDMB
Arstechnica is reporting that AOL has pimpslaped 1 Billion e-mail spams in one day. The more blocked the better I say.......
America Online, Inc., the world's leading interactive services company, announced that this week it had blocked one billion spam emails from reaching its members in one day..... AOL is now stopping an average of more than 28 junk emails from reaching each account on a daily basis.
Silicon Strategies is reporting that China's Godson-1 a 32-Bit CPU will be followed up by a 64-Bit CPU dubbed the Godson-2.
Godson-2, which has also been translated into English as Dragon or Longxin, has already been prototyped. Samples are expected to roll in the first half of next year. The chip will be binary backward compatible to the 32-bit Godson-1, a path of compatibility also chosen by Advanced Micro Devices in development of its Opteron line.
Also along the same lines is the The Inquirer is reporting that that the development of semiconductor technology in China is hotting up to a point that it might rival that of the likes of Silicon Valley, also the fact that the Chinese government will pour $2.5 billion into a dozen R&D products, and is looking particularly closely at investing in CPUs.
Digit-life is reporting that Kingston Technology have ramped up its line of HyperX brand of memory modules, with 256Mb and 512Mb DDR modules both running at 333MHz (PC2700) and 400MHz (PC3200). Also to boot is the reduced latency of CL2. 1.2" (30.48mm) covered with aluminum heatsinks, so the current line up looks something like this with both 256MB & 512MB modules:
PC2700 333MHz settings: 2-2-2-5-1 (CAS Latency 2)
PC3000 370MHz settings: 2-2-2-6-1 (CAS Latency 2)
PC3200 400MHz settings: 2-2-2-6-1 (CAS Latency 2)
PC3500 434MHz settings: 2-3-3-7-1 (CAS Latency 2)
Folding Giveaway2: The Awakening
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Saturday, 8-March-2003 05:23:29 (GMT +10) - by Mred32
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Our Master of Folding, Bollocks, has organized a Folding Giveaway with some great prizes up for grabs. Last years Folding giveaway was a huge success and lots of people scored some goodies. It also did great things for the team stats. This time around, CoolPC and DGROMS.com are sponsoring the event with prizes such as an Innovatek Complete Watercooling Bundle (AMD), A Clear Acrylic Midi Tower Case, One stick of 256 Mb PC2100 DDR, One AMD XP2000+ (Palamino) processor with AMD cooler, One 80G Western Digital 8Mb Cache IDE HDD as well as weekly consolation goodies. To be included in the event, head on into This Thread or visit the OCAU Folding Page.
Well, what are you waiting for? Get Folding to Win!
Today sees the official release of NVIDIA's NV31 and NV34 Graphics chips. Coming to us in the form of the GeForce FX 5600 and GeForce FX 5200, each with an ULTRA version to match. While mid-January saw information released about the GeForce FX 5800, the 5600 and 5200 are new to us. Will this be NVIDIA's answer to ATI's R350? Read the previews, then wait for the future benchmarks to arrive.
Here is the first batch of previews off the rank, no doubt there will be more. Bjorn3D, Hexus, HotHardware, The Tech Report, Toms Hardware.
Active-Hardware have reviewed the Asus A7N8x motherboard. This board is picking up quite a following.
Digit-Life play games with a Soltek Xabre 600 Video Card to see what it has under the hood, well...under the fan anyway.
VR-Zone look at a Seagate Serial ATA Barracuda V 120GB hard drive and compare it to a Western Digital WD80JB.
Hardware Fusion give the low down on an Asus P4SDX Deluxe Motherboard. No real surprises here. A feature packed board.
Funnelbc has reviewed a D-Link USB Radio. For the price, I'm gonna get me one of these.
The MSI G4Ti4800SE-VTD8X 128MB video card is on review at HWZ.
A review of the Soyo P4I 845PE can be found at OCPrices.
More news later in the day.
NV31 and NV34 Released Today
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Friday, 7-March-2003 12:27:30 (GMT +10) - by Mred32
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Today sees the official release of NVIDIA's NV31 and NV34 Graphics chips. Coming to us in the form of the GeForce FX 5600 and GeForce FX 5200, each with an ULTRA version to match. While mid-January saw information released about the GeForce FX 5800, the 5600 and 5200 are new to us. Will this be NVIDIA's answer to ATI's R350? Read the previews, then wait for the future benchmarks to arrive.
Here is the first batch of previews off the rank, no doubt there will be more. Bjorn3D, Hexus, HotHardware, The Tech Report, Toms Hardware.
Don't forget, we have OCAU Merchandise available from Pluscorp. Tshirts, case badges, stickers.. it's all happening. Support OCAU and look cool too. :)
Arjuna sent this Whirlpool link in. It seems that Telstra are planning to offer those customers with ANT-1 services the chance to move to a real copper line. This will allow access to ADSL for many people who currently can't get it. A good move!
Several people sent this in. Federal Police have raided ISPs in Australia seeking information about the identities of customers in relation to alleged music piracy. It seems a bit heavy handed to me, but I suppose I am not the one who has to make up for out of date marketing techniques. Thats the record companies job!
While we are talking Telstra, their ADSL and Cable customers (not dialup) can smile for a while as Telstra has re-introduced it's file server. Downloads from the file server do not count against your monthly data allowance. Yay! Thanks Bern.
The Federal Government is taking steps to prevent Internet porn from making its way into Australia. They're current approach is to force ISPs to do the filtering of all overseas content that comes their way. I'm sure they will try and fail several times before they have anywhere near the success they are looking for.
This from petercr. "There's a battle royale going on in this [Folding Thread] after l00b3r threw down a challenge for people to try to beat him. So far, Jobaby, Lithium, Wowman and my daughter Joannarose ( the official youngest Folder for OCAU) have taken l00b3r up on it and things are starting to get a tad uncomfortable for l00ber...".
Liquid Ninja's have held a CPU Cooler roundup. Their comment: "How's Your Hearing?".
Sudhian have an article called Pushing Flash Into the Mainstream. They talk about the pros and cons of flash technology among other things. I like the games!
Fishman sent this link in to us. The Quantum computer takes a step closer to becoming a reality. ...Was there a pun there?
I thought this was worth a giggle. I suppose if you're going to shoot your laptop, the local bar is not the place to do it. From Lee at G-Net. On the same theme comes this link from Jetboy at OCNZ. He'll need to clean the pins on that RAM before he puts it back in.
This just in from Domin8, "Just wanted to let those Ocau people that I know that My wife Emma had our baby on the 6th at 5:25 pm wa time and it is a Girl :), 8pound 1 ounce, 52cm long, 31 cm around the head and we have named her Courtney :) Being my first child , Words can't explain my happiness :) :) :)" Congratulation to Domin8, Emma and Courtney. Best wishes from all at OCAU. Now go to bed and enjoy the last full night sleep you will have for the next three years :)
The flash thingy for today is...well...weird, but I found it amusing. Its called Find Small Men, I think. Find and click on all the little men to move on to the next level.
Reviews
ASUS P4SDX SiS Motherboard at A1-Electronics
OCZ Gladiator II CPU Cooler at CyberCPU
Enermax CSX-318 Case at LWD
Samsung Syncmaster 760V 17" TFT LCD at Hardware Extreme
PC Mods 3.5" Rheobus at IANAG
Antec True Blue 480W PSU at Extreme Overclocking
Belkin 2 KVM Switch at R&B
EPoX 8RGA+ Onboard Video
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Friday, 7-March-2003 02:04:43 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Last thing tonight, before I stagger off to bed.. MCWB has sent in a detailed report about getting the most from the onboard video on EPoX's 8RGA+ motherboard. There's a few tweaking options and, being onboard, it's affected by system memory speed and CPU/FSB speeds. MCWB works through finding the best combinations..
Click for the article!
Stuff these boring beige boxes and the millions of aluminium cases with windows and cold cathodes.. enough glowing fans and fancy fanbuses.. what the world needs is more big round pink PC's.
Click for the PCDB entry!
Acrylic Cooling Duct
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Friday, 7-March-2003 00:24:24 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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A little DIY project from Marc, making a duct from a case fan to the CPU fan. Turned out pretty cool looking..
Click for the article!
ABIT's GeForce FX 5800 Ultra
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Friday, 7-March-2003 00:01:05 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Adrian from bokerp sent along these pics of ABIT's GeForce FX 5800 Ultra.. well, of the box(es) it comes in. I guess if you're forking over that much for a video card, you'd want it to come in a nice box. From the logo it seems to be a "Limited" edition. Some more info here. Note that the card uses the next generation of the OTES cooling system seen on the Ti4200 we reviewed here.
 
 
Click pics to enlarge..
Logitech Cordless Keyboard
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Thursday, 6-March-2003 22:37:10 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Noah sent in a review of Logitech's simply named "Cordless Keyboard". It's a keyboard that, well, doesn't have a cord..
Click for the review!
Looks like ATI have released their R350 graphics chip. Three versions are available, being the R9800, R9600 and R9200.. with of course, "Pro" versions. The R9800 Pro is the top-end card, superceding the already industry-dominating R9700 Pro. After the dissapointing GF FX launch, I bet this latest blow has NVIDIA's engineers frantic.
Most of the (p)reviews today focus on the R9800 Pro. Check out the goods at AnandTech, HardOCP, Tech-Report, Bjorn3D (and more), HotHardware, Hexus, SimHQ, NordicHardware, GamersDepot, DriverHeaven, Rage3D, Beyond3D, UKGamer, ExtremeTech and TomsHardware.
For the Epox 8RDA+ owners out there, and there are many of us, Adam tells us that PlanetModz have a small 8RDA+ cooling guide. My personal favorite is the Epox 8RDA/8RDA+ FAQ which carries a host of information including mods, bios files and other relevant stuff. You could also have a search through our own AMD Hardware forum for lots of good info about modding, cooling and tweaking this board.
Another couple of reviews of the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra. One over at The Guru Of 3D. This is a massive 24 page review and goes into almost every detail of the card and its drivers. Another review can be found at The HardwareZone.
Forum goer Wizard tells us that there is a LAN coming up in Townsville. The north Queensland people can look here for more info.
Madshrimps put some XP1700+ & XP1800+ T'Bred CPUs through their overclocking paces to see what they can do. Some impressive results from these budget chips.
Micah from 2CPU, has a roundup of Intel E7505 Motherboards including Tyan's Thunder i7505, MSI's E7505 Master LS2 and Iwill's DP533.
From mjcrow, "Japan's Sony Corp said on Monday it would start sales next month of the world's first DVD recorder that uses blue laser light and can pack a two-hour high-definition TV program onto a single disc". Read more about it and the scary prices over here.
The Nintendo Gameboy Advance SP gets a workout from the folks at Modtown.
The Modfathers have watercooled and reviewed the Gigabyte GA-7DPXDW-P Motherboard. Watercooled dual CPU goodness!
OCProjects have given some of Crucial's PC2700 DDR RAM a good workout, and they are happy with the results. Another review of this memory can be found at Adrian's Rojak Pot.
Flash time waster for today is Air Hockey.
Reviews
Vantec 420watt Power Supply Video Review at 3dGameMan
Leadtek IGP nForce 2 Motherboard at Bjorn3D
Colorcases 0106 Web Tower Case at MonkeyReview
Thermaltake Volcano 9 CoolMod CPU COoler at CyberCPU
Thermaltake Xaser III Case at Ascully
MSI G4 Ti4600-VT2D8X at VR-Zone
Supermicro P4SAA Motherboard at WorldOverclockers
EPoX 4GEA+ Motherboard at Extreme Overclocking
CoolerMaster SAF-B82 Case Fan at DVHardware
Samsung SW-252B 52x24x52 CD-RW at PCStats
Tyan Tachyon Radeon 9700 Pro at GamePC (Thanks Quilb)
Vintion MSC MP3 Player at ExHardware
MSI StarSpeed MS-8216M 16x DVD-ROM Drive at TweakersZone
Warp2search.net is reporting that one of ATI's OEM's have jumped the gun and posted details of the new Radeon 9800/Pro. Details are as follows......
Radeon 9800 will be clocked @ 325/310MHz (core/memory) with 128MB of memory while the Radeon 9800 Pro will be clocked at 400/460MHz (core/memory) with upto 256MB of memory, they will also feature the following:
400MHz RAMDAC
8 pipeline architecture
256 bit data width
AGP 8X/4X/2X compatibility
support for simultaneous dual display
DirectX 9.0/OpenGL support
EDIT: Webby has been pulled.....
Microsoft have reported that Nearly 30,000 people have registered to be the first to receive the beta version of the Microsoft® OneNote (TM) note-taking application, more info about it on MS Link 1 and MS Link 2.
C|net aka news.com.com have reported 'Reassurance' a key word as Google grows article that is well worth a read for anyone interested in future developments by Google.
Sony have been pre-announcing its post-DVD equipment at a mere US$4000 called Blu-Ray disc Recorder shown at the 2003 CES. More Info: Link with Picture and Philips Products and Standards Page
Some info here about the latest anti-spam techniques being worked upon by some of the worlds biggest anti-virus software vendors. If you ask me, spam is just as bad as a nasty virus. Well, when it comes to lost time and effort it is.
CNET have an article about the next Windows version, namely Longhorn, with some comment from Microsoft's Jim Cullinan. Jim also mentions that the leaked version of Longhorn which has been doing the rounds for a while now, is the real thing.
ClubOC check out the new Cute Cube PC from Iwill. Cute!
Crouchie sent this link in. Its a simple speed test for your internet connection. It will tell you your connection speed to that site.
From Wolfy, "and you thought Telstra bills were bad", check out this £2.3 trillion bill.
If you plan on buying a computer to help you build weapons of mass destruction,i.e., nuclear applications, missile technology, chemical or biological weapons, then don't buy it from Dell. They will tell on you! How silly. Link from Kerridwyn.
Iroquois found this. You know those Nigerian scam artists who want to give you millions of dollars? Here is an account of one guy who decided to follow through with the deal. He almost went all the way. Its amazing the lengths these scammers will go to. Also from Iroquois, IBM are recalling 56,000 monitors because of a fire hazard.
Silly flash thing for today is Milking Cows. From Pugsley_21.
Reviews
Albatron PX845PEV Pro Intel 845PE Motherboard at 3dXtreme
Thermalright SLK-800 Socket-A CPU Cooler at Viper Lair
Vantec Vp4-c7040 Cpu Cooler at R&B
GeForce FX 5800 Ultra at 3DVelocity
MSI K7N2-L nForce2 Motherboard at Hexus
PCMODS 4 Channel Fan Controller at Virtual-Underground
MSI CR52-A2 52x24x52x CD-RW at PCStats
Cyber Cooler 80mm Blue LED Fans at Mikhailtech
X-Sonic Case at OCC
XFX GF4 MX440 at OCAddiction
If your anti-terrorism fridge magnet is a bit lonely on your fridge, Senator Richard Alston has another one for you. Bring on the Anti-Porn Fridge Magnet. From s3tTz.
Tom's Hardware have a guide to setting up a Gigabit Ethernet (1000Base-T) network including what it is, what you'll need and so on.
JaVa_BoY sent this in, and its pretty freaky. A Web Server in a fly! Its been /.'ed so you might not get in straight away. I like the plan for "user-controlled living cockroaches mounted with cameras".
Microsoft plan to spend $670 million on an image makeover campaign. Steve Ballmer talks about what they are after. He has this to say about Linux. "Unix has had historic strength, but at the end of the day I'm sure we can out-innovate and deliver sort of a better solution than the work of a bunch of unco-ordinated hobbyists". We'll see.
A1 Electronics have a nForce2 motherboard roundup for those who might be in the market for one.
MadShrimps want to show you how to make your knobs glow. They look pretty with the lights off.
Dan has another bunch of letters for you.
Reviews
ABIT's Ti4200-8x OTES at Overclocking Projects
Lamps Electronics 12" UV/Black Light CC kit at 8Balls
Canon EOS-10D 6.5mp Digital Camera at Digit-Life
Nokia Camera Headset HS-1C at Modtown
Interesting PC..
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Tuesday, 4-March-2003 20:40:46 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Take a Nakamichi free-standing speaker cabinet, a mini-ITX system and an LCD screen.. what do you get? godzilla451's PCDB entry:
Click for the PCDB entry!
Want an internet connection with your fries? It looks like Telstra are going to offer Wi-Fi net access in McDonald's outlets around Australia. Wi-Fries!!!
At Overclockercafe, you can find some hints on removing a GPU heatsink that has been attached using epoxy.
Modsynergy have a play with a Dremel Multi-Pro, the ultimate modding tool.
Our own Geek Food forum is having another Cook-Off. This months theme is Green Cuisine. Gather up your best green recipe, put on your silly white hat and get cooking. Thanks Tori Lee.
Forum regular StratosFeaR has found an easy way to unlock an XP T'Bred. Similar to the pin wrapping trick but plugging the socket holes instead. A simple and effective unlock.
VR-Zone have updated their Barton CPU Overclock Database including a 2.08Ghz Barton pumped up to 3.46Ghz. Of course, some liquid nitrogen helps.
TweakTown check out some OCZ Dual Channel PC3200 ram. In the dual channel market, this ram checks out well with good overclocking results.
If you want a quick peek into the future, there is a review of an XP3200+ Barton CPU at lostcircuits. Remember, its a speculative review only.
Sudhian have an article called Subnetting for Beginners. A good read for the budding network guru's among us.
From Alex, DGC with be running another LAN event in Chatswood, Sydney on the 15th of March. Details can be found at DGC.
Microsoft's plans for world domination! A long but interesting read with some valid points here.
Reviews
SS Warrior Aluminum Case at OCIA
1gb PC2700EL Dual Channel DDR Kit at ClubOC
Thermal Take Aquarius II at XtremeTec
UV Reactive Fans at ExtensionTech
Chaintech AudioExcel 6 Channel PCI Sound Card at LanAddict
OCAU Forum Image Store
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Tuesday, 4-March-2003 12:40:04 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Need somewhere to host an image you want to display in the forums? Baker and the gang over at ugbox.net have set up an image store system for exactly that purpose. There's info, conditions and instructions on their page:
imagestore.ugbox.net
Note that this service is not controlled or managed by OCAU in any way - it's provided and managed by some generous forum-goers. Thanks guys!
SilentPC consider how speech recognition requires the use of quiet PC's.
Sudhian pit a couple of MP3 players against each other.
If you liked Baker's Colecovision PC from a couple of days ago, you'll like a lot of the projects on mini-itx.com's front page.. like this bomb PC that Bern spotted and the helmet PC from Paul.
A few people sent in this cool AI 20 questions site.
DesignTechnica wrote an article explaining plasma screens and how they work. Most of us won't get to experience a plasma screen first hand, but we could always ask our politicians what they thought of them, thanks Bern.
OCNZ have updated their DDR memory comparison with goodies from Corsair, Samsung and V-Data.
Tech-Report wonder if ATI and NVIDIA can be described as jealous lovers at the moment.
Interesting article here about Australia's $150M wheat deal with Iraq, thanks Eddsy.
TomsHardware take a look back at the history of socketA, comparing lots of chipsets, thanks Daniel.
There's a pic and stats of an Intel Canterwood (new dual-channel DDR P4 chipset) motherboard on Akiba, thanks Rage.
leperMessiah noticed that "Elmer Fudd" is an option on the Google Language page.. I guess he didn't see the Klingon, "Bork, bork, bork!", Hacker and Pig Latin options. :) Meanwhile, sync_array wonders if Google is too powerful. All the cool kids use Aggle anyway. :)
Flash timewaster: Kebab Shop, from Apocalypse.
Interesting Forum Threads:
Microsoft to reveal source code! in Media & Current Events.
Differences between Gigabyte GA-8SQ800 Ultra and Ultra 2 in Intel Hardware.
Active Desktop Programming in Graphics and Programming.
The Sticky Collective (lots of info in Other Toys.
She's back on the road (stroked 351 to 380 Ford V8) in Motoring.
News Links in Media & Current Events.
Reviews:
OCZ PC2700 EL Dual Channel memory on PCStats.
Thermalright SLK-900 copper HSF (video review) on 3DGameMan.
Corsair TwinX PC3200 LL memory on OCPrices.
Vantec 80mm Tornado fan on OCWareHouse.
Iwill XP4 mini-PC on SFFTech.
Shuttle SN41G22 mini-PC on HotHardware.
Samsung SyncMaster 191n 19inch TFT screen on MonkeyReview.
Chenming ATX-301K case on OCrCafe.
Inno3D Tornado GF4 Ti4200-8X video card on PinoyPC.
Californeon Lightstrips case lighting on BurnOutPC.
Maxtor Diamondmax Plus 9 HDD on PCReview.
Logitech Z-340 2.1 speakers on DSLWebserver.
CrazyPC Silver Inferno case on VR-Zone.
Gigabyte SINXP1394 SiS655-based P4 DDR motherboard on LegionHardware.
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5800 Ultra reference video card on Beyond3D.
VIA EPIA-M Eden mini-mobo-and-cpu on AseLabs.
eDimensional E-D 3D Glasses on GamersHell.
e-Cube CF-S968 mini-PC on TechSeekers.
Bored with your hard drive? Maybe some lights and a window is what it needs. I wouldn't do this to a drive with mission-critical data on it. :)
Maybe you'd prefer to put a window and logo on your mouse instead, think TheModFathers.
OCOnline had a chat with Chaintech about their past and future products.
Sniper says that fake job listings are the latest identity-theft scam.
Hexus rounded up some game controllers, to give your keyboard a rest.
NBk shows how to make a cheap desk. I have four desks in this room, the cheapest of which I dragged down the street when it was left out for rubbish collection. :)
Flash timewaster: Law and Order from F1DarkFlash.
Reviews:
Xoxide Z40 Insight case on GeekShelter.
Zalman ZM-F1 Silent 80mm case fan on HardCoreWare.
fUnc Surface 1030 mousepad on TweakTown, our review here.
Little River White Water waterblock (by an OCAU member) on VR-Zone, thanks Eluial.
Spire SocketA Coolers on IANAG.
Tweakmonster Rev3 Lightstrip on ViperLair.
AOpen Cold Cathode Lamp on Dragon's Landing.
Creative Nomad Jukebox Zen music box on Digit-Life.
Sunbeam Laser LED's on DVHardware.
CubeSystemZ CF-S968 small form-factor PC on Hexus.
Logitech Access Keyboard on MikhailTech.
Geil PC3500 Ultra Platinum RAM on ExtremeOC.
Still no email, but will see what I can dig up in the way of news..
Sabretooth spotted this funny article which will appeal to anyone who goes to a lot of LANs.. some strong language.
HardOCP have reviewed two motherboards: an nForce2 from MSI and an i845PE from AOpen.
Wired note that the Internet Engineering Task Force have decided to look at spam and work out some solutions to the ever-growing problem.
Grand Theft Auto: Vice City, despite a rocky start here in Oz, has sold 8.5 million copies worldwide.
Xbit spotted some 3DMark03 scores on NV31 and NV34, NVIDIA's upcoming graphics chips.
Firefighters in Canberra recently were fighting to save local homes and lives, but also saved some robots planning a trip to Mars, thanks Sniper.
From the PCDB: AOpen's HX45 is a nice but unexciting case, until Bosw8r got his hands on one. Darkkon's black box isn't quite to my taste but well finished, while fro has one of the coolest custom perspex cases I've ever seen.
There's a couple of threads with pictures from the Melbourne Motor Show on the weekend, in our Motoring forum.. here from Creative and here from dirk6.
MaDhAtTeR has posted more pics of the aftermath from a killer power surge and the remains of his PC.
VIA “Eden” EPIA-M Case Mod
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Saturday, 1-March-2003 18:10:03 (GMT +10) - by Sciby
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Y'know, I was happy to get out of the '80's. Seriously. No more ra-ra skirts, no more fluro board shorts and pianokey neck ties, no more Culture Club, or Flock of Seagulls (although Nick Kershaw rocked)... the list goes on, but some people just want to live in the past, the sickos.
Baker is one of these "people". Just have a look at what he jammed into this poor, innocent, happily retired Colecovision*. Go on, look!
Click for the article!
*Some of our audience may be too young to remember Colecovision. Just imagine a blackbox that featured lower quality games than most mobile phones.
The AusGamers mailserver seems to be down at the moment, so we don't have access to news or my mail. Should hopefully have a couple of articles for you this afternoon, stay tuned!
High-Fidelity is making a list of every "flash timewaster" we've ever posted to the news page. He's gone back to about April 2002 so far.. this should keep you busy!
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