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October 2003 |
DoDg3's Briefcase PC
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Friday, 31-October-2003 13:08:18 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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We've linked DoDg3's PCDB entry before, but it's been updated recently with a lot of pictures showing how this case was put together. If you think it's a simple job of whacking components into the case and drilling a few holes for cables, think again:
Click for the PCDB entry!
There's more info on this case in this thread in our Modding & Electronics forum.
Friday Reviews
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Friday, 31-October-2003 12:23:55 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Motherboards:
SiS 655FX P4 motherboard chipset on MBReview.
ABIT IC7-MAX3 i875P P4 motherboard on TweakTown, our review here.
Gigabyte GA-7NNXP nForce2 Ultra socketA motherboard on PCGuide.
Gigabyte K8NNXP nForce3 150 socket754 motherboard on PCStats.
Video Cards:
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 reference card on Tecnation.
ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9600 128MB Pro (video review) on 3DGameMan.
Albatron GiGi GeForce FX 5200 Ultra video card on HotHardware.
ABIT Siluro FX 5600 DT 256MB and 5600 Ultra cards on Hexus.
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 and 5950 Ultra on TweakTown.
Creative 3D Blaster GeForce FX 5900 on Guru3D.
ATI AIW Radeon 9600 Pro on Accelenation.
Storage:
Bytecc USB 2.0 HDD Enclosure on Aselabs.
Plextor PlexWriter Premium USB CDRW burner on ClubOC.
Snap Server 1100 network storage on ARSTechnica.
Seagate Momentus 40GB 5400rpm laptop HDD on HWZ.
AC Ryan SATA+ATA PCI Combo Card MadShrimps.
Bytecc Mobile USB HDD Enclosure on OCIA.
Case:
Chenbro Xpider Gaming Bomb on Ohls-Place.
Thermaltake Lanfire Xaser III VM2000A aluminium case on Futurelooks.
DynPower Spider on NeoSeeker.
Cooling:
Icemax Fancontroller on CrazyModders.
Asetek Waterchill V2 on Bit-Tech.
Thermaltake Extreme Volcano 12 socketA CPU cooler on MyWorldHardware.
OCZ Annihalator watercooling kit on ClubOC.
Thermaltake Venus 12 Athlon 64 cooler on A1-Electronics.
Thermaltake Volcano 12 socketA CPU cooler on EnvyNews.
Boogiebug UV-Reactive Fans with LEDs on Hard-H20.
Vantec Nexus NXP205 fan controller on RBMods.
Spire WhisperRock IV socketA cooler on ModSynergy.
Vantec Nexus NXP-301 Fan & Light controller on Monster-Hardware.
ioCombo CoolEngine T6C heatpipe P4 CPU cooler on 3DXtreme.
Auras T6C heatpipe P4 cooler on NinjaLane.
Nexus PHT-3600 socket478 cooler on Gruntville.
Aopen ACP4LC socket478 cooler on FrostyTech.
Audio:
Hercules DJ Console on HotHardware.
Sound Blaster MP3+ USB audio on XbitLabs.
Kenwood HTB-506 home theatre audio on DesignTechnica.
Keyboard, Mouse Etc:
Icemat Black mousepad on DVHardware.
Eluminx Illuminated Keyboard on Ownt.
Logitech Elite Keyboard on ExtremeReviews.
Steelpad 4D mousepad on Ripnet.
PSU:
Globalwin Sapphire 520W on OCModShop.
SilenX 400W on ExtremeOC.
Taurus CX 450B Silent Switching PSU on Ohls-Place.
Memory:
Corsair TwinX PRO DDR500/PC4000 on SubZeroTech.
Misc:
EZ Watcher 3060 barebones mini-PC on LegitReviews.
Gateway DV-S20 Pocket Multi-Cam digicam on DesignTechnica.
Kensington Saddlebag Pro laptop bag on RojakPot.
EZ Watcher 3060 barebones mini-PC on Xbit.
Little Wooden PC
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Thursday, 30-October-2003 19:35:15 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's a very impressive little PC from slipperyskip. There's more pictures of how it all goes together in the PCDB entry:
Click for the PCDB entry!
With the nVidia's release of the nvSystemUtility, Drayzen sent in this link to an interview with Scott Baker, nVidia's senior product manager for its nForce business unit, about overclocking and how he expects the nvSystemUtility to change the universe of chip crankers.
This from Kasi. "I know that application benchmarks are supposed to more accurately reflect real world hard disk performance. However many people, even review sites, still like to use HD Tach as a way to compare performance. Anyway there is a new version, 2.70 released which will work on Windows XP and Windows 2000 for read testing without needing to be registered". You can find it here.
In the power supply arena, there is often very little separating one generic grey box from another. G3D found two PSUs that are not plain grey boxes and put them head to head. The Silverstone ST360 up against the Kingwin KWI-450WABK. Full article here. Meanwhile, HardwareZoom have put a pair of scanners against each other. The Canon CanoScan LiDE30 vs Epson Perfection 1260 scanner shootout.
Pelts for the People: WHAT'S BEYOND WATER COOLING?. Thats the title of a new article over at The Mod Fathers. If you are thinking of playing around with extreme cooling for your CPU/GPU, this article is for you. You could also have a browse through our own Extreme Cooling forum for Cathar's thread detailing his Experiments in peltier-based water-chilling. Cool!
SFFTech check out the range of SFF (small form factor) PCs at a recent Computex. Some small, not so small, quiet, noisy, some ugly, and everything in between.
In the less extreme area of watercooling, Viper Lair have revised their Wet and Chilly Chips Water Cooling System.
A Brisbane teenager has been arrested after allegedly hacking into an Australian ISP. For some reason, I don't feel sorry for him. Thanks neXus.
We've posted this before but it's still funny so we'll post it again. Its a 3.2Mb video of an Apple Mac parody. "Mac, killed my inner child!" Thanks Rob.
Another day, another Windows Virus. Patch time again. Thanks Dink.
Some more info on the release of Linux Kernel 2.6. From ludeking.
How about a full featured computer that fits in your pocket. Well you might have to save up a bit longer but they going to be available soon.
Blood! We all need it, but Eddie tells me that blood stocks in Sydney are down to about one days worth. I don't think things are much better in any of the other city's in Australia. If you can find the twenty minutes it takes, why not consider donating blood. All the info you need on how to go about this can be found on the Australian Red Cross website or by calling 13 14 95. Give it some thought. You won't miss a litre or so.
Who remembers the game "Prince Of Persia"? Oh...the hours I spent on that one. Well, thanks to LoneWolf, thats what you get for todays flash timewaster. Get it here.
PCs come in all shapes and sizes these days, but if you don't like the look of yours, create something else. The ClearBox is just that and you can check out the PCDB entry for more pictures.
Click for the PCDB entry!
Systems/Laptops/PDA:
Apple Powerbook 12" laptop at SlCentral
Shuttle's SB65G2 and SB62G2 SFF PC's at Dans Data
Mainboard:
EPoX 8HDA3+ Socket 754 at ExtremeOC
ASUS K8V Deluxe Athlon 64 at Sudhian
ASUS P4P800S i848P Chipset and ASUS WiFi-b Kit at X-Bit Labs
Epox EP-8KRA2+ at Bit-Tech
Memory:
OCZ DDR PC-4200 Dual Channel at Madshrimps
Mushkin 1GB (2x512) PC4000 Dual Pack at Legit Reviews
VGA/Monitor:
XFX GeForceFX 5600 Ultra at OCmodShop
Gigabyte R9800 Pro 256MB at PCGuide
NVIDIA GeForce FX 5700 Ultra at Beyond3D
Nvidia GeForce FX 5700 Ultra at A1-Electronics
Samsungs 173T LCD Monitor at Bjorn3D
Audio:
Zalman Theatre 6 Headphones at PCTechZone
AudioTrak ProDigy 7.1 Sound Card at IPKonfig
Altec Lansing AHS-502 Speaker System at Gruntville
Altec Lansing XA3051 Speaker System at XtremeTek
PSU:
Seasonic Super Tornado 300 Watt PSU at Lanaddict
Jab-Tech Powmax Power Supply Tester at 3DXtreme
Seasonic Super Tornado 400 PSU at OHLS PLace
Vantec ION 400B 400watt PSU at OCPrices
Global WIN Super Silent 520W PSU at SystemCooling
Storage:
HighPoint e.SATA RAID Kit v2 video review at 3DGameman
Case/Mods:
Thermaltake X-View Flashy Thing at Hardware Lab
Cooling:
Arctic Cooling's VGA Silencer at Nordic Hardware
Misc:
HP DeskJet 9670 Wide-Format Printer at DesignTechnica
X-Trac Mouse Pad Review at OCIA
WinAmp Remote Control at Viper Lair
Wednesday Morning News
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Wednesday, 29-October-2003 02:44:01 (GMT +10) - by Gibbon
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First up this morning, Whirlpool are currently running a broadband survey - "Whirlpool's Australian Broadband Survey 2003 is the first comprehensive survey run by users, for users. It's designed to give the ordinary consumer a voice about how they feel about their broadband provider and the state of broadband in Australia generally.". That sounds like a noble cause to me. If you're interested in contributing, you can find the survey here. Thanks to those who sent in the link.
Opera Software have released a new version of their browser for all Nokia Series 60 phones. More information on Darkvision Hardware.
PC Review have written a guide to running your old DOS-based games/abandonware in Windows2000 or XP via DOS emulation. Hmmm, now where did I put that old Airborne Ranger disc!
3DVelocity have had a quick look at nVidia's System Utility application for nForce2/3 based motherboards, and it looks pretty interesting. I had a look at it a few minutes ago myself, and it looks useful. You can grab it from nVidia. Meanwhile, DarkVision Hardware detail the Intel alternative, the "Intel Desktop Control Center". Houston, we have a problem......
iTNews ponder the continuing saga of optimised drivers and benchmarking. Thanks Grey Area.
Futurelooks talks about online journaling. "Talking and writing are great ways of getting your feelings out and getting a handle on what you think about things. Sometimes you want to talk with people -- in person, on the phone, via Instant Message, or in a chat room. But sometimes, you want to talk at people -- a one-way download of your thoughts, feelings, and bright ideas. A perfect means of doing this is the online journal."
Will Google go public? Thanks Dink.
We may have mentioned this before, but I'm so damn impressed I'm going to mention it again anyway. A thousand lucky internet users in Ballarat, Victoria will have Passive Optical Network technology installed early next year, providing a 100Mbps internet connection to their home. I wonder if I could get a job in Ballarat.
It seems spammers are getting more and more sophisticated, as well as more and more annoying. The latest craze? Blogspamming.
Bjorn3D went along to an nVidia Editor's Day, and would like to tell us all about it.
Do you like Barbie? Do you like Linux? OK, you're most likely an unusual individual, but what if your worlds collided? Barbie Linux of course. I can't wait for GI Joe Linux!
There are a couple of nice entries in the PCDB that are worth a look - some groovy smokestacks on this beastie from Solanis, and a vodka cooled PC from Alfonzo. I'm not sure how long that would last at a party .... I wonder which mixer goes with PC?
To round out the news tonight, a news-dump from Tekka. Cheers!
Intel Prescott already has 64-bit extensions.
Packard Bell preps Athlon 64 notebook.
Next DVD spec. to offer net access not more capacity.
Sony sued over PS2 chip.
Gates trots out Longhorn.
Next Linux kernel closer to reality.
Japanese earth monitoring satellite ADEOS-2 goes silent.
Record time for clearing internet explorer cache set. :P
Passive Watercooling
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Wednesday, 29-October-2003 00:13:03 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Here's an interesting idea from Ibkikn. There's no description, but it seems that the radiator in this watercooled system has been replaced by a large reservoir on top of the case. This is cooled by a peltier with a large passive heatsink to get rid of the resulting heat. This removes the fan noise from having a radiator and would be one step closer to a totally silent PC.
Click for the PCDB entry!
Systems/Laptops/PDA:
Soltek EQ3702M Mini Barebones System at Hexus
Mainboard:
MSI KT600 KT6 Delta-FIS2R Mainboard at Xbit Labs
Video:
Gigabyte R9800 Pro 256MB at PCGuide
Memory:
Kingston HyperX PC4000 512MB Memory Kit at Envynews
Corsair CMX512-3200LL PRO Memory at OHLS
Corsair TwinX1024-4000Pro DDR Memory at Extreme Mhz
Storage:
MicroSolutions Backpack External DVD±RW drive at Bjorn3D
Hitachi Travelstar 7K60 2.5-inch 7200RPM HDD at HWZ
Maxtor Atlas 15K Hard Disk Drive at Xbit Labs
Crucial Hi-Speed USB 7-in-1 Card Reader at 8Balls Hardware
Crucial 7-in-1 Memory Card Reader at Mad Shrimps
Case/Mods:
Zalman TNN-500A Heatsink Case at Enscape
CaseArts Brown Marble Aluminum Case at FuriousTech
Chenbro SR-205 Junior Level Server ATX Case at 3Dxtreme
AOpen H360 Mini ATX Case at 3Dxtreme
Aspire X-Alien Case at SubZeroTech
Golden Field 6127U Case at OCTools
Raidmax "Z Blue" Scorpio Case at Club OC
Antec Minuet Micro-ATX Desktop Case at EpiaCenter
Sunbeam Dual UVCathode Acrylic Fan Grill at The Mod Fathers
Enermax UC-A07FATR2 Thermal Control Panel at Tech-PC
Audio:
Altec Lansing AHS-502 Headset at Gruntville
AudioTrak ProDigy 7.1 Sound Card at IPKonfig
iRock! 830 MP3 Player at All HardwareZone
Cooling:
GlacialTech Diamond 4200 (24K Gold) CPU-Cooler at TwinsByte
Sunbeam Overclock Cooling Duct at R&B Mods
Criticool Powerplant PCI Relay Card 2 at Crazy Modders
Misc:
Polaroid PDC3350 Digital Camera at ModSynergy
X-Trac Hammer Mousepad at DVHardware
Microsoft Wireless Optical Mouse 2.0 at 3DVelocity
BlueSmurf's Imperator Project
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Monday, 27-October-2003 17:11:18 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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We haven't mentioned this amazing PC case project for a little while, but he's certainly been making progress:
Click for the project page!
Monday Afternoon
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Monday, 27-October-2003 15:09:51 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Great news on the anti-spamming front, with a landmark judgement being handed down in California, source of much spam. The judgment, which Lockyer said will be the model for future spam injunctions, forbids PW Marketing from sending unsolicited commercial e-mail, accessing computers that belong to other people without their permission and disguising its identity by sending e-mails that appear to originate from a different address. The injunction also forbids Willis and Griffin for 10 years from owning or managing any business that advertises over the Internet.
SubZeroTech have a monitor modding article posted.
HotHardware have an article titled Athlon 64 Triple Threat, covering 3 new motherboards from MSI, ASUS and Shuttle.
Nick suggests we consider these for our next round of OCAU Merchandise. Err, I'll keep it in mind. :)
Here's some nicely-finished modded PC's from yodasarmpit and RuSKi_2.
Dan's been playing with fire and knives. No, he hasn't run away to join the circus - it's a pocket knife with an inbuilt cigarette lighter.
Phil noticed this cool/scary fire twister photo from the California fires.
Boky found some pics from the recent Amiga OS4 Roadshow in Sydney.
Apparently Sony will ship a blue laser drive next month, thanks Dink. 23.3GB on one disk is good, but it's pricey.
There's some pictures from the OCAU Canberra Cruise on the weekend here and here, with pics from the Pink Ribbon Ride in Sydney here.
Today's flash timewastes are a game of 3 halves from Settimo and stick shootout (I think we've seen this before) from Tim.
Time to update your anti-virus software again. There's a new trojan/virus doing the rounds. At this stage it appears to be spread via mIRC. Infected users will post a link in an IRC channel to a file called britney.jpg. Clicking on this link will then either infect your machine, crash your browser or both. Only Internet Explorer users seems to infected at this stage but you never know. I'm unsure if this is a new virus or a variant of an old one, but either way, its likely to be bad news. If you don't run any anti-virus software (OMG!) then you're asking for trouble. I can recommend AVG Anti-Virus which is free for personal use, or at the very least you could use one of the online scanners such as Mcafee Freescan or Trendmicro's Housecall. These days there are new virus/trojan threats popping up on a daily basis so protecting yourself is no longer optional. Get protected now!
OCAU - Australia's #1!
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Monday, 27-October-2003 03:39:04 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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We received an interesting email from Hitwise recently:
Hitwise is pleased to announce that www.overclockers.com.au ranked No. 1 in the most recent quarter among Australian websites. This ranking is based on visits among the Computers and Internet - Hardware category.
This first award isn't too surprising, as we've been contesting first place in that category for literally years. However, the big surprise was this one:
Hitwise is pleased to announce that www.overclockers.com.au ranked No. 1 in the most recent quarter among Australian websites. This ranking is based on visits among the News and Media - IT Media category.
This is big news for us and quite surprising, as it presumably places us above sites with much larger corporate backing and vast budgets compared to our own. We don't have access to the full rankings to see who else is listed in the categories, but we can assume the usual suspects are there.
So, thanks to everyone for helping cement our position as the #1 PC hardware website in Australia! Particularly our Major Sponsors: Computer Alliance, Plus Corporation and Altech Computers. PC Range have also been strongly involved with the site for the last few months. Of course, big credit has to go to my fellow newsmonkeys Mred32 and Gibbon, the team of forum Admins who keep things running smoothly and the vast community that makes OCAU what it is. Thanks guys!
OCAU Merchandise
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Monday, 27-October-2003 02:58:44 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Just a reminder about the OCAU Merchandise that's been available for a couple of weeks now. We've had well over 100 orders already, so this stuff isn't going to be available forever! There's been a lot of good feedback about the new mugs, stubby holders and polo shirts. Remember you get free shipping, too!
Sunday Morning Reviews
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Sunday, 26-October-2003 00:31:55 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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First of all, don't forget daylight saving! If you live in a state that observes it, then you should set your clock forward one hour at 2am (or when you get up :) ).
Also, a few people sent in this warning that reckons Mandrake 9.2 can fry your LG CDROM drive. On with the reviews!
Motherboard and CPU:
Intel P4 3.2C CPU on PCStats.
ABIT IC7-MAX3 i875P socket478 motherboard on HWExtreme, our review here.
Albatron KX18D Pro 2 nForce2 Ultra 400 socketA motherboard on MyWorldHardware.
ABIT NF7-S rev 2.0 nForce2 socketA motherboard on OCModShop.
Video Cards:
Gigabyte Radeon 9600 Pro on Xbit.
NVIDIA GeForce 5700 Ultra on SharkyExtreme.
Case and Cooling:
Advance A320B on Hexus.
Vantec Iceberq 4 Pro GPU cooler on Gruntville.
Thermaltake Silent Boost P4 cooler (video review) on 3DGameMan.
Thermaltake Volcano 12 socketA CPU cooler on 3dXtreme.
SilenX Ultra Quiet Temp Controlled Case Fans on TweakNews.
Asetek WaterChill watercooling kit on SpodesAbode, our review here.
Storage:
X-micro Apex Flash Stick USB storage on Comp-Shop.
Enermax EHD-350 USB enclosure on Viperlair.
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 IDE and SATA 160GB HDDs on RBMods.
VME BioDrive Fingerprint Security Flash Drive on ExtremeMHz.
Plextor PlexWriter PX-708UF external firewire DVD writer on DesignTechnica.
Misc:
Packard Bell Fast Media PC Remote Control on TweakNews.
LED lit USB A-B cables on Bit-Tech.
Trust 2500P 2.1 SoundForce speakers on PirateSoftware.
Saturday Morning
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Saturday, 25-October-2003 03:28:53 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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It's the end of the line for the Alpha 64-bit processor, which has been passed from DEC to Compaq to HP over the last 11 years, thanks Sniper. It (and the team that created it) are often credited as the basis of some technology in AMD's Athlon CPU line.
I'm not a religious person, but sometimes you have to wonder.. :)
Techspot have a guide to tweaking IE6. I've been playing with Mozilla Firebird over the last week or so and I'm quite impressed.
Xbit compared the NVIDIA GeForce FX 5950 Ultra and ATI Radeon 9800 XT, on the bleeding edge of high-end PC graphics. They also have a historical look at Palm technology.
If you're after the latest nVIDIA "ForceWare" drivers, AusGamers have a mirror.
There's been a BIG price drop on Intel CPUs over the last couple of days. Stephen notes that there's an AMD one on the way too, apparently.
David sent in this really interesting article about a robot race across the California-Nevada desert, with a $1M prize.
XGI have a new GPU called Volari. Who, you ask? PCStats have the scoop.
Tweaktown compared two i865PE motherboards from MSI and Chaintech.
Connecting your PC to your TV isn't too hard, but Madshrimps wrote a guide to help you out.
Toshiba apparently have a PDA with a 480x640 screen on the way, thanks Dink.
Ted81 says there's a new version of Mac OS X today. I confess I'm getting more interested in where the Mac is going lately, but they're still too expensive for me.
Two timewasters today. Spot the differences from Whitetoedog and paper into bin from Sphinx.
Interesting Forum Threads:
Vapochill modded to r404, pictures and results in Extreme Cooling.
DIY console for $7 in Modding & Electronics.
Photos from European Holiday: The United Kingdom in The Pub.
MBA has hijacked my computer! in Troubleshooting Help.
Solar Storm
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Saturday, 25-October-2003 02:44:18 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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If your PC, mobile phone or other gadgets are acting weirdly today, it could be due to a Coronal Mass Ejection that the Sun is currently aiming our way. The solar stream erupted from a cluster of sunspots on the surface of the sun. The giant dark patch, known as sunspot group 10484, has grown to the size of Jupiter in recent days and has migrated across the face of the sun to a position where it now faces Earth.
There have been similar, but smaller, events like this recently. However, this is apparently the biggest one since 1859. Depending on who you believe, this will either have no effect or break/confuse lots of things including electricity supply. So, I guess we'll see as the day unfolds.
Mainboard:
Gigabyte K8VNXP Athlon64 Motherboard at Legion Hardware
Albatron PX865PE Pro II at Gaming-in-3D
Storage:
HighPoint RocketHead100 PATA to SATA Converter at ModSynergy
PSU:
Thermaltake Purepower 560w PSU at OCC
VGA/Monitor:
Samsung Syncmaster 173T LCD Monitor at Envynews
Gigabyte Radeon 9800 Pro 256Mb at ModFathers
Audio:
Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro at PCguide
VL System's INDY LED Front Audio Display at TweakNews
Case/Modding:
Sunbeam EL Strip 80mm Fan Grills audio review at Extensiontech
Aspire X-Alien Aluminum Case at Envy News
Cooling:
ThermalTake Thin Wings Copper Sheet at Enscape
Asetek Waterchill Watercooling Kit video review at 3DGameMan
Cascade and AquaGold Waterblocks at PimpRig
Auras T6C Pentium 4 Heatsink at FrostyTech
Mouse/Keyboard:
Eumax EZ7000 Black Keyboard at HardExtreme
Microsoft Multimedia Keyboard at Ripnet
Misc:
Concord Eye-Q 5330z Digital Camera at MetkuMods
Canberra Cruise Tomorrow
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Friday, 24-October-2003 13:18:49 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Soc has organised a Canberra Motor Cruise for riders and drivers. Full details in the thread, but you start at Parkes Place and mosey on down to Batemans Bay for some fish and chips. Mmm.. sounds pretty good!
GeForce FX 5950 Ultra and the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
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Friday, 24-October-2003 06:09:55 (GMT +10) - by Mred32
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nVidia have announced the release of two new graphics cards, namely, the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra and the GeForce FX 5700 Ultra. The GeForce FX 5700 Ultra is aimed at the mid-range line and is based upon the NV36 chip. Aimed at the high-end comes the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra which is built around the NV38. A new set of drivers have also been released, known as the ForceWare Release 50 Graphics Driver. This is said to improve the performance issues seen with nVidia cards and DX9 compatibility. These new cards, and the drivers, have been released just in time to get them on the shelves ready for the holiday shopping spree, but do they deliver anything new? The reviews are flowing in so you can read up and find out for yourself.
Reviews/Previews can be found at Tom's Hardware, Bjorn3d, Hot Hardware 5950, Hot Hardware 5700, Gamers Depot, AMDmb, Sudhian, Guru of 3D, Hexus , TheTechReport's 5950, TheTechReport's 5700, Nordic Hardware (Watercooled FX5950 Ultra) and NeoSeeker.
Accelenation have posted a preview of the SiS 655FX Chipset and put it up against an Intel Canterwood board.
The Guru of 3D have posted their coverage of the nVidia Editor's Day.
Tigger notes that Microsoft have a guide showing us how to tell if an email is from them and not some nasty virus. Is there a difference? Only kidding :)
A little while ago, ModSynergy posted their concerns about the after effects of using Nanotherm PCM+ thermal paste. Today they post the final update to the story.
Lots of people sent this one in. It seems that the creators of the game Grand Theft Auto are being sued for millions over a murder! Are they to blame?
News-hound Tekka has been busy. NASA breaks Linux records using a 256-processor Silicon Graphics Altix system. The frame rate in Doom 3 will be capped at 60 FPS. Intel chip aims to detect disease. And PC's can turn you into a raving maniac! Thanks Tekka.
Talk about a Big Mac! How about a low-cost supercomputer built from 1100 Mac's. Thanks Dink.
Also from Dink, It's official. Gator is not Spyware! It's only Adware. Spyware or Adware, either way it's nasty if you want my personal opinion.
A couple of LANS coming up. Insomnia is a LAN in the Newcastle area and is running 22 - 23 Nov 2003. Also, Central Queensland Gamers League (CQGL) is on in Rockhampton, QLD on the 1st and 2nd of November. Details here.
Some reviews from Gibbon, who is feeling a bit lost without web access at the moment...
Intel Motherboards:
DFI Infinity i865PE motherboard on SubZeroTech.
ABIT IC7-Max3 i875P motherboard on HardwareZone.
AMD Motherboards:
Shuttle AN50R Athlon64/nForce3-150 on [H]ard OCP.
MSI K8T-Neo Athlon64/VIA K8T800 on [H]ard OCP.
Leadtek K7NCR18D-Pro2 nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboard on AllAMD.
Albatron K8X800 ProII K8T800 Athlon64 motherboard on PCstats.
Memory:
Crucial PC3200 DDR on Viper Lair.
Crucial PC3200 DDR on BigBruin.
1GB dual channel PC4000 DDR roundup on OcPrices.
TwinMOS Twister PC4000 dual channel DDR on Club Overclocker.
Audio:
Trust 514DX Sound Card on PC Review.
iRiver SlimX iMP-550 CD/MP3 player on Designtechnica.
Storage:
Avixe portable CD-RW/DVD combo drive on HardwareZoom.
Samsung SP1203N 120GB HDD on Bytesector.
Cooling:
Zalman CNSP7000A-Cu HSF on Overclockers Club.
Thermaltake Silent Boost HSF on OcPrices.
Thermaltake Silent Boost HSF on Furioustech.
Scythe Kamakaze HSF on Hexus.net.
Tweakmonster BGA RAMsinks on SystemCooling.
Cooler Master Jet 7 HSF on GruntvillE.
Cases/Case Mods:
RAIDMAX 868WBP budget case on Monster-Hardware.
Laser Beam Light Kits on Cooltech Zone.
Xoxide X-Dreamer II case on AthlonXP.
Ahanix dboX case on SLCentral.
Other Stuff:
Belkin Home Office 500VA UPS on PCstats.
Geargrip TFT harness on R&B.
Steelpad 4D mousepad on Extreme Overclocking.
Highpoint Rockethead100 SATA Convertor and AC Ryan EL SATA Cable on Tweaknews.
Dell Inspiron 5100 on Modasylum.
Commando challenge tanks on Dan's Data.
Eluminx Eluminated Keyboard on ValleyForums.
Thursday Morning
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Thursday, 23-October-2003 04:25:09 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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If you're bored with modding your case but want a DIY project, consider this anti alien abduction helmet, thanks Albert.
Dink says there was a Kill Bill virus, but hardly anyone noticed. He also noticed that the Australian Govt loses 100 laptops a year. Feel free to lose a couple my way. Finally, he notes computers irritate people. No kidding!
Today (thursday) is a free listing day on Ebay, so round up that old stuff you don't need and sell it. Details here, thanks foxx. Our Shop & Swap Forums are free every day. :)
Grum00 spotted a response from ATI about the Catalyst 3.8 overheating claims and dead monitor stories.
Digital-Daily have some video card cooling modifications happening, while creativemods have a HDD mod.
PCReview have an electronics 101 article up, fairly basic but interesting.
Gone to a LAN but forgot your LAN cable? Maybe one day you'll be able to use your body instead.. thanks DePhantom.
SFFTech have a preview/interview about Abit's mini-PC called the DigiDice.
FutureLooks have some info on Machinima, or making movies from within games.
MEBSEG says that Ragnarok Online is a MMORPG featuring cartoon type characters in a war against monsters, and that they are currently having a 15-day free trial.
An Australian ISP has been taken to court because they allegedly hosted an MP3 site, thanks Kasper.
Bit-Tech have put up part 2 of G-gnome's amazing Orac mod project.
There's another issue of ZZZ Online posted.
Interesting Forum Threads:
How To: Add more line-ins to any sound card (pics) in Audio Visual.
Wireless Info and Discussion (pending FAQ) in Networking & Internet.
Donated blood today! (pics) in The Pub.
Bridge It in Games, thanks Cypher.
Pink Ribbon Motorcycle Ride
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Wednesday, 22-October-2003 13:36:51 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Looking for an excuse to get out on your bike this weekend? In all capital cities, the Pink Ribbon Ride is on this coming Sunday. The purpose of the event is to raise funds for The Cancer Council NSW help in the fight against breast cancer. It's $10 to register and a great day out. See you out there!
Wednesday Morning Reviews
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Wednesday, 22-October-2003 01:27:04 (GMT +10) - by Mred32
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Mainboard:
Chaintech 7NJS Ultra Motherboard at NeoSeeker
Storage:
Transcend 3.5-inch USB 2.0 6-in-1 Reader at EnvyNews
CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ CPU at Xbit Labs
SpeedStrip XP CPU Unlocking Device at Overclocker Cafe
Audio/Video:
SoundBlaster Audigy 2 ZS Platinum Pro at Nordic Hardware
ATI Radeon 9600 XT Video Card at A1-Electronics
Memory:
Corsair XMS4000 Pro Series Memory at Hexus
Corsair XMS4000 Pro Series Memory at ClubOC
Corsair TWINX512-3700 Memory at AHZ
KingMAX SuperRAM PC3500 DDR433 Memory at PCStats
Case/Mods:
Antec Minuet Case at Bjorn3D
PWM Fan Controller For Lian-Li at Bit-Tech
L.I.S Blue Platinum VFD Display at TweakTown
Cooler Master Musketeer at The Tech Lounge
Cooling:
Cooligy's Active Microchannel Cooling System at Frosty Tech
ZalmanCNPS7000(A)-CU Super Flower Cooler at The Mod Fathers
Swiftech MCX462-VT Heatsink video review at 3DGameman
Swiftech MCP600 Water Pump and Fill & Bleed Kit 525 at SystemCooling
Asetek WaterChill Water Cooling Kit at Extreme Overclocking
Asetek WaterChill Water Cooling Kit at OCModShop
Tuesday Afternoon
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Tuesday, 21-October-2003 14:09:44 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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From the PCDB: A PC in a monitor from dERb2, but I reckon it needs a front-mounted LCD screen to finish it off. A minimalist window from r0mULuS, with a nice server case from BBQ_69. WuZMoT has added a few knobs to his case.
JimX advises us not to eat slugs. Oh, alright then.
Taking your film to the supermarket for development is up to date with digital cameras now, thanks Dink. He also spotted news about a new Ghost with some interesting features and a huge file extensions list with explanations. Bookmarking that one!
Want to run more than one operating system on your PC? FlickerDown will tell you how.
Interesting thing on NewScientist about making electricity using water and tiny channels. If the output can be increased, says Larry Kostiuk of the University of Alberta in Edmonton, Canada, then high pressure water could one day be used to power small devices such as mobile phones and calculators.
OCPrices have a PC4000 DDR memory roundup.
FiringSquad have a guide about building an Opteron-based gaming rig, while HardwareAnalysis have a few do's and don'ts for building a PC.
Eazyduzit spotted this nicely modded Mac G5.
An interesting French lawsuit may have an effect on search engines and how they deal with copyrighted terms, thanks LethalCorpse.
Steven sent in some more info about the Cooligy CPU cooling technology.
MegaGames wonder if Catalyst 3.8 drivers cause overheating in Radeon cards, thanks Nezatron.
Dan has more letters, believe it or not. Stay tuned for an OCAU expose about this "Dan" person actually being an army of letter-answering and review-writing robots.
Two time-wasters for you today. First is Ultimate Soccer Showdown, a downloadable game spotted by CD Man. The second - and I must warn that this one is extremely addictive - is a Flash game called Globulos.
Interesting Forum Threads:
Firebird 0.7, Mozilla 1.5 & Thunderbird 0.3 are out in General Software.
My Motor Show Review in Motoring.
Sydney Motor Show Pics in Motoring.
HJ and McD Salads in Geek Food.
VIA Eden-N, tiniest x86 processor in VIA Hardware.
Monday Night Reviews
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Monday, 20-October-2003 21:04:14 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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From the PCDB: Two slightly different takes on the suitcase PC idea from Wudan and Zippy992001, both quite well done. There's a custom clear mini-PC from ClearBox, and you don't see a modded VapoChill too often. Nicely finished minitower from lazychef, while BigKriss's fulltower with fans reminds me of the days when everyone had big loud fulltowers. :) Still got my HX-08 around here somewhere..
Motherboards:
Asus A7N8X Deluxe nForce2 Ultra 400 socketA on HighTekPC.
Video Cards:
PowerColor Radeon 9200 on OC-Zone.
Cooling:
Thermaltake X-Blower case cooler on TheTechLounge.
Thermaltake Smart Fan II CoolMod and Ducting Mod case cooling on FuriousTech.
Titan Cooling Extender TTC-ALC3 on Ohls-Place.
Aerocool UV LED Fan on ExtremeOC.
AquaJoe Waterblock on NordicHardware.
Vantec Vortex HDD cooler on ClubOC.
Aero 7 Lite CPU cooler on RBMods.
Mini-PC's:
Shuttle SB75G2 on SFFTech.
Soltek Qbic EQ3401M on HWZ.
Shuttle SN85G4 A64 mini-PC on Xbit.
Cases:
Startech Cool Aluminator on ModSynergy.
Antec SLK3700BQE "budget silent" Sonata on SilentPCReview, thanks Stmok.
Mouse, Keyboard Etc:
xTrac Ripper and Micro mousepads on ModSynergy.
xTrac Zoom and Hammer mousepads on TeamHardware.
Xtrac Ripper mousepad on SubZeroTech.
Auravision EluminX keyboard on SpodesAbode.
Zippy EL-601 mini keyboard on OCIA.
Steelpad 4S and 4D mousepads on TechConnect.
Logitech MX Duo KB & mouse on PlanetModz.
Eumax Office and Foldable Keyboards on Bjorn3D.
Misc:
InFocue X1 projector on DesignTechnica.
KingWin Liquid Thunder CCFL on FuriousTech.
Kingwin Thunder Plasma CCFL on OCrCafe.
Philips PSC805 Aurilium 5.1 Channel USB Audio Processor on FutureLooks.
Antec TrueBlue 480W PSU on GruntVille.
Zalman ZM-RS6F 5.1 Stereo headphones on BigBruin.
ActionTec USB Bluetooth Adapter on SLCentral.
Dan has replied to yet more letters, column number 67 no less. "Another installment. This time, letters about CD durability, gold harvesting, camera image formats, CPU cooling, too-fast PC clocks, RSS, free speakers, car PCs, wireless power transmission, 1.5 volt rechargeables, and electric blinds. And a reply from someone I'm trying to annoy." Dan's letters column is great, one of my first stops on the net.
It seems a couple of companies have claimed a new internet speed record, set last week when 1.1 Terabytes of data was transferred at a rate of 5.44 Gbps. Thanks to those newshounds who sent in the link.
A bit of news from stmok. nVidia have announced their nForce3 Go 120 chipset for Transmeta Efficeon processors - some nice mobile solutions on the horizon. More information here. OCZ Brings Out World’s Fastest DDR SDRAM Memory. Intel Xeon DP 2M, Xeon MP 4M to Come, and more indication that Prescott processors are unlikely to be filling any Christmas stockings this year.
^catalyst sent in a link to a Netiquette RFC. Lots of good tips in there to help make your online flameproof suit redundant. A good read!
The Register reports a complaint to Israel's antitrust department over a lack of Hebrew language support in Microsoft Office and IE for Macs.
Designtechnica ponder the role of technology in our lives, and ask the question "Are we becoming technology dependant?". I can really relate to that - whenever we lose power or a server at work I seem to slip into a trance-like state, totally unable to do anything ....
Lots of people emailed in to tell us that a new version of Mozilla (v1.5), Firebird (v0.7) and Thunderbird (v0.3) have been released. You can get them from Mozilla. UPDATE : More information in our forums here. Thanks Force.
Leo sent news that Game Arena have started a Desert Combat team ladder.
Logitech have released a very sexy looking new bluetooth keyboard/mouse/media pad thing. I didn't think I'd ever find a keyboard and mouse sexy. Very disturbing. Thanks Draebor.
Tonight's timewasters are from homestarrunner. Not sure if we've linked them before, but they're still fun :) Thanks Benjamin.
Finally, Arachnadactly sent a warning about another potential eBay scam, in the form of an email asking for credit card details. Remember to be careful whenever any site asks for that kind of information via email, and if in doubt, don't do it. Some of the scams we've seen recently targeting online banking users, eBay users and others have been very convincing.
Saturday Night Reviews
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Saturday, 18-October-2003 23:31:21 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Good luck to the five Aussies contesting their respective classes in the Motorcycle Grand Prix at Philip Island tomorrow. Troy Bayliss, Garry McCoy and Andrew Pitt in the MotoGP class, Anthony West in the 250's and Casey Stoner in the 125's. Make us proud! Plenty of coverage on Ch10 if you want to see it tomorrow.
Motherboards:
DFI 865PE Infinity P4 board on Hexus.
Asus K8V Deluxe K8T800 socket754 mobo on AMDMB.
Video Cards:
GeXcube R9600Pro Extreme Radeon on OCNZ.
Connect3D Radeon 9600 128MB on LegitReviews.
Radeon 9600 XT chipset on 3DVelocity.
Cooling:
Danger Den watercooling kit on OCModShop.
Speeze EEA31B2 CopperEagle CPU cooler on Ohls-Place.
Swiftech MCW50-T peltier video cooler on Nexus.
Innovatek Tank-o-Matic Plugon water reservoir on Hard-h2o.
Zalman ZM-BJ47J northbridge cooler on MyWorldHardware.
Vantec Stealth 80mm fans on Subzerotech.
Storage:
Fujitsu MAS Hard Disk on Xbit.
Plextor PX-708A DVD writer on HardwareZoom.
AOpen DRW4410 and_Ricoh MP5240A DVD recorders on CDRInfo.
Memory:
Crucial PC3200 DDR on MyWorldHardware.
Kingston HyperX PC4000 DDR on ViperLair.
Buffalo Technology PC4300 DDR533 on PCStats.
Corsair TWINX4000 and TWINX4000PRO DDR kits on Bjorn3D.
Cases:
GlobalWIN YCC-1101 Micro-ATX on SystemCooling.
Raidmax Scorpio 868 Silver aluminium case on PCStats.
Hoojit Cubit 3 MiniITX case on Spodes.
Skyhawk PSR-5602 aluminium case on RBMods.
Modding Bits:
Hypno Crystal Maxx fans & TechFlex case sleeving on ClubOC.
SVC Pet Chrome Sleeving for cables on GruntVille.
OCW Lamps Electronics CCFL Fan Grill on OCWareHouse.
Voyeurmods Custom Side & Top Panels on SystemCooling.
Misc:
Trust 960 Powerc@m CCD digicam on PirateSoftware.
Garmin iQue 3600 PDA with GPS on DevHardware.
Fellowes USB Foldable Stowaway Keyboard on EPIAcenter.
SteelPad 4S Pro mouse surface on CyberWizardPit.
Behringer B-2 PRO Studio Condenser Microphone on TechConnect.
SeaSonic 400W Super Silencer PSU on MonkeyReview.
LANAddict have an article titled LAN Party Economics 101. "One of our LAN Party Host veterans shares his secrets on how to keep the budget down, and the quality up".
News of a new product in the graphics card arena, namely, the Quad Information Display (QID) from Matrox featuring full AGP support for 1600 x 1200 DVI output to 4 monitors. That would be nice!
It's getting hard for even the most dialled-in person to stay on top of all the latest trends popping up online. The latest, seems to be phonecam blogging.
Lots of people wrote in saying that iTunes, the Apple/Mac based media/music player is now available in a Windows flavour. I might give it a try myself.
What! No AGP slot. Never fear, Sudhian have a roundup of PCI based graphics cards. I remember them :)
Ever wanted to turn your computer on using a key card? Kind of like punching in at work. It's not as hard as you might think, and GideonTech want to show you how. We also have a guide to building a key start for your PC by Baker.
The Modfathers have a guide to building an LCD display for cheap. You could also checkout our original LCD building article by Wolfy.
There have been several Matrix parody's out and about since the release of the original movie. This one has to be one of the best. Several sized videos are available from 10mb to 65mg in both MOV and WMV formats. I laughed. Thanks to thetron for the link.
What would todays kids have to say if they were to play a game of Pong!, or Super Mario Brothers, or sit in front of an Atari for a while. Read this and find out. Yep, I feel old now.
Identity theft! A quick way to ruin a persons life in many ways. It looks like South Australia is going to introduce a law that will outlaw just that kind of thing. The first in this country.
And #1 in tonights top 10 list of "Ways to Lose Your Data" is... A man so angry with his laptop that he shot it. hehe...recover that! From Dink.
Telstra's problems are not getting any better it seems, with a virus/trojan now being blamed. They have an official statement here, and you can find more info on Whirlpool and ZDNet. Thanks predder.
There has been a heap of new security patches released by Microsoft in the last day or two. I wont go into all the details but suffice to say, we need them. Get them here. Grab all the ones for October, and any others you have missed in the past. Thanks to all those who sent in the link.
While we're on the topic of Microsoft, Bill Gates says that "developing its next generation of Windows operating system software (Longhorn) will cost as much as it cost the United States government to put a man on the Moon." It says so right here. Thanks Duncan.
YYK sends word of a worthy event coming up, one for those into pedal power. Its the "Sydney to the Gong bike ride for the MS Society (Multiple Sclerosis), on Sunday 2 November." As well as riders, YYK is looking for 500 Volunteers to help out on the day. If you can lend a hand, or some feet even, drop into the forum thread linked, and get in touch.
Wheels clamps for parking offenders. We don't have them here in Australia that I know of, but if they ever arrive here, I want this guy to move in. Angle Grinder Man. You've gotta give him points for the costume at least :) Thanks Arachnadactly.
Lots of stuff in Dans letters today.
OCAU Merchandise
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Friday, 17-October-2003 11:02:28 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Just a reminder about the OCAU Merchandise that's been available for a week now. We've had over 100 orders already, so this stuff isn't going to be available forever! There's been a lot of good feedback about the new mugs, stubby holders and polo shirts. Remember you get free shipping, too!
Intel Motherboards:
Gigabyte GA-8S655FX Ultra SIS655FX motherboard on PCStats.
MSI Neo2-FIS2R i865PE motherboard on Legit Reviews.
AMD Motherboards:
XFX Mach4 NF2S-AED nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboard on OCModShop.
Video Cards:
Albatron Gigi GeForce FX5200 Ultra on Gaming In 3D.
ATI Radeon 9600XT on Hardware Analysis.
ATI Radeon 9600XT on Gamers Depot.
ATI All-in-Wonder Radeon 9600PRO on Tweaknews.
Storage:
Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 HDD family on X-bit labs.
Cases/Accessories:
Aspire X-Alien case on Overclocker Café.
Bleu Jour gothic thumbscrews, fan grills and fans on Ninjalane.
Cooling:
Innovatek water cooling kit on Viper Lair.
Thermalright SP94 HSF on Legion Hardware.
Waterblock Roundup on NordicHardware.
Other Stuff:
Actiontec 802.11g AP and PC card on HotHardware.
Samsung ML-1710 laser printer on Extreme Overclocking.
MSI Mega SFF barebone system on X-bit labs.
ATI TV Wonder Pro Remote Control Edition TV card video review on 3dGameMan.
Saitek Optical Mouse Pro on GruntvillE.
Kingston DataTraveler USB2 flash drive on Extreme Overclocking.
Samsung HT-DB600TH Home Theatre Package on Bytesector.
Iwill ZPC SFF barebone system on X-bit labs.
Icemat mousepad (clan based version) on Ohls-Place.
Thursday Morning
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Thursday, 16-October-2003 03:42:49 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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China joins the former Soviet Union and the USA in sending a human into space. This is some pretty big news, there's a thread discussing it in our Media & Current Events forum here. Most people (elsewhere too) seem to be focussing more on the politics than the technology. Oh well. :)
One of the things I complained about in my VapoChill review was that the ChillControl utility was only accessible via a DOS floppy disk. HotHardware have a sneak preview of a Windows version that I will be very interested in taking a look at when it's available.
There's a mIRC exploit which can let someone crash your browser. Info here, download a patched version here. Thanks to everyone who sent those in. The really funny thing was watching all the scriptkiddies coming into #overclockers and trying unsuccessfully to use this exploit.
NordicHardware compared a couple of GeForce FX 5600 video cards.
We've seen this guessing game before but it's a pretty clever time-waster so worth another go, thanks OMAGAN.
Bjorn3D set up a RAID0 array using two 200GB Maxtor drives. For a similar thing but using 2 and 4 WD Raptor drives, see here.
IBM has a new mainframe CPU in the works, while Transmeta have debuted their Efficeon processor. This new CPU has an interesting approach to solving transistor leakage.. hmm, that last one almost sounds like an April fools gag, not heard of that issue before.
AusGamers have info on a new Xbox Bundle, if you're thinking of picking one up for Christmas, thanks Herby.
PCGuide have an article about Serial ATA vs Parallel ATA hard drives.
Punkychan noticed that NEC have some watercooled desktop PC's (machine-translated link) on offer.
PCWorld compared Apple's G5 with some high-end PC systems. Digital-Daily compared Athlon 64 FX vs P4 EE, high-end CPUs from AMD and Intel. Our review of the Athlon 64 FX is here.
Herby reckons we all have a Hobbit name. Mine's Fosco Brambleburr of Bindbale Wood. Righto then.
Merrill Lynch have some observations about the semiconductor market. In some ways things are a little too good at the moment, apparently.
GamersDepot have posted part 2 of their Newbie Cooling Guide. Handy if you find your newbie is prone to overheating, I guess.
Dan wants to do something about all those darn wires everywhere. Meanwhile, Futurelooks reckon it's a wide wireless world already.
VR-Zone have some interesting tidbits from the Intel Developer Forum in Taiwan recently, with lots of PCI Express stuff.
It seems Western Digital are cutting the warranty on their retail Special Edition drives from 3 years to one year, unfortunately.
I got my car P's yesterday. Yay me! :)
ATI Radeon 9600 XT
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Thursday, 16-October-2003 02:29:38 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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That must be an NDA I hear lifting.. we're received a pile of Radeon 9600 XT video chipset reviews. How does this differ from the existing Radeon 9600 Pro? Higher clockspeeds of course, and - with future drivers - an automatic overclocking function called OverDrive.
(P)reviews on Anandtech, HardOCP, SpodesAbode, Sudhian, Bjorn3D, HotHardware, Tech-Report, Hexus, DriverHeaven and TomsHardware.
Thursday Morning Reviews
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Thursday, 16-October-2003 02:08:36 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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CPU/Motherboard:
Gigabyte GA-8KNXP i875P motherboard on PCStats.
Albatron KX18D nForce2 Ultra 400 motherboard on PCTechZone.
Gigabyte P4 2004 GT Edition i865PE motherboard on HardwareZoom.
MSI 848P Neo-S P4 motherboard on ExtremeOC.
Intel P4 Expensive Edition CPU on LostCircuits, thanks LiamC.
Cooling:
Thermaltake Extreme Volcano 12 CPU cooler on Ohls-Place.
Xise EC600/H fanless Athlon watercooling kit on Water-Cooling.
UV Fan Adapters on Bit-Tech.
Cooler Master JET 7 CPU cooler on LegitReviews.
Thermaltake Volcano 12 CPU cooler on UntouchableMods.
Zalman ZM-WB2 CPU waterblock on TheModFathers.
Thermaltake Silent Boost CPU cooler on ByteSector.
Antec Notebook Cooler on EnvyNews.
Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 CPU cooler on A1-Electronics.
Dynatron C42 and C64 socketA CPU coolers on NeoSeeker.
Titan TTC-CU9TB/SC Heat Sink on Ohls-Place.
Thermalright SLK-900A CPU cooler on BleedinEdge.
Thermalright ALX-800 CPU cooler on SystemCooling.
Zalman ZM-2HC1 heatpipe HDD cooler on OCPrices.
Aerocool Extreme Socket478 CPU cooler on OCClub.
Swiftech MCX462+T Pelier CPU cooler on OCIA.
Cases:
Black X-Dreamer on TweakNews.
Antec SLK3700BQE on SilentPCReview.
Aspire X-Alien on 3DXtreme.
Extreme Z-Black Windowed on TweakTown.
Keyboard and Mouse:
Steelpad 4s Professional Gaming Mousepad on 3DXtreme.
Gyration Ultra Cordless Suite KB & Mouse on Aselabs.
MS Wireless Optical Desktop Elite KB & Mouse on 3DVelocity.
Video Cards:
Triplex Mohoch FX 5900 Limited Edition GeForce card on OCTools.
MSI FX5900-VTD128 GeForce card on ClubOC.
MSI FX5600U-VTD128 GeForce card on HWZ.
Connect3D Radeon 9600 Pro on Bjorn3D.
Misc:
Hercules ProphetView 920 Pro 17" LCD screen on Guru3D.
Antec LANPal PC Tote on BlueCouch.
Samsung ML-1700 Series Laser Printers on TheTechZone.
Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-P72 digital camera on TheTechLounge.
BlueTake Wireless LAN 802.11b BW320 Router on ModTown.
Mission3-D Photo3-D 303 3-D Attachment for Digicams on DansData.
Sunbeam Cigarette Lighter on RBMods.
Zalman Theatre 6 Surround Headphones on SubZeroTech.
Allied AL-B500E 500W PSU on BigBruin.
EL Case Badge & UV Crystal LED Fan on OCIA.
Interesting Forum Threads:
Upcoming Games (AKA why the HL2 delay doesn't matter) in Games.
Transition to PCI-Express in Intel Hardware.
External Wireless 20x4 LCD in Modding & Electronics.
Car Backfiring in Motoring.
Fan Repair Guide in Modding & Electronics.
Athlon64 Folding Power in Team OCAU.
TweakTown check out the unofficial 802.11G wireless standard to see if it's all it is cracked up to be.
From Dink, Microsoft announces some new security initiatives. Dink also notes something that the rest of us have known for years, and that is that managers don't know how to use computers.
Transmeta have officially unveiled their Efficeon Processor. Although we've been hearing about these for a while, this is the first official word on the clock speeds these cool-running chips will work at. Thanks Stmok. While we're on the subject of new chips, VIA have introduced their tiny "NanoBGA" X86 CPU. This chip runs at seven watts at 1GHz!!! Read more here. Thanks WolfMoon.
It's a shootout, messenger style. EliteGuild have put the two more popular IM programs up against each other, namely Trillian and Miranda, to see how they stack up.
There's some updated bits & pieces in the BIOS Optimisation Guide at Adrian's Rojak Pot.
How about an add-in card that will allow your home PC to calculate at the same speed as some of the worlds fastest super-computers! Thats the idea behind the ClearSpeed CS301 chip. From Phalanx.
PCStats have a beginners guide to Encryption and Online Privacy. This should be compulsory reading for ...umm.. beginners.
MadShrimps have posted a ATI Radeon 9800 Pro volt mod guide. So if you want to get the most out of this card, and void your warranty at the same time, read away.
mjcrow says that "ZDNet have spoken to someone at Bigpond, and it isn't good". Email problems, deleted customer web sites, ohh my! Read more here and here.
Hadjicom says that CloneCD is finished, well, it's about to be. New copyright laws in Europe will prevent its sale or distribution.
Just a reminder that there are still tickets available for this weekends Valhalla LAN but you better get in quick.
Tuesday Morning Reviews
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Tuesday, 14-October-2003 03:16:22 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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This must be New PC Hardware Website week - I've been emailed by 4 new sites. They are PCGuide.com.au, ExtremeReviews.net, Extreme-Performance.net and ReviewNZ.com. On with the reviews.
Cooling:
Zalman VGA Heatpipe ZM80C-HP video cooler on MyWorldHardware.
Chill Vent 1 case cooler on Ohls-Place.
QuietPC Nexus PHT3-3600 P4 CPU cooler on SubZeroTech.
CoolerMaster CoolDrive 4 HDD cooler on GruntVille.
Fan Controllers:
Vantec Nexus on Hexus.. in Texas.. don't vex us.
CoolerMaster AeroGate 1 fan controller on RBMods.
Exsitdata Mitron fan controller on RBMods.
Storage:
Aopen DRW4410 4x DVD+RW drive on CDFreaks.
Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 250GB HDD on PCHardwareUK.
Video Cards:
Albatron GeForce FX5900 Turbo 256MB on LegionHardware.
Chaintech Apogee GeForce FX5600 Ultra on HardWareZone.
Tyan Tachyon G9600 Pro 128MB Radeon card on Hexus.
Keyboard, Mouse Etc:
Steelpad 4S Mousepad on FuriousTech.
Xoxide Black PS/2 Illuminated Keyboard on ViperLair.
Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop Elite KB & Mouse on 3DVelocity.
X-Trac Hammer & X-Trac Eels mousepads on WorldOC.
X-Trac Zoom and Pro mousepads on DansData.
Eumax FOLD3000B Keyboard on HardExtreme.
Misc:
Startech Video Game Jockey console to PC monitor adapter on ModSynergy.
PrimeFilm PF3650 PRO3 Film Scanner on HardWareZone.
AOpen A600 Midtower Case on OCrCafe.
Glo-Toob FX glowing thing on DansData.
Zalman RS6F "Theatre 6" headphones on NexusHW.
Dink (and several others) send word that Telstra is doing deals with the recording companies and will soon offer paid music downloads. "Telstra says BigPond Music will become Australia's largest music download site. Single tracks and albums will be available for download in early December, and will not count towards broadband download caps". This could be a good thing, depending on the final pricing because it looks like Kazaa will start charging for music downloads as well. Maybe the recording companies have finally woken up! The last link came from Steven.
AseLabs have another Chronicles of Crummy Computers article for you. It's always worth a laugh.
If you've always wanted one, but can't afford a Ferrari, you can have yourself a Ferrari notebook PC. Actually, if you can't afford a Ferrari then you probably can't afford one of these either.
"Cheap hardware allows more computation per query" or so the guru's at google say. "Cheap and fast" hardware is the way to go.
yyk found this list of the top ten WindowsXP tips. A bit old but still useful.
AmdMb have a round-up of nine KT600 motherboards from Abit, AOpen, Asus, Azza, Epox, Gigabyte, MSI, Soltek and Soyo.
Dan has reviewed a nifty little err...thing! Its the "Swiss Army Micro-Light Pocket Tool Chest". Have a look. One of these would make a nice X-Mas gift, for me. You can check out his latest batch of letters while you're there.
Finally, a few pieces from Tekka: Maxtor claim that they can double the storage capacity of a hard drive using current technology. Microsoft have put back the release of Windows Longhorn until 2006. Also, this page has some interesting stats about Australian's internet usage.
OCAU Merchandise
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Monday, 13-October-2003 04:00:04 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Just a reminder that we now have a range of OCAU Merchandise available, including things to wear, things to drink out of and things to stick to other things.
Some people were confused about how the free shipping thing worked, so I've updated the page with more info about that, too.
Lian Li C-01 Faceplate Cover
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Monday, 13-October-2003 00:49:59 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Is the nice shiny aluminium look of your Lian Li case spoiled by some boring beige CD drives? Sabretooth checked out a product that aims to solve this problem, from Lian Li themselves:
Click for the review!
Well, what a weekend! Bathurst, F1, Moto GP, Cricket and Rugby. I think my couch has a new butt groove.
On with the news .... Spode's Abode have a guide to making a cheap fanbus. They claim it can be made for one pound sterling, which is close to the average weekly wage in Aussie Dollars, but still not bad!
PCstats have outlined the SIS desktop chipset road map for 2004.
AcceleNation have had a look at ATI's Catalyst 3.8 driver suite and compared the features and performance with earlier Catalyst drivers.
Another news barrage from Tekka :
Student faces suit over key to CD locks.
First Phantom games announced.
Athlon64 to the FX: de-registering your memories.
Intel uses financial muscle to edge out AMD.
Elpida Memory made its first 0.10 micron 1Gb 533MHz DDR-II chip.
Cloaking device made for spammers.
AMD had a 'great third quarter'.
Want to go for a cruise around the Caribbean? Want to learn PHP? Want to do both at the same time? Thanks DrDevil.
enScape report on Linux ExpoUK 2003 in London.
File sharing company Napster is back, but not for free. Thanks BlackPantha.
Madshrimps show you how to mount a Prometia or VapoChill on your brand new Athlon 64/FX51 setup. "In due time CPU kits will be offered from both nVentiv and Asetek for the AMD A64/FX51 motherboards. But for those of us that don't want to wait, we must improvise!". I'm not entirely sure the words improvise, Prometia and Athlon 64/FX51 sit very comfortably with me, given the not insignificant portion of my nett worth they would cost me .... maybe I'm just getting old. Do it at your own risk, blah blah blah.
Arstechnica have published a new edition of their Linux column, Linux.Ars.
Ever felt like modding a pumpkin? Well, this is your lucky day, as Bjorn3d are running a competition for the best pumpkin mod in celebration of Halloween. There are some nice nVidia cards on offer as prizes, and I can't immediately see anything stopping international entries. Photos of the modded pumpkin seem to be all that's required for entry.
Some parents in the US are suing a school for installing a Wi-Fi network, asserting "serious health risks". Thanks dcarney.
Dan has replied to some more letters in Letters Column 65 ... the last one is a classic. Give yourself an uppercut, son!
Sniper sent news that the Intel CPU roadmap has changed, with Tejas postponed to 2005. That article also mentions that Prescott is likely to dissipate 120W, which is sure to be a cooling challenge. Thanks Sniper.
A shopping centre in Germany is now offering a "man creche" service. "German women fed up with their partners' grumbling on weekend shopping trips can now dump them at a special kindergarten for men offering beer and entertainment.". Sounds great! Of course I'll have to find a partner and move to Germany. Thanks reax.
The timewaster for tonight comes Muppatz in the form of Icy Tower 1.2.
Sunday Morning Reviews
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Sunday, 12-October-2003 02:43:55 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Motherboard & CPU:
VIA EPIA M10000 mini-ITX mobo and CPU on TheTechLounge.
Epox 4PDA2+ Springdale socket478 motherboard on MyWorldHardware.
MSI K8T Neo-FIS2R K8T800 socket754 motherboard on PCStats.
AMD Athlon64 3200+ socket754 CPU on PCStats.
Gigabyte GA7VT6000 KT600 socketA motherboard on RBMods.
SiS655FX dual-channel DDR P4 mobo chipset on Hexus.
Albatron KX18D Pro II nForce2 Ultra 400 socketA motherboard on AthlonXP.
Leadtek nForce2 Ultra 400 Deluxe Limited socketA motherboard on Bjorn3D.
Video Cards:
XFX GeForce FX5600 Ultra 128MB DDR DVI & VIVO (video review) on 3DGameMan.
FIC A96P Radeon 9600 Pro on ViperLair.
Cooling:
Zalman ZM-WB1 Waterblock on SystemCooling.
CoolerMaster Jet7 CPU cooler on DVHardware.
Arctic Cooling Copper Silent 2 TC socketA CPU cooler on SilentPCReview.
Swiftech MCX159 Northbridge cooler on ClubOC.
CoolerMaster Aero 7 Lite CPU cooler on OCClub.
CoolJag CJC665C CPU cooler on NinjaLane.
PolarFLO SF waterblock on GruntVille.
Danger Den Maze 4 watercooling kit on ClubOC.
Fan Controllers:
Zalman ZM-MFC1 on VoidedWarranty.
Vantec Nexus NXP205 on TheModFathers.
Input:
Microsoft Tilt-Wheel Wireless Optical mouse on Ohls-Place.
Xoxide Black PS/2 Illuminated Keyboard on OCModShop.
Saitek Cyborg Evo joystick on Guru3D.
Logitech MX700 mouse on TecNation.
Eumax FOLD3000B keyboard on HardExtreme.
Cases:
CoolerMaster WaveMaster on TecNation, our review here.
Skyhawk IMC-6271 Cube mini-PC case on EPIACenter.
Chenbro Xpider on HighTekPC.
PSU:
FSP Aurora 350W on GideonTech.
Vantec Stealth Aluminium 420W on 8Balls.
Misc:
Creative Labs PC Multimedia Remote Control on Monster-Hardware.
Samsung 173T LCD monitor on ExtremeOC.
Belkin Bluetooth USB Adapter on HardExtreme.
M-Audio Revolution 7.1 sound card on Bit-Tech.
ECS EZ-Buddie mini-PC on RipNet.
Crucial PC3200 DDR memory on XtremeTek.
Vantec Vibration Dampeners on OCIA.
Maxtor 300GB HDD on TomsHardware, thanks genesis.
Saturday Morning
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Saturday, 11-October-2003 04:14:49 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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In case you aren't aware, this is a bumper weekend for motorsport fans even if you only have free-to-air TV. Sure, there's cricket and football of some kind on the other channels, but on Saturday and Sunday there's the Bathurst round of the V8 Supercars, hours of coverage. Later on Sunday there's Formula 1 and about midnight Sunday there's MotoGP. Hand me the doritos and beer and make room on the couch! Update: SpeedRacer says that Telstra Bigpond customers get some cool V8 Supercar content online.
Don't worry about your mobile phone giving you cancer.. now it might just explode, thanks Andypoo.
EnvyNews checked out the new Catalyst 3.8 drivers from ATI.
Xbit spent a little time extreme overclocking the Radeon 9800 Pro and GeForce FX 5900 Ultra.
Seems that watercooling is becoming more mainstream, with Cooligy technology endorsed by Apple, Intel, AMD and DARPA, thanks GL0Be. Xbit have their opinion posted, thanks Sniper.
Dan has some more letters about stuff.
Arctic Silver 5 is apparently going to available later this month, following on from the popular Arctic Silver 3 thermal paste. Overklokking.no has a preview and explains why there's no version 4, thanks PapaSurf.
OCZone have some pics of the process to remove the P4's headspreader.. makes a nice keyring too.
Dink sent in this article on TheReg about someone being sued for suggesting people hold down their shift key. Unsurprisingly this has attracted the attention of slashdot, thanks Vampyr. Speaking of lawsuits, wadges spotted this WiFi is bad for our kids claim.
Sore wrist from browsing? Maybe a USB massager is what you need, thanks Spartan. Or maybe the Everglide Wristbreast we reviewed ages ago is more your style. :)
TweakTown checked out some more dual channel DDR memory.
Interesting Forum Threads:
It has begun (modded lian-li, pics) in Modding & Electronics.
What's after the VZ Commodore? in Motoring.
Snakes as Pets in The Pub.
Hidden & Dangerous now free! in Games.
OCAU Merchandise!
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Friday, 10-October-2003 19:28:59 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Finally! People have been hassling me for months to get some OCAU Polo Shirts made up, and thanks to Bren we now have some available. We also have some really awesome big coffee mugs and stubby holders as well as the tshirts, case badges and stickers from before.
Click here for OCAU Merchandise!
Intel Motherboards:
Abit IC7-MAX3 i875P P4 DDR motherboard on NordicHardware.
AMD Motherboards:
Shuttle AN50R nForce3 150 Athlon64 motherboard.
Processors:
Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz Extreme Edition on Gamer's Depot.
Memory:
Kingmax SuperRAM 512MB DDR433 on Legion Hardware.
Corsair TwinX1024-4000Pro DDR on Legit Reviews.
Video Cards:
PNY Technologies GeForce FX5200 Ultra on Intelforums.
nVidia NV36 FX5700 reference card on PCstats.
MSI nBox GeForce FX5900 Ultra on neoseeker.
MSI nBox GeForce FX5900 Ultra on Viper Lair.
Storage:
Plextor PlexWriter Premium-U external CD-RW drive on Ohls-Place.
Maxtor DiamondMax Plus 9 200GB SATA HDD on pchardware.
LG Super Multi DVD+/-RW/RAM drive on HardwareZoom.
Cooling:
Scythe Kamakaze HSF on Ohls-Place.
Corsair Hydrocool 200 water cooling kit on Octools.
Vantec Iceberq 4 VGA Cooler on Envy News.
Angel Eye Bay-Res reservoir on Amdmb.
Thermaltake TR2 M1 HSF on Overclocked Cafe.
Thermaltake Volcano 12 Extreme HSF on A1 Electronics.
Cases/Case Accessories/Power Supplies:
Thermaltake XaserIII case on GruntvillE.
Raidmax Z-Blue 868 case on 3dXtreme.
Antec SLK2600 AMB case on Blue Couch.
Raidmax SF862S Silver Hydraulic case on OCAddiction.
Cooler Master Musketeer video review on 3dGameMan.
Cooler Master Musketeer on Monster-Hardware.
Kingwin K-11-BK-WM aluminium case on Bjorn3d.
Cooler Master CoolDrive4 on SystemCooling.
FSP Aurora 350W PSU on Furioustech.
Other Stuff:
Samsung SCX-4016 Multi-Function Laser Printer on Explosive Labs.
Nokia 6610 mobile phone on MetkuMods.
Dupli-Color Metalcast aerosol paint on enScape.
MSI MegaStick1 MP3/FM Radio/USB Drive on PCstats.
Microsoft Wireless IntelliMouse Explorer 2.0 on HardwareZoom.
Matrix Orbital MX213 USB LCD on OCModShop.
Belkin High-Speed USB 2.0 Computer Upgrade Kit on JSI Hardware.
Biostar iDEQ 200N Small Form Factor PC on Bjorn3d.
Samsung 173T 17" LCD monitor on Designtechnica.
Vaja Nomad Jukebox Zen Custom Leather Case on ExtremeMhz.
Icemat mousepad on LAN Addict.
Big news for the day is the release of version 3.8 of the ATI Catalyst drivers with a number of new interesting features. Beyond3D have taken a look at them in detail and you can get them from here. Thanks to all those who sent in the links.
The folks at Hexus have got their hands on a Pentium 4 EE CPU, coupled it with a volt modded EPoX 4PDA2+, and thrown them into a Vapochill XE. How did it go??? Have a look and see.
You service your car regularly, just as you service your computer every now and then. PCStats have a beginners guide to your Annual PC Checkup.
The Gaming Industry: Past, Present and Future. Thats the title of an eight part article on Flickertown.
Tom has posted an interesting, if not slightly long (25 pages), article on the process involved in manufacturing Chenbro cases.
Voided Warranty have a sleeving guide for you.
Here is a cheap IEEE 802.11 antenna you can put together yourself.
Juggling with packets: floating data storage. An interesting read on the possibilities of using certain properties of the Internet or any other large network to create a reliable, volatile distributed data storage of a large capacity. Read it here. Thanks richiev.
Sudhian say that Intel's Prescott problems may foreshadow industry woes.
Some news bits from Tekka: Another audio CD copy protection scheme bites the dust. The number of broadband connections in Australia has passed the half-million mark. Liquid cooled Mac's might be on the way. And it looks like Barbie and Ken are on the way out, with the arrival of these new His & Hers robots.
Here is one not-so good way to advertise your anti-spam software. From Duncan.
From RobsGT4: Here's some news for the whole Distributed Computing scene, the new Seti client is on its way and it will let users choose to do more than one project. This means you can run both Seti and F@H on the same machine and set each projects CPU usage. Here's the link and also a forum thread.
Wednesday Afternoon News
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Wednesday, 8-October-2003 14:23:42 (GMT +10) - by Mred32
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News from HyRax1, "Just a quick note to advise that the Sydney leg of the Amiga OS4.0 Roadshow showcasing the fourth official release of the Amiga OS and the next-generation AmigaOne PPC hardware platform is on this coming weekend at the Guthrie Theatre at UTS. Entry will be $2 to cover administrative costs." More info can be found here and in the forums here.
Dink notes that Australia now has a supercomputer that can crack the teraflop processing mark. He also says that Coles/Myer are looking for an open source solution.
With all the speculation running riot around the internet at the moment, WorldOverclockers try to cut through the noise with an article called "The Valve Half-Life 2 Incident". SnRuB sent in this link with some more info about the stolen code.
Recently AMD introduced its new Duron, the Applebred, with its FSB limited to 266Mhz and the L2 cache at 64Kb. You can see how they stack up against the Athlon XP over at MadShrimps.
PCstats have compiled a comprehensive array of the many Athlon64 motherboards from over a dozen different manufacturers that were on show at Computex 2003, and should be available in the near future, 44 Athlon 64 motherboards!
SharkyExtreme have posted an October high-end gaming PC buyers guide.
It seems that a lot of people don't know how to turn their computers on, according to this article. Now where did I put that on/off switch?
Ever wondered what that Scroll-Lock key on your keyboard is for? This article will answer that question and tell you about some of the other keys that you might never use.
Sony are set to release their new PSX Game/Entertainment System in Japan later this year. I wonder if we'll ever see one here?
The flash timewaster for today was sent in by Peter, who obviously isn't all that fond of cats! Its Clay Kitten Shooting.
Speaker Cut-off Headphone Socket Mod
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Wednesday, 8-October-2003 03:43:13 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Does having to unplug your speakers every time you want to use your headphones annoy you? Herby sent in a quick mod article which shows you how to set up a separate headphone socket. When you plug your headphones in, it disconnects the audio signal to your speakers automatically.
Click for the article!
Wednesday Morning Reviews
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Wednesday, 8-October-2003 03:23:11 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Mobo & CPU:
AMD Athlon 64 3200+ with Gigabyte GA-K8VNXP on HardwareZoom.
Gigabyte GA-8IPE1000 Pro 2 GTR i865PE socket478 motherboard on OCNZ.
Cooling:
FMAH Fanless Heatpipe CPU Cooling System on SilentPCReview, interesting.
Noise Isolator Watercooling kit on Water-Cooling.
Vantec Vortex HDD cooler (video review) on 3DGameMan.
Aerocool Deep Impact DP-101 Rev2 heatpipe CPU cooler on ViperLair.
Thermaltake Volcano 12 CPU cooler on OCrCafe.
Super Flower Fan Master fan controller on ExtremeOC.
Swiftech MCX-462-V monster CPU cooler on ClubOC.
Video Cards:
HIS Excalibur Radeon IceQ9800 Pro on Guru3D.
ATI Radeon 9800 XT on A1-Electronics.
Modding:
LED Spotlights case lighting on OCIA.
LIS LCD Blue Deluxe 20x2 display on Hard-H20.
VIsys LIS VFD display on RBMods.
Mousing:
X-Trac Pro HS Optical mousepad on DVHardware.
SteelPad S3, S4 & Surfers mousepads on WorldOC.
Black Icemat mousepad on BigBruin.
Steelpad 4S mousepad on M:6.
Cases:
Antec Minuet on MonkeyReview.
Xoxide X-Turbine & X-Elite on LANAddict.
Misc:
Samsung Multi-Function LCD 172MP monitor on Bjorn3D.
Panasonic Toughbook W2 laptop on DesignTechnica.
Monarch Hornet SFF PC on HardCoreWare.
SilenX 400W Ultra Quiet PSU on TweakNews.
Hitachi Deskstar 7K250 HDD on StorageReview, thanks kasi.
ABIT in Sydney
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Wednesday, 8-October-2003 02:28:22 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Short notice, but Lyle from ABIT let me know that they're having an event at a new internet cafe called iStar Zone in Sydney. We're doing it in conjunction with Atomic magazine and THQ for the release of their new game, Warhammer. We're inviting about 60 end-users, plus resellers, distys and our favourite Aussie media!
There's a 5kb html file here and a 1.5MB Word doc here with info about the event. It's this Thursday at 6pm in the CBD. I haven't decided if I'm going to be able to make it or not, but if you go, be sure to mention OCAU. :)
Lyle also made it pretty clear that ABIT are going to be focusing more closely on the Australian market over the next few months. We've reviewed a few of their products recently and been impressed - hopefully we'll continue to see good things from them.
Tuesday Morning
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Tuesday, 7-October-2003 11:16:02 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Congrats to Queenslander Chris Vermeulen who is now the World Supersport Champion.. thanks to Aaron for reminding me.
Beyond3D checked out the ATI Radeon 9100 IGP, which is one of ATI's attempts at a P4 motherboard chipset. Meanwhile, Hexus reviewed the Athlon 64 3200+ on VIA K8T800 and nForce3 150 in retail form. Will one of these combinations be in your next PC?
Intel are apparently cutting prices, thanks VoiD.
IBM have been thinking about how to make laptop hard drives less likely to die when the laptop is dropped, and they've come up with this. The new ThinkPad R50 and T41 laptops boast what IBM's calling Active Protection System, technology that responds to sudden acceleration by parking the hard drive read/write head until the PC is stabilized. Yes, but it doesn't stop your screen from getting that big black spiderweb effect.
Tesla coils are pretty cool - here's a an Australian guy taking his hobby very seriously, thanks Laurens.
OCPrices compared the CoolerMaster Musketeer and Aerogate 2s fan controllers. In a similar vein, OCIA looked at the Vantec Nexus 305 fan and light controller.
SGI has performed a comprehensive comparison of the Linux kernel and the Unix System V source code to look for the code that SCO claim infringes their copyrights.. and didn't find much.
Some headlines from Tekka: AMD Athlon XP "Dublin" Details Transpired. Waiting for DVDs, the Sequel. Hackers to Face Tougher Sentences. Dell and UT team for Texas-sized cluster.
Interesting Forum Threads:
8rda+ owners, look here in AMD Hardware.
New system, amazing results! in AMD Hardware.
SiS655FX Reviews in Intel Hardware.
Network slowdown when it rains in Networking & Internet.
All-In-One Information Thread in Sport, Fitness and Health.
Tuesday Morning Reviews
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Tuesday, 7-October-2003 03:49:26 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Video Cards:
ATI All-In-Wonder Radeon 9600 Pro on HotHardware.
Tyan Tachyon G9800 Pro-M Radeon card on Hexus.
Cooling:
MicroCool NorthPole northbridge cooler on ClubOC.
Thermalright SP-94 P4 CPU cooler on MadShrimps.
CoolerMaster Aero 7+ AMD CPU cooler on XtreMods.
CoolJag CJ66IC P4 CPU cooler on NinjaLane.
OCZ Gladiator 3 CPU cooler on FuriousTech.
CoolerMaster Aero 7 Lite AMD CPU cooler on SLCentral.
Thermaltake P4 Spark 7+ Xaser CPU cooler on WorldOverclockers.
Asetek WaterChill KT15-L20 watercooling kit on PirateSoftware.
Thermaltake Venus 12 Athlon 64 CPU cooler on LegitReviews.
Active Cool AC4G peltier-based CPU cooler on Spodes.
Zalman ZM-WB1 waterblock on Nexus-Hardware.
Vantec Vortex HDD Cooler on Virtual-Hideout.
Audio:
Logitech Z-680 THX 5.1 speakers on Bit-Tech.
Plantronics Audio 90 stereo PC headset on TheTechLounge.
Altec Lansing VS4121 2.1 Speakers on ModSynergy.
Altec Lansing VS4121 on NeoSeeker.
Keyboards:
Zippy Electron glowy keyboard on DWPG.
Eumax EZ-3000B foldable keyboard on TechImo.
PSU:
Ahanix SilentX 300W on XtreMods.
Thermaltake Xaser Silent Purepower 480W on 3DXtreme.
Misc:
Lamps Electronics CCFL case lighting on GruntVille.
Corsair TwinX1024-4000Pro DDR500 memory kit on Xbit.
Chaintech 7NJS Ultra nForce2 Ultra 400 socketA motherboard on HardWareZone.
Monday Afternoon
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Monday, 6-October-2003 15:31:46 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Hope you're enjoying your long weekend, if you're in a state that has today off. I went to Oktoberfest on the weekend.. suffice to say I'm in something of a state myself. Urrggh..
ICANN has demanded VeriSign remove their SiteFinder service.. and they have.
Swift2k was the first to send in this dual-layer DVD+R. Developed by Philips Research in cooperation with MKM (Mitsubishi Kagaku Media)/Verbatim, the technology virtually doubles data storage capacity on DVD recordable discs from 4.7 Gbyte to 8.5 Gbyte while remaining compatible with existing DVD Video players and DVD-ROM drives.
SiS have released their SiS655FX chipset for the P4, with dual DDR400 support, AGP8X, 800MHz FSB and some other cutting-edge features. HotHardware have a review and so do MyWorldHardware.
Don't like Telstra's ADSL infrastructure? Build your own, as this South Australian ISP did, thanks Dink.
TweakFactor are a new site with a new cooler lapping guide. While you're in a hands-on mood, Pimprig show you how to make a blowhole in your case.
If you thought parking is expensive when you spend a few hours in the city, imagine forgetting about your car for 25 years in a parking station, thanks Reaver.
Ever wish you could use a clunky old typewriter as your PC keyboard? No? Well, me neither. But someone's wife did, so he made it so, thanks Callan.
HWZ have posted their final coverage of Computex.
There's a Massive LAN (actually, only ~50 people) in Melbourne, Oct 11.
Today's timewaster is a Flash version of Prince of Persia, From Veefy.
Newshound Tekka sent in another news bonanza this weekend, so here's some quick and lazy Sunday evening news:
VeriSign shuts down Web site finder.
Geeky Microsoft wants a TV makeover.
Microsoft moves to integrate Windows with BIOS.
Microsoft could face security failure liability.
FX 5700, NV36 speeds emerge.
Intel Prescott to Emerge Only in Q1 2004?
Finger, faceprints get green light for Europe's ID standard.
Sony claims victory in PS2-is-a-PC battle.
Senator calls for end to excessive fines against file-traders.
Toshiba delays fuel cell.
Sharp lights up mobile electronics.
EU directive 'could spark patent war'.
Earth Simulator delights scientists.
Families: Guardsmen investigated after marrying Iraqis.
Cisco warns its WLAN security can be cracked.
IBM combines transistors to speed wireless chips.
Processors:
Intel Pentium 4 3.2GHz Extreme Edition on Hexus.net.
Memory:
Crucial PC3200 DDR on R&B.
Video Cards:
FIC Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB on Bjorn3D.
Leadtek WinFast A350 TDH MyVIVO vs Albatron Gigi FX5900PV GeForce FX5900 hoedown on Explosive Labs.
nVidia GeForce FX5600 Ultra 128mb reference card on The Modfathers.
Triplex REDai Millennium Silver R9600 Pro 128MB on Overclockers NZ.
ATI Radeon 9800 PRO 128MB on Voided Warranty.
XFX GeForce FX5600 Ultra on Viper Lair.
Inno3D GeForce FX5900 on hardCOREware.
Storage:
2.5” HDD roundup on X-bit labs.
Seagate Cheetah 15K.3 SCSI HDD on The Tech Report.
Monitors:
BroMagic 17” DVI LCD monitor on TweakTown.
Samsung 172W widescreen LCD monitor on Tweaktown.
Samsung SyncMaster 213T 21" LCD monitor on neoseeker.
Samsung SyncMaster 213T 21" LCD Monitor on Tweaknews.
Cases/Case Mods/Power Supplies:
Antec internal LED light tube on Legit Reviews.
QuietPC Quiet Feet on Monster-Hardware.
Aspire X-Dreamer II case on Overclocker Cafe.
Beantech BT-85 acrylic case on Water-Cooling.com.
Cooler Master CoolDrive 4 video review on 3dGameMan.
Cooler Master Musketeer on GruntvillE.
Logisys quad red LED fan on ExtensionTech.
Maxtop 450W PSU on OcPrices.
Silverstonetek 320W PSU on R&B.
Thermaltake Lanfire case on Overclocker Cafe.
GlobalWIN SAF420 420W PSU on Envy News.
Other Stuff:
"Shooting Digital" digital photography book on Dan's Data.
Crucial Hi-Speed USB 7in1 card reader on Club Overclockers.
iRock 730i MP3 player on HardExtreme.
ATI TV Wonder VE TV tuner on Extreme Overclocking.
Biostar i865 Mini-PC on SubZeroTech.
Dacal Technology DC-300 CD Library II on Dan's Data.
Samsung YEPP YP-55i MP3 player on Envy News.
Cremax IcyDock Bodyguard525 HDD cooler on Tweaknews.
Saturday Morning #2
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Saturday, 4-October-2003 04:10:07 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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A zillion people sent in news that the Half-Life 2 source code has been stolen! More info on shacknews, VE3D, slashdot and SMH.com.au. Most critical is this explanation about the hacking/leak and possibly-related DOS attacks from a Valve spokesperson.
It seems some "Thorton"-cored AMD CPUs (that is, Barton core with Thoroughbred-like 256KB L2 cache instead of the normal 512KB) can have that "missing" L2 cache enabled, thanks Mystificator. Info here on Xbit and here on OC.RU.
For a different look at the ATI vs NVIDIA battle for desktop graphics supremacy, consider some recent projections from financial giant Merrill Lynch.
If you're going to be using an Athlon 64 FX as reviewed by us here, you're going to need some Registered ECC DDR400 to get the most out of it. LostCircuits checked some out for you.
ICANN have given VeriSign 36 hours to stop their SiteFinder service.
Think you're safe to illegally share music here in Australia, far from the RIAA and other much-publicised American goings-on? Guess again - you can get nicked for it here too, thanks Dink.
Dink also notes that Ziggy got a payrise, meaning he now pulls in a smidge under $2.5M a year. Keep that in mind when you pay your monthly bandwidth over-usage bill. :)
Early Saturday Morning
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Saturday, 4-October-2003 03:43:57 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Matt spotted this future CPU from Intel that apparently will allow future machines to run, say, Windows XP together with Linux or the Apple operating system as easily as today's Windows computers run Word and Internet Explorer simultaneously.
Sudhian wonder if Home PC building is a dying hobby or not.
TechwareLabs compared the mid-range performance video cards from ATI and NVIDIA, namely the Radeon 9600 Pro and GeForce FX 5600.
Some folk think people should email less, talk more, thanks PodgeSSS. Meanwhile, some people are claiming that 3G mobile phone technology makes them sick (thanks Dink) and excess internet use might be harmful to kids.
SpodesAbode went to the Radeon 9800XT launch in Munich, while Xbit enjoyed ATI's hospitality at Alcatraz.
Sudhian have their thoughts posted about VeriSign's SiteFinder which many are calling a mass domain highjack.
ForumOC have a guide to lapping a heatsink. Or, you could check out my (very) old-school CPU slug sanding article, one of the first I ever wrote.
OpenOffice v1.1 is out now, thanks Isuxius.
Xbit benchmarked some high-end cards with FSAA enabled in various modes.
The old "sending nude pics of your ex" trick may seem funny, but it can land you in court, thanks thetron.
Here's a pretty cool car-mounted iBook, thanks Chris.
From the PCDB: a detailed look at an iCute mini-PC from Nikkojoe, funny captions from Carbine, a nice-looking Wavemaster case from Taksan and some watercooling overkill from jaani.
Sandra 2004 Released
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Friday, 3-October-2003 03:15:00 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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SiSoft have released a new version of their popular Sandra benchmarking suite, version 2004. We have a mirror of an "OCAU branded" version as usual:
Click for more info!
Motherboards:
MSI NEO2-FIS2R i865PE P4 DDR motherboard on Viper Lair.
Video Cards:
PowerColor Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB on hardCOREware.
MSI GeForce FX5600 Ultra on Hexus.net.
ATI Radeon 9800XT on Beyond3D.
ABIT Siluro GeForce FX5900 OTES on [H]ardOCP.
Audio:
Zalman 5.1 Headphones on GruntvillE.
Storage:
Plextor PlexWriter PX-708A DVD+/-RW drive on Designtechnica.
Maxtor 5000DV 200GB external HDD on Bytesector.
Cooling:
Nexus PHT-3600 HSF on Overclockers Online.
Cases:
Logisys X-Spider black tower case on AthlonXP.
Chenming 301KE case on TechFreaks.
Xoxide X500 case on Guru3d.
Other Stuff:
Senfu Tech Station test bench on OCAddiction.
Crucial 7-in-1 USB 2.0 card reader on Flickerdown.
Qtronix Libra 990 P remote control on Epiacenter.
Logitech Cordless MX Duo vs Logitech Freedom Optical on HardwareZoom.
Jab-Tech Logisys Footstep LED Case Feet on 3dXtreme.
Palm Tungsten T3 on infoSync World.
Contec 6" Advanced LCD Monitor/TV Tuner video review on 3dGameMan.
Samsung SCX-4216F printer/fax/copier/scanner on ExtensionTech.
irock! 830 MP3 player on PC Tech Zone.
First up today...
One of the better graphics card tweak tools around has been updated. RivaTuner 2.0 RC 14 is awaiting your download. This seems to be the biggest version upgrade so far in RivaTuner's history. You can grab it from here or here.
OCPrices have an article on how to quieten down your PC. They give a run down of where the noise comes from and what you can do about it.
Over on Vr-Zone you can read about an Athlon FX-51 (2.2Ghz) overclocked to over 3Ghz using an ASUS SK8N with the new 1003.003 BIOS that allow multiplier adjustments. The dry-ice helps I think. Nice!
Dink sent this in and I'm not sure if I should laugh at this item or not. Having your virtual goods stolen from your virtual house in the virtual world of an online computer game! Yet according to this article sent in by Fatso, some computer games are being used to train the criminal catchers.
Ever wondered where the CTRL-ALT-DELETE key combination came from, or why we have it? This guy knows, because he invented it.Thanks to Skit from sc0re.com for the link.
Lindows is getting up the nose of Microsoft again, this time by offering to process claims for Californians entitled to proceeds from a $US1.1 billion class-action settlement with the software giant. Thanks to Kerridwyn for that one.
wild reminds us that the IRC quotes database at smokeyou.org has moved to quotes.ugbox.net. Thanks wild, and thanks to the ugbox team for hosting it.
From Amateur: "One of my more self-motivated mates built his own FX Light, and did it pretty well. He also put together very detailed instructions which I think some people will find very handy." Its very pretty! You can find the details here.
It seems that camera-phones are everywhere now, even in places they shouldn't be! From yyk.
There are a couple of LANS coming up with Red Flag being held at Perth's Cannington Showgrounds this coming weekend (4/5th of October). Still seats available and cash to be won! Also, Valhalla is on over the 18/19th October at the St Clair Recreation Centre in Woodville. Get in quick.
Soc sends word of a Canberra Motor Cruise on the 25th of October at 10:30am Sharpish. Heres your chance to show off those riced-up wheels, and get together with some other OCAU groupies.
Blade707 sent in some weird and not so weird links for us! Like the official Spam website, the WhatsBetter site, and the Netiquette guide. Some people need to read the last one.
Finally, issue #178 of ZZZ Online is out for your weekly fix of the weird and wonderful.
ATI have announced their Radeon 9800XT and 9600XT products today. These have some incremental improvements over their predecessors.
(P)reviews on NordicHardware, DriverHeaven, Sudhian, GamersDepot, TechReport, Bjorn3D, Rage3D, FiringSquad, TomsHardware, HotHardware, Anandtech and HardOCP.
Wednesday Reviews
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(link)
Wednesday, 1-October-2003 16:59:15 (GMT +10) - by Agg
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Motherboards and CPU:
Gigabyte GA-8INXP "Granite Bay" mobo on TheModFathers.
ABIT IC7-MAX3 i875P P4 mobo on Xbit, our review here.
AMD Athlon64 & FX CPUs on A1-Electronics, our review here.
Video Cards:
Triplex Ti4200 8X with Wireless TV-Out GF4 card on MadShrimps.
AOpen Aeolus FX5600S GeForce FX card on SharkyExtreme.
HIS Excalibur 9800 Pro Radeon card on HardAvenue.
ABIT Siluro GeForce FX5900 OTES on EXHardware.
MSI NBOX N5900 Ultra GeForce FX card on Bjorn3D.
Mouse Etc:
Steelpad 4S mousepad on Hexaplague.
Steelpad 4S mousepad on TweakNews.
Logitech MX700 Optical Cordless mouse on ClubOC.
Cases:
Thermaltake Xaser III LanFire on WorldOC.
Antec Minuet HTPC Case on ASE Labs.
Audio:
Zalman Theatre6 5.1 Surround headphones on SLCentral.
Altec Lansing VS4121 2.1 Speakers (video review) on 3DGameMan.
Monitors:
Samsung Syncmaster 172MP LCD screen on SLCentral.
Memory:
OCZ EL DDR PC-4000 Dual-Channel kit on Hexus.
Case Accessories:
Vantec Nexus NCP-301 fan and light controller on ViperLair.
CompuNurse Advanced Temperature Monitor on ExtensionTech.
Sunbeam Dancing Light & LED Fan Grille on ModAsylum.
MacPower Digidoc 5+ fan controller on Virtual-Hideout.
Vantec Nexus NXP-301 Fan & Light Controller on 8Balls.
Crystalfontz USB LCD Model 632 display on BigBruin.
Storage:
X-Micro APEX Flash Stick 128MB USB drive on AusFX.
BeanTech MyReader 6-in-1 card reader on PCTechZone.
Plextor PlexWriter Premium CDRW burner on ComputerCritics.
IOSS RD5 5-in-1 card reader on JSI Hardware.
Cooling:
Asetek VapoChill XE phase-change CPU cooler on HotHardware.
ThermalTake TR2M1 AMD CPU Cooler on 3DXtreme.
JMC SkyJet 70 P4 CPU cooler on Ohls-Place.
Koolance EXOS external watercooling system on TweakTown.
Ever wondered exactly what Latency is? Curious about memory timings, bandwidth and dividers? OCAddiction have posted an article on Memory Bandwidth and Timing. A good read for those who have not spent a lot of time playing with memory settings but want to get the most out of their overclock.
A Cable Sleeving and Heat Shrinking how-to at Blue Couch from John.
"A truck, a sat dish and a sunburnt country. When you absolutely positively need to connect to the Internet, why not carry your own broadband connection with you?" A good read at sc0re.com.
Some more info on the "Mini-Mini Me" Nano-ITX gear at mini-itx.com. Thats a very little motherboard! Thanks HyRax1.
A good "How to make a network cable" guide at Lan Addict.
Some more letters from/to Dan. #63 this time.
According to this article, SIS are set to make a 4-channel RDRAM chipset. That will be good news to many people. Thanks to Ambush for the link.
Data Recovery put to the test. The Tech Lounge play around with ACR Data Recovery to see if it does what it says it will.
Oosh notes that there is a firmware update for the very popular Pioneer DVR-106 DVD burner. Check it out.
Can't afford a Segway! Try this D.I.Y Segway! Thanks jimx.
From Dink: Do cool stuff with your drivers licence, like pay parking fees and pay local government rates. Yay, what fun! But is it a privacy risk?
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