Tech News
-
Merry Christmas - Reprise
Published: Sunday, December 26, 2004 | By: DennisAnother Christmas has come and gone and according to the latest web poll 47% of you were hoping for computer stuff, 20% claimed that they wanted to find a nicely dressed Mistress under the tree this year
.
So how did everyone do? Here is to hoping you all didn't get socks (unless you really needed them
and may all your future gift-giving ventures not go un-rewarded. -
Happy Holidays Everyone
Published: Friday, December 24, 2004 | By: DennisChristmas is almost here and along with most Americans I'll be spending the holiday weekend with the family. Provided that everything goes well site updates will resume on Sunday with a tentative review release on Monday.
Take care everyone, Eat, Drink, and Be Merry!!. Give some sober friend the keys if you've been drinking lots and be sure to kick that annoying family member square in the ass! Just cause they are drunk doesn't excuse the fact they need a good old-fashioned ass whooping for pissing everyone off.
-
Testing NVIDIA SLI - Two Parts @ Digit-Life
Published: Thursday, December 23, 2004 | By: Dennis"NVIDIA SLI operates differently. Like in the latest multi-chip solutions from 3dfx, the pair is formed by a Primary (Master) card and a Secondary (Slave) card. A special buffer is allocated in a master card to assemble the image. But we have written much about operating methods of multi-chip solutions, so we shall not repeat ourselves.
Note that there is a special unit inside the corresponding chips (NV45, NV43), which is responsible for SLI, working with shared resources of the two video cards. The data is exchanged via a bus and synched via a special SLI connector plugged to both cards."
I'm still pretty excited about nVidia SLI, it doesn't seem to be as flexible as 3DFX SLI but should still dominate the video card market. -
Crucial Ballistix PC2-5300 DDR2 @ InsaneTek
Published: Thursday, December 23, 2004 | By: DennisI still haven't heard back from my contact at Crucial about reviewing some of their Ballistix memory. I'm not holding my breath, for some reason they really don't like me or Ninjalane.
"Not many people are aware that Crucial Technology is a sub-division of Micron Technology. Micron is an extremely popular memory chip manufacturer, providing chips with excellent performance and stability. Crucial Technology takes those chips and implements them on a PCB to make great memory. "
Actually I knew that Crucial was part of Micron, I even tried to get a job with Micron back in my youth. I also got my first taste of interview "hazing" during this period of my life. Needless to say after my experiences there I pretty much decided that all things Micron could kiss my ass. -
NL: Review Block - Water for cooling
Published: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 | By: DennisI think watercooling is really the proper way to cool your high-end workstation. While aircooling can still be done you simply cannot deny the geek factor behind the whole process.
- Thermaltake Big Water @ MadShrimps
- Thermaltake Water Cooling Accessories @ Overclocker Cafe
I've been working on a waterblock design that will eventually be sold as part of a Ninjalane watercooling kit. While the block is still in development I am hopeful to have a production version available sometime next year. -
nVidia GeForce 6600GT PCI-E @ PC Modding Malaysia
Published: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 | By: DennisNow this is pretty fuxX0rin' sweet!!
"When I first received this package, I was pretty surprised to see that the sample unit that Nvidia sent came inside a secured metal briefcase. After clocking in the correct number combination, the briefcase opened up and revealed the GeForce 6600GT graphics card which was safely wrapped inside an anti-static bag. Since this was a reference unit, we did not receive anything else except the bare card."
Except for the combo it almost sounds like something that Triplex would do/has done. -
Corsair TwinX1024-4400C25PT Review @ Xtreme Resources
Published: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 | By: Dennis"At Xtreme Resources we recently received some samples of the latest iteration of Corsair's DDR550 memory, TwinX1024-4400C25PT. It consists of 2 x 512MB TwinX paired memory rated at PC4400 (DDR550). Corsair previously produced DDR550 memory, but the difference was those modules used memory timings of 3-4-4-8. In a press release for this new memory, Corsair advertised "their fastest ever DDR memory module, a DDR550 module that supports very aggressive 2.5-4-4-8 latencies"."
Maybe its time to break out those old Soltek springdale boards and see if their DDR533 memory multiplier actually works. -
Mushkin vs. Corsair DDR2 @ MetkuMods
Published: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 | By: Dennis"This is the first time that we are going to take a look what Mushkin have to offer us. Both companies sent us their 2 x 512MB kits that are rated for 667MHz operation. Why two different PC2 ratings? PC2- 5300 and 5400 are all the same modules and run with the same speed but different manufacturers like to label their product bit differently. 667 x 8 = 5336 so what is the correct answer in your opinion; 5300 or 5400? Marketing is marketing and because of that you should always make sure you know what you are buying."
As you can prolly guess, both modules posted similar (if not the same) numbers, this is mostly due to the timings being the same for both modules. Overclocking would be the best way to tell what module is built better. -
Most Excellent MegaTokyo Comic
Published: Wednesday, December 22, 2004 | By: DennisI think we all need chix like this.
There is a storyline that leads up to this comic so if you want the context you'll have to read some of the archives. -
Nvidia NV48 still alive
Published: Monday, December 20, 2004 | By: Dennis"Nvidia has not given up on the NV48 and is expected to roll out the GPU in the second quarter of next year, despite market rumors saying the company has cancelled the chip, according to sources at Taiwan graphics card makers.
However, Nvidia plans to have Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC) produce the NV48, instead of IBM, as originally planned, the sources noted. The NV48 will be built using a 0.11-micron process, the sources added."
