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Take a look at how Lian Li has changed the standard layout of the ATX chassis in this exclusive look at the upcoming PC-V1000. Will the availability of this less expensive Athlon 64 processor offer builders who are on a budget a better buy? Does the shipping nF3-250 measure up to the great expectations of our chipset review? Take a look at our analysis of this titanium-shelled chassis from this market newcomer. Today is our tenth Buyer's Guide in as many weeks, for mid-range systems this time around. The gold anodized aluminum cooler installed on the All-In-Wonder 9600 XT, uses a similar offset fan with a finned-heatsink that's designed to pull air in through the fan and route the warm air away from the GPU. The cooler is slightly larger than the model installed on ATi's "standard" Radeon 9600 XT, and for good reason. The All-In-Wonder 9600 XT is actually clocked a bit higher than the Radeon 9600 XT. Taking the meaning of the term literally, we have that it is a processor that works in a server. Anyway, this chip often determines the consumer qualities of a server computer. First of all, the server, however overwhelmed with work it is, must quickly respond to users' requests. It must be fast at performing the tasks the owner of the server has set for it. Thus, the processor performance and of course reliability become the most important factors for choosing the appropriate server platforms. Cost is a secondary matter, although an important factor too (money is always important). Senate on Thursday voted to renew a four-year ban on taxes on Internet connections such as DSL and cable modems instead of a competing plan that would have made a moratorium permanent. By a 93-3 vote, the Senate adopted a compromise proposal favored by state governments, which argued that a perpetual ban would deprive municipalities of vital tax revenue and amount to an unfair subsidy for telecommunications companies. Google did not provide a planned stock symbol or a target date for its public listing. Along with marking Google's official intent to go public, the filing also provides financial and strategic insight into the company that will be closely analyzed by its competitors such as Yahoo Inc. As a private company, Google has not had to report sensitive financial data or risks to its business since co-founders Larry Page and Sergey Brin launched it in 1998. The Newcastle core is a modified version of the Clawhammer design which was featured in first generation Athlon64 processors - the difference being the amount of processor cache which is active in the core. Athlon64 processors based on the Clawhammer core have 1MB of L2 cache, while those based on the Newcastle core have only 512K. Typically, cutting the CPU's cache in half cuts down performance to the tune of 5-10% - but AMD's architecture is surprisingly resilient without a large amount of cache. Most have found that Athlon64 processors with 512k of cache perform within just a few percentage points of those with full 1MB of cache. Thus, AMD is starting to move their entire Athlon64 processor line down to 512K cache models, while at the same time boosting clock rates as their manufacturing process gets better to compensate for the speed loss from having less cache. The system has worked fairly well for AMD thus far, and if these processor cores are indeed "true" Newcastle cores, designed for only 512K of cache, they would be cheaper for AMD to produce, and due to the smaller core sizes, AMD would be able to produce more processor cores per wafer. Here's a blurb on PCI Express: Transition of graphics cards to PCI Express x16 lanes from conventional AGP is likely to be extremely painless for the industry. Both leading developers of graphics controllers - ATI Technologies and NVIDIA Corp. Other developers of processors that handle graphics, dubbed S3 Graphics, 3Dlabs, XGI Technology and Matrox Graphics, are also likely to introduce their new solutions for the new interconnection that will be available in computers powered by chipsets from companies like Intel, VIA Technologies, Silicon Integrated Systems, NVIDIA, ATI and ALi/ULi. CNET reports that Apple is looking into the matter: Apple Computer said Thursday that it is investigating reports that some iPod owners have had trouble updating their devices to take advantage of the company's latest version of its iTunes jukebox software. The Mac maker on Wednesday released an iPod software update in conjunction with its enhancement of iTunes. However, a number of iPod owners say that when they run the software that is supposed to upgrade their devices, the software cannot detect their iPod. Apple encouraged those who encounter a problem to contact AppleCare. They have announced lower than expected earnings and job layoffs: Gateway on Thursday reported a larger-than-expected first-quarter loss due to restructuring charges, and it announced plans to lay off 1,500 more employees by the end of the year, reducing its number of people to about 2,000. The news of the layoffs came as the PC maker, which acquired manufacturer eMachines in March in an effort to boost PC shipments, reported a preliminary loss of $166 million, 49 cents per share, on revenue of $868 million for the first quarter, which ended March 31. The loss included a charge of $104 million, or 31 cents per share, related to the closing of its chain of 188 retail outlets, which resulted in 2,500 layoffs. Without the charge and a $13 million tax benefit, Gateway would have posted a $75 million loss--22 cents per share--for the quarter, the company said. With eyes now on the second quarter, the company sees overall growth remaining flat, according to the company president JC Liao. However, Liao stated that strong demand for switches and rising broadband product shipments would help to stay a decline as monthly revenues for wireless products are seeing a slight drop. In addition, the company plans to launch more than 20 new products before the second half, Liao added. This particular incarnation of V-Link offers 533MB/sec of bandwidth between the chipset's north and south bridge components, which should be enough for most users. Although the VT8237 natively supports up to four Serial ATA devices, an external PHY chip is required to access two of the south bridge's four SATA ports. Mobo manufacturers have traditionally shied away from using external PHYs to tap the VT8237's extra two SATA ports, so I wouldn't hold out for a KT880 board with four SATA ports hanging off the south bridge. Even when only two of its Serial ATA ports are tapped, the KT880 still has a leg up on NVIDIA's current nForce2 chipsets, whose MCP south bridge chips lack any Serial ATA functionality. However, NVIDIA has pledged to bring Serial ATA support, among other features, to the nForce2 chipset with a new MCP, so VIA's Serial ATA advantage may not last. It accepts many different types of media: Compact Flash I/II, Multimedia Cards, Secure Digital, Memory Stick, Memory Stick Pro, MicroDrive, & SmartMedia memory cards. It also has a 3 port USB hub, & it's all wrapped up in one very sleek package. And I have a good relationship with him, to the point that either he or I can just pick up the phone and talk to each other. There's no secretary that screens you out and calls you back. He's got a commitment for $5 billion of product from a company Intel Corp. But you know, Dell prides themselves on not being a leader in things of technology, they pride themselves on being a strong follower. But I never dreamed that they would be dead last following, I mean, they're running at the very end. They're going to be at the caboose of the Opteron train. And it's just kind of surprising to me that they'd wait that long. We still have hope and confidence that they'll see the light. The key features include quick setup, TV viewing with full personal video recorder (PVR) capabilities, and video capture for editing. The product also features a fully-searchable interactive electronic program guide (EPG) that displays the schedule for TV shows for immediate or future viewing. Windows XP Service Pack 2 is largely intended to bolster the security of Windo...
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