| WIKI | FAQ | Tech FAQ | |
 http://csua.com/feed/ | |
| ||||||
| 7/8 |
| 2006/6/7-9 [Computer/HW/CPU] UID:43310 Activity:nil |
6/7 INTC drops to three-year low. Time to buy?
\_ depends whether you think they'll gain the momentum back from
AMD. Sometimes there's a reason a company is at a three-year
low. -tom
\_ I want to kill all white male and inseminate as many hot blonde
women as possible as a revenge on the fall of
our glorious Eastern Empire.
\_ Kewl: http://tinyurl.com/o2jop (see below.) -John
\_ Yes, I suppose the current price reflects market uncertainty
about whether Conroe is the real shiznit. The latest test dated
yesterday is a bit more independent, with machines assembled and
software installed "without the help of Intel":
http://www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2771
Then read the http://tomshardware.com and http://firingsquad.com previews
released on Monday:
http://csua.org/u/g3y (anandtech.com)
Hey, prime time to buy, right? Think critically about what
you've read so far, then see:
http://sharikou.blogspot.com/2006/06/our-coverage-of-anand.html
My conclusion from all the hard work some individuals have done
is that Conroe will perform at or below comparable AMD offerings,
will probably be less available, but will probably be cheaper -
but take that advice as from someone unwilling to sign.
but that's advice from someone who's unwilling to sign.
\- FYI, there is an interesting paper worth glacing at
by YELICK and some other berkeley/lbl people about the
IBM CELL PROCESSOR ... a little bit on the interesting
design [espe of the memory bus] and some bmarks on various
standarized scientific computations. obgoogle if interested. |
| 7/8 |
|
| tinyurl.com/o2jop -> news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20060607/ap_on_sc/britain_genghis_khan_s_kin AP DNA shows man a descendant of Genghis Khan By JILL LAWLESS, Associated Press Writer Tue Jun 6, 8:30 PM ET LONDON - Tom Robinson had long wondered about his family tree. He never suspected its roots might lie in the Mongolian steppe. The Florida accountant knew that his great, great-grandfather had come to the United States from England -- but beyond that his research drew a blank. So he turned to the burgeoning field of "bioarchaeology," having his DNA tested to see what it revealed about his origins. According to a British geneticist who pioneered the research, Robinson appears to be a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, the Mongol warrior who conquered vast tracts of Asia and Europe in the 13th century. Robinson said he was startled when he received a call from the firm Oxford Ancestors about a surprising ancestor uncovered by his DNA tests. "My first impression was, 'Oh no, who is it' -- imagining it was Adolf Hitler or something like that," said Robinson, 48. Robinson thinks his forebear, whose name has long been a byword for violence and cruelty, has had a bad press. "In addition to being a conqueror, he was a great administrator," said Robinson, who has been reading up on Genghis Khan. Established in 2001 by Oxford University geneticist Bryan Sykes, Oxford Ancestors offers DNA testing to people around the world eager to trace their genetic roots. Sykes believes DNA can be used to map humanity's common ancestry. In 1994, he extracted DNA from a frozen 5,000-year-old corpse found in the Tyrolean Alps, and identified a woman living in Britain as his descendant. Sykes' 2001 book "The Seven Daughters of Eve" claimed that 95 percent of Europeans are descended from seven tribal matriarchs -- he dubbed them Ursula, Xenia, Helena, Velda, Tara, Katrine and Jasmine -- who lived between 10,000 and 45,000 years ago. He also believes most Europeans can trace their descent to "Five Sons of Adam," and offers tests to identify these paternal ancestral clans by mapping patterns of DNA within the Y chromosome, the genetic material handed down from fathers to sons that changes little over generations. Women have two X chromosomes, while men carry one X chromosome and one Y, so only men can take the paternal ancestry test. Research published in the American Journal of Human Genetics in 2003 suggested that 16 to 17 million men, most in Central Asia, shared a form of the Y chromosome that indicates a common ancestor. Sykes said the obvious candidate is Genghis Khan, who stormed the world with his armies, conquering territory and siring many children. Lacking any tissue samples from the Mongol ruler -- whose tomb has never been found -- the tests are based on an assessment of probabilities. "This is circumstantial evidence but it is very good evidence," said Sykes. "I think it does mean that people who carry this chromosome are direct patrilineal descendants of Genghis Khan. "How this chromosome came to be so prominent was that when he conquered new territory Genghis Khan would kill the men and routinely inseminate all the women." Some scientists are less certain the chromosome points directly to the Mongol chief. "It's a little bit of a stretch as far as I'm concerned," said Peter Underhill, a Stanford University geneticist who thinks the distinctive Y chromosome would have been present in many members of Genghis Khan's closely interrelated tribe. "Genghis Khan had this marker, but Joe Smith in the Genghis Khan army also had this Y chromosome." Proven or not, Robinson's link may well make him a celebrity in Mongolia, a vast country of 25 million sandwiched between China and Russia renowned for its rolling grasslands, sturdy horses and nomadic herders. This year the country is celebrating the 800th anniversary of 1206, the year a warrior named Temujin united the nomadic steppe tribes and took the title Genghis Khan -- Universal Ruler. He and his descendants built -- and then lost -- an empire that stretched from the Sea of Japan to the Danube. Condemned during Mongolia's 70 years of communist rule as a symbol of a backward past, Genghis Khan is now celebrated by Mongolians as the father of their nation Many Western academics also have reassessed the great Khan's legacy, arguing that he was a brilliant military tactician, innovative ruler and early globalizer whose empire saw an unprecedented mingling of goods and cultures along the Silk Road trade route linking China to Europe. Robinson, an associate professor of accountancy at the University of Miami, said he hoped to travel to Mongolia next year. He's begun to wonder about similarities between himself and his purported ancestor. He has no military background, but says he is comfortable in a leadership role. And, like any self-respecting Mongolian, he can ride a horse. Tom Robinson while visiting Juneau, Alaska on Thursday May 25, 2006. He never suspected its roots might lie in the Mongolian steppe. The Florida accountant knew that his great, great-grandfather had come to the United States from England _ but beyond that his research drew a blank. So he turned to the burgeoning field of 'bioarchaeology,' having his DNA tested to see what it revealed about his origins. According to a British geneticist who pioneered the research, Robinson appears to be a direct descendant of Genghis Khan, the Mongol warrior who conquered vast tracts of Asia and Europe in the 13th century. The information contained in the AP News report may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without the prior written authority of The Associated Press. |
| www.anandtech.com/cpuchipsets/showdoc.aspx?i=2771 A few months have passed since our original foray into the world of Conroe, and official naming has been announced for the processor. What we've been calling Conroe is now known as Core 2 Duo, with the Extreme Edition being called Core 2 Extreme. Initial availability of the Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors remains unchanged from Intel's original estimates of "early Q3". Unfortunately we were only allowed to benchmark those games and applications that Intel loaded on the system, and while we did our due diligence on the system configuration we still prefer to benchmark under our own terms. We're happy to report that we gathered enough parts to build two systems while in Taiwan for Computex. We managed to acquire a Socket-AM2 motherboard equipped with an Athlon 64 FX-62 and a P965 motherboard equipped with a Core 2 Extreme X6800 293GHz at our hotel, along with two sets of 2x1GB of DDR2-800 (only 5-5-5-12 modules though), a pair of Hitachi 7K250 SATA hard drives, and two NVIDIA GeForce 7900 GTXes (one for each system) - it helps that all the major players have offices in Taiwan. When faced with the choice of testing Conroe or sleeping , we stayed up benchmarking (we'll blame it on the jet lag later). AMD's recently announced FX-62, and while it's still too early to draw a final verdict we can at least shed more light on how the battle is progressing. Keep in mind that we had a very limited amount of time with the hardware as to not alert anyone that it was missing and being used for things it shouldn't be (not yet at least), so we weren't able to run our full suite of tests. We apologize in advance and promise we'll have more when Conroe launches, but for now enjoy. The Test In case we weren't clear: we acquired, built, installed and tested these two test systems entirely on our own and without the help of Intel. End-Of-Life (EOL) & RoHS Re-Design Services A2e Technologies is an expert at redesigning products to be form and function compatible with older boards and systems while ensuring long-term manufacturability and RoHS compliance. A2e can design a solution that allows you to be more competitive! A2e Technologies - Embedded Design Services A2e Technologies (A2e) is an Electronic Design Services (EDS) firm providing embedded design and product development services. With offices in San Diego and Boston, we support customers across North America. |
| csua.org/u/g3y -> forums.anandtech.com/messageview.aspx?catid=28&threadid=1872252&enterthread=y Print this message Author Icon Furen Golden Member Posts: 1146 Joined: 10/21/2004 Game results are less impressive than the IDF tests (impressive nonetheless) since it seems that the systems are bottlenecked by the video cards quite a bit (at lower resolutions Conroe does seem to be significantly better). Author Icon stevty2889 Diamond Member Posts: 5737 Joined: 12/13/2003 Too bad they don't actualy have a conroe on hand, they are using the same data from the Intel demonstration, and they are running the AMD setup with SLI, so they aren't using the same graphics cards. Conroe is still looking great, but it would be nice to see those types of benchmarks done by someone that actualy set up their own Conroe system. Author Icon LikeLinus Diamond Member Posts: 5372 Joined: 07/25/2001 quote: Originally posted by: stevty2889 Too bad they don't actualy have a conroe on hand, they are using the same data from the Intel demonstration, and they are running the AMD setup with SLI, so they aren't using the same graphics cards. Conroe is still looking great, but it would be nice to see those types of benchmarks done by someone that actualy set up their own Conroe system. The article says "The test systems used an ATI-based graphics card built around the X1900XTX chipset." The motherboard was SLI, but they only used one ATI card. "Again, we must emphasize that our testing situation was not optimal, because the Intel system had been preconfigured and didn't represent the final version. This comparison didn't even use the top-of-the-line Conroe processor, which Intel plans to introduce soon." Author Icon compgeek89 Golden Member Posts: 1662 Joined: 12/11/2004 Well, the conroe only used ddr2-667.. and this is really inconclusive since these guys never touched the conroe rig themselves. Author Icon stevty2889 Diamond Member Posts: 5737 Joined: 12/13/2003 quote: Originally posted by: LikeLinus quote: Originally posted by: stevty2889 Too bad they don't actualy have a conroe on hand, they are using the same data from the Intel demonstration, and they are running the AMD setup with SLI, so they aren't using the same graphics cards. Conroe is still looking great, but it would be nice to see those types of benchmarks done by someone that actualy set up their own Conroe system. The article says "The test systems used an ATI-based graphics card built around the X1900XTX chipset." The motherboard was SLI, but they only used one ATI card. "Again, we must emphasize that our testing situation was not optimal, because the Intel system had been preconfigured and didn't represent the final version. This comparison didn't even use the top-of-the-line Conroe processor, which Intel plans to introduce soon." Author Icon the cobbler Senior Member Posts: 596 Joined: 03/08/2005 quote: Originally posted by: Furen Game results are less impressive than the IDF tests (impressive nonetheless) since it seems that the systems are bottlenecked by the video cards quite a bit (at lower resolutions Conroe does seem to be significantly better). bottlenecked by GPU anyway, so AMD bandwidth might still keep it on top. Print this message Author Icon nyker96 Senior Member Posts: 332 Joined: 04/19/2005 looks like Conroe of same clock is about 15-25% faster than a AMD64 core. Pretty impressive, I wonder if the lowest clocked conroe will be so OCable as to make it a bit hit with OC community. If it turns out to be so, then I see a conroe in my near future. AMD time to do some research and catch up technologically! Print this message Author Icon ahock Member Posts: 107 Joined: 11/29/2004 early engineering samples shows that conroe is an overclock monster CPU from 3rd party websites. I think (just my opinion) that they will be that is why Intel will be offering lower cache compared to their high end mainstream parts. Based from THG early benchmarks, well somehow pretty impressive considering that this is not their Extreme part. It would be nice to see core2 duo extreme as well as an overclocked version. Print this message Author Icon MDme Senior Member Posts: 221 Joined: 08/27/2004 we should reserve judgement on OC'ability once the retail samples are out. ES chips may have been cherry picked since intel is clearly targetting enthusiasts with their actions lately. Author Icon Absolute0 Senior Member Posts: 410 Joined: 11/09/2005 35-4 Ghz on air is what it seems, so long as you have a high enough multi so that the FSB can get high enough. Intels don't seem to correlate so strongly based on week/stepping, seems the higher ones just clock better. E6600 looks to be the mainstream choice for overclockers, looking into a 6700 for myself because the 10x multiplier makes 4+ Ghz possible. Author Icon Duvie Elite Member Posts: 14208 Joined: 02/05/2001 quote: Originally posted by: Absolute0 35-4 Ghz on air is what it seems, so long as you have a high enough multi so that the FSB can get high enough. Intels don't seem to correlate so strongly based on week/stepping, seems the higher ones just clock better. E6600 looks to be the mainstream choice for overclockers, looking into a 6700 for myself because the 10x multiplier makes 4+ Ghz possible. Author Icon SunnyD Diamond Member Posts: 4986 Joined: 01/02/2001 IF they can finally beat AMD on price, Intel has a shot. Looks like they did their homework this time around, and built a competitive product. However, it just means AMD will be working harder shortly, and we should see that gap narrow once again. Print this message Author Icon Vegitto Platinum Member Posts: 2646 Joined: 05/03/2005 Without even reading the article, I'm calling it biased. It's always been biased, is biased and will always be biased. I don't give a crap about who they call the winner this time, I'm not buying it. Print this message Author Icon kknd1967 Member Posts: 78 Joined: 01/11/2006 Now FX62 has to fight with 6600 and is still behind quote: Originally posted by: MDme Hmmm the FS article seems to say that conroe isn't as fast as it seems. |
| sharikou.blogspot.com/2006/06/our-coverage-of-anand.html AMD and Intel History Analysis on IT trends and competitive strategies, with emphasis on micro processors, computer systems and networks. Based on latest news, backed up with real data, this site intends to provide a true and realtime picture of the fast changing IT landscape. This journal strives to be accurate on facts and sharp on criticisms. Some of my writings have been published on online IT journals. Any original content on this journal is Copyrighted, but it's free for non-commercial use. Any Trademarks used on this site belong to their respective owners. published the SysMark 2004 comparison between Con E6300 and Athlon 64 X2 3800+. On June 6, Anand showed SysMark 2004 comparison between Conroe XE and FX62. So please stop quoting Anand as reliable source here, except for critical examination. Anand pushed the Intel arranged buttons, instantly wrote that "Intel Regains the Performance Crown". After the BIOS issue, Intel called Anand back and had the machine BIOS flashed and tests redone. I suggested to AMD that it should subpoena Anand for information regarding the IDF test as part of the discovery process in the anti-trust lawsuit. sub scores from PCStats, they were 263 for communications, 297 for document creation, and 214 for data analysis. However, in AnandTech's results for FX62, the sub scores were respectively 178, 280, 185. He knew that AMD64's main advantage is low memory latency due to the integrated memory controller (IMC) AMD64 doesn't need huge cache in general because it can access memory quickly. AMD estimated that IMC's low latency gave its CPUs 20% performance edge. Intel Conroe's solution is to use large cache to compensate the lack of IMC With this knowledge, Anand decided to use high latency 5-5-5-12 DDR2 memory for his test. com, out of 59 DDR2-800 memory products, only 15 models have CAS latency of 5, the other 44 products have CAS latency of 4 or lower. AnandTech's results on FX62 should therefore be considered invalid if not fraudulent. t would most likely be cheaper to buy all the hardware sites out there off". A hardware site, a script kiddie finished reading "How to Upgrade Your PC" pushing benchmark buttons. Wow, it's nice to know that even w/ 5-5-5-12 timed RAM, the FX-62 can hold it's own against the 293GHz Extreme Edition Conroe in everything but Gaming (4MB vs 1MB) Next, how about that Iranian buddy runs 3-3-3-8 timings, wait, that would actually show AMD winning, sorry, he can't do that. But people have a short memory, so we'll just have to remind them often. But the fact that Intel pumps money to web sites to make their products seem better than what they really are... and then those same Intel execs read those articles and believe what they read. com/2006/06/06/intel_confirms_reorgnization_ fewer_employees/ You're were correct again MR Sharikou. i=2771&p=6 even the Anand guys accepted that Intel will lose money big time there. Although 4-4-4- is 25% faster than 5-5-5 you do not get this sort of decrease in performance using 5-5-5- ... which is hardly enough for people to say using 4-4-4 would mean FX wins. always liked Anandtech, go there to get some of the latest news and it has an ok forum(not like x-bit labs).. i've been reading you're stuff Sharikou and you seem to know what you are talking about, keep it up :D it's great to see that not all is just buying in to everything that they are told.. i'm gettimg AM2 X2 4000+(65W) this summer :D always worked for me, and AMD dosn't lie about performance :). If you look at the SysMark and Business benchmarks, and do what I said previously of factoring in not 4-4-4-12, but 3-3-3-8 and add in the fact Conroe has another 193MHz on the FX-62, you can see the FX-62, clock-for-clock, just like I said, is faster than Conroe. If you compare Anand benchmark configuration for FX62 and PCStats configuration, you will notice that PCStats used WD Raptor, in Anand it was Hitachi SATA disk. I think he knows that he is watched carefully and will not permit mistake in real comparision. So let's wait for better sparring parter (FX64) and the Conroe available in Q3. Sorry if you already have this, my Intel had a hickup while it was submitting last time... lol With the memory issue that was pointed out during Anands test of Conroe and FX62, what would happen if they used this memory... I am not sure how to compute the numbers, but if they both have the same 5-5-5-15 timings, and running at the memories 1066 speed, how would this end up? Amazing that the fallout we see on sites such as Toms, Anand, and others from readers of their sites. I've always found his site to be fairly valuable with technical information. and if you mis-lead your readers/audience, and they find out, good luck on them coming back. The problem with review sites is this: there is a major mismatch between their relative low income and the market value of goods they are reviewing. A review can cause massive change in a company's market cap. You can probably buy a site off with $50K, the pay off is huge. |
| tomshardware.com -> www.tomshardware.com/ Tom's Hardware Guide Community The best knowledge base remains the human brain. It adapts quickly to change, and is very adept at solving complex problems that defy logic. Sounds like the ideal resource for anyone into hardware. If you want to start a thread with like-minded hardware enthusiasts, or you're looking for someone who has experience of a particular device, or a problem you may have, this is the place to be. May 13, 2004 - E3 Preview of Activision's Hottest PC Titles THG takes you behind the scenes at E3 for a sneak preview of Activision's upcoming game titles. Get a glimpse of what to look out for this fall upon the release of three new exciting titles. THG takes you behind the scenes at E3 for a sneak preview of Activision's upcoming game titles. Get a glimpse of what to look out for this fall upon the release of three new exciting titles. May 11, 2004 - Modding The Xbox Into The Ultimate Multimedia Center Like a teenage kid with a genius IQ who is addicted to video games, Microsoft's Xbox offers a lot of untapped potential. THG downloads a version of Xbox Media Center software and installs it on an Xbox mod from FriendTech to show just what the game console is capable of. Like a teenage kid with a genius IQ who is addicted to video games, Microsoft's Xbox offers a lot of untapped potential. THG downloads a version of Xbox Media Center software and installs it on an Xbox mod from FriendTech to show just what the game console is capable of. May 11, 2004 - Networld+Interop 2004 Las Vegas Show Report - Opening Day We've begun our prowl of the smaller and gentler Networld+Interop 2004 Las Vegas show. It only took about three hours to do a walk-through of the entire show floor, but there were still some interesting things to see. Check out our report for what we've seen, hope to see and don't think we'll be seeing at all. We've begun our prowl of the smaller and gentler Networld+Interop 2004 Las Vegas show. It only took about three hours to do a walk-through of the entire show floor, but there were still some interesting things to see. Check out our report for what we've seen, hope to see and don't think we'll be seeing at all. May 10, 2004 - Intel's Dothan Makes Its Late Debut Intel's Dothan mobile processor has the trappings to boost performance while consuming less power. With a 2-MB L2 cache backed by Intel's 90-nm production technology, Dothan's promise is put to the test in a notebook from Winbook. Intel's Dothan mobile processor has the trappings to boost performance while consuming less power. With a 2-MB L2 cache backed by Intel's 90-nm production technology, Dothan's promise is put to the test in a notebook from Winbook. May 9, 2004 - The Hitman Returns to His Killing Business Gamers can once again assume the persona of the famous Hitman in the third installment of the IO Interactive series, Hitman: Contracts. A THG editor reenters death's door to see if the graphics, sound and controls live up to expectations of assassinations past. Gamers can once again assume the persona of the famous Hitman in the third installment of the IO Interactive series, Hitman: Contracts. A THG editor reenters death's door to see if the graphics, sound and controls live up to expectations of assassinations past. April 27, 2004 - Contour Design's Shuttle Pro 2 Breaks the Keyboard Ball-and-Chain The Shuttle Pro 2, with its 15 programmable buttons and twin jog shuttles, is designed to help you avoid having to move your hands from the mouse to keyboard. But does this controller meet the needs of the video professional? The Shuttle Pro 2, with its 15 programmable buttons and twin jog shuttles, is designed to help you avoid having to move your hands from the mouse to keyboard. But does this controller meet the needs of the video professional? |
| firingsquad.com Computex 2006 Video Day 1 Check out the highlights in the form of this Moving Targets short video. Physics-enabled cards, ATI's crossfire, GeForce 7950 GX2, and more - in this video! Test Drive Unlimited Interview JCal goes one on one with the developers of Test Drive Unlimited, grilling them on the features and plans for this game that gives you access to the entire island of Oahu. It claims to the world's first MOOR - Massive Online Open Road racing game. Intel Core2 Benchmarks You know those Intel Core benchmarks floating around the internet, posted by sites that benchmarked systems prepared by Intel, supervised by Intel? Instead, we bring you independent results from Computex. GeForce 7950 GX2 Hands-On Preview Quad SLI technology is almost here, and Brandon whips up some benchmarks of the GeForce 7950 GX2 in this preview. AR, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, Oblivion, Quake 4 and more lie within. comments ) Following comments last week by Sony Playstation studio head Phil Harrison that the Playstation 3 console will replace the PC in people's homes, Japanese web site PC Watch has some comments from Sony Playstation head Ken Kutaragi with his claims about the PC-like features of the PS3. Next Generation has some translated comments from the interview. Here is a snip: "Speaking about the PS3, we never said we will release a game console," he said. "It is radically different from the previous PlayStation. Indeed, with a game console, you need to take out any unnecessary elements inside the console in order to decrease its cost. comments ) Xbox 360 owners have a new playable game demo to check out today via a download on Xbox Live. This time it's a sample of Rumble Roses XX, the all female wrestling game from publisher Konami that was released to stores last March. comments ) While it's been listed on retail web sites as coming out around August, Microsoft made it official today announcing that the Xbox 360 exclusive hack and slash game Nighty-Nine Nights will indeed head to store shelves that month. comment ) Valve has announced that The Ship, a new Source engine stand alone game from UK developer Outerlight, will be available for download and purchase via Steam in July. No price for the game via Steam was announced, but a retail version of the game is due to be released in September. The Ship originally began life as a Half-Life 1 mod and takes place on board a cruise ship in the 1920's. comments ) Now that the massive gameplay changes in the Sony Online-LucasArts MMORPG Star Wars Galaxies have been in place for several months, new comtent for the game is being prepared for release. LucasArts sent over a note announcing that a new content update called Chapter 1: The Corellian will be released free to subscribers of the game on Thursday. Here is a snip: Four all-new quest series will lead players on an adventure to discover the whereabouts of a missing Corellian manand right into the heart of a slaving ring hidden in plain sight. Players level 37 to 41 will find that a simple missing person assignment turns into much more as they work to infiltrate a massive operation and help those affected by unspeakable crimes. More content updates are coming in the months ahead, including giving all players in the game a Privateer ship in late June. Also in late June (in time for the third anniversary of Star Wars Galaxies) events will begin to lead to a major event in the Galactic Civil War, the Battle of Restuss. where a showdown between the Rebels and the Imperials will happen. comments ) Following on the heels of Tuesday's PC patch, the Xbox 360 patch for Bethesda Softworks's fantasy RPG Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion is also available for download via Xbox Live. first batch of new downloadable content for the Xbox 360 version of the tactical shooterGhost Recon Advanced Warfighter. The content will be released via Xbox Live at the end of June and will contain four new co-op levels, eight maps from GRAW that have been "revisited"; There is no word on the pricing plan for the new content. comments ) Check out the highlights in the form of this Moving Targets short video. Physics-enabled cards, ATI's crossfire, GeForce 7950 GX2, and more - in this video! View Test Drive Unlimited Interview Screenshots (16 Images) JCal goes one on one with the developers of Test Drive Unlimited, grilling them on the features and plans for this game that gives you access to the entire island of Oahu. It claims to the world's first MOOR - Massive Online Open Road racing game. comment ) Paradox Interactive has announced plans to release an expansion pack to their strategy game Victoria An Empire Under the Sun. Here is a snip: New features of Victoria Revolutions include: 15 extra years of game play. Lead your nation through the challenging interwar period! An expanded tech tree to cover the interwar period, including aircrafts and carriers. A DOOMSDAY converter which allows players to continue their game in Hearts of Iron 2: Doomsday. A revamped election and politics system, adding a new level of realism to the game. An overhauled military system, which will be linked with the players policy decisions. A new economic system that brings more realism through various economic models. comment ) Many people have been wondering about the status of the 2006 edition of QuakeCon, id Software's annual free LAN party-expo that celebrates their game legacy. event's official web site has issued an update on what's going on with the event: There have obviously been a number of rumors circulating recently, but this is to let everyone know that QuakeCon 2006 has NOT been cancelled. We've had a number of issues securing a venue and dates that suit the needs of the event, the attendees, and the staff. This has taken many turns and longer than expected, but we are working very hard to get everything wrapped up and announced very soon. View Battlefield 2142 June 7 Screenshots (9 Images) New screenshots has been released from Battlefield 2142, showing off more from the upcoming sci-fi multiplayer shooter from Digital Illusions and Electronic Arts. com story reports that Microsoft has made a deal with comedian Demetri Martin that will make the relatively unknown entertainer the public face of Microsoft's upcoming marketing plan for their Windows Vista operating system. The campaign will include 10 "webisodes" on the MSN web site that will feature Martin and Microsoft plans to sponsor his 25 city comedy tour this fall along with commercial time for a TV special on Comedy Central. This Reuters story reports that Nintendo execs expect not to lose much money from the launch of their upcoming Wii console, which is unusual for the launch of an all new game console. Sony has already stated they expect their game division to lose $884 million in their current fiscal year because of the fall 2006 launch of their Playstation 3 console. View Saint's Row Screenshots (7 Images) We have seen games like the Grand Theft Auto series along with the True Crime series and Driver: Parallel Lines explore the crime action game with the open world gameplay theme. Now developer Volition and publisher THQ will be bringing the genre to the next generation console in the next few months with Saint's Row, an exclusive for Microsoft's Xbox 360 console. FiringSquad got a chance to chat with Volition's lead designer Chris Stockman to find out more about their plans for Saint's Row. FiringSquad: First, how did the idea for Saint's Row come about? Chris Stockman: About 3 1/2 years a go Volition was between projects so they commissioned multiple groups of employees (made up of all disciplines) to come up with ideas for future games. FiringSquad: We have seen open ended crime action games before. How hard was it to develop a game that was different than those that came before? Chris Stockman: It's hard to deny the affect that the GTA series has had on our industry. We don't shy away from the fact that Saints Row shares elements with them. But it is possible to improve upon some of the complaints the GTA series has received over the years. Stuff like targeting systems, no multiplayer, too linear of a story, lack of player creation, e... |
| anandtech.com For the past couple years, Thermaltake has been putting out their Xaser case line. They have always tended to be feature rich and have many innovative additions to make life easier for you or to make it look better. But lets be honest, those things are huge and even the thought of installing a system in one and take it to a local LAN leaves a bad taste in the mouth. Unless you happen to be a professional body builder, the workout from lugging the behemoth alone could put you in the hospital. Yes, a bit of an exaggeration but if you've experienced one of the Xaser cases, you realize the chatter above isn't too far off the mark. How about creating a new line of enclosures with the avid gamer in mind? It would have to be lightweight and portable but still include some of those sweet features that have made the Xaser a success. We'll dig into the case and see if Thermaltake has managed to come up with another winner, but this time aiming their sights at the gaming community. Hardware Hell reviews the Lite-On 5005 DVD/Player Recorder. The Lite-On LVW-5005 has the ability to record live TV, as well as other inputs, on to a DVD of your choice. They had a previous model that did the same but it was limited by what it could record to. This DVD player/recorder can write to DVD+-R/W as well as CD-R/W. With this ability you can record your favorite TV shows onto a DVD. Imagine that your favorite show comes on at 6PM and you won't be home to watch it. You could pop in a VHS and record it like that, but the quality won't be that great. With the LVW-5005 you can set the timer and forget it, it will write your TV show to a DVD+R or DVD+RW for you. So if you worked, or had some other engagement, at the same time that your TV show was on, you could set the LVW-5005 to record it daily and then come home and watch it, without the need to rewind the tape. VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, and Ministry of Mobile Affairs (MoMA), today introduced the Eve Mobile Gaming Console, at E3 2004. As the world's first handheld gaming device based on the x86 architecture, Eve combines instant support for thousands of existing PC games with rich digital media entertainment playback capabilities to provide the highest performance and the most feature-rich mobile gaming console on the market. With its integrated wireless connectivity and highly sophisticated hardware security features, the Eve Mobile Gaming Console also provides a secure vehicle for users to play online games and download content through the strategically partnered GameDweller On-Demand content delivery service. "The single largest challenge to enter the mobile gaming console market has always been signing up developers to deliver games for unique hardware architectures," commented Richard Brown, Associate Vice President of Marketing, VIA Technologies, Inc. "With its native x86 compatibility, Eve has the potential to blow away any other portable gaming console on the market not just in terms of available game titles, but also in its ability to playback rich digital media entertainment files such as videos, recorded TV programs, and movies." Built upon the VIA Grace Platform, the Eve Mobile Gaming Console is powered by the VIA Eden-N Processor and the VIA CN400 digital media chipset, delivering advanced 2D and 3D graphics as well as MPEG2/MPEG4 hardware acceleration for an awesome visual playback experience when gaming or watching movies on the go. VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, and AceGain, a leading provider of Grid software solutions, today announced the development of the GameDweller^TM Network, an easy-to-use, ultra-secure game delivery service. The GameDweller network is an online service that allows users to instantly download games for their Eve Mobile Gaming Console. Based on a peer-to-peer infrastructure to ensure robust, secure, and high speed delivery, GameDweller is built upon a combination of Private Key Infrastructure (PKI) and non-PKI technology providing advanced control for digital media management. GameDweller's advanced Digital Rights Management technology enables flexible licensing control wherein game publishers and developers can specify different licensing rights they wish to offer along with the pricing information for each license. The GameDweller Network also leverages the advanced features of the VIA PadLock Hardware Security Suite integrated in the VIA Eden-N processor, along with Subscriber Identity Module (SIM) cards, for a unique combination of hardware and software security capabilities to further protect game publishers' digital products. This technology relies on industry standard AES (Advanced Encryption Standard) cryptography from the VIA PadLock ACE (Advanced Cryptography Engine) and key generation from the VIA PadLock RNGs (Random Number Generators) to assist with Digital Rights Management. "With the GameDweller network, users of the Eve Handheld Gaming Console will have instant access to any game they wish to play," commented Wayne Chang, Chief Software Architect, AceGain Inc. "and moving forward with AceGain's GameONE^TM technology, GameDweller's functionality can be easily expanded to include AceGain DRAMA for an optimized and efficient virtual distributed network, LiveUpdate for fully automated update management and delivery and P2P networking, content delivery and communication." "With the GameDweller network and the Eve Mobile Gaming Console, VIA and AceGain have realized an optimal combination of hardware and software technologies that enable new levels of security and functionality for on-demand gaming," commented Richard Brown, Associate Vice President of Marketing, VIA Technologies. "Providing this complete package solution is crucial so that gamers can enjoy an ultimate gaming experience with none of the hassle of going out to purchase and install games, or do periodic updates." The K8T800 Pro adds such features as AGP/PCI lock and 1GHz HyperTransport speeds: The Abit KV8 Pro platform does not have many major differences in layout and design in comparison to Abit's previous K8T800-based Athlon64 platforms, the KV8 and KV8-Max3. The board is based on a firetruck-red standard-ATX sized PCB, and has a fairly modest layout and feature set. For a board of this price, Abit still has an impressive list of onboard components, such as Gigabit LAN, 51 Optical S/PDIF Audio In/Out, 6 Channel Analog Audio, Serial ATA/150 RAID, and support for up to eight USB 20 ports. The only major feature which is missing from this platform is Firewire, which will no doubt be added when Abit releases a "Max3" variant of this K8T800 Pro platform - as the silk-screens for Firewire ports (and an additional SATA RAID controller) are on the board layout for the KV8 Pro, but are simply left empty. Taipei, May 13, 2004 - Silicon Integrated Systems Corp (SiS), a leading supplier of core logic chipsets, today announced the market leading position of its latest southbridge supporting the new PCI-E standard, the SiS965L. Motherboards incorporated with SiS PCI-E chipsets are ahead of competitors to be provided to the market in June. Compatible with Mature and Current Northbridge Chips--the Ultimate Combination and Flexibility Built to PCI-E standards, the SiS965L southbridge is SiS' premier core logic chipset and outshines the competition, whether in the time-to-market delivery or the flexible northbridge and southbridge combination. The SiS965L can be paired with either a mature or current SiS northbridge to keep overall costs lower. SiS customers can choose to have PCI-E in the southbridge, while going with a proven and reliable solution for the northbridge. By giving customers a broader range of choices, they are able to meet their market segmentation requirements more easily, as well as save on development costs. This flexible combination has created a new market demand, compelling consumers to rush to be the first to experience the new generation efficiency of PCI Express. This kind of market-oriented flexibility is what makes SiS ... |