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Fast Videocards, RAM and Motherboards
Hello,
Chilling info in the Industry
Insights column... What will the world be like
with "secure hardware," and is this a sign of serial number based components which must be
activated in a similar fashion to software today?
On the other side
of the tech spectrum is surely the "Blog." Do you know
someone who runs a blog? Would you like to start one, but aren't sure
how? Never fear, Mike has put together a quick guide to get
you 'Blogging' away in
no time.
Now the topic of
Issue No.118 is fast hardware, and so I'm sure you'll find PCstats'
review of the Albatron
FX5700 Ultra videocard, OCZ PC3700
'Gold' DDR memory, and DFI Lan Party
Nforce2 Ultra B motherboard just the gear you need to remain fast! DFI
has really put together an amazing package which is arguably
the best nForce2-based motherboard ever! Read our review and judge for
yourself if you disagree. No PCstats Newsletter would be complete
without the Weekly TechTip, and you can find that golden
nugget of information at the bottom of this email. Just below that is a
review of the game X2: The
Threat. PCstats is trying out game reviews for size, so please let me
know what
you think.
And speaking of opinions, I've set up a quick
7-question
Quiz about how PCstats might be able to serve you better. Please take
a moment to fill it out,
I'd really appreciate your input.
 In the 90's Grunge was in. Now in the 00's, Blogging is the next
biggest thing. Create your own Blog page, or simply find out what all the
fuss is about. Nothing personifies the Internet's
promise of easy and unlimited communication possibilities quite like the
humble
weblog.
Never mind the millions of
commercially driven website; what could be more creative than placing your
own thoughts, feelings, art, rants, your own... whatever, in front of a
potential audience of millions?
A Weblog or Blog is
a frequently updated online journal,
organized by date and containing whatever the person that creates it wants
to put down. Whether used as an online diary, a forum for political rants,
or simply for
stream of consciousness
commentary on day-to-day life, a blog
is an easy (and now well-accepted) way of communicating your thoughts and
feelings to the world. Continue
Here>>
 The first glimpse of NV36 came
during Computex 2003 in Taipei this past fall. Though the cards were only
showed to media behind
closed doors, it was easy to see nVidia and its partner companies were
eager to reveal something to counter ATI. The NV36 GPU
on the other hand was set to compete where past Nvidia GPUs had proved
to generate little demand.... and to its credit Albatron have certainly
brought together an enticing assortment of specs and stats to dwell over.
The Albatron
FX5700U spits out fast graphics care of its 475MHz GPU and 128MB of
900MHz DDR-II memory. Coupled with a host of nVidia software such as
CineFX, Intellisample HCT, and Ultrashadow, makes this DX9 compatible card
an easy contender against the popular Radeon 9800XT.Continue
Here>>
 OCZ
has really taken the memory market by storm and they're advancing so
quickly that even the "traditional big boys" such as Corsair, Mushkin and
Kingston are having a hard time catching up. OCZ is on fire right now, and
it seems they're the real 'kings' of the memory market... at the moment
anyway. The OCZ dual
channel PC3700 Gold Edition Rev 2
is intended for the no-fuss enthusiast who wants a fast
machine without a lot of tinkering. At stock speeds the
OCZ memory is rated to run at 233
MHz, while maintaining timings of 2.5-3-3-7 at 2.7V. Not the greatest
timings, but they're more
aggressive than most other high speed
DIMM's on the market. Please keep in mind that this memory is
intended for i865PE/i875P based motherboards...
Continue
Here>>
A
year ago DFI didn't have much of a presence in the motherboard market, and
then along came Jacky Huang and the "Lan Party" concept. Fast forward to
the present, and DFI have firmly staked a name for themselves by providing
gamer-oriented motherboards with a little florescent flash. With Team DFI
roaming around the states visiting local LanParty events, like the recent
CyberXGames
at CES , DFI are evolving into
a motherboard company that aims to speak directly to its
consumers. A couple of friends of mine who like to try out new
things gave the DFI LANParty
motherboards a shot a while back, and all I heard was how great the
boards were... from what a great accessory package they come with, to how
fast they are at stock speeds, and how great an overclocker they are...
Now that it's our time to test the DFI LANParty
NF2 Ultra B, I can
tell you my expectations are raised pretty high.Continue
Here>>
 To
start 2004 off with a bang, zap and kaboom! we decided to take a look at a
game which many of our readers, even those that are into PC gaming, may
not be familiar with; X2: The Threat.
X2 is a
space-simulation that mixes fairly typical story driven missions with an
extremely detailed and complex economic system, achieving a sort of pseudo-RPG
effect as players choose whether to follow the missions or branch of into one of the
many entertaining career possibilities afforded by the free-form universe.
The synopsis is this. The player is a hard-bitten
but skilled pilot
who has lapsed into piracy and been apprehended. He is
reprieved by mysterious benefactors who are in need of his piloting skill
and blah blah blah. You get the idea. Continue
Here>>
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PCstats Issue
No.118
Circulation: 246,809
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| Industry Insights |
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Both Intel and AMD are taking security very seriously. Both companies concede that software alone isn't sufficient to protect our systems against malicious code, which is why they've both outlined plans to develop the next-generation of secure platforms.
Last week I told you about the Execution Protection feature on AMD's Athlon 64 family, but the future of its security roadmap is much more involved. There aren't many details available, as AMD is keeping a low profile until the technology matures. However, the initiative, Secure Execution Mode (SEM), is a collaborative work with Microsoft. As you can imagine, it involves a specially secured operating system and "trusted" hardware, purportedly hardened against intrusion.
Intel's LaGrande technology is much more widely discussed, and in concept is strikingly similar to AMD's idea. At its heart, LaGrande is designed to address client security, which often lags behind more heavily guarded servers. And like SEM, LaGrande Technology employs a combination of secure hardware and software. On the software front, expect Microsoft's upcoming Longhorn to be the first compliant operating system. LaGrande also calls for a secure input device, graphics adapter, and Trusted Platform Module (TPM), in addition to a properly enabled processor and chipset.
Representatives from both Intel and AMD claim that their respective technologies are still two to three years away.
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| Written By |
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Editor-in-Chief
. M. Page
Weekly Tips
. C. Sun
I.I. Columnist
. C. Angelini |
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