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Is a 2.0GHz AMD Chip Coming Soon?
Hi,
This week we're
starting off with one really important question for you - what do you
really want to see covered on PCstats?
Send in your suggestions or comments right HERE.
Now on to the good stuff; starting off with a GeForce 4 MX440 card from
Albatron, and the wickedly sweet GeForce4 Ti4200 videocard from MSI.
Next up we took at look at some more practical products including a
40x12x48 CDRW burner and the Samsung Ml-1440 laser printer. Yup, even though
we'd love to review video cards all day and night, sometimes we have to
focus on the more practical side of things.
Thankfully, C. Angelini comes to the rescue in this week's HTLD with
some exciting speculation of a 2.0GHz AMD processor, and hints that
Radeon 9700 reviews will be coming shortly... very shortly. And finally we
have the first in series of step by step guides for the Fujitsu
P2000 - this week we tackle a microDIMM memory upgrade.
Colin's Tip this week is a must read
for WindowsXP users, so have a look! Don't forget to send in your
suggestions for PCstats, we really want to hear what you think!
The Albatron GeForce4 MX440 videocard is
a no frills videocard targeted towards the budget conscious gamer.
Based on the reference nVidia GeForce4
MX440, the Albatron MX440 doesn't have many features. The Albatron MX440
has one 15 pin analog output as well as a S-Video out. The card uses
Samsung DRAM with a 5 ns rating and the GPU with a core clock of 270 MHz
is cooled by a rather neat looking heatsink fan combo. Upon removing the
heatsink off the GPU we were very pleased to see that Albatron took the
extra step and added some thermal paste.
Article Link
 Originally we were told
that nVidia would not be releasing GeForce4 Ti4200 - choosing instead to
let the GeForce4 MX fend for itself in the "mainstream market". ATI
entered the picture and forced nVidia's hand with some very aggressive
price cuts on the 64MB Radeon 8500. The Radeon 8500 is a far superior card
to the GeForce4 MX460 (its' main price competitor) in every way
(performance and features), but when the 8500 is compared to the GeForce4
Ti4200 it's a totally different story!
With the ever increasing price of videocards,
manufacturers are often looking for ways to keep costs down, and buyers
interested. With those fiscal considerations in mind it's amazing that MSI
can bundle so much hardware and software with the Ti4200. With a retail
price of $275 CDN ($150 US) you get full VIVO options, a DVI to analog
converter for dual display capabilities, MSI DVD, WinProducer, WinCoder,
three full version games (NOLF, Sacrifice and AquaNox) and a seven game
demo CD.
Article Link
After a few months of using an inkjet printer
you'll begin to realize just how expensive those refill cartridges become.
Sure the printer may be inexpensive, but add on ink cartridges for a year
and things add up quickly. While colour inkjet printers are still far less
expensive than colour laser printers, when it comes to black and white,
laser printers have it made. A 15 page
per minute laser printer like the Samsung ML-1440 retails for about
$400CDN, with toner usually running about $60-80 a cartridge.The printer comes with a starter cartridge
good for about 2000 sheets so you won't have to pick up your first
replacement for a month, or several months depending on the amount of
printing you do.
Article Link
MSI 8340 40x12x48 CDRW Burner
Review |
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CiscoPress Toubleshooting IP
Routing Protocols |
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Max data read speeds are 7200Kb/s, and max data write speeds
are 6000KB/s for CDR, and 1800KB/s for CDRW discs. The MSI 8340 supports
the usually assortment of writing modes, including; Disc-at-once, track-at-once, multisession, packet writing
and the always popular raw writing. Personally, I just like
the fact that drive came bundled with a nice version 5.5 of Ahead
Nero.
Article Link:
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Part of the CCIE Professional Development
Series, "Troubleshooting IP Routing Protocols" is
an 850 page CiscoPress guide book for networking engineers who need
to acquire expert-level skills at a moment's notice. Packed with
many years of experience of working solutions used to resolve the
most common routing problems related to a variety of routing
protocols the book also serves as expert-level instruction for
networking professionals preparing for their CCIE exams.
Article Link:
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 The Fujitsu Lifebook P-2000 is one
of the few widely available Crusoe-based notebooks in North America, and
one which has generated quite the cult following for its size, battery
life and wickedly well suited display for DVD's.
Under the hood, is Transmeta's current
flagship processor, the 867MHz TM5800 Crusoe. So lets get started with the first Fujitsu P-2000
guide about how to upgrade the subnotebooks memory.
Click here to read the Guide
Colin's Weekly Tech Tips
By: Colin "Yoda of Tips" Sun |
 Get the
More From WinXP
If you're using an older system and is finding that WindowsXP runs a bit slow there are a few things you can do to speed things up. First thing is, if you're using a wall paper, remove it! Wall papers, especially very pretty ones sap up a lot of resources. The problem is, usually programs are loaded on top of the wall paper, however just because you don't see it doesn't mean the computer isn't constantly refreshing the picture!
The second thing you can do is make Windows less flashy. Right click on the "My Computer" Icon and go to properties. Here, click the "Advanced" tab and then in the Performance box click the "Settings" button. Here set the radio box to "Adjust for best performance" and click the "ok" button.
After doing this you'll find Windows a
little more bland, but it will certainly run a bit faster. This
trick allows XP to run on my dad's old Pentium III 600E seemingly
as fast as my P4 2.4 GHz.
For users of For more insight into the dark world of computer tweaks, all of Colin's Tech Tips have been archived for your reading
enjoyment!
| A little extra memory
can go
a long way, and a little price comparing can save you from paying too much! |
Shop for Video Cards
ATI, Visiontek, PNY, Others... |
Motherboards
Abit, ASUS, iWill, Shuttle, Soyo, and More... |
Processors
AMD / Intel
Memory
RDRAM , DDRAM
| |
Have you stopped by the PCStats Forums yet? It's one of the fastest growing hardware communities and
it needs your brilliant computer knowhow to become even
better!
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PCstats
Issue No.51
Circulation 136,139
The High Tech Low Down
With C. Angelini |
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All is quiet on the Western front...or is it?
After a slew of product announcements during the past few weeks, the industry seems to have simmered down significantly. Of course, rumors still abound.
The top of the list is still
AMD's Athlon XP and the mythical 333MHz front side
bus. Several sources are citing September as the month we'll start
seeing Athlon XP processors running in excess of 2GHz. Furthermore,
the fact that two months have passed since the last Athlon release
has raised eyebrows. Could it be that AMD is planning to introduce Barton sooner than expected with the same 333MHz front side bus supported by the NFORCE2 chipset?
Speaking of NFORCE2, my own sources indicate
that motherboards initially expected this month will be pushed back
due to unforeseen delays. If you were in the market for an NFORCE2
board, September or October will probably be more realistic targets
for availability. Yes, that's just in time to compete with
VIA's anticipated KT400 and the SiS 746 chipset.
ATI's RADEON 9700 Pro has arrived in the labs of several fellow technical journalists - a sure sign that retail product will be available in the near future.
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