If this released date is true I'm slightly bummed out, because I was really hoping for a Q4 release.

Advanced Micro Devices plans to announce its first desktop microprocessors produced using 45nm process technology on the 8th of January, 2009, the first day of Consumer Electronics Show. The code-named Deneb chips will not get truly high clock-speed boost, but will be able to offer substantially higher performance thanks to larger cache and architectural improvements.

Source: X-bit Labs

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I know this news has been out there for a while, but I still think it is important to point out especially now that Nvidia has given a few more details on how SLI will be supported. These X58 chipset motherboards which get Nvidia certified for SLI will be a win win situation for enthusiasts as they will support both Crossfire and SLI.

NVISION — If you want to combine a pair of GeForce graphics cards with a new Core i7 processor from Intel later this year, you're in luck. Just after the grand finale for its Nvision conference, Nvidia gathered reporters to inform them of a somewhat surprising and apparently very recent decision: the firm plans to enable its SLI multi-GPU scheme to work with Intel's X58 chipset—without the need for an nForce 200 PCI Express bridge chip on the motherboard.

The fate of SLI support on the X58 chipset—intended for Core i7 processors, which are code-named "Nehalem"—has been a question mark for some time now. Nvidia has said that it won't be making chipsets that work with the Core i7's QuickPath Interconnect (QPI), and it had instead proposed that motherboard makers use its nForce 200 chip on their boards. The presence of that bit of Nvidia hardware would then make the mobo kosher for SLI support. However, the company said today that it realized such a silicon solution would limit SLI to a small number of very high end motherboards, effectively roping off SLI from the mainstream of the enthusiast PC market. Rather than be forced into that situation, Nvidia has elected to allow SLI on the X58 chipset—under certain circumstances.

Motherboard makers who wish to have their X58 boards certified for SLI will have to submit their products for testing in Nvidia's Santa Clara certification lab, and those boards must pass basic testing for functionality, slot placement, and the like. Certification will not be free, either. Board makers will have to select from a menu of licensing options available to them. Certified boards will also be required to display an "SLI Certified" logo on their boxes and other marketing materials.

Once a board is certified, Nvidia will provide the board maker with an approval key (called a "cookie") that it must embed in the system BIOS. The combination of this approval key and an X58 chipset will then unlock SLI support in Nvidia's ForceWare driver software. Nvidia acknowledged to us up front that users would more than likely hack the BIOSes of non-certified X58 boards and add "cookies" to them, but said it won't get in the way of such things. The certification program is intended for motherboard and PC makers, and end-users' actions don't appear to be a big source of concern.

Source: The Tech Report

Click HERE to discuss this topic in our General Hardware forums!

Download the new IE 8 Beta 2 while its hot. Click the link to download it.

Yesterday afternoon, a blogger at Microsoft-Watch put up a post asking readers whether they cared about Internet Explorer 8. That pretty much highlights the disinterest surrounding Microsoft's upcoming browser. Lack of excitement or not, though, Microsoft has just released the second IE8 beta.

You can grab IE8 beta 2 for Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows Server 2003. Although the download only weighs in at 13-23MB depending on the version, Microsoft has packed in a surprising number of features, including the new "standards-compliant" rendering engine that debuted in IE8 beta 1.

In the features department, Microsoft touts new privacy functionality, a search box that shows suggestions and pictures, a dynamic "Suggested Sites" bookmark for users who don't know where they want to go today, "Web Slices" that let you subscribe to content within a page, and "Accelerators," which can serve up maps, translations, or dictionary definitions when you highlight a piece of text. There are many more smaller features, some of which look like they've come straight from Firefox 3—check out the IE8 tour for all the details.

Source: The Tech Report

Click HERE to discuss this topic in our General Software forum!

As part of our quest for speed in every aspect of PC use, we've seen the performance of modern hard disk drives ramp up over time alongside their increasing capacities. As with so many other components, these increases have also brought with them more pressing concerns over heat - Although most modern chassis offer good airflow over any hard disks as a priority, this isn't always the case with some older systems. If you're worried about cooling or airflow for your own 3.5" drives, then you might want to check out the pair of offerings under the spotlight at Elite Bastards today, in the form of Vizo's Orbiter and Voyager hard disk drive coolers.

Removing the Orbiter from its packaging, we can see the actual cooler itself properly. It's a pretty simple affair, consisting of that 60mm fan coupled with a mounting bracket to allow it to be screwed to the underside of any 3.5" hard drive, and a four-pin Molex connector to provide power to the cooler. Four screws are also provided to attach the cooler to the drive.

Installing the Orbiter is simplicity itself - Simply line it up over the top of the motor which drives the hard disk's platters (which is the part of the device which generates the most heat for obvious reasons), line up the screw holes on the Orbiter with those on the drive, and screw it in. Attach the Molex connector to a spare plug on your power supply, and you're done!

Read the full review at Elite Bastards.

I'm more disappointed on having the Bluetooth API being chopped out then Google Talk.

Google's new phone OS, Android OS, is backed by some of the industry's biggest players. While some carriers are reticent to the prospect of switching from their proprietary software, in which they have invested millions, Google brings much to the table with Android.

First Android is free. Secondly it provides a broad array of APIs to connect users to the internet and to perform graphical functions. Lastly, the OS comes with numerous Google programs, all free, such as Google Maps, GMail, and Google Docs.

However, with the release of the 0.9 beta SDK, an updated version of the OS's previewed SDK, Google unfortunately decided to cut out a couple of desirable features. Google acknowledged that both Google Talk, its popular IM program, and its Bluetooth API were on the chopping block.

Source: DailyTech

Click HERE to discuss this topic in our Operating Systems forum!

Hopefully, the sell-off of the DTV business will help AMD out in the long run.

AMD and Broadcom have entered into an agreement that would net Broadcom AMD's Digital TV business. The deal will cost Broadcom $192.8 million in cash. Broadcom says that the acquisition still needs to get AMD shareholder approval and it hopes that the deal will be complete in Q4 2008.

For its $192 million, Broadcom will get AMD's full DTV product line including the Xilleon integrated DTV processor, complete turnkey reference designs, NXT receiver ICs, and the Theater 300 DTV processor. Broadcom will also get other processors that improve video playback performance with motion compensation, frame rate conversion, and scaling.

DTV processors and other intellectual property are not all the acquisition will get Broadcom. Broadcom will also be inviting all 530 of the AMD dedicated DTV personnel to join it as well as key managers and marketing personnel for AMD's DTV business.

Source: DailyTech

Click HERE to discuss this topic in our Multimedia Discussion and Technical Support forum!

Alex Kochis, a Microsoft senior product manager, spelled out the changes to WGA Notifications, the anti-piracy component that provides the messages and other on-screen prompts when the other half of the package, WGA Validations, detects a pirated operating system:

The update brings XP Professional's WGA experience in line with that of Windows Vista Service Pack 1 (SP1), said Kochis. Specifically, pirated copies of the OS will display a black desktop that reverts to black after an hour if the user changes the background. Counterfeit copies will also show a permanent nag notice in the bottom right corner of the screen, and additional notices will appear regularly in the system tray.

Also changed is how WGA handles future updates.

"For new Notifications installations in Windows XP Pro, customers will also have a simple EULA to accept rather than an installation wizard," said a company spokeswoman in a follow-up e-mail. "This EULA has been modified to allow the anti-piracy validation control to auto-update itself for future releases."

The EULA, in fact, contains new language. "The updates or downloads are required for the proper functioning of this supplement and may be downloaded and installed without further notice to you," it reads.

The new no-notification also applies to any new install of future versions of WGA Notifications.

Windows XP Home, meanwhile, will retain the older WGA scheme.

Source - ComputerWorld

Discussion theread in Operating Systems Forum HERE

Well, a two week longer wait to kill zombies is not the end of the world or is it?

Remember when Valve said its zombie shooter Left 4 Dead was supposed to come out on November 4? Well, apparently there's been a little setback. Shacknews reports that Valve now intends to release the title on November 18 in North America.

News came from Valve's marketing chief Doug Lombardi, who pointed out that the release will coincide with the tenth anniversary of the original Half-Life. However, Lombardi clarified that Valve delayed the launch for "fine tuning" rather than mere pomp. Also, gamers in Europe will have to wait until November 21 to get their hands on the title.

Source: The Tech Report

Click HERE to discuss this topic in our PC Gaming forum!

Building your own PC system can be a very rewarding experience but, quite simply, it isn't for everyone. Whether it's down to a lack of time, not enough knowledge of the latest hardware to buy the best components, or simply a fear of having to put the whole thing together yourself, the reasons for picking up a pre-built system are numerous. Add to that the trials, tribulations, pitfalls and perils of overclocking your system, and you have yourself something else that you may well want to leave to someone else to worry about, leaving you to simply enjoy the finished product.

With these points in mind, Elite Bastards embark upon the review of a full system that answers all of these concerns, courtesy of UK-based reseller YOYOtech. As well as hand-picking and building a system using their knowledge of the latest hardware on the market, it also sports a substantial pre-configured BIOS-level overclock to increase performance some way beyond otherwise similarly specified systems, all for just £799.

Right from the off, you can pick out plenty to salivate about in these base specifications, from the use of Sapphire's Radeon HD 4870 graphics board through to a hefty overclock provided to Intel's quad-core Core 2 Q9300 CPU to boost performance, all enclosed within Antec's latest high-end Twelve Hundred chassis. Also offered up is an LG Blu-Ray drive (which also supports the now-defunct HD-DVD standard incidentally), meaning that you won't have any troubles playing the latest High Definition movie releases either.

One item worthy of note is that this system, priced as it is at £799 including VAT, features only what you see above, meaning that no keyboard, monitor, mouse or Operating System are provided, so you'll need to source all of these yourself. If you're looking to replace your current system with something new in one fell swoop (which is clearly the aim of this particular system) then none of these items should be an issue however.

Read the full review at Elite Bastards.

Treasures of the Ancient Cavern is a tale of fantasy, adventure and ancient magic

Solve tricky tile-matching puzzles as you travel through 90 increasingly challenging levels in many stunning locations! There are unique magic runes and power-ups to help you reach your goals!

Source + Demo : CasualGameplay

Inspired by the film, Righteous Kill follows the events surrounding a series of murders in New York City

Step into the shoes of Officer Erica Dean as she investigates crime scenes in the hunt for a vigilante who has taken to killing criminals known for perpetrating crimes against women. The initial evidence leads to the arrest of the primary suspect, Terry Collins. But more murders begin to take place after he is held in custody. Is someone committing copy-cat murders, or was the wrong man arrested?

Source + Demo : ClasualGameplay

A puzzle platformer that utilizes multi-character block/button puzzles

Visit 2 pulls together some surprisingly interesting stages that keep you clamoring for more. It's a surprisingly difficult game once you get a few levels under your belt.

This short demo features three playable levels only.

Mayhem Triple is an action game which tells the story of Mig Carter, a desert dweller who is stirred from his sleep by strange noises in the middle of the night only to find killer rabbits on the loose

AGD Interactive has released a freeware remake of the game using the Adventure Game Studio engine

The adventure game Quest for Glory II takes place in the fictional land of Shapeir, in the world of Glorania. Directly following from the events of the first game, the newly-proclaimed Hero of Spielburg travels by flying carpet with his friends Abdulla Doo, Shameen and Shema to the desert city of Shapeir. The city is threatened by magical elementals, while the Emir Arus al-Din of Shapier's sister city Raseir is missing and his city fallen under tyranny.

Source : AGDinteractive

Click HERE to discuss this topic in our PC Gaming indy remake,retro forum!

Your normal Technical Support group in an office environment with loads of comedic banter and a true look at behind the scenes of the lives of the people you call for help.

Visit the Punch-n-Pi website for the latest news and updates!

For those of you who are still holding out on getting an Xbox 360, or are new to the console gaming market.

Microsoft and Sony are still fighting it out for the scraps Nintendo leaves behind as it dominates the console sales figures. The Nintendo Wii is handily selling more consoles than the Xbox 360 and PS3 can move.

For a long time, the Xbox 360 outsold the Sony PS3, but over the last few months, that fortune has reversed and now the PS3 typically accept outsells the Xbox 360. Sony was able to gain ground on Microsoft's Xbox 360 and eventually pass it in sales thanks to a couple of factors -- price drops and storage capacity increases. In July, Sony announced that the 80GB PS3 would sell for $399 and at the same time Microsoft announced that it would drop the price of its 20GB Xbox 360 by $50 to $299.99.

It appears that those rumors have been substantiated with a flyer from RadioShack surfacing that shows that the Xbox 360 Arcade would be dropping by $80 to $199 starting on September 7. The same flyer shows that the Xbox 360 Elite would see a price drop from $449.99 to $399.99.

Source: DailyTech

Click HERE to discuss this topic in our Console Gaming forum!

I'm not a big fan of silent "ninja style" updates. Personally I want to know and control when updates are applied to tech equipment I own. However, hopefully this does help those early iPhone 3G adopters.

Apple’s iPhone was recently barraged by reports that the device’s 3G was far below specifications and experiencing a broad array of difficulties. The reports did relatively little to put a damper on sales, but a troubled Apple did begin working on a fix according to inside sources.

Now that fix for the 3G issues has finally arrived. While it’s obvious what the update plans to fix, Apple has refused to comment on which bugs it remedied with the release. Apple also has failed to return calls on the topic. Josh Pigford, of the Apple Blog stated, "The information Apple gives is vague. We're guessing it will sort problems like 3G glitches and lost calls."

Source: DailyTech

Click HERE to discuss this topic in our General Software forums!

Continually painted by Apple and other rivals as uncool and unsafe, Microsoft plans to spend $300 million on a new series of advertisements, designed around its "Windows Not Walls" slogan, that will feature Seinfeld and Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates.

Seinfeld will take home $10 million for his role in the spots, the report said, citing people familiar with the situation.

Microsoft is not only trying to turn around a stodgy corporate image, but also wants to reverse recent product misfires, including the Windows Vista operating system and the Zune digital music player.

Apple has rubbed in Microsoft's lack of success and highlighted its own winning streak in a series of "Mac vs. PC" ads.

The campaign is due to debut Sept. 4,

Source - ComputerWorld

Click HERE to discuss this topic in our Operating Systems forum!

At IDF, chipmaker says Nehalem server chips will be launched over four to five quarters:

At this week's Intel Developer Forum, the company gave out some more details about its upcoming chip family -- codenamed Nehalem. The first Nehalem chips, which will be quad-core server chips, are expected to ship this fall. After that, the rest of the Nehalem family -- desktop chips, dual-core, more quad-core and eight-core chips -- are slated to be released over the course of next year.

Jim McGregor, an analyst at In-Stat, said at IDF that Intel lightly touched on the fact that the Nehalem rollout will span four or five quarters.

Company executives did show off the first 8-core Nehalem chip at the conference. And yesterday Intel said it's six-core Dunnington processor will ship next month. Moving beyond the quad-core processors that to date have been the high water mark in the semiconductor industry, is a major step. And it's a step that keeps Intel well ahead of rival Advanced Micro Devices Inc.

AMD, which is slated to ship its upcoming 6-core Istanbul server processor in the second half of 2009, could use some breathing room in its one-upsmanship battle with Intel.

Another Nehalem feature drawing some attention is the built-in Turbo Boost. The technology basically is designed to shut down unused cores so the remaining cores can be used more efficiently. This energy-saving technology has been used in other processors, according to McGregor, but it's a good addition here.

Source - ComputerWorld

Click HERE to discuss this topic in our General Hardware forum!

Cooler Master have been pretty busy on the power supply front in recent months; after recently taking a look at one of their Silent Pro offerings, today Elite Bastards examine the flagship offering from their new UCP (Ultimate Circuit Protection) range. As well as 700 and 900 Watt models, this new range is headed up by the subject of this review, which offers a massive output of 1100 Watts.

As you've probably guessed by now, the UCP 1100W is a 1100 Watt power supply with a maximum output of 1320 Watts, which conforms to the 80 Plus Silver efficiency standard, with an efficiency rating of 89.05% at 50% load and 86.99% on average, making it one of the first PSUs in this particular power range to gain such certification.

With all of that power at its disposal, you'd expect to see it paired up with a lot of connectivity cabling-wise, and that's exactly what we find here. Aside from the normal 24-pin power and a couple of eight-pin motherboard power connectors, the UCP 1100W also supports a single floppy drive, nine Serial ATA devices and five Molex connectors. The power supply certainly isn't lacking in its support for PCI Express graphics boards, with three eight-pin and six six-pin PCI Express power connectors on offer here too - Needless to say, this unit is also NVIDIA SLI certified, and running 3-way or Quad SLI (as well as CrossFireX) should be possible with the amount of power and connectivity on show here.

Read the full review at Elite Bastards.

Click HERE to discuss this review in our General Hardware forum!

The Catalyst™ software suite 8.8 contains the following:

• Radeon™ display driver 8.522
• Multimedia Center™ 9.16 (Windows XP only)
• HydraVision™ for both Windows XP and Vista
• HydraVision™ Basic Edition (Windows XP only)
• Remote Wonder 3.04 (Windows XP only)
• WDM Driver Install Bundle
• Southbridge/IXP Driver
• Catalyst™ Control Center Version 8.8

Download Here

Also included is a free World of Warcrack Trial! Join over 10 million registered bots, gold harvesters and socially maladjusted-tweens for a free 10 day trial, courtest of Blizzards licensing agreement with ATI!

New Features

This release of Catalyst™ introduces new Avivo video features:

Dynamic Gamma/Contrast correction, available on the ATI Radeon™ HD 4800 Series, improves video image quality by delivering more vivid color in content with sharp contrasts and scenes with low and bright images.

Improved video presets, available for the ATI Radeon™ HD 3000 and ATI Radeon™ 4800 Series, delivers a newly optimized video presets that users can select depending on what kind of video content they are viewing.

Windows XP support: Edge enhancement, which adjusts the level of sharpness of video content and Noise Reduction, which removes ghosting artifacts while preserving details of the original video. The new slider controls can be found in the All Settings page of the Avivo Video tab found in the Catalyst™ Control Center

Hybrid Graphics Support for Windows XP

This release of Catalyst™ introduces Hybrid Graphics support. Hybrid Graphics delivers a significant 3D performance boost for systems featuring an AMD 780G/780D integrated graphics motherboard and an ATI Radeon™ HD 3400 Series or ATI Radeon™ HD 2400 Series graphics accelerator. It also provides support for up to four independent displays

Click HERE to read the full release notes.

Click HERE to discuss this topic in our CATALYST Drivers forum!

In an otherwise benign update on the status of the new version of Rivatuner, author Unwinder details new restrictions on the linking to Rivatuner for the nvnews site:

Dear forum visitors,

I've returned after vacation with new version, which is entering closed beta testing stage tomorrow and is expected to be released within 1-2 weeks. Changes list includes:


Minor bugfixes:

* Fixed core clock gating detection code for G8x and newer display adapters. RivaTuner no longer erroneously detects core clock generator switching to PCI-E bus clock and no longer monitors wrong 100MHz core / shader clock under certain conditions (e.g. wrong shader clock on GeForce GTX 260 / 280 series in idle mode).

What's new:

* Added ForceWare 177.xx drivers family support.
* Updated databases for Detonator and ForceWare drivers. Added databases for ForceWare 177.26, 177.35, 177.39, 177.41, 177.66, 177.70, 177.72, 177.73, 177.79, 177.83 and 177.89.
* Added Catalyst 8.5, 8.6, 8.7 and 8.8 drivers detection.
* Updated Catalyst 8.5, 8.6, 8.7 and 8.8 certified SoftR9x00 patch script (for Windows 2000/XP drivers only).
* Improved NVIDIA GT200 graphics processors family support. Thanks to Jacob Freeman @ EVGA for providing NVIDIA GeForce GTX 260 display adapter sample for testing.
* Added AMD RV770 graphics processors family support. Now almost all RivaTuner's features including overclocking, low-level fan control and hardware monitoring are fully available on AMD RADEON HD 48x0 series display adapters. Thanks to Hilbert Hagedoorn @ The Guru of 3D for providing AMD RADEON HD 4850 display adapter sample for testing. Please take a note that currently RivaTuner doesn't support direct access to RV770 I2C bus and flashrom, so VRM monitoring and VGA BIOS image dumping features are currently not available on AMD RADEON HD 48x0 series.
* Improved set of technologies aimed to improve RivaTuner startup and usage safety in conjunction with other hardware monitoring and diagnostics related tools:
o Previously used low-level I2C synchronization protocol is now also applied to driver-level fan control calls to prevent possible conflicts between low-level I2C transactions and internal driver-level I2C transactions. Please take a note that to take full effect the protocol must be supported by other tools used simultaneously with RivaTuner, so please ensure that you're using this version of RivaTuner with the latest versions of other monitoring or diagnostics related software products (e.g. Everest or EVGA Precision).
* Updated bundled RivaTunerStatisticsServer v2.7.0 utility:
o New server uses improved hook notification system and more aggressive hooks unload routines aimed to minimize the situations which require system reboot during server uninstallation.
o Updated pseudo-3D applications list.
* Improved hardware monitoring module:
o Now hardware monitoring plugin activation wizard module enables ADT7473 plugin by default on GeForce GTX 260 / 280 series display adapters.
o Improved memory clock gating detection for GeForce GTX 260 / 280 series display adapters.
* Updated license agreement. New license agreement explicitly restricts publishing any links to RivaTuner on www.nvnews.net homepage or in www.nvnews.net discussion forums. Russian software can not co-exist with the community tolerating anti-Russian nazism.
* Minor UI changes and improvements.


The most of changes are related to RADEON HD 48x0 family support, so I need a few experienced RivaTuner users with 48x0 hardware users for testing it. If you're interested - contact me via PM or directly via this thread.

Source - Guru3D

Click HERE to discuss this topic in our General Software forum!

This really could revolutionize multi-gpu systems.

NVIDIA is busily plugging away with its 200 series and marketing various SLI solutions in the form of anything from a pair of 8000 or 9000 cards to its top end -- a pair of 280 GTXs. AMD is similarly pushing its 4850/4870 CrossFire solutions along with CrossFire for its new dual-GPU 4870 X2 cards. The key thing is AMD/ATI cards are not compatible with NVIDIA cards -- CrossFire and SLI are two different technologies. Furthermore, most motherboards either support SLI or support CrossFire -- most don't do both.

Enter Lucid, also known as LucidLogix, a fabless semiconductor designer (meaning it outsources its chips to other company's fabs, such as TSMC). Lucid is far from a known name in the graphics industry, though that may soon change. With the help of Intel Capital backing and over 50 patents, it has developed a technology that seems poised to rock the graphics industry.

The groundbreaking technology is titled the HYDRA Engine. The accomplishment of the engine is nothing short of unbelievable to those who follow the graphics industry. It uses hardware and software to allow virtually any AMD/ATI and NVIDIA GPU to work together and share workloads with the CPU, scaling programs almost linearly. You could probably call the HYDRA Engine CrossFire-SLI, though you might run into a spot of legal trouble in trying to do so.

Source: DailyTech

Click HERE to discuss this topic in our General Graphics forums!

AMD had delivered same-day Linux support when launching the Radeon HD 4800 series this summer. This was a first for AMD when launching a major product revision that there was same-day support considering for the R500 and R600 (and earlier) generations it had taken months for any level of support on Linux. This was great to see and the Radeon HD 4850/4870 performance was terrific thanks to their new OpenGL driver introduced last September. Today AMD has announced another Catalyst driver release for Linux and this is arguably the most significant driver update since last October's release when AIGLX support was added. Catalyst 8.8 delivers CrossFire support on Linux, OverDrive overclocking support, adaptive anti-aliasing support, and other improvements.

Source: Phoronix.com

AMD/ATI really unleashed quite the wildfire with its 4870-series graphic cards as it easily unsteadied NVIDIA on a whole lot of levels when it came to the price-to-performance ratio. For the first time in a long time, we see NVIDIA really squirming quite uncomfortably in its marketplace position by reluctantly dropping prices on all of its current line-up in order to stay competitive. If you have yet to see what all the hype is over on the 4000-series cards then keep reading – you too will “see red” before it’s over with.

Read the full review at Bootdaily.com