News

Gainward posted new detonator drivers v. 27.50. They are available here:

• Win 2000/XP
• Win NT4
• Win 9x/ME

Asus updated BIOS for the following motherboards:

• A7V266 BIOS v. 1007-02 beta
• A7V266-E BIOS v. 1007-02 beta
• A7V266-EX BIOS v. 1007-02 beta
• A7V266-M v. 1007-02 beta
• CUR-DLS BIOS v. 1012-02 beta
• CUR-DLSR BIOS v. 1012-02 beta
• CUSI-FX-LAN BIOS v.1014-01 beta
• CUSI-FX-NO LAN BIOS v. 1014-01 beta
• CUSI-FX-NO LAN-4 USB BIOS v. 1014-01 beta
• CUSI-M with LAN BIOS v. 1014-01 beta
• CUSI-M without LAN BIOS v. 1014-01 beta
• P4T BIOS v. 1006-03 beta
• TR-DL BIOS v. 1006-02 beta
  
• TR-DLS BIOS v. 1006-02 beta
• TR-DLSR BIOS v. 1012-02 beta
  
• TUSI-M-LAN BIOS v. 1014-01 beta
• TUSI-M -NO LAN BIOS v. 1014-01 beta

Interested in getting new ATI drivers. Take a look here:

• Windows XP v. 6.13.6037
• Windows 2000 v. 5.13.6037
• Windows NT v. 4.3.3288
• Windows 98/ME v. 4.13.9016

Microsoft has a patch for Java VM. This one patches a whole that could allow a cracker to gain control of your computer. http://www.microsoft.com/java/vm/dl_vm40.htm

Got one from FrostyTech also. Check out the review of Thermaltake 1U DTFCF014-1 Heatsink.

Everybody knows about Thermaltake, but most people don't know that this heatsink manufacturer also makes 1U heatsinks. Like a good desktop heatsinks, 1U heatsinks work best when they are designed to be super efficient, and use the best possible materials. This particular cooler, the Thermaltake DTFCF014-1 (which we will be calling the 1U Extruded after its aluminum construction) is really only good for older 1U servers with processors producing less than 50W of heat.

I just got an email from PCStats, here is there review of the MSI KT3 Ultra-ARU KT333 Socket 478 Motherboard

Less then six months after announcing the KT266A chipset, the much improved version of the original KT266, VIA has announced the new KT333. Good yes, but you have to wonder about the logic behind this.

The USB2.0 riser makes mention of Bluetooth because this motherboard as support for it, or at least indirectly. Based on what we saw at COMDEX fall last year, I can only assume that this is for some type of Bluetooth riser card. Connector "JBT2"is used to connect a Bluetooth module to the motherboard (I have yet to see one of these "modules" anywhere). The reason for the sticker over the last USB2.0 port is that the connector shares the USB interface. This USB port will not function when the Bluetooth module is attached to the connector.

FUD: Fear, Uncertainty and Doubt. A large software company used this tactic in the early DOS days when another company was making strides... You can guess who. Anyway, I digress. It seems that the Inquirer has a funny story on Intel, well their resellers, giving FUD against AMD

You have to remember that Intel never talks about its competitors - this is a "must" injunction to its PR department when hacks ask what its stance is on all matter of things.

Nevertheless, the same rule doesn't seem to hold true with its resellers. Last week INTC laid out its position on AMD To the following effect, with a small PDF to boot:

The Inquirer has learned that Microsoft has nearly finished a 64-Bit Windows XP for the Itanium CPU.

Now we understand that XP for Itanium is nearly ready. So much so, in fact, that those lucky people with Itaniums can find a warez version of the 64-bit software if they know where to go.

The new morpheus preview edition is out. It brings in a few new features but more importantly is required to connect to the servers. The servers have been rejecting old clients for the past few days, so nobody has been able to get on.

This Monday Intel should drop prices for these CPUs:

Intel Celeron 1.3 ГГц will drop from $103 to $89

Intel Celeron 1.2 ГГц will drop from $89 to $84

Intel Celeron 1.1 ГГц will drop from $79 to $74

Quite a drop on the last 2 CPUs hey !

ESC released new BIOS for the following boards:

• K7S5A V1.X
• K7AMA V1.X

Microsoft shared information with this site WinInformant as to its future Service Pack for Windows XP.

The main innovations in this service pack include:

• Tablet PC This feature will enable OS operation on the portable screen-PCs. Earlier MS planned to release a separate OS version for it.
• Mira Somewhat vague-device support that would allow you controlling your PCs from a distance. Devices like handheld and touchscreen compatible with XP that would allow using it as remote control for your PC.
• Freestyle This should let you turn your PC into a digital entertainment center. A load of features to turn your PC into a powerful multimedia station.

The pack is expected at the end of this year.

Adaptec released new drivers for its USB 2.0 devices. Driver version is 2.2 and it supports USB2connect and DuoConnect devices. The devices are also compatible with the older line of USB peripherals. If you are interested in these get them.

I saw this at The Inquirer. I must say that Intel is really making strides in the technology field. And on that subject of radio, wasn't bluetooth supposed to come out in full force already?

Dubbed "Radio Free Silicon", the technology would drive the cost of wireless down to the point where it was essentially free, although whether the networks such devices might use are free or not is a different kettle of fish.

The silicon radio on a CPU may arrive sooner than other technologies he talked about today - earlier in the work Louis Burns said at his keynote that integrated wireless was not so far away.

Gelsinger said today: "We want to put a CMOS radio directly integrated into the core of the die." Chipsets would be developed which also included silicon radios and could access personal area networks, local area networks and wide area networks. Full story

ATI has a new version of the multimonitor software. Get it here.

PCstats is flying with reviews. Here is the link. I reviewed the original ATI 8500 here.

The card we received for testing is essentially the same physical card that ATi offers, but with a few PCB revisional changes and healthy handful of shiny little FIC stickers all over it.

What is included in the package for $250 CDN? Well along with the video card, there is a DVI to analog converter, an S-Video cable, user manual and a driver CD. One thing to remember, the FIC version, while not exactly identical to the ATI version in terms of core/memory timings, is about $150 CDN lower then the Retail ATI Radeon 8500 so it can be quite a good deal.

PCStats has a review of a new VIA board.
The P4PA supports existing 400MHz based Pentium 4 processors, and goes an extra step further by including support for the up and coming 533MHz Pentium 4 processor. This is great for peace of mind in terms of upgradeability.

Two other forms of future-proofing are included on the VIA P4PA; an onboard network card, and USB2.0 controller. It's really sad to say that the MAC world has been beating PC's blindly on this front for many years. As broadband is the preferred means of connecting to the internet, NIC's (Network Interface Card) are basic required equipment these days. By including the NIC on the mainboard, and locating the RJ-45 jack just above the two USB ports, consumers can save a few dollars, and some time as they no longer have to buy and install the card in an empty PCI slot. The onboard 10/100 Ethernet comes thanks to the RT8100A controller, and along with onboard audio using VIA's AC'97 codec, the VIA VT6202 chipset also brings support for USB2.0

Matrox G200, G400, G450, G550 (Windows 98/ME/NT4) and Millennium II, G100 (Windows NT4).

If you need Win 98/ME driver that supports: Millennium G550, Millennium G450, Marvel G450 eTV, Millennium G400, Matrox G200 MMS, Millennium G200, Mystique G200 и MGA G200 click here.

If you need Win NT4 driver with support for the following cards: Millennium G550, Millennium G450, Millennium G400, Matrox G200 MMS, Millennium G200, Mystique G200, MGA G200, Productiva G100 MMS, Productiva G100, G100 и Millennium 2 click here.

FrostyTech has a review of the Melamine Foam Sound Proofing. This will quite down your computer.

My only two criteria for sound proofing the Antec case were that the sound absorbing material would have to be less than 3/4" thick, and not too expensive. With constraints like that, more than half of the commercially available sound absorbing foams and pads were out of the question. In any case, the Melamine Foam appeared to be a good sound absorber, and didn't seem to have too much of a thermal insulating value (last thing I want is to raise the temperature of the case) so I picked up a couple sheets and went back to the lab to try it out under real world conditions.

Soltek announced their Soltek-DRV5 board that will feature KT333 chipset, the board will also boast ABSII feature that will keep Athlon CPU from overheating using CPU's built in thermal diode.

Here is a quote from Soltek: With the special hardware circuits design, the ABS II frees your CPU from being damaged by the unexpected overheating problem.

It is nice to see that board manufacturers are starting to use CPU hardware monitoring features on their boards.

Another week another update on the 10 top selling games from NPD for the period February 10-16:

1. Medal of Honor: Allied Assault (Electronic Arts)
2. The Sims: Hot Date Expansion Pack (Electronic Arts)
3. Serious Sam: The Second Encounter (Gathering of Developers)
4. The Sims (Electronic Arts)
5. Harry Potter & The Sorcerer's Stone (Electronic Arts)
6. NASCAR Racing 2002 Season (Vivendi Universal Publishing)
7. RollerCoaster Tycoon (Infogrames)
8. Zoo Tycoon (Microsoft)
9. Ultima Online: Lord Blackthorn's Revenge (Electronic Arts)
10. Backyard Basketball (Infogrames)


P.S. As you can see Serious Sam:SE moved up from position 8 to position 3 within a week.

ASUS quick as usual on releasing new BIOS for its boards:

• P4B-MX v.1004 beta 01
  
• P4B-M v.1003 beta 01
  
• A7V133-C v.1008
  
• A7V133 v.1008
  
• A7V v.1010
  
• A7PRO v.1010
  
• A7A266-E v.1010
  
• A7A266 v.1010
  
• A7A133 v.1010

Hercules technical support offers these sound card drivers for download:

• Game Theater XP v. 4.10
  
• Game Fortissimo II v. 1.50
  
• Gamesurround Muse XL v. 6.30
  
• Gamesurround Muse LT v. 6.32

Want to see Nvidia Software developer kit. Click here.

Asus released new version of its utility named ASUS PC Probe used for hardware monitoring of ASUS motherboards. If you own ASUS board, this is a nice piece of software to have.

Get ASUS PC Probe here.

Since microsoft is working all this month on security, you might want to go to http://www.bigfix.com and download their client. It will keep you up to date on everything MS releases during this month of patches.

The Inquirer has that scoop. But what I found most interesting was this:

Intel is also evaluating a series of other non volatile technologies including Ovonics Unified Memory (OUM), MRAM, FeRAM and polymer memory, said Lai.

But he concentrated most on polymer memory, suggesting to us that Intel is doing more than just considering that technology.

Polymer memory, or polymeric ferroelectric RAM (PFRAM), uses polymer chains with a dipole moment. Data is stored by changing the polarisation of the polymer between metal lines, with zero transistors per bit of storage and the ability to stack polymer layers.

The memory is non volatile and has fast read and write speeds, with microsecond initial reads, and a write speed comparable to flash memory. Link at Inquirer

Industry giant announced its plans for game releases for period of 2002-2003. The games include:

• Age of Mythology
  
• Dungeon Siege
  
• Zoo Tycoon: Dinosaur Digs
  
• Rise of Nations
  
• Asheron's Call 2
  
• Freelancer
  
• Links 2003
  
• Impossible Creatures
  
• MechWarrior 4 Inner Sphere 'Mech Pak'
  
• Combat Flight Simulator 3

Want to know more visit Microsoft PC Games International Games Festival.

Westwood Studios has started selling its first title in FPS/Action genre. We all know Westwood for exceptional real time strategy titles such as: Dune (series), Command and Conquer (series). Now they made an entry into the unknown before genre for them. Will see what the title has to offer. I plan to get the game in upcoming week. Expect a review at ASELabs Make sure to post your questions in forum, I will answer all of them or E-mail them to me.

Just like Windows 2000 patch this one enhances your system security under Windows XP.

As usual you can either read about it or http://download.microsoft.com/download/whistler/Patch/Q313450/WXP/EN-US/Q313450_WXP_SP1_x86_ENU.exe\"> download the patch.