Intel Corp. and Advanced Micro Devices Inc. (AMD)are revving up for what they see as the next big step in the evolution of x86 processors—the introduction of dual processing cores.Both companies are demonstrating technology that puts two processing cores on a single chip, providing users with almost double the processing power in the same amount of space.



Intel's shift toward enhancing the internal transistors within a single chip will be the focus of the Intel Developer Forum this week in San Francisco. The Santa Clara, Calif., company has already said it will combine two Itanium cores into a single chip, a practice the company will imitate in the desktop, server and, eventual ... more

Creative Labs Asia has released a new driver update for their Audigy 2 soundcards. This driver update contains enhancements and fixes to improve the performance of your Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 or Creative Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS product.


Added Feature:

EAX 4.0, containing DirectSound and Open AL API extensions, to utilize the EAX 4.0 ADVANCED HD Multiple Environment feature Fixes: Removes noise from analog speakers after switching to VXD drivers using Driver Utility. ... more

Our french pals at Station-Drivers have scored another neat driver download. They found some nForce 1/2 ( 220/230/415/420/430) drivers version 3.44 WHQL, non officiel for Windows 2000/XP. This is not a full driver release but includes audio, ethernet, IDE and GART drivers.

Audio driver 3.42 (WHQL)

Ethernet driver 3.39
GART driver 3.34 (WHQL pending) IDE driver (In-the-box) 2.70 (WHQL) IDE driver (Full) 3.44 Installer 3.44 Download nForce Drivers 3.44 Beta For Win2000 | nFo ... more

We have got hands on a new nForce driver for Windows XP, at least the audio
driver seems to be new:

The following components are included:

Audio driver 3.34 (WHQL) Audio utilities 3.17 Network driver 3.13 (WHQL) GART driver 2.78 (WHQL) SMBus driver 2.75 (WHQL) Memory controller driver 2.75 (WHQL) IDE driver 2.70 In The Box (WHQL) IDE driver 3.07 Full Driver Installer 3.22 Download From compaq ... more

What's faster AMD's Barton XP3000+ 400FSB or Intel's Pentium 4 3.0G 800FSB processor? If you want to know just that, then check out this shoot-out at OCWorkbench.com.

As we all know, Intel and AMD has been rushing out with newer processors to take advantage of the higher fsb. The most apparent jump was from Intel P4 533 (133 Mhz fsb) to the 800Mhz (200Mhz FSB). This paints another chapter in PC industry as AMD follows suit with an upcoming model known as the Barton 400 which runs at 200Mhz FSB.
Sometimes, readers will ask me, what is the difference between all these 200, 400, 800. Well the simple way to differentiate them is to check what speeds is the CPU rated at. For example an Intel ... more

On April 14th Intel launched the new high-end Pentium 4 core chipset i875, formerly code-named 'Canterwood'. While Intel provides a reference mainboard - D875PBZ - a couple of manufacturers already have their modified versions announced and soon to be shipping. We have collected pictures and specifications for the most interesting boards from Abit, Asus, MSI, EPoX, Gigabyte, Tyan, Iwill and Chaintech.
View:


ABIT IC7-G
ASUS P4C800 Deluxe ... more

Aluminum cases, in their industry variety, retain very little variation in heat dissipation efficiency. Compared to their steel composed brethren, there only remains a minimum amount of improvement. When related to processor performance, one can probably find minimal improvement at best. Practically speaking, the best selling point for aluminum cases remain on their weight and the fact that the metal tensity "gives" a little. Since this case doesn't make any revolution in overall design, let's forego the heat emission meters.




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23.3GB systems with 9MBps data transfer rate due by year end




Sony has announced development of a blue-laser-based optical disc system for data storage and says it should be available by the end of this year. The system, which has yet to be named, is technically similar to the Blu-ray Disc format that was developed by a consortium of nine companies led by Sony, although it is incompatible. The data storage technology was announced Tuesday by Sony and is on display at the AIIM storage and content management conference in New York this week. The main difference between the two formats comes in the data transfer rate. Blu-ray, which is aimed at consumer recording of high- ... more

Logitech MouseWare is the software used to install and control Logitech mice. It contains drivers and software enabling you to take full advantage of your mouse.Download
Logitech MouseWare 9.76 Build 046 ... more

Samsung has announced it has begun mass production of 1GB DDR II DIMMs, a definite industry first.


The new memory modules are put together using 512Mbit chips. According to Samsung, the 1.8v chips have a 4bit pre-fetch and are capable of delivering 533Mbps. The company claims that the performance can be extended to 667Mbps for 'special system environments' but does not detail what those are.

The company has said that engineering samples of DDR II have been with chipset manufacturers since May last year but there has been no sign of DDR II chipsets reaching customers so far. Though it seems fair to assume that Samsung wouldn't have gone into mass production if those chipsets wer ... more