What was interesting an ATI presentation that recently got leaked onto the wibbly web was a claim that Nvidia "lies" about Shader Model 3.0 and that its hardware isn't SM3.0 compliant.

The Inquirer

Our friends at HKEPC Hardware have found a way around crossfire. They were able to run two pair's 0f ATi Radeon X700Pro 128MB and X300Se Hyper-Memory 128/256MB GPU's.

After speaking with several AIBs today, we have some confirmation that Foxconn already has design kits for ATI's R580 socket. Pipe and clock information for R580 is still not firm, so we will not comment on that at this moment.

What difference in performance you could get from a x86-based Mac OSX using a cheaper Celeron 2,53 GHz or with the more expensive Pentium 4 3,8GHz. We used 5 different benchmarks compliled for PowerPC processors, meaning that Rosetta PPC "emulation" is being used, to measure the difference. See the benchmark results here.

We learn that NVIDIA?s upcoming product will be named "7800 GS".

NGOHQ

We continue to hear new details about G72 and G73 here in Taiwan, and the latest batch of info from our vendors is that G72 and G73 will be pin compatible with NV40 and NV43. In other words, your next NVIDIA video card might have the same PCB from the 6600GT, but with a different GPU.

AnandTech

Learn how Pentium 4 processor works. Here is a snippet:

In this tutorial we will explain you how Pentium 4 works in an easy to follow language. You will learn exactly how its architecture works so you will be able to compare it more precisely to previous processors from Intel and competitors from AMD. Read on at HardwareSecrets

Bill Gates sat down for an interview with the Daily Princetonian and shared his views on a number of things, including the next-gen optical format battle. The interview covers a number of topics, including the coolness of Microsoft and Apple, but what caught my eye were Gates' comments on Blu-ray versus HD DVD. As you know, Microsoft has backed HD DVD, citing among other things HD DVD's requirement of mandatory managed copy support.

ArsTechnica

Well boys and girls it's time again for another insane NGOHQ contest giveaway and we have a couple of surprises for you!! We are proud to announce that we are giving away two Leadtek Winfast PX7800GT Extreme TDH 256MB cards.

NGOHQ

While the hybrid motherboard concept is all well and good, ECS is back with another technology that?s worth analyzing.

The OCInside.de Casemod Gallery was developed about 4 years ago and receives constantly new pictures from enthused PC Modder. More than 300 Casemod pictures were added today, so that one can admire momentarily over 1000 pictures with detailed description of most Mods.

AMD's new CTO, Phil Hester, led a brief session about AMD's future technology directions, where he sketched some of the company's microprocessor plans. Afterwards, we had the chance to ask him a few questions, as well.

TechReport

Due to a handful of problems the SoundBlaster X-Fi has been causing nForce4 based motherboard owners, Creative forum representative has anounced a solution.

AMDZone

Out of the the high end grapihcs card from NVIDIA, the GeForce 6800GT has the best bang for the buck. Now selling around US$ 250 to 350, it's the most affordable SM 3.0 graphics card that won't slow to a crawl under high details with AA and AF on. Today, we're looking at three cards: the ASUS EN6800GT, Galaxy Glacier 6800GT and Leadtek PX6800GT THD.

Elite Bastards have taken a look at adaptive anti-aliasing, a feature that's getting a lot of press with ATI's new Radeon X1800 boards, but is also in fact available to Radeon 9500 users and up if you know where to look. They investigate how to get adaptive anti-aliasing to work on your system, and see how it fares with regard to both image quality and performance.

Read on

The configurable IP core is a relatively new phenomenon, but ARC International has been in the business for some seven years now. ARC?s customer base is now at over 100 companies, and for Derek Meyer, SVP of Sales and Marketing, that?s a sure sign that configurability is winning friends and influencing people. Meyer argues that configurable processors can ensure product differentiation among the crowded competition in embedded markets. They can do that, he says, while maintaining proprietary design and confidentiality, and while also minimizing risk. DigiTimes.com spoke with Meyer when he recently visited Taipei. Read on at DigiTimes

DigiTimes reports: Demand for DDR2 is expected to rise phenomenally in the first quarter 2006, when the introduction of Socket M2 processors from Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) kicks off and shipments of the Intel 945-series platform increases, motherboard makers believe.

TrustedReviews has just finished off it's latest PSU group test comparing 12 different PSUs ranging from 400 to 650W. They've also done some Hi-POT or lightning testing and to their amazement some of the Hi-POT labeled PSUs didn't pass!

Palm unveiled two new handhelds today. The first one is the Palm Z22 organizer which retails for only $99. It has a colour display, weighs only 3 ounces and has about the size as a deck of playing cards.

Apple announced two classes of iPods this morning: a 30 GByte model which sells for $299, and a 60 GByte model which sells for $399. Both models come with a 2.5-inch color screen. The new consoles are being billed as "the new iPod," apparently replacing the existing 20 GByte and 60 GByte designs. Video playback is one feature of the new models.