Absolute Multimedia announced their new GeForce 3 Ti500 graphics card today for an ESP of $349. Check out these specs: Read More

Intel have just released a major bios update for its leading Pentium 4 D850GB motherboard.

Use the Intel® Express BIOS Update if you are running Windows 98, Windows 98SE, Windows ME, Windows NT*, Windows 2000, or Windows XP. An executable file runs a Windows InstallShield program which automatically updates the BIOS.

Intel Express BIOS Update GB85010A.86A.0076.P17 1.24 MB 5th Oct 2001

Release notes

AMDMD have posted their review of the new AMD Athlon XP 1800+ prcocessor.

Here's a bite from their review:

The improved core REALLY shows up here; the 1.533GHz Athlon 1800+ is a whopping 69% faster than the 1.33GHz T-Bird core Athlon, and a bit more than twice the speed of the P4-2GHz.

So warp to AMDMD and get the low down on AMD's new king of prcocessors.

PhilsPCMods have posted a review of the NewQ Platinum.

Here's a byte from their review:

Before we get into the review, you might be asking what the NewQ Platinum actually is. Well, it's basically a graphic equalizer for your PC. It has a few preset 'effects' that it can add to the sounds generated by your PC, and can also be used as a radio tuner.

So warp to PhilsPCMods for the full NewQ Platinum Review.

Now that the availability in stores is imminent a couple of reviews pop up. As far as performance is concerned the boards sit tightly together. Users have to decide which brand to choose and it will probably all come down to the different feature sets the mobos provide, e.g. if they offer RAID or not. Shuttle AK31 v3.1 Review @ Techhard
Review @ LegionHardware
MSI KT266Pro-RU Review @ OCWorkbench
Review @ AMD3D
Review @ BlargOC
EPoX 8KHA+ Review @ Overclockers UK
Review @ Planet3DNow (german)
Side note: ABIT KR7A-RAID expected within a week according to TheInquirer.

Anandtech has a 12 page review of SiS's latest offering for Intels Pentium4. This chipset offers DDR 333 support. Intel fans check this snippet: Until recently, most motherboard manufacturers have only been able to take a "wait and see" stance on the issue of 3rd party chipsets for the Pentium 4 platform. In a move very reminiscent of their earlier launch of the 735 chipset, SiS has stepped up to the plate and offered motherboard manufacturers a very attractive solution. The 645 chipset is SiS' answer to the P4X266; and after recently going to production many manufacturers are finding themselves instantly attracted to it as it is the first Pentium 4 chipset to receive an official license from Intel. As if legality wasn't enough, the SiS 645 officially supports DDR333 SDRAM; giving the Pentium 4 another 25% of what it likes the most: memory bandwidth.

Today Asus has released new BIOSes. Looks like they're getting @ full operational speed again over there: TUSL2- / CUSL2 - Series (i815e) 1011 - 02 Beta
Bios TUSL2-C / CUSL2-C (i815ep) 1011 - 02 Beta
Bios TUEP2- / CUEP2 - Series (i815ep) 1011 - 02 Beta
Bios TUSL2-M 1011 Final (=1011 - 01 Beta)
Bios TUEP2-M 1011 Final (=1011 - 01 Beta)
Bios TUSL2-C 1010 Final (=1010 - 01 Beta)

Chip.de german PC magazine website has taken the two leading graphics solutions to it's labs for a quick test. Since all the stuff is in german we have snipped the most interesting part for ya. Does ATI's 0,15-micron-build board equipped with 3,6 nanosecond DDR RAM stand up to it's competitor?. What are 550 MHz RAM clock and 275 MHz core clock worth in numbers? Who is taking the lead? Read More

Entcity.com have got hold of Asus's huge BIOS updates today:)

So hit the Read More button for the full list of updates.

- P4T-F: BIOS Ver. 1005 10/03/2001:

*Change hardware monitor 3.3V low limit value.
*Fix system second IDE channel 40/80 pins cable is detected incorrectly.

- P4T-E: BIOS Ver. 1003 10/03/2001:

*First Release.

- A7VI-VM: BIOS Ver. 1003 10/03/2001:

*Support AMD® Morgan CPU.

- CUV4X-VM: BIOS Ver. 1004 10/04/2001:

*Latest Release.

Matrox have updated their bios and Utilities for the following cards G550, G450, G400 and G200 series.

Matrox BIOS and Utilities (v.2.51.002) Oct. 3, 2001 1.96 MB.

Electic.com have got their hands on the lastest Tyan BIOS file for the S2520 mainboard: Update CPU Microcode (ID 068A), fix USB first channel problem, and add 512MB memory module support.

Download S2520 BIOS Update v1.03 here.

Good Morning H.H. fans! It's that time of year again! NVIDIA has just announced a new line of products, and we've got them! We've got pictures of all the new cards, and we've taken NVIDIA's new flagship product, the GeForce 3 Ti 500, and ran it though a slew of tests under Windows XP and Windows Millennium. Drop in and take a look.. So head over to HotHardware here.

OverclockersClub posted an review about ABIT's KG7-Raid mobo. They say that The basic idea behind DDR SDRAM is that you take a normal SDRAM module and redesign it to be able to send data on the rising and falling edge of each clock. Instead of running the SDRAM twice as fast, which is an exceedingly difficult task, you enable it to send data twice as fast, a less difficult task, thereby providing about twice the theoretical maximum memory bandwidth.
and much more. Warp over for the full review

TBreak has posted a very informative review about the Soundblaster Audigy Platinum EX. Here's a snip: Creative has come a long way. From the good old days of Wing Commander and the original Sound Blaster to where it stands today - the biggest PC audio company. It's had it?s fair share of problems like the extremely late entry with a PCI sound card; and competitors like Gravis and Aureal - but this Singapore based company has made it?s country proud. It?s latest sound card is it?s most powerful product to date and is called Audigy. Lets look at the specifications:... Head over to TBreak and read the full story.

SANTA CLARA, CA ? OCTOBER 1, 2001 ? NVIDIA® Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA) today announced its new GeForce Titanium series of Graphics Processing Units (GPUs). The GeForce3 Ti and GeForce2 Ti series of GPUs deliver breakthrough graphics technologies. These new products also utilize NVIDIA?s high-performance Detonator XP driver, which take full advantage of the newest features of the Microsoft® Windows® XP operating system.

Hit the Read More button for extended info.

Tommti-Systems couldn't restrain from posting these scores which are Impressive indeed. The tests are bit blurry though because the test systems vary in speed so much. (1Ghz & ~1,61Ghz)... The curious people will hit the shots via the above link.

MSI have posted several new bios files:

K7T266 Pro This BIOS is the same as standard BIOS version 1.6 except: -Hide "SDRAM 1T COMMAND" and set default as disabled

MS-6330LE3 V3.0 Update AMD recommend CPU string for Palomino CPU (1.5Ghz & above) -Add logo enable/disable item for K7T Turbo Limited

K7T Pro2-A Update AMD recommend CPU string for Palomino CPU (1.5Ghz & above) -Add logo enable/disable item for K7T Turbo Limited

MS-6330LE V1.0 Update AMD recommend CPU string for Palomino CPU (1.5Ghz & above) -Add logo enable/disable item for K7T Turbo Limited

VR-Zone have the low down on Leadtek's new 7350KDA SiS735 motherboard. It's based on the very fast and very affordable SiS735 Chipset.

The Leadtek 7350KDA motherboard offers alot of overclocking features:

CPU clock tuning in 1Mhz increments
VCore, VMem & AGP Voltage Tweaking
Digital Voice Adviser For Debug Purposes
Speed Gear Utility For Clock Adjustments

So warp to VR-Zone and check out the pic.

The Athlon XP (a.k.a Palomino) will release on October 9th.

XP 1500 - 1.33GHz
XP 1600 - 1.4GHz
XP 1700 - 1.47GHz
XP 1800 - 1.53GHz

Now called the Athlon XP, it will come in 4 speeds - the XP 1500 plus, XP 1600 plus, XP 1700 plus and XP 1800 plus.

Prices to OEMs are $115, $124, $152 and $210 respectively, but may vary depending on volume.

So warp to The Register to get the low down.