Months after its official debut, Nvidia?s nForce2 chipset for Advanced Micro Devices?s (AMD) K7 platform is reportedly able to finally promise volume shipments, which had been hampered by its failure to pass DDR400 and AGP 8x standard tests in early September.

According to sources, Nvidia recently informed clients that related technology problems have been solved and it will begin volume shipments early next month. First-tier motherboard makers such as Asustek Computer and Micro-Star International (MSI) said they expect to receive the chipsets on October 1 at the earliest.

Power supplies are usually one of the most underestimated components in a system. Recently, however, there has been a lot of testing with the PSU because many systems have cratered due to insufficient power. Join TweakTown as they take a very hard look at the Topower 520watt PSU. With multimeter in hand, they tackle the burning question of "Can this PSU really do 520?" Come see for yourself!

As the first Creative PC speaker system to include a rear-center channel, the Creative Inspire 6.1 6600 delivers the ultimate in 3D positional audio for gaming and DVD movies. When combined with the new Sound Blaster Audigy? 2 sound card, the Inspire 6.1 6600 provides seven channels of surround sound for unprecedented EAX® ADVANCED HD realism in PC gaming and Dolby® Digital EX in DVD movies.

Modfactor.com just had the chance to have a look at the very unique and different fan speed controller, the Pyramid 2.



One of the greatest features and functions in the Pyramid 2 is the fail safe function that is designed into the unit. The way the unit works is distinguished by the LED's: it will be on or off. You will notice a bright blue (or your chosen color) light that will indicate the unit functionality. Moreover, if you notice the LED's are not turned on but your computer is running, there are two things that could have happened...

Hyper-Threading Technology is a groundbreaking innovation from Intel® Corporation that enables multi-threaded software applications to execute threads in parallel within each processor. Click on read more for further details and see which current chipset is able to support this feature. Is yours?

I just received an email in my inbox from our contacts at Club-3D, a european brand for graphics cards and other PC components. An official press release is due soon, but we have first product shots and specifications for you. Among the new products are motherboards is a first wave of Intel (845E and 845PE chipset) based boards. VIA KT400 based motherboards will be introduced soon.

Just got word from Crow @ Darkcrow.co.kr that they have the first review for Nvidia's new NV28 and NV18 graphics cards. Here's a screenshot of a GF4 Ti4200-8X card:

We've been hearing rumors about a new SiS chipset hitting the streets. That's right, the SiS648 chipset is out prowling around in some of the newer motherboards. Join TweakTown as they delve into the Abit SR7-8X Motherboard that uses this very chipset. After hearing all the stories about how good this new chipset is, it's time to see if it can live up to the hype.

X-bitlabs.com reports that a year ago Seagate rolled out its revolutionary hard disk drive, Barracuda ATA IV. In another while, the Internet community was ruffled by rumors like "Barracuda ATA IV wouldn't work in RAID0!" Of course, I didn't believe and decided to find out myself where the truth is. And what about you?

Responding to recent rising demand for its KT333 chipsets, VIA Technologies has decided to launch a remarked KT400 product to fill up the supply shortage. However, motherboard makers are wary about the change, as the remarked chipset cannot be applied on PCBs used for the former KT333.

The major specification difference between the current KT400 and the remarked version lies in their AGP technology support. The present KT400 supports AGP 8x, while the remarked chipset offers only AGP 4x graphics function.

I've been trying to buy this motherboard for the last 2 weeks but with no luck! Even after I sent an email to Shuttle, told them who I was and am still waiting for a reply. Even their UK distributors don't list them or want to reply to emails! Anyway Hexus.co.uk the lucky peeps have got their hands on a review sample of the board.

It scores well on the features front, too. This is the first motherboard that I've personally seen with the upcoming S-ATA interface. I can't test just how well it performs, but its inclusion is definitely a forward-looking measure. Standard IDE RAID, decent on-board sound, USB2.0, Firewire support, decent extras, and a robust BIOS round off the features. Performance was more than acceptable throughout our series of benchmarks. It eclipsed the similarly SiS648-equipped ABIT SR7-8X motherboard in most benchmarks.

My main concern in recommending the Shuttle AS45GTR has nothing much to do with the motherboard itself. It has more to do with availability. After checking the usual on-line suspects, I found it difficult to find it in stock, or other Shuttle 'boards for that matter.

VR-Zone have posted a 7 page report on the new Creative SB Audigy 2 launch at Creative's HQ at Singapore today, which they attended. Here's a snip!



Audigy 2 delivers up to eight times better clarity than host audio. The new Audigy 2 chip, premium quality 24-bit/192kHz Digital to Analog Converters (DACs), and a true 24-bit ADVANCED HD audio path ensure "hiss-free" audio fidelity and exceptional clarity of 106dB SNR. The power of Audigy 2 processing enables full 24-bit/96kHz audio resolution in discrete 5.1 surround sound with playback of Windows Media Audio (WMA) 9 Professional, the Web's first digital 5.1 surround sound audio codec from the new Windows Media 9 Series.

With today?s introduction of the SoundBlaster Audigy 2 with THX certification, Creative brings DVD-audio to the PC with 24-bit/192kHz quality. The standard in PC audio has once again been raised with the new Sound Blaster Audigy 2. Looks like the moment we all waited for has finally come. Check out product shots and specifications under read more. Now all we need is stable drivers and a decent 6.1 speaker set.

Looking to change your Nvidia VGA Geforce4 TI Cooler? Then look no further than Thermaltake's new line up of VGA coolers! And boy do they look sweet.

Bench-house.com have posted a new guide that tests 11 Nvidia GeForce 4 Ti4200 cards to see which one is the best. Here's a snip:

Even a passing glance at the hardware websites all over the net would be enough to convince you of the great popularity of GeForce 4 Ti4200 based video card models. For less than 190 euros, you can own a card that is only a few percent slower than the currently fastest Titanium 4600 model. All that is left is to answer the well-known question: ?Which one to choose??

Cambridge SoundWorks, a manufacturer and retailer of home theater, home audio and multimedia products, today introduced its MegaTheater? line, four ready-to-go home theater packages with DVD player that incorporate high-powered digital hybrid amplifiers and high-performance speakers to deliver true "movie theater" sound quality. The MegaTheater systems, which range in price from $699.99 to $1,299.99, are similar visually and operationally to other "home-theater-in-a-box" systems, but the resemblance stops there. A 450-watt B.A.S.H.? digital hybrid amplifier system and ultra-high-quality speakers from Cambridge SoundWorks' Newton Series? delivers higher performance. Cambridge Soundworks is a wholly owned subsidiary of Creative Technology.

This is just in from OCWorkbench.com. Seems that they have got their grubby hands on MSI's latest Mainboard the MSI Max i845PE based on Intel's 845PE chipset.

At last a chipset from Intel that officially supports the DDR333 standard for P4 platform. In the manual, there is mention of support of 100/133/166Mhz Mhz FSB (does that mean 166Mhz CPUs are supported too ?). There is only 2 DIMM slots for a max of 2G of DDR333 module. No unofficial async settings available. Only 2 IDE channels supporting ATA-100 .

Source: Tommti-Systems.de

Just got word that X-bitlabs.com have the latest Info and screenshots of Nvidia'a up coming GeForce4 MX420 AGP 8x and the GeForce4 MX440 SE AGP 8x Graphics cards!

Here's the first screenshot of a ATI Radeon 9700 Pro with 256mb of memory!