The Inquirer.net reports that it will be more difficult to choose the right Pentium 4 desktop chip in 2003 than ever before. Some of this futurology but not a futurology as far ahead as 65 nano processes and 10GHz chips. (See separate story today).

Life will be complicated this year because of the introduction not only of 800MHz system buses, but also the enabling of hyperthreading in processors 2.4GHz and above - while Intel will still be selling desktop CPUs that are not hyperthreaded.

There's a new GeForce FX Blaster Photo out in the wild and boy does it loook cooool! ;-)

Just got this from Nvmax.com

I found it during my daily jaunt 'round the web. I don't think that AMD is putting heat spreaders on current CPUs, but I know that they are planned for the Hammer chips. I do like the looks of it. And with new KT400 mobos around, you don't need to unlock the L1 bridges anymore, so why not cover it all up and protect the core?

For more info click on the pic and if you haven't been to Nvmax in the last few weeks check out their new design.

This unique device combines a DVD player, CD player and personal computer into one compact affordable package. The Lindows Media Computer starts up in about 10 seconds and displays an intuitive on-screen selector to play DVDs, music CDs, MP3 CDs or even the increasingly popular VCD format. Once the media format is selected, the viewer can use the on-screen controls with a mouse or the included multimedia keyboard to navigate and control the playback. In addition to operating as an "instant on" DVD, CD, MP3 and VCD player, the Lindows Media Computer has all the functionality of a desktop PC. After a single-click of a mouse button, the machine becomes a full-fledged LindowsOS computer ready for Internet duties, productivity tasks or games.

If You have a spare $20,594.95 sitting around doing nothing, maybe you should buy the hemsipherical monitor Hammacher is selling. The monitor ? really a projection system, has a projection screen which the firm claims blurs the lines between the real and simulated world. It's dimensions are 5'3" high, 5'5" wide and 3'5" deep, and supports 16 million hues at 24 bits and has a native resolution of over two million pixels.

Thanks to Flexbeta.net.

Click on shots'n'pics for some new GFFX pics. The guys from GIGA.de have also got a GFFX from Terratec over the next 2 days and tomorrow they'll make a GFFX-Day with a review. They'll show the card in action on their show. Thanks to Anonymous.

Newsfactory: Thanks Anonymous for the post! But can you all remember to add the news source of the story when you send in your news please? I think the photo came from NvNews.net.

Geforce FX for men :-) : Sent in by Salix. Click Here.

A Nice quirky little guide for building a cheap gaming box thanks to the guys at HardOCP Check out the guide here

Well with all the FX hype and the disappointment of the FX card?, Radeon owners out there need something to put the 9700 back in it's rightfull slot at the top of the crop? ;) - Well with no room for much overclocking on the FX, a good cooling solution was bound to come soon for the 9700

What do you know about DDR RAM? Do you know to differentiate your 2400 from your 3700? Your 2-6-2-2 from your 2-6-3-3 settings? Well for those of you wanting to know the best way to get the most from your RAM, this guide is for you.

The Inquirer.net have posted details of PNY's GeForce FX 5800 Ultra and a photo of the card and this is the final product photo as the prototype GeForce FX pictures showed a yellow fan duct and final version will have a clear fan duct! Here's a snip.

The official card name is Geforce FX 5800 Ultra, as we said just after Nvidia launched it in November, and we were right about the price - that card will be more expensive than usual Nvidia high end cards. At least in Europe. Don't be too disappointed, but the card will be equipped with only 128 MB of Ultra fast but also ultra expensive DDR II memory working at 1000 MHz. I don't want to imagine how much an FX with 256MB would cost.

The German speaking countries will have different retail pack and you should remember that in these territories they cannot show Quake III publicly, so Doom III will be even more forbidden, we suspect.

Just got word from Crow @ Darkcrow.co.kr that he's posted 3 new previews for Gainward's GF4 Ti4800SE, Gigabyte Radeon 9100 and Sapphire's Radeon 9100 graphics cards.

Gainward, GeForce4 Powerpack! Ultra/750-8X XP GS(GF4 Ti4800SE) Preview
Gigabyte, GV-R9100(ATI Radeon 9100) Preview
Sapphire Radeon 9100 Atlantis Preview

Thanks to dzjepp for this: The Phantom In Depth - Infinium Labs is the inventor and manufacturer of the first broadband game console. The Phantom game console provides consumers the ultimate game playing experience with potentially thousands of games offered by the December 2003 launch.

Hopefully it won't flop before coming out. I think it would be nice to see a new contender on the market, which would benefit gamers.

Thilo Bayer, hardware editor at PC Games Germany has received an GeForce FX for testing. The print magazine including the test will be on sale in the first week of February (February 5th, 2003 to be exact). More interestingly he has posted some early findings in the 3DCenter forums. I will try to summarize his findings.

Read more...

Just spotted these 2 news items @ Nvnews.net.

GeForce FX Benchmarks Beyond3D's forum has a post, linking to a 3DCenter post, with a very brief FX Benchmark. The fact that all numbers posted thus far consist of low AF levels, combined with low Antialiasing samples, seems like a sign of things to come.

HardOCP have current supplier pricing for the upcoming AMD Barton CPU's. The prices here are shown in Euro/ US Dollers and GBP (converted from US Canadian dollars shown on HardOCP). Click Read More for the prices.

The Inquirer.net's mole has just returned from his Mission @ ATI and here's what it had to say.

ATI's magic goal is to achieve 400MHz/800 MHz for the card and memory while we know that it can easily clock it to 375 MHz, which can be considered as the lowest frequency of R350.

We heard that ATI's R350 will beat Geforce FX in eight out of 10 benchmarks, and we learned that one of benchmarks they will lose will be Quake 3. This could be true since the R350 will have 6Gb/Sec memory bandwidth more than the 9700 Pro.

DOUBLE DATA RATE (DDR) memory prices are crashing through the floor today amidst claims that some of the big memory manufacturers, the Dramurai, are dumping stock like there's no tomorrow.

SilentPCReview contributor Leo Quan tackles the challenge of quieting his SMP machine. He applies PC silencing concepts freely, modifying them to his needs, and goes the whole 9 yards with a slew of mods. He gets very close to his elusive goal and, in the process, comes up with an effective new silencing technique for really noisy hard drives. Full article here