Just spotted this bit of info at Xbitlabs.com!

ATI Technologies will launch another mainstream product code-named RV360 together with its R360 VPU later this year. Apparently, the Markham, Ontario-based company prepares yet-another mainstream graphics processor based on the RV350 architecture. Its code-name is RV380 and it will come together with the R420, as unofficial sources said.

Hardwarezone.com have posted up their sneak peek at Sony's new VAIO PCG-TR1 notebook based on Intel's Centrino mobile chipset.

For all notebook lovers, this is probably the day you have been waiting for - the unveiling of the all-new VAIO PCG-TR1, which is also Sony's first notebook powered by the Intel Centrino Mobile Technology (hence the new TR family). But alas, the PCG-TR1 that we have here is an early pre-production model so we weren't able to run our standard notebook benchmarking routines. Instead, we'll take a look at the other finer details of the PCG-TR1 and tell you why we think this sub-notebook is simply the best-looking VAIO to date yet.

AMD today announced three new mobile processors designed to bring notebook users the features and mobility they need for an outstanding computing experience whether at home, on a flight or in a client?s conference room. All three processors feature 512KB L2 cache that helps increase performance and lets notebook users work more quickly and efficiently.

AMDZone have thrown up their sneak peek at the Shuttle SN45G, which is the nForce2 Ultra 400 based SFF!

Shuttle has followed up their SN41G2 with the SN45G based on the nForce 2 Ultra 400 chipset. We enjoyed their SN41G2 which is based on the nForce 2 IGP chipset, but the SN45 goes without the integrated video which cuts costs, and support for 400MHz FSB Athlons is added.

x86-Secret has just published an article on the PAT technology that comes to confirm all the information heard these last days. On the contrary of what Intel is stating, PAT is present on ALL i865 and i875 chipsets and is moreover activated by default on these 2 chipsets for all modes less than FSB800/DDR400. However, the i875 is the only one to keep PAT activated in FSB800/DDR400 mode due to a better chip quality. Manufacturers like AsusTek, followed by others these last weeks, have found a workaround for the i865 chipset by making it believe that the CPU is at a 533 FSB setting, even when it's at FSB800. So what is PAT really? Marketing or technical argument? For the time being, x86-Secret thinks that the first statement might be true even if Intel, during the chipset fabrication, did not think it would have so much good yields on its i865/i875 chipsets. So for the moment, before Intel changes the revision of its 865 chipsets, these chips are very well positionned in front of the 875 ones, as the 30$ increase in price can't be explained.

Evan Lieb at AnandTech.com has thrown up his 20-way 865PE/875P Motherboard Shootout! Here's a snip.

Even after finishing our 5-way memory compatibility comparison that tested seventeen different Pentium 4 motherboards we still had lots of work ahead of us. Today we bring you the first part of a two-part 865PE/875P roundup series. Part 1 includes twenty different 865PE and 875P motherboards while Part 2 will include another thirteen to fifteen P4 motherboards. We will announce the runner-ups in Part 2.

In terms of the enthusiast, AMD Athlon's XP processor has now taken second stage to Intel's all conquering Pentium 4 processor and army of Dual Channel enabled chipsets. AMD continue to battle it out with the support of third party chipset manufacturers, VIA Technology and nVidia, who keep the Athlon XP in the battle for the enthusiasts? loot. Today TweakTown's Shawn "Toxic" Baker puts nVidia's Dual Channel nForce 2 up against VIA's Single Channel KT400 and KT400A chipsets. There can only be one winner, which will it be? Read on and discover the answer!

Developed and monitored by PCI-SIG, PCI Express will be the upcoming standard for add on cards in personal computers. The PCI-SIG provides a forum for its 800+ member companies who develop differentiated, interoperable products based on its specifications. PCI Express architecture retains the PCI usage model and software interfaces for investment protection and smooth development migration. The technology is aimed at multiple market segments in the computing and communication industries, and supports chip-to-chip, board-to-board and adapter solutions at an equivalent or lower cost structure than existing PCI designs. PCI Express currently runs at 2.5Gtps, or 250MBps per lane in each direction, providing a total bandwidth of 16GBps in a 32-lane configuration. AnandTech is taking a look at the possible benefits here.

Western Digital Corp. yesterday introduced its WD Caviar Special Edition (SE) Serial ATA (SATA) hard drive, the world's largest 7,200 RPM SATA hard drive. Carrying on the heritage of WD Caviar SE hard drives as industry-leading performers, these new SATA-equipped hard drives feature capacities as large as 250 GB, an 8 MB buffer and three-year warranty, to fill acute demand in market segments such as high-end PC, workstation and entry-level servers. The company also introduced its robust SecureConnect SATA cable technology, which is designed to solve a weakness of first-generation SATA hard drives and cables by strengthening the drive-cable connection by more than 500%, while ensuring the hard drive maintains backward compatibility with legacy SATA cables and backplanes. This strengthening of the drive-cable connection is intended to eliminate SATA connector breakage as well as reduce the number of related product returns to hard drive makers and systems manufacturers.

Ocworkbench have got the low down on why some Springdale are faster than other 865PE boards. Today we spoke to a good friend of us and he gave us an insight into making i865PE board perform like a 875P.

Just spotted this article at Xbitlabs.com.

In the fourth quarter of this year or in the first quarter of 2004 Nvidia also reportedly plans to launch an improved version of the NV36, the so-called NV36X. Just like I thought, the code-named NV40 will hit the road in Q4 2003 or Q1 2004. As always, the high-end GPU will be aimed on the enthusiast market, whereas its companion chip available in the same timeframe - the NV36X - is intended for performance market. In the end of the second quarter 2004 all NVIDIA?s NV3x graphics processors will be replaced with variety of NV4x solutions. The NV36X will be replaced by NV41, whereas the GeForce FX 5200 aka NV34 will be succeeded by the NV43. There will be also the NV42 to come in the middle of 2004.

I was just over at Crucial checking out some memory prices when I spotted they have the Crucial Radeon 9800 Pro on sale at £286.69 inc. VAT! Very nice price.

Just spotted this bit of info at Xbitlabs.com:

Since the NV35 is nearly in retail now and we know almost everything about the part, it is time to start reporting unofficial information about NVIDIA?s next-generation graphics processor, the code-named NV40 GPU. Apparently, we even have some facts to report about the upcoming graphics chip since another unnamed representative from NVIDIA told a couple of things about the upcoming product such as the the NV40 would be twice as fast as the NV35.

OMG! The mother of all graphics cards [ ;-) ] is being showcased in a very cool teaser trailer by Hardware-Tweaker.de. The card is one Voodoo 5 6000 Rev. 3700. They are showing short clips of Quake 3 and 3DMark2K1. According to the website even 8x FSAA is working flawlessly. They plan to post a full feature review soon. Go and check it out!

Elitebastards.com got some nice page scans from a German magazine called, PC Games Hardware Magazine. What a strange name for a magazine dealing with PC games and hardware. Anyway, here are some scans of the Mobile Graphics Showdown that compares the ATI Mobility Radeon 9600 (M10), Nvidia GeForceFX 5600 Go (NV31M), ATI Mobility Radeon 9000 (M9) and Nvidia GeForceFX 5200 Go (NV34M). They took out the text since it reads German and just uploaded the graphs and charts.

Just got word that NordicHardware have thrown up their 8x budget videocard shootout.

Today we are going to take a closer look at some videocards for you readers out there on a tight budget. Most cards are sub-100 dollar cards in this little roundup! All cards but two are built on nVidias FX 5200 chip, that is 5200 "non-Ultra". The remaining is a Radeon 9200 and I also threw in a GF4 Ti4200-8x. Here's the lineup:

Thanks to Cameron Wilmot at TweakTown.com for sending in this info.

Lyle from ABIT just let us know that their engineers have managed to enable PAT on their IS7-G Springdale motherboard with a simple BIOS update.

AMDMB.COM has posted the first look at a reference 4P Opteron system from AMD today. Using four Opteron 844 processors and 8 GB of PC2700 memory, we have a look at SiSoft Sandra scores (the first AMD64 compatible version) on the processors, memory and cache. The results speak for themselves.

Graphics card maker ELSA recently joined hands with ATI Technologies, introducing new graphics cards based on ATI?s Radeon 9800, 9600 and 9200 chip series (including PRO and non-PRO versions). Shipments of the graphics cards are set to begin this month, the manufacturer said. Given that ELSA is generally seen as a card maker dedicated to the high-end sector, industry observers believe that ELSA?s cooperation with ATI will help ATI consolidate its position in the top-end graphics card market. Read More

The Epox Uk site (Epox.org) are selling off older Epox motherboards at fairly low prices, including an Epox 8KTA+ for £20!