ExtremeTech have posted their DVD burner Roundup with 8 DVD writers from AOpen , Asus , Lite-On , Memorex , Pioneer , Plextor and Toshiba! Here's a snip.

Now that Sony has shipped the first dual layer DVD burner for the PC, it's time to revisit the "old" technology of single layer DVD burning. With the price of high-speed, multiformat, single layer burners dropping precipitously, now may be a good time to take the plunge. If you either don't need dual layer burning, or don't want to pay the cost for new dual layer drives and media, then a low-cost, single layer burner may be just the ticket.

Just spotted this bit of Info posted over at Hexus.net!

Today we managed to sneak an exclusive look at the new NVIDIA PCI-Express based NV45 card which apparently does not use the HSI interface (we are waiting for a 3rd party to confirm this fact.) Apparently NV45 is a new tape out and has NATIVE PCI-E support.

CNNMoney reports that while Microsoft has publicly avoided discussing its next generation machine, it has been quietly conducting studies on the consumer appeal of a hybrid device that would play both PC and Xbox games.

"As any overclocker will tell you, latency is the time required for requested data to become available for reading from memory. The lower the latency values, the faster the performance. Now Corsair raises the bar for DDR400 performance with our new XL line of low latency memory."

Phemo at Overclockers UK was the one who first figured it out and shared it with everyone:
I know the first thing you'll ask is how I did it. Well, I got a very sharp knife and scraped off my previous conductive paintwork, then I used the knife to scrape away at the two points - we are using the right points after all. I scraped them away until there was some bare copper exposed, bright copper instead of the usual dull, then re-did the paint job, booted Windows up and ran ATITool, she now apparently has 16 pipes
There's a picture of the contacts you need to connect over at the Overclockers UK link above, or I got it hosted over at Elite Bastards too.

Over the past year, Serial ATA RAID has become one of the most popular checkbox features for core logic chipsets. The latest offerings from Intel, NVIDIA, SiS, and VIA all support Serial ATA RAID, but there can be a world of difference between feature support and real-world performance. To find out which chipset offers the best single-drive, RAID 0, and RAID 1 performance with Serial ATA drives, I've spent the last month running Intel's ICH5R, NVIDIA's nForce3 250Gb, SiS's SiS964, and VIA's VT8237 through a punishing gauntlet of disk subsystem and application tests. The results of this benchathon are enlightening, to say the least.

Spijkenisse (the Netherlands), May 26th 2004 – After the successful introduction of its Wireless LAN products, TORNADO, supplier of computer peripherals, expands its product range in the field of wireless network with a compact Bluetooth Class 1 USB dongle, the Tornado 201, and a Bluetooth Printer Adapter for both USB- and Parallel printers called the Tornado 206.

Just spotted this bit of Info over at 3DChipset.com.

Recevied word from Josh Walrath over at Penstar Systems that he has ran into some problems with Athlon 64 Gigabyte motherboards. The problem he is having sounds awfully familiar to the intro of the Radeon 9700 Pro with crashes. I've had the same problem he is having. What's even more ironic is that I was on a Gigabyte board as well. It was the i850E Rambus board though. Note to myself, "If you own a ATi card, stay away from Gigabyte".

The BleedinEdge, a hard core computer enthusiast site, is very proud to announce their ongoing memory competition co-sponsored by OCZ Technology Inc. Each month a different category of processor and motherboard(s) will be selected for participation. You simply download a small program which tests your memory speed and system stability, and upload the information to our data base. Show us your system memory is the fastest based on the criteria and you win a very nice prize...

Snippet: "This June, AMD will launch a new processor which is based on the Socket 939 pin socket. This brings us to another battle of chipsets supporting this new CPU that incorporates dual channel DDR support for the mid range market."

DesignTechnica asks is Apple really developing a Video iPod?

Rumors have been circulating around for months now about a secret Video iPod that Apple has in the works. Most of the news coming out on the subject has been pure speculation by anonymous sources who claim to offer some tantalizing details. Truth be told, we know little to nothing about Apple's next-generation iPod.

With the new high end cards announced and all utilising the latest GDDR3 memory, you may be forgiven if you overlooked the fact that these uber-expensive, and barely available, boards were not the first to bring the latest GDDR3 memory into consumers hands ? it was in fact the second revision of the performance mainstream board GeForce FX 5700 Ultra that first supported the new memory type. Here Beyond3D takes a look at this newer version of the 5700 Ultra, comparing it against its GDDR-II counterpart.

IWILL Corporation, an industry leading manufacturer of dual processor workstation motherboards, will soon release its barebones for two AMD Opteron microprocessors.

CoolTechZone

X-Bitlabs have thrown a new article which looks at the advantages and shortcomings of the move from DDR to DDR2 memory technology! Here's a snip.

The next divergence between the memory types is in DDR2?s ability to do Variable Write Latency. DDR always has a write latency of 1T. This time is dictated by the specification and cannot be changed.

Deric over at PCPop has got the scoop again! Looks like the 6800 non-Ultra will be a 350/800 card scoring about 8600 on 3dm2k3....but you can go check yourself as the chinese language ain't really my native tongue. (Oh, and MSRP is $299 making this card start to look like a serious player. )

Thanks to Mertsch in our Forum for the heads up! for this article posted over at X-Bitlabs.

A leading producer of high-end computers for gamers and professionals ? Alienware ? revealed some additional details about its new initiative to install two graphics cards into one PC for hardcore gamers. It seems that the new ALX computers will greatly use Intel?s server technologies to make games run faster.

VIA, Taiwanese chip and chipset maker, has announced the details of the company's upcoming C5J core processor. The new core is expected to bring security along with low-power consumption, low heat throughput, and small, low-priced integrated devices. VIA is following AMD and Intel on low heat throughput and low-power consumption startegy on consumer's demand.

Bink.Nu reports that on the morning after Microsoft's exclusive E3 drinks reception in Hollywood, where the likes of Allard, Peter Moore, Shane Kim and the European Xbox team mixed with a handful of sweaty hacks, the Xbox creator was in an open mood when we spoke with him. He discussed the current state of play for the Xbox business and beyond, offering insights into next-gen software development and how it will change the way we experience videogames.

The guy's over at T-break have thrown up their Preview of Intel's soon to be lauched 915 chipset! Here's a snip.

The new Intel 915/ICH6 chipset supporting the upcoming Socket 755 is scheduled to debut in about a month?s time. Some information about this chipset has been making rounds on the Internet, like the lack of an AGP interface and Win 9X drivers.

AnandTech have snagged AMD's latest CPU Roadmap!

FX-57 shows up on the AMD roadmaps, FX-55 wattages, and AMD's shift to product naming. If you thought AMD was surprisingly quiet lately wait till you see their most recent update. Oh, and RIP Duron 2000-2004.