Hardware Reviews

A4Tech X-718 Gaming Mouse

2006-01-15T20:52:00.000+08:00

Intro

A4Tech has been associated with peripherals that cater to mainstream users for a long time. The X-718 is A4Tech's foray into the gaming mouse market.

Review

I've recently gotten the X-718 by A4 Tech. Incorporating a 2000dpi sensor and a dedicated button for changing dpi, will it be able to stand up against the more well-known gaming mouse?

The specifications of the A4Tech X-718, according to A4Tech's website, are as follows:

Mouse Dimension : 4.6L x 2.5W x 1.3H in
Package Contents: A4tech X-718 MouseSMART-x7 Driver(CD)USB or PS2 mouse port
Three-year limited warranty

The X-718 comes in a box that bears a striking resemblance to Razer's packaging. The features of the X-718 are splashed on virtually every side of the box. A proprietary mouse testing program from A4Tech, miceJUDGE, is also advertised on one side. On the box, the X-718 is claimed to have scored 95 marks in the miceJUDGE program.

Opening the box, I find the X-718 mouse neatly packaged in a plastic packing, along with a driver CD and a USB-to-PS2 converter.

However, I noticed a discrepancy between the box and the website.

The box states a warranty period of 24 months (two years). However, A4Tech's website states that the X-718 has 3 years of limited warranty. It would be good if A4Tech can clear up the confusion.

The X-718 is not larger than your standard mouse in terms of size, but in terms of looks, it is far from any ordinary mouse.

"X7" and the A4Tech logo are emblazoned on the blue, plastic surface of the X-718. The finishing gives the interesting visual effect of the surface being bumpy. Two metallic looking strips run the length of the mouse.

The scroll wheel is found in it's usual position, with the DPI adjustment button just below it.

Turning the mouse over, I found 4 smooth teflon 'feet' at the four corners, and 2 feet on either side of the sensor, making a total of 6 feet. I also found that the label specified, among other things, the different colour codes for different DPI settings.

Unlike Razer's golden plated USB connector, a standard USB plug is used here.

Plugging in the mouse, the optical sensor lights up in the usual red colour. The LED beneath the scrollwheel also comes to life. Pressing the DPI button, the colour of the LED changes in tune to the DPI mode, as specified on the bottom of the mouse (see above). In 2000 DPI mode, the LED flashes between yellow and red constantly. I found this cool.

The X-718 is ergonomically designed. The contours of the mouse have been tailored to comfortably fit a normal hand, making it comfortable even after using it to play games for several hours. Note the sides of the mouse, which have been designed such that the thumb and last finger can grasp the sides comfortably.

The scroll wheel is smooth and accurate. The DPI button doesn't really take time getting used to although its position is below the scroll wheel, requiring one to either bend one's middle or index finger to press it, but otherwise well placed since it isn't used very often.

The DPI adjustment button works perfectly fine without drivers (another + point), but I was curious to see what additional programmes they offered in the cd.

CD Programmes

I installed the drivers and the miceJUDGE programme onto my computer. However, while using miceJUDGE, the testing kept stopping after awhile.

The main configuration panel allows you to assign which button does what. There is an entire army of functions to choose from, including two special ones called "NetJump" and "LuckyJump", which I haven't explored yet(I'll add it in another time).The double-click speed can be found here. The option to reverse the button configuration for left-hand usage is also found here, but as we found earlier, this mouse seems designed for right-hand use only. For some reason, the sensitivity controls are not located here.

Notice the X7-Jump button? This lead me to a separate configuration window.

HereI found the previously missing software sensitivity control. A unique function to create your own keystrokes can also be found here, for gamers to assign functions such as reload, switch weapon, etc.

There are two different modes for recording your keystrokes. The first mode allows you to hold down the assigned button for repeated 'spamming' of the keystroke, while the second mode activates the keystroke only once. Even if the user decides to hold the button down, the action will not be repeated for the second mode. For the first mode, you can record your keystrokes separately, while the second mode requires you to record the desired keystrokes all at once in the desired order.

I tested the X-718 in various games, ranging from first-person shooters such as Counter-Strike: 1.6 to real time strategy games likeAOE II. I felt that the X-718 to be very responsive and accurate in 2000dpi mode. Turning down the sensitivity using the DPI button was a nice and convenient thing to have. However, turning down the sensitivity using this method also sacrifices DPI and thus accuracy. Although the vast majority of users would prefer to see A4Tech implement such on-the-fly senstitivity adjustment in software instead, I'm perfectly happy about it. More importantly,it would be great of A4 Tech to provide finer steps between different levels of sensitivity. The dpi change on-the-fly, once a gamer is accustomed to his range, can be a really useful feature especially in First Person Shooters. Some weapons require finer aiming while some require one to navigate the cross-hair fast. Switching dpi as you switch your weapon can help once you get used to your customized range of control.

Conclusion

The X-718 is indeed a solid gaming mouse.

In 2000DPI mode, it was responsive and accurate.The driver software is also a well done piece of work, providing many functions and much customisability. On-the-fly DPI adjustment with a dedicated button is also a nice feature, although its large jumps in sensitivity somewhat negate its purpose.

To wrap up, the A4Tech X-718 is certainly a mouse not to be overlooked in favour of more expensive gaming mice. Its performance is good, and considering that its retail price is only around SGD$40, it probably gives the best value of any 2000DPI gaming mouse around.

EDIT: I bought this mouse for $29 only! So Razer, eat that! :D

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ATi Crossfire Xpress 3200 (RD580) Chipset

2006-01-08T22:04:00.000+08:00

ATI's new chipset RD480 will be called Crossfire Xpress 3200. The 3200 number is there because the chipset features 32 lanes for dual PCIe 16X graphic cards. Motherboard manufacturers are making these boards as we speak and there should be some retail boards at launch time. The boards are scheduled for a double jeopardy launch with the new graphic chip R580, known as Radeon X1900XTX. If all goes well, we should see both of these products on 24th of January.

Source: The Inquirer

Creative Fatal1ty 2020 Mouse

2006-01-08T22:03:00.000+08:00

Creative, a worldwide leader in digital entertainment products and the
creator of Sound Blaster®, today announced the Fatal1ty 2020 Mouse, the gaming
mouse co-developed for competitive PC gaming with professional gamer Johnathan
“Fatal1ty” Wendel. The Creative Fatal1ty 2020 Mouse will be available in early
2006 for an estimated street price of $69.99. It will be demonstrated from
Thursday, January 5 through Sunday, January 8 at the Consumer Electronics Show
in Las Vegas, NV in the Creative exhibit #30742 in the South Hall of the Las
Vegas Convention Center.

“With the Fatal1ty 2020 Mouse, I hope to help gamers fulfill their dreams of
competing at the professional level. But if they think they can beat me, they
should know that I’ll be using this mouse too,” said Johnathan ‘Fatal1ty’ Wendel.
“I had a vision of a mouse designed specifically for gaming, with every feature
I would need to compete at the highest level. The Fatal1ty 2020 Mouse, which I
designed with Creative, realizes my vision and provides me the edge I need as a
champion.”

“We joined forces with Fatal1ty to develop the ultimate gaming arsenal when we
co-designed the Fatal1ty 2020 Mouse. We incorporate a cutting-edge G-Weight™
system and we set a new standard with 2400cpi to provide a competitive
advantage,” said Brad Anderson, director of product marketing for Creative. “Now
we’re unleashing this mouse to the public so that anyone who wants to beat
Fatal1ty can emulate his gaming rig with the Fatal1ty 2020 Mouse and our Sound
Blaster X-Fi Fatal1ty FPS sound card.”

Every detail of the Fatal1ty 2020 Mouse, from the overall design and ergonomics
to the technical specifications, has been developed in consultation with
Johnathan “Fatal1ty” Wendel, the world’s best first-person-shooter gamer. The
Fatal1ty 2020 Mouse has been designed with a completely new chassis and a host
of features to give gamers a shot at playing like the best PC gamers in the
world.

• The 2400cpi HD-Optix laser engine offers up to 6X the resolution of
standard optical mice, and the 5.8 megapixel sensor report rate allows it to
work flawlessly on virtually any surface and to track up to 15G’s of
acceleration, to guarantee that even the shortest or widest hand and arm
movements are tracked with the utmost precision;

• The custom G-Weight modular weight system allows users to replace weight
modules in a central chamber that is easily accessible from the top of the
chassis, providing a superior center of balance for the mouse. Five weight
modules are included with the mouse, ranging from Light Caliber for extra
agility and endurance, to Heavy Caliber for extra precision and sniping;

• Rapid-Res™ One-Click Hardware CPI resolution change button allows the user to
instantly change between 400, 800 and 1600 CPI with the touch of a button, and
includes a color LED readout for instant visual representation of the current
resolution;

• Exclusive SpeedWire™ zero-oxygen copper wiring and tangle-proof coating and a
gold-plated USB plug enable the fastest signal transfer to the PC;

• Zero-resistance Teflon™ feet provide smooth performance on any surface;

• An ultra-comfortable mouse chassis, rubberized grip points, a premium red and
black finish, and an illuminated “Fatal1ty” symbol ensures that the Creative
Fatal1ty 2020 Mouse looks as deadly as the performance it delivers.

Creative will also release the Fatal1ty 1010 Mouse for casual gamers, featuring
a 1600 CPI HD-Optix Engine in early 2006 for an estimated street price of
US$49.99.

NVIDIA Unveils GeForce Go 7800, 7600 & 7400

2006-01-08T22:00:00.000+08:00

NVIDIA Corporation (Nasdaq: NVDA) today introduced three new graphics
processing units (GPUs)—the NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800, GeForce Go 7600, and GeForce
Go 7400 GPUs—bringing cutting-edge 3D, high-definition, home theatre–quality
video and advanced power management to the notebook market.

These three additional GeForce Go 7 Series GPUs are included in tier one OEM
notebooks launching at or shortly after CES. OEM design wins, based on the
newest Intel Centrino mobile platform, include: ASUS, Acer, Gateway, LG,
Samsung, SONY, and others. In addition, NVIDIA GeForce Go 7-series GPUs were
selected to drive the video and graphics in the first notebook computer to
integrate the new HD DVD media standard, the Toshiba Qosmio audio-video notebook
PC.

Those new notebooks that have been launched will be on display at CES this year,
from January 5-8 at the NVIDIA booth, located in booth number 36200 in the South
Hall of the Las Vegas Convention Center.

“Over the last year, NVIDIA has led the market for high performance GPUs for
enthusiast notebooks,” stated Dr. Jon Peddie, President of Tiburon, CA-based Jon
Peddie Research, the market research firm that tracks GPU chips. “We are now
seeing this performance per watt efficiency driving GeForce Go 7 GPUs deeper
into all segments of the notebook market, especially with the latest platforms
from Intel and AMD.”

Based on and following up on the extremely successful architecture as the
award-winning NVIDIA GeForce Go 7800 GTX GPU, the new GeForce Go 7800, Go 7600,
and Go 7400 GPUs feature a completely redesigned architecture that delivers a
number of groundbreaking achievements, including:

Next-generation NVIDIA HD PureVideo™ technology, which lets users
experience home theater–quality HD video on the notebook PC—key to the
exciting new HD-DVD and Blu-Ray HD formats.

Brand new programmable shader architecture, delivering twice the shading
horsepower of the previous generation of notebook

Support for the latest games and applications with DirectX 9.0 Shader
Model 3.0 and film quality high dynamic range (HDR) lighting, the must-have
feature for developers delivering more realism to real-time gaming

Designed to provide top-tier support for the upcoming Microsoft® Windows®
Vista OS

NVIDIA PowerMizer® technology, with advanced power management features
that enable the dramatic performance enhancements in the same power budget as
the previous generation of GPUs. With reduced power consumption and less heat
generation, this results in cooler and smaller notebooks with increased
battery life

These new notebook GPUs leverage the superior performance per watt efficiency
of the GeForce Go 7 Series architecture, delivering superior performance in
graphics and high definition video support at their respective notebook
segments:

The GeForce Go 7800 delivers enthusiast-level graphics and video
performance for slimmer notebooks with significantly reduced power.

The GeForce Go 7600 provides the perfect balance of graphics and video
performance for slim multimedia notebooks.

The GeForce Go 7400 creates the no-compromise mobile notebook, a small,
thin, highly portable notebook, equipped with the latest graphics and
high-definition video support.

Source: NVIDIA

Dell XPS 600 Renegade w/ Quad SLI Technology

2006-01-08T21:54:00.000+08:00

NVIDIA Corporation took its acclaimed SLI technology to a new level today by
introducing support for the industry's first ever Quad SLI-certified PC.
Delivering the most extreme high definition gaming experience available on the
PC, Quad SLI features four of NVIDIA's flagship GeForce® 7800 GTX GPUs with an
NVIDIA nForce®4 SLI X16 motherboard. This revolutionary technology was
introduced today on the forthcoming Dell XPS 600 Renegade, as part of a keynote
presentation by Michael Dell at CES in Las Vegas, NV.

John Medica, senior vice president, Product Group at Dell, stated: "Our
demonstration of the first Quad SLI PC with NVIDIA is a major technology
innovation, that when combined with the Dell XPS 600 Renegade and the new Dell
30-inch flat panel makes true high definition gaming a reality."

NVIDIA Quad SLI technology allows consumers to:

Run today's hottest games at extreme high definition (HD)
resolutions-including an unbelievable 2560x1600 -- at silky smooth frame rates

Crank up their image quality with 32x antialiasing and 16x anisotropic
filtering

Maximize their shader and texture settings for a truly immersive gaming
experience

"Today's demonstration of the new Dell XPS 600 Renegade with our Quad SLI
technology takes gaming to new levels," said Dan Vivoli, executive vice
president of marketing at NVIDIA. "The ability to run today's hottest titles in
extreme HD resolutions with all the eye candy turned on is absolutely amazing.
Strap yourself in, because you are in for the ride of your life."

In addition, NVIDIA announced that Dell will be shipping the award-winning
NVIDIA GeForce 7800 GTX 512 in the Dell XPS 600 PC.

As part of this technology demonstration, the Dell XPS 600 Renegade Quad SLI
PC will be on display in the Dell booth (South Hall # 36521) and NVIDIA booth
(South Hall #36200) at CES 2006, January 5-8th, at the Las Vegas Convention
Center.

XPS 600 Renegade: Extreme Gaming

With the limited-edition XPS 600 Renegade(TM), Dell aims to extend its
investment and category leadership in its line of high-performance desktop
systems. The XPS system is expected to be the first to support two new NVIDIA
GeForce® 7800 SLI graphics cards, which can link four graphics processors to
speed up overall video performance or draw images with intense realism. The
system also features Dell's first overclocked and factory-set 4.26 GHz Intel®
Extreme Edition dual-core processor. Overclocking is designed to increase the
processor speed beyond mainstream usage to deliver over-the-top performance
critical to extreme gamers. Dell's implementation of the processor is supported
by the expertise of specially trained XPS technicians.

During his address, Mr. Dell was joined on stage by Richard Garriott,
executive producer of NCsoft, and Jen-Hsun Huang, president and CEO of NVIDIA.
Mr. Garriott demonstrated NCsoft's next-generation online game, Auto Assault.
Mr. Huang unveiled NVIDIA's new quad SLI technology and explained how the
graphics technology in PCs can outperform gaming consoles over time.

Each limited-edition XPS 600 Renegade will be custom painted by Mike Lavallee
of Killer Paint, known worldwide for his detailed artwork on cars and
motorcycles. Dell expects to provide pricing and ship the limited-edition XPS
600 Renegade in the U.S. in the spring of 2006.

Source:
NVIDIA

ATi's X1000 series

2005-10-05T08:05:00.000+08:00

Ati has just intorduced ATI’s R520 architecture in the form of a whole new top-to-bottom generation of graphics cards which will be dubbed the X1000 series. Here is a run down and pricing/pics of ATi's new line...

R520 architecture
The focus of ATI’s new R520 architecture has really been on efficiency, making sure that all clock-cycles are put to good use and creating minimal overhead. Unlike previous rumors indicating the architecture had up to 32-pipelines, the actual number is 16-pipelines or pixel-shader processors, with 8-vertex shader processors. Obviously the pixel-shader processors have been upgraded to provide full support for SM 3.0. But there’s more; ATI added dynamic flow control to streamline processing and multi-threading support, the new architecture now allows for 512 pixel-shader threads to be outstanding. The vertex-shader processors have also been updated; they’re now able to process two shader instructions per clock and handle up to 10-billion instructions per second.

The large number of outstanding pixel-shader threads, 512, is actually one of the strengths of the architecture as threads are spread out across the pixel-shader processors and are executed in parallel. A total of 16 pixel-shader processors are available on the X1800, organized in groups of four, hence there’s four shader cores, dubbed the quad-pixel shader cores. The pixels are handled in small 4x4 pixel groups, so the X1800 handles just 16-pixels per thread which makes the thread size small and efficient. Each of the pixel-shader processors can process per thread six different shader instructions on four pixels per clock-cycle. Obviously branch prediction is used to minimize overhead and this is not handled by the ALUs, but by dedicated logic included with ever pixel-shader, further improving efficiency.

For a closer look, click on the pic.

The pixel-shader engine itself is comprised of four quad-pixel shader cores, a number of general purpose register arrays, sixteen texture address units and the ultra-threading dispatch processor. Data gets sent from the setup engine down to the ultra-threading dispatch engine that distributes the load across the four quad-pixel shader cores. The shader instructions are processed with 128-bit floating point precision and make use of the general storage register arrays that serve to increase bandwidth and provide local storage for instructions but also allow for fast thread switching. Due to the dedicated branch execution units per pixel-shader overhead is minimalized. Combined with the dynamic flow control implemented in the ultra-threading dispatch processor all the shader processors are constantly fed with data and can execute in fewer clock-cycles. All in all this looks like an efficient new architecture that can be manufactured cheaply on the 90nm process, in combination with the fewer number of pipelines the die will also be smaller than competing products from NVIDIA

Shipping products

ATI will launch with immediate availability a number of graphics cards based on their new architecture. The top-of-the-line Radeon X1800XT will be available as of the 5th of November shipping at a 625MHz core and 1500MHz memory frequency. Offered with 256MB and 512MB of GDDR3 memory it will be priced at $499 and $549 respectively. The Radeon X1800XL will be available on October 5th and offers a 500MHz core and 1GHz memory frequency and comes with 256MB of GDDR3 memory with a price tag of $449. All of the Radeon X1800 graphics cards utilize the full 16-pipelines, they’re just different in terms of memory size and clock speed or both in the case of the Radeon X1800 XL.

The top-of-the-line Radeon X1800 series will ship with a dual-slot heatsink.

The mid-range Radeon X1600XT ships with either 128MB or 256MB of memory, clocks in at a 590MHz core and 1.38GHz memory frequency and can be bought starting November 30th for respectively $199 and $249. All of the Radeon X1600 graphics cards will have to make do with just 12-pipelines. The low-end Radeon X1300 will be offered in three different versions, the $149 Radeon X1300 Pro with 256MB of memory and 600MHz core and 800MHz memory clocks. The $99 and $129 Radeon X1300 with 450MHz core and 500MHz memory clocks and 128MB or 256MB of memory respectively. And closing the ranks is the Radeon X1300 HyperMemory at $79 with 32MB HyperMemory and 450MHz core and 1GHz memory clocks.

The mid-range X1600 and low-end X1300 series will ship with a single-slot heatsink.

The Radeon X1300 Pro and X1300 will be available on October 5th and sadly they will feature only 4 pipelines. Unfortunately no dates have been given for the Radeon X1800 CrossFire Edition or the Radeon X1600 CrossFire Edition. What is clear, though, is that the Radeon 1300 will not feature a CrossFire Edition card, it’ll utilize the PCIe bus for communication. Both the Radeon X1800 and X1600 CrossFire Edition will support resolutions up to 2046x1536 pixels with a 70Hz refresh, negating some of the limitations of CrossFire on the Xx00 platform.

As for performance I’ll have to wait for the reviews to come out. If ATI is to be believed the Radeon X1800XT consistently outperforms the GeForce 7800GTX in all games, sometimes by as much as 80%. I’m feel that is pure marketing speak however, as they’ve made bold claims such as these before. The preliminary benchmarks I've seen, run on a pre-production card, will prove to be on the low side however. ATI has already raised the clock speeds and has done some extensive work on their drivers since then, effectively rendering them outdated. However I don’t doubt that the Radeon X1800XT will have better performance than the GeForce 7800GTX, even if just by a small margin.

Source: Hardware Analaysis

NVIDIA G80 To Use GDDR4 Memories

2005-09-21T22:43:00.000+08:00

GDDR4 will start working at the similar speeds of top GDDR3 chip but it will use less watts and will be easier and cheaper to produce. This memory should start around 800MHz efficiently 1600 MHz if not even higher. However GDDR4 will be different from GDDR3 as it requires some memory controller modifications so older cards should not be able to support it. The first chip that will be using this memory is Shader Model 4.0 NVIDIA chip known as G80.

Source: The Inquirer

Apple To Ship Intel-based Mac by June 2006

2005-09-21T10:41:00.000+08:00

Apple Computer is on track to ship Intel-based computers as targeted by June 2006. Apple said June 6 that it was severing its long-standing relationship with IBM and switching to microprocessors made by Intel, aiming to have all its Macintosh computers using Intel chips by the end of 2007. Microprocessors are the number-crunching nerve centers of personal computers. Apple's decision was a high-profile win for Intel, the world's largest chipmaker and a blow to IBM.

Source: ZDNet

Radeon X1800XL/XT Cards Exposed!

2005-09-21T10:34:00.000+08:00

Hexus has some pictures on the X1800 XL and X1800 XT cards during the Avivo launch. Apparently, the cooling solutions for both cards are different where X1800 XL takes up a single slot and X1800 XT has the X850XT PE dual slot cooling design, the same card we saw during Computex Taipei in June. From the CATALYST Control Centre screenshot, it shows a 512MB X1800 card where the latest re-taped GPU is on its 2nd silicon and 3rd metal spin. We call it A1023 revision.

Source: Hexus

TSMC In Volume Production Of R520

2005-09-21T08:43:00.000+08:00

ATI Technologies, Inc. and TSMC have announced that TSMC is in volume production of multiple 90 nanometer (nm) products for ATI, including the Radeon® X1800, Radeon® X1600 and Radeon® X1300 series chips, and has shipped large quantities of production wafers to ATI.

"The ATI products produced with TSMC's 90nm process show a tremendous clock speed improvement and power reduction versus earlier generation technologies," said Jason Chen, Vice President of Corporate Development for TSMC. "As a result, TSMC is currently processing thousands of 300mm wafers for ATI, with many more already delivered. At this aggressive pace, ATI has already become one of our major 90nm customers."

"TSMC has done an excellent job of delivering on yields and speeds," said Rick Bergman, Senior Vice President of ATI's PC Business Unit. "As ever, they've proven themselves an excellent manufacturing partner as we ramp up some of the most advanced technology consumers have ever seen."

TSMC's state-of-the-art 90nm technology frees ATI from the limitations of less-advanced processes and enables a whole new level of performance and functionality for PC graphics. For example, the new ATI products have clock speeds around 50 per cent higher than products manufactured on older processes.

ATI expects the latest cards to begin arriving on store shelves by the end of September.

Source: ATi

Sapphire X800GTO Ultimate & Fireblade Editions

2005-09-16T11:55:00.001+08:00

Developed to take advantage of its unique safe overclocking tool, TRIXX, Sapphire Technology Limited, the leading supplier of ATI-powered graphics accelerators, has just launched several exciting new models of graphics accelerator in the Sapphire RADEON X800 family.

Sapphire’s RADEON X800GTO series will deliver new levels of performance to PCI Express graphics users. Based on the highly successful X800 architectures, the new models all feature a 256-bit memory interface and 12 pixel pipelines, but by offering a choice of memory size, GPU cooler and clock speed options Sapphire delivers the best performance in this class.

Silently cooled by an amazing new heatpipe system, the Sapphire RADEON X800GTO ULTIMATE 256MB is equipped with GDDR3 memory and has a standard core clock speed of 400MHz and memory speed of 490MHz (980MHz effective). Using the bundled Sapphire TRIXX overclocking tool these speeds can be raised to 520 / 500MHz or better, depending on system conditions.

For the performance enthusiast the Sapphire RADEON X800GTO Fireblade Edition uses a conventional dual slot fan cooler venting outside the case. Fitted with 256MB of 1.6ns 256-bit GDDR3 memory the standard clock speeds are again 400MHz core and 490MHz memory (980MHz effective). On this model the bundled Sapphire TRIXX overclocking tool can raise these speeds to 550 / 540MHz or better, depending on system conditions.

The Sapphire RADEON X800GTO 128MB uses 256-bit DDR1 BGA memory; and has standard core speed of 400MHz and memory speed of 350MHz DDR (700MHz effective). Also designed for overclocking, this model is expected to deliver 520 / 380MHz at a very competitive price.

Sapphire’s line of RADEON X800GTO graphics accelerators fully supports Microsoft DirectX 9 and incorporates ATI’s SmartShader™ and SmoothVision™ technologies for the better enjoyment of top gaming titles, digital photography, video editing and web surfing.

Hydravision™ (Dual monitor operation) is supported on all versions, and the provision of both VGA and Video-Out connectors allows simple connection to CRTs, TFTs and TVs. Accessories provided include: S-Video cable, Composite Cable, DVI to VGA adapter and 7-pin S-Video to HDTV.

Retail versions of these new Sapphire graphics accelerators will ship with Sapphire Select, the exciting new way to deliver a choice of games to the end user. Each card is bundled with a DVD containing a selection of top applications and games from several leading software houses. The end customer can play each of the games for a one hour trial before choosing which titles he or she wants to keep and using the activation codes for those titles.
Sapphire Radeon X800GTO Specifications:

Chipset

Engine Clock

Memory Clock

Memory
Interface

Memory
Support

Bus Interface

Variable
Display Outputs

Max 3D
resolution

Hardware
Features

RADEON X800 GTO

400MHz

350MHz (128MB version), 490MHz
(256MB version)

256-bit

128 / 256 MB

PCI Express

VGA + TV out + DVI

2048 x 1536 @ 85Hz (VGA), 1024 x
768 (TV out)

DirectX® 9
SmartShader^TM
2.0
SmoothVision^TM
2.1
Fullstream^TM
Hydravision^TM

ATi Radeon X800 GTO Launched

2005-09-16T11:51:00.000+08:00

ATI Technologies Inc. is pleased to announce the introduction of its Radeon ® X800 GTO premium graphics card, the newest member of the Radeon family of products that is designed to give gamers the ultimate combination of graphics performance, gaming power and value.

"ATI's new Radeon X800 GTO will let you get into the game and lose yourself in a truly immersive gaming experience with any of today's top titles," said Rich Heye, Vice President and General Manager, Desktop Business Unit. "With the X800 GTO's advanced technology, ATI once again brings gamers great performance, realism and value." ATI's Radeon X800 GTO combines a powerful 12-pipe 3D engine with 256-bit memory interface and a memory data rate of up to 1GHz for outstanding performance across the entire range of exciting new game titles on the market today. The Radeon X800 GTO's advanced 3D architecture also features SmartShader(TM) graphics technology for the most-advanced pixel shader engine available anywhere.

The new Radeon X800 GTO delivers a fantastic gaming experience through cutting-edge technologies and capabilities that include:

- Massively parallel 3D gaming engine;

- 256-bit GDDR3 memory interface for lightning fast memory speeds;

-SmartShader and SmoothVision(TM) graphics technologies for exceptional gaming realism;3Dc compression technology to bring out fine details with minimum memory usage;

- Videoshader(TM) with programmable video performance;

-HyperZ(TM) for lossless Z-Buffer compression that reduces memory bandwidth by up to 25%.

As part of ATI's Radeon X800 series, the X800 GTO also delivers premium graphics performance for video playback and digital photography, and is the perfect compliment to Microsoft Windows® XP Media Center Edition with full-featured media support for analog and digital displays.

The Radeon X800 GTO begins shipping immediately and will be available from ATI and its partners including:

- Abit Computer Corp.

- Asustek Computer Inc.

- Connect Components Ltd.

- Diamond Multimedia

- Giga-Byte Technologies Co. Ltd.

- Hightech Information Systems Ltd.

- Info-Tek Corp.

- Micro-Star International Co. Ltd.

- Palit Systems Inc.

- Sapphire Technologies Ltd.

- Tul Corp.

- Visiontek

Source: ATi

Some tips on how to conserve energy..

2005-09-15T15:28:00.000+08:00

Here it is:
Computer power management —A typical computer monitor uses 60 to 120 watts of electrical power, depending upon screen size.

Do not use screensavers as energy savers as they continue to use the monitor at full power and do not conserve energy.
Configure your monitor to turn off after 20 minutes of inactivity, your hard drive to turn off after 30 minutes of inactivity, and your desktop computer or laptop to go into a standby or sleep mode after 90 minutes of inactivity. (If your computer does not have a standby or sleep mode, or you can’t find it, simply turn off your monitor when it is not in use)
Shut down your computer, monitor, and personal printer or place them in a standby mode when you leave the office for more than two hours.

Turn off your Lights- A common myth about lighting systems is that it is more expensive to turn lights on and off, so it’s better to just leave lights on all the time. Not true!

Incandescent lamps are so inefficient; it always pays to turn them off when they’re not needed, even for very short periods of time.
For fluorescent lamps, the breakeven point is about five minutes. In other words, if fluorescent lights will be off for five minutes or longer, it’s more cost effective to turn them off than to leave them on.
Replacing a 100-watt incandescent with a 32-watt CFL saves at least $30 in energy costs over the life of the bulb.
Minimize or eliminate the use of electric fans and other personal electrical equipment and appliances where possible.
A 20-inch box fan on medium speed for a 4-moth period 10 hours per day would cost $12 to operate. That $12 doesn’t sound like much, but if everyone were to add a personal fan as the temperature rise, the costs certainly begin to add up.

Temperature controls during A/C season

Keep windows and doors closed when Air Con are operating — If you must open windows for ventilation, close them before leaving room.
In warm weather, close blinds to reduce cooling load.
Turn off A/C units when room is not in use.
Don’t place lamps, TV sets or computers near any thermostat. The thermostat senses heat from these appliances, which can cause the air conditioner to run longer than necessary.

Intel Celeron D Takes New G-1 Stepping

2005-09-15T14:28:00.000+08:00

Desktop Intel® Celeron® processors in FC-LGA4 (socket-LGA775) package on 90 nm process will undergo the following changes to the G-1 core processor stepping:

• The CPU ID will change from 0XF41 to 0XF49 (Updated Bios required)
• No impact anticipated to existing platforms 845, 865 and 852 & 9xx family
• New S-Specs for affected product line items• No change to Electrical and Mechanical Specification
• Desktop G-1 Step processors will be Pb-Free Second Level Interconnect (SLI) / RoHS compliant and the integrated heat spreader (IHS) will be marked per JESD97 guidelines with e4 designation• Addition of 2 new EM64T instructions LAHF/SAHF
• G-1 is pin compatible with E-0. The thermal/mechanical specification is within overall package height specification
• Intel anticipates no impact to current platforms designed to Intel guidelines
• Additional resistor added to the package

Source:Intel

ATi R520 Pricing Info

2005-09-15T14:15:00.000+08:00

Anandtech has some nice tibits on the R520, RV530 and RV515. Common features to all R520 based boards include the new 90nm lead free manufacturing process, a Xilleon based TV encoder, SM3.0, H.264 decode acceleration and CrossFire support.

Source: Anandtech

The ever changing landscape....

2005-09-15T12:17:00.000+08:00

What is it? Of course, its the technological landscape! The technological landscape is one that is ever changing....what you buy now could be seen as a relic next year....Especially now.

For example take the graphics card industry. The next generation ATi graphics flagship, the X1800 XT based on the R520 core will make its appearance in the months ahead, followed no doubt by the lower end parts (dubbed the X1600 and X1300). Once these cards have settled into the market, ATI is likely to phase out the older cards, meaning that if everything goes according to plan, none of us won't be seeing any more new Radeon X800 cards by the beginning of next year.

This is only the tip of the iceberg. With the release of new dual-core processors by both AMD and INTEL, single, 32-bit core processors will soon be labled as out-of-date. Nvidia has released their GeForce 7800GTX. With new versions of the GeForce 7 series coming beig launched next year, the pacs of technology has indeed picken up.

However, the relentless pace of technology means that the technological landscape is never constant. You can play the waiting game but there are always better things in the pipeline. Hence, it is only prudent to purchase what you need, when you need it.

GeForce 7800 Standard Info

2005-09-15T09:38:00.000+08:00

NVIDIA plans to introduce GeForce 7800 Standard using the G70 core which makes it the third line-up for the 7800 series. It will have 16 pixel pipelines and 6 vertex shader. The core clock is at 375MHz and the memory is at 1Ghz. GeForce 7800 will be replacing GeForce 6800GT and Ultra but NVIDIA is not in the hurry to launch 7800 Standard but will wait for ATi R520 to be launched first. Card makers revealed that the 90nm G71 has higher than 50% yield which is looking good.

Source: HKEPC

"SuperFetch" To Accelerate Boot Time In Vista

2005-09-15T09:37:00.000+08:00

Microsoft previewed a new feature in Windows that can significantly increase the speed applications are loaded and extend the virtual memory of a computer system by accessing secondary and peripheral storage devices such as USB Flash memory sticks. Microsoft calls this feature "SuperFetch." Library system codes of most used applications are pre-loaded during the normal start of the OS. This approach will cut down application boot times by about 80 percent. The feature will run in the background and make use of multithreading capability. Vista will be able to use the storage space of peripheral storage devices such as Flash memory sticks to expand its virtual memory space. Users who are connecting a 512 MByte or 1 GByte stick to their system will see an immediate bump in virtual memory space. SuperFetch will be available in the final version of Windows Vista.

Source: THG

ATi R520 Core Revisions

2005-09-15T01:03:00.000+08:00

ATi has decided to go with 16pp R520 with their latest re-taped revision called A1023 so the launch of R520 on Oct 4th has only 16 pipelines for their top lineup X1800XT. We expect ATi to replace R520 quickly with R580 in early next year to better compete with NVIDIA's lineup. The R520 Rev 2 card gotten by us is a golden sample in its early stage originally planned for 24/32pp but very poor yield push ATi to release 16pp R520 instead. Now this card is into Rev 5 and it could be meant for R580 instead. We also know that latest X1800XL core is known as AE revision.
Source: VR-Zone

ATi To Volume Ship RV515 & RV530

2005-09-13T14:55:00.000+08:00

ATI is likely to follow suit to ship product generation in volume on the day of announcement like NVIDIA. According to THG, there will be plenty of entry-level and mainstream R5xx cards available in stores at launch. The flagship will follow within a few weeks. Most versions of the upcoming R520 chips are likely to be available in "high" volume at launch.

Volume availability appears to mainly refer to the RV515 and RV530 graphics processors, which will cover the entry-level and the mid-range segment of the new product generation. Users waiting for the flagship R520 will have to wait "three to four weeks" after launch. However, production yields apparently are much better than ATI originally had expected which should enable a quick ramp of the chip.

Source: THG