The synergies of this seem consistent with the recent announcements by AMD to significantly increase capacity over the next few-years...We believe ATI is a rare-buy in the semiconductor space right now given the near-term tie-up dynamics.

However, this AMD-ATI tie-up would obviously be a clear-positive for the graphics space.

• AMD socket AM2/S1/F (rev F.) CPUs support.
• Enhanced Performance Profile (EPP) memory information report.
• Added Trc (bank cycle time) in DDR2 SPD report.
• Added Trc (bank cycle time) on i925, i945, i955, i975 chipsets.
• FB-DIMM DDR2 SPD information report.
• Core 2 Duo names and logos added.
• Turion 64 X2 logo added.
• Several bug fixed.

• Includes Creative Audio Console, which enables you to use the Sound Blaster X-Fi features and functions.
• Does not address all the reported general "crackling" issues, but it does resolve some specific issues with crackling. Investigations with some motherboard manufacturers are ongoing, and we hope to provide a general solution soon.
• Resolves some issues to improve your overall audio experience.

ShackNewsElectronic Arts sends along several more screenshots from Armored Fury, the second booster pack for Battlefield 2. Armored Fury will include three new maps and six new vehicles. It's due out some time this spring.

Kyle BennettWell today NVIDIA officially got back to me with an answer to all my inquiries on the subject. The short of it is: the GPUs on the cards that were having problems didn't have the headroom necessary for the vendor's overclocked specifications. The two most prominent problem areas were the vertex clock (which remember runs 50 MHz faster than the pixel clock) and the memory clock. These GPU subsystems were running far enough out of spec that the chips were having physical issues with stability; causing the random "freezes" we were seeing.

TheINQIntel looks to be doing what Nvidia and ATI keep doing to each other, waiting for one side to pick a number and then beating it by just enough to claim victory. This ups margins and makes for a more profitable part, or a cheaper part if it is feeling altruistic.

Intel set the bar where it wanted it to be, and it does indeed look to be "enough".

Okopipi works by submitting opt-outs to the merchant sites associated with spam. The network creates opt-out scripts on the behalf of all members that reported the spam. Okopipi will also act as a proxy, submitting the opt-outs for each user.

It is important to understand that Okopipi is NOT a Denial of Service (DOS) network. The network is designed to specifically PREVENT overloading merchant servers. It's purpose is simply to empower users to complain about the spam that they receive.

We do have a fix in place. Dell has a firmware update that adjusts the ACC (Adaptive Color and Contrast) & ACM (Active Color Management) features, eliminating the banding issue when using the Desktop mode. All of these monitors have three display modes: Desktop, Multimedia and Gaming. The firmware turns off Faroudja video processing in Desktop mode. It remains enabled in the other two modes.

• XXL-sized cloth mouse pad
• Heavy thickness eliminates uneven surfaces
• Ideal for low sensitivity mouse settings
• Compatible with all mice
• Specially designed non-slip rubber base
• 450 x 400mm (17,7 x 15,7in) - thickness 6mm (0,23in)

• Permit High Dynamic Range Lighting (HDR) concurrently with Anti-Aliasing (AA) on RADEON X1000 series graphic boards
• AFR mode for CrossFire (2 GPU's)

• Microsoft Office Professional Plus 2007
• Microsoft Office Visio Professional 2007
• Microsoft Office Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager
• Microsoft Office Project Server 2007
• Microsoft Office Project Professional 2007
• Microsoft Office Groove 2007
• Microsoft Office Groove Server 2007
• Microsoft Office Multi Language Pack 2007 - French/German/Japanese/Spanish
• Microsoft Office OneNote 2007
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Designer 2007
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 - Enterprise
• Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 - Enterprise(x64)
• Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007
• Microsoft Office Forms Server 2007 (x64)

• Beta driver - for a full list of fixed and known issues please view the Release Notes.
• Adds support for GeForce 7900 GS, GeForce 7300 GT, Quadro FX 4500 X2, Quadro FX 5500, Quadro FX 3500, Quadro FX 1500, and Quadro FX 560.
• Includes the new NVIDIA Control Panel. Please visit the NVIDIA Control Panel website for more information.
• New NVIDIA PureVideo features and enhancements. Please visit the NVIDIA PureVideo website for more information on PureVideo technology and system requirements.
• Adds noise reduction post processing
• Adds image sharpening post processing
• Improved Inverse telecine algorithm
• Improved de-interlacing algorithm
• Improved compatibility with third party MPEG-2 decoders
• Microsoft DirectX 9.0c and OpenGL 2.0 support

On MAY 30 NVIDIA will launch GeForce 7950 GX2. This product will be the fastest single card video card solution available. At launch, only single GeForce 7950GX2 configurations will be supported. QUAD SLI systems will continue to ship with 2x 7900 GX2. Schedule for 2x 7950 GX2 QUAD SLI will be updated on MAY 30. Sample product on 7950GX2 will be shipping today. EVGA, BFG, and XFX all have stock of 7950 GX2 and will hard launch.

• Added ForceWare 84.xx and 87.xx driver families support.
• Added Catalyst 6.1 - 6.5 drivers detection.
• Added support for AGP display adapters equipped with NV41, NV42 and NV47 GPUs with HSI PCIE-to-AGP bridge (GeForce 6800GS AGP and GeForce 7800GS AGP series).
• Added NVIDIA G71, G72 and G73(NVIDIA GeForce 7300, 7600 and 7900 series) graphics processors support.
• Added R580 GPU(RADEON X1900XT) support.
• Unlocked memory clock frequency controls for RV515 GPUs

TheINQA hundred or so journos will share only four processors. The FX-62s are intended for print media, while online hacks will get 5000+ CPUs. . . Remember, AMD will launch Socket AM2 platform on Tuesday, with all models, but the top and most reviewed CPUs will be a 2.8 GHz clocked FX-62 with 2x1MB of L2 cache and 2.6 GHz, 2x512KB of L2 cache clocked at 5000+.

In the enterprise, we will launch new ninth generation servers featuring Intel's Woodcrest microprocessors. Dell will also introduce new AMD Opteron processors in our multi-processor servers by the end of the year offering a great new technology to our customers at the high-end of our server line.

• 1 GHz 32-bit (x86) or 64-bit (x64) processor.
• 1 GB of system memory.
• A graphics processor that runs Windows Aero.
• 128 MB of graphics memory.
• 40 GB of hard drive capacity with 15 GB free space.
• DVD-ROM Drive.
• Audio output capability.
• Internet access capability.

INTEL HAS (HAD?) a big secret for the Woodcrest - better than expected power. For a long time, Intel has claimed it was an 80W part. Wow, an 80W TDP is great right? Yeah, it is, or it was. The new cores were pulled in to the third week of June because the latest stepping came in better than expected.
What I mean by better is almost bug free, runs faster than expected, and takes less power. The bug-free bit enabled a pull-in of the launch dates, if you don't need another stepping, you don't need another stepping. Faster is a little less obvious, I am told you basically need two steppings, side by side to see the difference and, even then, don't look for big numbers.

The last part, less power, is the big one. I am told Woodcrest will be coming in with a 65W TDP. This is big news, and by no means a minor drop, it is on the order of 20%, and will most likely send AMD scrambling. Whatever magic Intel pulled off, well done.

• Fixed the challenge system sometimes never easing up on the player, making it unforgiving
• Fixed sound-stuttering issues for some players
• Fixed player stats not always reporting while you are in the car or otherwise locked in place
• Fixed the instantaneous challenge rating sometimes reporting 0
• Fixed a texture problem that was causing a lock-up on some video cards when loading in U4Labs
• Fixed a path-finding issue preventing the game from progressing after talking with Radek at his headquarters
• Reduced point-size on some fonts to fix close captioning being clipped

Corsair is excited to be the first one to introduce memory modules based on EPP. We believe this feature adds overclocking convenience and performance advantages to all users,

• 640x480 resolution video
• Windows Live Messenger integration
• HD Stills: 1.3 megapixels
• On the fly video effects
• Pan/Zoom/Tilt capabilities
• Automatic face tracking
• Built-in microphone

V-ZeroWind your clocks back to November 2000 - A month and year that would eventually spell disaster for Intel, they could never have seen it coming. They introduced their brand new non Pentium Pro/P6 based Netburst architechture, and like schoolkids to a pool of candy, we lapped it up. They had critics, sure the Willamette had it's problems. Socket 423 wasn't really a great platform, the processors ran slightly warm and worst of all they lagged behind their P-III bretheren in tasks that their higher clock speeds should have dismantled. But we accepted that, we allowed them this slip-up... A new architechture, after all, has to be fine tuned. As the clockspeeds ramped, and platforms improved over the years, people became happier. Still though, there was a nagging problem. The cheaper Athlon XPs from AMD were taking many benchmarks from Intel, and only better bandwidth could fix this. So, after a fair wait we got Northwood "C", with an 800mhz quad-pumped FSB, and all was once again right with the world - or was it? Sure the Athlon XP had been defeated, and about time too - (that architechture was so old that, in truth, it lasted way beyond its years - it should have been dissolved two years prior to its final defeat at the hands of the Northwoods...), but AMD had another architechture waiting in the wings, and it had a buzz about it.

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Even though Intel is very bullish with revenue shipments of quad-core processors in late 2006 and their introduction in early 2007 for both servers and desktops, the company's mainstream product line will still utilize dual-core processors. Apparently, the mobile and desktop chips that should come in early 2008 will have two processing engines.

(Nintendo President Satoru Iwata said)I would have a second thought about using our resources on what would be the next generation of Game Boy Advance, considering the strong support DS is now enjoying," Iwata said. "The Japanese game market is now evolving around DS. We don't need to do something that will pour cold water on the situation.

We released Skype for Mac 1.4.0.49 today, which is our first Universal build of Skype. Universal means that Skype now runs natively on both Intel- and PowerPC-based Mac computers, boosting the performance of Skype running on Intel Macs.

In this version, the SiSoftware Sandra user interface has been re-written to make it even easier for users to locate the tools and modules they need. This is the biggest visual interface change to the software in the last decade. Following feedback, the help file has been updated and is now fully HTML based, providing a familiar, clear, interface to the user.

VR-ZoneWe heard that the upcoming Forceware 90 series will support NVIDIA SLI PhyX and it will be available in July onwards when the games are ready for it.

Kingston have been a little quite with there DDR1 HyperX range for quite a while now, but today's announcement brings that to an end! Kingston have announced some tasty new DDR400 modules with super fast 2-2-2-5 timings in 2x1GB configurations. This announcement means 2-2-2-5 timings are finally a reality with 2GB DDR kits (yeppie!).

Kingston have also launched some low latency DDR2 800MHz modules with 4-4-4-12 timings. All the specs and part numbers are below:

• 3007WFP A00 - Backlight uniformity problem
• 3007WFP A01 - Backlight uniformity excellent

With the mobile device now at the center of people's lives, we want people to have access to fantastic mobile content when and where they want. We are announcing our collaboration with ATI now, so that developers have the next 12 to 18 months to be innovative and create world class mobile multimedia experiences.

ATI gives us what we need to reach the next level...Their market presence and ability to sell our products as part of a complete multimedia lineup will prove incredibly valuable to us. It's a classic win-win, realizing value for both companies

"Much of their lobbying, however, is not about protecting artists or promoting Canadian culture. It is about propping up business models in the recording industry that are quickly becoming obsolete and unsustainable. It is about preserving foreign-based power structures and further entrenching the labels' role as industry gatekeepers. Their lobbying efforts are focused on passing laws that restrict artists' ability to take control of their own music, reach their fans in more direct ways and earn a decent living from music without sacrificing their autonomy."

Security researchers and legal experts have voiced concern this week over the prosecution of an information-technology professional for computer intrusion after he allegedly breached a university's online application system while researching a flaw without the school's permission.

Virtually all computer games today are running pretty fine in 1600x1200 resolution with anisotropic filtering and all the quality settings set to the maximum on a Radeon X1900 XT graphics card, however, there are quite a number of advanced users who want to enjoy their video games on 24" or 30" displays with 1920x1200 or 2560x1600 resolution. Nvidia believes that for this kind of customers even two graphics cards are not enough and four will be exactly what will satisfy their demanding needs.

Nvidia calls 2560x1600 resolution as XHD, or extreme high definition, and especially targets its quad SLI offering at those, who happen to own a large screen 30" display and want to play the games in native wide-screen resolution.