December 2001 News

December 2001 News Archive

Monday, December 31, 2001 - 3:05PM

AthlonXP named CPU of the Year

The Inquirer has named the Athlon XP 1900+ as the CPU of the year because of its performance and low cost. They also name the VIA KT266A chipset as the chipset of the year.

Quote from report:

"The year in the CPU market will remain forever known as the battle between the Pentium 4 versus Athlon. Both companies had a tough year since the competition wasn't dozing off. There has been more than one change in roadmaps, some CPUs were never even born and introduced and some were postponed in some other quarters.

Intel introduced the P4 at 2000 MHz and achieved the next milestone before AMD. This time, Intel was faster but AMD decided to play another card. The Palomino core of AMD's new chip found itself bedangled with SSE and a PR rating to boot.

At this bare moment AMD Palomino or Athlon XP 1900+ remains the fastest processor on the market which has support for MMX, 3Dnow and SSE multimedia instructions. The price of this product is really low and affordable that gives one more plus to this processor. Northwood may change this situation but that will occur... next year.

Therefore AMD wins The INQUIRER prize of fastest processor on earth."

Link to report here

Sunday, December 30, 2001 - 11:30PM

Steven Jobs and his Salary of $1.00

The Register is reporting on the fact that Steven Jobs (CEO, Apple), took home his yearly paycheck today. His paycheck: just $1.00. However, Steven is worth $1.4 Billion, and ranks 158th according to Forbes magazine.

Quote from report:

"As part of a remuneration deal for saving Apple he was awarded a $90 million jet. In all, Jobs is worth $1.4 billion and ranks 158th, according to a typically drooling Forbes survey of America's plutocrats.

But his selfless gesture alone will do little to buck the trend of CEOs filling their pockets with the company's revenue. According to Business Week in the 1990s the ratio between a chief executive's salary, and the takehome pay of the typical, feckless, whining grunt on the shopfloor rose from 85:1 to 475:1. (In the UK, which is seeing a vigorous popular backlash against "fat cat" pay packets, the ratio is 24:1)."

Link to report here

Sunday, December 30, 2001 - 11:15PM

Stomped.com No More

ArsTechnica is reporting that the website Stomped.com, a gaming website, with a link to the interview at HomeLan Fed, is to be no more, due to the declining internet advertising revenue this year.

Quote from report:

"Gary Arndt - I know. It's something that I feared would happen since last January when Cnet opted out of their advertising contract. I think that everyone understands that the Internet economy is really different than it used to be. We ran several months worth of ads for OCZ only to have them tell us "Sorry, we're not going to pay you anything". We tried the PayPal route, but the results were disappointing to say the least. (While some were very supportive, it's was a small minority). As the revenue dried up we had to cut costs which meant letting more people go. With you, Aurora and Redwood being let go, our readership pretty much dried up. It has reached the point where it really isn't worth while keeping the site active. We still have equipment we have to maintain and rack fees for our co-host. I kept the site up probably longer than I should have from a business standpoint, but its reached its limit"

Link to website here

Saturday, December 29, 2001 - 10:30PM

HPT370/372 v2.3 drivers and BIOS available

I have downloaded and placed these new drivers on my download page. They are the new Highpoint 370/372 v2.3 drivers with the new v2.3 BIOS as well. To download, please click on the downloads link to the left frame.

Saturday, December 29, 2001 - 10:15PM

AMD Athlon XP 2000+ at Akiba

The Register is reporting that the AMD Athlon XP 2000+ (1.67GHz) is available for sale in Japan, and that the website Akiba has them on display.

Quote from report:

"WE REPORTED SOME weeks ago that AMD would attempt to spoil Intel's early 2002 introductions by launching its PR rated 2000+ (clocking at around 1664MHz) early in the New Year.

Verification of that launch has come from Japan, which as usual has items up for sale in the electronics Akihabara district long before we see them in Europa or the United States.

Thanks to Firestone for sending us a link to the 2000+, which will be priced at ?50,000, which amounts to around $380 at current exchange rates."

Link to report here

Friday, December 28, 2001 - 9:30PM

Piezoelectric Fans

Over at [H]ard|OCP, they are reporting on a story at Wired news about piezoelectric fans. These fans are smaller than a human hair and might be used to cool chips in the future.

Quote from report:

"People have been able to get away with not needing a fan in cell phones or Palm Pilots, but we have pretty much reached the limit of what we can do with these handhelds," said Suresh Garimella, associate professor of mechanical engineering at Purdue University.

To address the problem, Garimella and colleagues have developed a miniature fan that requires very little power and can be made to fit into some really small places. The fan consists of blades made of stainless steel, brass or even Mylar. Attached to the blades is the magic ingredient -- a patch of piezoelectric ceramic material.

Piezoelectric material deforms in the presence of a voltage field. The shape and size of the material determines the way it bends. Positive and negative electrical voltage affect the material differently. As a positive voltage is applied, the ceramic can expand, causing the blade to move in one direction."

Link to report here

Friday, December 28, 2001 - 9:20PM

Boeing Gets License For High-Speed Internet Service

Icrontic is reporting that Boeing has gotten themselves a license for high-speed internet service for their passengers to access the internet on the planes.

Quote from report:

"WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Federal Communications Commission on Thursday granted Boeing Co. BA.N a license to provide high-speed Internet service to airline passengers.

Boeing said the FCC approval clears the way for its planned in-flight Internet service, called Connexion by Boeing, which will enable airlines and other commercial jet operators to offer real-time, high-speed Internet and intranet access, television and e-mail above U.S. territory and waters.

The satellite-based system is one of several Boeing ventures to diversify the company and ease its reliance on its world-leading commercial jet business, which rises and falls with the cyclical fortunes of the airline industry."

Link to report here

Thursday, December 27, 2001 - 2:20PM

Athlon MP 1900+ Review

SimHQ has a review posted of the AthlonMP 1900+. They also use a couple of new sim benchmarks that take advantage of the power of MP processors. Oh, the new MPX based boards from AMD do not allow the AthlonXP processors to run in MP configuration. The reason why is that the newer AthlonXP processors are SMP locked, unlike the first batch of XP processors that were SMP Unlocked.

Quote from report:

"Welcome to our latest and greatest AMD CPU launch. A few weeks ago AMD launched it?s desktop Athlon XP 1900+ CPU, which we brought to you here. Today, AMD is continuing its domination of the gaming and professional SMP market with their newest MP processor. Please meet the AMD Athlon MP 1900+!

Palomino has been a huge hit with audiences around the world since the launch of the XP and MP processors just a few months ago. Recently, word has been spreading that AMD is having a tough time keep up with demand. Tough times indeed!...

...To go along with our review, we decided it was time to start passing along some Christmas advice. We went out and got some nice parts to go along with our shiny new Athlon MP 1900+ chips so we could recommend a good core of parts for you guys looking to upgrade to SMP! You are in for a treat so read on!"

Link to review here

Wednesday, December 26, 2001 - 6:30PM

Celeron Demand Drops

AMDZone reports on an article at PCWorld that the demand for Celerons drop due to increased demand for the inferior Intel Pentium 4 Processor. They also say that the situation is the same for the AMD Duron

Quote from report:

"The price has gotten so close that the slight difference doesn't make [the Celeron] worth it," says Chris Roberts, technical manager at C&E Computers, a custom computer manufacturing company.

"We do offer it by request, but nobody asks for it," he says. It's not just the price wars between Intel and AMD that make Intel's Celeron and AMD's Duron chips seem less attractive, says one analyst. PC vendor price wars are also playing a large role.

"With system pricing and Intel evangelizing the Pentium 4, we now have a situation where $900 is going to get you a Pentium 4 system, which is where the Celeron used to be priced," says Dean McCarron, an analyst with Mercury Research."

Link to report here

Tuesday, December 25, 2001 - 2:30PM

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas
and have a happy New Year

Monday, December 24, 2001 - 10:30PM

AMD Website Redesign in the Works

The Inquirer is reporting that AMD is planning on redesigning its website, targeted for early next year.

Quote from TheInquirer:

"WORD TRICKLES DOWN TO the INQUIRER that AMD is in the process of redesigning its Web site, targeted for early next year. The move is part of a broader advertising strategy the firm is pursuing, we understand, and indeed work is already underway on the redesign. The feeling at AMD Inside is that the current design gives too much of a technical feel and the company would like to broaden the appeal to those who never overclock too. Meanwhile - we don't know if this is part of the redesign - but AMD has swung into action with its System Builders Connection."

Link to report here

Sunday, December 23, 2001 - 8:30PM

Max PCI Burst Speed Below Spec on VIA chipsets?

The TecChannel is reporting that the maximum PCI burst speed on VIA Chipsets appears to be below the maximum speed specified for the PCI bus. The max PCI busrt speed is 133MB/s (using 1000KB=1MB, so according to the website this really is approx 127.2MB/s, using 1024KB=1MB).

Quote from article:

"VIAs problem with PCI performance affects motherboards for Intel- and AMD-CPUs alike. VIA only adapts the northbridge to new processors and normally uses the same southbridge for all chipsets of one generation. However, with VIAs new V-Link-Designs, the southbridge also features all of the PCI interface. With our tests, the same PCI problems were found up to the latest southbridge VT8233A. The older chipsets, without V-Link, showed the same effects.

The whole problem is the bad PCI performance of VIAs chipsets. In theory, and according to the datasheets, there is a maximum bandwidth of 133 MBytes/s. In practice, there is 65 to 90 MBytes/s left of it. Intel chipset offer between 110 to 119 MByte/s. Chipsets by SiS and ALi fall in between these two extremes.

Especially for ATA/133 cards this makes VIAs chipsets a "no-go". With a single drive, you may not see the effect as heavily as here. However, these affordable RAID cards are very popular for setting um cheap stripe sets, optimized for performance. With two hard drives delivering 40 MBytes/s, this setup already gets slowed down by VIA chipsets. Depending on the motherboard, there's not 80, but around 60 MBytes/s left"

Link to article here

Saturday, December 22, 2001 - 2:54PM

Analysts and Investors Differ on AMD

AMDZone is reporting on an article at Business Week on how the Analysts and Investors thoughts differ on AMD and its performance.

Quote from report:

"December was a great month for Advanced Micro Devices (AMD ). On the 6th, the Sunnyvale (Calif.) company raised expectations for its fourth-quarter earnings, citing better-than-expected demand for its latest Athlon XP processor. Revenues are projected to jump 10% or more vs. the previous quarter, when AMD reported revenue of $765 million.

Then, on Dec. 12, a report from research firm Dataquest showed that, in the third quarter, AMD roughly doubled its market share in the Japanese and Western Europe consumer desktop PC markets at the expense of archrival Intel. In the U.S., AMD swiped 27% of that market -- compared to 17% in the year-ago period. And the company's stock is up 25% since the beginning of December.

The stigma prompted a one-day drop of 11% in the share price. But despite Mosesman's $10 price target, most analysts and investors believe that AMD is here to stay. While its stock, which closed at $16.85 on Dec. 19, might not have much upside potential in the next few quarters, over the long haul, some investors believe it could rise again. Here's why:..."

Link to report here

Friday, December 21, 2001 - 5:54PM

IBM Demos Quantum Computer

The Register is reporting that IBM demoed a Quantum computer that correctly got to factor 15 with just a few atoms. This is pretty interesting, since a powerful enough Quantum Computer can answer all possible questions to an answer.

Quote from report:

"Well it's a start, anyway: IBM bergeeks have managed to factor fifteen with mere atoms, using an algorithm for quantum factoring by mathematician Peter Shor, the journal Nature reports.

The basic idea of quantum computing is to store data in the nuclei of atoms by altering their orientation, thereby producing a binary scheme. Because the fundamental elements of computation here are discrete, they can operate simultaneously and in parallel, potentially making computers of fantastic power.

A little test tube of liquid was targeted with a nuclear magnetic resonance spectrometer in a sequence according to the Shor algorithm, and computing history was made at the IBM Almaden Research Center in San Jose, California."

Link to report here

Thursday, December 20, 2001 - 3:50PM

AMD Duron 1.2GHz at Motherboards.org

I saw this at Icrontic.com. They report on a review that Motherboards.org did of the AMD Duron 1.2GHz. They say that Motherboards.org said that the Duron overclocked to an XP1600+.

Quote from report:

"AMD started off the Duron line with a 600MHz core speed CPU, which had 100MHz (actual) FSB speed and hardly any market support in the Industry. I remember those days well as AMD gave me those processors for review almost on my first day on the job as a writer. As the chips have progressed forward in MHz and FSB speeds the Duron line has kept up the pace and now has the Duron line up to a 1.2GHz core speed. This new 1.2GHz CPU and its abilities are the principle subject of this article along with how well it performed in an overclocked state."

Link to review of AMD Duron 1.2GHz here

Thursday, December 20, 2001 - 3:30PM

DaimlerChrysler Chooses AMD

I saw this at 3DSpotlight. They report on a story at Yahoo Finance news that DaimlerChrysler chose AMD to be in their servers. Hopefully this will help AMD out with the press, and stock price.

Quote from report:

"GENEVA--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dec. 19, 2001--AMD (NYSE:AMD - news) today announced that DaimlerChrysler AG has implemented a server powered by the AMD Athlon(tm) MP processor 1800+ in its Mercedes-Benz Technology Center (MTC) in Germany.

Based on AMD's advanced multiprocessing solution, DaimlerChrysler is utilizing the strength of several hundred AMD Athlon MP processors in one of the largest high-performance Linux clusters in the German automotive industry, to run crash simulations for Mercedes-Benz vehicles.

DaimlerChrysler's crash simulation team selected the AMD Athlon MP processor-based solution because it delivers superior performance and stability on single and dual processor-based servers for enterprise class applications.

"We evaluated many solutions and concluded that the AMD Athlon MP processor-based server was the best choice in terms of performance and stability," said Dr. Johannes Luginsland, manager IT infrastructure for safety and comfort simulation, DaimlerChrysler."

Link to Yahoo Finance here

Wednesday, December 19, 2001 - 12:34PM

New Addition to Website

I added a download page on this website. Now you can download things such as BIOS's for ABIT's socket A boards and drivers among other stuff. It is a work in progress. Eventually I might think about storing files in my account. The link to the page is to the left, labeled "Downloads".

Tuesday, December 18, 2001 - 7:19PM

Intel Ignoring Reality

I saw this at AMDZone. They report that the Intel analyst doesn't seem to be paying attention to what is really going on with AMD and Intel. The report says that consumers aren't interested in 64 bit software. What do they know, 64 bit software will become a necessity, especially with processors getting as fast as they are.

Quote from report:

"But for a man having bad dreams, Paul Otellini seems unusually well-rested. Otellini, general manager of Intel's Architecture Group, brushes aside AMD's assertions. The latest Pentium 4 chips run at higher speeds than the fastest Athlons, he notes, forcing AMD to adopt a new chip numbering scheme in an effort to claim its chips are as good as Pentiums.

As for Hammer, Otellini thinks AMD's plan to run 32-bit and 64-bit code on the same chip is a waste of time and silicon. There are no consumer or business desktop programs using 64-bit code, so backward compatibility with 32-bit software isn't that important. Itanium, he says, is a pure 64-bit product aimed at the stratosphere of high-end computing, and he expects it to dominate the field.

Chip analyst Linley Gwennap of the Linley Group thinks AMD is wasting its time. Already, the leading server makers have committed to Itanium. That means they're spending millions to design Itanium-based systems and compatible software. The first-generation Itanium hasn't been a hit with end users, but at least Intel has a finished product to offer. The first Hammer chip is over a year away."

Link to report here

Tuesday, December 18, 2001 - 7:15PM

AMD Profits on Intel's Pentium 4 problems

I saw this at SFGate. They report that AMD is profiting on increased processor sales due to Intel's production problems with the Pentium 4.

Quote from report:

"Advanced Micro Devices top executive Jerry Sanders says the average price of its computer chips rose more than 20 percent during the fourth quarter, thanks to robust sales of its new Athlon XP chips.

"I don't think we've ever seen such a dramatic turnaround," Sanders told The Chronicle this week.

AMD's average price for chips slid to $60 in the third quarter, after a first quarter average of $91 and a second quarter average of $76. Sanders said he expects the average price of AMD chips during the fourth quarter, which ends Dec. 30, to rebound to at least $72."

Link to report here

Monday, December 17, 2001 - 12:24PM

Microsoft granted patent for DRMOS

I saw this at [H]ard|OCP. They report on an article at Geek.com about how Micosoft has been granted a patent for DRMOS, Digital Rights Management Operating System. This essentially will never allow you to change a piece of hardware or software in your computer unless the hardware is a part of the "trusted" system in its database.

Quote from report:

"The first payback from Microsoft's research on Digital Rights Management Operating System (DRMOS) was a patent granted last Wednesday for a DRM scheme based on "trusted systems." There are four major things the patent seeks to protect:

a computerized method for a digital rights management operating system comprising: assuming a trusted identity; executing a trusted application; loading rights-managed data into memory for access by the trusted application; and protecting the rights-managed data from access by an untrusted program while the trusted application is executing.

According to the patent, the customer or "legitimate user of the computer" could be "an adversary of the data or content provider." The DRMOS would rely upon a secured boot sequence, and if hardware configuration is changed it would automatically "renounce" its trusted identity and stop running all trusted applications before loading the drivers for the new component"

Link to report here

Sunday, December 16, 2001 - 9:34PM

Guru3D calls it Quits

I saw this at Icrontic and virtually everywhere else. Guru3D is quitting because of the problems of its host Playnet, and the fact that they are tired of having to move so much and the amount of work put into the site.

Quote from website:

"However, I'm tired.. tired of switching to new servers constantly, tired of seeking new hosts and mostly tired of working on the site constantly. Being chief editor on a site like Guru3D.com is basically a one man operation when it comes to content. 90% of the workload is being done by me. I have a normal daytime job, the past two years my day starts at 05:15 each morning and starts with the site, when I return from the normal job I continue with the site, usually I stop at 20:00, that's 75 hours a week excluding the weekends which I mostly used to write up articles and do research on new products which then totals in 85+ hours of work weekly."

Link to website, while its still up here

Saturday, December 15, 2001 - 10:23PM

Napster Returns!!

I saw on Tweak3D that Napster is returning, but as a paid service... I would imagine to pay the legal fees the RIAA and MPAA made the rack up in the suit, and to satisfy their greediness.

Quote from Napster:

"In early 2002, we plan to launch the new Napster membership service and start a whole new chapter in music file sharing. While still offering the core functions -- finding, sharing, and discovering digital music through the Napster community -- the new membership service will have an all-new look and feel and some cool new features for members and artists alike."

Link to Napster here

Friday, December 14, 2001 - 2:23PM

Prudential Downgrades AMD

I saw this at TheInquirer. They report that Prudential downgraded AMD to a sell from a hold simply because they think AMD is selling chips only because Intel's shortage.

Quote from report:

"PRUDENTIAL SECURITIES DOWNGRADED AMD stock to "sell" from "hold" yesterday, causing Little Zilla's share price to drop by 10 per cent and prompting serious questions about whether analysts are anchored to the planet earth or perhaps should set their controls for the heart of the sun.

The reason Prudential downgraded AMD is because apparently its chief analyst thinks the only reason Little Zilla is selling chips is because Intel hasn't got enough to satisfy demand. This, of course, flies in the face of all the evidence yesterday, which gave chapter and verse on how well AMD had done quarter-on-quarter and (QOQ), year on year (YOY).

Prue Securities said, according to thestreet.com, which quoted one Hans Mosemann, that the reason for his downgrade was the Pentium 4 shortage of chips."

Link to website here

Thursday, December 13, 2001 - 2:30PM

Mobile P4 Extremely Hot to touch

I saw this at AMDZone. They report on a story at ZDNet about how the Intel Mobile Pentium 4 is extremely hot and some industry anylysts are calling it the George Foreman Lean, Mean Grilling Machine.

Quote from report:

"The new mobile Pentium 4 chip, which sources familiar with Intel's plans say will launch in late March or early April, will run at 1.6GHz and 1.7GHz--faster than any other portable chip.

But sources say the new Pentium 4 will also be much more power hungry than current Pentium III-M processors, which go up to 1.2GHz, or current Athlon 4 mobile chips from Advanced Micro Devices.

As a result, notebook makers will need to take extra precautions to fit the Pentium 4 into existing lines. Models that don't have a second fan for heat removal, for example, will likely have to add one. Larger, heavier batteries will also be part of the mix.

Some industry watchers have jokingly referred to the mobile Pentium 4 as the George Foreman Lean, Mean Grilling Machine.

"This baby cooks," said Kevin Krewell, senior analyst with MDR-Instat, publisher of the Microprocessor Report. Krewell estimates the chip will consume about 30 watts of power when pushed to its limits.

Link to report here

Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 3:27PM

Intel Copying AMD?

I saw that at AMDZone. They report on an article at TheInquirer. They mention that Intel might be copying AMD's X86-64 processors.

Quote from report:

"Intel is supposed to be currently piloting McKinley processors but we don't know if there are any out there in the wild yet. The processor's launch has been postponed until the end of the first quarter next year.

Itanium systems for sale mostly come in two processor or four processor versions, with both the 733MHz and 833MHz parts costing a fortune. We don't know how many billions Intel has spent in the last seven years developing the Itanic but the return-on-investment can't start kicking in for years yet, if the figures are true.

Intel has a secret skunk works in Beaverton, US, developing X86-64 compatible processors, the INQUIRER believes. And we also believe, in something close to certainty, and as Kid Creole and his fab Coconuts didn't sing, there's something wrong in Intel's IA-64 Paradise."

Link to report here

Wednesday, December 12, 2001 - 3:17PM

AMD's Market Share Doubles

I saw this at Icrontic.com. They are reporting on a story at ZDNet news on how AMD's market share doubled over the past year.

Quote from report:

"AMD's largest gains in the third quarter came in consumer PC markets outside of North America. The chipmaker's share of the Japanese consumer PC market jumped to 54 percent from 24 percent in 2000. AMD increased its market share in Western Europe in the quarter to 49 percent from 25 percent in 2000, according to the company.

AMD's gains in the overall U.S. market were smaller, although the company said it moved up to 27 percent from 17 percent in the third quarter of 2000, citing the report."

Link to report here

Tuesday, December 11, 2001 - 9:51PM

ABIT KR7A-RAID Review@AMD3D

I also saw this at AMDZone. They report that AMD3D also has a review of the KR7A-RAID.

Quote from review:

"I must admit, that out of all the technology markets, the battle between manufacturers for Socket-A motherboards is among the most fiercest after graphics cards. With so much competition and with very little difference in them, it's hard not to pick faults. Special features that were once ignored or deemed not important (like overclocking abilities) ... now play a vital role in testing and benchmarking. It also helps if other extra features like diagnostic LEDs, onboard IDE RAID, extra USB backplates and bonus software come with the whole package."

Link to review here

Tuesday, December 11, 2001 - 9:46PM

ABIT KR7A-RAID Review@Bench House

I saw this at AMDZone. They mention that Bench House has posted a review of the KR7A-RAID, which we all know that it is based on the VIA KT266A chipset.

Quote from review:

"Some time passed since we had the competition's products tested and just now we have on our tests the long awaited ABIT KR7A-RAID motherboard. ABIT obviously changed its business politics lately and let the competition present its products first and then entered the market race with its model. Is this strategy going to be more successful than the previous one, when ABIT was the pioneer with its models - remains to be seen. Because it gained the reputation of being one of the best motherboard manufacturers that is foremost characterized by product innovations and that "extra option" when compared to competition, we eagerly awaited a motherboard based on VIA KT-266A chipset. An extra reason for us being very impatient is the fact that after very successful models based on VIA KT133/A chipsets (KT7/A-RAID) ABIT decided to skip the production of a model based on VIA KT-266 and readily awaited its next evolution that brought considerable speed enhancement. ABIT had plenty of time to improve and tune this model. Let's take a look at how it made this motherboard that ABIT's fans desired for so long."

Link to review here

Tuesday, December 11, 2001 - 9:40PM

AMD Athlon XP 2000+ in January 2002

I saw this at AMD Zone. They are reporting that AMD will be releasing the AMD Athlon XP2000+ sometime in January 2002. This is running at 1.67GHz. The report is over at The Inquirer.

Quote from report:

"INTEL IS SET TO FORMALLY ROLL OUT its smaller Pentium 4 processor using the .13 micron process at speeds of 2.2GHz around about January 7th. But AMD is determined to spoil Intel's fun, according to sources close to the smaller chip firm.

On that day it will introduce its 2000+ Athlon XP and now we're so confused about how to convert a PR rating to a megahurtz rating that we're not sure how fast it runs. We think it's a 1662MHz part. Pity it's not 1664, then we could call it the Kronenbourg.

There's a formula somewhere but anyroad the gist of it is that AMD believes its XP will perform at least as fast as a Pentium 4 2GHz processor."

Link to report here

Monday, December 10, 2001 - 4:30PM

Moller's SkyCar

This is a rather interesting site (and off the general topic of this website) about a SkyCar this company is developing. It can go 350MPH at 15MPG, and has a range of 900 miles. It is also a VTOL aircraft as well, meaning vertical take off and landing.

Quote from website:

"Moller International has developed the first and only feasible, personally affordable, personal vertical takeoff and landing (VTOL) vehicle the world has ever seen.

You've always known it was just a matter of time before the world demanded some kind of flying machine which would replace the automobile. Of course, this machine would have to be capable of VTOL, be easy to maintain, cost effective and reliable. Well, we at Moller International believe we have come up with the solution. That solution is the volantor named M400 Skycar"

Link to website here

Monday, December 10, 2001 - 3:40PM

ABIT/Western Digital Issue

I saw this at AMDZone. They are reporting that The Inquirer has an article on some sort of issue popping up with Western Digital drives connected to ABIT motherboards.

Quote from article:

"THERE'S A THREAD over at Via Hardware which suggests that if you connect the Abit KT7, KT7A and KT7E boards to Western Digital hardrives you could be in for something of a disappointment.

According to the note, the problem is caused by a firmware incompatibility and WD is working the hard drive version of its cotton socks off to get round the problem."

Link to article here
More information at WD Forums, and here as well.

Sunday, December 9, 2001 - 2:17PM

Athlon XP with new green Die

I saw this on Insane Hardware. They report that Akiba has pictures of the new AMD AthlonXP with the green die instead of brown. Expect Intel to attempt some sort of suit against AMD for this.

Quote from website (using AtlaVista Babelfish):

"After the Athlon XP appearing in the summer, it is quick 2 months. Looking at the commodity shelf of the shop front where bulk item CPU has lined up, the Athlon of purple compared to, kind of when the Athlon XP of brown has been conspicuous, it has entered in a state where it can distinguish the power figure of type simply with color. But, perhaps that stops going from this simply. With without and many harbingers which are said, as suddenly the Athlon XP 1500+ which does "green color" appeared...

...Because color of the baseplate is different, something being the Athlon XP of special specification? With to stop wanting to expect about, but when you look at the marking of the CPU core, we have become " the AX1500DMT3C ", this completely the same as the Athlon XP 1500+ model of former brown. When change is not seen even in position of the bridge, and position and the like of the capacitor judges somehow from with just appearance, the fact that it differs until recently seems like just color of the baseplate."

Link to website here. Also more info at PCStats as well.

Saturday, December 8, 2001 - 2:17PM

Scroll Lock light to HDD activity light

I saw on [H]ard|OCP that this one website has an article on how to modify the scroll lock light to become the hard drive activity light.

Quote from article:

"This is the first time I have ever take a keyboard apart so I'm not too sure how the others work but with this one the keys fold up so I can gain access to the LED PCB in the middle. Do this care fully because the thin plastic thing that makes the space bar work could easily break and leave you with an almost worthless pile of crap."

Link to website here

Friday, December 7, 2001 - 3:30PM

AMD given a "buy" rating

I saw this at The Inquirer. They report that an analysist has given AMD stock a "buy" rating.

Quote from report:

"Rothdeutsch, who like rival Eric Ross at Thomas Weisel, has been advocating AMD as a good buy for some time now, appeared to accept the firm's statement that sales will be 10 per cent better quarter on quarter, because of greater demand for its Athlon XP which beats the Pentium 4 on price and performance.

It has raised its 12 month AMD price target from $16 to $20.

Robbie Stephens said demand for the Athlon XP is "robust" and demand for the part has increased because of a "spillover effect from Intel's inability to satisfy demand at the faster speeds."

Link to report here

Thursday, December 6, 2001 - 8:30PM

AMD's Improved 4th Quarter outlook

I saw this at AMDZone. They report on an e-mail they recieved from AMD about thier 4th quarter having an improved outlook over previous expectations.

Quote from report:

"SUNNYVALE, CA - December 6, 2001 - AMD said today that it currently expects higher sales in the current quarter ending December 30, 2001 than previously indicated. Demand for the AMD Athlon^TM XP processor, which was introduced on October 9, and is the world's highest-performance PC processor, has been robust. As a result, PC processor revenues, in the aggregate, are expected to exceed the previous record set in the first quarter of the year on record units. The stronger than expected PC processor sales, even in the face of flash memory sales now expected to be no better than flat, are expected to drive overall fourth quarter sequential revenue growth into the 10 percent or better range when compared to third quarter sales of $765,870,000."

Link to report here

Thursday, December 6, 2001 - 8:07PM

VIA KT333 in March 2002

I saw this at Ace's Hardware. They report that the VIA KT333 will be available in March 2002 and LuckyStar will produce the KTVA333 motherboard that will be based on the KT333 chipset. The KT333 chipset supports PC2700 DDR and ATA133.

Quote from report:

"The KT333 support PC2700 DDR and ATA-133. Interesting is that the 0.13 micron Athlon XP CPU's (Thoroughbred) will probably see the daylight at that time. So it is likely that Thoroughbred will come with a 166 MHz DDR interface.

ATA-133 might be more interesting than most of us think. Harddisks used to have 128-512 KB cache, but many harddisk today get shipped with 2 MB SDRAM caches, as the price for DRAM is so low. Such caches can easily use the full 133 MB/s of bandwidth. Industry sources told us that Serial ATA Harddisks will probably not be available before the first half of 2003. Serial ATA will start 150 MB/s but has the potential to scale to 300 MB/s en 600 MB/s."

Link to report here

Wednesday, December 5, 2001 - 1:35PM

Largest Prime Number found by AMD PC

I saw this at AMDZone. They report that a computer powered by a AMD Athlon 800MHz has found a prime number with 4 million digits in it. The program used is called Gimps.

Quote from report:

"The largest prime number yet discovered has just been revealed to the world. The new number, expressed as 2^13,466,917-1, contains 4,053,946 digits and would take the best part of three weeks to write out longhand.

The prime number - a number that can only be divided by one and itself - was discovered by Michael Cameron, a 20-year-old Canadian participant in a mass computer project known as the Great Internet Mersenne Prime Search (Gimps).

Cameron used an 800 MHz AMD T-Bird PC, running part-time for 45 days to find the number.

"A friend informed me that if I was going to leave my computer on all the time I should make use of that wasted CPU time," he said. "I put Gimps on my PC because it does not interfere with my work on the computer. Finding the new prime was a wonderful surprise."

Link to report here

Tuesday, December 4, 2001 - 7:30PM

Two PC vendors in UK may merge

I saw this at AMDZone. The Inquirer is reporting that two PC vendors in the UK are in talks to merge, they are called Time and Tiny. I wonder what they'll call it, Tiny Time maybe.

Quote from report:

"SOURCES TELL THE INQUIRER that major UK PC vendors Time and Tiny are in negotiations over a possible merger.

Initial talks have led to a meeting of minds and most of the obstacles have been overcome, the INQUIRER learns.

We have been unable to get hold of individuals at either Tiny or Time to confirm or deny the rumour.

However, the move makes a lot of sense. Tiny has many shops off the High Street while Time has a vigorous mail order business.

There's synergy in their lines too. Tiny is almost 100 per cent Intel based while Time is almost 100 per cent AMD based. A merger makes a lot of sense..."

Link to report here

Monday, December 3, 2001 - 12:57PM

New AMD Breakthrough

I saw this at Icrontic, they report on an article at The Inquirer about AMD's new Chip design breakthrough in CMOS chips with a gate length of .015 microns. AMD says that this design will be a prototype for future generations of CPU it contemplates.

Quote from website:

"The CMOS (complementary metal oxide semiconductor) transistor has a gate length of .015 microns and AMD said the design will be a prototype for future generations of CPU it contemplates.

And the invention will make for a 20-fold increase in the number of transistors per chip and a 10-fold performance bump in CPU speeds by 2010, claimed AMD.

The 15 nm prototype device will be a key factor in the development of 30 nanometer (.03 micron) process technology which AMD said will be out by 2009 and use 12-inch (300 mm)silicon wafers."

Link to website here

Monday, December 3, 2001 - 12:40PM

Extremely Dumb Website

I saw this at AMDZone. They have a link to a website called Adequacy.org, and this website has an article to tell how your kid is a "computer hacker". AMDZone says that maybe this website should be called Inadequacy.org.

Take a look:

"Computer hackers are often limited by conventional computer hardware. They may request "faster" video cards, and larger hard drives, or even more memory. If your son starts requesting these devices, it is possible that he has a legitimate need. You can best ensure that you are buying legal, trustworthy hardware by only buying replacement parts from your computer's manufacturer.

If your son has requested a new "processor" from a company called "AMD", this is genuine cause for alarm. AMD is a third-world based company who make inferior, "knock-off" copies of American processor chips. They use child labor extensively in their third world sweatshops, and they deliberately disable the security features that American processor makers, such as Intel, use to prevent hacking. AMD chips are never sold in stores, and you will most likely be told that you have to order them from internet sites. Do not buy this chip! This is one request that you must refuse your son, if you are to have any hope of raising him well."

Link to this rediculous website here

Sunday, December 2, 2001 - 2:30PM

Browser Archives

I saw this at Icrontic.com. They have a link up to a website that has archives to old browsers. Including some brosers that some of us have never used.

Link to website here

Saturday, December 1, 2001 - 7:46PM

.13 Micron Race

I saw this at AMDZone, they report that Hardware Central has a story on the race to the .13 micron process between AMD and Intel. One big difference between Intel and AMD's setup is that AMD's CPU's are smaller in size and thus cheaper to produce than Intel's P4 CPU.

Quote from report:

"Fri 11/30/01 -- Whether you say "0.13-micron" as most of us do, or "130-nanometer" as PR flacks prefer, the phrase is weighing heavily on both Intel's and AMD's minds. Indeed, each company's timeline in reaching that mark may determine who calls the CPU shots in 2002.

The jargon refers to making processors smaller -- shrinking the processor die from its current 0.18-micron to a smaller 0.13-micron process. This allows for potentially higher chip yields, since more CPUs can fit on each silicon wafer. It can also result in higher core speeds and lower default voltages and core heat.

A bit later in 2002, AMD is expected to introduce its 0.13-micron Thoroughbred core, with projected clock speeds in the 2.0GHz to 2.2GHz area and maybe a full transition to the 333MHz bus (i.e., the ability to make the most of DDR333 memory) -- and more of AMD's always-aggressive pricing, since Thoroughbred's die size of just 80 square millimeters (versus the Athlon XP's 128 and current P4's 217) will yield plenty of chips per wafer"

Link to report here

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