Back Issues Of News From The Pot

Sunday August 13, 2000

The New Adrian's Rojak Pot! 03:50 AM IDT Adrian Wong

At last! After months of slogging, the new layout is finally ready!

I hope you like the new layout. There's certainly a world of difference between this layout and the old! It's basically white so there should be no problem in printing any page you want. The graphics in this layout was designed by my brother, Jason. So, praise him, not me, for the great new look of this site.

I think it's much better than the antiquated layout I used since I started this site as a personal homepage. In any case, I hope it will correct all the slap-dash work that I have done previously and give this site some semblance of professionalism.

Porting the articles from the old layout to the new one was not as easy as I expected. I had to practically redo everything from the links to the graphics in order to fit the new layout. Therefore, all of the old articles will not be viewable for the time being. Hope you can hang in there while I convert them to the new layout.

Fortunately, I managed to finish porting a review and a Speed Demonz guide in time for this launch. The review is of the ABIT BE6-II motherboard while the Speed Demonz guide is regarding IDE Block Mode.

Yeah, I know... the BE6-II review is rather long in the tooth. I finished it a long time ago actually but because of the unexpected server issue, I was not able to post it. In any case, I think you will find it an interesting read all the same. The same goes for the IDE Block Mode article.

The links on the navigation bar work but some are understandably empty until more articles are posted. As this layout is still new, there might be bugs and other errors. If you find them, please do let me know.

Also, I'm thinking of establishing a discussion forum. Unfortunately, I have little idea of what's a good forum software. If you have any suggestion, please do e-mail me. I would be glad for any advice you may have.

Monday August 14, 2000

Guru3D.com 11:10 AM IDT Adrian Wong

On Monday, the 14th of August, NVIDIA will release the new Detonator drivers revision 6.16. One day before the release Guru3D obtained a leaked copy of the driver and tried it out. Check out the benchmarks they obtained.

Minor Updates 10:55 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Just added the Home button for all the articles which will direct you to the index page devoted to that particular section. For example, the Home button in the BE6-II review would lead you back to the Reviews index, not this page.

This should greatly ease your navigation in this site. Don't know why I forgot to add it initially. :)

I have also beefed up the explanation of what rojak means in the About ARP page, thanks to a contribution from Goi in the Anandtech forum.

Heads up for more articles. I'm currently porting Part 1 of the Computex 2000 article to the new layout. It should be ready today. You will surely love this one. Yeah, well, it's 2 months old but there are still lots of interesting stuff in there. Check it out later and you will see what I mean. Heheh...

Tuesday August 15, 2000

Detonator 3 (Rev. 6.18) Win2k Driver 04:10 PM IDT Adrian Wong

It took me over an hour to upload but I finally finished uploading the RAR-compressed copy of NVIDIA's Detonator 3 driver for Win2k. It's now available for downloading in the Binaries Storage Area.

Mailing List 03:50 PM IDT Adrian Wong

I've just added a new page - Mailing List. It contains forms for entering your e-mail address should you wish to be kept updated of developments in Adrian's Rojak Pot.

Actually, there's no need to go to that page because you can directly add your e-mail address to the Mailing List form on the left side of this page, below the navigation bar. Only those who are webmasters/editors of other hardware sites and representatives from manufacturers need to go there and use alternative mailing lists. A link below the mailing list form for visitors is provided for webmasters and editors if they prefer to a more focused news report instead of the ones we send to our visitors.

We are choosing to implement separate mailing lists because it will allow us to send news that are more focused to the reader. After all, it would be pointless for a manufacturer rep to read about the latest driver uploads that are available on Adrian's Rojak Pot. Similarly, website editors may be peeved if we keep sending them non-article related posts. So, not all news will be sent to the three mailing lists.

Note that if news are posted to two or all three of the mailing lists, their contents will be the same. Only the manner in which each is presented is different.

Press Release From Hercules 04:40 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Hercules unveils 3D Prophet II Ultra
The best line of graphics cards just got bigger...and better

MONTREAL, August 14th, 2000 - Hercules announces 3D Prophet II Ultra, the new top performer in their renowned 3D Prophet II family. Featuring the GeForce2 Ultra processor, the latest innovation from NVIDIA(tm), this card is the ultimate solution for game addicts. 3D Prophet II Ultra will be available in September 2000 in the $500 (USD) range.

"Once again, Hercules partners with NVIDIA(tm) to offer hardcore gamers the fastest and most innovative 3D acceleration in the world", says Claude Guillemot, President of Hercules. " We know hardcore gamers love to push the limit of frame rates in their favorite games and Hercules continues to make this possible with the new 3D Prophet II Ultra. Combining our award-winning 3D Prophet II series and this new high-end card offers every gamer a card that suits both their expectations and their budget!"

3D Prophet II Ultra Performance
3D performance addicts will be blown away by 3D Prophet II Ultra's impressive specs. Featuring the GeForce2 Ultra chipset, the world's fastest GPU from NVIDIA(tm), 3D Prophet II Ultra is optimized to support the fastest DDR SDRAM memory available to gamers today. This new Hercules board features 64MB of RAM, a 250MHz core clock and memory clocked at an astonishing 460MHz. Its new architecture delivers a 1 billion pixel-per-second fill rate, 2 billion texels per second and an ultra high performance Transform & Lighting engine enabling an extraordinary 31 million polygons per second to be generated in the latest games.

In addition to these major performance evolutions, 3D Prophet II Ultra architecture provides all the best technical characteristics including: NVIDIA(tm) Shading Rasterizer (NSR), advanced texture compression, single pass multi-texturing, cube environment mapping, and AGP 4X with Fast Writes support.

Hercules' Winning 3D Prophet II Line Continues to Grow
3D Prophet II Ultra will complement the 3D Prophet II GTS 64MB ($399 USD) and 3D Prophet II GTS 32MB ($299 USD) in this highly-acclaimed line of graphic cards to continue to offer gamers the best in 3D acceleration.

Each product features Hercules' unique design including individual RAM heatsinks and special cooling fans which, combined with the new Detonator3 drivers, will allow Hercules users to immediately experience up to 20% faster performance. The Detonator3 drivers make Digital Vibrance Control available to all 3D Prophet II GTS boards as well as offering free and rapid implementation of the latest 3D features and full enhancements for Direct3D and OpenGL applications.

Price and Availability
3D Prophet II Ultra will be available in September 2000 in the $500 range (USD).
3D Prophet II GTS 64MB is available for $399 (USD)
3D Prophet II GTS 32MB is available for $299 (USD)

Computex 2000 Part 1 Posted! 02:50 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Hello everyone!

Sorry about the delay. As usual, my ISP's server gave us sporadic service. So, it was a truly frustrating experience uploading the article today. :(

Ahh... the article. Yes, this one is about Computex 2000, back in June. I was there although my site was still down at that time. It was a great experience and I hope my article will reflect that. There were certainly lots of very interesting stuff and I hope I brought back the best with this article. Check it out and let me know what you think about it.

I had to break it into at least two parts because the length and size of the whole article was simply too large to just post it as one. Part 1 alone weighs in over 1.6MB. I hope the pages don't take too long to load. :)

Detonator 3 Mirror 01:25 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Razor of Planet GeForce just informed me that he has mirrored a copy of NVIDIA's Detonator 3 drivers. If you want to grab a copy from an alternative site, try this link.

Incidentally, as soon as I download my copy, I'll be posting the files to the Binaries Storage Area as well.

Uploading Issues 00:25 AM IDT Adrian Wong

You may discover that some of the pages appear truncated. Well, they are truncated. As frequent disconnection is a feature of Indian Internet service, I often get cut off several times before I can finish uploading my HTML pages.

For some reason, if I get disconnected from the server while uploading a file, it would then refuse to allow me to overwrite, delete or rename that truncated file. So, I have to ask my host to correct that problem. Terribly sorry for the inconvenience caused. I'll try to get the problems rectified ASAP.

Happy Independence Day! 00:05 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Yeah... It's Independence Day here in India. So, happy Independence Day to all you Indians out there! :D

Tuesday August 15, 2000

Detonator 3 (Rev. 6.18) Win2k Driver 04:10 PM IDT Adrian Wong

It took me over an hour to upload but I finally finished uploading the RAR-compressed copy of NVIDIA's Detonator 3 driver for Win2k. It's now available for downloading in the Binaries Storage Area.

Mailing List 03:50 PM IDT Adrian Wong

I've just added a new page - Mailing List. It contains forms for entering your e-mail address should you wish to be kept updated of developments in Adrian's Rojak Pot.

Note that if news are posted to two or all three of the mailing lists, their contents will be the same. Only the manner in which each is presented is different.

Press Release From Hercules 04:40 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Hercules unveils 3D Prophet II Ultra
The best line of graphics cards just got bigger...and better

Computex 2000 Part 1 Posted! 02:50 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Hello everyone!

Sorry about the delay. As usual, my ISP's server gave us sporadic service. So, it was a truly frustrating experience uploading the article today. :(

Detonator 3 Mirror 01:25 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Razor of Planet GeForce just informed me that he has mirrored a copy of NVIDIA's Detonator 3 drivers. If you want to grab a copy from an alternative site, try this link.

Incidentally, as soon as I download my copy, I'll be posting the files to the Binaries Storage Area as well.

Uploading Issues 00:25 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Happy Independence Day! 00:05 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Yeah... It's Independence Day here in India. So, happy Independence Day to all you Indians out there! :D

Wednesday August 16, 2000

TweakTown 09:00 PM IDT Adrian Wong

TweakTown sent word that some ASUS A7V Socket A motherboards around Australia (and possibly the world) are being delivered with no or broken Socket A Clips making it hard to attach HSF's to the CPU. This could because of a manufacturing problem at ASUS or a postage problem. They cannot confirm the source problem phase at this stage.

To find out more, click here.

RIVA Extreme 08:35 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Greg Daly of RIVA Extreme sent word that they have a new article at RE - a preview of the new NVIDIA board and the new drivers. He benchmarked it on a 550 & 733 on Windows 2000 and the results speak for themselves. He also sent me a quote from Diane Vanasse of NVIDIA :-

"Our strategy is to rollout a new product every six months. Through these rollouts we maintain a steady Moore's law cubed performance gain. (2x every six months) We haven't missed a season yet. This season, with NV16 we are following Moore's Law cubed precisely. It is four times faster than NV10. Regarding NV20, we time our new architectures based on the the availability of new process technology (.15 micron), new API's, (DX8) and the market's readiness to digest the new features. This all comes together next season."

Hexus.net 08:25 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Hexus.net decided to do an article on something very important about heat flow. Check a clip of the article out :-

"You may have seen reviews on heat sinks and super cooling. You probably know what the hot overclocking setup is. But now that you have tasted what's out there, you want to push the envelope to get the last bit of speed out of your computer. This article is about heat, speeds natural enemy. Hopefully you can apply the information presented here in your own computer, or where ever heat rears it's ugly head."

Detonator 3 (Rev. 6.18) Win9x Driver 03:00 AM IDT Adrian Wong

The RAR-compressed copy of NVIDIA's Detonator 3 driver for Win9x is now available for downloading in the Binaries Storage Area. That means that the RAR versions of the Detonator drivers for both Win9x and Win2k are now available. They should download faster than the ZIP versions.

Hmm... now I have to get back to uploading the ZIP versions... :)

Fast-MHz Overclocking 02:10 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Fast-MHz is starting a new page on case modifications. They are giving everyone a chance to submit their own photos of their customized computer cases. If you are interested, all you have to do is send them :-
   a. Your Name :
   b. E-Mail Address :
   c. A Short Quote Of Your Case Project :
   d. Two Photos Of Your Case: (Two Angles)
   e. Website Home Page If You Have One:

All case mods will be posted on their new Case Modifications page. Send your Case modifications here.

Overclockers Australia 01:35 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Overclockers Australia has just posted two new reviews :

The first is of MSI's BXMaster motherboard. This board, probably the last of MSI's BX offerings, features 6 busmastering PCI slots, UDMA/66 support, 4 DIMM slots and MSI's unique D-LED diagnostic LED system. We found to it have some quirks, but overall a stable board with performance comparable to other BX units:

Here's a clip of the article :-

"Next to the parallel port on the board is something called the D-LED, which stands for Diagnostic Light Emitting Diodes. It's kind of an expansion on the POST beeps when things go wrong on bootup, using binary sequences of green and red, it shows the current status of the board. For example, while the BIOS is signing on, it will show green red red green. If the board hangs on bootup you'll know what it was doing when it crashed and hopefully be more aware of what the real problem is because the D-LED will stay lit in the last place it was up to.

There is a sticker included that you're meant to stick to the inside of your case for reference. Another LED shows the power status of the DIMM slots, so that you don't accidentally remove them while they have power."
The second is about new mounting clips that Senfu sent them for use with Senfu's existing water-jacket design for the Slot A Athlons. Here's a clip of the review :-

"So, after all that, how does it perform? Well, this is the first naked Athlon water-jacket mounting system that I've seen, so I've got no comparative figures for you. I can tell you, though, that my 950-cored Athlon750 chugs away quite nicely at 1080MHz @ 1.8v.

With the Senfu gear sucking away the heat it sits at about 10C over ambient, so about 32C during testing under full load - not bad considering the quite low flow rate of the Senfu system. This is measured from the back of the CPU core with a thermal probe - remember the Athlon has no internal thermal diode like the P6 core. With the Globalwin VOS-32 monster-cooler on it, it it was reporting over 50C and was very unstable even at 1000MHz."

Netscape Woes 00:55 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Looks like I hit "fools gold" with FrontPage 2K again. I have received many reports that Netscape users are getting distorted background graphics when viewing pages on this site. I did some checking and here's the deal :-

In this site design, I set background image to display only in the main table. This avoids graphics distortion at resolutions above 1024x768. Unfortunately, Netscape chose to interpret it as use the background image in every cell... Thus, the distorted background image.

I'm still thinking of a solution at this moment. Perhaps, I will need to create two sets of this site. One for IE users and another for Netscape users. That means IE users will continue to access this page while Netscape users will probably have to use another page. Perhaps news.htm or something like that.

In the meantime, please use IE if you can. I will seek help from others on the Net regarding what may be the best solution for this problem. If you have any ideas, please do let me know. Would appreciate help from people who know ASP and scripts too. Thanks! :)

Thursday August 17, 2000

Definitive ABIT BF6 Review Posted! 11:00 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Hello everyone! ;)

I've just finished uploading all 1.27MB of the definitive review of ABIT's BF6 motherboard. It can now be accessed from the Reviews index. Just like the BE6-II review and other reviews I have posted, this one has loads of pictures. Hope you will enjoy this one! :)

Overclockers Workbench 10:40 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Overclockers Workbench sent word that they have posted a preview of ATi's Radeon. If you are interested in the Radeon, check this preview out!

Hexus.net 10:30 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Hexus.net has posted two new articles :-

An article on how to make your own water cooler (for the CPU!). Check out a snip of that article :-

"As you can see in the schematic I have the water level above all of the other components. This will make it very difficult for air to get down in to the water, pump or radiator. The pump and water block would be the worst place for air pockets to form, so keep them as low as possible, and at the same time, raise the water level as high as possible. When the system is being filled for the first time, there may be some air pockets that will not fill with water. Try to figure out where they will be and install bleed screws to remove the remaining air."
An updated review of the Biostar motherboard. Here's a clip of the updated review :-

"First lemme say that this board is steady as a rock. (now that its workin
properly) That out of the way i'll start on the downsides...... With an
athlon system you expect to put a decent graphics board in it to compliment.
Thus I put me Ge-Force 256 DDR in..."

TweakTown 09:10 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Remember TweakTown and those ASUS A7V Socket A motherboards with no or broken Socket A clips? Well, they received a reply from the guys at ASUS about the ASUS A7V Socket A clips.

The ASUS reply suggested why the clips on the Socket A's are being broken due to the amount of force being applied by certain HSF's. ASUS implied that the Global Win FNP50 could contain too much force for the A7V clip. So, TweakTown highly recommends you do NOT use a Global Win FNP50 (or any other HSF with pressure over 300G) on your ASUS A7V mobo as it may indeed break or crack the clip. For more info, hop over to TweakTown!

Locked Out 01:10 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the lack of updates. I was supposed to post an article yesterday but unfortunately, I got locked out of the server. :( It was just a minor mistake and my kind host has fixed the problem.

I'll be uploading the article tonight when the bandwidth is much higher. Right now, it's just crawling...

BTW, I have already updated several pages that, well, were not uploaded properly. For example, the Binaries Storage Area. It was uploaded yesterday but the server didn't update the page. It's working okay now.

Friday August 18, 2000

WinRAR 2.71 05:20 PM IDT Adrian Wong

I've just updated the copy of WinRAR in the Binaries Storage Area. It's now been updated to ver 2.71. However, if you have just downloaded ver. 2.70, you don't necessarily have to download this copy. That's because it's only a maintenance release.

The new release only brought about the correction of a few bugs including the following Windows 2000 compatibility issues:

"New" command of Explorer context menu created zero length archives, which could not be opened by WinRAR
Archiving a large number of files (more than 300-400) using context menu did not work.

Comments 04:10 PM IDT Adrian Wong

I have just posted one comment each regarding the ABIT BE6-II review and the ABIT BF6 review. They are about :-

the location of the built-in thermistors
how to remove the north bridge heatsink
compatibility issues between the Promise FastTrak 100 RAID controller and the ABIT BF6 motherboard

To get to these comments and their replies quickly, try the Comments Index.

Guru3D.com 04:00 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Guru3D.com just posted a new GeForce2 GTS review. This time it's the a 32 MB DDR, AGP based GA-GF2000 from Gigabyte. Here's a small clip from the 6 page review :-

"Today we will be looking at another GeForce 2 GTS based videocard. This time it'll be the latest one from Gigabyte. As I mentioned in other reviews before, Gigabyte is one of my personal favorite manufacturers. They have a strong and solid research and development team and produce high quality and steady product at an affordable price. Besides that, their videocards always have had a good reputation in terms of tweaking. They always have included some sort of cooling hack on their videocards which sets their products far aside from other manufacturers."

TweakTown 02:40 PM IDT Adrian Wong

TweakTown has added 10 New Kick A$$ Case Mods to their new case mod area which they introduced a couple weeks ago. Neon lights and case windows seem to be the flavou of the day. Be sure to check out TweakTown's 10 new user submitted Case Mods, you can even submit your own too!

More Binaries! 08:50 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Yup! I'm filling the Binaries Storage Area up with more files. I have just finished uploading the ZIP versions of the NVIDIA Detonator 3 (rev. 6.18) drivers and both WinRAR and WinZIP. Enjoy! :)

Saturday August 19, 2000

Hardware Corner 03:35 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Hardware Corner has posted a review of the Creative TNT 2 Ultra card. Here's a clip from the review :-

"The TNT2 Ultra is no stranger to many of us. This board has been around for more than a year and still has the power needed to run today's most depending games/software. With Geforce 2 GTS already out on the market you can expect the prices for these cards to drop even further making it a perfect upgrade for those who are on a budget."

See Ya In A Couple Of Hours! 07:35 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Yup! Gotta catch some sleep after this all-nighter. I'll be back in a couple of hours, just to check on things and fix whatever needs fixing. Then it's back to FrontPage.

This time, I will either work on a solution for the Netscape problem or port over some of the old but still very golden articles. :) Hell, I might even do both. Wish me luck and stamina!

Adrian's Rojak Pot Forums Launched! 06:30 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Yes! Finally! Thanks to my very kind host, Adrian's Rojak Pot now has its own UBB forum! Come on over to http://198.95.255.5/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro or click on the Discussion Forum link on the nav bar to get to the Adrian's Rojak Pot Forums.

Please try it out and let me know if there are any problems. Thanks! :)

Definitive WinZip 8.0 Review Posted! 05:50 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Hello everyone! ;)

I've just finished uploading the definitive review of WinZip 8.0. It's now available in the Reviews Index.

This review examines the latest WinZip version's performance and pits it against the last version of WinZip - WinZip 7.0. This time, 11 different categories of files were used to examine both WinZip 8.0 and WinZip 7.0's performance. That's about as comprehensive as it gets! :) Check it out if you want to know just how well WinZip 8.0 fares!

Comments 05:40 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Another comment regarding the BF6 motherboard posted! This time, it's about a problem with the L2 Cache Latency control in the BIOS.

Sunday August 20, 2000

Updates 05:35 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Hello everyone! :)

I just updated several pages. Nothing much, just added more details here and there.

Also posted some comments so check out the Comments Index.

BTW, I just uploaded three new files into the Binaries Storage Area. They are WinAmp 2.64, the DFX Audio Enhancer 3.3 plugin for WinAmp and EntechTaiwan's PowerStrip 2.72.

I'm currently playing with several options that are designed to resolve the Netscape problem. It's taking quite a bit of my time which is why the BIOS Optimization Guide isn't up yet. Hey! Don't throw that at me!!! :)

It's in the works and I promise I'll post it as soon as I can. So sorry about the delays... ;(

Overclockers Australia 04:45 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Overclockers Australia has posted an article on AMD's SlotA processors. This 5-page monster has a couple of pages on identifying the different types of CPU's (both physically and via software), performance comparison of "A", "C" and Thunderbird SlotA CPU's and some artificial benchmarks highlighting the effect of the smaller, faster L2 cache on the Thunderbird.

Guru3D.com 01:45 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Guru3D.com just posted a small opinionated article called 'Why Macs Are Cool'. Here's a small clip of that article :-

"In an industry where fastest this and benchmark that, one thing typically gets left out; how it looks. Lets not kid ourselves, when they're off they are nothing more then furniture waiting to be rendered useless by another power surge. Don't you at least want to look at the thing (while it's off) and say, "Cool!" Right now only my Sony 19" monitor gets that response from me but that's it."

AthlonOC 01:30 PM IDT Adrian Wong

AthlonOC has posted a review of the AMD Duron. Here's a clip of the review :-

"Well guys we ALL know the Duron is a sweet performer for the price… The big thing AMD is doing to prevent the low cost Duron from cutting into the much more expensive Thunderbirds high end market share is keeping the Duron clocked considerably lower than the high end Tbird. The Duron also only has 128k L2 cache in comparison to the Tbirds 256k. Ok now what exactly does this mean? That’s what I’m hoping to show you here."

Monday August 21, 2000

Part 1 Of The BIOS Optimization Guide Posted! 02:30 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Sorry it took so long to port this over. I didn't want to just port the article. So, I added several new BIOS functions to the BIOS Features Setup section. That's the section that's being posted today in the Speed Demonz' Area. In addition to the new BIOS functions, I have also updated the descriptions of the other BIOS functions. Hopefully, they read better now. :)

Oh yeah... don't forget that Adrian's Rojak Pot's own forums are up! Yes! Come on over to http://198.95.255.5/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro or click on the Discussion Forum link on the nav bar to get to the Adrian's Rojak Pot Forums. As I will not have much time (because I'm still in med school), it will take some time before I can answer your questions and post them in the Comments pages. As such, the forums would be an ideal place for you to ask urgent questions.

As of this moment, there aren't many people in the forums but I believe with your support, we can make the forums a success! :)

PS. Don't forget, a topic about the BIOS Optimization Guide will be posted in the forums right about now. So, go over there and post your questions if you have any! Have fun! :D

Vote For Us! 01:35 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Hey, noticed something extra under the navigation bar? Yup! There's a rating form for our site to AbsolutePC's Top 100 rating system. Do take a minute of your time and vote so that we know how we are doing over here. :)

BTW, I think the rating is like this :-
10 = Love the site
5 = Hmm... it's okaaay...
1 = This site sucks!

Tuesday August 22, 2000

See Ya In A Couple Of Hours! 03:35 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Hope you enjoyed Part 1 of the BIOS Optimization guide. Part 2 will be coming shortly. However, since my block exams are coming yet again, I might not have time to complete it. After all, I'm not merely porting the old version over to the new layout. I'll also be adding new BIOS functions and descriptions to the guide as I go along.

As such, I will be posting whatever I have whenever I can. That might mean a page or a couple of pages every day. Hope you guys don't mind. :) I'll try to post a full section if I can.

Other articles on the pipeline for porting over to the new layout include the Swapfile Optimization guide, the Video RAM Caching guide and the AGP Sidebanding vs. AGP Overclocking article. I'll let you salivate on that for a moment while I catch some sleep. Have classes tomorrow but I'll drop back in to check on things and post updates at about 9 or 10 in the morning. Good night! :)

Comments 02:20 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Just posted updated information to several questions about the BF6 motherboard. They are about the L2 Cache Latency control in the BIOS and the issue of the processor temperature rising abnormally high while in suspend mode.

You can check them out in the Comments page of the BF6 motherboard review.

ASUS Cable Modem 02:00 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Here's a press release from ASUS regarding the certification of their cable modem by CableLabs. Congratulations, ASUS! :)

ASUS Cable Modem gets CableLabs(r) nod the first try
TAIPEI, TAIWAN, 21 August 2000

ASUSTeK Computer Inc. (ASUS) has recently received "CableLabs(r) Certified(tm)" cable modem status from the Cable Television Laboratories, Inc. (CableLabs(r)). ASUS was the lone new supplier to get the certified status out of the five that also got the certification, according to CableLabs(r).

A "CableLabs(r) Certified(tm)" seal informs consumers and cable operators that a modem complies with the CableLabs¡¦ cable modem specification. It also assures that it will communicate (interoperate) with qualified CMTSs, which are being deployed worldwide.

ASUS: Making Broadband Products Work Well for Users
In a statement, Jonathan Tsang, ASUS vice president for sales and marketing, says that the certification is consistent with the company's policy of delivering products of the highest quality and reliability. Tsang adds: "The fact that we got the certified status seal for our cable modems on our first try speaks highly of our commitment to this policy. Only a very few cable modem suppliers have been certified on their first try, with some big name playerrs even having to undergo a third testing before it gets the certified status."

Tsang says that quality and stability are especially important with broadband products because with a high quality one such as the ASUS cable modem, users can quickly get connected to the Internet after they turn on their computers. For users who may stay online for long periods of time, the stable ASUS cable modem fits the bill, he adds.

About ASUS
ASUS is one of the world's premier IT companies, recognized around the globe as a leading motherboard and graphics card manufacturer. Established on 1 April 1989, ASUS continues to lead and set standards not only in motherboard and graphics card technology but also in notebook, server, communication, CD-R/CD-RW/CD/DVD-ROM, and information appliance technologies. After entering the broadband market, ASUS launched its ADSL and cable modem to meet the demands for these products. These two products have been in mass-production since June. Customers include ISPs and telcos in Asia. ASUS will eventually start its marketing efforts toward the European and American market, especially after getting the "CableLabs(r) Certified(tm)" cable modem status.

For more information, visit www.asus.com.tw.

Wednesday August 23, 2000

Page 2... 05:00 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Another page of Part 2 of the BIOS Optimization guide posted! :)

Part 2 Posting... 03:15 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Hi again! :)

Sorry for the delay. I was trying to finish the second page but I realized that I might just as well post the first page of Part 2 of the BIOS Optimization guide first and then the second when it's ready. The first page should keep you all busy while I get the second page ready. Heheh...

So, come on over to the BIOS Optimization guide to see what's new! Oh yeah... please don't click on the Next button. It's there but it won't lead you anywhere... not until I post the next page, that is... :)

Coming Soon... 01:35 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Hello everyone! :)

I just downloaded several comments and will be working on them in a few moments. In the meantime, I'm working on getting part of Part 2 of the BIOS Optimization guide ready. Part 2 explains the BIOS functions found in the Chipset Features Setup and should consequently be much more interesting, eh? ;)

Anyway, hang in there a moment while I get things ready. BTW, I would like to ask you all to help me in a small matter. I spent the whole of this afternoon fixing up a new layout which will, hopefully, solve the Netscape problem. The new layout can now be viewable at http://www.rojakpot.com/Temp/Index.htm. Please do drop by and have a look at it.

Then please e-mail me your comments or better still - pop a message in the discussion forums. I would like to know what you think about the frames and scroll bar. Of course, feedback from Netscape users would be very useful.

Thanks! :)

TweakTown 01:15 AM IDT Adrian Wong

TweakTown has just posted a review of the Thermaltake Chrome Orb Socket A cooler. Here's a clip of that review :-

"For some time now Thermaltake have been producing Golden Orb processor coolers for Slot 1 SECC (Pentium 2, AMD Athlon), Slot 1 SECC2 (Pentium 2, Pentium 3) and PGA (Celeron PPGA, Socket 7). When the new CPU socket for the AMD Athlon "Thunderbird" and Duron processors was released called Socket A, Thermaltake used their traditional PGA cooler and changed (or modified) the clip design for use with Socket A CPU's. Unfortunately, this caused some problems as the cooler didn't support the proper seating on the socket a CPU and all the stress was placed onto the CPU die which resulted in the AMD Thunderbird or Duron CPU die being damaged by this modified socket 370 Golden Orb cooler. Thermaltake have done a lot to resolve this problem, you are about to hear about what they have done first here at TweakTown..."

Guru3D.com 00:45 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Guru3D.com just posted a review of the Slot-1 SY-6VCA Apollo PRO A mainboard from SOYO. Here's a clip from the review :-

"When you take a good look at the mobo you'll notice that Soyo has done a great job in its development. The boards lay-out is very good. Everything seems to be at the right place. The CPU-fan connector is close to the CPU, the power-connector is free from any havoc and surrounding cables or processor, connectors are close to each other and can be easily red from the mobo (IDE1,IDE2,DIMM1, etc). The mainboard makes a solid impression and seems to be made of quality components. One downside, the AGP slot is intervening with the memory modules. You cannot remove a DIMM without removing the AGP videocard first."

AthlonOC 00:30 AM IDT Adrian Wong

AthlonOC has giving away a pair of GHz processors! First prize is an AMD Thunderbird 1GHz (overclocked of course!) while the second prize is the AMD Duron overclocked to 1GHz. You will have to supply your own motherboard though. :)

Thursday August 24, 2000

Final Updates 11:55 PM IDT Adrian Wong

I think you will have noticed by now that the complete set of Comments pages of the BIOS Optimization guide are not posted yet. Unfortunately, I caught a cold today and am not feeling particularly sparky. Heheh...

Of course, having two spotter exams tomorrow didn't improve my condition. However, I'm pretty sure I'll be fine by tomorrow. You can expect to see another addition to the BIOS Optimization guide after my spotters.

In the meantime, have fun at the forums because I just received word that AOpen's tech staff may be dropping by once in a while to see if any AOpen users are having problems here.

So, if you own an AOpen product and you are having problems, don't hesitate to post your problems in the forums. AOpen will be there to assist you. Of course, AOpen is just the beginning. I'm trying to get other manufacturers like ABIT and ASUS to drop by once in a while to check on things.

Finally, if you are new here, please let us know what you think about this site by voting for us though AbsolutePC's Top 100 voting form on the nav bar on the left. Thanks! :)

Planet GeForce 11:45 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Planet GeForce has posted a press release issued by NVIDIA stating that they will be supporting Intel's AGP8X initiative. Using a 32-bit bus, this will push the frequency of the AGP bus to a theoretical 533 MHz. You can snag more info here.

Hexus.net 11:40 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Hexus.net sent word that they have posted a press release from AMD about their linkup with Opera. Check out this news bit :-

SUNNYVALE, CA - AUGUST 24, 2000 - AMD today announced an agreement with Opera Software, creators of Opera Web browsers, to cooperatively develop leading browser solutions for the embedded market. The solutions are intended for design engineers creating Internet appliances, set top boxes, web pads, and similar products.

If you want the rest of the press release, catch it at Hexus.net.

Guru3D 11:30 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Guru3D has just posted a review of Corsair's latest CAS2 memory (DIMM) module - the CM654S128-133C2. The review includes comparisons towards 100/133 CAS2 and CAS3 settings. Here's a clip :-

"We ran a couple of tests with SiSoft's Sandra Professional. We choose to benchmark the module in CAS2 and CAS3 and made a comparison towards PC100 DIMM's. As you can see in the table, CAS2 PC133 rocks all tests but the findings are pretty close. If we look at games for example the framerate could be boosted with about 3% maybe 4% at it's best."

TweakTown 12:30 PM IDT Adrian Wong

TweakTown has just posted a review of Microsoft's SideWinder Game Voice. Here's a snip of the review :-

"Tomorrow (24th August 2000) Microsoft will release the SideWinder Game Voice. What is a Game Voice? Microsoft SideWinder introduced the Game Voice game headset and control pad which enables both voice commands and voice chat over the Internet or LAN during game play. Game Voice's voice technology delivers clear robust sound through nearly all Internet connections, allowing you to find and talk to your friends quickly and easily via downloaded able software over the Internet."

They also have a review of the FIC AZ11 Socket A motherboard which is based on the VIA KT133 chipset. Check out this clip :-

"When AMD announced the Socket A CPU architecture that required new chipset FIC jumped straight on and produced the AZ11 based on VIA KT133 chipset (KX133 Chipset modified to run Socket A CPU's). the AZ11, Like the SD11 is a very large board with extra PCB space. FIC seem to follow the reference designs of companies, the SD11 looks remarkably like the AMD Fester reference board for Slot A and the AZ11 looks remarkably like the VIA KT133 reference board in some respects..."

Overclockers Workbench 12:20 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Overclockers Workbench has just posted a section on Intel's latest roadmap. Check it out!

They also have a WinME Contest where 5 original copies of WinME will be given away. The contest runs from Aug 20 -Sept 12 so hurry and join up!

Finally, they have another motherboard review. This time, it's the DFI CS35-EC MicroATX motherboard and here's an excerpt :-

"All in all, this board is a definite winner when it comes to size and the ability to run my P3-700 at 933mhz at default voltage. This board shouldn't be overlooked due to its lack of PCI slots as it gives good, if not better performance and stability, than some other competitors. A highly recommended motherboard if you want a i815e board that emphases more on quality than additional features."

Comments for the BIOS Optimization guide 03:30 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Oops... I forgot to mention that I only managed to port over 3 out of the 12 comments pages for the BIOS Optimization guide. When you reach the 3rd Comments page, please don't click any further. It will take you nowhere. :)

I'll try to complete porting all the comments pages by tomorrow but it's a rather difficult job. In fact, it's more difficult to port over the Comments pages than the article itself! Anyway, check out those comments (Q&A) first. I'll get back to you guys with the rest. :D

Part 2 Of The BIOS Optimization Guide Posted! 01:40 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Yup! I finally complete all five pages of Part 2 of the BIOS Optimization guide - the Chipset Features section. As usual, I have updated the descriptions of the BIOS functions and added a new BIOS function - SDRAM Cycle Time Tras/Trc. Check it out! :D

BTW, don't forget that Adrian's Rojak Pot's own forums are up! Yes! Come on over to http://198.95.255.5/cgi-bin/Ultimate.cgi?action=intro or click on the Discussion Forum link on the navigation bar to get to the Adrian's Rojak Pot Forums. As I am rather busy (because I'm still in med school), it will take some time before I can answer your questions and post them in the Comments pages. As such, the forums would be an ideal place for you to ask urgent questions.

As of this moment, there aren't many people in the forums but I believe with your support, we can make the forums a success! :)

PS. Don't forget, a topic about the BIOS Optimization Guide will be posted in the forums right about now. So, go over there and post your questions if you have any! Have fun! :D

Saturday August 26, 2000

Part IV Of The BIOS Optimization Guide Posted! 03:15 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Hello everyone! :)

Sorry for taking so long to come online. I was just loaded with work! Anyway, I finished Part IV of the BIOS Optimization guide. Just a single page but it sure is useful if you need to configure your PNP/PCI devices.

Actually, I was busy porting over a huge review that I have finished after my site went down a couple of months back. I'm rather proud of this review, not because of its size (it weighs in at about 2.1MB) but because of its thoroughness and detail.

The review proper is 25 pages long and comes with 164 pictures and graphics! Incredible, eh? You will think it's overkill, especially considering the component that I'm reviewing but when it is posted, please do read it and let me know then if it's really overkill. :)

BTW, for those of you who have sent me questions or comments regarding the BIOS Optimization guide, please note that I haven't had the time to answer them yet. First, I have to port over all of the comments pages for the BIOS Optimization guide before I can start on the new ones. Hope you don't mind waiting. I have to do this in sequence.

But if you need an urgent answer, please drop by the Discussion Forums and pop your question there. I drop in quite often everyday. So will the other current members and don't forget - AOpen's tech staff will be checking in once in a while so take advantage of this opportunity to get help if you need any. Or if you are a tech expert, come in and help out! :D

Also, I'm not sure if you all know this, but there's a temp layout at http://www.rojakpot.com/Temp/Index.htm that I hope will solve the Netscape problem. I would really appreciate your help in evaluating it for compatibility with Netscape and getting back to me with your comments.

Finally, don't forget to vote! :)

Okay, enough talk. I have to get back to finishing the review. See you guys later!

Hexus.net 02:55 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Hexus.net has been rather active. :)

They discovered some AMD Thunderbirds that have had their multiple change pin removed! If this is a portent of what is to come... <shudder...>. You can read more about it here.

Also, they have just had a chat with ABIT and reports that ABIT is going to be releasing a new motherboard based on the VIA chipset with dual CPU support. It's called the ABIT VP6 and you can get more of this goodie here.

Sunday August 27, 2000

MegaReview Posted! 03:55 AM IDT Adrian Wong

Finally, after almost 2 hours uploading the review, it's fully posted! Now, with 205 files weighing almost 2.5MB making up this review, this is the biggest and the most thorough review I have ever written! And what's the subject? Well, it's 3Dlabs' Permedia3 Create! graphics card!

Hey... before you go, "Aww... what's so special about it!", think about this - either I have a lot of imagination (to write a review 25 pages long!) or this is one interesting product! :) Here, let me give you a list of what you may find interesting in this review :-

why choose Permedia3 instead of gaming cards like the RIVA TNT2?
the Permedia3's performance in games and professional 3D applications
3Dlab's Virtual Texture engine
the Permedia3's Triple Blend engine
the Permedia3 drivers - hidden settings and optimizations
overclocking the Permedia3 - hidden registry settings and the results
the Permedia3's actual AGP transfer rate - AGP1x or AGP2x?

To be frank, I spent countless hours on that review. Hours that I guess I could have spent writing something else. But when I tested the Permedia3, things got rather interesting and the review kept expanding when I found more and more things to write about. Consequently, I hope this will be the definitive review for the Permedia3 Create! - one that I hope will answer all your questions about the Permedia3 Create!.

If you think such a comprehensive review is useful to you and you would like to see more of such a review, please let me know. But if you think it's just a waste of time and/or I'm just plain crazy writing such a long review, e-mail me as well. I wouldn't want to spend my time writing so much if you all hate reading it! LOL! :D

So, please send all your comments to me. Even short ones would be nice! :) Thanks and I hope you'll enjoy this one.

Monday August 28, 2000

Comments Of The BIOS Optimization Guide Posted! 11:35 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Hello everyone!

Just posted three more pages of Comments regarding the BIOS Optimization Guide. Check it out for more Q&A on BIOS functions.

Incidentally, I'm finishing up on Part III of the BIOS Optimization Guide. Hope to post it soon. So, heads up for the next installation of the BIOS Optimization Guide! :D

Attention - Netscape Users! 11:25 PM IDT Adrian Wong

I have just received another e-mail regarding this site's absolutely horrible appearance in Netscape. Again, I'm terribly sorry about the incompatibility with Netscape. Now, don't go thinking I'm pro-IE and anti-Netscape. :)

Blame it on my poor webmastering ability. Heheh... Since I had to design the layout myself, this meant using FrontPage 2000, which I've recently been told doesn't produce universally compatible HTML code. Unfortunately, I went through the layout creation process with the idea that what appeared okay in FP2K would work well with other browsers as well.

So, I'm so sorry that you Netscape users won't be able to see this site in the proper sense. I've created an alternative layout at http://www.rojakpot.com/Temp/Index.htm but I have received little response from Netscape users on whether it works with their browsers or not. Thus, I still have no idea whether the alternative layout works and whether I could use it to correct the present layout.

It's because of the lack of response that I finally decided to bring in someone to fix the layout up for good. In fact, he just e-mailed me his proposal. It's going to cost me quite a bit of money but I guess it's better to do that than have me mucking around with HTML code forever... :)

Again, I'm sorry I didn't think of HTML compatibility when I started on the design. But hang in there for the moment. I'm working on it in the background. If I don't say anything about it, that doesn't mean I don't care. So, keep your mails coming in or post your opinions in the forums! :D

CPUReview 11:20 PM IDT Adrian Wong

CPUReview has a review of MSI's GeForce 256 graphics card! Check out his comment on that review and the card :-

"I've reviewed MSI's Geforce 256 video card. The article includes
benchmark results (on an Athlon system) for - Quake II, Quake III, Incoming, Forsaken, Turok, Final Reality, 3DMarks 2000

It's a nice card; unless you need 1280x1024 or higher at 24 bits you can save a pile of money by getting a GeForce 256 instead of a GTS 2 Ultra."

AthlonOC 11:15 PM IDT Adrian Wong

AthlonOC posted a review of the ASUS A7V motherboard. Here's a clip of that review :-

"The A7v is So much like the K7v. I am going to complain about fan header placement. Theres 4 of them around the CPU and none anywhere else on this big board. Come on Asus! Every single fan header is on the top 1/4 of the board. Most places at least have 1 somewhere near where you plug in all the LEDs. When you've got everything plugged in it gets a bit messy around those DIP switches that change the multiplier."

Tuesday August 29, 2000

Part III Of The BIOS Optimization Guide Posted! 10:55 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Yup, the title says it all! :)

Part III of the BIOS Optimization guide has been posted. It contains the BIOS functions for the Integrated Peripherals section. Currently, there are 20 BIOS functions and their descriptions and our recommendations spread over 3 pages.

This completes the BIOS Optimization guide. Of course, there will be many, many more updates in the future but at last, the BIOS Optimization guide is finally whole. Heheh... In all, there are currently a total of 86 BIOS functions explained in 14 pages.

BTW, for those of you who have sent me questions or comments regarding the BIOS Optimization guide, please note that I still haven't had the time to answer them yet. Reasons - I'm in the midst of my 4th block exams. Really intense studying going on. Heheh... But it will all be over soon. Hope you don't mind waiting.

If you need an urgent answer, please drop by the Discussion Forums and pop your question there. I drop in quite often everyday. So will the other current members and don't forget - AOpen's tech staff will be checking in once in a while so take advantage of this opportunity to get help if you need any. Or if you are a tech expert, come in and help out! :D

Finally, don't forget to vote (check out the Rate Our Site form on your left)! :)

Hexus.net 09:50 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Hexus.net has some info on a program called OCM which allows you to receive calls that come in while you are online. Or that's what I'm told. :) Anyway, check it out here!

Overclockers Australia 08:20 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Just for sentimental value, the crew @ Overclockers Australia has posted some pics + info about a case they call "The Big Kahuna" at work.. It's been around for a few years but is finally being retired. It's a freaking monster of a thing, so they put up a page about it - kind of a testament to its passing. :)

LittleWhiteDog 08:10 PM IDT Adrian Wong

The guys at LittleWhiteDog learned what type of strange responses one would get if one allowed any crazy OC'er to post ANYTHING they desire. So this time, they are having yet another T-shirt giveaway!

The difference is you don't have to enter any reasons or make a fool out of yourself. All you need to do is just enter! ;)

Planet GeForce 08:00 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Planet GeForce has more news about the NVIDIA patent lawsuit against 3dfx. They got it from Derek Perez of NVIDIA. So, check it out! :)

Guru3D 07:55 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Guru3D has posted a review and a download for GeForce users :-

review of Mushroom's Siren Audio I sound card
version 1.1 of the GeForceAA utity

Wednesday August 30, 2000

Comments & Forums 11:50 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Hi everyone! :)

As usual, I received a load of e-mails asking me all sorts of troubleshooting questions. I'll try to answer them all but no promises because I think it's more important that I get out more and more articles, don't you think?

So, I have copied them down and will work on them when I'm free. However, that doesn't mean you have to wait weeks (oops! did I just say weeks?) before you see your comment posted. Although there's currently a backlog of comments waiting to be posted, you can get a quick answer via the forums.

I would really encourage you all to try using the forums. As I drop by everyday, you can be assured that I will look over your problem and try to help you, if I can. My host, Crowz, a true computer expert, will also be there to help you. As will Ken Ng, the new addition to ARP.

Ahh... yes! ARP will finally consist of more than just me. :)

Currently, Ken Ng is quite busy so we won't hear much from him yet. However, we can all expect to see more of him in the future.

Finally, did I tell you that AOpen's tech support team will be checking in once in a while? Yeah, if you have got any motherboard or even graphics card problems, just post it and they will help you. BTW, I cannot confirm this but Biostar may also start watching the forums from now on. They just e-mailed me with a possible solution for SmaKboY. So, there's nothing concrete from them yet but at least, we know they will respond to e-mails from me. :)

Oh yeah... SmaKboY, if you are reading this, we've got a possible solution for your motherboard problem. Click here to get to your solution.

OCWorkbench 11:25 PM IDT Adrian Wong

OCWorkbench posted two articles :-

A review of the Gigabyte 7ZX motherboard
Here's a clip of it :-

"This is a nice small motherboard that is pretty good in every respect but does not really shine in anything particular, except for its stability. Gigabyte has prided itself for producing good quality motherboards and this is not an exception, but rather a continuation in a line of good, stable motherboards."
The second is the Gigabyte @BIOS Instruction Article for those that are afraid of updating their BIOS. Again, a snippet :-

"So you don't have a clue on updating your Gigabyte motherboard's BIOS? Well, Gigabyte has come up with a utility that simplifies the process and they call it "@BIOS"! Check out this article if you are thinking of updating your BIOS using @BIOS"

Overclockers Australia 11:20 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Overclockers Australia posted a 3-page look at KingMax's v1.2 PC133 and PC150 SDRAM. Here's a clip of that review :-

"So, does the v1.2 revision make any difference? I experimented with the 64MB v1.0 stick and the 128MB v1.1 stick for a couple of hours in my KA7 and SY-6VBA-133 again. Both immediately demonstrated the same problems I described above - even with the latest BIOS in the KA7, which apparently has "greater SDRAM stability". However, putting the PC133 v1.2 stick or the PC150 into the KA7 immediately returned it to rock-stable, allowing me to run the benchmarks you'll see on the next page. The Soyo has now been running with BOTH these v1.2 sticks at 133MHz, CAS2 (this is above their rated speed) with no problems for a couple of weeks - and this is my main workstation, the machine I am typing this article on now. It definitely seems that KingMax have gotten it right with their v1.2 PCB - I've had no stability problems with either stick at all. Great stuff!"

Hercules 11:15 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Here's a press release from Hercules :-

Stompfest 2000 - 55 Fragging Hours of Fun

Hercules is sponsoring Stompfest 2000, the mid-west's largest PC gaming convention and tournament. The weekend-long event takes place over Labor Day weekend, September 1-3 in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Tournaments will go on 'round the clock, giving gamers the chance to face off at Quake 2, Quake 3, Daikatana, Rogue Spear, Half-Life, Starcraft, Unreal Tournament, Pod Racer, Decent 3, a TBD flight game, and Star Trek Armada. The first prize winner of Quake 2, Quake3 or Unreal Tournament wins $500 cash! Prize amount to go up without notice.

The action begins Friday, September 1 at noon Central time. Visit Stompfest.com for more information.

Hexus.Net 10:50 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Hexus.net has an article on alternatives to modems. Check out this clip :-

"Alternatives to modems are still quite expensive in the UK. Even though modems should be old news they're still with us and with quite a bit of verity. To get the best from your modem (or choose the best modem) it pays to know a little bit about the workings so you can make an informed decision."

TechGear.Net 10:45 PM IDT Adrian Wong

Techgear.Net has reviewed the Pentamedia Pent@Vision satellite card. It is fully DVB compliant and can receive free digital satellite TV as well as data for fast satellite internet. Here's a quote :-

"If you are looking for a great all in one card that will run high speed Internet and Digital TV, then the Pent@Vision is the solution. It has more features than a close competitor, the Hauppauge WinTV-DVBs. While it doesn't have a recording program yet, I'm sure Pentamedia will be making one. Supporting DiSEqC is a nice inclusion for the ones with expensive dishes."