Melaka          05:35 PM MYT     Adrian Wong

Sorry for the long disappearance. I just moved to Melaka. Been spending the last few days shopping and making last minutes arrangements before my classes start. In fact, I just got my computer running and connected to the local LAN late Tuesday afternoon.

Right now, I'm editing another review. I will have it posted as soon as I finish it. Be right back! :)

Comments?

News From The Net

None today.

Cheap Crucial DDR SDRAM        01:30 AM MYT     Adrian Wong

Just noticed an e-mail from Crucial Technologies (part of Micron) that they are now selling their PC2100 DDR SDRAM at only about USD 16 (RM 61) for the 128MB DIMM and under USD 30 (RM 114) for the 256MB DIMM! Now, that's mighty cheap for first-party DDR SDRAM DIMMs!

Also note you can get a 10% discount by buying online. If you want to check out the deal and get a 10% discount when you purchase Crucial memory products, just click HERE!

Comments?

LITE-ON 24X SMART-Burn CD-Rewriter        01:05 AM MYT     Adrian Wong

Ken Ng got his hands on the brand-new LITE-ON 24x10x40x SMART-Burn CD-Rewriter and has written a definitive review of this remarkable drive! Just how remarkable is this drive?

Well, its 24X burn speed aside, this drive is remarkable because it's the first drive to boast LITE-ON's very own SMART-Burn and SMART-X technologies! Yes, LITE-ON is no longer using the BURN-Proof technology in their latest CD-RW drive. But what's the difference between SMART-Burn and BURN-Proof? And what's SMART-X???

Find out about these features and more in Ken Ng's definitive report on the new LITE-ON 24x10x40x CD-Rewriter drive! Here's a snip from that review :-

"No BURN-Proof??? What happened to it? Does this mean this drive doesn't have any sort of buffer under-run protection? Well, it appears that Lite-On has stopped using Sanyo's BURN-Proof technology with this drive. In its place, Lite-On is introducing their very own SMART-Burn technology. Now, what is SMART-Burn and what does it do?"

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News From The Net

Think Techie reviewed a 80mm fan bracket with dual 80mm Sunon fans! Clip - "Introducing the 80mm Fan Bracket. This is the best option there is for the cooling nut without cutting holes in your case. The bracket is also cheaper than most of your other options.."

Radeonic posted their review of the Shuttle AV40-R VIA P4X266 motherboard! Quote - "Of course, being one of the first motherboard manufacturers to publicly support VIA's P4X266 was certain to generate a fair amount of interest, but rather than just hope the publicity would sell the board, they actually went the extra mile and added a host of features that we'd not really seen before on the P4 platform, at least not at this price point."

BurnOutPC posted a shootout between the ASUS V7700 Pure and the Hercules 3D Prophet 4500!

IAmNotAGeek reviewed the ASUS P4B i845 motherboard! Quote - "The ASUS P4B is an i845 based P4 board that uses SDRAM. This board has a lot of unique features you have probably not seen on other boards, such as digital audio out, and support for old non-P4 power supplies."

The Overclocker Cafe also has a review of the Glaciator II cooler! Snip - "We discussed in the opening about sound levels. Millennium Thermal has strapped on a 5,700 RPM fan that moves 29 CFM at 36dBA on the Glaciator II. Not exactly quiet but still a nice decrease from the Hoover like sounds we have to deal with from a Delta. Another point about the fan is that it is enclosed within the heatsink. Most fans are straight forward 60x60x25mm that are screwed on top of the sink. The Glaciator’s fan resembles the type of fans seen on a lot of Thermaltake products." They also posted a review of the Thermaltake Volcano 7 cooler! Snip - "I don't know if it was the appearance of the fandapter or what that made people start to look away from the high speed 60mm fans to the lower speed (and less noisy) 80mm fans. All while not really taking a hit in the air flow department. So far, the only players that have stepped up to the plate have been the Swiftech MC-462 and the Alpha PAL8045. Both of these products are VERY FINE heatsinks. Even though these two products are the closest comparisons it is still comparing apples and oranges with these two and the Volcano 7. Thermaltake is attempting to address the performance / noise issue with the first temperature controlled, variable speed heatsink/fan. This is to be a true "active cooling solution."

VoidYourWarranty posted a review of the Millennium Thermal Glaciator II cooler! Snip - "Many PC users get tired of the drone of black label fans eventually, and using a low CFM fan on thin fin heatsinks usually means sacrificing a good bit of cooling power. The Glaciator series of heatsinks was designed for those people (like myself) who don't want to listen to a lot of noise while computing. Rather than a brute force approach with high CFM fans, Millenium Thermal arrived at a patented new design..."

Great New Software!          10:25 PM MYT     Adrian Wong

If you own a Casio JK-710DC digital camera that's designed for use with Casio Pocket PCs, you will be happy to note that Marauder has now come up with his own software for running it. This software, he names as M2SimpleCam. Instead of using the default Casio camera program that takes up a whole megabyte of RAM, you can now use a leaner and meaner program that only takes up 150KB of RAM!

Not only that, Marauder's new software also offers more control over capture options, JPEG compression and image sharpness. And he will be adding other features like a variable snapshot timer, an interval snapshot option, screen blanker and quick upload to storage cards.

But best of all is the fact that Marauder is providing it free of charge to whoever wants to use it. So, head over to Marauder's page and check out this great utility!

Comments?

Mailbox Down Again          01:05 PM MYT     Adrian Wong

My mailbox's been down for the last one or two days, so no one will be getting any mail from me. Heck, I can't even check the mailbox! In any case, the proper place to post questions and comments (except personal ones) would be to the forums.

I'm now working on the next article so I'll see you in a couple of hours. Ciao! :)

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News From The Net

Unique-Hardware.co.uk is hosting a new competition in which you stand to win a Lian Li PC-60 case and four other prizes of coloured fans!

Think Techie reviewed the Mini Fanbus! Clip - "Introducing the Mini Fanbus. Now the fanbus may not look at that interesting, heck it isn't even as "enhanced" as some of its big brothers like the switched fanbus's. Though the Mini Fanbus definitely has it uses.”

Radeonic posted a review of the Dr. Thermal TI-V77 cooler! Quote - "Inside the box is Dr Thermal himself...along with a few pieces of form fitting foam and a tube of generic silicone thermal transfer compound. The packaging will protect the good Dr from the usual bumps and grinds encountered in shipping. One item of note is the fact that this unit is fitted with a 70mm fan, not the usual 60mm we are all so used to seeing. This may make upgrading to a higher CFM fan or an 80mm unit somewhat difficult."

PC Hardware posted a review of the ABIT TH7II-RAID motherboard! Quote - "Without any doubt this is the most feature rich Pentium 4 motherboard we have seen till now. We overclocked an unlocked Pentium 4 2.0Ghz up to 2.31Ghz using the FSB, multiplier and voltage settings provided by SoftMenu III. The motherboard was tested under Windows 2000 SP2 and Linux Mandrake 8.1."

Psycho Hardware posted a Beginner's Guide To HTML!

Bitspower nPower Coolers!        01:05 AM MYT     Adrian Wong

Although we have posted many reviews of CPU coolers, the innovation of the people in the industry never ceases to amaze me. They keep coming out with bizarre and outlandish heat sink designs, all in the name of cooling performance and of course, market share.

However, while 'bleeding edge' heat sink designs turn heads and make great conversational topics, many of them don't work as well as they look. In fact, some of the prettier ones performed terribly, despite the fancy designs and high prices. Hence, we try to bring you subjective and accurate reports on such coolers.

Today, we bring you the definitive review of two new coolers with a very unique design. They are the Bitspower NP80D and NP60 CPU coolers! If you think the picture on the left tells it all, you are barely skimming the surface. There's more to it than meets the eyes.

In this review, Ken Ng takes you on a tour of both coolers and examines their performance. Can these aluminium coolers beat copper coolers with their unique design? Find out in our definitive review of the Bitspower NP80D and NP60D CPU coolers! Here's a clip from that review :-

"The trend of CPU coolers these days seems to be focused mainly on one material - copper. Although copper is a much better heat conductor than aluminium, it won't make the heat sink perform better than aluminium heat sinks if it's not accompanied by a good design. Furthermore, copper coolers are extremely heavy and will therefore not appeal to some users.

Theoretically, an aluminium heat sink with a good design should perform as well as, if not better than, a copper heat sink of a plain fin design. Well, this is where Bitspower, a cooler manufacturer from Taiwan come in."

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News From The Net

Radeonic posted a review of the EPOX 8KHA+ motherboard! Clip - "It's been pretty hard for some people to justify the expense of moving from their existing SDR based systems to the newer, and sometimes only marginally faster DDR based systems, but if there was ever a real reason to make the move to DDR, the 8KHA+ and VIA KT266A combo is it. The enhancements VIA have made to the efficiency of their memory controller are really quite spectacular in a time when even the smallest gains are hard to achieve for hardware manufacturers, and team that up with a high performing board like the 8KHA+ and you have a pretty potent combination that at last begins to show what DDR platforms are capable of."

Extreme Overclocking posted their November Cooler Comparison! There are a total of 11 heat sinks that are being compared.

PC Hardware posted their review of the MSI K7T266 Pro2 motherboard. Quote - "We had several problems in testing the USB 2.0 features because we didn't have many USB 2.0 ready devices on our lab. Fortunately last month I saw that a local company had for sale several USB 2.0 to IDE adapters. I bought last week an enclosure and I started testing. I had no problems at installation and the performance of the file transfers over the USB 2.0 was impressing. Fortunately the USB 2.0 interface is backwards compatible with the USB 1.1 and we were able to run the load tests."

Psycho Hardware reviewed the Microsoft Intellimouse! Quote - "At first glance, the Microsoft Intellimouse appears to be just like any other mouse as far as functionality and maintenance goes. This is far from the truth though. The main feature of this mouse is the fact that instead of a traditional tracking ball system like what is used in most mice, this mouse uses an optical eye to scan the surface that it is being used on to detect motion, and also it emits a nice red glow. After a second or two of idle time, the optical eye dims. Once you start moving the mouse again, it lights back up and is actually fairly bright if you pick it up and look into it." You can also check out our reviews of the Microsoft Intellimouse Explorer and Microsoft Intellimouse Optical!

3dGameMan reviewed the M-Systems DiskOnKey!

IAmNotAGeek reviewed these items :-

• Samsung ML-1210 laser printer - "The overall design of the printer is very nice. They stuck with the design of the ML-4500 which has a cute look with a relatively small footprint. The two printers are pretty much indistinguishable. The printer comes complete in pretty much one piece right out of the box . The toner is extremely clean and simple to install. The buttons on it are very basic as well. They are in fact the same as the ML-4500 that was reviewed earlier. A ‘Toner Save’ button lets you print your drafts without wasting too much toner."
• Lian-Li PC-78 casing - "There is a lots out space for exhaust fans at the back of the case.  In the center you can see there is a 120mm exhaust fan that is included with the case.  Below that there is spaces for three 40 mm fans which are not included.  Above the power supply there is also room for two more 80mm fans.  As you may notice from the shape of the cut out for the power supply that case mounts the power supply the opposite way of most cases.  This means if you are using an Enermax power supply or a power supply that has a second fan in what is meant to be bottom it will be on the top instead pulling air downwards into the power supply instead of upwards from the bottom."

The Overclocker Cafe reviewed the Reborn card which is basically a card that allows you a "do-over." Changes to your system, registry, etc get dumped on a reboot unless you instruct the system to do otherwise. Clip - "The reborn card by Lenten USA, inc. is a device that does much more than its name implies. The card is billed as a device for Schools, libraries, PC training centers, etc, Its purpose is that anyone can use a computer with this device installed and create documents, delete files, install viruses, or anything else damaging or unwanted, and at the end of the day restart the computer and everything is back to normal."

GideonTech posted a guide on how to build a LCD readout for only USD 25! Snip - "Ever since I saw the first review of one the matrix orbital LCDs I have always wanted one. The prices were outrageous! $100 for a LCD? Come on! But being the true GideonTech staffer I am (aka cheap) I did a little research and found you can buy and wire up your own LCD for ~$20-30."

DirectX 8.1 Out!          11:05 PM MYT     Adrian Wong

If you keep track of Microsoft's DirectX releases, you should already know that MS has just released the new DirectX 8.1. If this is news to you, head over here to get your own copy of the new DirectX 8.1 distribution.

But if you have a very slow connection, fear not. The next slew of games will come with a distribution of DirectX 8.1 so you needn't wait for hours at end to download something that you are going to get with the next game you buy.

BTW, note that WinXP already comes with DirectX 8.1 and that Microsoft recommends that Win95 users stick to DirectX 8.0a and forget about upgrading to version 8.1. This is because applications designed for DirectX 8.1 make use of features that are only found in the newer Microsoft OS. So, if you are using WinXP or Win95, don't waste your time downloading this distribution.

As for the rest, head over here for DirectX 8.1! :)

Comments?

Happy Deepavali!          10:45 PM MYT     Adrian Wong

A tad late but what the heck. Happy Deepavali, everyone! :D

I spent the day in the Melaka Zoo, of all places. Couldn't go anyway and well, the zoo was nearby. Heheh...

Surprisingly, it was really packed! Even people from outstation were there. I saw plates from as far as Singapore and KL. One would have thought that everyone have "balik kampung" (translation : gone home) for the holidays. In fact, with the exception of the zoo, Melaka was rather quiet today.

All in all, the Melaka Zoo was not bad but I didn't see as much diversity as the entrance fee of RM 5 had suggested. Happily, the animals all looked well-fed although a tad lazy. Ah well, it was a welcome respite from the glow of the monitor. ;)

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News From The Net

Radeonic reviewed the AMD Athlon 1.4GHz! Quote - "'The XP range of chips are great performers and still represent great value for money but where does that leave our old speed king, the 1.4GHz? It seems to have been replaced by the XP chips but it is very hard to overlook what a great CPU this is. Could the 1.4GHz become the bargain chip of the year? With the new Duron core (Morgan) costing a little more than the old Duron, it will certainly be interesting to see just what price retailers will expect for the Athlon 1.4GHz solution.''

Unique Hardware UK reviewed two shims - the DTS440 and the Non-conductive Purple Anodized Spacer! Clip - "We have all heard the horror stories of heatsinks, cracking the cores of (expensive) CPUs. Well here are some products that should help stop that from happening, both are anodized shims, that go between your CPU and heatsink. When putting a shim on to the CPU I would recommend that you do it with the motherboard set horizontally"

PC Hardware reviewed the ABIT BL7-RAID! Quote - "Of course that there will be a new Celeron, but it will be based on a Pentium 4 core. We were not able to find out if it will be socket compatible with the 478 Pentium 4. We asked the Intel representative about the new DDR Intel platform for Pentium 4 and about its performance. He was not able to tell us exactly when the new chipset will be released on the market, but he knew several things about the performance of the chipset: between 845 and 850. Definitely RAMBUS will still be the highest performance platform for Pentium 4. The next logical question was about the release of a new chipset for RAMBUS. The answer was clear: not soon."

ipKonfig posted a review of the Swiftech MCX-462 cooler! Snip - "Back in May of this year, I had the opportunity to review the Swiftech MC-462A Rev1 and at the time it was "King" the best HSF the world had to offer. In that review I challenged Swiftech to do better. Over the following months, newer heatsinks hit the marketplace and the MC-462A Rev1 was nudged off its pedestal as the world's best." They also reviewed the DigitalDoc 5! Quote - "In today's world of fast processors as well as the more fans you can install inside your case, it's obvious that something is bound to go wrong. It's not that common, but what if that massive fan that's cooling down the processor fails? Not a good thing of course, but this can be of some help in the event of a fan does fail."

IAmNotAGeek posted a review of the Antec Jet Cool cooler! Snip - "Today the heatsink we are looking at is Antec’s Jet Cool, but you will get a few temperature comparisons with Thermaltake’s Indigo Orb (respectively). Both companies are well known for their products, even though Antec is better known for their cases, and just recently entered the CPU cooling industry." They also have a review of the Samsung SyncMaster 150T flat panel monitor! Quote - "Digital input is a feature you won't find on many 15" LCD's but Samsung has included it on this model.  A digital input on a flat screen is far from a must when shopping for one but nice to have. Looking at a monitor I could not tell you if it was using an analog or digital input and I am not sure there is anyone who could.  Digital input is supposed to have less distortion but I don't think you can to tell the difference.  Also if you are going to use a digital flat panel you need a video card with a DVI.  The only real advantage I found with digital input is you do not have to adjust any of the screen settings at all."

The Overclocker Cafe reviewed the 4Q full tower case! Clip - "A full featured case coming in at $45 WITH a 300 PSU in unbelievable in the days of acceptable case prices surging over $300. We have all heard of budget this and that, well it's about time for a budget overclocker case."

Hardwaremania reviewed the ASUS A7N266 nForce motherboard!

We Want You!         11:20 PM MYT     Adrian Wong

Team ARP is looking for a dedicated and capable webmaster to handle the management of the site. I may have kept this up for the last three years but if ARP is to grow, we need a specialist to further develop the site. If you believe you have the right stuff for the post, message me.

If you are interested in joining ARP but just not in the capacity of a webmaster, don't worry. We are always on the lookout for dedicated writers with a insatiable interest in exploring the boundaries of computing. Remember, here at Adrian's Rojak Pot, we take an interest in EVERYTHING. Nothing is too archaic or too bizarre for us to investigate.

So, if you want to join Team ARP, just drop me a line and we will proceed from there. :)

Comments?

Memtest86         01:00 AM MYT     Adrian Wong

I was chatting with OCWorkbench earlier about a problem some of his visitors have directed to him. It's about the ECS K7S5A motherboard and the Memtest86 memory testing utility. According to him, those visitors reported that their systems (using the ECS K7S5A motherboard) failed Test #5. The question, I think, is if the motherboard is faulty or the SDRAM DIMM itself.

Normally, a failure in a Memtest86 test means there are faulty bits in the DIMM. However, with all those users using the same motherboard, it does get a bit suspicious, doesn't it? Still, I think there's a way to find out which is faulty, short of testing the DIMM in another system.

Before that, let's get a little into what Memtest86 is. Basically, it's a FREE memory test utility that checks every bit of your system memory for faults. It's also a standalone program that loads from a floppy disk and doesn't require any operating system. You can use it with any x86 system. In fact, all you need to do is boot up your system using the Memtest86 disk and run the tests. It's that simple!

Anyway, what Memtest86 does is stress your system memory to test for bad bits. It will find them and report them to you so that you will know if you have a bad DIMM or not. However, if the motherboard is faulty, it's quite possible that Memtest86 will also report bad bits. So, how do we determine which is at fault - the motherboard or the memory stick?

I may be wrong in this but I think I have thought of a way to determine this. All you need to do is run Memtest86 twice. Since the errors with the ECS K7S5A motherboard were only discovered by Test #5, run Test #5 twice. Then, compare the results.

If the number of bad bits are the same, then there are really bad bits in your SDRAM DIMM. But if there's a change in the number of bad bits, then it's highly probable (although not absolutely certain) that the motherboard could be at fault. Why?

If some bad bits in a DIMM is at fault, then two runs of Memtest86 Test #5 should reveal the same number of bad bits. In fact, running multiple tests should always give you the same results. This is because the bits are really faulty and no amount of retesting is going to give you any different result.

But if the motherboard is at fault, then running the tests should give you different results. Either the number of bad bits are different or the failed memory addresses will be different. This is because the chances of the motherboard reproducing the same error patterns in multiple test runs when there are no actual bad memory cells is extremely remote.

So, if you have the ECS K7S5A motherboard and you wish to find out if your motherboard is at fault or you just have a faulty DIMM, all you really need to do is run Memtest86 twice. Compare the results and you will soon have your answer.

BTW, note that some of Memtest86 tests take a VERY long time so don't run all of them. You may end up like Chai, testing his system for over 40 hours! Phew! Heheh... Oh yeah, you can get the latest version of Memtest86 here - www.memtest86.com.

PS. Memtest86 is NOT the same as Memtest. They are two entirely different memory test utilities.

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Getting My Groove Back         00:15 AM MYT     Adrian Wong

For the last week or so, I have been too busy to update the site. Had to set up my girlfriend's system and teach her how to use it as well. The process is still ongoing. Sorry about that. Heheh...

I also had to take some time off for personal reasons. Maybe it's the stress of adapting to a new place and a new routine. Maybe it was something else. Who knows? But it was kinda overwhelming for a while there. :)

Anyway, I'm now trying to get my groove back. It's a little like coming back from a long holiday. It takes a little time to get back with the programme. In fact, I have been working on something new since Wednesday. And no matter what I'm going through, I will always check on the forums. So will the rest of Team ARP.

So, even if there are no updates on this page, remember - we will always be there for you in the forums. 

Comments?

News From The Net

Radeonic posted a look at the Akasa Silver Mountain cooler! Quote - "What it does do better than others we've tested so far is move heat. It's the highest score we've come up with to date. With the price at about $45 retail, I think the customer is getting what he's paying for. I'd welcome the opportunity to test one of these without the silver plating. I think it would work just as well, and be $10 cheaper. But then again, "Copper Mountain" wouldn't have the same ring to it." You can check out our own definitive review of the Akasa Silver Mountain too!

2FastCPU reviewed the Titan TTC-CUV1AB copper VGA cooler! Quote - "Titan has been in the Fan and HSF business a while, but now they have taken a bold step into the video cooling market. One which is filled with extremities and oddball products. Titan has created a product which is both the reverse of the previously mentioned, but has some uniqueness in it as well."

The Overclocker Cafe reviewed the Swiftech MCX-462 cooler! Here's a snip - "In looking at the MCX-462 the first thing that strikes you is the fan. That is a Delta SHE 80x80x38mm job that moves 68.5 CFM. This fan is our personal favorite here at the Penthouse Labs. It gives excellent flow while not requiring the user to purchase ear-plugs. There is another Delta fan that is more powerful (Delta EHE.) The EHE moves 80 CFM but does so at 52.5 decibels. That’s a level that people who work at airports would even complain about."

GideonTech reviewed another Dynatron cooler! Quote - "A very affordable aluminum unit, light weight and easy to use. The unit uses Micro Fin technology, which is basically slicing fins onto a chunk of heatsink."

BurnoutPC posted a review of the Arctic Alumina Adhesive Compound! Quote - "This isn't like the normal Arctic Silver/Alumina compounds, that you can use on your heatsink from your cpu, it's for getting something on a chip and letting it stay on the chip. It actually works great. Everything is very secured on the chips, and if you do get some compound on the connectors you can just rub it off."

Viruses In Pirated CDs?          02:00 AM MYT     Adrian Wong

Well, the hilarious part came when Butt Wai Choon of Microsoft Malaysia claimed - "Those who buy illegal software may find it defective or infected with a virus which can damage the computer." LOL! Seriously, that's a load of PR bull. Everyone knows that pirates make exact copies of Microsoft's software.

So, unless you download your ah hem... copy of Microsoft's software from a questionable online source, there's very little chance of catching a virus via a pirated copy. These days, they just copy the CDs directly. How are viruses going to infect the pirated copies?

Hey, I'm not condoning the pirating of Microsoft products but merely pointing out that such a shallow stab at piracy isn't going to get Microsoft anywhere.

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SonicFury Users Beware!          01:05 AM MYT     Adrian Wong

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Crucial DDR SDRAM Review!          00:45 AM MYT     Adrian Wong

Today, we are going to take an in-depth look at one of the premium DDR SDRAM modules from the world's only factory-direct memory upgrade provider - Crucial Technology! The module in question is their top of the line 256MB PC2100 DDR SDRAM module.

If you are looking to buy DDR SDRAM modules, take a look at this review before you settle for third party modules. With DRAM prices so low, a premium DDR SDRAM module may well be worth the few extra dollars... as you shall see in this review. Here's a clip of the review :-

"For overclocking, a DIMM should have top-grade memory chips with a 6-layer PCB (printed circuit board). It should also support 4 clock lines. All those features reduce interference between adjacent traces and improve reliability. They also ensure a higher operating speed than would be possible with lower quality chips or PCBs.

All these and more are offered by premium RAM manufacturers. But most of these premium RAM manufacturers do not sell their RAM to end-users at all. They cater mainly to the OEM market. A few others like Kingston and Apacer do sell to end-users but only Crucial is currently selling directly to end-users via the Internet. Today, we will check out their top end-user DDR SDRAM solution - the 256MB Crucial PC2100 DDR SDRAM DIMM!"

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News From The Net

ThinkTechie reviewed the Dr. Thermal cooler! Clip - "Every computer needs a Heatsink and Fan combo to keep the CPU cool enough so it won’t burn out. Being an overclocker requires extreme measures, larger heatsinks and high power fans. HighSpeedPC.com was gracious enough to provide us with a Dr. Thermal HSF."

2FastCPU reviewed the Evercool CUC-610CA cooler! Clip - "The CUC-610CA looks to be a little guy, but is this true in terms of performance? Read the review to find out!"

Chillblast posted a guide on how to unlock AMD's new Athlon XP processors. Take a look here!

OtakuPC just posted a simple USB mod guide! Quote - "Today, some motherboards come equipped with 6 or more USB ports, but what good is it if there all at the most inaccessible part of your case?  Sure, cases like the cooler Master 201 come equipped with front mounted USB ports, but at a cost.  This how to will guide you in making your own front mounted USB ports with items you may already have at home." 

PC Hardware posted a roundup of coolers from GlobalWin, Swiftech, Kanie, etc... Quote - "Many users complained about their motherboards which heat up the CPU to over 60C, even with very good coolers. I tried to explain them that this is not the motherboard's fault, but the motherboard temperature recording procedure. Once again I have to mention that our results do not differ from the standard temperature measurement procedure described by AMD in their sheets with more than +/- 3C."

Extreme Overclocking has a review of the Macpower DigitalDoc5! Snip - "The DigitalDoc5 from Macpower is a "smart" system that allows you to monitor eight different temperatures, and connect fans to turn on and off for each temp probe when it reaches a pre-determined temperature. I wouldn't exactly say this is a quick plug-and-go system, it does take a little time and effort to setup, but once all the dirty work is done it is very rewarding to have such an awesome piece of equipment in your computer."

John Apps has gotten his Athlon XP to run at an amazing FSB speed of 183MHz! Wow!!! You can check out the Sandra Score and WCPUID screenshots here! He also posted a roundup of 16x10x CD-RW drives!

VoidYourWarranty.net posted an article on modding a Skyhawk aluminum case! Quote - "My biggest complaint about the design of the Skyhawk was that the original place for an 80mm intake fan allowed almost no outside air to get into the case. It was basically just a few holes drilled through the case (originally designed for a speaker) that they stuck a plastic fan mount onto. The stock setup added almost no cooling to the case but was quite noisy since the fan was forced to pull air through a few small holes. I really liked the look of dual 80mm intakes on the Lian Lis, and so I decided to put the same thing into the Skyhawk. It worked out pretty nicely..." They also posted a review of a water cooling kit from Swiftech! Clip - "Getting your kit fully bled can sometimes be difficult, and Swiftech makes it easy with their 3-valve bleeding kit. Swiftech claims in their directions that it should take around a minute to get the system fully bled, but I found it to take a little longer then that. It took me around  3 minutes to get all of the air out of my system, but really the process wasn't bad at all."

UltraDMA In Windows XP!         01:40 AM MYT     Adrian Wong

Rene Isbrandt just posted details on how to force Windows 2000/XP to enable UltraDMA mode! In addition, he also posted a tip on how to gain better transfer rates in Windows 2000/XP for motherboards using SiS chipsets! Check it out here!

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Ahh... Prozac, Where Are Thou?         01:05 AM MYT     Adrian Wong

Just my luck. I have just broken up with my girlfriend of two years. What can I say? Girls - you can't live with them, you can't live without them. Maybe it's for the best. It has become an "all-about-her" kind of relationship, instead of an "us" relationship. But like Neil Sedaka sang, breaking up is hard to do.

It's going to be one nauseating roller-coaster ride from now on. A short one, I hope. Man... I envy all those of you who have Prozac. Heheh... If you have some that you can... ah hem... send over to me, let me know, kay? :)

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News From The Net

OtakuPC reviewed the Dynatron DY1206BH-638 cooler! Clip - "As most OC'ers know, a decent HSF is a must. I hadn't OC'd my new XP1800, so I wasn't worried as the HSF provided by AMD as part of the XP giveaway was rated as good enough. And it was - I hadn't upgraded my box since My 300A and TNT and was just enjoying the sheer speed of the system. It ran hot - but it ran.  Vermifuge had provided me with a Dynatron DY1206BH-638 for review purposes and it was time to rock.”

Hardwaremania reviewed the ASUS P4B266 Socket 478 motherboard!

ThinkTechie just reviewed the Logitech Cordless Mouseman Optical! Clip - "The best thing about this mouse is instead of being a huge, oddly shaped, and difficult clunker, it turns out to be sleek, familiar, and easy to use."

IAmNotAGeek reviewed both the ABIT BL7-RAID motherboard as well as the Alpha PAL 8045T cooler and the Crucial 256MB SODIMM!

VoidYourWarranty just added a short article on how to cut away part of the motherboard socket to make way for an under-the-socket temperature probe! Snip - "The under the socket probe recorded temperatures that were 3C higher on average than the side of CPU probe, and that were 7-8C hotter than the probe under the socket. It seems that this method of measuring CPU temperatures is at least less susceptible to temperature compression than either the onboard porbe or the compunurse mounted on the side of the core."

BurnoutPC posted a guide on Operation Flashpoint, a preview of Ghost Recon and reviews of the Arctic Silver II and Arctic Alumina!

Rizenet posted a review of the ADK modded GlobalWin 8070 aluminium case! Here's a clip - "After hacking, porting, and basically making my steel case look like swiss cheese to lower system temps, I started doing some research into aluminum cases. I thought to myself, "Can an aluminum case make that much of a difference?!?"

Whoops!          02:40 AM MYT     Adrian Wong

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LITE-ON Firmware!          02:10 AM MYT     Adrian Wong

To check out and download the latest firmware for your LITE-ON optical drive, click here! Please note that not all of LITE-ON's firmware updaters will run in Windows. Some require real-mode DOS to work.

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My Apologies          00:45 AM MYT     Adrian Wong

For the past few days, I've been spending most of my time checking out the posts in the forums. For those of you with questions, please don't e-mail me directly. Post in the forums and allow others to benefit from your questions. In addition, posting in the forums allows the entire Team ARP and other visitors to help you out as well.

I'm really stressing on the use of the forums for Q&A or comments because I get a lot of e-mails and I often forget to answer some of the e-mails. They accumulate and soon, my mailbox becomes really crowded and unwieldy. It makes me feel guilty although I really don't have the time to answer every e-mail. It becomes especially tiresome when many of the questions are repeat questions or have already been answered in one of our articles or forum posts.

So, please check out the posts in the forums and post your own questions or comments there. We will all be there to discuss, argue and deliberate with you. You can count on all of us to be there for you.

In the meantime, I would like to apologize again for my lack of focus. I have had a lot to think about these few days. For those of you who have not received any replies to your personal e-mails, please be patient for a while longer. I'll get back to you as soon as I can. For those with questions and comments, please post in the forums. No matter what happens, I'll still be roaming the forums with the rest of Team ARP. Thanks! ;)

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News From The Net

2FastCPU reviewed the Arkua Technology 7568 cooler! Quote - "Arkua Technology, as we know, has produced some pretty awesome AMD Socket 462 heatsinks, but now they have sent us a few of their new Intel P4 Socket 478 coolers. In today's review, we will take an in depth look at what the 7568 has to offer in terms of both features and performance."

IAmNotAGeek reviewed the Cooler Guy's MCX370 Ultra cooler! Quote - "Swiftech caters to the needs of the overclocker.  I remember, when I worked at Bxboards.com and Swiftech had just started up.  We had the opportunity to review one of their first products, even then, when Switftech was nothing more than a hobbyist outfit, with nowhere near the production capabilities they have now.  Their work smacked of high quality craftsmanship, and since then from the looks of it, things have not changed much, that is where high quality is concerned."

ThinkTechie posted their Bitspower NP80D cooler review! Here's a clip - "Today we are reviewing the Bitspower Skived NP80D HSF. I have extensively tested it for 2 days in several environments, I've used it on a PIII 733, and a PIII 850. The results were not mind boggling, but they were damn good considering this baby only costs $25." You can also check out our own definitive review of the Bitspower NP80D as well as the NP60D.