The Zone

By now everyone should know that AMD has come out with new 'fixed' Phenoms starting with the X4 9850 at 2.5 GHz. Everyone should also know that the X4 Phenoms supposedly fix the TLB and L3 cache error which plagued the earlier 9500 and 9600 Phenoms. Practically anyone with an AMD press release can wax lyrical about the claims and apparent fixes, but we've managed to get our hands on one of these new fixed Phenoms, namely the X4 9850.

After several months of testing Phenoms with AMD boards we've kind of got used to the rather low PCMark05 score of about 4300 to 4600 that most boards powered by the old 9600 Phenom we had churned out. However, after testing the X4 9850 with a new AMD board we were quite gratified to get a more than reasonable score of more than 6000 which is on par to many of the better Intel boards we've seen so far. Granted, it doesn't reach the full performance of Intel's 3.0GHz processors with a good X48 motherboard, but the new 'fixed' Phenom performance now manages to deliver a much better performance than its TLB plagued predecessors.

The question is, will this new development be enough to turn things around for AMD? Or will it be too little too late because many of AMD's previous supporters and early adopters got burned quite badly with the lackadaisical performance from the non-fixed Phenoms which rather underwhelmed when it first came out. Now, its up to AMD to somehow perform with those that still stayed on. "Will it be enough?" is a question that AMD should seriously consider as there are now quite a few disgruntled users out there who still have some underperforming Phenoms on their boards. Perhaps AMD should also consider getting these users back, perhaps with a trade-in of the still under-performing 9600 and 9500 Phenoms for some fixed X4 Phenoms? Whether or not AMD would be able to do so considering their own rather shaky financials is something else, but it would definitely go a long way to setting things right with the AMD community.

ViewSonic recently launched a 22" LED backlit LCD with a 12000:1 contrast ratio; the VLED221wm along with its P-series of profesional level LCD monitors. The launch also featured a couple of ViewSonic's new DLP projectors. Read the full event and check out the new stuff in the next issue of HWM.

In hardware, three may not be. You probably first heard about three-way in the graphic card department, with ATI's new Radeon CrossFire X technology, and then NVIDIA's 3-Way SLI technology. Then we found triple-core graphic cards. Now, three goes to processors, in particular, AMD.

The new Phenoms not only come in quad-core, but also triple-core, and while many have said that it's basically a quad-core with a bad core switched off, either way, it does the job by offering a mid-point between a dual-core and a quad-core. In AMD's case, since there are no dual-core Phenoms, you actually get the technology of the Phenom, but without the higher price. For budget users, this makes a great buy.

Whet your desire for the 3-core Phenoms from the link below, but do also check out out coverage on the Phenom triple core in our upcoming issue! Then start deciding!

Source : Hot Hardware

After its mention way back in 2006, the vapourware Phantom Lapboard is finally going to be released. This wireless keyboard and mouse combo supposedly allows you to play games on your lap by angling the keyboard upwards and freeing up the space below for the mouse. Whether or not we'll see some new RSI (Repetitive Stress Injury) from Phantom Lapboard use remains to be seen. Just know that its out and will be in stores near you in the not so far future.

With the latest NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GX2 dual GPU graphic out to flex its gaming muscle we managed to snag two cards as well as an nForce 790i motherboard for a Quad SLI setup. Installation is easy as long as you use the latest drivers but performance across the board isn't as good as expected. Its all good however if you're a big fan of Crysis, but if you're not then you may be better off waiting a while longer.

Our personal bet is on a 3-way SLI for three 9800 GTX OC cards, which we will try out as soon as we can get our hands on three of the monsters. Till then read up more about our Quad SLI adventures in our May issue.

Engadget users are already starting to speak out on the pros and cons of SP3, and as I'm still downloading the installation files (it failed the first time around), the real threat of my work computer rebooting itself over and over again is becoming truer by the minute, with the reports of AMD processor incompatibility and even problems with rather ancient configuration files. So, how's your XP SP3 coming along, any improvements?

Radiohead's semi open-source song, Nude, gets a playthrough with hard drives and a motley crue of a Sinclair ZX computer, a dot matrix printer and a scanner. How geeky can this get? we wouldn't know, as programming would be a real headache. now, if only we could play John Lennon's Imagine on this!

The onslaught of new mini notebooks and UMPCs begin! Fresh from Computex, we have HP's new Mini Notebook for our perusal. At first glance we can safely say that the large keyboard keys are a great comfort to work with while the exterior design is top notch. The system we got runs on Vista but as to actual performance and the other more nitty-gritty details please read the full review in our next issue of HWM.

MIMOS recently did an MOU with FTEC to manufacture and produce among other things, the new iDOLA computer platform. Most Malaysian's won't know what we're talking about unless you mention that the iDOLA (and its scaled down version; the JEN ii) is the renamed Makcik computer which was all the hype earlier in the year. Produced and developed by MIMOS in collaboration with MOSTI the iDOLA has been transferred to FTEC for commercialization. Complete details about the computer are still sketchy but for now we can say that it is a lightweight tablet PC running off of the new Intel Atom processor. Read about the full event and more details in our latest issue of HWM.

NVIDIA and AMD-ATI square off again for the single GPU graphic card throne with their respective new cards. Off in the green NVIDIA corner we've got the new GTX 280 and GTX 260 which are essentially the 10th gen in the GeForce series. From AMD-ATI, we've got the new HD 4870 series. Obviously AMD-ATI will not be able to compete in terms of pure GPU muscle, but instead tries to go for the higher end mid-range gaming crowd. As the HD 4850 is definitely not powered enough to go toe to toe with the GTX 260 and the GTX 280 in a class of its own, it looks to be a direct head to head battle between the HD 4870 and the GTX 260. Which one will be on top? Your guess is as good as mine, but we'll update you with hands-ons with each of the cards as they roll in. Later folks.

AMD-ATI's HD 4850 seems to have been completely reworked with the single GPU card lighter and smaller than its HD 3850 and HD 3870 predecessors. Markedly more powerful in terms of DX10 performance, the card does much better in apps that require more DX10 features rather than pure GPU muscle. Granted in normal GPU muscle tests like 3DMark06 and older games like Quake 4 or something similar, the card is decently powerful. However, when running stuff like 3DMark Vantage or Company of Heroes (with its DX10 patch), the card really shines. Despite the fact that it won't be able to run Crysis on maximum settings it still does much better than its 3800 series predecessors while still remaining several notches behind the HD 3870 X2. For a more in-depth review check it out in our July issue of HWM.

NVIDIA has made a bold statement about its new GTX 280 in that ýou'll only need one of these cards to run any game currently on the market at full settings. Although you can add on another 2 such cards for a 3-way SLI, this would just be for future use, according to NVIDIA. Thankfully, this is definitely true. As one of the heaviest single GPU cards we've seen to date, the GTX 280 packs enough punch to finally run Crysis on very high advanced settings all the way up to the highest anti aliasing settings of 16xQ with no lag. This is also an indication of how it runs normal games and apps as well as its packs enough GPU muscle to give the 9800 GTX and the 8800 Ultras a definite run for their money. Check out the more in-depth review in the July issue of HWM.

Wow, just when we thought that AMD is getting a edge over NVIDIA, a group of hardware enthusiasts found out that using PhysX drivers and the CUDA platform on ATI's offerings helped bumped up the 3DMark Vantage score by quite a bit. Now, NVIDIA is joining hands in the effort to port their software technology over to ATI. Naturally, AMD isn't too keen about it, but hell, it makes us rub our hands in glee as now our HD4870s have a lot more potential! 

More sauce here.