Memory prices are falling. Unrestraining the GeForce 6800/LE? Three Thermalright novelty Sis release the 649 Test: 3 projectors around $1000

Août 2004 L M M J V S D 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 You can read previous news using our archives. [ Print all news of this day ]

Next day of news >> August 6, 2004

Memory prices are falling.   Posted on 05/08/2004 at 20:05 by Marc

	Since mid-July, prices just keep falling. These days, the 32 MB DDR400 price is $4.26 against $4.69 three weeks ago (9% decrease). We are getting close to the last year December $4 price. After the April rise, chips reached $6 in April. So will this tendency continue or are we going to see the usual September rises…

Unrestraining the GeForce 6800/LE?   Posted on 05/08/2004 at 16:32 by Damien

	As you know, the GeForce 6800 and 6800LE's performances are restricted by NVIDIA which has deactivated some units: else one or a quad engine (group of four pipelines) with one or several vertex shader units. This procedure allows NVIDIA to use partly defective chips. For example if a chip has one defective pipeline, they just need to deactivate one quad engine and sell it as a 12 functional pipeline instead of 16. This procedure has created new cards and following the market requirements some fully functional chips can also have performances restriction. Also, a chip might not go through the NVIDIA quality tests but not shows any specific trouble in use. So it is tempting to imagine activating the deactivated units. However NVIDIA announced that this operation was impossible. This announcement was capable to discourage the candidates looking for the solution. But the bluffing (if bluffing it was) didn't work, because the author of Riva Tuner, at the origin of the same process at ATI, apparently identified NVIDIA's procedure to deactivate the quad engines. A Riva Tuner beta version already could allow you to activate or deactivate the pipeline. They don't mention the vertex shaders, but this detail is less important. It seems that Digit Life succeeded in modifying a MSI 6800 and gets 16 functional pipelines. It this news is verified the 6800 might become a great choice for overclockers. Of course if a real defective pipeline is activated, some graphic bugs will appear. This new Riva Tuner version should be available soon.

Three Thermalright novelty   Posted on 05/08/2004 at 14:54 by Marc

	Bacata announced the release in France of three new heatsink manufactured by Thermalright. The first one is the XP-120. Targeting the Pentium 4 and Athlon 64, the XP-120 is made of aluminum. Its dimensions are L110 x W125 x H63 (mm) and it weight 370g. It has a 5 heatpipe system for well spread heat, and will support a 120 mm fan! The price $65 without the fan (it is usual with Thermalright). The SB-2 K8 and P4 have a cylindrical design. This is a first at Thermalright. They will cost you a more affordable $35 for one or the other version. Their dimensions are 96mm (Diameter) x 50mm (Height). Made of copper they weight no less than 550g and are compatible with a 92mm fan (sold separately).

Sis release the 649   Posted on 05/08/2004 at 14:19 by Marc

	SiS announced the release of the SiS 649 chipset. The SiS 649 is to the 656 the equivalent of the 648 for the 655, a version compatible with the PCI Express and the DDR2. However if the SiS 656 has like the 649 a PCI-E x16 port, the memory management change from a double DDR-400/DDR2-667 channel to a single DDR-400/DDR2-533 channel. For the southbridges, the SiS965L and 965 are still here, and have both two PCI Express port. The 965L manages two S-ATA ports and the lan 10/100. The 965 manages 4 S-ATA ports and the lan Gigabit. However, no cards based on the SiS656 announced in March are currently available…

Test: 3 projectors around $1000   Posted on 05/08/2004 at 14:14 by Vincent

	Why looking for LCD TV and plasma when you can have a 5 times cheaper 4x3 meters picture on your wall. LCD, DLP, three products tested around $1000. 3 Vidéo projecteurs à 1000 €