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WinXP Tips and More Athlon64 Gear
Hello,
Don't be fooled by the "Little Known
Features of WindowsXP" title of our latest Beginners
Guide. This is NOT an encyclopedic rundown of topics that will make
CSPAN seem exciting. Rather, this Guide
contains a concise overview of some of the lesser-known bits of WinXP
that the pro's use. PCstats discusses about 10 pretty
handy features that I'll bet you've wished for in the past, but never knew
already existed. After all, how many of us actually have a printed
manual to WindowsXP?
Learn how
to disable those incredibly annoying Windows Messenger
Service pop ups ads forever on page
nine, or enable the "Hal 9000" voice narration on page
eleven. Cool tips indeed. And since we're on the topic of Tips,
be sure to scroll down to Colin's Weekly Tech Tip!
PCstats very own Industry Insights column takes a sneak peek at
the technology of 2004, and I can guarantee that faster speeds are the
order of the day.
This
weeks PCstats Newsletter is a big one, so I hope you'll take a few minutes
to browse through the vast assortment of articles I've gathered. The
Newsletter starts out with an Athlon64
K8T800 motherboard from Albatron which is definitely geared towards
enthusiasts. Then, we move onto an article that looks at the new XGI videocard
GPU which is on the cusp of release. Will XGI's Volari V8 Ultra give
nvidia and ATI a run for their
money this holiday season? The jury is still out, but more competition
certainly benefits the consumer. Next up is a rather "unique" aluminum
case you have to see to appreciate, and after that I play around with
some rather posh
Home Theatre equipment. Xmas is just around the corner, so when you're
making that list, be sure to spell '40"
LCD Widescreen HDTV'correctly. ;-)
 Call it... Zen and the Art of WindowsXP Maintenance if you
will.
There can be little doubt that Windows XP is
Microsoft's best OS yet. While it has a few disadvantages in terms of
unnecessary bloat, its balance of performance, stability and outward
user-friendliness is hard to match. As
WindowsXP is based on Microsoft's line of server operating systems, it is
undoubtedly that which provides it with a rather pleasing lack of
crashes. Compare WindowsXP to Windows 98, where the daily reboot has
pretty much been accepted as a feature of the operating system,
and you can see why it has been embraced so well. This same
sever-OS-origin also provides XP with a deep layer of configurability. Not
necessarily tweaks as such, but tricks to getting a grip on what is
happening behind the scenes for those with an interest. In this PCstats Guide, we will explore some of the little-known features and abilities of Windows XP Home and Professional
Editions, with an eye towards providing a better understanding of the
capabilities of the operating system, and the options available to the
user. Continue -- Click
Here>>
The AMD
Athlon64 was probably one of the most anticipated processors in
history. It has the potential to revolutionize the computing industry, and
it marks one of the few times that AMD has really out done Intel big time.
Now that the Athlon64 has finally been unveiled,
manufacturers can strut their stuff, and earn themselves a name when it
comes to 64-bit computing. As virtually
none of the corporate computer makers (Dell, HP, Gateway) are selling
Athlon64 systems yet, preferring instead to launch their systems when the
Athlon64 CPU supply improves and WindowsXP 64-bit Edition is on the
market, the field is wide open for mainboard
manufacturers. A setback for AMD
perhaps, but one in no way tied to any perceived lack demand for Athlon64
chips from consumers. Since its
inception, Albatron has produced a good many enthusiast-friendly
motherboards, and so many users have been patiently waiting to see what
Albatron has to offer before jumping into an Athlon64 motherboard of their
own. Continue -- Click
Here>>
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 |  When
XGI Technology announced the Volari line of graphics processors for the
desktop and mobile market on September 15th, the collective response from
the PC community was..."Wha...?" Closely followed by "who?" Not really surprising if you take things at face
value, since in its current incarnation, XGI Technology has only been
around since late May of 2003. Four months is not much time to put
together a comprehensive line of graphics processor units. The truth, of course, is that XGI has been around in one
incarnation or another for a fair bit longer than that, and hence there is
a solid foundation for the products they are now selling. In this article,
we will examine the company and their forthcoming products, and try to get
a clearer picture of what exactly they are offering to the world of PC
graphics. Who is XGI and why should you
pay them close attention? Well, of course we do have the answer
to that.... Continue -- Click
Here>>
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Update your PC at Windows Update | |
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This week's tip deals with something I cannot stress enough! It is very important for you to keep your OS up to date in terms of patches! Whether your PC is used for word processing, gaming, or even if you're hosting a server, you owe it to yourself and the others around the web to make sure your OS is all patched up.
You see the problem is a hacker, or virus can use your computer as a drone to attack other sites (such as DoS attacks), or if you network is vulnerable, you could even come home to an erased hard drive.
Keeping Windows patches (and there are
dozens of them every year) up to date is not hard, nor
will it cost you any money. Simply go to www.windowsupdate.com and let it scan your system for any security holes. If you have none, congratulations, but I'd be willing to bet there are some of you out there who are extremely vulnerable. It's a good idea to check out the Windows
Update web site at least once a month as patches come out
weekly if not daily. A quick way to do this in
WindowsXP/2000/98SE is Start menu > Windows
Update.
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Remember back in the mid-80's, an animated
show called Voltron? Well, every time I glance at the brilliantly-blue
backlit "Z" on the front of the Raidmax Scorpio 868 case that is the first
thing that pops into my head... The all-aluminum Scorpio 868 Silver has
two important design features that should get the gamer in your family
salivating; the first is the classic "Z" on the front 5.25" bay cover
door, and the second is a pre-installed clear plastic window on the side,
complete with an 80mm coloured-LED fan. A fashionable chromed fan grill
covers the side intake fan, which also glows nicely in a darkened room. Continue -- Click
Here>>
Introduced late last year, the Samsung Tantus
LTM405W flatscreen television literally blew the scale off the LCD TV
industry and laid claim to the title of 'largest screen size' with ease.
The aptly named Tantus measures 40"
diagonally, making it currently the largest LCD HDTV compatible television
on the market. The next closest LCD TV on the market is 37" across... but
who really wants to watch a DVD on something that tiny?
The thin and lightweight 40" Tantus
LTM405W just screams to be wall mounted, and an optional steel wall
bracket is available for just that purpose. Just in case you want to have
a massive TV just like Ozzy! Continue -- Click
Here>>
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PCstats Issue
No.108
Circulation: 259,930
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| Industry Insights |
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We're approaching the holiday season once again, so it's no surprise that hardware manufacturers are rushing shiny new processors and video cards out the door. At this point, it looks like AMD's Athlon 64 FX will be the fastest processor on the market come 2004; ATI looks to hold on to its advantage through the new year as well with its RADEON 9800 XT. This same time last year, we were looking at a 2.8GHz Pentium 4 and a RADEON 9700 Pro, so things haven't changed much.
What should we expect in 2005, though? I've been poking around for the past week for details on what you might expect for a "Dream PC" next year, and the prospects are exciting. Intel should be getting ready to roll out its Tejas core with a 1066MHz front side bus and DDR533 memory. Expect speeds in the 4GHz+ range and improvements to Hyper-Threading. Further, the new core is expected to include more L1 data cache. AMD plans to move to a 90nm manufacturing process late in 2004, at which point the San Diego core will emerge. It'll be identical to the Athlon 64 FX we know today, only without the registered DDR memory requirement. Next
week, I'll continue my 2005 Dream PC forecast with graphics and
networking technologies. Until then, ciao!
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| Written By |
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Editor-in-Chief
. M. Page
Weekly Tips
. C. Sun
I.I. Columnist
. C. Angelini |
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