Taking a brief look at the package of the Microsoft Wireless Optical Desktop 1000 - a wireless mouse and keyboard kit, my eyes were immediately drawn by the small text saying: "Spill-Resistant Design". Well, seeing this on a product by Microsoft urged me to test if they are saying the truth that this keyboard is really spill-resistant (do not mistaken spill-resistant with waterproof!). Read on to see what happened with the spill-resistant test of the MS keyboard!

ATi RD600 is ATi's upcoming chipset that supports the Intel Core 2 Duo and Core 2 Extreme processors. Just like its AMD equivalent, a single chipset RD600 can be paired with the South bridge SB600 for utmost performance. CrossFire performance will be greatly enhanced with its Xpress route within the chipset itself, supporting Dual Channel PCIe.

Sure the Core 2 Extreme is fast, but it's also expensive. How much performance can you wring out of the more budget oriented E6300 and E6400?

With Alienware's top-of-the-line GeForce 7900 GX2 Quad SLI-powered ALX Quad SLI system in hand, and a pair of GeForce 7950 GX2s, we figured it was time to take another look at the performance of NVIDIA's Quad SLI platform.

Welcome to one of the three uncommon benchmark reports from the Multi-GPU World Tour 2006. Our assignment for this project was to evaluate gameplay performance on six different systems that were assembled from scratch. It was a daunting task and we appreciate the support of the manufacturer's who contributed to our cause.

SLi on Intel Xeon? Is that possible.. You must see it to believe it.

OCWorkbench

Yesterday we talked with the key players at ATI and AMD, as well as Intel and NVIDIA about the details of AMD's proposed purchase of ATI; today is the day for assessment and speculation. In this article Jakub and Brandon provide their opinions on the deal and what it could mean for the industry.

AMD revealed a few more details about its plans for its upcoming enthusiast-oriented platform, code-named 4x4. As we reported earlier, 4x4 will be a dual-socket solution for enthusiast and gaming PCs. Representatives from Nero, Luxology, VoodooPC, and Microsoft were on hand to speak about the value of multithreading and the emergence of what AMD calls the "mega-tasking" usage model.

The TechReport

Sources indicate that Intel has finalized the specification for IGP G965, Q96x, and 946GZ. They are all in Graphics Media Accelerator X3000 family, share the same design, but different in function disabled. In the previous specification of Intel Graphics Media Accelerator X3000 (GMA X3000) from Computex this year, Direct X 9.0c and OpenGL 1.5 are told to be supported. But our sources have some more details. Besides these.

We can now confirm ATI's RD600 chipset for Conroe will go ahead. We also have photos of DFI's nForce 590 SLI IE board.

TweakTown

Driven by ATi R580+, ATi Radeon X1950XTX is the next trump card from ATi. Its model code and PCB version are 215BAABKA31FG and 102-A91501-00 respectively. Same as R580, it has 16 Pixel Shader pinelines, 48 Pixel Shader processors, and 8 Vertex Shader engine. Features at GDDR4 memory, it?s equipped with 512MB 2GHz DDR.

If you're looking for an affordable mainstream card, the GeForce 7600GT is probably your best choice. It's performance is comparable if not better than the GeForce 6800GT, particularly if you're running at derault settings without AA and AF. As we promised earlier this month, today we will take a look at four offerings from different manufacturers: the ASUS EN7600GT, Gigabyte GeForce 7600GT (GV-NX76T256D-RH), Leadtek PX7600GT Extreme and MSI NX7600GT (T2D256E).

Aside from gaming, video playing is one of the best uses of a portable device. The problem with this situation has never been playing the video, but rather recording it. That will all be changing with the release of Neuros' MPEG-4 Recorder 2, a "digital VCR for the portable video age". Think of it as a PVR (or TiVo) for your PSP or iPod Video.

Geforce 6 is the soul of the graphic part of MCP61S. It supports DirectX 9 and Shader Model 3.0. Windows Vista Premium logo is also awarded. Standard Definition Pure Video and PCI-E x8 are supported also, but not PCI-Ex16. Functions of the south bridge is similar to nForce 410, with 2 SATAII supporting RAID 0, 1, and JBOD, build-in 10/100 Ethernet, 8 USB 2 interface and 7.1 High Definition Audio.

HKEPC Hardware

ATi scheduled to release Radeon X1950XTX, the new top model, in late Aug. The new chip, codenamed R580+, has no difference with R580 in term of design, production process, and clock speed, but featured at GDDR4 support. It keeps 16 Pixel Shader pinelines, 48 Pixel Shader processors, and 256Bit memory controller; and manufactured by TSMC with 90nm process and clocked at 650MHz. Features at GDDR4 memory, it?s the first card stepped into the era of 2GHz DDR. The price is set at $399. Figure below is the engineering sample of Radeon X1950XTX where the heat sink has improved a lot.

Memory is compared on Core 2 Duo and AM2. There is also a CPU comparison at 2.93GHz & DDR2-1067 for "show-me" readers.

From time to time everyone needs to get some work done. While it is easy to use the same computer for gaming, overclocking, and things like that, it is smart to keep your work computer distinct from your overclocking system, if at all possible. Every few years most people find myself in need of a new work computer; these systems get a lot of use so by the time they are ready for replacement they are generally on their last legs.

PC Magazine set out to find the coolest technologies that are flying under the radar. Read about a new technique for making silicon that can bend and stretch; how nanocrystals will replace OLED displays; and a new biological light sensor for shooting bacterial photography.

Read more at PCMag.com

The ATI acquisition has been getting most of our attention this morning, but AMD has also unleashed a barrage of price cuts today as a preemptive response to the upcoming launch of Intel's Core 2 processors. The cuts are massive, with some chips seeing their price tags more than halved and the entire Athlon 64 X2 line sinking to below $301.

The TechReport

Upcoming drivers will add support for NVIDIA PureVideo GPUs to accelerate the playback of HDCP protected content from HD-DVD and Blu-Ray devices. We take a first hand look at what this means at this early stage for high definition content distribution on the PC.

AnandTech