According to taiwanese press Digitimes Intel early this week updated its chipset roadmap and decided to add a new Alderwood chipset to its Grantsdale family. Positioned as the flagship product in the Grantsdale line, the Alderwood chipset will be the successor to the 875P (Canterwood). The new chipset will be available in the second quarter of next year. It will support an 800MHz FSB (front-side bus) and DDR2 dual-channel memory, in common with the 875P. Intel launched the 875P in April. The chipset is the company's most expensive desktop chipset to date, priced at US$53 for a version with integrated software RAID and US$50 for a non-RAID version. The FOB (free on board) price of an 875P motherboard is over US$150 per unit, with some priced at over US$200. It is believed that the Alderwood will continue to help Intel attack the high-end DIY market and boost the company's average selling price (ASP).

Leading motherboard vendors confirm support for the VIA PT880, taking advantage of the new DualStream64? memory controller and advanced storage and connectivity technologies including Serial ATA and V-RAID. VIA Technologies, Inc, a leading innovator and developer of silicon chip technologies and PC platform solutions, today announced the VIA PT880 chipset, the latest addition to VIA's family of high-performance core-logic solutions for the Intel® Pentium® 4 processor, that has been selected by key motherboard vendors including ASUS, Gigabyte and MSI for their high end solutions. Featuring the revolutionary DualStream64? memory controller, an intuitive package of new dual channel DDR400 memory technologies, the VIA PT880 integrates support for 800MHz FSB, Hyper-Threading, AGP8X and a plethora of cutting-edge connectivity and storage technologies.

Intel Corporation today introduced the Intel Celeron processor at 2.80 GHz for desktop and mobile PCs. The Celeron processor brings Intel technology, quality and reliability to the value PC consumer market segment. Based on Intel's 0.13-micron process technology, the Intel Celeron processor at 2.80 GHz delivers the right combination of features and frequency at an appropriate price point for the value PC market segment. Intel Celeron processors are engineered to maximize reliability and compatibility with the wide base of PC software and peripherals. The processor utilizes 478-pin packaging, and features a 400 MHz system bus. In 1,000-unit quantities, the Intel Celeron processor at 2.80 GHz is priced at $117.

Silicon Integrated Systems (SiS), a leading supplier of core logic products, today participates the RAMBUS Developer Forum Taiwan (RDF Taiwan), to be one of the key-note and showcase the latest upgrade Rambus memory chipset - SiSR659. Michael Chen, President and CEO of SiS, will deliver the RDF keynote address on "PC market trends, RDRAM memory relative technologies, and SiS' market positions". SiS will also host a joint press conference with RAMBUS following this forum. At the RDF Taiwan event, the SiSR659 is the highest performance product in Intel Pentium 4 platforms. Utilizing a high speed that supports quad channel 1200 MHz RDRAM, the SiSR659 delivers an outstanding 9.6 GB/s of memory bandwidth (theoretically, Ed.)- making it the fastest chipset on the market today. To support the high speed and capacity of RDRAM, SiS implements the new Advanced Hyperstreaming? Engine (AHSE) architecture to give the SiSR659 full compatibility with 800 MHz FSB CPUs. The SiSR659 brings overall system operations to an unsurpassed performance level.

Crow over at Darkcrow.co.kr sends word that he's scooped some photo's and spec's for simFUSION 6000q ATI R300 X 4 quad VGA card!

Half a grand is a lot of money to spend on a graphics cards. In this article TweakTown examine visual gaming performance of ATI's latest GPU, the Radeon 9800 XT, in Counter-Strike, NHL 2004, Max Payne 2, Midnight Club II and Halo PC to work out if it is really worth spending all those dollars.

DFI, a worldwide leader in mainstream and performance desktop motherboard solutions, today launched its latest revisions to the unique LANParty line of motherboards ? LANParty NFII Ultra B and LANParty PRO875B. The new LANParty NFII Ultra B for the AMD platform combines popular features from the previous version while incorporating many performance integrations making it a LAN gamer's dream motherboard. The new LANParty PRO875B for the Intel ® platform supports the latest Intel Pentium 4 3.20 GHz processor Extreme Edition and the CMOS Reloaded technology to deliver one unmatchable gaming platform. Revision B General New Features Dual Gigabit LAN and 10/100 Ethernet Extra space around the AGP slot Additional south bridge heat sink to maximize cooling Mounting holes around the CPU socket for water cooling Latest Silicon Image 4-channel Serial ATA

If still another proof was required that the in-development PowerVR Series 5 (Series 3 = KYRO I/II/SE, Series 4 = finished, but never hit store shelves because of STMicro's omission as a chip manufacturer) VPU actually equals a Pixel and Vertex Shader 3.0 capable hardware piece then PowerVR Technologies - a division of Imagination Technologies Ltd. - has revealed that fact alone by some new developer relations 3D demo examples. This puts PowerVR technically on the same level with the upcoming next-gen accelerators ATI R420 and Nvidia's NV40. We can (safely) assume that the new techdemos are pinpointing in which direction PowerVR has tuned their VPU development process. The company also seems to have extended the "deferred rendering" (deferred rendering technology dramatically increases the efficiency of the 3D engine for maximum performance beyond standard z-culling technology. By maximizing effective bandwidth, deferred rendering does not leave extreme gamers short during peak 3D performance levels) concept to "deferred shading" and this to an extent where they are able to present a working demo of it. Now where do you run PS 3.0 demos on? PS 3.0 capable hardware...

Toms Hardware Guide have posted their DVD writer roundup which includes 11 drives from LG, Mitsumi, Philips, Sony and Pioneer just to name a few! Here's a snip.

Fewer than three years ago, mainstream recordable DVD players cost more than $400. To add to the pain were several different recordable DVD format standards, which rendered some DVDs incompatible with different standard players.

Josh Walrath over at PenStar Systems has thrown up his new editorial, called The Shocking State of 3D Affairs Cutting Through the Smoke and Hype! Here's a rip.

Since the official release of the GeForce FX 5800, NVIDIA has been under attack by the press and enthusiasts everywhere for their products apparent lack of performance against ATI?s competing Radeon R3x0 series of cards and chips. Since NVIDIA had such an extensive fan and loyalty base, many users have felt betrayed and let down by the company.

Microsoft has announced the release of a portable mp3 player in 2004. The player will cost about $350US upon launch. With the Creative Jukebox, Apple iPod and many more such devices on the market.. will you pay $350 for a Microsoft made player?

Are you a DJ? Have you always wanted to be one? Are you bored and full of cash? Hothardware has posted a review of Hercules USB DJ console. Initially you may wonder what H.H. is doing with a DJ Console. Well, it just so happens that this deck is more than meets the eye. One should able to throw down some "mad beats" with this deck. However, once you are done with the wheels of steel, you can kick back with your favorite DVD/Game and enjoy the 24bit, 5.1 surround sound. In turn, not only is the Console a tool that the aspiring DJ may benefit from, but it also happens to be an important differentiating product in the Hercules line of audio output devices.

nVnews got their grubby mits on an Nvidia GeforceFX 5950 and have run it through the gauntlet for your viewing pleasure. There has been much talk about Nvidia's latest entry to the enthusiest market and maybe this review will help clear things up. The new GeForce FX 5700 Ultra is a result of this alliance and will supplant the GeForce FX 5600 Ultra in the mainstream market. The high-end of the GeForce FX lineup is also getting a refresh as the GeForce FX 5950 Ultra will be replacing the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra.

ViperLair has posted a review of the TekGems Winamp remote control. What the fsck is that you ask? Whilst the remote isn't designed for Winamp, it will facilitate remote control of Winamp in an easy manner akin to that of any basic stereo. Whilst the design not being exclusively for Winamp is a disadvantage, this can be turned around in allowing you to use the remote for multiple programs through Girder.

ATi chairman and CEO Ho Kwok-yuen has issued a statement that says ATi will capture at least 50% of the Chinese clone-market and as much as 70% of the Chinese OEM market by the end of the year.
The increase in market share is supposedly because of a successful product line and a rebate of $1-5 per chip, depending on the product line.
For more info visit digitimes

The guys at BitBenderTech have posted a review of the Chieftec Dragon aluminum case. If you're looking to LAN in style, this might be the case for you. This case should be great to work with, there's plenty of room and features, and the side panel with the fan is a definite plus. If you are looking for an aluminum case that has a lot to offer, you can't go wrong with this Chieftec design.

This concerns yet another patent dispute where The University of Wisconsin believe that Sony has infringed on one of their patents that covers advanced chip making technology such as a MIPS core with extensions.
The representative from Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation thinks that the lawsuit will make Sony consider paying a licence fee for the 60+ million PS2 chips shipped so far.

news.com.com

Just got word that PC Stats have thrown up their XGI Volari preview! Here's a snip.

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?"

Just spotted this bit of news over at Digit-life.

GeiL known by its overclocker memory started making graphics cards, and through habit they turned out to be overclocker as well. The GeiL GT2 Radeon 9800 Pro based on ATI's Radeon 9800 Pro GPU ? has considerably higher clock speeds comparing to the serial models ? 445/740MHz vs. 380/680 MHz. It's also interesting that GeiL will also ship BIOS reworked to support changed memory timings.

My good mate Crow @ Darkcrow.co.kr sent me word earlier today that he had Spec's for Aeolus FX5700 Ultra video card! Nvidia have kept the spec's to their FX 5700 Ultra under closes wraps until now!