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Slautech has posted a Blowhole How To First thing you need to do is layout where you want to place the opening on the face, then determine how much clearance you have between the faceplate and the frame. I did this with a caliper, you can do the same thing with a small stick by slipping it though a hole in the center of the frame(deepest point) and marking it. Read more

T-Break has posted a review on the Arctic Silver II Thermal paste. Everyone needs good thermal compound or thermal glue. Artic Silver surprised all their competitors when they showed up on the scene a while back. Recently we contacted them and requested a sample of their Thermal Compound and Thermal Adhesive. The good people over at Arctic Silver agreed so low and behold, today we´ll be taking a look at their two products. Read more

ActiveWin reports that Windows XP is scheduled to be made available to MSDN Professional/Universal subscribers on Friday September 21st. Read more

Hexus has posted a review on the Gainwood Geforce 3 video card. Like everyone apart from Asus it seems, Gainward have stuck faithfully to the NVIDIA reference design for their GeForce3. The PCB layout is familiar and the memory chips are the same 3.8ns EliteMT chips we are used to on current GeForce3’s. Here is a quick list of the important features on the Gainward to give you an idea of the power and features this card has. Being the VIVO version, it’s absolutely stuffed to the brim with extras........ Read more

Hexus has posted a SDRam shootout. RAM is RAM isn´t it, right? Wrong. You know that and I know that. OK then RAM at 150cas2 is RAM at 150cas2 isn´t it? No, its not -it varies from stick to stick quite dramatically. In this test, we will look at the following types of RAM Read more

3D Game Man has put up a new video review. This time on the TKO 2002 - IN-Win Q500N 24" Tower Case. Check it out

PC Stats has posted a review on the Thermaltake Orange Orb BGA Heatsink First impressions of the new Orange orb (´Oorb´) are somewhat uninspiring. As compared to the Blue orb, both the heatsink and the fan are noticeably smaller in terms of depth, and in fact the whole thing looks very similar in dimensions to any of the stock HSF combos to be found on say Asus, Leadtek or MSI Geforce 3 cards. On the bright side, this means that the Oorb will not eat up your first PCI slot like the Blorb would. Read more

Accelenation has posted a review on the ECS K7S5A SiS735 board. ECS´ philosophy is to design stable, simple motherboards for the masses. Historically, none of ECS´ boards have been great for overclocking. However, the selling point is that their boards sell for really low prices without compensating stability or performance. Read more

A new version of Tweak XP is out. Thanks CestLaVie. Tweak-XP - The tweaking eXPerience. The First Tweaking And Tuning Utility Especially For Windows XP. Unlike other tweaking utilities, Tweak-XP bundles more than 22 different utilities in one: tweaks, tools, hardware optimizations and a lot more - too much to list here... Download Update for 1.14/1.15

.... Windows XP Ready for Release to Manufacturing REDMOND, Wash., August 24, 2001 -- If you think retailers, PC makers and customers are glad that Microsoft. finished development of its new Windows XP operating system today and began the process of manufacturing and distributing the software, consider Jack Mayo. He had to eat mealworms to get to this point. Mayo, project manager for Windows XP, doesn´t make a habit of eating bugs. But two months ago, Mayo and other top managers on the Windows XP development team knew they needed to keep morale high if they were going to meet today’s "release to manufacturing" (RTM) date -- the final milestone in ensuring that millions of retail packages and pre-loaded PCs would be ready as promised for the product’s official debut, set for October 25. Read more

Ahead Software has released a new version of their CD burning software Nero. Thanks CestLaVie. Download

Thanks to CestLaVie for this one: Windows 2000 Patch: Double-Byte Field Name in an .asp File is Improperly Encoded When Using UTF-8 Microsoft has released a patch for IIS5.0 that addresses a problem that occurs when you save an .asp file as UTF-8 and it contains fields in a form that have double-byte character names, the name is improperly encoded on the server-side when posted. Read more

The newest judge to preside over the fortunes of the world´s largest software company may be best known for her decision to spare thousands of Canada geese from government-orchestrated slaughter. U.S. District Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly will oversee all aspects of the federal government´s sweeping antitrust case against Microsoft, but the longtime Washington, D.C., resident has little experience with antitrust cases--or business cases in general. Read more

RioVolt has released a new beta firmware. Thanks Mark. Download

3D Spotlight has posted a review on 3 coolers from Speeze. The 5E32B3 is a traditional, low cost, all aluminium design. It is a similar sort of build to other overkill coolers such as the FOP3x. However the fan is much smaller. It is a 60 mm 4000 rpm model, outputting 17.1 CFM. This is rather disappointing; especially given the now infamous delta black label (as employed on rival high performance heatsinks) outputs 38 CFM. Read more

GideonTech has posted a review on the NanoTherm Ice/Blue Thermal Paste I smeared the Nanotherm Ice, Nanotherm Blue and Arctic Silver II onto a hard plastic surface. I was curious as to the feel and touch of the compound. From initial impressions, the Ice and Blue compound was a little tighter and stickier than ASII. ASII created a more smoother and... Read more

TweakTown has put up a review on the Nanotherm Nanocomposite Thermal Compound Arctic Silver has long been the reigning champion when it comes to Thermal Interface Materials. A newcomer has stepped into the ring and wants to give the giant some competition. Take a walk with TweakTown as we test out the Nanotherm Thermal Compound and see whether it can stand up to the challenge. Read more

PC Stats has posted a review on the Intel D850GB P4 motherboard Thermally speaking the D850GB comes equipped with some very interesting fan controls. I can just imagine the Intel motherboard designers huddling over the drawing board, cappuccinos in hand, having a heated discussion about how many fan headers to include... Perhaps one of the younger engineers with an eye towards cost cutting was arguing for only three fan headers. Another engineer, who if you think along the lines of the godfather for a moment, leans back in their chair and says in their most mob-boss like tone; "No! I giva youa four fan headers!" What ever the story really was, the fact remains that the D850GB comes with four fan headers, two of which are thermally controlled by the BIOS. The two thermally controlled fan headers (Fan1, Fan2) can adjust fan speed depending on the input received by the system boards thermal sensors. If RPM sensor enabled fans (the third wire on the fan lead) are used the tachometer signal will be sent to the ADM1031 controller which will scale back, or increase the speed of the fans to compensate for the thermal condition. Read more

Adrian´s Rojak Pot has posted a news bit about problems with the NVIDIA nForce chipset and the latest update on the ABIT NV7. I recently heard that nForce motherboards may be further delayed. So, I tossed that rumour around and true enough, reliable sources hinted that NVIDIA is encountering some problems with the nForce chipset and earlier production and shipping projections are now off. Read more

TweakTown has posted a Broadband Connection tweaking guide So you have DSL, cable or another type of broadband connection and feel like a king now? No? Or are you expecting more speed? That’s what I thought! In this guide you will find out how to optimize your broadband connection to get the maximum speed, the right way, without any fancy programs or hacks! Read more

New Soundblaster Live! drivers for Windows XP are at Windows Update available. Thanks Adrian. Visit Windows Update

Accelenation.com has posted their review on the Acorp 6A815EPD dual i815EP motherboard. They said it couldn´t be done, but the people at Acorp have gone and done it. I must say, that even with all the speed, hype, and low-cost associated with single processor setups right now, I am still a dually-loving freak at heart, so when Acorp announced a dual i815E board, meaning I would have a comparable alternative to the VIA Apollo Pro 133A, I was elated. Read more

Microsoft has released Windows XP RTM (Build 2600) to the beta testers. Thanks NaTaN. The follow version are available: Windows XP Home Edition (180 day "beta" version) Windows XP Professional (120 Day Evaluation version) Windows XP Professional Checked Version (For Developers) Windows XP Professional 64 Bit (180 day "beta" version) Windows XP Professional 64 Bit Checked Version (For Developers) Visit Windows Beta Website

Microsoft on Friday will host a celebration marking the release of Windows XP to PC manufacturers, but the big question is how much interest the company can generate for the software. At a lavish ceremony at the company´s Redmond, Wash., headquarters, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates and Jim Allchin, group vice president and head of the Windows effort, are expected to present each PC maker representative with a Windows XP-branded briefcase containing a master disc with the operating system´s final--or gold--code. The group then is supposed to board a helicopter and fly off while the two Microsoft executives wave. Read more

Microsoft has confirmed Windows XP pricing which was leaked onto the web overnight, as it sent gold disks to PC makers today. But a leading UK analyst has warned users they have nothing to gain by upgrading yet. Read more