The Inquirer

"It looks like Nvidia is firing on no cylinders lately. The firm can't seem to get a product out on time. There is one bright spot: the count on the 9600GT delays has gone up by 50 per cent.

That may not be a bright spot, but the so far twice delayed 9600GT, appears to have been recalled. Some OEMs are getting the call to yank them, others not yet, or not at the time they talked to us. What this means is more and more delay, this time we are not sure how much though. An educated guess would be CeBIT, because what else are they going to launch there?

Oh yes, we probably should mention that the 9800X2, or whatever they call it, has also moved from CeBIT to the end of March, for now. Before you get all hot and bothered, this is basically a couple of downclocked G92s on 2 PCBs.

It will be decently fast, but it will also be expensive. The cheapest we can find a G92 based GT with 512MB memory is about $210, and a GTS for about $260. That compares to $185 and $210 for the ATI 3850 and 3870 respectively. This means that he NV cards have a premium over the ATI cards at all points.

Toss in that NV can't make them on one PCB, duals are expensive, as are board cut-outs, and you have a huge price premium over the 3870X2. Add in that OEMs hate dual PCB boards, and you are looking at another losing streak in the making. Are we staring down the barrel of another 7950? NV could not show working boards at CES, so, like Hybrid, things are looking grim.

There is a bit of good news though, the 8800GT is going to have a price drop in short order, as sill most of the lower line (8600 and down). We are not sure how much, but look for $10-20."

LINK 

VR-Zone

"Multi-GPU technology has come a long way in consumer graphics acceleration. A while ago, we looked at 3-Way SLI (courtesy of Asus) and emphasised the importance of system power in driving the Multi-GPU graphical subsystem. Multi-GPU systems also often necessitate the use of specific motherboard chipsets that support a particular brand of multi-GPU solution. This is understandably, an anal situation for consumers who seek to upgrade their graphics without switching chipsets. What use is the constant marketing blabber on the goodness of HD gaming when upgrading graphics acceleration for HD displays is an issue?

While industry watchers may comment that the discrete graphics acceleration market is far from saturated, two strongholds are all it takes for an almighty pixel warfare to break out. The need for a single-card, motherboard chipset independent graphics acceleration product becomes apparent. Previously, Asus, Galaxy and Sapphire have pushed out products utilising two GPUs on a single expansion card, yet these unacknowledged products were merely the technological equivalent of a warhead parade - taunts that instilled fear in enemies and drew new allies.

This creates the niche for multi-GPU (read: dual-GPU) solutions which don't require hardware upgrades other than the graphics accelerator itself. Before the GeForce 9800GX2 hits the market (or NDA for that matter), AMD has already sneaked it's 3870X2 into stores around the globe."

LINK 

Digitimes

"Intel is planning to rename its brand name for the upcoming notebook Montevina platform to Centrino 2 in order to clear up confusion for consumers, according to sources at notebook makers.

Intel has used the brand name Centrino for four generations of its notebook platforms including Carmel, Sonoma, Napa and Santa Rosa. Although the technology and specifications have continued to improve, the unchanging brand name has left consumers unable to identify the differences, which has also lowered recognition in the market.

Notebook makers agree with Intel's decision, since they believe most consumers do not familiar with the specifics of each platform and codename. The new marketing strategy should give consumers the feeling of a tangible upgrade and will hopefully spur replacement demand.

Intel is set to launch the Centrino 2 platform in Computex Taipei 2008 along with six 45nm notebook CPUs, all with a 1066MHz FSB. Core speeds will range between 2.26-3.06GHz and prices between US$209-851 in 1000-unit tray quantities."

LINK

CPU3D Exclusive: 4-Way Crossfire with Radeon HD38xx Cards

Thanks to one of forums members who kindly loaned us 2 of his Radeon HD3870 graphics cards ... we're now able to test this much talked about 4-Way Crossfire setup. We will be using a beta Catalyst driver v8.45a, which isn't officially supported yet and might not even support 4-way Crossfire ... but it's the closest we'll get right now.

We'v expecting some good scores, but something tells me ... there won't be a huge increase from your standard Crossfire with 2 x HD3870 Cards. What I really wanted to know, is whether ATI's future Catalyst drivers can give this 4-Way Crossfire a real good performance boost. 

Read the rest of the article ... HERE

Reuters

"Alibaba Group, the Chinese Internet firm, will seek a stronger voice for its management team in Microsoft's talks to acquire Yahoo, Alibaba's largest shareholder, a source said on Monday.

Based on the original agreement with Yahoo, which owns 39 percent of Alibaba, the Chinese company is in a very strong position to influence how shares would be transferred to any new owner, said the source, who is close to Alibaba.

The problem is a perception by Beijing authorities that an important Chinese firm could come under the control of Microsoft Corp, which has a reputation of using monopolistic tactics, said the source, who is familiar with a team of bankers and lawyers assembled by Alibaba to review its options.

Officials at Alibaba declined to comment."

More........

Reuters

"An impending end to a format war over next-generation DVDs boosted shares in both victorious Sony, in the Blu-ray corner, and Toshiba, in the losing HD DVD camp, on Monday as consumers cheered an end to confusion over which discs will carry high-definition movies.

Shares in Toshiba Corp, which a company source said was planning to axe its HD DVD format, jumped nearly 6 percent as analysts praised a move to cut its losses, while Sony Corp shares rose 1 percent.

The Blu-ray win means consumers seeking sharper movies on high-definition DVDs no longer have to choose between rival incompatible formats and run the risk of being stuck with a 21st century equivalent of Betamax -- Sony's videotape technology that lost out to VHS in the 1980s."

More......

DailyTech

"Toshiba still mum on HD DVD future, investors happy in hope of format dénouement. Following speculation last week that Toshiba would soon abandon the HD DVD format that it had helped bring to market, onlookers were waiting with bated breath for a follow-up statement from the Japanese company on Monday morning.

Even with apparent industry insiders claiming that Toshiba would drop HD DVD support, a company spokeswoman told the AFP that it is still considering its options.

"We have not made any official decision yet," a Toshiba spokeswoman said, though acknowledged that Warner’s move to Blu-ray Disc did have a ripple effect. "We are cautiously assessing market movements as it is true that Warner Brother's decision to sell titles exclusively on Blu-rays affected our sales in January."

More......

Bit-Tech

"There's no doubt that watercooling looks ace, and that it can cool better than air can under higher-heat circumstances. But there's also a lot of risk and a bit of fiddling with any loop. What if it leaks? What if there is an algae build up? How about corrosion?

The easiest way to avoid these questions is to just not use water. No, I don't mean throw your loop out – I mean fill it with something different! There are quite a few products out there that claim to be safer than good old distilled water, but also better for your loop – in more ways than one.

Non-Conductive fluids aren't water, and they each have their own strengths or weaknesses. They won't fry your system for a small leak, they can't grow algae, and they are usually chemically designed to prevent multi-metal corrosion inside your loop. Many of them even claim to be better than water at cooling. The downside? They can set you back a pretty penny.

Are they right, or are they full of it? "

Continued.......

Nordic Hardware

"The ATI Radeon HD 4000 series is slated for late Q2. Information about the high-end RV770 has been leaking onto the web, from here and there, but the exact specifications has remained in the shadows. German hardware site Hartware.net has gotten their hands on what seems to be pretty authentic information. As far as we can tell, it looks believable and matches the rumors going around. We're still far away from the launch and the figures are subject to change. We also have some information on our own to share with you."

Link........

Anandtech

Penryn Overclocking Preview of the ASRock Penryn 1600SLI-110dB - are you kidding me?
 
It seems as of late that the spotlight in the world of motherboards has definitely been on the Intel X38/X48 and NVIDIA 780i/790i chipsets with the introduction of the Wolfdale and Yorkfield processor families. These are the latest and greatest chipsets in the market (X38/780i) or will be (X48/790i) shortly. While the peformance of these chipsets are impressive, so are the prices. In fact, boards based on these chipsets are outside the budget requirements of many who might be thinking an upgrade to the new Penryn series of processors is in order. An upgrade that looks very attractive considering the price and performance of the E8400 (3.0GHz) dual core or the upcoming Q9300 (2.5GHz) quad core compared to the early Core 2 Duo processors.

Link......