WWW Stuff
Poster: Aron Schatz
Posted on October 21, 2002 at 2:46:24 PM
Time again for another world wide watch...
Soltek SL-75DRV5 is on the bench at Voidedwarrenty.
This board uses the VIA KT333 chipset. One thing that I like about this board is the lack of onboard crap that most other boards have. Personally I could care less about USB 2.0 as I don't have any devices that would use it. When I do have or need something that is USB 2.0 compatible, it will probably be time for a new board anyway
Powercolor Radeon 9700 Pro at [H].
Overall, PowerColorÂ’s package is a very solid deal. The carrying case is a thoughtful idea that may make a difference to some people and may not mean a hoot to someone else. The manual is complete, giving you a very good guide about the drivers and setup. It comes with all the cables and adapters you need. Last but not least, the driver CD actually comes with the full version of MMC 7.8 including the ATI DVD player. This means you'll have all the software you need right in the box for you. The best thing about this will be the price, as you can find most Powered by ATI cards for less than Built by ATI cards.
Tech-Report ask if AGP8x is worth it.
I have to wonder if AGP 8X will ever matter much to GeForce4-class GPUs, especially the MX 440 with its aging GeForce core. Who knows? Perhaps AGP 8X will help older cards stave off obsolescence for a few more months when a new wave of games with larger textures arrives. Perhaps.
SATA drive with 60GB platters at Explosive Labs.
From what I have mentioned, the other companies are quickly responding to the industry 60GB technology. Each have their distinctive plans on how to implement it. Hopefully, this R&D industry improvement will only help further the SATA initiative. Understandably, many people have voiced their concerns over overhauling their systems to the SATA standard. Some are curious as to how far they have to upgrade their systems. From what I have heard and seen, adapters will available for old ATA/100 interfaces to accept SATA drives, such as for IDE ATA/100 connectors on older and current motherboards. There will even be PCI controller cards to take advantage of SATA/150 bandwidth on older and current motherboards that relieve you of having to upgrade that component completely. There will even be a vice versa solution for a while. Initially, IDE SATA/150 motherboards will most likely include adapters to use older ATA/100 drives. Solutions like this will be phased out and hard to find, once SATA goes into full industry effect. Though, this entire process will most likely take a few years, if not more.
Here is an excellent review at Lost Circuits from Iwill MPX2.
The MPX2 is still a conundrum, it has no features at all. There is no onboard sound but then nobody needs sound in a server anyway and for any workstation of this caliber, I doubt that there would be anything adequate unless we are talking about the tube amps on the latest high-end series of AOpen boards.
Hexus and SiS 648.
Although overclocking potential was lacking from this motherboard, stability wasn't. I left it running SETI overnight using Ultra memory timings and 1.6v Vcore. It was, quite expectedly, still crunching 12 hours later.
SS51 at Viperlair.
Compaq mouse surface @ MTB.
Cooler Master Rounded cables @ Monster
Soltek SL-75DRV5 is on the bench at Voidedwarrenty.
This board uses the VIA KT333 chipset. One thing that I like about this board is the lack of onboard crap that most other boards have. Personally I could care less about USB 2.0 as I don't have any devices that would use it. When I do have or need something that is USB 2.0 compatible, it will probably be time for a new board anyway
Powercolor Radeon 9700 Pro at [H].
Overall, PowerColorÂ’s package is a very solid deal. The carrying case is a thoughtful idea that may make a difference to some people and may not mean a hoot to someone else. The manual is complete, giving you a very good guide about the drivers and setup. It comes with all the cables and adapters you need. Last but not least, the driver CD actually comes with the full version of MMC 7.8 including the ATI DVD player. This means you'll have all the software you need right in the box for you. The best thing about this will be the price, as you can find most Powered by ATI cards for less than Built by ATI cards.
Tech-Report ask if AGP8x is worth it.
I have to wonder if AGP 8X will ever matter much to GeForce4-class GPUs, especially the MX 440 with its aging GeForce core. Who knows? Perhaps AGP 8X will help older cards stave off obsolescence for a few more months when a new wave of games with larger textures arrives. Perhaps.
SATA drive with 60GB platters at Explosive Labs.
From what I have mentioned, the other companies are quickly responding to the industry 60GB technology. Each have their distinctive plans on how to implement it. Hopefully, this R&D industry improvement will only help further the SATA initiative. Understandably, many people have voiced their concerns over overhauling their systems to the SATA standard. Some are curious as to how far they have to upgrade their systems. From what I have heard and seen, adapters will available for old ATA/100 interfaces to accept SATA drives, such as for IDE ATA/100 connectors on older and current motherboards. There will even be PCI controller cards to take advantage of SATA/150 bandwidth on older and current motherboards that relieve you of having to upgrade that component completely. There will even be a vice versa solution for a while. Initially, IDE SATA/150 motherboards will most likely include adapters to use older ATA/100 drives. Solutions like this will be phased out and hard to find, once SATA goes into full industry effect. Though, this entire process will most likely take a few years, if not more.
Here is an excellent review at Lost Circuits from Iwill MPX2.
The MPX2 is still a conundrum, it has no features at all. There is no onboard sound but then nobody needs sound in a server anyway and for any workstation of this caliber, I doubt that there would be anything adequate unless we are talking about the tube amps on the latest high-end series of AOpen boards.
Hexus and SiS 648.
Although overclocking potential was lacking from this motherboard, stability wasn't. I left it running SETI overnight using Ultra memory timings and 1.6v Vcore. It was, quite expectedly, still crunching 12 hours later.
SS51 at Viperlair.
Compaq mouse surface @ MTB.
Cooler Master Rounded cables @ Monster