ATI Interview

The crew at Hardware Fanatics has posted an interesting interview with ATI’s Senior Product Manager, Terry Makedon. There is actually a lot of good info in the interview, here is a bit on OpenGL performance:

HF – We continue to hear many journalists, programmers, and enthusiasts say that ATI’s OpenGL drivers do not offer all of the performance that they could. Could you talk a bit about your OpenGL driver development efforts and what is being done to close the performance gap with your competitors?
TM – There is no gap to close. With our latest X1000 series of products and with the latest beta driver posted (which, by the way, will be a full Catalyst driver in November) we are actually ahead of the competition in real gaming scenarios. A few Websites are showing these numbers so far, and I urge HF to do such a review to show these results.
There is also a secondary project going on to re-write certain parts of our OpenGL driver. This is not expected to give big performance boosts, but just generally will improve stability, and clean up the code a bit.

F.E.A.R. Retail Patch 1.02

A new retail patch for F.E.A.R. is now online, upgrading the US edition of the recent supernatural first-person shooter by Monolith Productions to version 1.02. This Halloween-themed update adds the new Asylum multiplayer map, along with making preparations for the upcoming SDK/mod tools and fixing some localization issues.

Nvidia’s 7800GS Graphics Card To Debut Soon

It’s been roughly a quarter or so since the availability of NVIDIA’s 7800GTX and already speculation is circulating online that NVIDIA is preparing a new launch during the month of November. While we can confirm that NVIDIA will indeed be announcing something new, we can’t say exactly when they will do it, but it’ll occur in November.What we have discovered, however, thanks to some clever users, is that NVIDIA may potentially announce two products: the GeForce 7800GS and a 512MB version of the current GeForce 7800GTX. From the evidence, we believe that NVIDIA plans to introduce a new entry-level model and to accompany the top-end 7800GTX 512MB to give consumers more choices, both in features and in price.

Havok Intros Havok FX Engine To Compute Physics Effects On GPUs

Havok announces plans to support GPU-accelerated physics through Havok FX™. This new product from Havok will utilize the native power of Shader Model 3 class graphics cards to deliver physics effects that integrate seamlessly with Havok’s industry-leading game-play physics technology found in Havok Complete™. Havok FX will be cross-platform and will take advantage of current and next-generation GPU technology to deliver eye-popping effects that visually enhance the gaming experience.

Havok FX will allow developers to leverage the growing installed base of cutting edge graphics cards and their powerful, standardized APIs - to offload floating-point operations that are necessary for simulating a broad-range of dynamic visual effects. What kinds of effects will Havok FX™ enable?

Havok FX will enable dynamic in-game effects that are based upon rigid-body collisions and constraints – including debris, smoke, fog, and ultimately simulated liquids - but on a scale that goes well beyond the magnitude and volume of objects normally simulated in CPU-based game-play physics. By performing simulation, collision detection and rendering directly on the GPU, Havok FX avoids the transfer of large amounts of data between the CPU and GPU, enabling a level of performance never seen before in physics simulation. Because physics effects generated by Havok FX demand less interaction with game-play physics and CPU-side AI interaction, a far greater number of objects– and resulting detail- can be achieved.

Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet For Windows XP

The Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet adds a new 'Color' item to the Windows control panel, providing a single place to view and edit color management settings in Windows XP. Using it, you can install and uninstall color profiles, change color profile associations for displays, printers and scanners, view detailed properties for color profiles (including a 3D rendering of the color space gamut), and rename color profiles, keeping the filenames and "internal" names consistent. This tool also enables Windows to automatically adjust the gamut curve of the display when a color profile containing gamut table information is set as the default profile for the display.

Typically, such profiles are created by custom monitor calibration tools, such as those available from ColorVision, GretagMacbeth, and X-Rite. If a color profile has this information, it is shown with an asterisk (*) in the user interface. Using the Microsoft Color Control Panel Applet, you can:

• Install and uninstall ICC color profiles
• Inspect, rename, and compare two different color profiles
• View a 3D graphics plot of color profile color gamuts
• Associate color profiles with devices such as printers, monitors, and scanners
• Apply custom color gamut adjustments to one or more displays “on the fly”
• Set up display calibration reminders at intervals you specify

Note: .NET Framework is required.

Microsoft .NET Framework 2.0 Final Released

The Microsoft .NET Framework version 2.0 redistributable package installs the .NET Framework runtime and associated files required to run applications developed to target the .NET Framework v2.0.The .NET Framework version 2.0 improves scalability and performance of applications with improved caching, application deployment and updating with ClickOnce, support for the broadest array of browsers and devices with ASP.NET 2.0 controls and services. For more information on the .NET Framework 2.0, click here.

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast Available Now

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast is now available for play for all Half-Life 2 owners.Half-Life 2: Lost Coast, a single-player level custom-created to showcase High-Dynamic Range lighting (HDR) in the Source engine, is available now to all owners of HL2. As a technology showcase, Half-Life 2: Lost Coast's system requirements are very high. During installation, Steam will prompt you if your system does not meet the recommended configuration.

Nvidia Official Beta ForceWare 81.87

Nvidia today also released a new official beta ForceWare driver version 81.87 that fixes problems with Call of Duty 2. Among the issues fixed are:

• GeForce 6 and 7 Series GPUs, Windows XP: Improved compatibility and performance on GPUs when playing Call of Duty 2.
• GeForce 7800 GT/GTX: Reflections are corrupt when set to high in Serious Sam 2.
• GeForce 7800 GT/GTX: There is screen corruption when panning in overscan shift mode.
• GeForce 7800 GT/GTX: Cyan-colored pixels appear randomly on the water tower in F.E.A.R.
• GeForce Go 7800 GTX, Sager system: LCD compressed scaling mode is not retained after rebooting the system.
• GeForce 6800: After switching playback from one DVR-MS file to another, the second file experiences dropped frames.
• GeForce 6800 GT, GeForce FX 5950 Ultra: Medal of Honor: Pacific Assault has sky and ship rendering artifacts.
• GeForce 6800/ 6600: Silent Hunter III characters located outside experience random fogging effects.
• GeForce 7800 GT/GTX, GeForce 6800 Ultra, SLI: The NVIDIA panel intermittently prompts for a reboot after enabling dynamic SLI coming out of Dualview.
• [SLI]: It is not possible to reliably switch the output to a specific display after enabling SLI.
• [SLI]: The screen goes blank after switching to the flat panel display on the second GPU once after rebooting the system.

New Official Nvidia nForce4 Drivers AMD Edition

Nvidia has released new standalone driver updates for their nForce4 AMD edition platform. The version is 6.70 and is WHQL certified. This release includes general compatibility fixes for nForce4 AMD Edition motherboards, according to the release notes.

Windows XP/2000 Driver Versions

• Audio driver version 4.62 (WHQL)
• Audio utility version 4.51
• Ethernet NRM driver version 4.82 (WHQL)
• Network management tools version 4.88
• SMBus driver version 4.50 (WHQL)
• Installer version 4.93
• IDE PATARAID driver version 5.52
• IDE SATARAID driver version 5.52 (WHQL)
• IDE SATA_IDE driver version 5.52 (WHQL)
• RAIDTOOL application version 5.52

Nvidia has also released a new driver package for their nForce4 X16 solutions. This includes nForce4 AMD X16 and nForce4 Intel X16 based motherboards. The version is 6.82 and is WHQL certified. According to the release notes this is the first driver release to support nForce4 AMD/Intel X16 motherboards.

Windows XP/2000 Driver Versions:

• Audio driver version 4.62 (WHQL)
• Audio utility version 4.51
• Ethernet NRM driver version 5.09 (WHQL)
• SMBus driver 4.45 (WHQL)
• Network management tools version 5.09
• SMBus driver version 4.5 (WHQL)
• Installer version 4.89
• IDE SATARAID driver version 5.52 (WHQL)
• IDE SATA_IDE driver version 5.52 (WHQL)
• RAIDTOOL application version 5.52

Nvidia To Launch GeForce 7800 GTX 512MB November 7th

Nvidia is planning a seven eleven style counter attack on the Radeon X1800XT. Just when ATI said it should be ready with the Radeon X1800XT, its overarching rival plans to reveal its Geforce 7800 GTX with 512MB of memory. As far as we know this card won't have different clock speeds from its 256MB brother but this could easily change.

Nvidia knows that ATI will be one or even two weeks late with the Radeon X1800XT as we don’t expect to see any cards before the twenty something of November, and Nvidia will be there to nail ATI with its 512 MB cards.

Mac OS X 10.4.3 Release Imminent

The most substantial update to Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger is nearing release, multiple indications suggest. Over the weekend Apple seeded developers with build 8F45, the first seed to not specify any known issues -- generally a good indicator that the update is almost ready for public consumption. Monday night, Apple released build 8F46 to testers.

Mac OS X 10.4.3 will weigh in at around 100MB and include more than 550 fixes and improvements, although unconfirmed reports have pegged this number at more than 1,000 when smaller, undocumented changes are included in the count. The latest seed added tweaks to CoreGraphics, CoreImage, and OpenGL, as well as iChat and WebKit, among other improvements.It is not known whether the update will correct issues plaguing owners of 1.8GHz Power Mac G5 (late 2004) systems running Tiger.

AMD Surpasses 20% Desktop Market Share

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) surpassed a 20% share of the desktop PC-use CPU market worldwide in the third quarter of 2005, its first time since 2001, according to Mercury Research. The vendor grabbed a 20.4% share, following Intel with 77.5%.

After the introduction of the Turion 64 mobile technology CPUs in August of this year, AMD’s notebook CPU shipments jumped by 55% sequentially in the third quarter.

Intel, however, continues to dominate the global CPU market with an 80.8% share in the third quarter, followed by AMD with 17.8%, the research firm stated. Intel’s share slid 1.4-percentage points sequentially, whereas AMD enjoyed a 1.6-percentage point growth.

Deepsilver's X3 : Reunion Soars To Gold

Deep Silver and Egosoft are excited to finally announce that X³: REUNION has gone gold and will be blasting to players PC’s from the 28th October 2005.

The sequel to the award-winning PC title X²: The Threat; X³: Reunion is an in-depth space simulation that thrusts players into an epic battle for control of the universe. The latest in graphics technology and a multi-purpose interface allow the player to fight, barter, pirate, police, steal and trade their way to domination. Featuring a real dynamically interactive AI and economic model, NPC pilots will help or hinder players on the way to salvation for the universe.

“In X³: Reunion, the universe has been developed with complete input from the fan community. A multitude of new missions, countless hidden items to find and unlock, NPCs to barter, trade and compete in factory building make for a challenged unparallel in the space simulation genre. The addition of new worlds, alien races and a plot that will keep you playing into long into the early hours, X³ propels space gaming back to the forefront of the gaming world in a way not seen since Elite was first released,” said Bernd Lehan, CEO EGOSOFT Studios. “With a unique open-ended style of game play, X³ is everything to all players: an action combat adventure, a trading simulation and a factory-building challenge, the player will think their way through the ultimate challenge in 21st century gaming.”

OCZ Announces New Heat Spreader For DDR Memory Modules

OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, announced the PC-3200 and PC-3500 Gold GX series modules which will be the first two products to utilize the latest OCZ heatspreader design. The new, patent-pending XTC (Xtreme Thermal Convection) Heatspreaders allow increased ventilation and heat dissipation due to an innovative honeycomb design providing more direct access to the actual memory ICs. The unique design used in the XTC heatspreaders optimizes the thermal management of memory modules by promoting greater airflow by means of micro-convection throughout what is usually the dead air space inside conventional heatspreader designs. In this manner, build-up of heat is avoided and thermal dissipation of the memory components is offloaded more efficiently through the honeycomb design. At the same time, mechanical stability is maintained.

“Memory modules that implement conventional, solid heatspreaders provide sufficient heat dissipation but do not adequately address the build up of heat pockets; The new Xtreme Thermal Convection Heatspreader design tackles this problem and more," commented Dr. Michael Schuette, VP of Technology Development at OCZ Technology. "Our goal is to get rid of the thermal load as quickly and efficiently as possible. A honeycomb perforation contour promotes the physical escape of hot air from the space in between the individual memory components, thus enhancing the performance of the high performance Gold GX series and preserving the life of the ICs and future parts to come.”

The PC-3200 and PC-3500 Gold Gamer eXtreme Series with 2-2-2-5 timings will be the first OCZ memory parts to include the new XTC heatspreader. The new Gold GX series modules are designed and qualified with special selection of premium components to maximize performance when playing even the most demanding graphics intensive games. With the addition of the new gold mirrored XTC heatspreader, the GX series in now better than ever. The PC-3200 & PC-3500 Gold GX XTC series will be available in 512MB modules and 1GB (2x512) dual channel optimized kits. All OCZ memory solutions come backed with an industry-leading lifetime warranty and toll-free, direct technical support.

AMD Processor Price Cuts

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) today cut prices for its mobile Turion 64, Athlon 64 X2, Athlon 64 for full-size notebooks, Sempron, and mobile Sempron CPUs for desktop PCs and notebooks, with the steepest reduction in the mobile Turion 64 line, according to the price list on the company’s website. In contrast, prices for its Opteron, Athlon 64, and Athlon 64 FX CPU lines remain unchanged. The AMD Athlon 64 CPUs for desktop replacements was no longer listed on the CPU price list released by the chip vendor.

AMD’s Socket M2 To Simplify Next-Generation CPU

Advanced Micro Devices (AMD) plans to simplify its 90nm CPU platform with its 940-pin Socket M2 CPU design, according to motherboard makers. As Intel schedules to unify desktop PC- and notebook-use processors in the second half of 2006, AMD is looking to standardize a full CPU line for entry-level, middle-range and high-end segments, indicated the makers.

AMD Taiwan declined to comment on the report.

AMD’s Socket M2 CPU line will originally target the high-end market, the makers said, noting that the chip vendor has informed them that the 940-pin platform will also be released for the mainstream and entry-level segments next year. AMD is now delivering samples of the next-generation CPU to its downstream customers, the makers added. During the platform migration, products that support the new Socket M2 and the old Socket 939 and 754 will still be on the market by the end of 2006, according to motherboard makers. The makers expect that AMD’s CPU standardization will help reduce production and handling costs.

New Version Of AVG Free Now Available

AVG Free Edition is the well-known anti-virus protection tool. AVG Free is available free-of-charge to home users for the life of the product! Rapid virus database updates are available for the lifetime of the product, thereby providing the high-level of detection capability that millions of users around the world trust to protect their computers. AVG Free is easy-to-use and will not slow your system down (low system resource requirements). The new version is 7.361.

New Microsoft IntelliPoint & IntelliType Drivers 5.4 Released

Microsoft has released updated versions of their mice and keyboard driver software IntelliPoint and IntelliType. The new version is 5.4.

The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Features Soundtrack By Jeremy Soule

Bethesda Game Studios announced today that Jeremy Soule, the award-winning composer who has been called “gaming’s greatest musician,” will create the soundtrack for the highly anticipated role-playing game (RPG), The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion. The score for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind (2002 Game of the Year, 2002 RPG of the Year), also created by Soule, received numerous accolades from industry professionals including “Game Soundtrack of the Year,” “Best Music and Sound Effects,” and “Outstanding Achievement in Original Composition.” A sample piece of music from Oblivion is available for download here.

"I’ve been working with Jeremy for a long time," said Todd Howard, executive producer for Oblivion, “and this is by far his best work. The game is an epic-fantasy-drama, and the score adds greatly to its dramatic appeal. What he has brought to Oblivion is extraordinary. I can’t wait for everyone to hear it.” Soule has also composed the soundtrack for the popular MMORPG Guild Wars.

Half-Life 2: Lost Coast This Week

This Steam news update has the word that at long last Valve's HDR tech demo Lost Coast is being released next week for Half-Life 2. After that is out, Valve plans to work on an update to the SDK as well as new content for Counter-Strike: Source and Day of Defeat: Source.

Black Widow Games Announces "They Hunger: Lost Souls"

Black Widow Games announced today the development of They Hunger: Lost Souls, its first commercial PC game powered by the award-winning Half-Life 2 Source engine from Valve Software. Based upon the highly popular They Hunger mod series, the upcoming title features a completely new horror-survival adventure. In North-Eastern Europe during the early 1960's, strange anomalies culminate with dead corpses rising from their graves. As a tourist recovering from a tragic accident, you seek shelter in an ancient monastery overrun by bloodthirsty zombies, and become involved in an escalading cascade of calamities.

"They Hunger: Lost Souls is a first-person action game planned to take full advantage of the superior graphics, physics and new gameplay possibilities provided by the new Source technology," said designer Neil Manke. "Without the previous technical restrictions of the now seven years old Half-Life 1 engine, we have been able to produce a brand new game far more exciting and creative than any simple sequel or remake could ever be. Fans of the original series should still recognize the basic gameplay style, although this is an independent story with no previous knowledge required."

The new game is currently 75% complete after being secretly produced for almost a year, and a release date will be announced shortly. Regarding the adoption of a commercial model for this production, Neil explained "Next generation game engines are so complex and detailed that we would never be able to invest so much time and resources for such an ambitious project any other way. Right now we are still working out the pricing and distribution options, but our goal is a low cost alternative so it can be available for just a fraction of other commercial games."

OpenAL Installer For Windows (Driver Update)

OpenAL is a cross-platform 3D audio API appropriate for use with gaming applications and many other types of audio applications.The library models a collection of audio sources moving in a 3D space that are heard by a single listener somewhere in that space. OpenAL is used in renowned titles such as Quake 4, Battlefield 2, UT 2004 or Doom 3.

The OpenAL Installer for Windows will install the OpenAL 1.1 library, enabling support for core OpenAL operations as well as extensions such as EAX. The installer supports any 32-bit version of Windows.

Updated October 19, 2005 - Version 1.8.0

Version note: Installs OpenAL32.dll version 6.14.357.11 and wrap_oal.dll version 2.0.0.0.

Changes and Bugfixes: The wrapper has been updated to support OpenAL 1.1 functionality. The router has been updated to fix a bug where instability or a crash could result from installing a native Creative OpenAL library and then removing the device without removing the driver.

OpenOffice 2.0 Final Released

OpenOffice.org Version 1 was the first product to deliver the benefits of open-source software to mass-market users, delivering essential everyday software tools completely free of charge. Translated into over 30 languages, available on all major computing platforms (Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X X11, GNU/Linux, Solaris), OpenOffice.org Version 1 is now in use by tens of millions of delighted users worldwide. With Version 2, it gets even better:

• the first office suite to use the new OASIS OpenDocument format, the future-proof international standard for office software
• easier to install, with a whole new look and feel, matched to the type of computer in use
  more intuitive, more easy to use than ever, with a host of new usability features
• introducing a major new component, Base: an easy-to-use database manager with a fully integrated database
• more compatible with other software packages – now understands even obscure and rarely used features in major competitors

But the licence is still the same: you may download OpenOffice.org Version 2 completely free of any licence fees, use it for any purpose– private, educational, government and public administration, commercial – and pass on copies free of charge to family, friends, students, employees, etc.

Sapphire Plans Radeon X1300/X1600 AGP Models?

Our collegues from german Hardware-Mag.de have acquired new information from Sapphire. The 1st tier ATI partner said on inquiry that they are currently planning to release at least Radeon X1300 and X1600 grpahics card for the now dated AGP bus. The article states that Sapphire's schedule wants to bring the new cards to retailers in late 2005 or early 2006. No comments were made on high end models based on X1800. Details on specifications or pricing were not available.

ATI Catalyst 5.10a Beta (Quake 4 & Serious Sam 2)

ATI has released a beta hotfix driver for their new Radeon X1k series of graphics cards (X1800/X1600/X1300) and the recently released 3D shooters Quake 4 and Serious Sam 2. Both games tend to show intermittent display quality issues with Radeon X1K graphic cards under Windows XP.

Users can download beta Catalyst 5.10a to resolve the problem. Note that this driver has not been thoroughly tested with other applications and is not WHQL certified.

G72 & G73 Info Plus Nvidia's Quest For A GPU Socket

We continue to hear new details about G72 and G73 here in Taiwan, and the latest batch of info from our vendors is that G72 and G73 will be pin compatible with NV40 and NV43. In other words, your next NVIDIA video card might have the same PCB from the 6600GT, but with a different GPU.

This means lower cost to the manufacturer - there is no need for new R+D or board designs. It also means G72 and G73 will launch very fast when the decision comes from NVIDIA as vendors can very easily switch production from the older chips to the new ones. Two vendors confirmed with us that they are already retooling their PCB for six pin 12V molex with the anticipation that G72 and G73 SLI might need the additional power, but even NVIDIA won't comment to the manufacturers at this point.

DivX Codec Updated To 6.03

DivX Inc. has released a silent update to the DivX Create and DivX Play bundles of which the latter is free. The DivX codec has been updated to version 6.03 and includes the enhancements listed below:

• Windows Explorer should now show thumbnails for DivX AVI files.
• The encoder now reports 24-bits per pixel similar to DivX 5 for compatibility with various applications.
• The DivX VFW decoder now has improved post-processing defaults and custom settings. Post-processing for the VFW decoder is disabled when it is set to 'Off' in the decoder configuration utility, set to full deblocking when 'Automatic Deblocking' is enabled, and set to full deblock + full dering when 'Fully Automatic' is enabled. Custom post-processing settings are also respected.
• The DivX DirectShow decoder now respects custom post-processing settings.
  When the DivX Settings Manager (DivXSM.exe) is not registered, the DirectShow decoder now uses full deblocking, no deringing, Generic MPEG-4 support and no logo overlay by default.
• The DivX decoder no longer executes an SSE instruction in an MMX routine that caused undesirable behavior on older processors.
• DivX 3 playback no longer fails when 'Use advanced hardware overlay' is enabled in the Decoder Configuration Utility.
• The DivX Settings Manager is no longer loaded when DirectShow attempts to connect the DivX decoder filter if the connection is ultimately rejected.
• Windows Media Player should no longer search online for codecs when all necessary codecs are already available.
• The DivX Pro trial dialogs will now allow you to activate any DivX product with a valid serial number.
• Serial number dialogs now strip invalid characters.
• Serial number dialogs now accept lower-case characters.

New Windows XP Service Pack 2 Update (KB906472)

Title: You cannot format a Memory Stick removable media device by using the FAT32 file system on a Windows XP-based computer

Symptoms: On a Microsoft Windows XP-based computer, you cannot format a Memory Stick removable media device by using the FAT32 file system because there is no option to for FAT32 in the Format Local Disk dialog box. The only available option in the File system list in the Format Local Disk dialog box is FAT.

Additionally, you cannot format a Memory Stick Pro high-capacity device that is larger than 2 gigabytes (GB) at all because there is no option for the FAT32 file system and because the FAT file system does not support storage devices that are larger than 2 GB.

Resolution: To resolve this problem, install the hotfix that is described in this article. This hotfix adds the option to format a Memory Stick by using the FAT32 file system.

Note The FAT32 file system is not supported by all digital cameras and other electronic devices. Therefore, before you format a Memory Stick by using the FAT32 file system, verify that the FAT32 file system is supported by the device that you want to use with the Memory Stick. For more information about this issue, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base: 898456 (http://support.microsoft.com/kb/898456/) A removable media device is no longer recognized after it is reformatted in Windows XP.

This hotfix updates the following components in Windows XP: Shell32.dll to v6.0.2900.2768+, Format.com to v5.1.2600.2768+ and Dmdlgs.dll to v2600.2768.503.0+. Download via the headline link from Rapidshare (click the "free" button and wait a few seconds).

Microsoft Research Ships Wi-Fi Tool

Engineers at Microsoft Research have released a new software tool that enables a computer to connect to multiple Wi-Fi networks simultaneously. With VirtualWiFi, a single wireless card can appear multiple virtual WLAN cards. A user can then configure each to link to a different access point, computer or other device.

The application, which is a prototype project, could also be useful for network diagnostics and expanding the capacity of ad-hoc wireless networks. The 1.0 release of the software does not yet support WEP and has been designed to work with Windows XP.

New Nvidia ForceWare 81.85 Beta 32/64bit

As promised Nvidia has released a new beta driver with fixes for F.E.A.R and Tiger Woods 2006 just to name a few. Unfortunately most of the fixes are for the new 7 series of GPUs.

ForceWare Release 80
Version: 81.85
Release Date: October 18, 2005
BETA Driver

Compatibility fixes since 81.84 BETA driver. For a full list of fixed and known issues please view the Release Notes.

F.E.A.R Retail Patch 1.01

As promised, the release day patch for F.E.A.R. is now online, bringing the English edition of the new supernatural first-person shooter by Monolith Productions to version 1.01. This release addresses a couple of map bugs, as well as applying a dozen multiplayer improvements and bug fixes. The patch is available on 3D Gamers, FilePlanet, and Worthplaying.

New Logitech SetPoint Software 2.46 For Windows 32/64bit

Logitech has released an updated version of their SetPoint Software for their newer mice and keyboards. The new version is 2.46.544 and works with the MX518, Mediaplay Cordless, MX1000, the new V series and the new G series of mice as well as a few other and some keyboards. There is no word on what is new or what has been fixed since the last release. A version for Windows XP 64bit is also available.

First .NET Framework 2.0 RC Available

The second version of the .NET Framework took a step closer to completion Friday, as Microsoft made available the first release candidate. The .NET Framework 2.0 serves at the underpinnings for next-generation Windows applications and will be integrated into Windows Vista, due late next year.

According to Microsoft, the RC "improves scalability and performance of applications with improved caching, application deployment and updating with ClickOnce, support for the broadest array of browsers and devices with ASP.NET 2.0 controls and services."

New Nvidia ForceWare Drivers On Monday

EASports support has unofficially announced what many have speculated before: Nvidia is going to release new ForceWare drivers early next week to fix some compatibility issues with existing and upcoming games such as F.E.A.R., Quake 4, and others. EASports Tiger Woods PGA Tour 06 has currently problems with 7800 series cards from Nvidia and the following notice was posted on the official forums:

This note from the Developers of Tiger 2006 PC: We have found the problem that is causing all the crashes on the 7800 (and other cards). nVidia should be releasing new drivers around 10/17/05 that fix the problem.

New ATI Tool Increases Doom3 Scores 'up to 35%' With AA Enabled

Hexus.net says that have have received a tool from ATI which nets them up to a 35% performance increase in Doom 3. The tool is also said to make improvements across the board in OpenGL applications, but we'll just have to wait and see.

ATI Technologies have this morning made a tool available to HEXUS which supposedly improves scores in Doom3 when antialiasing is enabled. Improvements 'of up to 35%' are explicitly mentioned by sources within ATI. The tool seemingly changes the way the graphics card maps its own memory to better deal with handling AA sample data in Doom3's case.

The code from the tools is scheduled to be integrated into the enxt official ATI Catalyst driver release 5.11.

Windows XP Media Center Rollup Update 2 "Emerald" Released

Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005 enhances the stability and performance of Media Center 2005. This update fixes several known issues. The update also adds the following new functionality to Media Center:

• This update improves the Media Center Extender experience. Media Center now recognizes when a Microsoft Xbox 360 is connected to the network. Additionally, Media Center now prompts you to install the software components that Media Center must have to support the Media Center Extender functionality of the Xbox 360.
• On U.S. versions of Microsoft Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, this update provides support for a second Advanced Television Systems Committee (ATSC) tuner card. Media Center now supports up to two ATSC tuner cards and two National Television Systems Committee (NTSC) tuner cards.
• Media Center now supports DVB-T radio where DVB-T radio is broadcast.
• Media Center now includes a configurable optimization option to make sure that your Media Center computer continues to run smoothly.
• Media Center now includes a nonlinear zoom mode for widescreen TVs.
• This update improves the process of burning DVDs in Media Center.

To obtain Update Rollup 2 for Windows XP Media Center Edition 2005, visit the Microsoft Windows Update Web site.

Adobe Reader Update For Windows 2000/XP 7.0.5

The Adobe Reader 7.0.5 update is a cumulative patch that includes all the fixes in versions 7.0.1, 7.0.2 and 7.0.3. This update provides features such as expanded browser support, improvement in dynamic forms performance among others. This multilingual update can be applied to English, French, German or Japanese version of Adobe Reader 7.0, 7.0.1, 7.0.2, 7.0.3. Adobe recommends that all users of Adobe Reader 7 -7.0.3 with English, French, German or Japanese versions apply this update as a proactive measure.

Apple: New iPod Video - New iMac G5 - Quicktime 7.03

The new iPod, featuring a gorgeous 2.5-inch color screen, can display album artwork and photos, as well as play stunning video including music videos, video podcasts, home movies and television shows. The new iPod holds up to 15,000 songs, 25,000 photos or over 150 hours of video and is available in a 30GB model for $299 and a 60GB model for $399, with both models available in stunning white or black designs.

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The new iMac G5 features a built-in iSight video camera for out-of-the-box video conferencing and Apple’s new breakthrough Front Row media experience. Front Row gives users a simple, intuitive and powerful way to play their music, enjoy their photo slideshows and watch their DVDs and iMovies, as well as popular movie trailers from apple.com and music videos and television shows purchased from the iTunes Music Store, on their iMac from up to 30 feet away using the new bundled Apple Remote.

On a sidenote Apple has also released Quicktime 7.03 for both Mac and Windows.

Windows XP Media Center Update Due Friday

Microsoft plans to issue its second refresh to Windows XP Media Center Edition on Friday, code-named "Emerald." The update, according to a report in Microsoft Watch Wednesday, will be supported by new partnerships from AOL and MTV among others. New features expected in "Rollup 2" release are easier access to online movies and multimedia, as well as souped up e-mail and shopping capabilities. Microsoft is apparently changing the focus of Media Center, the site reports, to on-demand content rather than the user's personal content.

Other additions in Emerald include support for 200-DVD changers that users will be able to connect to their Media Centers starting this fall, and support for a secondary HDTV-tuner card. Also, "Away mode" would allow for instantaneous start-up and shutdown of the system.
However, according to Microsoft Watch, the best new features slated for Media Center are not due until Windows Vista arrives next year. One source told BetaNews earlier this month that the next major MCE release, known as "Diamond," is expected to put Media Center on par with TiVo in terms of functionality.

Beta Nvidia nForce 430/410 & GeForce 6150/6100 Drivers

Description: Motherboard and GeForce drivers to be used with nForce 430/410 and GeForce 6100/6150 reviews.

Version: nForce 8.20; GeForce 81.84

Post Date: 9/26/2005

Driver Type: Official Build

Driver Release: Crush

Operating System: Windows 2000; Windows XP

New Beta Nvidia nForce4 SLI X16 Drivers - 6.82

Description: nForce4 SLI X16 motherboard drivers for reviews. It is recommended that you use ForceWare Release 80 graphics drivers with these motherboard drivers for your reviews. That driver is available for download from the PR Extranet.

Version: 6.82

Post Date: 9/28/2005

Driver Type: Official Build

Driver Release: Crush

Operating System: Windows 2000; Windows XP

iTunes 6 Released

Watch iTunes do for video what it did for music. Now that the iTunes Music Store offers more than 2,000 music videos and select TV shows along with 2 million songs (and counting), instant gratification looks better than ever. To help you share your newfound joy, iTunes adds customer reviews, personalized recommendations and new gift options.

ATI Catalyst Drivers 5.10 Released

This unified driver has been further enhanced to provide the highest level of power, performance, and reliability. The ATI CATALYST software suite is the ultimate in performance and stability. This download includes the Display Driver, Control Panel or CATALYST Control Center, and WDM Capture driver as well as a few other gimmicks. New features and issues resolved include:

• CrossFire™ Support
• Default Screen Rotation Keystrokes
• Display Control Panel Extension Enhancements for Windows XP MCE
  
  
• 3Dmark03: Setting the display resolution to 1024x768 32bbp and having Anti-Aliasing set to 6x no longer results in Windows crashing when running 3Dmark03 Mother Nature test
• Dungeon Siege 2: The cursor image is now displayed properly when playing the game under Windows XP with an ATI Radeon® X800 series installed
• Graphedit: Watching and listening to audio/video using the composite input found on the ATI Radeon® X300/X600 no longer results in the left and right audio being swapped
• Max Payne 2: Erratic mouse pointer behavior is no longer noticed within the game's menu after a short time period of game play
• Pacific Fighters: Setting the display device to 1024x768 32bpp and enabling Anti-Aliasing to 6x no longer results in display corruption being noticed within the game
• Prince of Persia: Sands of Time: Attempting to launch the game under Windows with an ATI Radeon® X800 XL installed no longer results in an error message being displayed
• Silent Hunter 3: Enabling all video options within the game and setting the particle density to 100, along with setting Anti-Aliasing to 6X and Anisotropic Filtering to 16x, no longer results in display corruption on the left portion of the display
• Stronghold 2: Attempting to launch the game under Windows XP Professional x64 edition no longer results in the game failing to load and the operating system rebooting itself

Steam Client Update Released

A new Steam client has been released, updating the integrated Steam store and the Games list. The update will be applied automatically when your Steam client is restarted.

These changes are part of a larger set of features (collectively known as Steam 3) which will be introduced over the course of the coming months. Today's release allows Steam to offer a larger and more varied collection of games to our customers, and introduces a-la-carte purchases.

ATI Stakes Claims On Physics - GPGPU Ground

We linked to a story from X-bit Labs last week detailed that ATI's GPUs are capable of physics processing. The Tech Report expounds a bit on that revelation with some commentary on a physics demo that ATI ran at the introduction of the X1000 series:

ATI practically kicked off its press event for the Radeon X1000 series with a physics demo running on a Radeon graphics card. Rich Heye, VP and GM of ATI's Desktop Business Unit, showed off a simulation of rolling ocean waves comparing physics performance on a CPU versus a GPU. The CPU-based version of the demo was slow and choppy, while the Radeon churned through the simulation well enough to make the waves flow, er, fluidly. The GPU, he proclaimed, is very good for physics work, and he threw out some impressive FLOPS numbers to accentuate the point. A Pentium 4 at 3GHz, he said, peaks out at 12 GFLOPS and has 5.96GB/s of memory bandwidth. By contrast, a Radeon X1800 XT can reach 83 GFLOPS and has 42GB/s of memory bandwidth.

Microsoft Patch Tuesday October 2005

As announced earlier this month, Microsoft has released a whole bunch of security updates today. Below is a list and hyperlink to the released updates along with a short description:

• Security Update for Windows XP (KB905495)
  A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to tamper with the file transfer location on your computer when using the Microsoft Windows FTP (File Transfer Protocol) client.

• Security Update for Windows XP (KB901017)
  A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to remotely compromise your Windows-based system using Collaboration Data Objects (CDO) and gain control over it.

• Security Update for Windows XP (KB900725)
  A security issue has been identified that could allow an authenticated attacker to gain access and potentially compromise your Microsoft Windows-based system.

• Security Update for Windows XP (KB899589)
  A security issue has been identified in the Client Service for NetWare that could allow an attacker to compromise your Microsoft Windows-based system and gain control over it, if you have installed this service.

• Security Update for Windows XP (KB905414)
  A denial of service security issue has been identified that could cause the Network Manager service to stop responding on your Windows-based system.

• Security Update for Windows XP (KB902400)
  A remote code execution security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to remotely compromise your Windows-based system and gain control over it.

• Security Update for Windows XP (KB905749)
  A security issue has been identified in the Plug and Play service that could allow an authenticated attacker to compromise your Microsoft Windows-based system and gain control over it.

• Cumulative Update for Internet Explorer for Windows XP Service Pack 2 (KB896688) Security issues have been identified that could allow an attacker to compromise a computer running Microsoft Internet Explorer and gain control over it. You can help protect your computer by installing this update from Microsoft. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

• Security Update for Windows XP (KB904706)
  A security issue has been identified that could allow an attacker to remotely compromise your Windows-based system using DirectShow and gain control over it.

ATI Catalyst Drivers To Support Dual Core CPU's

ATI Technologies recently said at press-conference that in several month time the company’s drivers for graphics cards would take advantage of dual-core microprocessors. The move will allow users of systems running chips with two engines to get higher performance in games.
According to ATI’s software product manager Terry Makedon, the company will release CATALYST drivers that take full advantage of microprocessors with two processing engines in about two or three months from now. Given that processors with two cores typically run at lower clock-speeds compared to chips with one core, whereas gaming applications typically do not benefit from the number of cores per processors, a performance boost is likely to allow owners of modern computers to enjoy higher speeds in games.

The representative for ATI did not reveal what exactly would be optimized to increase performance on systems with the latest processors with two cores, but earlier this year ATI’s arch-rival NVIDIA said that there were several opportunities for driver performance gains with multi-threading, including vertex processing. The NVIDIA’s representative said that NVIDIA’s drivers did load balancing for vertex processing, offloading some work to the CPU, when the GPU was busy. This sort of vertex processing load could be spun off into a separate thread and processed in parallel. There are other ways to boost performance of games on dual-core chips as well.

According to estimations of both ATI and NVIDIA, performance boost for dual-core chips may be in the range of up to 30%.

New VIA Hyperion Pro Driver 5.04A Released

The VIA Hyperion Pro driver package has been updated to version 5.04A. The VIA Hyperion Pro driver package is a platform or chipset package. This latest driver package supports Microsoft Windows 98, 98SE, 2000, ME, NT4, Server 2003, Server 2003 64Bit, XP and XP 64Bit.

Compared with the previous Hyperion Pro driver package, version 5.00A, this version does include the IDE Filter driver, V1.20D. For Win9X/ME/2K the IDE filter driver is needed to support UDMA 6. The IDE Filter driver is not needed for WinXP SP1 and later Microsoft operating systems. The Machine INF is updated to be V2.50A. The Combo RAID driver was also updated to be V4.30H. The AGP driver is now version 4.43h.

eBay Spends $370 Million For PayPal Rival

eBay plans to pay $370 million for an online payments service operated by VeriSign as part of a broader agreement between the two companies, the auction giant said Monday.

According to the two companies, VeriSign's payment gateway business, which allows small businesses to accept credit card and other payment types online, processed more than $40 billion in customer transactions last year. eBay sees the service as a way to expand its own PayPal transactions division to a new category of small- and medium-size business customers.

The VeriSign service "perfectly complements PayPal's existing payment services," PayPal President Jeff Jordan said in a statement. "This acquisition allows PayPal to give our customers more choice in payment services and grow our merchant services business even more quickly." The deal is one portion of a multipart agreement between the two companies. The pact will also see eBay tap VeriSign for a wider range of digital security protections.

Under the terms of the agreement, eBay will adopt a new kind of transaction protection from VeriSign that will give customers one-time passwords or digital certificates, guarding against identity theft. The new program will begin sometime next year. eBay said that the VeriSign transaction service business will likely generate about $100 million in revenue for the company in 2006. The acquisition is expected to close in the fourth quarter of 2005.

Futuremark Announces Patch For PCMark 05

Futuremark Corporation today announced the immediate availability of a software patch, build 1.1.0, to PCMark05, the latest version in the popular PCMark benchmark series. PCMark05 is a state-of-the-art benchmarking tool and has been widely adopted; over 1.5 million copies have been distributed since its launch in June 2005. Available immediately, this free downloadable software patch updates features for Advanced and Professional version licensees and fixes reported and reproduceable bugs while improving overall stability for all license versions - including the free evaluation package. Scores using the build 1.1.0 version of PCMark05 will not be comparable to previous version scores.

Microsoft Malicious Software Removal Tool 1.9 (October 2005)

The Microsoft Windows Malicious Software Removal Tool checks Windows XP, Windows 2000, and Windows Server 2003 computers for and helps remove infections by specific, prevalent malicious software—including Blaster, Sasser, and Mydoom. When the detection and removal process is complete, the tool displays a report describing the outcome, including which, if any, malicious software was detected and removed. The tool creates a log file named mrt.log in the WINDIR debug folder. This tool is not a replacement for an anti-virus product. To help protect your computer, you should use an anti-virus product.

F.E.A.R Retail Version 1st Impressions

PC.IGN has slapped up some impressions on Monolith's upcoming first person shooter, F.E.A.R.. What's to point out is that their impressions are based on the retail version that is to come out on next tuesday October, 18th. It seems that Monolith was able to polish the game further and optimize it for performance. That's a good thing to hear considering the hefty performance requirements of the demos. Here's a snippet:

The game as a whole looks darned gorgeous. With a 6800GT and a 3.0GHz P4 in this particular rig, the auto-detect performance settings cranked almost every bell and whistle to the max (minus soft shadowing, which is very demanding on even the latest cards). No antialiasing, but anisotropic filtering was set to 4x at 1024x768. The stress test has changed from an in-engine cinematic to a Unreal Tournament-style fly-through, and this rig average 39 frames per second. Not too shabby. So it does appear that the game is indeed been optimized since the demo was released. You will want a DX9 card, preferably no less than a Radeon 9700 Pro or GeForce 6600GT. The gunfire haze, smoke effects, heat shimmer, distortion effects and filters, slo-mo tracers, explosions, bumped-mapped textures, and reflections all look quite pretty. And every detail setting is explained in the options menus, which is a nice touch, instead of having to dig through a manual or Google it for something that's hopefully explained in English, and briefly. You shouldn't have much trouble getting FEAR to perform to your liking, since there's a very long list of options you can toggle or adjust to certain levels.

Nero Launches Nero 7 - Digital Media Suite

Building on the award-winning World’s best selling digital media software, Nero 7 now delivers 18 applications in one powerful suite, including the addition of Nero Home, a new TV and PC multimedia management and distribution system that provides users with quick and easy access to all digital media files from the comfort of their living rooms using a remote control.

“Nero 7 is the culmination of innovative engineering, end-user requests and demands, and industry direction and convergence,” said Richard Lesser, CEO Nero AG, “We have hit the nail on the head with the addition of Nero Home to Nero 7: users no longer need to be in front of their PCs to view and listen to their media files; they can access their entire libraries in front of the TV.”

In addition, Nero 7 includes a number of enhancements and interface redesigns to familiar and popular Nero applications. Users now have the option of customized installation, meaning they can decide to install or not to install each application courtesy of Windows Installer Technology.

Some program examples:

The new and enhanced Nero BackItUp 2 allows users to run scheduled full or incremental backups, back up files directly from Windows Explorer, back up upon login or without logging in, create shadow copies, back up to disc images and perform FTP backup.

Nero Burning ROM 7 and Nero Express 7, the most widely used optical burning software in the industry with the most powerful burning engine in history, have been radically redesigned to maximize ease-of-use, efficiency and speed. In addition, Nero 7 has a project launcher with a new user interface that can access all 18 applications, and has been enhanced to seamlessly guide users of any skill level through simple or advanced digital media projects. Users will have the ability to view, edit and improve their favorite digital photos.

Nero Home is a new and innovative media manager that provides fast access to the user’s entire digital media library via remote control in the designated home entertainment room. Content can be viewed on a plasma, LCD or CRT TV. Nero Home integrates TV time-shifting, DVD playback, music playback and video playback, and has a simplified interface and a TV wizard to walk users through a simple setup.

Microsoft Details Antivirus And Anti-Spyware Timetable

The company will begin offering a test version of a new anti-spyware product to businesses by the end of the year and will test new antivirus and anti-spam software next year, CEO Steve Ballmer said at a news conference in Munich, Germany, last week. Ballmer appeared at the event in the technology-heavy German city with corporate VP Mike Nash, who heads Microsoft's security unit.

The software vendor is developing what it calls Client Protection technology that can guard desktops, laptops, and file servers against spyware, malware, and tools used by hackers to break into operating systems and applications. It's testing an anti-spyware product for home PC users, but Client Protection, which includes technology it acquired from GeCAD Software Srl. and Giant Company Software Inc., will offer management features for IT departments and integration with Windows Active Directory. Microsoft is working out details such as pricing and whether it will make the software available via the Web or CD.

The new antivirus and anti-spam security software, called Antigen, will run on messaging and collaboration servers, including Microsoft Exchange. Antigen is based on technology from Sybari Software Inc., which Microsoft acquired in June. Microsoft also plans to form an industry group called the Secure IT Alliance with Symantec, Trend Micro, VeriSign, and other companies. The group will build a development lab to design computer-security technology, according to Microsoft.

New Game Patches: NHL 06, Black & White 2, Serious Sam 2

NHL 06 retail patches #2: EA Sports has released a second round of retail patches for NHL 06 to update the US and European editions of their 3D ice hockey sports sequel. This #2 upgrade improves compatibility with "Saitek P2500 and P3000 controllers" as well as "non-SSE chipsets such as the AMD Thunderbird," and also addresses an "issue with edited players saved within a game mode."

Black & White 2 retail patch v1.1: As promised, Lionhead Studios has issued the first retail patch for Black & White 2, updating their 3D god-playing strategy sequel to version 1.1. This release addresses a few remaining issues along with adding some gameplay balancing tweaks as detailed in the change notes, but it is not save-game compatible with the original game.

Serious Sam II demo & retail patches v2.064b: 2K Games sends along new patches for Serious Sam II, upgrading both the demo and retail editions of the fast-paced first-person shooter by Croteam to version 2.064b. As before, This release includes the previous multiplayer connection quick fix as well as mouse control improvements, server browser fixes, menu enhancements, a virtual keyboard fix, and other changes.

ASUS Extreme N7800 GT Dual World Exclusive First Hands-On Test

UK based Hexus.net website is the first to offer a brief hands-on impression article on the upcoming 2000 card limited edition of the Asus dual 7800GT graphics card. This card is going to cost around 1000€ but seems worth the price if you can fit it in your case:

The first thing to notice is its size and in particular the height. See the backplane on the left with DVI outputs? You can see the black cable for power that snakes around the top of the board and pops out on the right and where that cable enters the backplane is the maximum height for any add-in board that meets the ATX specification. Consider something like the recent ATI Radeon X1800 XT which is no small reference board and measures around 230mm wide by 110mm high. The EN7800GT Dual is 245mm wide and 145mm high, making it nearly a third taller than a board that meets the ATX spec, like the X1800 XT, and nearly 2cm wider.

Hexus offers two benchmarks from the F.E.A.R single player demo and Splinter Cell: Chaos Theory both in 4AA/16AF, each in 3 resolutions.

WinRar 3.51 Released

RAR is a general purpose archiving and compression program competing with/replacing programs such as PKZip, ARJ, and others. It offers significantly improved compression ratios, easier use and a cheaper price as well as supporting long file names, disk spanning, and self-extracting file creation. Bugs fixed:

a) fixed two vulnerabilities, which could be exploited with
specially crafted ACE and UUE/XXE archives;

b) previous version did not delete some of temporary files;

c) WinRAR could crash when processing very long (more than
1024 characters) archive name parameter in the command line.

Windows XP SP2 Dual Core Performance Fix

Microsoft has released a hotfix to improve performance on dual core systems. It fixes a possible decrease in performance during demand based switching. Cool 'n Quiet must be enabled for the fix to work, and Microsoft will only send you the hot fix if you have been experiencing the problem. The issue is how do you know if you are or not? AMD told that this can have an impact on some games although I've not heard of any problems.

Possible decrease in performance during demand-based switching

Demand-based switching refers to the changing of ACPI processor performance states in response to system workloads. For example, demand-based switching can change voltage and frequency in response to system workloads. Windows XP processor power management implements demand-based switching through the Adaptive processor throttling policy. The Adaptive processor throttling policy dynamically and automatically adjusts the processor current performance state in response to the computers CPU use. The Adaptive processor throttling policy works without user intervention. If you run Windows XP on a computer that has multiple processors, single-threaded workloads may move across available CPUs. This migration behavior is a natural artifact of how Windows schedules work across available CPU resources. However, if a computer is running with the Adaptive processor throttling policy, this thread migration may cause problems. For example, the Windows kernel power manager may not be able to correctly calculate the optimal target performance state for the processor. This problem occurs because the individual logical or physical processor core may appear to be less busy than the processor package actually is. On performance benchmarks that use single-threaded workloads, this artifact may become evident in the following ways:

• Decreased performance
• A high degree of variance between successive runs of the same benchmark tests

The hotfix that is described in this article includes changes to the kernel power manager. These changes make it possible to track CPU use across the processor package. This tracking helps calculate an increased target performance state.

Download Windows XP Dual Core Hotfix

New Update For Windows XP Service Pack 2 (KB904412)

Install this update to address several possible issues associated with connecting a Serial Bus Protocol 2 (SBP-2) device, such as an IEEE 1394 device, to a Microsoft Windows XP Service Pack 2-based computer. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

View: Knowledge Base article

ATI Graphics Processors Capable Of Physics Processing

As AGEIA startup approaches actual introduction of its physics processors, graphics firm ATI Technologies says that its chips are already capable of processing physics and it is only a matter of time for the graphics giant to enable the capability on commercially shipped units.

Raja Kodouri, a senior architect at ATI Technologies told X-bit labs that the company’s graphics processors, including the RADEON 9700, which is the world’s first DirectX 9.0 graphics processing unit (GPU), are capable of processing arrays of vertexes, similar type of operation that AGEIA’s physics processing units (PPUs) can perform. The arrays of data should be processed using pixel shader processors within a chip, the architect said. According to ATI, in case mainstream physics engines, such as Havoc, support physics calculations, the company will not need any special application programming interface in order to allow game developers to take advantage of capabilities.

Even though Mr. Kodouri implied about possibilities for physics processing on graphics chips, he did not reveal any performance benefits estimations concerning the matter. In fact, AGEIA, the developer of the world’s first PPU, also does not talk about performance of its product.
In case ATI and NVIDIA Corp. manage to implement physics processing capabilities into their graphics chips, companies like AGEIA may find it difficult to push their physics processing units to the mainstream market. Nevertheless, in the high-end dedcated chips may still outperform graphics and central processors when it comes to physics.

MS October Patch Tuesday To Bring Nine Fixes

Microsoft plans to fix several holes in the security of Windows during its monthly "Patch Tuesday" release next week, including at least one deemed "critical." Eight of the patches will deal with problems in the operating system, and one will fix a flaw in the company's Exchange Server.

While Microsoft is never specific as to what it will be patching ahead of the actual release, eWeek is reporting that at least one fix with deal with code execution vulnerabilities within Internet Explorer. Along with the monthly patches, Microsoft also said late Thursday that it plans to release an updated version of its Windows Malicious Software Tool. The program removes malware from an infected computer automatically.

Microsoft had planned to release one critical patch last month, but the update was scrapped after Microsoft discovered a "quality issue." It is unclear if the September fix has made it into this month's updates.

Nvidia Schedules G72 GPU Release In Early 2006

Nvidia has scheduled its G72 graphics processing unit (GPU), which will be manufactured using 90nm process technology, to be introduced in early 2006, according to sources at Taiwan graphics card makers. The G72, a 90nm version of the G70 GPU, will compete with the 90nm R-series from ATI Technologies.

The 90nm G72 will have a much smaller size than the 0.11-micron based G70 allowing for multiple GPUs to be utilized on one graphics card through SLI technology, providing an effective and attractive alternative to those who do not want to fork out money for two graphics cards, the sources claimed.

Update For Windows XP Service Pack 2 (KB906569)

Install this update to add a Tools tab to the System Configuration Utility (msconfig.exe). The Tools tab will allow further diagnostic tools to be launched from within the System Configuration Utility. After you install this item, you may have to restart your computer.

Sapphire Calls Details On Radeon X1000 Series Availability

Ever since ATI announced its manufacturing and distribution relationships with ODMs and AiBs in June of 2001, Sapphire has always been the key ATI Graphics Boards Supplier worldwide. Sapphire designs, manufactures and distributes the most complete range of ATI video boards. The company now announced german price and availability charts for the new Radeon X1000 series family that should apply to most other european countries as well:

• X1800 XT 512MB PCI-Express ca. 549 € available early November
• X1800 XT 256MB PCI-Express ca. 499 € available early November
• X1800 XL 256MB PCI-Express ca. 449 € available near launch
• X1600 XT 256MB PCI-Express ca. 249 € available late November
• X1600 XT 128MB PCI-Express ca. 199 € available late November
• X1600 PRO 256MB PCI-Express ca. 199 € available late November
• X1600 PRO 128MB PCI-Express ca. 149 € available late November
• X1300 PRO 256MB PCI-Express ca. 149 € available mid-October
• X1300 256MB PCI-Express ca. 129 € available mid-October
• X1300 128MB PCI-Express ca. 99 € available mid-October
• X1300 HyperMemory 32/128MB HM ca. 79 € available late October

Return To Castle Wolfenstein 2 To Come To Xbox 360 & PC

id Software and Activision, Inc. confirmed at Microsoft's X05 event in Amsterdam that the newest installment in the legendary Wolfenstein series is being developed for the Xbox 360 video game and entertainment system from Microsoft and PC. The companies also confirmed that Activision, Inc. will be the worldwide licensed distributor of Wolfenstein, currently in development by Raven Software and executive produced by id Software.

id Software's newest chapter in the legendary Wolfenstein series delivers players deep behind the enemy lines of a war-torn Germany, where Nazi experiments with technology and the supernatural threaten to turn the tide of World War II. Utilizing a revolutionary new graphics technology targeted specifically at next generation hardware, the new Wolfenstein experience will draw players into a world of unmatched exploration, action, and espionage.

ATI Radeon X1000 Series Reviews

Here is a list of reviews / previews from various hardware sites around. If you are interested in a true picture of price/performance ratios and how the new GPUs compare to Nvidia counterparts, I suggest reading a few of them:

The Tech Report's ATI Radeon X1000 Series Review
PC Perspective's ATI Radeon X1000 Series Review
ExtremeTech's ATI Radeon X1000 Series Review
Anandtech's ATI Radeon X1000 Series Review
[H]ardOCP's ATI Radeon X1000 Series Review
Beyond3D's ATI Radeon X1000 Series Review
Hardware Analysis's ATI Radeon X1000 Series Review
Hardware Secret's ATI Radeon X1000 Series Review
Driver Heaven's ATI Radeon X1000 Series Review
Hot Hardware's ATI Radeon X1000 Series Review
Neo Seeker's ATI Radeon X1000 Series Review
Bjorn3D's ATI Radeon X1000 Series Review
Hexus's ATI Radeon X1000 Series Review

ATI Officially Launches Radeon X1000 Family

ATI Technologies Inc. today launched a new family of graphics processors (GPUs), the Radeon X1000 family, that outperform competing products and deliver better image quality in every price category. The top-to-bottom family, built using the cutting-edge 90 nanometer semiconductor fabrication technology, delivers better performance and image quality than ever.

The new family has a GPU that is right for everyone. Competitive gamers and enthusiasts looking for the absolute best will want the Radeon X1800 -- the fastest graphics processor on the planet. For those getting started in gaming or who are more interested in editing photos and videos, the Radeon X1600 delivers the best image quality available, for high-fidelity editing and playback. For those who want all of the features and capabilities of the Radeon X1800 and Radeon X1600 but who are on a budget, the Radeon X1300 will meet their needs for as low as US $79. Each of the new graphics processors feature:

• Ultra-threaded shader architecture to run today's shader-intense games faster than any product already on the market
• Revolutionary new memory architecture that makes the GPUs incredibly efficient, improving performance even more
• Fast and efficient 3D image quality that delivers the best looking games while maintaining blistering fast performance
• Avivo, ATI's technologies to greatly improve display quality and refine video playback.

Radeon X1800 and Radeon X1300 cards are shipping immediately, with additional Radeon X1800 configurations and Radeon X1600 cards shipping later in October and November.

Peter Jackson To Executive-Produce Halo Movie

Microsoft used yesterdays X05 press conference to reveal that it has arranged for Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson and his partner Fran Walsh to work as executive producers on the Halo film. As well as contributing to its production, Jackson will also lend the use of his Weta film studio to work on the special effects. Like Jackson, Weta has previously worked on the Lord of the Rings trilogy and this Christmas's King Kong.

The Halo film, due out in 2007, is the product of a script by Alex Garland, who was paid $1 million for his work, and was shopped around to various film studios earlier this year before Universal and 20th Century Fox agreed a deal to work on it collaboratively with Microsoft.

New Update For Windows 2000 (KB904368)

Install this update to resolve an issue in which Microsoft Office programs may stop responding when you try to save new files to a floppy disk drive after installing Update Rollup 1 for Windows 2000 Service Pack 4.

Nvidia nTune 2.05.15.08 Released

Nvidia nTune is the ultimate utility for accessing, monitoring, and adjusting your system components, including temperature and voltages with clear, user-friendly control panels. Overclock your system for highest performance or underclock it for near silent operation. All changes are performed within the Microsoft Windows interface - enabling full functionality without the need to make changes in the BIOS and reboot your system.

nTune replaces all previous versions of the NVIDIA System Utility or NVIDIA nTune. Earlier versions of the application should be uninstalled and the system rebooted prior to installation of this package. This is a complete, updated release of the NVIDIA nTune. You are not required to install a previous version of this application before installing the latest version. On nForce motherboards where specific BIOS support is not available, only basic functionality will be available.

nTune supports all nForce2-4 chipsets. There are no release notes included. Expect compatibility updates for previously unsupported motherboards. Click the headline to download the new nTune version.