Getting Jiggy With AMD
Well, this is it. The final day for me. Computex still has another two days, but that’s when the show opens up to the general public, and we all know what the general public is like, don’t we? Apparently it is a madhouse on the show floor, and it is too hot and too muggy to rub shoulders with the locals.
Yup, it’s still hot and muggy. No, I don’t have anything against the general public.
Obviously, I am too tired now to put up any resistance. So, here it is, the AMD hammer balloon on top of the building shot.
Look! I have a picture of the AMD hammer on top of that building between Hall 1 and Hall 2 Computex buildings. I’m hip to what’s going down!
Yup, I got AMD fanboy mail haranguing me about my K8 FUD coverage. No, I don’t have a contract with Intel.
Apparently, AMD’s green army of fans take great comfort from this picture and feels that it reflects many things. Frankly, it conjures up pictures of a celestial blow, much the same as the impact of an earthquake, but this is not a time for sarcasm.
Let’s all embrace the hammer on the building picture, which no amount of Intel marketing might can top.
AND, just to show how even-handed I can be, how much I am willing to suck up to the AMD fan base, here are the AMD dancers!
Woo, woo!
Woo, woo!
Get down on it,
Get down on it……..
Look! AMD’s terpsichorean supporters getting jiggy on the Gigabyte booth. They were very flexible, and pretzel-like in their contortions, analagous to the lengths that AMD is willing to go to compete with Intel.
I was a little disappointed that the AMD dancers were masked, however, they were fully clothed, and maintained their dignity, all good things for AMD’s image.
I’m stretching here, AMD fanboys, so cut me some slack, will ya?
Oh, there were only three of them, five short of an octet, and that might be cause for concern, but perhaps I shouldn’t read too much into it, and not blame it on the boogie.
Everyone happy? We’ve gotten jiggy with Intel, AMD, and did a reivew of the C3. Surely no one expects us to go kiss a PowerPC chip, or spread honey on an UltraSPARC.
On with the show.
3R Systems – Love Those Cases
You could hardly notice them. It was a small table in the small Korean pavillion, but if you paid close attention, you could have found something quite extraordinary. Korean case maker 3R Systems was showing off its Poseidon water cooling package.
3R Systems’s Poseidon is a very nicely packaged, all inclusive water cooling kit.
To someone who shies away from the water cooling crowd, I have to say that this is one product that surprised me. The neatly packaged, complete setup for water cooling almost makes water cooling seem like a no-brainer. Looked rugged, and pretty solidly built. Everything you need to get going was all there in the box. I hope we get to review this thing soon.
The Poseidon is designed to fit neatly inside the case. You can buy this case from 3R Systems, too, including neon light and see-through panel.
3R Systems also showed off its ne AIR case. It has a 3-channel multi-thermometer, 10 level fan speed control for a 120 mm front fan, front USB port, and a set of automatic shutdowns for overheating. The case will sound an alarm if the temperature in the case exceeds 65 degrees Celsius, and at 70 degrees it automatically shuts off.
3R focuses on a small line of specialized cases targeted specifically at the enthusiast. This is the latest offering with front panel fan controls, and a temperature sensor that toggles between 3 user defined points in the case.
When I tried to find the 3R System products in the US I found them at one place, Ahanix. It’s a little confusing because Ahanix has its own cases, too. 3R doesn’t have a large product line, but what it does have looks well thought-through, so its worth the digging you’ll have to do to find it. You can also try www.3rsystem.co.kr, I guess.
Some day all cases will come with their own circuitry? This is the control panel circuitry inside the 3R case.
Gigabyte’s 8500 XT – Benchmarks From Computex
Because their products are based on their own designs, Gigabyte’s graphics cards have been able to distinguish themselves from rival products. At the Computex, Gigabyte introduced the new 128 MB Maya Radeon 8500XT Ultra (AP128D-H3), an exclusive series with ATI’s Radeon 8500 XT chip and 300 MHz chip and memory clock. The Xabre 400 (SP64D) with the SiS chip was presented as well.
SIS Xabre 400, designed by Gigabyte.
We had an exclusive chance to test the Radeon 8500 XT and compare this model to its simpler version.
Benchmarks
These benchmarks are taken from a system based on the ASUS A7V266-E Mainboard plus AMD Athlon XP 2000+ under Windows XP Professional.
Max Payne
3D Mark 2001 SE
FSAA – Quake III
Due to the slightly higher clock speed (300/300 vs. 275/275), the XT-powered card easily overtakes the standard Radeon 8500 version. Apart from the clock speed, the XT differs from its sister model with the standard chip only in its faster 3.3 ns memory.
Left: the XT chip without special labeling. Right: faster 3.3ns BGA memory.
Chaintech Delivers New Retail Mobo Line – Apogee
Chanintech has been selling its mobos mostly to OEMs and systems integrators. Now, the company is aggressively going after the enthusiast and retail market with a brand new line of products under the Apogee brand name.
Chaintech unveiled Apogee, its new line of mobos aimed squarely at the retail market.
The first product in the line is the Apogee 7VJL based on the Via KT333 chipset. Chaintech has put a great deal of thought into the bundle, which includes accessories including a Round Cable bundle.
Each Apogee board includes overclocking utilities, a surround sound earpiece set, and these unique cables, designed to replace ribbon cables and reduce the clutter inside your PC.
In addition, the boards will come with a front panel CBox, a four port USB 2.0 hub with headphone and microphone inputs. The headphone input will come in handy because, much like Jetway, Chaintech is including a set of Body Theater earpieces with its boards to provide simulated 4.1 channel sound. In the European and Asian versions only, there’s also a THIZ Linux bundle that includes THIS Office Suite, and a bunch of the usual multimedia apps.
Chaintech has experiences of the retail channel as a result of its graphics card activities. The company should benefit from that savvy in getting its retail mobo products into the channel and enthusiast’ hands.
In all versions there is a Chaintech Overclocking Engine, a Windows-based app that lets you control voltages and fan speeds, monitor temperatures, adjust frequencies on buses, and warns you when you have gone too far.
DFI – Mobos Only Please
DFI was one of a handful of mobo vendors that is actually still a mobo vendor. No set top boxes or laptops here.
DFI’s is going to be using both AMD and Via chipsets for its K8 offerings, and is evaluating the ALI SouthBridge.
However, it is worth noting that DFI, like most mobo makers, foresees a consolidation era approaching. Mobo vendors are struggling to maintain margins, differentiation, and sanity in an increasingly tougher business. Not all of them can continue to stay in the business.
Perhaps that is why so many are branchng out. Perhaps that is why we are going to see some merge, some leave the business, and some just die off. In the meantime, there is still opportunity for companies that provide service and value, and perhaps by sticking to mobos in the main, DFI is has one of the better strategies: focus on the customer.
There’s a great deal of expectation for the KT400, and everyone is just waiting on chipsets from Via.
ATech Innovations
At the ATech suite, the company was showing off another in its long line of innovative products. ATech has decided to put flash and compact memory card readers into an optical mouse. One of the expected use is as a security device, getting people to use a memory card to get access to a system. Might be worth a shot. It’s called the Pro Mouse and you can look for it at www.atechflash.com.
ATech’s developed these mouse products with flash and compact memory slots.
Another interesting slice of innovation from ATech was the Pro Gear. This is essentially a drive bay multi-memory card reader which has a detachable front-end that doubles as a USB card reader on the go. Kind of cool. You can see the two parts of the package in the picture below.
ATech’s combination drive bay, and detachable memory card reader.
AOpen’s Tubular Mobo
AOpen has managed to turn a few heads by including vacuum tubes on a mobo. Very art deco.
AOpen got a lot of attention for its TubeSound setup.
It’s hard to tell how much of an added value the addition of vacuum tube components are to a mobo. In this instance, it is merely a pre-amplifier, and to get the best results you still need an amplifier. The AOpen guys said that they felt that in the world of high quality audio you need to have some sort of analog solution, hence the logic behind incorporating the technology on their motherboard.
AX4B-533Tube – A combination audio amplifier and mobo, or a value-added mobo.
Probably more interesting, and perhaps just as gimmicky, the Tube mobo includes an audio player from AOpen that is installed in the board’s BIOS apparently. The thinking behind this package being that, with the new mobo and software combo, AOpen has effectively delivered a digital audio player and pre-amplifier that stand alone. So, avoid the OS completely, and use the system much as you would any typical audio system.
AOpen has put the CD player software for the TubeSound in BIOS so, if all you want to do is run your PC to play some music you don’t have to boot up the OS.
Obviously, the quality is going to be one factor in how effective this strategy is – the board better deliver the kind of standalone audio performance that a real audio enthusiast is going to appreciate. On the other hand, in an ocean of mobos, AOpen managed to get a lot of attention for just one.
Adieu
I spent my last night here singing karaoke. There are establishments in Taipei where you can rent a room with your own karaoke system, and sing your heart out, alone or with friends or business associates. Like Karaoke hotels. What a concept.
I was in one such room until about five in the morning. For the sake of propriety I will not reveal the name of my companions on this evening. It was, however, a most surreal experience, but having been inpsired, let me leave you with these thoughts as we say goodbye to Taipei:
Guilty feet have got no rhythm.
You can find everything you want at the YMCA.
Rainy days and Mondays always get me down.
Take a sad song and make it better.
It’s raining men.
We are family.
Now go do the Spanish Hustle and have a good week-end.
