Apparently computers and computer parts are too cheap. DDR2 memory bottomed out a while ago and at some points was actually being sold under cost. Prices have risen slightly over the last month or two and is continuing upward. Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), the largest contract chip foundry making chips for Via, Nvidia, and AMD (ATI graphics … Read the full entry »

It’s being reported that AMD is getting higher yields on their RV670 core which may lead to lower prices on ATI Radeon HD 3000-series cards. The higher yield is also allowing AMD to release a new low end card in the series, the Radeon HD 3830, with a price around $99 to $150 and is expected in April or May. Most hardware enthusiasts would be interested in … Read the full entry »

Rumors of Intel developing discrete graphics chipsets (GPUs), codename Larrabee, have been around for a couple years now. Intel is finally talking about it and some info has come to light. Intel has decided to go with an x86 based instruction set for the GPU which is quite different from all current GPU designs from Nvidia and ATI/AMD. Intel says they will be … Read the full entry »

Havok, now owned by Intel, is one of the leading providers of physics APIs for games and applications and is now planning to offer it for free for non-commercial use and to “approved game developers on the PC platform” starting in March. It’s unclear why someone would go with Havok though at this point when Ageia, now owned by Nvidia, has their physics … Read the full entry »

Nvidia’s Geforce 9600GT cards have shown up in stores for as little as $179.90. Both cards with stock clock speeds and overclocked models are available now. The performance level of the GF 9600GT is slightly faster than the GF 8800GS and slightly slower than the GF 8800GT in most benchmarks, so for the price point is definitely worth a look. With that said, … Read the full entry »

S3 Graphics, a devision of Via technology, has announced the Chrome 400-series of graphics cards. It’s been two years since S3 Graphics released their last batch of video cards, the Chrome S25 and Chrome S27. The Chrome 400-series has all the features one would expect from a new video card, DirectX 10.1, OpenGL 2.1, Shader Model 4.1, HD video acceleration, … Read the full entry »