February 2000

  It has been a good day.  Do you remember the Athlon 500 that I damaged a while back while trying to remove the heatsink plate?  Well I sent it out to my good friend Owen for repair and low and behold the sucker works.  Owen was able to replace the two SMD resistor network components that I ripped off with a slip of a screwdriver.  This Athlon 500 is a week 46 with a 650 core and 3.3ns cache.  It will load Win98 fine at 800MHz (1/2 L2) and 1.8 volts but it locks up after a while of opening and closing applications.   If I use H. Oda's Athlon L2 utility and set the L2 to 2/5 then it is completely stable even in 3D games.  At 1/3 L2 I've managed this...

  For those of you wondering if Owen might be able to help you out with your damaged processor I'm afraid it is doubtful.  He did this as a favor for me but if I find out about any similar repair services for hire I will post the information here.

  Overclockin.com put up a review of Trinity Micro's Northwind GFD Athlon overclocking card.

  I myself have received the Outside Loop Computer's Afterburner Athlon overclocking card.  I still expect a couple of other Athlon OC cards to arrive soon so I'll be putting up more details then.  My first impressions of the Afterburner are that it is a high quality, well built and easy to use card.  Setting it up with it's dials is easier than the standard DIP switches and it can be set without removing it from the system case.

  If you are interested in Linux but have not taken the plunge yet then head on over to Overclockers Australia for the low-down on Mandrake Linux 7.0.  I have been giving my adventure with Linux a rest the last few months but Mandrake 7.0 has definitely stirred some of my interest again especially given the included support for the latest video cards.

  Have you been wondering about tweaking that new CD-ROM or DVD drive?   Well 3D Spotlight has come along with their own tweak guide for such interests.

  Just when you though the HP Panaflo Orb coolers were history it seems PLYCON Computers has managed to dig some up.  Head on over there quick if you have been looking for the hard-to-find item since stock is limited.

  It has actually been about a week but AMD finally released an official statement regarding the "pressure" they have been putting on shops to stop selling pre-modified Athlon processors.  Basically AMD is not against any end-user modifications but they are frowning upon those selling the processors advertised as "new" and even in some places as "factory modified".  I think AMD is being reasonable especially given the simplicity of overclocking the Athlon now that the OC cards are available.  You can get more details about AMD's thoughts and feelings on the subject over at The Register.

  While you are at The Register check out what they had to say about Intel's inability to keep up the supply of P3 processors.

  I have been busy building systems lately for others and the Athlon has definitely reined as the most popular processor for those whom I have been assisting.   My experiences are limited with the different hardware available as out of the four Athlon systems I have assembled in the last two weeks they all use Asus K7M mobos but various video cards.  I have experienced no problems and have been pleasantly surprised with the trouble free setup of all the systems.

  My first experience with an Athlon overclocking card has been with the Athlon Liberator.  It is a small card measuring about 42mm X 39mm and it is professionally assembled.  It has a real voltage regulator rather than the diode setups on some less quality cards and a standard 4 pin power connector on the back ready for an auxiliary plug from the system's power supply.  I have only used it temporarily on one Athlon but it works as advertised and takes up very little room inside the case.  Though the dip switches are a little small making adjustment a bit tedious for my old eyes I don't consider that a problem since once it is set you wont be playing around much with it again and besides I like the small size of the assembled unit.  One other attractive feature of the Athlon Liberator card is that it is currently selling for $45 (US).

  While on the subject of Athlon overclocking cards I do expect to have samples of the Outside Loop Afterburner and the Ninja Micros FreeSpeed Pro for evaluation and perhaps a little comparison article.  If anybody else is interested in having their OC card added to the article then give me a shout.

  Overclockin.com has some news on ABIT's entry into the video card business.  While you are there you can also look to see what they had to say about the Ultimate Hard Drive Cooler.

  For all you GeForce freaks Overclockers Australia did up a little review action on the Creative Labs GeForce Pro card with DDR memory.  Looks like I'm gonna have to get my hands on one of theses for myself (hint hint Creative Labs).   Also some good info on the GlobalWIN VOS-32 P2-P3-Athlon cooler, check out that funky cool duct setup for the Plus version.

  Staying with the video card theme you can head on over to 3D Spotlight for their take on the Voodoo3 300 PCI version.  For those folks who choose not to (or cant) take advantage of AGP video then check out the review because the Voodoo3 3000 PCI has a lot to offer as far as PCI video goes.