Introduction

Day 3 of Computex came and went; the relentless near-100% humidity, minor earthquakes, smoke-filled rooms and continuous wailing of international businessmen intimidates all but the most seasoned show goers. Even though we have been in Taipei for almost a week, new technology is still everywhere and never ceases to amaze us. The crowds are a little smalller than other years, but fortunately for us, it seems that the majority of the attendees are actual vendors, buyers and manufacturers (unlike previous years when a strong majority of local inquisitors composed the bulk of the audience).

Albatron

Albatron had several new items on display, although most of them are not terribly new. Albatron product managers emphasized their new BIOS solutions for both graphics cards and motherboards.

However, the show stealer for Albatron was clearly the “ATOP” AGP to PCI-E converter cards. ATOP allows a user to plug an NVIDIA AGP video card into a PCI-E riser – allowing a user to upgrade to an nForce4 board without getting rid of their old card. While the implications are nice, the practicality of the card is still being tested and there are also issues of clearance that have not been addressed yet. The ATOP bundle pictured below consists of an AGP GeForce 6200 video card piggy-backed onto the ATOP adaptor.


Click to enlarge.

Albatron also had their K8SLI motherboard on display – the narrowest nForce4 SLI motherboard that we have seen outside of an SFF.

Sapphire
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  • gilboa - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link

    Linux *has* software RAID 6 support.
    I've been using it for a while now.

    Just look at the kernel source under:
    /usr/src/linux/drivers/md/raid6*
  • bigboxes - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link

    "Maybe if they put heat pipes throughout the whole desk it would offer interesting cooling."

    LOL
  • smn198 - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link

    Lian Li's weird round case could be good for a geek version of this: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_pictures/4593977.stm

    Their desk looks quite interesting although I think I'll spend my $2000 elsewhere. Maybe if they put heat pipes throughout the whole desk it would offer interesting cooling.
  • cHodAXUK - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link

    Suprise, suprise, another year passes and Lian Li still haven't produced a case that doesn't look like an aluminium version of an old 386 midi-tower.
  • flatblastard - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link

    Correction: rd400/rd480

    Also, I was wondering if those motherboards have 6 or 8 channel audio. It's late and I'm too tired to walk upstairs and fire up the main rig so I can enlarge the pic big enough to read that list ;)

    Man I must be gettin lazy in my old age (26), lol.....or could this be a sign it's time to replace my old browser rig?
  • flatblastard - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link

    Looks like HIS RD400/RS480 will be using the sb450 southbridge instead of ULi. Interesting considering the "powerhouse" image. I guess it's still too soon to pass judgment on southbridge from the near-future. I'm still keeping my eyes peeled just in case you throw in a pic of the ultra vanilla non-crossfire ati+sb450/ULi mobo if such a thing will exist. I"ve seen various pics on manufacturer web sites but nothing new in a while.
    Just keep feeding us and we will grow. Keep up the good work!
  • Calin - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link

    Tarumam,
    Every microelectronics producers (memory makers included) tend to overestimate the need for some product or another. Or they simply react to one opponent's increased production with increased production of their own, regardless of the perceived need.
    In the end, this is good for users - it forces prices down to levels sometime lower than production costs.
    I liked the watercooled case
  • Doormat - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link

    Windows Servers can do RAID-5 but I wouldnt recommend it since it requires the use of dynamic disks (in other words, its difficult to get your disks back if your machine dies and you have to reinstall the OS or stuff like that).

    There are RAID-6 cards out on the market now (Areca makes up to 16-port PCI-Ex8 SATA-II RAID-6 controller). I do see everyone migrating to RAID-6 since it would take a long while to rebuild a 8x400GB RAID-5 array, even with current HD read/write speeds. That long amount of time to rebuild the array leaves you vulerable to having another disk fail while the rebuild is taking place and you being SOL.

    Raid 6 info: http://www.acnc.com/04_01_06.html

    It basically uses parity in two dimensions.

    Other than that, it looks like it was a very good Computex - its a shame they dont have a show like this in North America. I'd be there in a second!
  • Brian23 - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link

    ...which brings me to my next point kids, don't do crack.
  • Yawgm0th - Thursday, June 2, 2005 - link

    I was a few seconds too late. :)

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