AfterDawn's got some details on a new compression format for DVD's that lets you keep all of the extras, but produces a single file that's only 2-3GB in size. My only question is: is it lossless? I'll definitely be checking this out.

"After a DVD is compressed to one much smaller file, it can be played back on your PC like you would play a normal DVD or you can convert it back to DVD to burn to disc and watch it with a stand-alone DVD player. Currently it requires users to have Microsoft Windows XP, DirectX 9.0, and Windows Media Player 10."

Scott Wasson over at TR's got the scoop on the Crossfire mobo's from two of the big names in manufacturing.

"DFI and Asus are showing live demos of their ATI CrossFire motherboards here at the show, and the DFI demo revealed to us some interesting possibilities for running two regular Radeon cards in a "dual slave" configuration."

So the news about this PC has been floating around since last week, but I didn't really see the point in posting it. Well, it's still making the rounds on the 'net, so I figure it's worth a posting here. Check out AOpen's Mac Mini PC-lookalike. More photos on the webpage.

"The squarish metallic box, originally code-named Pandora, will be released under AOpen's XC Cube product line and is similar to one revealed by the chipmaking giant at its Intel Developers Forum in March."

Motherboards

ABIT Fatal1ty AN8 @ OCTools

Cooling

Danger Den DD12V-D4 External Water Pump @ Techniz

XSPC Passive Aluminium Reservoir @ XtremeComputing

Monitors

Samsung SyncMaster 910MP @ TechTastic

Samsung SyncMaster 710N @ Tweaknews

Etc.

eMachines T6212 Desktop @ Designtechnica

NVIDIA's upcoming GPU has been sighted a couple of times at Computex:

Anandtech
HardwareZone

ATi has officially announced their multi-GPU technology, known forever more as "Crossfire." Here are some of the sites that are hosting previews of this upcoming tech, currently being displayed at Computex:

Hexus
the TechReport
HardwareAnalysis
Anandtech
HotHardware
the [H]
PCPerspective
Beyond3D

Next in line for our explanatory articles today is this one over at XYZComputing that takes a look at the upcoming case form factor; BTX.

"As technology has marched on over the past ten years needs have changed and the design of ATX is having an increasingly difficult time keeping up with new hardware and increased temperatures. This article explains the basics of this form factor and what consumers should expect to see in the next few years."

Wondering what makes the PCIe interface so special? Well, it ain't just the fatter pipe for your graphics data. The Hexus crew have put together an informative piece to satisfy any of your lingering PCIe curiosities.

" It also offers better power management, including native hot-plug support. And, although the physical interface is not backwards compatible, the driver architecture is. So PCI products can rapidly be moved over to PCI Express with little rewriting of software needed to make them work."

The BoxGods are having a bit of a mid-range graphics shoot out. Which of these two cards are worth your hard-earned coin? Head on over & find out...

"BFG has been building quite a following in the past few years with their excellent line of nVidia powered video cards, and today we pit their 6600GT OC against Gigabytes ATI powered X800. So what does SBD mean? Silent But Deadly. The X800 is a totally silent, fanless design that should appeal to system builders who want a silent or near silent machine. I know the HTPC crowd is giving this card a serious looking over for sure."

Video Cards

HIS Radeon X850XT iTurbo AGP @ OverclockerCafe

ATi TV-Wonder USB 2.0 @ TweakNews

SFF

Shuttle XPC ST20G5 @ Hexus

RAM

SimpleTech Nitro 2 x 256MB PC4000 @ XtremeComputing

Mushkin 1GB DC DDR400 Redline @ Techniz

Mushkin 2GB DC DDR400 High Performance Blue @ Techniz

OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Dual Channel Gold @ 3DGameMan

Cases / Power

SilverStone LC14M HTPC Case @ 3DGameMan

Thermaltake S-Viking BA400BWS case @ TweakNews

Akasa Power Plus 650W quad 12v rail PSU @ XtremeComputing

Etc.

Manfrotto 190PROB (Bogen 3001BPRO) Professional Tripod @ ARP

Danger Den MCT-40 Coolant @ Techniz

palmOne Tungsten E2 @ XYZComputing  Ulti-mat Mousepad @ MetkuMods

Samsung SCX-4100 MFP @ OverclockersOnline