Haven't yet taken that plunge & upgraded your WinXP installation to SP2? The BigBruin crew lays down five reasons why they think you should suck it up & go ahead with it. As always, backing up your PC beforehand couldn't hurt ;)

"Microsoft released Service Pack 2 (SP2) for the Windows XP operating system back in August (2004), representing significant improvements in many areas, especially system security. For those people that are still unsure whether they should update to it, the following five reasons may help make the decision easier."

What Dennis Barker over at Designtechnica has discovered about HDMI is the same obscure fact that keeps me hanging onto my nForce2 board for my HTPC - it will pass Dolby Digital 5.1 through its SPDIF-out. Unfortunately, Dennis is finding that not all HDMI chips are doing this at the moment...

"I was very troubled at the recent C.E.D.I.A. Expo to find out that one has to be careful about HDMI these days. Why do I say this? Both Audio and Video products currently on the market that utilize HDMI only passes 2.0 digital audio, and not full-blown 5.1 surround sound audio."

$55K for a PC? That thing had better be making me breakfast and coffee in the morning when I wake up... every morning. Heh. You think modding gawds like Mashie & CrimsonSky get this much loot for their awesome creations? I think they deserve it much more than companies like this, anyhow...

"After several years of working with furniture makers and wood carvers on one-off projects, Wojewidka decided there was a need for a systematic approach to custom-made desks that carefully conceal a high-end PC. The movement has attracted interest from companies such as Microsoft that are looking to popularize PCs as living room objects."

CPUs

Pentium 4 570J @ HardwareAnalysis

Video Cards

XFX GeForce 6600GT PCIe @ VR-Zone

Cases

Silverstone LC11 HTPC Case @ 3DGameMan  Thermaltake's Shark @ the TechReport

Etc.

ATake Pipe VGA For Dual Heat-Pipe VGA Cooling Kit @ BigBruin

I-Rocks X-slim Keyboard @ HardwareHounds  SilenX 400w 0dBA Luxurae PSU @ OCModShop

Altec Lansing MX-5021 @ OverclockersOnline  

This is certainly an interesting "feature," if you could call it that... I wonder if the info was ever going to be made public by NVIDIA without an incident such as this prompting them to divulge it...?

"The Overclocker Cafe ran into a fluke with the NVidia GeForce 6600 GT GPUs where in certain situations higher screen resolution equaled higher frame rates.  Not only were we stumped but so were the manufactures.  After a bug report circulated around NVidia for we did get an answer to the riddle.  The 6600 GT GPUs actually scale their settings back in some situations."

Motherboards

ECS KN1 Extreme @ HEXUS

Etc.

Hypercool 4+ Heatsink @ hi-techreviews  Clievideo Palm Webcam @ ARP

SunBeamTech Transformer Case @ TechTastic

If you're using a PDA to surf the web, you've most likely heard of AvantGo, even if you don't use it. Well, a new version has finally arrived, version 4.0 build 58, that incorporates tons of changes.

"... improved wireless synchronization; an integrated Internet browser; real-time searching of AvantGo channels; a redesigned user interface with tabbed navigation, customized channel layout and small-screen optimized navigation. Also, users will now be able to add and remove channels directly from their device."

It's CES coverage day around the web. Sites are posting their "Part I" summaries of what they've been seeing these first few days of the convention. If you haven't been keeping up with it, hit these links for some catch-up.

Designtechnica
VR-Zone
The TechZone
The TechReport

If any of you out there have picked up a vanilla 6800 recently, you'll want to give this article a look. The OCIA crew has laid it all out for anyone looking to turn their 6800 into a 6800GT.

"I began reading on various message boards that some people were actually able to unlock the remaining four pixel pipelines on their 6800 cards for a total of 16, matching that of the GT model. This seemed completely reasonable, as the 6800 is more or less a watered-down version of its GT counterpart."

By now I'm sure most of you have heard about MS getting into the Anti-Spyware business. I think DaK put it best when he said, "Doesn't it seem a bit off to you that the people writing the software susceptible to the spyware are now writing the software to prevent the spyware?" Conflict of interest at best, it would seem... are they writing software full of holes to push their own product later on? Anyhow, the gang at ExtensionTech have a first look at the MS AntiSpyware app, in beta form. I think this quote from their article puts it best:

"Microsoft may really have a winner here. Most definitely due to their own previous lackadaisical approach to security issues with Windows, and even more obvious, Internet Explorer. This is one program that should be considered in your arsenal to combat the current epidemic of Spyware that is going around for Windows based Computers."

Video Cards

HIS X700Pro IceQ Turbo VIVO 256MB PCIe @ 3DGameMan

Etc.

X-Trac Mad Wax @ Hard H2O  Samsung ML-2251n Printer @ OverclockersOnline

Evercool WC-202 Water Cooling Kit @ Madshrimps  Logitech MX1000 @ BigBruin

Vantec Modding Kit @ Virtual-Fusion  OCZ PowerStream 470W @ Virtual-Fusion

Proaim: Virtual Alignment Trainer @ AuphanOnline

While not stictly "tech news" the new Corvette does deserve a quick look. I'm not a huge Corvette thing or anything, but this model looks pretty sweet, plus, you get to hear John "Moto" Chow go on & on about it ;)

"The new Z06 achieves 500 horsepower in an approximately 3130-pound package and is expected to deliver 0-60 performance of less than 4 seconds, eclipse the quarter-mile in less than 12 seconds and deliver a top speed of more than 190 mph on a race track."

If you're looking to get that little extra oomph out of your X800-based card, ARP's got the guide for you. That is, of course, assuming that you're fine with busting out the soldering iron & going to town on that bad boy. They've updated their X800 voltage modding guide to rev. 2.0; here are the changes:

- Added two Vddq mods - resistor method and pencil method.
- Added list of required components and minor updates to the Over-Current Protection Mod (page 11)
- Minor updates to pages 4 and 6.