Futuremark released 3dMark Vantage recently and have already found a few ways to improve it. For the full patch notes read on and we'll be mirroring the files here just as soon as we get them.

The majority of us access OCW through our computer's web browser. An increasing number though, are using their phone or pda's mobile browser to access the forums. We've optomized the forums to display wonderfully on the smaller screens that most of these devices have. To access the mobile version of the forums just head to the same address you use currently from your computer. That's http://www.overclockingwiki.org/forums . Our systems will automatically detect that your on a mobile browser and give you the smaller, optomized version of the site which will look great on your phone or PDA.

Its just one more way we're trying to make OCW the best site for you. 

The Hauppauge HD-PVR could be what we've all been waiting for since approximately 2003. Ever since people have been connecting their PCs to their HDTVs, there has been a strong desire to watch, record, and store HDTV content on the PC.  The first option came by way of HD tuners for "OTA" (over the air) HDTV signals that can be received via a digital antenna.  This option is obviously limited to only those channels that can be received via antenna, which is primarily the "big" networks.  However, for those of us who subscribe to premium HD channels like Discovery HD, ESPN HD, etc. 

All of us have been waiting for the release of Futuremark's latest benchmark, 3DMark Vantage. Well, its out and you can download it here .

3DMark® Vantage

3DMark® Vantage is the new industry standard PC gaming performance benchmark from Futuremark, newly designed for Windows Vista and DirectX10. It includes two new graphics tests, two new CPU tests, several new feature tests, and support for the latest hardware. 3DMark® Vantage is based on a completely new rendering engine, developed specifically to take full advantage of DirectX10, the new graphics API from Microsoft.

Presets

A key new feature in 3DMark® Vantage is the rendering option Presets. These pre-selected combinations of rendering option settings, like resolution, anti-aliasing and texture quality, represent different, successively more advanced levels of visual quality. When running 3DMark® Vantage with one of the presets selected, the benchmark produces an official score for that preset. Instead of the single default setting of previous 3DMarks, there are four Presets available for Entry, Performance, High and Extreme visual quality.

Anyone who's using Ubuntu knows how rapidly tehe development of this operating system is taking place. In fact, you may have a recent version of it and would like to upgrade to the latest, 8.04. Well the good news is that its quite simple.

The Ubuntu folks have a pretty easy guide on how to do it. Hit the link for instructions. 

After waiting more than 2 years, WD finally released an update to the Raptor series of harddrives. This ones got a new name, the Veloci-Raptor. Sure, thats got marketing speak written all over it, but you've got to admit its a great name.

 
As for the drive itself, there's a whole new format. Its a 2.5" drive. Yes, you read that right, its a 2.5" drive. Quite a few drives in the highend enterprise market have been moving to 2.5" in servers and other high performance applications. So, its not entirely surprising that WD went to a 2.5" format for their premier desktop drive. As you can see in the image here, this smallish drive is mounted in a massive heatsink making the mounting of it in a 3.5" tray as simple as can be. Boys and Girls, this is the new benchmark for high performance on the desktop.

I'm sure enterprising users will figure out how to squeezee this into their laptops. Now, they probably won't venture too far from a power outlet while they've got it in there but they'll enjoy some insane performance.

You can read reviews from PC Perspective, Hot Hardware, Maximum PC and The Tech Report.

So, I'm not one to beat up on companies when they make a mistake unless its a really bad one and its not getting the attention it deserves. Well, what's happening here is quite bad and doesn't seem to be getting fixed. So, I'm asking for the great intarwebs help for John.

 Here's the story: John's purchased a very nice product, an EVGA 680i motherboard and soon enough EVGA offered an upgrade to their 780's. It was a great deal so John jumped on it and orders the trade in. He waited 2 months before he saw the replacement board from EVGA. And, this is after he emailed and called numerous times to even get it at all.

The last independent physics simulation company, Ageia, was bought by Nvidia recently. Part of Nvidia's strategy was not to continue selling the PPU, a custom piece of hardware that the Ageia engine runs on. Rather it is to convert it to run on Nvidia's hardware of choice, video cards. Intel, never being one to miss a bandwagon decided to start working seriously on getting physics to run well on their multicore cpus. Both companies’ goals are clear: to sell more hardware to their existing customers.

It looks like Nvidia's winning. Their physics simulation is currently running roughly 30 times faster than Intel’s. Go Green Team!