CeBIT 2004 Part 2

ABIT were one of many manufacturers to show us their new CPU socket, PCI express, DDR2 mainboards which will be coming on to the market soon. You guys never had it so good!



The new CPU sockets about to hit us all is not really a socket at all but actually a plug since it is all pins and it is proving troublesome. Rumours suggest poor reliability and that the socket manufacturer is limiting the warranty to a single CPU insertion by an official OEM. This reporter has serious reservations about this but does share the concern about reliability. One bent socket pin and the CPU won\'t work! Here is a virgin socket!!!



AMD took us into their inner sanctum to show us the impressive Athlon 64 and FX processors running on a version of Windows with a \"64\" in it\'s name. If anyone knows all the facts it\'s Dave Everitt from AMD. Here macro looks very knowing after a good long chat with Dave.



We also got to see the Athlon\'s built in hardware anti virus protection which will be supported in Windows XP SP2 and protects against worm infection. This differs from software virus protection by actually preventing worms from launching rather than the usual after the event cleanup.



Athlon 64 is not just for desktops. To see just how well the A64 rocks on the mobile platform stay tuned for our review very soon.



Talking of laptops, fancy an A535 from Elite Group which lets you insert your favourite picture in to the lid to add a splash of colour?



Nvidia had a wild time, generally partying all day long and whipping their audiences into a frenzy with giveaways galour.



Nvidia\'s GoForce 3000 evaluation board bringing MPEG 4 video, quality gaming graphics and 2 mega pixel camera fun to your mobile. How ever will they fit all that inside a mobile phone?



Alienware laptops were a plenty on the Nvidia stand.



I could do with one of these, a USB powered laptop cooler. Just what you need to prevent roasted nuts from ruining your day.