"Upgrading from RC-1 to RC-2, which is supposed to be the final release candidate before the software is released to manufacturing, hasn't worked on two of my machines. To be fair, Microsoft recommends a "clean" install instead of upgrades on the beta and RC software, but since upgrading worked before, I am concerned it doesn't work now."

[Comment on SharkyForums]

This week's Weekly Memory Prices guide includes a look at how today's RAM prices compare to what we were paying a year ago. So check out the latest prices and take a stroll down memory lane.

"We have also seen some big drops in the RIMMs over the past year. In June 2000, the big news was that Rambus modules were taking up to a 35% price cut. According to Semiconductor Business News in June 2000, the 128MB PC800 ECC Rambus RIMM dropped $470, down from $780. Let's all hope we don't see those kind of prices any time soon!"

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According to this report from Reuters, Microsoft's Xbox console is still on track with a ship date of November 8th, and recent reports of a problem with an Intel motherboard for the system have indeed been denied. Microsoft expects to ship between 600,000 and 800,000 of the consoles by launch and 1.5 million units by Dec. 31.

A Microsoft spokesman declined to comment on any specific Xbox production issues, but reaffirmed the planned Nov. 8 launch of the next-generation console. "We can say there is absolutely no problem with the design of Intel's motherboard," Microsoft spokesman James Bernard said. "They've been fantastic partners and delivered on everything to date."

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So you thought NVIDIA was the only game in town for high-end gaming video cards? Well think again. We got our hands on preview samples of preview samples of both cards and were genuinely impressed. The RADEON 8500, in fact, gave us the highest 3DMark2001 score we've seen yet. Check out the full preview for more on both cards.

"All three cards will be available for retail purchase in mid-September, 2001. And for those of you who may be expecting nothing but marketing hype this early in the game, we're pleased to announce that ATI chose Sharky Extreme to be one of only a few sites that would receive review samples of these two cards early enough for launch-date testing. And considering that the cards that are still in testing and using alpha drivers, we were impressed with the results."

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Two more companies have hopped on ATI's MOBILITY RADEON bandwagon and have announced new notebooks which will be using this graphics processor which can support up to QXGA (quad extended graphics array) resolution (2048 X 1536 pixels) panel displays, and provides integrated support for several external displays such as standard CRT (cathode ray tube) monitors, Digital Flat Panels (DVI), and standard TVs. Here are some quotes from the press releases:

• (Press Release) ATI Technologies Inc. announced today that Acer has selected ATI's MOBILITY RADEON graphics processor for its TravelMate 740 notebook personal computer. The TravelMate 740 is among the first shipping notebooks to include the MOBILITY RADEON chip.
• (Press Release) ATI Technologies Inc. announced today that NEC Yonezawa (Japan) has selected ATI's MOBILITY RADEON graphics processor for its LaVie T notebook personal computer for the Japanese market.