MSI K8N Neo4 Platinum Motherboard

If you’re currently in the market for a socket 939 motherboard, I’d like to suggest the K8N Neo4 Platinum. This nForce4 Ultra chipset based motherboard from MSI is a great example of a clean, well-built motherboard that’s available for a reasonable price.

The reviews from most hardware sites are very good for this motherboard, and it’s not hard to see why. MSI has put all of the nForce 2 Ultra chipset features in a clean, attractive board that has few layout problems. Even the packaging and documentation included with the product matches this level of quality, featuring a very thick user guide and tested hardware booklet, along with a large full-color poster pointing out each of the board’s ports and interfaces.

A solid performer at a reasonable price makes this an easy recommendation.

Battlefield 2 and Gamespy

Battlefield 2 is currently enjoying a 91% average rating, and with good reason. However, the excellent in-game experience is really being hampered by the Gamespy powered server browser.
Gamespy Makes My Head Hurt.

While I can understand the allure to the production management of using a pre-existing in-game server browser solution, rather than paying for the development in-house, it doesn’t stop me from being annoyed at the situation. Gamers have come to see “Powered by Gamespy” as a warning sign that the in-game server browser will be, at best, tolerable.

It’s not hard to see why third-party server browser software like All-Seeing Eye or Qtracker are still quite popular, despite the fact that nearly all modern online games ship with in-game browsers.

In the end, however, I feel sorry for Digital Illusions CE, as they’re the ones being blamed by less knowledgeable gamers for the travesty of the in-game browser, when the decision most likely came not from the developers, but from the producer, Electronic Arts.

It’s Backup Awareness Month

Yes, it sounds like yet another silly “awareness month” gimmick, but computer users everywhere would save themselves a world of pain if they took away even a few bits of advice from Backup Awareness Month:

  • Develop a backup plan.
  • Keep to a regular backup schedule.
  • Automate the process as much as possible.
  • Rotate your backup media, if necessary. (ie, tape backups)
  • Keep a second copy of your data in another location, if possible.
  • Test your backups on occasion to make sure your backup plan works.

Even home users could find good value in creating simple data backups, be it using a DVD-Writer, Norton Ghost or even a plugin USB harddrive. It’s an expense you won’t regret the day you accidentally delete those priceless digital family photos, or have all your personal finance documents lost when your harddrive starts going bad.