Computex - Just a load of old codswallop?

I WAS OUT in Taipei last week, doing some pimping for my very own spot on the intarweb, bit-tech.net, and avoiding some crazy working for the INQ called Sume Gai. As a first time Computex-goer, it was very interesting to see what was about, and especially interesting to see what wasn't about.

The was
There were plenty of generic Taiwanese companies sporting WiFi cards, network hubs, and USB 6-in-1 card readers. After a while walking around hall 1, it was kind of depressing to walk past card reader after card reader after card reader, each seemingly identical to the next. Hardly the stuff of exciting column inches (except for now, of course. Aren't you excited? Tsk.)

Plenty of debauchery - Carnegies in particular was a hub of techno-journo hormones, with the 'ladies night' proving a well-oiled attraction for hacks from around the world. Don't ask us who was dancing on the bar with whom, we won't tell you it was Kyle Bennett and Coco.

Plenty of case mods! Watching the craze that spawned bit-tech go mainstream has been kinda gratifying - every stand had translucent cases and neon lights on them, and the Via stand had an awesome spider-web themed case, not to mention the Cow-puter that has already been mentioned in these esteemed pages.

The wasn't
The INQ has already covered in great detail the lack of nForce3 solutions to be found for Athlon 64, but, on the motherboard front, more interesting to me was the complete lack of memory acceleration technologies. Remember a couple of months ago, the whole Intel 865/875 PAT/MAT/CAT in the HAT controversy? Well, in emails I was getting as recently as a month ago, companies like Asus were touting their memory acceleration technology as a fantastic reason to buy their Springdale board. However, looking around all the stands at Computex, there was neigh a memory technology to be seen, save for the native PAT on 875. Looks like Intel laid the smack down on those poor Taiwanese guys.

Any decent product announcements? The AMD launch was a damp squib compared to the fanfare in Europe and the States, Intel had nothing, ATI was saving it all up for Tuesday, and Nvidia had - woooo - GoForce, for mobile phones. Whoop-dee-doo.

So, on the whole, I was a little underwhelmed. Less a place for the press than for the buyer, the lack of products was made up for by the opporunity to schmooze with some of the richest and most powerful within the industry, including Sume Gai, in a blatant attempt to sell my soul for some more review kit.

Next stop - CeBit... µ