Tech News June 2005

Prime Cooler 1PC-VGAHP 1 VGA Cooler @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Sunday, June 26, 2005

“Utilizing a single heatpipe, will Prime Cooler’s PC-VGAHP 1 be able to provide the VPU temperatures overclockers are looking to achieve? In this review, we’ll be taking a look at this rare offering from the folks at Prime Cooler.”

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SimpleTech Nitro PC-4000 DDR @ OCIA
OCIA :: Sunday, June 26, 2005

“The loose timings are really hurting the Nitro modules. I would expect at least a 5,000 point gain across the board with tighter timings”

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Maxtor OneTouch II 200GB External Hard Drive @ The Tech Lounge
The Tech Lounge :: Sunday, June 26, 2005

“How many times have you needed to transfer some files from your work PC to your home PC; or vice versa? You can email files if they aren’t too large, or you can burn a CD or DVD. Maybe you even have a flash drive. Well those are all great ways to move files so long as they aren’t very large. But if you have a need to move some really large files, or just large amounts of files, then you really need an external hard drive.

About a week ago I reviewed Seagate’s 400GB Pushbutton backup and compared its results to a Maxtor OneTouch II 200GB external drive. Well then, it should be no surprise what the subject of this review will be…that’s right! Today I’m going to be reviewing the very same Maxtor drive!

The version of the drive I’m reviewing today supports both USB and Firewire for broader compatibility. The large button on the front is what gives the OneTouch II its name, allowing you to kick off a pre-configured backup job with just one touch. This drive definitely looks nice, but we’ll see if it’s a worthy contender, or just another pretty face.”

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Connect3D X700Pro 256MB PCI-E @ Techniz.co.uk
Techniz.co.uk :: Sunday, June 26, 2005

“Overall, the Connect3D X700PRO 256MB PCI-Express VGA card is doing great during our testing. The overclocking results of the card are even good. There was an increment of 25MHz for the core and 166MHz for the memory that brings up from the default at 425/864MHz to 450MHz/1030MHz. The only bad things for this card is the VGA cooler, it was not good enough for a long hours of heaving loading 3D applications. So, a suggestion to change to other VGA cooler is highly recommended for increase the life span for the card and also for better cooling performance.”

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Hitachi Deskstar T7K250 SATAII Hard drive review @ Xtreme Resources
Xtreme Resources :: Sunday, June 26, 2005

“The SATA hard disk drive became a standard in every new system recently. As the IDE disk drives fade away, SATA disk drives will fully replace them in the near future. A few months ago, the SATA II connection protocol was introduced as well, which allows twice the transfer speeds of the SATA protocol, 300MB/s instead of 150MB/s. Hitachi introduced one of the first SATA II compliant drives recently, the Deskstar T7K250. Let us see how this drive performs and if it is a worthwhile competitor.”

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OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Dual Channel Gold (2-2-2-5) Kit Review @ MODTHEBOX!
MODTHEBOX! :: Sunday, June 26, 2005

“One of the unique characteristics of this particular kit is the addition of OCZ technologies EVP® and ULN. OCZ EVP® (Extended Voltage Protection) is a feature that allows performance enthusiasts to use a VDIMM of 3.0V ± 5% without invalidating their OCZ Lifetime Warranty. ULN (Ultra Low Noise) technology uses various printed circuit board (PCB) techniques to reduce the amount of electrical noise that is present in all high-speed ICs which results in faster and more stable memory.”

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Lian Li PC-V1200 Case @ Systemcooling
SystemCooling :: Sunday, June 26, 2005

“Ever since its recent release, the Lian Li PC-V1000 has been a very popular case. Let’s say you are looking for a nice home for your new dual processor rig and you don’t think that the PC-V1000 is big enough, while the PC-V2000 is too big. Isn’t there a nice in-between you may ask, well you’re in luck. The Lian Li PC-V1200 fills that nice in-between ground. Without further ado, let’s find out what this case is all about.”

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Portable Storage from Seagate – 5GB Pocket Size and 400GB External @ Tweaktown
TweakTown :: Sunday, June 26, 2005
“Seagate has decided to get in on the action with products catering for users with portable storage needs. Over the past few years we’ve seen the influx of portable storage devices such as pen drives which many of couldn’t do without in our day to day lives. Who doesn’t want 1 and 0’s in their pocket for convenience? Read on as we take a close look at both products and then put them through their paces and see just how they perform.”

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ASUS P5WD2 Premium @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Sunday, June 26, 2005
“ASUS put together a fine package in the P5WD2 Premium. Performance was solid and the board was problem free out of the box which is something we don’t see enough of these days. We were quite happy with pushing our 3.73 Extreme Edition past 4.5GHz, and although we’ve had mildly better success with other boards, we’ll still take a free ~700MHz boost anyday.”

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CrossFire Up Close @ Hexus
Hexus :: Saturday, June 11, 2005
“HEXUS managed to get down and dirty with a Crossfire based rig today. The solution was running on a complete reference design, which was built by Sapphire – an ATi AIB and Motherboard partner.”

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Connect3D X850 Pro 256MB GDDR3/DVI/VIVO Video Card Video Review @ 3dGameMan
3dgameman :: Saturday, June 11, 2005

“This Video Card is based on the ATI R480 chip. It has 256MB of fast GDDR3 memory clocked at 1040MHz DDR, & the core speed is 507MHz. It can even be overclocked higher for added performance. Not only does this card support all the latest technologies, it will also run the most demanding games. All these features at an affordable price! Watch the Video to find out more…”

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DFI LanParty UT SLI-DR Review @ Ninjalane
Ninjalane :: Saturday, June 11, 2005
“When SLI was first announced the enthusiasm here in the Ninjalane Labs for the new technology was crazy. Everyone was running around trying to get their hands on something SLI enabled in hopes of making that big score and upgrade to SLI.”

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CoolerMaster Contest @ Overclockers Online
Overclockers Online :: Saturday, June 11, 2005
“We like to keep things really simple when it comes to freebies and so you’ll only need to enter our contest once to be eligible to win one of the three prizes listed above. There won’t be any question answering or forum posting in this contest, all you need to do is email us selected email address with your name, email address, full shipping address and telephone number. By entering, you agree to be added to Cooler Masters newsletter list where every so often you’ll be sent an email with some CM news.”

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Smart Drive 2002 Copper Cool, Quiet Hard Drive Enclosure Video Review @ 3dGameMan
3dgameman :: Saturday, June 11, 2005

“This Hard Drive enclosure fits any standard 3.5″ parallel or serial ATA Hard Drive. It’s all aluminum, internally lined with copper, & installs in a 5.25″ drive bay. The inside also has noise dampening foam which reduces Hard Drive noise dramatically. This is an excellent product for those wanting to keep their systems as quiet as possible. Watch the Video to find out more…”

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OCZ ModStream 520W Power Supply Review @ MODTHEBOX!
MODTHEBOX! :: Saturday, June 11, 2005

“I should take a moment to mention the whole premise behind the OCZ ModStream power supply design which is the inclusion of modular cables. The cables are all terminated inside the power supply and left mounted with basic male plugs. It is up to the end user to pick and choose the Molex lines they want to plug in. The ModStream comes with a healthy selection of modular and UV sleeved cables. You get a dual SATA, a PCI-e video card connector, two dual Molex connectors, one single Molex and one floppy drive connector.”

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Thermaltake Schooner @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Saturday, June 11, 2005

“Thermaltake’s passive Sonic Tower was not only great because it was fanless, it’s one of the best coolers available today in terms of performance. Can the Schooner do the same for GPU cooling? Perhaps.”

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Vantec ALL in 1 USB2.0 Internal Card Reader Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Saturday, June 11, 2005

“With the price of USD22, the Vantec Internal Card Reader isn’t expensive at all, considering that most of the card readers are price about the same. Besides that, the Vantec Internal Card Reader supports many types of memory cards, which are more popular among the others. It is also easy to install and user friendly. If you are thinking of getting an internal card reader, you may consider this product from Vantec”

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Performance PCs Custom Works 500w PSU Review @ Virtual-Hideout
Virtual-Hideout :: Saturday, June 11, 2005

“For the longest time, the weakest link in my case was the wiring, that is, until I spent many hours sleeving the many cables in my system. PSU’s like this one can eliminate much of the stress associated with getting power from Point A to Point B.”

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Mushkin Redline XP PC4000 Memory Review @ XtremeSystems
XtremeSystems :: Saturday, June 11, 2005
“Aggressive timing memory, low latency (CAS-TRCD-TRP-TRAS) has always been the only way to fly for Overclockers, Enthusiasts, and Gamers. Bottom line is, if you want higher frame rates for gaming or world record benchmarks the numbers 2-2-2-5 is what you’re looking for. Mushkin has come out with series of memory called Redline XP4000 rated to run at 2-2-2 timings.”

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The new ice age: Athlon 4000+ Clawhammer Overclocking @ Madshrimps
Madshrimps :: Saturday, June 11, 2005
“The summer is coming and we like to keep our CPU running cool. In search for the highest overclock in the World with an Athlon 64 4000+ Clawhammer, will we succeed? Come and follow the path to the Ice Planet”

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Jetart ThermoEye Review @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Saturday, June 11, 2005

“The ThermoEye from Jetart will be a very good temperature monitoring devices for all the computer lovers and especially the overclockers to use this device to monitor the temperature of the devices such as the CPU, VGA card, HDD and others component. This ThermoEye is very easy to use; just simply attach the thermal probe to the devices that you would like to read the temperature of that components. Beside that, it also support the Farenheit and Celsius display. The large LCD screen with backlight will display out the temperature that read from the thermal probe. Overall, this ThermoEye is a very good temperature monitoring devices for all the users.”

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Win a Raidmax Cobra Gaming Case @ AMDGamer.com
AMDGamer.com :: Saturday, June 11, 2005

“Prize Details:

Raidmax Cobra Gaming Case

External Drive Bays: 4 x 5.25″ and 2 x 3.5″ Internal Drive Bays: 4 x 3.5″ H.D. System Board:ATX Form Factor 12″ x 10.5″ or smaller supported Expansion slots: Standard ATX 7 slots Material: 0.7mm SECC Power Supply: PS2 size / 420 watts ATX12V Dimension(WxDxH):[/b] 200 x 450 x 430 mm”

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GeIL 512MB DC UltraX-XL DDR400 CAS 1.5 @ Techniz.co.uk
Techniz.co.uk :: Saturday, June 04, 2005

“The GeIL UltraX-XL DDR400 CL1.5 Dual Channel DDR400 memory module is great memory; with the use of the legendary Winbond BH-5 hand picked RAM chips, it will meet the needs of most overclocker enthusiasts. This dual channel RAM kit is able to run tight timings of 1.5-2-2-5, which is the best overclocking memory module. Furthermore, with the voltage of 2.8V, it was able to hit 234 MHz which is equal to DDR468 with the tight timings of 2-2-2-5. With higher memory voltage at 3.5V, this pair of modules is able to read 265MHz which is equal to DDR530 at the timing of 2-2-2-5. That was an excellent result. Furthermore, this pair of RAM modules comes with the Platinum Copper Heatspreader which is very good for the heat dissipation.”

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The Underclocking Experiment @ PCStats
PCStats :: Saturday, June 04, 2005
“PCstats knows overclocking. You know overclocking. Everybody knows overclocking. The PC runs faster and hotter, provides more performance, and yadda yadda yadda. Overclocking has become so routine in the hardware world that every processor, motherboard, memory module and videocard needs to be overclocked as part of its review. We never know if the people actually buying the hardware care about its overclocking potential, but as computer journalists and enthusiasts, we know we have to test it out. This got us thinking though; what about under-clocking? Most modern processors and motherboards can just as easily run under a rated speed as it can run over… but is there a point to this? Well possibly”

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SilenX Luxurae HDSS Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Saturday, June 04, 2005

“SilenX Luxurae HDSS might not be the ideal hard drive cooler, but it is definitely a noise killer! When a hard drives get old it tends generate more noise especially under high usage. So with the Luxurae HDSS, it will reduce the noise thus bringing peace to your ears. For those are seeking for silent PC, you should take a look a the HDDS provided if you don’t mind to fork out 40USD for it.”

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SilverStone Temjin SST-TJ05S-W Case Review @ MODTHEBOX!
MODTHEBOX! :: Saturday, June 04, 2005

“One of the highlights of the SilverStone Temjin SST-TJ05S-W Case is a centralized integrated thermal controller. SilverStone has included an add-on device which occupies a portion of the front bezel making the unit accessible even when the front aluminum swing away door is closed. The integrated thermal controller is capable of monitoring a total of 3 fans (HDD, SYS and CPU), each adjustable by a Mode button. A LCD display provides up to the minute temperature readings in both Celsius and Fahrenheit ranging from 0 ºC ~ 100 ºC (32 ºF ~ 212 ºF).”

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OCZ DDR2 PC2-4200 Platinum EB Ltd. Rev2 @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Saturday, June 04, 2005

“When it comes to performance and overclocking, there is no doubt that OCZ Technology excels at what they do. OCZ has definitely earned themselves a round of applause with their OCZ DDR2 PC2-4200 Platinum Enhanced Bandwidth Ltd. Revision 2 modules. Priced at about USD230 / RM880, I would say that it is a good deal considering you get the Low Latency, EVP, warranty, performance and of course the bling! If you’re building a solid LGA775 gaming system, you should probably check out these modules”

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Kool Solutions Memory Cooling Fan Review @ Madshrimps
Madshrimps :: Saturday, June 04, 2005
“Overclocking memory has come a long way, in the old days pushing more then 2.9v through your DDR sticks was considered insane; now certain manufactures are making products geared especially for high voltage (3.6+v). With the increased power comes increased heat and active memory cooling is becoming a necessity. Let´s see if this “memory cooling” Solution from Kool is any good…”

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Gigabyte GA-8N-SLI Royal Review @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Saturday, June 04, 2005

“We take a look at the first Nvidia C19 board we can get our hands on and really like the performance so far. Gigabyte’s features are always top notch and the price is quite decent. There’s a bit of overclocking but nothing extreme.”

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Thermaltake Big Typhoon HS @ Tech-Mods.net
Tech-Mods.net :: Saturday, June 04, 2005

“Today’s computers are running hotter and hotter and today’s computer enthusiasts are constantly looking for better ways to keep their systems cool with less noise. With that idea in mind, Thermaltake has come out with a new low noise performance CPU cooler, the Big Typhoon. Today we’re going to be putting Thermaltake new cooler through the tests to see how it stands up to the tasks of high-end cooling with little or no noise”

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