Tech News January 2004

NewsJan 31, 2004June 29, 20140

Hercules 3D Prophet 9800XT Classic 256MB
Hexus :: Wednesday, December 17, 2003

“It’s these kind of factors that will plague any 9800XT model. Hercules’ is a sound one. It does exactly what it says in the box and is quiet in doing so. If you’ve got a spare £370 or so and absolutely must have the best consumer-level graphics card, the Hercules 3D Prophet 9800XT Classic isn’t a bad choice. However, it doesn’t do anything special to make it a must-have product. It’ll sell, but there’s plenty of manufacturers who now want a piece of the high-end pie. A good, solid card that’s a little boring.”

HIS Radeon 9600SE 128Meg VIVO Videocard Review
Tweaknews :: Wednesday, December 17, 2003

“Before you buy any computer component, it is very important to do your homework and consider what you need (versus what you want… or crave… or drool over, in my case). If you do not need a $350 video card, why would you buy one? If you are not apt to use all of its features, then save yourself a couple hundred bucks and buy something that isn’t as powerful.”

BFG Sniper Boomslang 2100 Mouse Review
Bjorn3D :: Tuesday, December 09, 2003

“Sniperus Boomslangicus: Latin for “really sensitive gaming mouse!” That is exactly what the BFG Sniper Boomslang 2100 mouse is. With a radical shape and some pretty radical technology to boot, this mouse will bring you new life in your gaming sessions, or put you to an early death.”

CES 2004 and Cyber-X Games Coverage
GruntvillE :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“On January 8th-11th 2004 Las Vegas was the home to not only the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Las Vegas Hilton, and Alexis Park, but also the Cyber X Gaming Competition (at the Stardust) and the Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE) (at the Venetian and Sands Expo Center). With over 110,000 people in town for CES and several thousand very colorful characters for the AEE it was a hopin’ town, and I, DickNervous, was in the middle of it all.”

Beginners Guides: Preventing Data Theft From a Stolen Laptop
PCStats :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“Portable computers are made for traveling and computing at the same time, and are thus incredibly valuable for their weight. We’re talking ‘carton of cigarettes’ dollars-to-weight ratio here. Consequently, laptop’s make a tempting target for thieves and have been known to go AWOL with distressing frequency when compared to less expensive things like your baggage full of Hawaiian shirts. Having a laptop stolen is a double-dose of bad news, since not only are you confronted with the fact that your (at least) $1500 portable PC is now gone, perhaps forever, but you also have to deal with the possibility of data theft. It’s sort of like losing a wallet, but a wallet cannot hold gigabytes of potentially valuable or personal data. Credit data, email records, license keys, personal documents, all at the fingertips of the kind of person who was willing to steal your laptop in the first place. For business travelers, this is especially bad news.”

Nikao F-1 Mid-Tower Case Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“Located under the two floppy bays is the main visual attraction for the Nikao F-1 Mid-Tower Case. A plastic chrome emblem surrounds the recess and sports a chrome heart at the top. Behind the chrome heart is another blue LED that will slowly pulsate on and off once powered. On the bottom of the emblem is the computer power button, a reset button and both power and hard drive activity LEDs.”

Vantec Vortex
Red & Blackness Mods :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“Today I’m going to be reviewing the Vantec Vortex hard drive cooling system. Their have been many different hard drive coolers recently. They are being required more and more. The faster hard drives spin/work the more energy is lost to heat and as we all know heat can shorten the life of components. ”

SilverStone Technology Temjin TJ-01 Mid-Tower Case Review
3dXtreme :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“Today 3DXtreme has the great pleasure of reviewing one of SilverStone Technology’s latest cases, the Temjin TJ-01. We’d like to thank SilverStone Technology for supplying this case to us. With the focus mainly on modded cases and lighting of cases it’s actually refreshing once in a while to come across a design that is not. SilverStone Technology has put a lot of effort into providing a wide variety of case solutions to meet everyone’s needs. This case is no exception…”

VIA K8T800 Performance Motherboard Shootout – Gigabyte, MSI and ABIT
TweakTown :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“It’s time for the battle of the big guns in the AMD Athlon 64 motherboard department. We’ve collected three high-end performance motherboards from Gigabyte, MSI and ABIT which are all based on VIA’s K8T800 chipset and tossed them all in the ring to fight it to the death with our still shiny Athlon 64 3200+ processor. Let the fight begin ladies and gentleman!”

Kool Solutions Chill Vent II
SystemCooling :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“No matter what kind of heatsink and fan combination you have, it’s not going to be of much use if the air around it is hot. There are a variety of means of getting cool air into that area, and ducting mods, although they’ve been around for a long time, are getting popular enough that entire companies are sprouting up around the concept. Kool Solutions is just such a company, and they make the subject of our review today, the Chill Vent II. ”

MSI’s GeForce FX 5700 U
Bjorn3D :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“Our review card is the FX5700 Ultra-TD128 from Micro-Star International (MSI). The 5700U is NVIDIA’s attempt to atone for the under whelming 5600/5600U. The 5700U features the NV36 core at 475 MHz, 900 MHz DDR2 memory speed, and improved pixel shader performance courtesy of CineFX 2.0. While both the 5600/U and 5700U utilize a 128-bit memory interface, the 5700U is the first NVIDIA GPU to be built with IBM’s 0.13-micron manufacturing process. The 5700U sports 3 vertex shader pipelines compared to just 1 on the 5600/U. Anyone who has tried to play “Halo” with a 5600 should appreciate having triple the pixel power! In essence, the 5700U is a scaled-down 5950 Ultra and not in the least a hopped up 5600. And that’s a very good thing! ”

Leadtek WinFast A360TD FX 5700 128MB
Hexus :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“What this conclusion, rambling as it is, is attempting to convey is that Leadtek has made decent use of a GPU that’s not a hot property at its current price point. That’s an eminently important point. Finite money forces the user to choose the product that provides the best value. Unfortunately, we can think of one or two cards that would tickle our fancy ahead of the Leadtek A360TD FX 5700. Solid and dependable, so it’s a decent enough choice for a die-hard NVIDIA fan. We just feel as if it doesn’t have enough of the right stuff to make it a recommended choice.”

Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 Heatsink
SystemCooling :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

Quiet cooling is quite popular these days, which is not surprising at all. Most users would prefer not to have to listen to the howl of their systems being cooled. They just want the job done without a lot of drama. When we reviewed the Thermaltake Silent Boost heatsink back in October, we found that it performed in exactly that way; quiet, efficient, and without a lot of drama. Now, Thermaltake has introduced a new model in the Silent Boost series, the Silent Boost K8, designed specifically for Socket 754 and Socket 940 AMD processors. Today, we’re going to find out if this new model is cut from the same cloth.

Vantec Cable Sleeving Kit
OCIA :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“The trick to getting this sleeving on is to work it in a push-pull motion. When you push the sleeving together, it widens so that the cables can easily slide through. Then when you pull the end tight again, the sleeving moves up the cable. For all of those that got lost there, I’ll just say that it works exactly like a Chinese Finger Trap. You push it together so that it becomes loose. Simple, eh?”

Shuttle XPC SB75G2 SFF System
Bjorn3D :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“The case is a smooth jet black aluminum finish. Very sleek, very sexy for a PC. I can definitely see this kind of component in a home theater system or in the living room. It’s very refined with the black finish and silver buttons and accents. You have to be a little careful you don’t scratch up the surface as it seems like it could show knicks and scrapes pretty easily if you get rowdy with it.”

Nikao Fusion II mATX Case Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“Most case manufacturers have been busy the last few years focusing on producing mid and full tower cases. With the HTPC trend growing over the last year, attention is being given to the even smaller Micro ATX cases. Nearly every case manufacturer now has at least one Micro ATX or HTPC case in their product line. As such, the challenge for the consumer is no longer finding a mATX based case; but finding a mATX case that is both attractive and functional.”

Beginners Guides: Creating a Weblog / Blog
PCStats :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“Nothing personifies the Internet’s promise of easy and unlimited communication possibilities quite like the humble weblog. Never mind the millions of commercially driven website; what could be more creative than placing your own thoughts, feelings, art, rants, your own… whatever, in front of a potential audience of millions? A Weblog or Blog is a frequently updated online journal, organized by date and containing whatever the person that creates it wants to put down. Essentially, blogs are simple non-commercial personal websites.”

Power Supplies: The Shocking Truth
Short-Media :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“When was the last time you looked at a power supply in the computer case? Have you recently bought a power supply smug in the knowledge that “you’ve bought the best”? What if that expensive 400 Watt power supply…wasn’t? What’s on the label isn’t necessarily what comes out the cable. Take a closer look with us at power supply specifications and find out if you’ve really got the power.”

Leadtek FX5700 graphic card
Overclockers New Zealand :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“it is a fairly standard FX5700 graphics card, with a satisfactory HSF design and software bundle. However, do not expect to overclock the card much, due to the use of 3.6ns memory chips, as they are already operating at their maximum.”

Abit AI7 Motherboard Review
GruntvillE :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“The new microprocessor was designed by Abit and is offered exclusively on Abit motherboards to give users an unparalleled level of control in the hardware monitoring and tweaking process. The six current features that the uGuru microprocessor let you control are: Abit EQ, Fan EQ, OCGuru, FlashMenu, Audio EQ, and BlackBox. Each of these features is controlled under a fairly straightforward Windows based interface that allows you to access the information and make certain hardware adjustments without having to go through the BIOS settings.”

Athenatech A811 Server Case
SystemCooling :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“Athenatech, a name we have grown to know for their high quality and low price has now brought to the table a server case. Having seen their mid-tower and micro-ATX cases, will this new server case posses the same craftsmanship and affordability of the earlier case? Will its look and features place it ahead of the pack? Won’t you join us to see whether the Athenatech A811BB can answer the demand for a server case that is in reach for any prospective buyer?”

CES 2004 Coverage Part II
The Tech Lounge :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“Today we continue our coverage of CES 2004 with our second article in the series. In Part II we take a look at several companies including ViewSonic, DELL, Ximeta, Logitech, and more…”

Xenix Optical Wheel Mouse
OCIA :: Friday, January 23, 2004

” The aesthetic appeal of a black vented mouse with blue LEDs and fans really appeals to me. I’m not sure about the sweaty palms thing but if you have sweaty palms when on your PC, (Cyberperv Geeks Included) then this fan provides a dual benefit to you. You can have a cool looking mouse that keeps at least one of your hands dry.”

ABIT AI7 865PE
ViperLair :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“ABIT has once again given us a great board to play with without making us take out a loan. With all of the built in features and overclockability, this motherboard is anything but a wallet-breaker. I enjoyed the layout and attention to detail to things as minute as positioning of the headers and memory slots to reduce interference and allow someone as messy as I am to route cables neatly.”

CPU Trends Shown by 3DMark03
Bjorn3D :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“Thanks to the Futuremark crew, we have been granted an exclusive look at some of the data submitted by 3DMark03 users. Futuremark provided us with CPU data that covers June 2003 to December 2003. During this time, one of the most exciting CPU developments was AMD’s release of the Athlon 64 processors. In this article, I will not only show you the distribution of AMD and Intel CPUs in Futuremark’s collected data but also the distribution of Athlon 64 processors. So keep reading if you’d like an answer to any of the following questions: Which company, AMD or Intel, is more popular overall, according to the collected data? Is AMD’s popularity increasing? Is Intel’s popularity increasing? How fast is the Athlon 64 being adopted?”

Sunbeam Liquid Neon CCFL
Red & Blackness Mods :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“Today I’m going to be reviewing the ‘Liquid Neon’ by sunbeam. The neon comes in an excellent box to keep it from being damaged. The side of the package gives the details of the neon, the one I will be looking at is the blue spiral pattern neon. The plastic box opens at the top and the contents slide out in one go. A single plastic tie secures the wires and inverter to the neon, this can be slid off without effort. ”

Scythe Kamikaze cooler
Overclocker Café :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“The heatsink that we are reviewing today is actually the second that sent us. The first sample had a hole burned through one of the corners where the spot weld had been held just a bit too long. The second picture shows where the hole was burned through on the first sample that we had. Like I said before, this doesn’t affect the function of the cooler, but you guys deserve to know this. ”

Corsair TWINX1024-4400 Memory
ViperLair :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“In case you missed it earlier, I left out 200FSB performance for a reason. If you have no intention of overclocking past 250FSB, this ram is not for you. I had some issues at 200MHz actually, where I was not able to run with timings as tight as I could with Corsair’s TWINX PC3200 kit. However, this ram is not targeted at users who are satisfied with staying at PC3200.”

Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M Motherboard
Short-Media :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“Gigabyte introduces a value motherboard centered around ATI’s Radeon 9100 IGP. The question is to buy the GA-8TRS300M or not. It’s a very good product for basic desktop needs and while the Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M may not be an impressive motherboard in itself it will be if a more aggressive price point is set than the competition’s 9100 IGP motherboards.”

DFI LANParty NF2 Ultra B Motherboard Review
PCStats :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“A year ago DFI didn’t have much of a presence in the motherboard market, and then along came Jacky Huang and the “Lan Party” concept. Fast forward to the present, and DFI have firmly staked a name for themselves by providing gamer-oriented motherboards with a little florescent flash. With Team DFI roaming around the states visiting local LanParty events, like the recent CyberXGames at CES, DFI are evolving into a motherboard company that aims to speak directly to its consumers. A couple of friends of mine who like to try out new things gave the DFI LANParty motherboards a shot a while back, and all I heard was how great the boards were… from what a great accessory package they come with, to how fast they are at stock speeds, and how great an overclocker they are… Now that it’s our time to test the DFI LANParty NF2 Ultra B, I can tell you my expectations are raised pretty high.”

Enermax Cs5190al-061 Alu cas
Red & Blackness Mods :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“This is a really nice case that we are having a look at today! Enermax has a good reputation for making nice cases. They sent us this cool aluminum case that we will be looking closer at. It has a VERY nice black finish; it’s as if you’re looking into a mirror. It has a removable motherboard tray which is very nice. It also has some more features that we are going to have a look at so stay tuned. ”

ThermalRight ALX-800 cooler
Overclocker Café :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“ThermalRight has done its homework with the ALX-800. Producing a kick ass air cooler and priced it inexpensively enough to completely undercut the competition. Kudos to ThermalRight’s R&D gang for the ALX-800 and another jewel in the ThermalRight crown. The ALX-800 should be on the short list if not be the only air cooler on your list for your next upgrade.”

CES 2004 Coverage Part I
The Tech Lounge :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“For the first time, and probably not the last, TheTechLounge went to Vegas to attend the Consumer Electronics Show! Make sure to have a read to see what 2004 has in store for us all. ”

MTB: A Year in Retrospect 2003 Report
MODTHEBOX! :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“The year 2003 introduced several innovations to the consumer market and provided another successful run here at MTB. As a Canadian based website, we witnessed first hand how certain events can impact the technology sector. Canada battled everything from SARS to electrical blackouts and in the midst of it all we still managed to continue on as a prospering country. In the span of two years, MTB has grown from a small tier site to a world class website with four staff members devoted to this crazy passion called case modding.”

Seasonic Super Silencer 460 PSU
TweakTown :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“Mike is back with a review of the Seasonic Super Silencer 460 watt power supply unit. It comes from a company who has been in the PC power business since 1975 who has only recently decided to extend their business to the enthusiast user. Read on and let’s see if they deserve a second or third look.”

TwinMOS TwiSTER PC4000 512MB Dual Channel Memory Kit
Hexus :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“In summary, the TwinMOS TwiSTER PC4000 512MB Dual Channel kit does what it says on the box. That puts it on a par with other PC4000 modules we’ve tested. What sets it apart from the other heavyweight premium manufacturers is price. It’s cheaper and just as good. Indeed it managed to run at PC4200 speeds without too much difficulty. If you can appreciate the knowledge that high-speed modules, and we’re talking PC3700 upwards here, aren’t partial to ultra-low latencies, the TwinMOS set provides that best value. That sounds contradictory when 512MB costs £110, but that’s the state of play in this niche market.”

Thermalright SLK974U HSF Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“The SLK974U HSF uses a series of thin bonded copper fins which make up the composition of the unit. The copper fins extend left to right with a set of grooves which allow the positioning of the appropriate sized fan for cooling. The bottom of the SLK974U HSF is machined smooth and has a nice reflective copper surface which should assist with moving heat away from the CPU. Upon closer inspection, I didn’t notice any machine or nick marks along the outer edge and center of the copper base.”

Serial ATA Explained – What’s the big deal?
TweakTown :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“Today we begin our investigation into the relatively new and future orientated Serial ATA interface for our personal computing storage needs and discuss the benefits, as well as disadvantages, compared to the aging Parallel ATA standard which we’ve been using for around 15 years now.”

Enermax UC-A8FATR4 Fan Controller
OCIA :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“The package came with a healthy supply of adhesive labels for labeling the thermal probes as well as a 3 pin adapter for the CPU fan that allows you to control the speed of the CPU fan and keep track of the fan RPMs. I placed my thermal sensors on my RAM sink, my CPU Cooler, and my video card cooler. I was impressed with the accuracy as the temps all registered within 2-3 degrees F at idle when compared to the temps registered in motherboard monitor.”

WinXP SP2: Security?
IpKonfig :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“Microsoft Windows is the most widely used operating system in the world. Which brings me to this thought: An operating system so popular, has the most security holes–will be probed and picked at more than any other. Its popularity has opened doors not just for common users, but for hackers at large.”

Seagate Barracuda 7200.7 Hard Disk Review
myWORLD :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“When we utter the word “Barracuda”, we all immediately knew that it was Seagate’s flagship hard drive for the high-end desktop consumers. It became famous since their initial release of the Medalist Pro 9140, which is later known as Barracuda ATA, II, III, IV, V and now, “.7”. As a 7th generation of Seagate Barracuda line, they decided to label them as Barracuda 7200.7 as part of new naming scheme.”

ASRock P4S61 and Gigabyte GA-8S661FXM motherboards
Overclockers New Zealand :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“Gigabyte’s 8S661FXM offers good performance, software bundles and that’s not all. The motherboard is backed by a three years warranty that gives a solid assurance to the buyers.”

Aerocool Aluminum Quad LED & X-Flow Storm Juggler 80MM Fans Review
3dXtreme :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“Today 3DXtreme has the great pleasure of reviewing 2 new case fans from Aerocool. The X-Flow Storm Juggler adjustable 80MM fan and also an Aluminum quad blue LED 80MM fan. There is not usually much to be said about a case fan other than the amount of air it is able to push and how it looks lit up in the case of LED fans. Aerocool has many fan solutions to choose from, from a basic case fan to the more noticeable light up fans. For the case modders out there the LED fan can add light to a system instead of using a cold cathode or other alternatives.”

AOpen A600 Aluminum ATX Case Review
PCStats :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“AOpen has been building computer cases for as long as I can remember, in fact when I think of my very first non-generic case, the AOpen HQ08, I still get a warm feeling inside. AOpen puts as much time and effort into designing their cases as they do everything else in their diverse product line, so we’ve always had pretty positive experiences looking back. Consumers have become very aware of the temperature of their computer components; everything from the RAM in the motherboard to the videocard GPU, and of course the processor can effect how well a PC performs… especially an overclocked PC. As computers run pretty hot these days, many people have equipped their cases with large 80mm or 92mm fans to help keep ambient case temperatures cool by circulating more air, faster, through the case. Instead of applying that same theory to the A600, and introducing the often abundant level of ‘whoosing’ sounds that goes with it, the Aopen A600 uses just one single 120mm fan to do the job of many smaller fans.”

ABIT IS7
myWORLD :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“Abit has gone a long way in the motherboard industry. Tracing back to its roots of its highly acclaimed BH6 i440BX to its latest IC7-MAX3, Abit never fails to impress its enthusiast fans. Recently we’ve reviewed the IC7-MAX3 featuring Intel’s very best Canterwood i875. While the i875 is catered for a premium niche market, its sibing, the Springdale i865 holds a much favorable price tag with a near i875 performance. This time around, we’re going to take a closer look at Abit’s i865PE solution, the IS7.”

Cooling The Lian Li PC6077
SystemCooling :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“We reviewed the all Aluminum Lian-Li PC-6077 Mid-Tower case a while back and were quite impressed with its looks and improved design as it applied to cooling a hot running system. While the changes and additions have turned the Lian-Li PC 6077 into a very good performer in the way of cooling, it was our desire to turn the PC-6077 into an exceptional cooling case without committing any surgery and at the same time keep it as quiet as possible.”

Chaintech ZNF3-150 Zenith nForce3 Motherboard
Bjorn3D :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“This review will focus on Chaintech’s Zenith line and in particular the Athlon64 offering — the ZNF3-150 Zenith, based on the NVIDIA nForce3 150 chip. Not only does this board feature the awesome Zenith bundle, but it also features some innovative features as well, such as RadEX.”

Zalman CNPS7000A-Cu CPU Cooler
Bjorn3D :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“The weight alone, or that combined with the fear of possibly voiding a warranty, may scare many people away from such a beefy HSF. However, there is a very good reason this CPU cooler weighs so much – its large chunk of copper coupled with the 92 millimeter fan are meant to keep a CPU very cool with minimal noise. I hooked the CNPS7000A-Cu up on an Athlon 64 to see if its weight is justified by its performance. Read on to find out… ”

Antec Super Lanboy Case Review
Virtual-Hideout :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“Less than a year ago, if you wanted an aluminum case or one made with Lexan or Plexiglas, you had to get it from a specialty shop. Now it is more commonplace to see more color choices, and different materials being used. I think a lot of the credit has to be given to the staying power of the ATX specification. I still remember when the AT standard was dying out, everyone was kind of holding their breath to see if ATX was going to stay around. Now that it has been with us through so many chipset and processor revisions, manufacturers are confident that they can invest the resources into making complex cases that won’t become obsolete before they can be sold. This results in more plastic components, more complex door mechanisms, more well-thought-out features and more tool-free designs. All good things for us. What used to be a field populated by identical beige boxes has become a highly competitive design contest amongst manufacturers. The Super Lanboy is a good example of this continuing refinement process.”

Arkua 728M-7N01 Copper Core Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“Even though the AMD market is on the cusp of a complete and total shift to the Athlon64 processor, there are still millions and millions of overheating AthlonXP processors out there that need better cooling. Arkua heatsinks are long familiar with FrostyTech, and through the many different models we have reviewed, performance has been pretty reliable. Arkua has tried different sized fans, and added copper slugs to the center of their heatsinks, but the coolers have never really made the leap to the performance section – which is fine. There are a great many PCs out there that simply need a good heatsink, and the Arkua 728M-7N01 is one such candidate.”

Kodak EasyShare DX6490
The Tech Lounge :: Wednesday, February 25, 2004

“Today we are taking a look at the DX6490, Kodak’s top-of-the-line camera in the EasyShare DX series. The DX6490 boasts 10x Optical Zoom, 4.0 Mega-Pixels, and of course, Kodak’s EasyShare functionality. One of the great things about this camera is that it gives you a lot of the control you would expect from a more expensive, enthusiast-oriented digital camera at a price lower the competition.”

iRock! 830 128MB MP3 Player Review
3dXtreme :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“This MP3 Player features 128MB of onboard storage and up to 30 hours of playback on a single AA battery. Also integrated is an FM Tuner with the ability to save up to 20 presets. The unit includes some cool extras like a leather case, wrist strap, ear bud headphones and a list of other features. Let’s get right into it…”

PowerColor Radeon 9600XT Bravo 128MB
Hexus :: Wednesday, February 25, 2004

“It’s difficult to manufacture an intrinsically bad Radeon 9600XT. PowerColor has done just fine with its attempt. It’s small, it’s quiet, it overclocks like a champ, and it doesn’t cost the earth. Just don’t expect super-smooth gameplay with every conceivable option turned to the maximum, especially with DX9 games. If you fully understand the architectural limitations that ATI had to make to the RV360 design for it to be a profitable GPU, you’ll appreciate that its forte is at medium resolutions with a reasonable level of image enhancement through edge and texture aliasing. ”

Chaintech GeForce FX 5700 Ultra
TweakTown :: Wednesday, February 25, 2004

“Yesterday we compared the performance of nVidia’s GeForce FX 5950 Ultra against ATI’s Radeon 9800 XT. Today we step down a class to the mainstream segment and put nVidia’s GeForce FX 5700 Ultra, in the form of the AA5700U from Chaintech, against ATI’s Radeon 9600 XT. Let the mainstream VGA battle begin!”

Gainward GeForce FX 5700 Ultra Golden Sample Ultra/960 Dual-DVI 128MB
Hexus :: Wednesday, February 25, 2004
“We’re left with the nagging feeling that NVIDIA has orchestrated the premature death for the FX 5700 Ultra with its own 5900XT. Thus we think Gainward’s diligent NV36 efforts may prove futile.”

MSI FX5700 Ultra-TD128
ViperLair :: Wednesday, February 25, 2004

“For the games of today, the MSI 5700 Ultra will do the job. Even for games that will come later on, the FX5700 Ultra is what we consider the bare minimum for playability. With the overclocking potential, you should be ok for the next few months.”

Inno3D’s Geforce FX5700 Ultra
Techwarelabs :: Wednesday, February 25, 2004

“Few video card retailers deviate from reference design these days, which makes the bundle and price of the card even more important. A 5700 Ultra purchased from Inno3D is likely to perform very close to the Nvidia reference design. Inno3D has choosen to manufacturer the card using a black PCB board and an attractive HSF cover. This card would look excellent in any case with color highlights and a window.”

ATI 9600XT Review
GruntvillE :: Wednesday, February 25, 2004

“This latest generation of the 9600 line is built around ATI’s RV360 GPU, an improved version of the RV350 that pushes the 9600 Pro cards. The most notable improvements denoted by the “XT” branding are the introduction of a new insulator that has less capacitance than the old silicate glass of the pro line, and the inclusion of GPU core temperature monitoring capabilities. Obviously these are two major steps towards improved overclockability of the card and should prove to be quite interesting in the benchmark phases.”

Albatron PX 875P Pro Review
Overclocker Café :: Wednesday, February 25, 2004

At it’s basic, the Albatron PX 875P Pro motherboard is a good solid board. While the board is lacking in features that other 875 based boards might sport, not everyone needs those features. The lack of FireWire doesn’t make a difference to me, nor the lack of Gigabit LAN that other boards are starting to sport.

PowerColor Radeon 9600XT 128MB
SystemCooling :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“Well if you’re looking for a graphics card for that new system you’re building or are considering replacing what you currently have, today’s PowerColor 9600XT review will hopefully assist you in your decision. We will put the 9600XT through several different types of benchmarks and compare it’s performance to an ATI 9500Pro and 9700Pro.”

ASUS Radeon 9600XT/TVD 128MB
Hexus :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“When evaluating a product for a final rating, we look at a number of factors. Firstly, how much has the manufacturer done to appease a wide spectrum of users ?. How good is its implementation on the whole ?. What kind of value-adding features does it use that go beyond most others’ ?. Is the technology that it is based on sound ?. We feel that ASUS has done as much as anyone in relation to the RV360. Almost every facet is covered with thought and attention. Priced at around £145, it also represents good midrange value. Highly recommended.”

SilverStone Mini Server Case Review
Voided Warranty :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“Well just about everybody’s heard of Silverstone Technology and their lineup of Power Supplies, but did you know that they make cases too. Yep. Today we are going to be taking a look at this mini server case. Here’s what they have to say about themselves:”

SilverStone B032FW Enclosure
TweakTown :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“In the not too distant past, the thought of getting an aluminum case meant pouring out a huge chunk of change. While there are some high-dollar aluminum cases out there, it is getting easier to find them in a more reasonable price range lately. Come join us as we take a look at a low cost aluminum case with some very high end features and see for yourself if it is worth the meager entry fee!”

ASUS Radeon 9800 XT and GeForce FX 5950 Ultra – Kings of the VGA Hill
TweakTown :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“Today we are looking at the two top dogs from both ATi and nVidia in the form of the Radeon 9800 XT and GeForce FX 5950 Ultra from ASUS. We pit them directly against a reference 9800 XT and an older 9800 Pro to find out who is the king of the hill in the VGA department.”

Albatron GeForce FX 5700 Ultra Video Card Review
3dXtreme :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“We would like to thank Albatron for providing this card for review today. I have to admit I was a bit excited when I received this video card. The packaging was rather attractive and when I opened the box I was greeted with many goodies. Albatron has been known to deliver quality products and just from the looks of things this was no exception. But could this video card live up to expectations? Let’s find out…”

Albatron KX18D Pro II Nforce2 Motherboard Review
Tweaknews :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“I am thoroughly impressed with this motherboard. Part of what one has to consider when purchasing any type of hardware is what they are getting for their money. What you are getting with the KX18D Pro II is a stable, feature-packed motherboard that overclocks like a dream. I know that a lot of people do not overclock their systems, and so care very little about such things. Frankly, that doesn’t matter. The board has so much to offer that even if you never stray from the default settings, you will still be very happy with your investment.”

HIS Excalibur IceQ 256Meg DDR2 Radeon 9800pro Review
Tweaknews :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“The Excalibur IceQ 9800 pro embodies everything I have ever wanted in a videocard. The card is packed full of 256megs of fast DDR2 memory, includes a quiet and efficient monster cooler and for once there are memory sinks installed throughout the card. The performance numbers and results would easily make even the pickiest of gamers happy with the ability to handle quality settings and pump out great framerates without breaking a sweat.”

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