Tech News November 2004

NewsNov 30, 2004June 29, 20140

MSI DR16-B Dual-Layer DVD Burner Review
PCStats :: Tuesday, November 30, 2004

“Conventional recordable DVD media stores data on a single 4.7GB plane (level) of the disc. On dual-layer DVD media, there are two recordable ‘layers’ which can both store up to 8.5GB of data. Today we’re looking at MSI’s new DR16-B dual-layer DVD burner. The DR16-B is capable of burning DVD+/-R media at a blistering 16x, DVD+/-RW at 4x and most importantly, dual-layer DVD media at 2.4x. Of course you can still burn conventional CD recordable media and the MSI DR16-B flies along at 40x for CD-R, and 24x for CD-RW.”

Valve Wins Summary Judgment Motions in Copyright Infringement Case
Valve Software :: Tuesday, November 30, 2004
Valve today announced the U.S. Federal District Court in Seattle, WA granted its motion for summary judgment on the matters of Cyber Café Rights and Contractual Limitation of Liability in its copyright infringement suit with Sierra/Vivendi Universal Games.

Judge Thomas S. Zilly ruled that Sierra/Vivendi Universal Games, and its affiliates, are not authorized to distribute (directly or indirectly) Valve games through cyber cafés to end users for pay-to-play activities pursuant to the parties’ current publishing agreement. Valve games such as Counter-Strike, Counter-Strike: Condition Zero and the recently released Half-Life 2 and Counter-Strike: Source are all popular in cyber cafés.

In addition, Judge Zilly ruled in favor of the Valve motion regarding the contractual limitation of liability, allowing Valve to recover copyright damages for any infringement as allowed by law without regard to the publishing agreement’s limitation of liability clause.

“We’re happy the court has affirmed the meaning of our publishing contract. This is good news for Valve and its cyber café partners around the world,” said Gabe Newell, founder and CEO of Valve. “We continue to add value to our program and we look forward to working with cafés to get them signed up and offering Valve’s latest games to their customers.”

The Valve Cyber Café Program is the only legal way to use Valve games in your cyber café or gaming center. There are currently thousands of cyber cafés participating in the program throughout the world. More information regarding the Valve Cyber Café Program can be found here: http://steampowered.com/index.php?area=cybercafes

XG Viper Enclosure @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Tuesday, November 30, 2004

“Overall, this is a pretty nice case. If you’re looking for a new case that’s a bit different than the rest and inspired by the Dodge Viper car, the XG Viper case is worth a look. At around $99 at the time of this review, it is a great value, especially when you factor in the included 500 watt PSU and the cooling possibilities it affords.”

Ultra Products ULT31576 8-in-1 MP3 Player review
SLCentral :: Tuesday, November 30, 2004

“The eight functions that comprise one ULT31576 (herein known as “device”) is an MP3 player, FM tuner, voice recorder, thumb drive, e-mail client, and MMC reader. Oh wait. That’s 6 functions. There are eight functions listed on the package, but the other two are ID3 tags and language learning function. I don’t count those as functions because “ID3 tags” simply means an MP3’s ID3 tag can be edited with the included software and is scrolled in it’s entirety across the screen and language learning function is something you can do with the repeat function of the voice recorder (or so I extrapolated from the English on the back of the package.) If you were to include those functions, you might as well include the functions of volume, eq presets and the ability to skip forward and backwards through tracks. Now it’s 11 in 1, just like that!”

Xtrac Mouse Grips
TechTastic :: Tuesday, November 30, 2004

“Today we take a look at an add-on for your mouse called Mouse grips. Mouse Grips are pre-cut shaped neoprene pieces

that you can place strategically on your mouse that will give you more grip and help prevent hand sweat while gaming.”

AOpen ACP4SH Pentium 4 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Tuesday, November 30, 2004

“Included along with the AOpen EX915 XCube small form factor PC is this heatsink, the AOpen ACP4SH. Designed with a skived copper base, and heatpipes, this cooler is technically used with the socket 775 Intel processor in the XCube system. However, the ACP4SH heatsink is designed to work with the socket 478 architecture, and clip system. It also happens to be a pretty competent cooler, so this is why FrostyTech is testing it here for you today.”

Tagan TG420-U02 420W i-Xeye Power Supply Review
OcPrices :: Tuesday, November 30, 2004

“After reviewing our first Tagan power supply, the TG480-U01, everyone at OcPrices agreed that it was one of the best PSUs we had yet seen. Including some excellent features, such as EPS and BTX support out of the box, plus rails to match the best in the industry, it was not only us who were impressed. Tagan PSUs are now sold in most high performance online PC shops here in the UK, and along with Antec, Enermax and OCZ, are on the shortlists of most overclockers. Today we are looking at the 420W i-Xeye version.”

Tech Station @ OCIA.net
OCIA :: Tuesday, November 30, 2004

“The motherboard doesn’t actually mount onto the Tech Station. Instead, it simply rests on the lower platform. This is one reason it’s so easy to install hardware on the Tech Station. You place this foam pad on the bottom shelf and then put the motherboard on top of it. This protects the bottom of the board, prevents it from sliding around and ensures a static-free motherboard.”

Sunbeam Transformer Case @ OCIA
OCIA :: Monday, November 29, 2004

“Sunbeam has listened to the cries of enthusiasts for years and has included a 120mm front intake fan hole. I am not sure why they included a fan bracket, as a 120mm fan can be mounted directly to the steel shell behind it, eliminating the need for the bracket. Personally, I removed and discarded this bracket. Another great feature visible in the photo above is the fan grill. Many manufacturers use the tiny punched-holes, which do not provide adequate airflow for the fan. This style, with much larger holes, is less restrictive and allows for more cool air to flow into the case. Unfortunately, a 120mm fan was not included for this location. One can be purchased separately from Sunbeam, or you can simply use one you already own.”

E-Power Warrior Case Review @ FastLaneHW
FastLaneHW :: Monday, November 29, 2004
“The Warrior gaming tower is made by a little known company called E Power Technology. Little known E Power is trying to make their name better known, and with 13 LED’s I think they are on the right path of becoming a well known company. But does all this bling, bling deserve your hard earned cash or better yet a place on your Christmas wish list?”

Passive Power Supplies Review: Silverstone and Yesico @ Madshrimps
Madshrimps :: Monday, November 29, 2004
“In today´s review we continue our search for the whole grail of complete silence. We have looked at some very efficient CPU coolers in the past, and today we extend our horizon to include another noisy part of every PC: the Power supply.”

Tyan Tomcat S3098G2N-G @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Monday, November 29, 2004

“Measuring in at 9.0” x 7.5”, Tyan’s S3098 (i845GV) is one of the smallest motherboards to ever enter our testing labs. Although it may be small, will its performance also be diminutive?”

Evercool Mini Water Cooler Review @ Techniz.co.uk
Techniz.co.uk :: Monday, November 29, 2004

“Evercool is the top 5 cooling fan manufacturer in Taiwan, we specialized in PC Thermal Solutions, especially in CPU cooling field, our main products including CPU Coolers, DC Fans, Heat Sinks, H.D.D. Coolers and System Blowers. Computers having a quick increase temperature need a good heat dissipation, and the air cool method adopted in the past habitually speeds up the fan to increase the air flow. However, such arrangement brings the problemof loud noise while improving the heat dissipation performance. The model of this mini water cooler is only solution such an annoying problem. The mini water cooler can be used individually for heat dissipation of a CPU, a GPU or an HDD as well as the heat dissipation for any combination of the series connection of the CPU, GPU and HDD. Our review sample was a mini water cooler for the CPU only.”

Evercool Ice Man Heat Pipe CPU Cooler @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Monday, November 29, 2004

“Today, we are reviewing [Evercool’s] latest CPU cooler which is the HPC-925. The HPC-925 is a very huge CPU cooler. We will look more into it on the closer look sections.”

Bloodline Coverage: Interview with Nick Knupffer & The History of the CPL @ Hexus
Hexus :: Monday, November 29, 2004
“During the course of our preparations to support the forthcoming gaming action, HEXUS has managed to score this exclusive interview with Nick, and get Intel’s view of the world with regards to gaming and its sponsorship of the successful UK Clan ‘4Kings’.”

“Munoz has been a gaming fan since the days of ‘Pong’ and this transferred into his professional life as an investment banker where he specialised in financing new technologies. He was so successful that by 1994 he was able to retire! With more time on his hands, Munzo launched the Adrenaline Vault, a website dedicated to all things gaming. Through the contacts he made with AV, Munzo soon realised that there was, at that time, a huge gap between what developers assumed they could peddle to gamers and what gamers actually wanted.”

WinTasks 5 Professional Review @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Saturday, November 27, 2004
“Windows is a complicated beast. Behind the flashy exterior a myriad of processes runs trying to keep your computer stable and working. Sometimes things though don’t work as they should. Processes crash, start taking up precious CPU cycles or start to use up all your memory. Other times spyware and other malicious programs sneak in and start running in the background. Windows includes a taskmanager that allows you to see which processes are running as well as some details about them but if you want a deeper understanding and control over your process you need a external program. WinTasks 5 Professional from Liutilities is such program and today I am testing it to see if it is worth to spend $49.95 instead of just using the built-in taskmanager.”

asetek 3.5″ Bay HDD Cooler @ SystemCooling
SystemCooling :: Saturday, November 27, 2004

“Many of us in the computer playground know and worry about the damaging effects heat can have on hardware. Whether causing instability and/or decreasing the hardware’s lifetime, excess heat is something that most of us want to combat. The ever increasing weapon of choice in the enthusiast arena has been watercooling. It’s allowed users to squeeze those extra MHz out of their CPU’s and GPU’s, but at the same time keep them cool, quiet and preserve their life expectancy. But benefits of watercooling don’t have to extend only to processor, hard drives can also benefit greatly. In today’s review will be taking a look at asetek’s 3.5” bay hard drive cooler. Will its looks, ease of installation and most importantly performance be a worthy addition to your watercooling?”

Sunbeam Samurai Case Review @ OCIA
OCIA :: Saturday, November 27, 2004

“Here we have the side panel window. It provides a nice view of the interior, though reaches a little too far over the drive bays for my taste. I like side fans, and this case doesn’t disappoint there. The laser cut fan grill is nicely unobstructed. Too bad it doesn’t come with a fan in place.”

Jasc Paint Shop Pro 9 @ TechTastic
TechTastic :: Saturday, November 27, 2004

“Awhile back we reviewed Jasc’s Paint Shop Pro Studio which was an easy way for the novice user to get into photo editing and graphics. This time we take a look at the more powerful program that Paint Shop Pro Studio was based on, the newly released Jasc’s Paint Shop Pro 9.”

ATake UV Two Color LED Fan @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, November 27, 2004

“Nowadays, computer case fans can be found in different varieties with their size, color, airflow/noise ratio, and appearance. In this review at Phoronix, we will take a look at the ATake Phantom Robot Two Color Effect Fan, which is capable of pushing 32.5CFM of air while creating 28.3dBa of noise. However, the impressive part about these fans is the attractive appearance when their in action.”

Galaxy GeForce 6600 256 MB PCI Express @ Overclockers Online
Overclockers Online :: Saturday, November 27, 2004
“The Galaxy GeForce 6600 is a great card for those on a tight budget, but still looking for a good PC gaming experience. It handles all of todays games very well without sacrificing image quality or features. My only gripe is with the card’s simple cooling solution which will hinder any worthwhile overclocking gains. It seems like RAM-sinks would be of great benefit to realize this potential.”

Intel Pentium 4 Processor Extreme Edition Challenge III – Bloodline @ Hexus
Hexus :: Saturday, November 27, 2004
“The venue couldn’t be finer, being at Black Island Studios, the largest film and TV studios in central London… Bloodline is using the largest of them with 16,000 sq ft of space for gamers to battle out over an ultrafast LAN…. But how many PCs can you cram into that much space? 16,000 sq ft sounds a lot, but just how big is it? Well, Jolt reckon that’ll nicely seat 400 players. Yep, you read that right… 400!”

Corsair TwinX1024-3200XL Memory Review @ PCStats
PCStats :: Saturday, November 27, 2004
“Over the next few pages PCstats will be testing out a set of Corsair TwinX 1024-3200XL DDR 512MB memory modules, using the above-mentioned 2-2-2-5 memory timings at 200MHz. Sweet memory, indeed. These chips sport Corsair’s standard black aluminium heat spreaders. If you’re into overclocking, you’ll be interested to hear that Corsair’s own internal tests show this DDR RAM is capable of running up to 250 MHz, with timings of 2.5-3-3-7 (with a modest voltage increase)! ”

SunBeamTech Samurai Case Review @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Friday, November 26, 2004

“The enthusiast computer case industry has come quite a long way in the past few years. Just a quick look at any major online reseller and you can see that literally dozens of manufacturers are competing against each other. From a consumer perspective, this is great news. More competition means better prices and features. We are starting to see features like tool-less designs, removable motherboard trays, solid construction, windowed side panels, UV lights, and numerous internal bays become available in more and more cases at lower and lower prices. The latest in budget oriented gaming cases is the Samurai from SunBeamTech.”

HyperCube² : Extreme PC case mod
Madshrimps :: Friday, November 26, 2004
“This mod was started back in July, since then the project has been updated quite often, in his latest update at the his web log he’s done a photo shoot of the “near – finished” casemod.

Suffice to say it looks breath taking, but don’t take my word for it, check it out yourself…”

Ultra ULT31434 Connector Kit review at SLCentral
SLCentral :: Friday, November 26, 2004

“Today, I’m reviewing the ULT31434 13-piece ZipCord Laptop Connector Kit. The kit includes more than what you need in one simple package: RJ45, RJ11, USB and Firewire cables plus adapters to fit many connections. Each cable features a retractable cord that helps eliminate tangles and unsightly bulky mess. Everything comes together in a foam-lined leather (plastic leather aka imitation leather aka pleather) carrying case with the word “Ultra” embossed across the top.”

Mushkin MP3/WMA/Voice Recorder @ ViperLair
ViperLair :: Friday, November 26, 2004
“MP3 players like this are very common, but what isn’t so common is the rechargeable battery negating the need for regular purchases of standard batteries. If this is a feature you could use, then you will be happy with this player.”

Thermalright SI-97 Heatsink Review @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Friday, November 26, 2004

“Thermalright have come out with a number of excellent performance heatsink. Today, we are review another solid heatsink, the Thermalright SI-97. This heatsink is cost around $35 US. To install the SI-97 on to the motherboard, it is no needed to take out the motherboard, unlike the installation of the SP-97. This is a newer generation of heatsink from Thermalright to support the AMD K7 platform. And the SI-97 is able to support all the AMD K7 series motherboard according to the Thermalright SI-97 motherboard compatible list.”

256MB SanDisk Memory Stick PRO Review @ rojakpot.com
Tech ARP :: Friday, November 26, 2004
“In collaboration with SanDisk, Sony came up with the new Memory Stick PRO standard. Boasting much faster read and write speeds as well as much larger capacities, the Memory Stick PRO is what the original Memory Stick was meant to be; but could never be.

Today, we will take a close look at the 256MB SanDisk Memory Stick PRO. Although ostensibly similar to the Sony Memory Stick PRO, we found the SanDisk Memory Stick PRO to be far better than the Sony Memory Sticks. Find out why!”

ABIT AG8 915P Motherboard @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Friday, November 26, 2004
“ABIT is one of those companies that people seem to continually expect a lot from. When so many enthusiasts flock towards ABIT’s products, that’s bound to happen. Enthusiasts expect and demand more, and ABIT delivers that time and time again with abundant tweaking options and innovative features. A company like ABIT is good for all of us really, as it makes other companies think about innovation and staying ahead of the game as well.”

Corsair TWINX1024-4400C25PT DDR Memory Review @ Madshrimps
Madshrimps :: Wednesday, November 24, 2004
“Corsair´s second foray into Samsung TCCD modules brings about higher levels of performance onto the DDR scene. Validating the ram for both Intel and AMD Athlon 64 platforms at timings of Cas 2.5 4:4:8 with 2.75v there is certainly the promise of memory Valhalla.”

Thermaltake BigWater Watercooling Kit @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Wednesday, November 24, 2004
“Thermaltake has a reputation of being on the front line when it comes to new technology for the PC enthusiast market, and their BigWater watercooling kit helps them stay out front. With its easy to configure design, great looks and awesome performance, the BigWater should be considered by everyone looking at getting into watercooling.”

Thermaltake HARDCANO 13 @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Wednesday, November 24, 2004

“Thermaltake already has become the global leader in Thermal Industry. Initial focussed primarily on CPU Coolers, high performance heat sinks, DC fan, PC chassis and power supply. Now, we are reviewing the HardDisk Drive Cooler Series – HardCano13. The HardCano 13 is a multi-functional media panel with intelligent Thermal Management System and Smart Card Reader. The Intelligent Thermal Management System monitors fan speeds, temperatures at 4 different locations in real-time with “Thermal Alarm”. The smart card readers support 6 popular Flash Memory Card formats.”

ATake Phantom Robot ChipsMod IV @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Wednesday, November 24, 2004
“Roughly a week ago we examined the ATake Phantom Robot Accipiter, which was only geared for low-end systems, but performed respectable considering its conservative price tag. In the testing ring today, we have the ATake Phantom Robot ChipsMod IV, which is designed for cooling your toasty Northbridge.”

X-Micro WLAN 802.11g Wireless Router @ hi-techreviews.com
Hi-Techreviews :: Wednesday, November 24, 2004
“Having the ability to use your laptop anywhere in your home or office without the need for it to be tethered to a switch or hub with a piece of CAT5 cable is something that some of us can’t live without now that we have tried it. One of the keys to having a reliable and trouble free wireless network whether it be at home or at your office is the choosing the right wireless router for your application.

The router we are looking at today is the X-Micro WLAN 802.11g which offers a number of standard features but also offers something called ‘Super G’. On paper X-Micro claims this router is capable of speeds up to 11 Mbps using 802.11b increasing up to 54 Mbps for 802.11g and an amazingly fast speed of 108 Mbps using Super G. But that’s on paper, what will it do in the real world?”

Ultra 8 in 1 MP3 Player @ Raptor-Mods
raptor-mods.co.uk :: Wednesday, November 24, 2004

“MP3 Players are quickly becoming the new “must have” gadget, with good reason they are cheap, capacity and sound quality and features are constantly increasing. Today I am taking a look at Ultra’s newest 8 in 1 MP3 unit.”

Scythe Kamakaze 2 HSF Review @ ap0calypse.com
ap0calypse :: Wednesday, November 24, 2004

“I learned of the importance of cooling CPUs while learning to overclock a P3 733Mhz processor. The cooler I bought then had a 60mm fan that screamed at 6800RPM at an ear shattering 50dBA. Sure it kept things cool, but what a noise. Things have definitely come a long way since then. Enter the Scythe Kamakaze 2. Kamakaze is a Japanese term meaning “Devine Wind”. Will this “Devine Wind” help keep my CPU cooler? Let’s find out.”

Powerplant PCI relay card review @ ModdersHQ
ModdersHQ.net :: Wednesday, November 24, 2004

“Raise your hand if you’re guilty of the following. You turn on your water-cooled rig and after about 3 minutes the bells and whistles start going off, warning you that your system is overheating. It’s at that point you realize that you forgot to turn on your 110/220 volt pump…again!!! I’ve personally done this on more then one occasion. One way around this is to use a PSU with an switched accessory plug but not many PSUs offer this option. Well, the crew at Criticool have come up with a solution; the powerplant PCI pump relay.”

Enermax Multi-function Panel Review @ GruntvillE.com
GruntvillE :: Wednesday, November 24, 2004

“The device arrived in an attractive, retail-shelf package. Nice graphics and details listing the box contents. The Enermax Multi-function Control Panel is complete with everything needed for installation and is packed well enough to stand up to severe handling during shipping. It will arrive at your door intact, short of the delivery truck running it over.”

Gigabyte GV-RX30128D X300 PCI-E VGA Review
Overclockers New Zealand :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“Well, not much can be said about its performance, as it is a budget 3D accelerator. Users will not be able to enjoy newer game at or above 1024*768, as the FSP is consistently below 30FPS. By extrapolating the results, I think the X300 should handle newer games fine at 640*480 and 800*600. This is an adequate performance from a card of its price.”

Logisys Assembled UV Red Acrylic Clear Case Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“The structural support of the Logisys Assembled UV Red Acrylic Clear Case is very good and uses a two stage solution to keep the unit together. In each corner of the case is an acrylic block that has been pre-drilled with two knurled brass inserts and mounting screws. The acrylic blocks are used to keep the top, rear and front panels together. The left are right side panels are held in place thanks to a series of metal angle braces that are situated on the top and bottom panels.”

Silvertone Temjin TJ06 Full Tower Case
SystemCooling :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“Prior to the last few months, it had been a very long time since there were any true innovations in the PC case world. Oh sure, there were certainly some very nice cases that were produced, but the same basic design always applied. That situation has changed recently, primarily due to the new BTX motherboard standard pioneered by Intel. The platform really hasn’t taken off yet, due the lack of supporting hardware, but what it HAS done very quickly is inspired ATX case manufacturers to some new creative heights regarding case and cooling design. The case we’re looking at today, The Silverstone Temjin TJ06, epitomizes many of those new concepts, and endeavors to take case cooling to a new level with some very interesting design twists on the old ATX theme.”

ViewSonic ViewMate KP102 Keyboard & MC201 Optical Mouse Review
Mikhailtech :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“On the left side are more useful buttons. Up top are the Forward and Back keys. Below that is a multidirectional pointer, used for scrolling and moving through documents. Unfortunately it doesn’t act like a mouse, but it’s still a nice addition. Below that are Cut, Paste, Copy, and Mark keys. The Mark button I don’t understand; it doesn’t seem to have any particular purpose and makes some applications act strange. At the very bottom are the Application (same function as Alt + Tab) and Close (same function as Alt + F4) keys. This arrangement is incredibly helpful if you’re 1337 and use your keyboard more than your mouse.”

Using Flash SSD In a Blade Server
The Tech Zone :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“Flash SSDs are high-performance, rugged plug-and-play storage devices that contain no moving parts. Using flash memory chips for storage, these devices are available in the same industry-standard form factors (2.5-inch, 3.5-inch and PMC) and interfaces (Fibre Channel, SCSI, ATA/IDE) as hard disk drives, but instead use flash memory chips in lieu of rotational magnetic disks to store data. This article seeks to explain and illustrate how flash SSDs stack up against other storage devices in blade server applications.”

Mushkin Dual Chan 1GB CL4 PC2-4200 DDR2
GideonTech :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“Today we have some DDR2 from Mushkin to take a look at. With a history of producing some of the best RAM available, I have no doubt that they will be able to continue the tradition with their DDR2 offerings.”

Asante FR1104-G Wireless Router
Hi-Techreviews :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

At first glance most wireless router seem to be about the same, that is until you have a chance to look at how many different setting there are available to configure. If you were basing the quality of a product on the shear number of options the Asante FR1104-G would outclass most other wireless router hands down. With over 20+ screens from which to configure your wireless network you are insured the maximum security when teamed with a good firewall package. Thankfully the massive number of options does not make for a complicated setup procedure either, with the built in network wizard the total time to setup the system takes less than 3 minutes.

Spire Cooler’s Verticool Heatsink
HardwareHounds :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“Today we got our hands on Spire coolers newest heatsink for the socket A platform….the Verticool. This is Spire coolers first trip out into the world of heatpipes on your heatsink and l have to say that right out of the box this is one impressive looking device. It has a dual heatpipe design and, as you can probably guess from the name, is tower based. This makes for one big, scary looking heatsink.”

1GB Mushkin PC3200 222 LII V2 Dual Pack Memory Modules Review
Tech ARP :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“When the famous Winbond BH-5 chips were sold out, there was little hope for a worthy replacement because most memory manufacturers were moving on to DDR2. Until Samsung turned up with their superb TCCD chips, that is!

Today, we are going to take a close look at the 1GB Mushkin PC3200 222 LII V2 Dual Pack memory modules! Based on the famous Samsung TCCD memory chips, these modules have the distinction of being the only modules to officially support a voltage of only 2.5V! Let’s see what else is different!”

Clever Power SPS-400 & SPS-500 Power Supplies
Bjorn3D :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“With ever more demanding hardware constantly appearing on the market, computer users are finding that ignoring the power supply is a serious mistake. Fortunately, relative newcomer Clever Power Inc. is onboard with a new and innovative solution for your power needs. Featuring a unique built-in power strip and surge protector, these nearly-silent power supply units offer a great value for those especially with limited power outlets or who already have jam-packed power strips.”

Cooljag 2QC/180 1U Socket 478 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“Following along with our look at some new 1U coolers, Frostytech will be testing out the CoolJag 2QC/180 1U socket 478 skived copper heatsink in this review. The 2QC/180 is actively cooled with a 15mm-thin squirrel cage fan that intakes air through the body of the heatsink, before exhausting it out through another set of copper fins.”

SilverStone Temjin SST-TJ06 Case Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“The SST-TJ06 can handle motherboards in mATX, ATX and Extended ATX format with a maximum size of 14″ in width. The chassis design takes full advantage of the BTX format by flipping the motherboard location and relocating it towards the bottom of the case. What is also interesting to note about the design is that each specific portion of the case has been sanctioned into different usable thermal management areas.”

OCZ Announces EL PC-3200 Voltage eXtreme Gold Edition
OCZ Technology :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004
OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced the release of PC-3200 Voltage eXtreme Gold series memory, a ground-breaking line of high-performance DDR.

With the introduction of OCZ’s PC-3200 EL Gold with Voltage eXtreme (VX) technology, users will be able to utilize computer memory in a way that outshines traditional DDR. Voltage eXtreme memory is designed to operate at a high voltage in order to increase the speed and stability that is usually unobtainable when conventional modules are pushed to run at a higher voltage.

Running at the standard 2.6 volts, OCZ PC-3200 Gold VX already boasts 2-3-3 timings, but at 3.2 volts the memory is capable of blistering timings of 2-2-2! Additionally, the modules are more stable and exceed normal performance capabilities at the intensified voltage.

Link: http://www.ocztechnology.com/aboutocz/press/2004/116

AMD 3000+ 3200+ 90nm CPU Review
AMD Review :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“Today we have more than a couple of choices in 64bit computing. It’s popularity is quickly becoming mainstream. AMD has recently released it’s next generation of 64bit cpu’s with the introduction of the Winchester core line built on the new 90nm fabrication process. These cpu’s are now made to fit in a 939 pin socket versus the 754 pin socket of previous Athlon64 cpu’s which were built on a 130nm process so you will have to replace the motherboard if you want to run these cpu’s if you are coming from a socket 754 setup. Today we take a look at the 300+ and 3200+ models, both socket 939.“

Flexiglow UV Reactive Neon Paint
ViperLair :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“Flexiglow’s Reactive Neon UV Paint come in 15ml bottles, complete with applicator brush, apply in a thick clear liquid, dry to a transparent and barely visible coating, and only require a blacklight or UV light to excite the colours. The green and yellow paints are definitely the most dominant of the 3 colours available, providing a very intense and strong glow. The blue follows close behind but with a paler shade than I expected.”

Asus eXtreme EAX600XT Videocard Review
PCStats :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“When it comes to videocards, a souped-up deluxe version that caters towards enthusiasts is usually the best bet. This is all well and good, but sometimes just a few extra features are all we really need. Overclocking is nice, but with a videocard forming the basis of a home theatre system, overclocking isn’t a very important consideration. With that in mind, PCstats will be putting the Asus eXtreme EAX600XT videocard through its paces today. The card is based on the ATI Radeon X600XT graphics processor, which allows it to bridge the gap between PC and home entertainment with a little thing we like to call ‘HDTV.”

8COM BH220 Bluetooth Phone Headset Review @ Mikhailtech
Mikhailtech :: Saturday, November 20, 2004

“Measuring 120mm x 30mm x 20mm and weighing in at only 14 grams, the BH220 is smaller and lighter than most car door remotes. After wearing it for a while you forget it’s even there. There are three buttons on the front, the biggest one being the function key, with a pair of volume keys below. Each button has several functions. You’ll notice a clear casing between the lower buttons; this is where two LEDs (red and blue) reside. The tiny hole at the bottom is the microphone. It does a surprisingly good job of picking up close range audio. The backside has the speaker, a pair of screws for maintenance, and a socket for inserting the ear hook (the L and R labels dictate from which side the hook should be inserted, depending on ear preference).”

Giveaway – 1.5 Weeks Left/33 Prizes! @ Mikhailtech
Mikhailtech :: Saturday, November 20, 2004

“Heads up; there’s a bit over a week left our November Antec-sponsored giveaway. There are still 33 prizes up for grabs, including a couple PSUs and an aluminum case!”

Thermalright SI-97 @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Saturday, November 20, 2004

“Thermalright has been reigning king of aircooling for quite some time now. The SP-94 and SP-97 were proof that aircooling still has a future. The only competition Thermalright is facing seems to be themselves, and with the release of the XP-120 and XP-90, no other manufacturer is capable of reaching their level of performance. The XP-120 and XP-90 were great solutions for Intel Socket 478 and AMD K8 CPUs, but Thermalright has not forgotten about the widely owned Socket A platform. Thermalright now introduces the SI-97, a cheaper and lighter solution than the previous SP-97 as part of the Light ‘N’ Easy tradition”

Kingston HyperX KHX3200ULK2/1G Review @ PCmoddingmy
PC Modding Malaysia :: Saturday, November 20, 2004

“The Kingston HyperX Ultra Low Latency kit was able to do 2-2-2 timing and maximum stable frequency up to 217MHz and 2.5-3-3-5 at 245MHz. This is might be impossible for most memory modules in the market to achieve 2-2-2 timing when running above 200MHz. Since the price for this 1GB kit is not that expensive yet cheapaer than the Kingston HyperX DDR500, I’ll certainly recommend it to anyone who needs a pair of high performance memory modules.”

Chenbro Xpider II case review @ Hexus
Hexus :: Saturday, November 20, 2004
“All in all, the Xpider II is a very solid piece of kit. It does everything that is asked of it, and does it well – The build is sturdy, the screw-free drive bays and PCI/AGP slots are easy to use, and there is plenty of nice attention to detail in the overall layout, from the drive rails neatly stored at the bottom of the case to the positive feel of the push-button panel to access the front USB ports and the like. The side panel window is the perfect example of this thoughtfulness in the design process – The option of having a window into the case which can be covered with the provided tin plate inside for those of us ashamed of the tangle of cables within is not far short of genius.”

Asetek WaterChill CPU Water Cooling Kit review @ Techniz.co.uk
Techniz.co.uk :: Saturday, November 20, 2004

“Asetek Inc. is a world leading manufacturer of vapor phase and water based cooling solutions for personal computer systems. Both product lines [VapoChill® & WaterChill™] are designed for PC enthusiasts, gamers and professional users who demand exceptional performance, maximum stability and low noise levels. The products are sold through a global network of authorized distributors and resellers. asetek works actively with world leading companies within the hardware and software industries to ensure maximum reliability, compability, and performance for its products.”

FINAL Part of the Virtual Memory Optimization Guide Rev. 4.0 Posted @ rojakpot.com
Tech ARP :: Friday, November 19, 2004
“Even today, virtual memory is still very important component of the operating system. No matter how much memory you have, there is always a need for virtual memory. Therefore, its performance is of great importance. Optimizing the virtual memory system will greatly improve the performance of the computer.

Today, we will take an in-depth look at moving the paging file to a RAM drive. We will also take a look at how to reduce reliance on the paging file to improve the performance of the system. Come and check out the definitive Virtual Memory Optimization Guide!”

Lite-On SOHW-1633S @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Friday, November 19, 2004
“Being a major player in the optical drive market, Lite-On is no stranger to the latest technologies available. For instance, Lite-On currently offers several drives capable of writing to DVD+R DL media and one of these drives (the SOHW-1653S) offers write speeds as fast as any other drive available today for almost any media. Today, I will actually be looking at the SOHW-1633S, which was Lite-On’s top-of-the-line model until the 1653S was released. The 1633S simply offers slower write speeds for DVD-R and DVD+R DL media.”

ABIT AA8 and AG8 – Intel Socket 775 in Style @ TweakTown
TweakTown :: Friday, November 19, 2004
“It is ABIT’s turn in the spotlight today as we provide a look into two of their newest motherboards, the AA8 and AG8. Each are designed specifically to work with Intel’s new Socket 775 processors along with DDR (on the AG8) and DDR-2 memory (on the AA8). After taking a look at both motherboards we compare the performance of each to determine which the best choice is. Intel 915 or 925X? Let’s find out now!”

Scythe SCKKR-1000 KAMAKIRI Heatsink Reviewed @ Hi-techreviews
Hi-Techreviews :: Friday, November 19, 2004

“We have reviewed numerous products from Scythe USA in the past and each one of them was somehow unique in its design and the Scythe’s new SCKKR-1000 Kamakiri Heatsink is no exception. Offering a total of six heatpipes cooled in what can best be described as a push-me-pull ventilation system.

With this products ability to be used on seven different types of motherboards (Socket: 775 – 478 -754 -940 – 939 – A – 370) it should be one heatsink that allows the users to keep using it over and over again. When test against another major company’s heatpipe style heatsink we found out that not all heatpipe based heatsinks are created equal.”

Cooljag E44C/180 1U Socket 478 Heatsink Review
Furioustech :: Thursday, November 18, 2004
“The E44C/180 is a fully copper skived heatsink which is actively cooled by a thin squirrel cage fan that rests on top. The entire heatsink measures 28mm in height, and fits into a standard socket 478 wire-clip retention frame. These types of retention frames were popular with the socket 423 Pentium 4 processors for a while, and have now been retasked to 1U requirements. The CoolJag E44C/180 is available through SelectCool. ”

New Athlon 64 Notebook and stand-alone DVD & MP3 Player
AMDboard :: Thursday, November 18, 2004
The latest Averatec 6200 series features a powerful and versatile AMD Athlon 64 processor and mobile users can enjoy outstanding performance on PC software including productivity and entertainment. This unique machine also operates as a fully functional notebook and as a personal DVD player. Innovative technology allows for users to watch DVD movies, listen to audio CDs or MP3 files all without having to start-up the computer! All you need to do is insert the disc, power-on the DVD with the wireless remote, sit back and watch up to 3 DVD movies consecutively on a single battery charge. AMDboard.com, the AMD specialist is first to have a preview of this new Averatec AMD Athlon 64 notebook and it’s right here:

ABIT AA8 and AG8 – Intel Socket 775 in Style
TweakTown :: Thursday, November 18, 2004
“It is ABIT’s turn in the spotlight today as we provide a look into two of their newest motherboards, the AA8 and AG8. Each are designed specifically to work with Intel’s new Socket 775 processors along with DDR (on the AG8) and DDR-2 memory (on the AA8). After taking a look at both motherboards we compare the performance of each to determine which the best choice is. Intel 915 or 925X? Let’s find out now!”

Enermax 470 watt Noisetaker PSU @ OCIA.net
OCIA :: Thursday, November 18, 2004

“The EG475P-VE SFMA power supply has 470W of total power and exceeds Intel’s new ATX 12V 2.0 standard. With the new ATX 2.0 specification comes the introduction of two +12V rails. The first +12V1 rail provides the noise-sensitive processor and motherboard components with their own clean power, while the second +12V2 rail provides power to all the drives and fans(except those connected to motherboard header pins) in a persons computer. If heat is the biggest factor in decreasing computer component life, one would think that computers would have a cool down period after shutting down, like many of today’s automobiles do. Enermax now brings to the PSU table Smart Fan Technology or SFMA with this new power supply. SFMA will keep the units cooling fans running for up to 2 minutes after the computer has been shut down.”

Lite-On SOHW-1633S @ Bjorn3d.com
Beyond3D :: Thursday, November 18, 2004
Being a major player in the optical drive market, Lite-On is no stranger to the latest technologies available. For instance, Lite-On currently offers several drives capable of writing to DVD+R DL media and one of these drives (the SOHW-1653S) offers write speeds as fast as any other drive available today for almost any media. Today, I will actually be looking at the SOHW-1633S, which was Lite-On’s top-of-the-line model until the 1653S was released. The 1633S simply offers slower write speeds for DVD-R and DVD+R DL media.

Dual AMD A64 Socket 754 motherboard spotted
Madshrimps :: Thursday, November 18, 2004
A motherboard going by the name of “Stretto 2” rev 200 features 2 sockets for AMD 754 CPU’s. The motherboard is up for grabs at a Taiwanese Yahoo Auction site.

Epox 9NDA3+ Motherboard Review
PCStats :: Thursday, November 18, 2004
“Based on the nForce3 Ultra chipset, the Epox 9NDA3+ Socket 939 motherboard comes with onboard IEEE 1394a Firewire, Gigabit Ethernet, 8 USB2.0 jacks, an additional 2-channel SATA controller, a 7.1-channel audio and Epox’s awesome Port 80 diagnostics card. The Epox 9NDA3+ offers users five PCI slots, and one 8X AGP slot for expansion purposes. The four dual channel DDR sockets will support up to 4GB of DDR-266/333/400 RAM, in sizes of up to 512MB per DIMM. The processor socket supports 939-pin Athlon64 and AthlonFX CPUs, and maintains a 2GHz (1GHz upstream, 1GHz downstream) Hypertransport link with the nVidia nForce 3 Ultra chipset.”

asetek Antarctica LGA775 Water Block @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Thursday, November 18, 2004
“Even with the system overclocked, the temperatures were still a good 10 degrees C below the stock Intel heatsink. The time between full load and idle temperatures was also quite low. Temperatures dropped nearly 10 degrees almost the instant I closed Prime 95 and paused Folding @ Home.”

Skype – Voice over IP / VoIP Communication
PCStats :: Thursday, November 18, 2004
“Nothing has yet replaced the ritual of picking up the phone and dialing a number to have a conversation, however the Internet does provide possibilities for making the calling process more flexible, and more affordable. Today we are going to look at Skype, an Internet Phone application currently going through a free beta-test, and generating a lot of buzz. We’ll also examine how Internet telephony works, and why you should care. It’s been said that Internet based voice calling will replace traditional telephone networks, the only question being how long it will take. Skype could be one of the applications that make this a reality.”

Die Spammers Die! @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Thursday, November 18, 2004
Spam, spam, spam spam spam! *lovely Spam, wonderful spam!*

The million dollar question is whether it is possible to stop spam. The most honest answer to this question is probably not — but you can significantly reduce it. Below are some clear and simple tips to greatly reduce the amount of spam you get: check it out

A4 Tech NB-30 Battery Free Wireless Optical Mouse Review
Hardware-Pacers :: Thursday, November 18, 2004

“A4 Tech’s release of the NB-30 Battery Free Wireless Optical Mouse could not have come any sooner. No longer do users have to concern themselves with wireless mouse batteries getting low. The NB-30 will always have accurate response and quick cursor control without the annoyance of inserting fresh batteries. Users will never again experience the frustration of a ‘locked’ mouse cursor because dead batteries are in the mouse and there are no batteries available. With the NB-30’s ability to operate without battery replacement, wireless freedom is now totally free.”

Cooljag JACE2DC/180 1U Heatsink @ Frostytech.com
Frosty Tech :: Wednesday, November 17, 2004
“Called the JACE2DC/180, this particularly heatsink shares most of its similarities with the CoolJag 2QC/180 1U cooler, save for a slightly different skived fin structure. The Cooljag 2QC/180 has an extra set of tall copper fins on either side of the squirrel cage fan, whereas the JACE2DC/180 we are testing here, maintains the same 7mm tall fins from end-to-end.”

Intel 925XE Chipset with 1066FSB Support @ Tweaktown
TweakTown :: Wednesday, November 17, 2004
“If you can find the time to pull yourself away from playing HL2, we have posted an article which looks at the recent FSB speed increase from Intel with their 925XE chipset and Pentium 4 Extreme Edition 3.46GHz processor. We compare the performance of the new 1066FSB system against an older 800FSB system with reference 925X motherboard. Is it worth the upgrade in such little time? Read on and find out!”

SilverStone TJ-05 Review @ FastLaneHW.com
FastLaneHW :: Wednesday, November 17, 2004
“We’ve looked at a lot of cool SilverStone cases in the past– from their Temjin series, to their Lascala home theater series, to the miniature GD98-LED mATX case, we thought that we’ve seen it all until we got the TJ-05. Today we’re going to go through the ropes of this lovely black case.”

E-Power Warrior Case Review @ Overclockers Cafe
Overclocker Café :: Wednesday, November 17, 2004

“The side panel is definitely one of the best features of the case with its multiple colors dissolving into one another in a constantly changing light show. Coupling that with the ability to turn the LEDs on and off independent of the computer being powered up was a great idea that has been a long time coming and I’m surprised I haven’t seen this before from other case manufacturers. ”

OCZ DDR Booster Review @ PCmoddingmy
PC Modding Malaysia :: Wednesday, November 17, 2004

“OCZ Technology has certainly come up with a high quality and incredibly useful product in the OCZ DDR Booster. Overclockers should definitely keep this product in their sights, as it will surely enable monster overclocks with the right RAM and mainboard. To me, the power filtering feature (Powerclean Technology™) was the most useful. It effectively eliminated instability issues that I had been dealing with for months. The DDR Booster is now a permanent feature in my test system.”

ATake Phantom Robot Accipiter @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Wednesday, November 17, 2004
“Phantom: something existing in perception only. In today’s review of the Atake Phantom Robot Accipiter, we will learn if this cooler is truly a figment of our imagination or if it really is up to our cooling tasks.”

Thermalright XP-90 @ OCIA.net
OCIA :: Wednesday, November 17, 2004

“The second thing I noticed were the quad heatpipes protruding from the base of the heatsink. Heatpipe technology has recently found its way to aftermarket heatsinks and, if implemented properly, can produce very nice results. Another notable feature of this sink is the ability to work across multiple platforms. Should you decide to upgrade your system, there is a good possibility that you will not need to purchase a new heatsink.”

Chaintech VNF3-250 nForce3 250 @ HTPCnews.com
HTPCnews :: Wednesday, November 17, 2004
“For those of you looking for a budget board to run the latest and greatest AMD A64 chips on, we’ve got one up for review that you very well might be interested in. Seems to pack in a great deal of options for the price; including on-board LAN, Passive chipset cooling for silence, 5.1 Audio that even includes the desired SPDIF for sending your Digital audio to a receiver / preamp… Just to name a few of the HTPC related options we found nice to have.”

OCZ Modules Selected for ATI Demo Debut of Half-Life 2
OCZ Technology :: Wednesday, November 17, 2004
OCZ Technology Group, Inc. is proud to announce that its DDR memory modules have been selected for use in the ATI Technologies demonstration systems at the giant Electronics Game Show event being held in São Paulo, Brazil later this week. The ATI Technologies booth will contain several OCZ memory-supported computer demo systems running high resolution PC games, including the debut of the new Half-Life® 2 game.

Link: http://www.ocztechnology.com/aboutocz/news/20

PCI-X Serial ATA RAID – Highpoint RocketRAID 1820A Review
TweakTown :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“For those who thought the high-end SATA RAID arrays were only for the corporate types, think again. Today, Cameron Johnson takes a hard look at the Highpoint RocketRAID 1820A, a means to bring monster arrays to your desktop. Who said only the big boys could play this game?”

AMD’s 90nm Winchester CPU @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“After having the 3500+ Winchester for almost two weeks I am very impressed with this CPU. It incorporates all the positives of the Newcastle it replaces, with a huge drop in operating temperatures…”

Beantech Igloo 11 Case Review
Overclocker Café :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“Case design has taken some interesting turns in the past year or two. Manufacturing techniques have improved so as to make lots of otherwise unusual designs possible. Just a few examples of these could be the Diabolic Minotaur, Raidmax Samurai or the Logisys Dracula case. Each of these cases has nice features but their respective strong points lie in their aesthetics.”

Thermaltake Silent PurePower Fanless PSU
SystemCooling :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“Thermaltake has recently expanded their product line to include PC power supplies and their latest model is fan-less for those users seeking a truly silent computing experience. The Thermaltake Silent PurePower Fan-less Power Supply Unit (PSU) is rated for a maximum power output of 350 watts. In addition to the ventilated black aluminum enclosure, Thermaltake uses a combination of heat pipes and external copper heat exchangers to dissipate the heat away from internal components. The Silent PurePower Fan-less 350 is available in two models; one that incorporates passive power factor correction (W0050) and the one we are reviewing today that does not (W0029).”

Home Networking: A Visual Do-It-Yourself Guide
PCStats :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“Home networking can be a daunting topic for computer users who are unfamiliar with the intricacies of network technology, even if Windows XP’s new features make the process vastly easier than it used to be. To help home users out with this essential subject, Cisco Press recently released a new book entitled “Home Networking: A Visual Do-It-Yourself Guide,” this 175-page softcover book falls into the lower-priced category of computer guidebooks, which certainly makes it an easy addition to your tech library.”

UPS Roundup @ Bjorn3d.com
Bjorn3D :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“Bonnie. Charlie. Frances. Ivan. Jeanne. Are these the names of 17th century British ships? Paris Hilton’s puppies? Guests at a swinger’s party? No, they were Atlantic hurricanes in 2004 that had a direct impact on my home state of Florida. I was fortunate in that their destructive power was primarily focused outside of my city, but my home was still directly impacted by several of the storms. In addition to high winds and heavy rain, our home’s power continually surged, dimmed, and went out completely for over 36 hours. By the time Frances blew through, I was really convinced I needed a UPS!”

Thermaltake BigWater Review @ GruntvillE.com
GruntvillE :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“The entire waterblock is copper with a see-through acrylic cover. The copper combined with the shiny acrylic is just gorgeous. The overall design of the waterblock is well done and aesthetically pleasing. Four screws securely attach the acrylic cover to the copper base. Two barbs are centered evenly for a symmetrical look. Under the screw down caps are 5/16in prongs to attach the tubing. Between the barbs you can see the pathway for the liquid cooling. In the right hand corner you can see the small LED encased in the acrylic cover. The LED is blue to light up the entire block. This waterblock is universal; with the included clamps it is designed to fit Intel P4 socket 775, P4, AMD K8, and AMD K7.”

OCIA.net has posted a Beginners Guide to OverClocking
OCIA :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“So what exactly is overclocking and why would anybody want to do it? Overclocking is the art of pushing your system to the limits; squeezing every last bit of power and performance out of your components. Overclocking is an enthusiast hobby. A good comparative example would be a car enthusiast. Sure, you can spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to own some of the fastest cars in the world, but why bother when you can take virtually any car, and make it just as fast with the right modifications for a fraction of the price?”

Swiftech H20-120 Rev2 Athlon 64 Water Cooling Kit Review
TweakTown :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“Today we have an in-depth look at Swiftech’s newest water cooling kit by Mike. We test the H20-120 Rev2 with an AMD Athlon FX-53 processor and compare it against one of the best air coolers on the market today. Read on and let’s find out if Swiftech are offering something which really deserves our money.”

Mushkin PC3200 L2V2 @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004
“Of course true enthusiasts will want to overclock, and the samples I have here have shown themselves to be capable of near PC4000 speeds which is quite a jump from PC3200. Timings had to be loosened to reach the higher speeds but the headroom is there. If you are a mild overclocker of P4 systems, or you run an AMD system, then this ram would be suitable for you.”

Logisys SP6001BK 2.1 Speaker System Review
Mikhailtech :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“Coming in at under $50, this system is competitively priced with Logitech’s X-230 (32W total output) and Z-3 speakers (40W total output). 12W per satellite is pretty good for low-end speakers. Another 16W for the sub and you get a total of 40W. The advantage these speakers have over most 2.1 systems are the RCA audio plugs which let you connect them to a television set, DVD player, pretty much anything that accepts said input. Needless to say, this makes them a lot more useful.”

Vantec NexStar 2 External 5.25 Drive Enclosure
Hi-Techreviews :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“Have you ever ran into the need to copy or burn a DVD with a computer that didn’t have a burner installed in it or perhaps you have one DVD burner and would like the option of sharing it with all of the computers in your home or office. The same thing applies to a CD drive, if you answered yes to this question then the Vantec NexStar 2 External 5.25 CD/DVD Drive Enclosure should interest you.”

Thermaltake Circlefire Multi-Media Drive Bay Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“I know that as a consumer, I would expect much more from a product that Thermaltake advertises as a “professional multi-media kit”. It tries to do too many things, and ends up doing none of them very well. I could only find one online retailer for the Circle Fire, and at $77 CAD ($65 USD) the bang for buck coefficient is quite low, by my estimation. I’ve owned Thermaltake products in the past and been very pleased with them, but using the Circle Fire has been a little like admiring a choice ’49 Mercury hot rod, then finding a lawn-mower motor under the hood.”

Aspire Concord 500W Aluminum PSU Review @ FastLaneHW.com
FastLaneHW :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“The Concord MR500W comes packaged well protected and lots of features. There is a handy hole in the side of the box to verify the color the of PSU before buying it. Two user adjustable 80mm fans keep the PSU cool. At full speed, the fans are loud, but nothing like other high performance fans on the market. The power switch is oversized and very easy to find when reaching behind the computer.”

Traxdata Media full Presentation @ CDRinfo
CDRInfo :: Sunday, November 14, 2004
“Read our review, including the results of comprehensive quality tests performed on Traxdata media by our engineers with the most popular DVD burners currently available on the market”

E-Power Warrior PC Case @ Short-Media
Short-Media :: Sunday, November 14, 2004
“It’s a PC case that comes stock with 13 LED lights. The side panel glows with a spectrum of constantly changing colors and the light show can continue in the Warrior PC case even after the computer is shut down”

PimpRig Utility // Overclockulator 1.3.4b @ PimpRig
PimpRig :: Sunday, November 14, 2004
“An updated version of the Overclockulator is now online for your downloading pleasure. This new version includes a revised interface with new clock detection features. In case you passed up the previous releases this utility includes some handy little apps including a CFM calculator, FSB/Multiplier Calc., a required PSU Wattage Calc. and more. As always this utility is available for free – NO MEMBER SIGN UP REQUIRED! :)”

Intel Celeron D @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Sunday, November 14, 2004

“Deleron, CellyD, Celery D, or whatever you would like to call the new Intel Celeron D processors, they undoubtedly have some enthusiasts talking over its Prescott core. In this article today, we got our hands on the new Intel Celeron D 320 that runs at 2.4GHz and utilizes the Prescott core with 90 nm process.”

Crucial Ballistix PC2-5300 (667MHz) DDR2 Memory @ Bjorn3d
Bjorn3D :: Sunday, November 14, 2004
“Many of us wondered for years why Crucial, a long time leader in the memory industry, never entered the ‘performance DDR’ segment. I just always figured they were making enough money selling to OEMs and to the average consumer who just wanted some RAM. …. That is no longer the case today. Earlier this year, Crucial introduced an enthusiast line called ‘Ballistix,’ which is obviously intended to grab gamers’ attention. The Ballistix DDR has grabbed plenty of positive attention and feedback from users and reviewers alike. Crucial sent us some DDR2 from the Ballistix family, so we’ll get to see firsthand if Crucial truly can deliver what enthusiasts want.”

Akasa’s Eclipse 62 @ Hexus
Hexus :: Sunday, November 14, 2004
“Akasa, while not the original manufacturers of the chassis, have worked with the original creators to tweak it just as they like it, engineering out any initial flaws they saw and paying close attention to the smaller details and the wider cooling performance. The width of the chassis and its modular nature afford you excellent thermal performance and ease of use. It’s stylish too, the all-black aesthetic tickling my fancy. Simple to work with and open for modification and integration of any powerful system you wish to put inside, the Eclipse 62 is a stand-out chassis and one worth your consideration.”

Antec’s NEOPower 480 Watt reviewed @ DataFuse
DataFuse :: Sunday, November 14, 2004

“Antec has always been quite the innovative company. Thinking about their PSU’s they always seem to outperform or outdo the competition. Moves like putting 120mm fans inside their Power Supplies instead of 80mm fans or simply no fans at all, really make the difference.”

Logisys Janus Review @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Sunday, November 14, 2004

“A few days ago, we had looked at the ePower Warrior Gaming Case. Although it wasn’t mentioned in the article, it was known the same sort of design could be expected on competitor cases, and today we have to present the Logisys Janus gaming case.”

DangerDen D4 Pump and HDPE Bay Reservoir Review @ GruntvillE.com
GruntvillE :: Sunday, November 14, 2004

“Anyone familiar with watercooling knows DangerDen; they’ve brought us some of the most popular products in the industry including the award winning Maze series. The first watercooling block I used was a Maze and I’ve had a couple since. They’ve always been among the best performing blocks available at any time. Today we’re going to be looking at their new reservoir and their very popular D4 pump. The reservoir is based on the popular bay reservoir style but ads a new material to the mix.”

Cooler Master Cavalier 1 CAV-T01 @ Overclockers Online
Overclockers Online :: Sunday, November 14, 2004
“There are many cases to choose from, as most of you know. The great difficulty in choosing a case however is finding one that suits your functional needs as well as your personal tastes. Cooler Master, supplier of the case we look at today, has built a reputation for making some of the sleekest and most high quality of cases.”

Gigabyte GA-K8VT800 Pro Review @ Hexus
Hexus :: Sunday, November 14, 2004
“VIA’s K8T800 Pro chipset powers the most popular Socket 754 boards on the market and when that core logic was released, it was no surprise to see the major Tier-I and Tier-II board vendors update any K8T800 designs they had, using V-Map flexibility to just drop the new ASICs in (for the most part). Gigabyte is one such vendor.

Today, we’ll be looking at one of the cheaper offerings in the broad spectrum of Socket 754 motherboards available on the market, in the form of their GA-K8VT800 Pro.”

Gigabyte GV-NX66T128D-3 6600GT PCI-E VGA Review @ Overclockers New Zealand
Overclockers New Zealand :: Sunday, November 14, 2004
“Gigabyte GV-NX66T128D flexes its muscle over the old PCX5900 and R9800Pro, due to its advanced architecture. It is amazing to see that Nvidia managed to give a sub $400NZ card this level of performance. I feel the GF4 Ti-4200 days are back again.”

Mentor HSMT-UD headphones @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Sunday, November 14, 2004
“I first listened to music and then watched a couple of action DVD movies with the Mentor HSMT-UD headphones and thought they sounded great. I really noticed the difference when I used them to play games. I first tried them with Battlefield 1942 and found it much easier to tell which direction I was taking fire from”

Black Icemat 2nd Edition Mouse Pad Review @ Hard-h2o
Hard-h2o :: Sunday, November 14, 2004

“Many people almost never think about their mouse pads, believing them to be just a secondary accessory. This is not really true, though. There’ is a definite advantage to a good mouse pad, which will give you greater mouse precision, which in turn will enhance both your gaming and work experiences. Icemat is a well known brand for this task, and now they are showing us the second edition of one of their excellent products.”

Aspire Concord 500W Aluminum PSU Review @ FastLaneHW.com
FastLaneHW :: Thursday, November 11, 2004
Description: The Concord MR500W comes packaged well protected and lots of features. There is a handy hole in the side of the box to verify the color the of PSU before buying it. Two user adjustable 80mm fans keep the PSU cool. At full speed, the fans are loud, but nothing like other high performance fans on the market. The power switch is oversized and very easy to find when reaching behind the computer.

ePower Tech Warrior Gaming Case @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Thursday, November 11, 2004

Summary: “Having been exposed to several different gaming chassis’ from reviewing them, and checking out others at large scale LAN parties, it was thought we had seen all of the different major styles and themes. Nevertheless, after the ePower Warrior entered our testing labs, we were awakened to the work done by ePower Technology, which was previously thought of as a power supply manufacturer.”

AMD’s 90nm Winchester CPU @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Thursday, November 11, 2004
“After having the 3500+ Winchester for almost two weeks I am very impressed with this CPU. It incorporates all the positives of the Newcastle it replaces, with a huge drop in operating temperatures…”

Swiftech H20-120 Rev2 Athlon 64 Water Cooling Kit Review
TweakTown :: Thursday, November 11, 2004
“Today we have an in-depth look at Swiftech’s newest water cooling kit by Mike. We test the H20-120 Rev2 with an AMD Athlon FX-53 processor and compare it against one of the best air coolers on the market today. Read on and let’s find out if Swiftech are offering something which really deserves our money.”

Vantec NexStar 2 External 5.25 Drive Enclosure reviewed @ Hi-techreviews.com
Hi-Techreviews :: Thursday, November 11, 2004
Have you ever ran into the need to copy or burn a DVD with a computer that didn’t have a burner installed in it or perhaps you have one DVD burner and would like the option of sharing it with all of the computers in your home or office. The same thing applies to a CD drive, if you answered yes to this question then the Vantec NexStar 2 External 5.25 CD/DVD Drive Enclosure should interest you.

Corsair DDR2 running 802MHz @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Thursday, November 11, 2004
This week we have been testing some of the Intel 925XE motherboards with the new 1066FSB processors and were able to hit 802MHz on the test bench! We were using Corsair PC2-4300 memory with 4-4-4-12 timings!

PimpRig Review // WarDrivingWorld Platinum WarDriving Kit
PimpRig :: Thursday, November 11, 2004

We have a new review up on a pretty sweet wardriving/wireless networking kit from WarDriving World dubbed the Platinum Pro Kit. Here is a snip: “Three weeks ago I purchased the Platinum WarDriving Kit 802.11g 5xSpeed/4xDist. from War Driving World a company I stumbled upon while looking for a new wireless card with an external antenna. This is the best of the best when it comes to wireless cards. If your interested in Wardriving, this is a must have!”

UPS Roundup @ Bjorn3d.com
Bjorn3D :: Thursday, November 11, 2004
Bonnie. Charlie. Frances. Ivan. Jeanne. Are these the names of 17th century British ships? Paris Hilton’s puppies? Guests at a swinger’s party? No, they were Atlantic hurricanes in 2004 that had a direct impact on my home state of Florida. I was fortunate in that their destructive power was primarily focused outside of my city, but my home was still directly impacted by several of the storms. In addition to high winds and heavy rain, our home’s power continually surged, dimmed, and went out completely for over 36 hours. By the time Frances blew through, I was really convinced I needed a UPS!

Mushkin PC3200 L2V2 @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Thursday, November 11, 2004

“Of course true enthusiasts will want to overclock, and the samples I have here have shown themselves to be capable of near PC4000 speeds which is quite a jump from PC3200. Timings had to be loosened to reach the higher speeds but the headroom is there. If you are a mild overclocker of P4 systems, or you run an AMD system, then this ram would be suitable for you.”

HEXUS.net Review: MSI RX700PRO-TD256E
Hexus :: Thursday, November 11, 2004
Snip: “MSI has done a decent job in turning an RV410 GPU into a fully-fledged retail package. £160 or so buys you a competent midrange graphics card and a bundle to rival the best. Too often manufacturers overlook the bundle but MSI hasn’t made that mistake. There’s games aplenty and documentation is excellent. The choice you have to make is which PCIe GPU to go for. Both NVIDIA and ATI make compelling cases. If you decide that an X700 PRO best fits your needs and budget I can heartily recommend MSI’s RX700PRO.”

Home Networking DIY Guide
PCStats :: Thursday, November 11, 2004
“Home networking can be a daunting topic for computer users who are unfamiliar with the intricacies of network technology, even if Windows XP’s new features make the process vastly easier than it used to be. To help home users out with this essential subject, Cisco Press recently released a new book entitled “Home Networking: A Visual Do-It-Yourself Guide,” this 175-page softcover book falls into the lower-priced category of computer guidebooks, which certainly makes it an easy addition to your tech library.”

Swiftech MCP650 Pump and MCRES-525 Reservoir
SystemCooling :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“I’ve had the pleasure of reviewing several of Swiftech’s water cooling and water cooling related offerings over the last few months. All of them impressed me with their quality and ease of use. When Tommy informed me that Swiftech had offered us their brand spanking new reservoir and their newest 12v pump, I jumped at the chance to review them. Both of these parts play an integral part in Swiftech’s current water cooling kits, so let’s see if they improve over their forbearers and are worthy of your hard earned cash.”

Overclocking AMD Athlon64 FAQs 101
InsaneTek :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“For me, the most interesting technology of the AMD Athlon64 processor is not the 64-bit processing power. 64-bit desktop processors are bound to be made sooner or later. What I found interesting was the fact that AMD decided to have the memory controller on the CPU itself. This certainly raises a lot of eyebrows. Normally the motherboard Northbridge chipset is the memory controller, providing the transition between CPU processing and memory fetching. This is no longer the case. Compatibility will no longer be between motherboard and memory, but rather CPU and memory. The on-die memory controller has a lot of little secrets that not many people are aware of.”

Futurelooks’ HALO 2 Preview for the xBox
Futurelooks :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

” 2004 will be the year of the most anticipated games! It was Doom 3 for the PC, and now we have HALO 2 for the xBox. Check out our Preliminary thoughts before North America’s November 9th release!”

ThermalRight XP-120 Heatsink and LGA 775 RM Review
Hi-Techreviews :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“In our continuing search for the perfect cooling solution for the LGA 775 platform we have found what may turn out to be the ‘Final Solution’. Today we are reviewing the Thermalright XP-120 heatsink along with the new LGA 775RM (Retention Bracket). The LGA 775RM allows the Thermalright XP-120 and XP-90 heatsinks to be used on most LGA 775 motherboards. So how does this behemoth perform when we fasten it on top of an overclocked Prescott? Read the review to find out. ”

InsaneTek Wallpaper Contest
InsaneTek :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“November is here and so is our new contest. Our new contest is simple. Create wallpapers with the InsaneTek theme and keep it in a resolution of 1024×768. Entries will be limited to 5 submissions per participant. At the end of the contest, the InsaneTek staff will vote on the best 3 designs.”

Corsair XMS4400 CAS2.5 Review
Overclocker Café :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“Once the XMS4400C25 tapped out, we could go back and loosen the timings to 3-4-4-8 which should give us a little more reach. Too bad we couldn’t locate the components to actually take Corsair to its farthest overclocking limit. This statement I think sums everything here up – when you can’t put together a system to even find the limit of some memory, you can easily infer that it kicks arse!”

XGI Tech Volari V8 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“With the V3XT from XGI Tech not fully satisfying our gaming demands, we have scavenged further through the Volari line of graphics cards and have found a mate which should prove to be more reliable in a gaming system, and it’s the XGI V8.”

Part 3 of the Virtual Memory Optimization Guide Rev. 4.0 Posted!
Tech ARP :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“Even today, virtual memory is still very important component of the operating system. No matter how much memory you have, there is always a need for virtual memory. Therefore, its performance is of great importance. Optimizing the virtual memory system will greatly improve the performance of the computer.

Today, we will take an in-depth look at virtual memory, what it really is and how to optimize it! In this edition, we will also take a thorough look at moving the paging file to a different partition as well as the pros and cons of moving it to a different hard disk. Come and check out the definitive Virtual Memory Optimization Guide!”

Hitachi Desktar 250GB SATA Hard Drive
Techwarelabs :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“Starting as an electrical shop, Hitachi has come along way since its beginnings. Hitachi has been ahead of the pack lately, releasing large sized hard drives before the competition. The latest offers are the 250 GB and 400 GB 7200 RPM Serial ATA Drives. We had a chance to review and benchmark the 250 GB drive in our labs.”

Akasa Power Eyes Review
Mikhailtech :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“The Power Eyes come in a set of 5 in the retail package shown. You’ll need to snap the pieces apart before inserting them into your connectors. Two versions are available: blue and “rainbow”: one each of blue, green, orange, red, and blue/red. Instructions can’t get any simpler, as shown on the back of the package. You insert the PCB into a male connector, then plug in the female connector and enjoy the show.”

Corsair TwinX1024-4400C25PT @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“Corsair, a leader in the computer memory market, recently released the TwinX1024-4400C25PT, which runs at DDR550 speeds yet can run with a CAS latency of 2.5. At Phoronix we will check out this new memory and see how it can fair against existing modules that have proved themselves worthy over time.”

Ultra X-Connect 500W ATX Power Supply Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“The Ultra X-Connect 500W ATX Power Supply delivers an incredibly innovative solution in the form of a totally modular design. Some of the clear benefits by separating the power unit from the cables include elimination of cable clutter, enhanced airflow and the ability to only use the necessary cables according to the device configuration. The exterior design of the Ultra X-Connect 500W ATX Power Supply boasts a high level of aesthetics following a black and neon green theme.”

HEXUS.net Review: MSI’s RX800 XTs
Hexus :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“Overall, it’s hard not to recommend MSI’s boards in the face of those X800 XTs from other vendors. X800 XT and XT PE’s raw power makes it arguably the fastest basic SKU from either of the top two GPU IHVs right now, with MSI’s bundle and online pricing making it the most attractive that I’ve personally seen to date.”

FIC Condor SFF @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“FIC put together a nice little barebone PC, but missed on some important features that enthusiasts have come to expect. While it’s no slouch in gaming, it does not stand out in the performance department which is a shame as the design itself was well thought out. A change in motherboard and PSU selection is certainly in order, and hopefully FIC thinks about this with their next Condor revision.”

Designtechnica reviews the Toshiba 52HM84 HDTV
Designtechnica :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“In conclusion, Toshiba’s TheaterWideHD 52HM84 combined with the RCA’s DTC-210 DirecTV HD Receiver produced and reproduced the some of the best regular over-the-air HD, Satellite, Satellite HD, and DVD signals possible. This is a set that has to be seen in all its glory to be fully appreciated. In many ways the 52HM84 is superior to its competitors in both design and function. Here is a television with the capability of showing each type of signal in the best possible way. While it’s somewhat pricey, it produces some of the best images on the planet! And, as the old saying goes, “you get what you pay for.”

JAVOedge JAVOskin for the Dell X30
DataFuse :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“Upon receiving the JAVOedge JAVOskin, I was very pleased with the over all appearance. The JAVOskin is translucent with a slight white tint. This, to me, reminds me of the Apple ipod. One major plus to the JAVOskin, is that it accurately mocks my Dell Axim X30s shell. JAVOedge has done this, by cutting out small areas of the JAVOskin, as well as raising some areas. There are 3 large slits on the back of the unit, which I believe, allows some of the heat to vent out of the unit. ”

Danger Den MAZE4 GPU Water Block Review @ Madshrimps
Madshrimps :: Saturday, November 06, 2004
“Want to overclock your graphics card? Want to replace that noisy stock cooling? We take a closer look at Danger Den´s MAZE4 water block to see if it can tame an ATI X800 Pro video card.”

3R System R700 Bad Guy Case Review @ PCmoddingmy
PC Modding Malaysia :: Saturday, November 06, 2004

“With its sleek and futuristic design, the R700 came with two 120mm Omega fans and a side 80mm air duct providing perfect air flow inside the case. The iMON device turns the Bad Guy into a HTPC with a click of a button. You don’t even need to go near the Bad Guy to turn him ON! The paint job that the Bad Guy had is also respectable. Installing hardwares inside the Bad Guy was a breeze, thanks to its roomy space. However, you might want to put some attention to the shipper as the top panel tends to break off during shipment. Also, the 120mm fan will potentially suck in dust as no dust filter was provided. It was a great pleasure to work with a Bad Guy who eventually became my Good Pal. Non only the Bad Guy was sleek, it is also suitable for your latest LGA system.”

Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5 GPU Cooler Review @ Adrian’s Rojack Pot
Tech ARP :: Saturday, November 06, 2004

“With GPUs producing so much heat, it is inevitable that third-party GPU coolers are becoming more and more popular. However, some GPU coolers sound like jet engines at full blast! Can we still get good cooling without inducing hearing loss?

Today, we take a close look at the new Arctic Cooling NV Silencer 5 GPU cooler for NVIDIA GeForce cards! Let’s see if this GPU cooler actually lives up to its name!”

DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb Motherboard Review @ PCmoddingmy
PC Modding Malaysia :: Saturday, November 06, 2004

“Overclockers and enthusiasts should be familiar with the nForce chipsets that changed the way users look at AMD platforms. With the release of two latest nForce chipsets; nForce3 and nForce4, the AMD 64 platform can become a mean machine. In this review, we took a look at DFI’s latest AMD64 Socket 754 motherboard that is fitted with the nForce3 chipset; the DFI LANPARTY UT nF3 250Gb motherboard.”

Microsoft Windows XP Media Center 2005 Review @ AMD Review
AMD Review :: Saturday, November 06, 2004

“I was fortunate enough to receive a copy of Microsoft’s Windows XP Media Center 2005 to review. Media Center is Microsoft’s answer to Tivo. It allows you to create your own Digital Video Recorder (DVR). You can do everything that Tivo allows you to do and more. In the following review I will show you some of the advantages of Media Center; along with the disadvantages (there are a few). ”

NZXT Nemesis Elite @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, November 06, 2004

“After reviewing the NZXT Guardian, which was stunning, we received word that NZXT would be releasing a new line of cases in the near future. Well, after months of waiting, the case is here! Today we have the honored privilege of presenting to you the Nemesis Elite from NZXT”

JetAudio iAudio U2 MP3 Player @ TheTechLounge
The Tech Lounge :: Saturday, November 06, 2004

“JetAudio has sent us quite a few of their iAudio line of players to review and they all have been of very high quality both in form and function. But JetAudio doesn’t seem to rest when it comes to their players. Their website is constantly updated with newer firmware, new background animations and logos, and of course, new products.

One such product is their newest player, the iAudio U2, and with such a fine ancestry, I have very high expectations for its performance. With a long list of features including FM radio tuner, voice recorder, and the ability to record from FM radio as well as a separate line-in jack, it definitely has great potential. A built-in rechargeable battery, incredibly small size and amazingly great looks certainly don’t hurt things either. But in the end, it’s the sound quality that ultimately makes or breaks a player, so keep reading and see how this latest iAudio player stacks up.”

Soltek SL-K8TPro-939 Motherboard Review @ 3DXtreme
3dXtreme :: Friday, November 05, 2004
“The Soltek SL-K8TPro-939 met our expectations and delivered an experience indicative of our past experiences of Solteks’ products. The price to performance ratio of these boards just can not be beat. At the same price point most of the other boards lack SATA Raid, while this may not be used by everyone it is a feature that some may grow into. The stock performance was on par with other VIA K8T800 Pro based Motherboards and the overclocking ability outshined that of the ABIT AV8.”

Patriot 1Gb Kit PC3200 Low Latency GiveAway @ Madshrimps
Madshrimps :: Friday, November 05, 2004
“Thanks to PC-Memory-Upgrade we are able to give away 1Gb of free memory to one of our readers, all you need to do is answer one simple question and send us the answer, near the end of this month the lucky winner will be drawn from the correct entrees!”

ABIT Radeon 9600 XT 256MB @ HEXUS
Hexus :: Friday, November 05, 2004
“In summary, ABIT’s done a decent enough job with its 9600 XT card. It’s quiet, efficient, benchmarks well for a midrange card and carries basic VIV0 functionality. Compared to other cards running similar GPUs, and I’m thinking of other 9600 XTs, FX5700 / Ultras, it’s not a bad buy. What condemns it graphics card limbo is the significant increase in performance users can get by spending just a few pounds more. All in all, a good 9600 XT that’s a victim of aggressive R350 pricing.”

ASUS P4S800D-E Deluxe @ HEXUS
Hexus :: Friday, November 05, 2004
“…I have to admit I was surprised. In apps that are memory bound, the 655TX appears to be faster than Canterwood. The Springdale-PE on the DFI, backed up by a capable PAT BIOS means that we were emulating Canterwood. It has lower memory access latency, measured by Sciencemark, and it appears to have a touch more available bandwidth too. It’s not much, but it’s enough. With Canterwood the performance champion for P4, it appears we have a new champion when your app is memory bound in any way. Raw CPU performance is identical; 655TX ran the 3.2GHz Northwood without issue.”

NoiseBlocker CoolScraper @ Virtual-Fusion
Virtual-Fusion :: Friday, November 05, 2004

“This heatsink prooved to be a top performer. That is beacause of its dimensions and the fan used, making it possible to achieve the best performance with a low noise solution. Even though it seems to be a bit large, the materials used in its conception (copper and aluminium) could make it wheight less than what I excpected…”

Chaintech Zenith VE 915P Review @ Overclocker Cafe
Overclocker Café :: Friday, November 05, 2004
“With the Zenith VE V915P motherboard, Chaintech is all about economy with class. They have produced a motherboard that won’t break the bank, but still has plenty of umph to it. Those of you looking to run RAID configurations will be disappointed. This is perhaps the only true drawback to the motherboard.”

AnyDrive Car MP3 FM Transmitter Review @ Tweaknews
Tweaknews :: Friday, November 05, 2004

“Today, I’ll be reviewing the Anydrive Car MP3 FM Transmitter. This unit will allow you to attach a USB flash drive, MP3 player, MD player, CD player, cassette player, or anything with an audio out and transmit it to an FM frequency for your car radio.”

Source SDK Tools Available Now
Valve Software :: Friday, November 05, 2004
Valve has released the Source Software Development Kit (SDK) Tools via Steam. A precursor to the release of the full SDK, which will be released shortly after Half-Life 2 is made available, the Source SDK Tools release offers a comprehensive toolset for starting production on Source-based MODs, including Hammer, XSI EXP for Half-Life 2, compiling tools, the Source Model Viewer, documentation on programming, modeling, building materials, and more. For more information, please visit http://collective.valve-erc.com/

3R System R700 Bad Guy Case Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Friday, November 05, 2004

“With its sleek and futuristic design, the R700 came with two 120mm Omega fans and a side 80mm air duct providing perfect air flow inside the case. The iMON device turns the Bad Guy into a HTPC with a click of a button. You don’t even need to go near the Bad Guy to turn him ON! The paint job that the Bad Guy had is also respectable. Installing hardwares inside the Bad Guy was a breeze, thanks to its roomy space. However, you might want to put some attention to the shipper as the top panel tends to break off during shipment. Also, the 120mm fan will potentially suck in dust as no dust filter was provided. It was a great pleasure to work with a Bad Guy who eventually became my Good Pal. Non only the Bad Guy was sleek, it is also suitable for your latest LGA system.”

Adaptec’s USB Dual TV Tuner available to OEM @ Everything USB
Everything USB :: Friday, November 05, 2004
“Adaptec is manufacturing a OEM USB-based dual TV tuner that that allow you to record one channel while watching another, or to record two different channels simultaneously. This is in contrast to to other typical USB tuners.

The TV tuner with dual hardware-based encoder already made its way to HP’s new zd8000 media center notebook, which is available for sales in the beginning of this month.”

DFI LANParty UT nF3 250Gb Motherboard Review
Overclockers New Zealand :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“DFI LANParty UT nF3 250Gb is the best socket754 board that we’ve tested, with amazing overclock potential (reaching 297MHz with a SATA drive) and an abundant settings for even the craziest tweakers.”

Modding: Single-Layer to Dual-Layer @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“Today we set out on a fun little project. We decided to test a mod that was floating around on the net making your single-layer burner turn into a Dual-Layer (DL) burner! Is this really a free upgrade? We will find out…”

News – RaidMax RX-520XPW Review
Overclockers Online :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
Quote: Overall, the performance of this power supply is solid and my confidence in the build quality and the internal components justify the current high price of this product. If moneys not a problem, I recommend it for those users out there who feel safe knowing their power supply won’t be holding them back in the future and those that put a high demand on their system with a high-end GPU, extra storage, and overclocking.

Morex Mini-ITX P4 Barebones System Reviewed @ Hi-techreviews.com
Hi-Techreviews :: Thursday, November 04, 2004

Start out with a small stylish Morex 3677 Mini-ITX case then add into it a motherboard based on the Intel i845GV chip set which support processor speeds up 3.0 GHz and you end up with the Morex Mini-ITX P4 Barebones Systems. This unit is configurable from our sponsor with a number of choices including processor, hard drive, CD/DVD and memory. You get to build the system the way you want it adding more power if you think your application will demand it. The unit we are reviewing came pre-configured with a P4 – 2.8/533 Processor – 512 MB of PC3200 DDR – 24X CD – 20GB Seagate Hard Drive. Then it was just a matter of benchmarking the daylights out of this little box to see what it would do.

Thermaltake Fanless 103 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Thursday, November 04, 2004

Summary: “Large heatsinks are quite a hit these days, and the Fanless 103 from Thermaltake is no exception. In fact, it’s so big that we just had to nickname it “Big Blue.” The largest question we have for Big Blue is: can it in fact take the pressure that other heatsinks with fans can handle, or will it slip into the background to be slowly forgotten like the real Big Blue?”

PimpRig Review // mnpctech’s Tsunami Ultra Quiet Custom Case
PimpRig :: Thursday, November 04, 2004

Hot on the heels of the Tsunami stock case review posted this morning is a new review of the same base case after mnpctech has put his magic touches on one. mnpctech’s Tsunami Ultra Quiet Custom Case is a production model that aims to improve on the original by upping performance and reducing the noise even further. Here is a snip: “The mnpctech Tsunami that Bill sent had some killer airbrush work on it that is called “Silent and Deadly”. I get it completely; a Tsunami is a giant wave (as in the style of case), this is the Ultra Quiet so it’s silent, and the Killer Whale is a deadly predator in the water. The artwork is drop-dead beautiful.”

FPGamerunner â Real Exercise for FPS Gamers
Everything USB :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“Movement is accomplished by walking (literally), and by holding buttons while walking you can also strafe and backtrack. Turn the handlebars for horizontal mouselook, and twist the throttle grip for vertical. To activate an item or fire your weapon, there are dedicated buttons and triggers at your fingertips.”

MSI 915P Neo2 Platinum Motherboard Review
PCStats :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“In this article, PCstats will be reviewing MSI Computer’s brand new 915P Neo2 Platinum motherboard which is built with the performance user in mind! This full-size ATX motherboard includes a comprehensive feature set, from IEEE 1394 (for your high speed external multimedia devices like HDDs, scanners, MP3 players, etc), to an additional IDE RAID controller, Gigabit PCI Express ethernet controller, and Intel’s Azalia onboard 7.1-channel audio.”

Ultra 256 MB 8-in-1 MP3 Player @ OCIA.net
OCIA :: Thursday, November 04, 2004

“I was very happy to see an included USB extension cable. For those of us who have our cases on the floor and do not have front USB ports, this is a lifesaver. Another foot or so of length would have greatly appreciated, as the cable just barely reaches the front of my system now. But again, the included cable is a great addition.”

Corsair 4GB PC3200XL Memory Giveaway! @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, November 04, 2004

“Corsair and CoolTechZone proudly partners together to bring you one of the largest appreciation contests in the industry. We, Corsair and CoolTechZone, would like to take a moment and thank our consumership and readership that has supported us throughout the. “It is truly an honor to start a contest for individuals for supporting our work,” implied Gundeep Hora, Editor-in-Chief and CEO, CoolTechZone.”

MSI 915P Neo2 Platinum @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“While Intel chooses to market the 915P as a mainstream part, based on our results today we can see MSI’s 915P Neo2 Platinum is anything but ordinary. Out of the box, we had zero issues with the board (always an important thing), and once we got everything up and running, the board proved itself to be quite the speed demon.”

HEXUS.net Review: ASUS K8N-E Deluxe
Hexus :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“It’s the features that drive this mainboard more than anything. The use of the 250Gb nForce3 variant, bringing with it GigE and those highly useful hardware firewall features for the home user, combined with plenty of USB2.0, FireWire400 and six SATA ports, means that ASUS push almost all the right buttons. Eight channel audio rounds things off.”

Radian Heatsink Turbo Helix Heatsink Review @ Hi-techreviews.com
Hi-Techreviews :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
Last week we reviewed Radian Heatsink’s Crown Helix heatsink for the LGA 775 platform and came away totally impressed with the result we obtained. This week we are looking at their offering for Socket 478 – named Turbo Helix. Can it perform as well as its larger counterpart did? Only the review tests will tell.

Cooler Master Stacker Case Review @ OcPrices.com
OcPrices :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
Quote: “The engineers at Cooler Master have designed the Stacker to be very ‘open’. Not only can it support 8 fans, it also sports vents on every side of the case. Cooling is also aided by the Crossflow fan, which we will investigate later in this review. What surprises me is that Cooler Master had opted for the effective use of 12cm front intakes and back exhausts, yet only placed 8cm fans/mountings for the top and side vents. Looking at the design of the case, 12cm fans/mountings on the vents can be implemented with relative ease.”

Plextor PX-712UF External DVD Writer Review @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, November 04, 2004

“We have analyzed several Plextor CD/RW/DVD/RW drives here at CoolTechZone recently. One thing that remains constant is quality. The smoothness of operation and attention to detail places these drives on top of the heap. One may wonder why these optical drives are among the most expensive on the market today. There are several factors, the major one being the previously mentioned high quality of build. They have added a nice software bundle that includes PlexTools, which can be considered a GUI, based BIOS for Plextor drives. PlexTools has various integrated features that can tune the drive for quiet operation or for highest possible performance. Most of the selections in the software package are full version of high-quality applications that other manufacturers do not include. The drive quality and software package lead to higher retail prices, but we feel that the premium is justified considering the product.”

DH Exclusive Review: OCZ PC2 4200 Platinum Edition Rev 2
Driver Heaven :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“OCZ are without a doubt one of the worlds best memory manufacturers, of the many products I’ve reviewed in the past few years they have all been exemplary. OCZ have been diversifying over the last year, branching out into the power supply market and have even brought to the public a unique ram booster device. When I hear the name “OCZ” the first thing that comes to mind is “quality ram”. Today ill be looking at their new 533mhz 4200 Platinum Edition Rev 2 LTD DDR2 8-2-2-3CAS rated modules.”

Techwarelabs Motherboard Contest
Tech ARP :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“If you own an ATI Radeon graphics card, chances are you would have heard of the Omega drivers. While most people choose to use the official ATI Catalyst drivers, the Omega drivers were developed for users who are a bit more adventurous and are looking to squeeze the best performance out of their graphics cards.

Abit AA8 Duramax 925X Express Alderwood Motherboard Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“Ok, so you checked out the Intel D925XCV Alderwood motherboard and you are interested in the upgrade but you want something a little more overclocker friendly. Well, if that is the case, the AA8 Duramax is absolutely perfect for your situation. Without a single corner cut, ABIT packed every single enthusiast option they could into their entry into the Alderwood including extensive Windows and BIOS overclocking and monitoring, excellent cooling, industry leading uGuru technology and let’s not forget about the onboard high definition 8 channel audio and firewire.”

ASUS Extreme AX800XT @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“If you’re a casual gamer, or simply not into 3D gaming, this card is probably not for you. Enthusiasts with deep pockets looking for a fast card with good image quality should definitely consider the ASUS Extreme AX800XT/2DT.”

OCZ Announces ultra high performance PC-4200 EL DDR Platinum with 2.5-3-3 Timing
OCZ Technology :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004
OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced the release of PC-4200 EL Platinum Series memory, an exceptionally high-performing DDR-533.

OCZ’s PC-4200 Platinum series with Enhanced Latency technology is designed to push the envelop of high frequency operation, and delivers extraordinary performance in even the most demanding computing environments. This memory is ideal for gamers, enthusiasts, and PC-users looking to push their systems to the highest possible level of performance, and is capable of achieving blazing speeds of up to 533MHz at CL 2.5-3-3-8.

Link: http://www.ocztechnology.com/aboutocz/press/2004/115

Simple Dual Channel PC3200 1GB Kit @ AMDReview.com
AMD Review :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“We have a review up on a 1 GB paired kit of Simpletech Dual Channel PC-3200 memory. It also serves as a nice little review of the company as well as this specific product.”

Xtrac Mouse Pads Review
Mikhailtech :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“From a technological standpoint, there are several points that distinguish these pads. First is the top sheet. This is either cloth or plastic with a printed hexagonal pattern (except the Ripper XL, which doesn’t use a pattern). The underside uses either Sure Grip or Sure Grip II backing. Sure Grip is used on the 1/8″ thick pads and is basically a zigzag pattern of rubber rectangles. Sure Grip II is used on the credit card thin pads and while it doesn’t use any sort of pattern (due to thickness constraints), it still does a fine job of not slipping. Granted, it’s not as good as the thicker Sure Grip backing, but the difference is negligible and you do have other options.”

AC Ryan Flexsleeve Kit @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“Tired of those ugly non-sleeved cables with their boring ho-hum appearance? Spice them up with an AC Ryan’s Flexsleeve kit. Each kit contains enough heatshrink, sleeve, and zip ties to cover an entire system.”

Thermaltake Hardcano 13 review
Overclocker Café :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“The large central display makes reading screen easy, even at an angle, which can’t be said for many other multifunction panels out there. Monitoring and control of up to four fans should be enough for most all users. Utilizing the thin tipped thermal probes, temperature probes can be placed almost anywhere making the Hardcano 13 that much more versatile. Aesthetically, the lines are smart and clean. Eight color options allow you the ability to change the backlighting to suit your mood.”

Asetek Hard Drive Cooler @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“A couple of weeks ago, I reviewed the Asetek WaterChill cooling kit. This water-cooling kit contained both CPU cooling, GPU cooling and chipset cooling, and as far as I could see, there wasn’t anything missing. Asetek, however, found one more piece in your computer to cool, and today I am reviewing the Asetek HD Cooler. Yes, you read right. Asetek has released a cooling block for hard drives, allowing you to lower the temperature of your hot running drives.”

CoolerMaster Aerogate 3 ALD-V03
AusPCWorld :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“The Coolermaster Aerogate 3 is a fan/temperature control panel “designed to display temperatures and speeds for 4 independent channels” and “control fan speed and temperature alerts”. The Aerogate 3 is a product that I really liked and would highly recommend! I couldn’t wait to install it and try it out, however it has some quirks to it which I found to be quite odd and annoying.”

Scythe FCS-50 Heatlane @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Monday, November 01, 2004

“In the United States, SUV’s are a very common car – but does bigger always mean better? In today’s review of the Scythe FCS-50 Heatlane, we will see if this massive heatsink really does the job of cooling our warm processor, or if it’s just another gas-guzzler like many SUV’s.”

Kingwin KT-424 Aluminum Midtower Case @ TheTechLounge
The Tech Lounge :: Monday, November 01, 2004

“It’s been a little over a year since I last reviewed a PC case, and for good reason. Lately the market has been so saturated with cheap-looking, pre-modded variations of classic cases such as the Dragon that, quite frankly, it disgusts me. I know I’m not the only one with a bad taste in my mouth from the current chassis trend, and that is why today I am checking out at an oldie that looks promising. Today I will be taking a look at the anodized black, windowed version of Kingwin’s KT-424. Even though this case has been around for over a year, it is still in production and continues to have more potential than many other cases on the market.”

Meridian Tech. XClio Jr. Case
SystemCooling :: Monday, November 01, 2004

“It would not be fair or accurate to say the XClio Jr. (referred to as just Junior hereafter) is just a smaller version of the XClio. True, they share the distinctive Silver “X” styling, the top mounted USB/ Firewire ports, the mesh-grilled side panel and the lighted 80mm fan mounted on it, but that’s where the similarities end: It is completely different from its larger brother internally. Don’t let “Junior” moniker bother you though, because most of the features on the XClio are present on Junior, just executed in different ways. As always, it is up to the reader to determine which case best fits his or her needs.”

SilverStone SST-TJ06 Temjin 6
Overclockers Online :: Monday, November 01, 2004

“ It’s seldom we see cases this innovative. The Temjin 6 is one of the most unique designs we’ve seen to date. Implementing thermal zones and a wind tunnel, this case is a sight to behold. “

Pentium4 at 1066MHz System Bus
t-break :: Monday, November 01, 2004

“One of the changes that the Pentium4 is supposed to go through is the bump to a 1066MHz System bus (or 266MHz FSB) from the current 800MHz (or 200MHz FSB). We’ve been wanting to test the P4 at 1066MHz FSB for some time now but the very limited overclocking abilities of the 915/925 chipsets prevented us from reaching such high speeds on any motherboards. Luckily, DFI sent us their 875P chipset board with an LGA775 socket and at the same time Corsair sent us some memory modules that work at DDR533 speed. We decided to use both of these components with our unlocked Pentium4 CPU to emulate a 1066MHz bus CPU.”

Western Digital WD360 36GB SATA Hard Drive Review @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Monday, November 01, 2004

“Designed for servers and NAS/SAN systems, the drive of choice for high-performance workstation and gaming systems, the WD Raptor hard drive is a new class of drive that matches SCSI performance and reliability while providing simplified connectivity. Make no mistake about it, the Raptor is for serious speed freaks. If you don’t run a server farm or play cutting edge 3D games then this is not the drive for you. However, if you’re a power nut who wants – no needs – the fastest ATA drive available then this is your baby, or dinosaur as the case may be.”

Cooler Master Real Power 450W @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Monday, November 01, 2004

“Cooler Master has come up with so many new products lately that I’ve lost track. The new cases are classy and offer users plenty of space to work with. Their new heatsinks have earned themselves a good reputation in the enthusiast crowd. And now with the introduction of their power supplies, Cooler Master continues to offer their fans more of what Cooler Master is all about.”

BTC M993C 4D Wireless Ergo Office Mouse
Techniz.co.uk :: Tuesday, November 30, 2004

“The BTC M993 Cordless mouse is finish in black and silver color. There is a scoll button on the front following by a small silver color button which is the office hotkeys button, we will look more into it during the software installation section. Beside there, there is two more button on the left and right side which is same as a normal mouse.”

BTC 6300 Ultra-Slim Multimedia Keyboard @ Hi-techreviews
Hi-Techreviews :: Monday, November 29, 2004

“When BTC approached me about reviewing their new BTC 6300 Ultra-Slim Multimedia Keyboard I wasn’t sure I wanted to review another keyboard since there is only so much you can say about a keyboard. Then I learn that this particular keyboard had done away with the plunger actuators used on most keyboards to depress the keys. BTC went to the drawing board and came up with a completely new architecture for this keyboard and came up with something called the ‘Scissor Type Actuator”. This tweaked my interest and I decided I needed to check this out.”

Discount Laptops 8790 laptop system @ Techwarelabs
Techwarelabs :: Monday, November 29, 2004
“The Sager 8790 from Discount Laptops is a sizable desktop replacement laptop. It packs a punch in performance and boasts a myriad of features like its two hard drive bays with onboard RAID support. Get an up close and technical look at this high performance system and find out what else it offers by way of features, performance, appearance, and usability in the article.”

Apple iPod 40GB 4G Review @ Everything USB
Everything USB :: Friday, November 26, 2004
“The fourth iteration of Appleâ€™s MP3 player, which now holds 20GB or 40GB of tunes depending on the model, is still the sleek and sexy iPod we all know and love. Besides slashing $100 off the same capacity as earlier models, Apple has revamped the navigation with a click wheel; improved the battery life by 50%; streamlined the menu functions; and lastly, become stingy on accessories.”

Steelpad QcK+ Mouse Pad Review @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Friday, November 26, 2004
“The Steelpad QcK+ is without a doubt the biggest mouse pad I have ever seen or used. This mouse pad is so big that if I’m right handed and you’re left handed, we could share the pad and our mice will never touch each other! I’m talking Texas size big here! The Steelpad QcK+ measures 17.7 inches by 15.7 inches. If only my LCD display was this big!”

Steelpad QcK+ @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“Sponsoring over 30 large scale LAN parties, and providing numerous gaming clans with mouse pads to satisfy their needs while gaming; there is no doubt Steelpad is known around the world for its superior surfaces, but will the QcK+ live on and gratify the stringent needs of gamers?”

Steelpad 4D Professional Gaming Mouse Pad Review
Tech ARP :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“Is it worth your time and money spent to purchase multiple mouse pads to suit your mousing needs that changes according to the task at hand? Isn’t it a hassle to swap mouse pads to suit the current task? Do you wish for a mouse pad that can do everything?

If your answer is a resounding YES, do yourself a big favor by slapping yourself silly because today, Jeremy takes a good, hard look at the Steelpad 4D professional gaming mouse pad! Let’s see if it fits the bill to the tee!”

Kingston DataTraveler Elite 1GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Saturday, November 20, 2004
“Flash memory is a huge business right now because of consumers’ insatiable appetites for more digital devices that require more and more storage capacity. They most often get this storage in the form of flash memory cards. That is not the only use of flash technology, though. Flash memory is also responsible for the proliferaion of a very popular floppy disk replacement – USB flash drives. Kingston Technology, a worldwide leader in the manufacturing of memory products, offers a full line of flash memory products.”

Waffer PC AirCon PAC 400 @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Wednesday, November 17, 2004

“Waffer technology is introducing a new cooling concept, PC AirCon by bringing the idea of Air Conditioning System into the computer system. PC AirCon PAC 400 the first issue of PC AirCon, was launched in the Q3, 2004. Waffer Thermal is the subsidiary division of Waffer Group, which is a listed corporation in Taiwan. We are one of the leading heatsink manufacturers in Taiwan, and used to base at OEM/ODM business oriented supply – providing efficient manufacturing and professional technical support & service for the products from CPU coolers, chipset coolers, graphic card coolers, thermal modules to a total thermal solution.”

Logitech Precision PC Gaming Headset Review @ Tweaknews
Tweaknews :: Sunday, November 14, 2004

“If you are constantly getting flack for being too loud, maybe it is time to take a look into investing into a quality gaming headset to enjoy your gaming and music listening without alienating everyone around you. In some cases people say, I like gaming headsets but the full blown studio headsets sound good, but they make my ears sweat and the standard version never has the sound quality I am looking for. Well, not anymore, as you will learn today, you now can have the best of both worlds.”

Creative Zen Portable Media Center Review Posted!
The Tech Zone :: Thursday, November 11, 2004

Quote – ” MP3 players have been around for a while now. The most recognized, of course, is the Apple iPod. And ever since then, we have had portable music players of all shapes and sizes. But why settle for just music when we are now entering a new era, the era of portable video players!

Today, Marauderz takes a close look at the new Creative Zen Portable Media Center! Is it really as great as Creative Labs make it out to be? Can it really last 7 full hours playing high bitrate videos as Creative claims? Read on and find out! ”

Keyspan’s new USB remote plugs into Airport Express
Everything USB :: Thursday, November 11, 2004
“With Keyspanâ€™s new $59 Express Remote, you just plug in the receiver to the USB port on the AirPort Express, and with the remote you can remotely control your tunes at distances up to 40â€™ away via infrared.”

So, it would seem with 3rd party accessory there’s another use for the USB port of Apple’s AirPort Express other than sharing a USB printer.

Icemat 2nd Edition Mouse Pad Review @ PCmoddingmy
PC Modding Malaysia :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“This is another great mouse pad that I have tested so far. It will give the avid gamer increased accuracy in aiming and movement, cool looks, and provides a smooth yet large mousing surface. With the price of USD$47.50, it is a little expensive but since it is made of glass, it will last you a very long time. If you are able to bear the screeching noise of this pad, I think this one is the ideal pad for you.”

Kingston 2GB Elite Pro CompactFlash Card Review @ Mikhailtech
Mikhailtech :: Saturday, November 06, 2004

“The main difference between Kingston’s regular CF cards and their Elite Pro line is the type of NAND flash chip. The standard CF cards use Multi-Level Cells (MLC) which translates into two data values per cell. The Elite Pro uses Single-Level Cells (SLC) which translates to one data value per cell. This allows for higher capacities and higher speeds, both of which are crucial when dealing with high resolution images and any other large files.”

D-Link AirPlus ExtremeG (DI-624) router Review @ DataFuse.net
DataFuse :: Monday, November 01, 2004

“The Range of the DI-624 is very good. At first I was able to go to the end of my drive way, but after I updated the firmware, the range increased by about 50 feet and the stability greatly increased.. There is an option to enable extended range, but no matter what, it covers my entire house. ”

ATI Mobility X300 & X800 @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, November 30, 2004

“The Mobility X800 proved to be able to play some of the most current game tittles. We played Doom3, FarCry, and Half-Life 2 on the Mobility X800 at 1600×1200 and the games were smooth. In Half-Life 2 playing at 1024×768 with 4xAA & 8xAF we got over 60FPS, which is amazing for a notebook…”

NVIDIA’s SLI – An Introduction!
Hexus :: Tuesday, November 30, 2004

“You’ll have to wait for the rest of the articles, but I hope the initial look at things gives you some idea of the operating modes, what SLI can get you in terms of theoretical increases and also increases (or not) in real games. AFR is the dominant mode in the drivers at the time of writing, whether or not it offers the best performance or not, but overall it’s a mode that works well. You really have to sit down in front of a system and play your favourite game, using AFR, to see if it’s a mode that you can use comfortably.”

Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Christmas giveaway @ TekBunker
TekBunker :: Monday, November 29, 2004
“Update. In addition to the sounds cards and goodies, there are 12 Creative labs T-Shirts to be given away as well”

MSI nForce4 K8N Neo4 Review @ t-break
t-break :: Monday, November 29, 2004
“We like the layout on the K8N Neo4- MSI does well to place everything where is should be. The first thing we noticed were the size of MOSFETS used on this board. The picture below shows you how big they are and if they’re used to provide this board good stability and better overclocking, then they surely work great. The CPU socket is also mostly free of capacitors allowing you to install a reasonably sized heatsink.”

NVIDIA’s SLI – 6600 GT Performance and Conclusion @ Hexus
Hexus :: Monday, November 29, 2004
“If you’ve been following our SLI article series, you’ll have seen the intro and 6800 Ultra performance, and 6800 GT performance articles. That leaves one loose end to tie up in terms of SLI performance; 6600 GT. Today’s article will wrap everything up, examining the cheapest of the SLI card pairs and digging deeper into the question of price-performance to check if SLI is worth investing in from a value-for-money point of view.

I’ll then briefly touch on the PSU requirements for SLI using a few PSUs at my disposal, before using my crystal ball to predict the availability of the parts you’ll need for SLI, should you decide it’s a route you wish to take.”

Albatron Mars PX915P-AGPe Motherboard Review @ PCStats
PCStats :: Saturday, November 27, 2004
“The Albatron Mars PX915P-AGPe fills in the gap set forth by the socket 775 Intel Pentium 4 and Intel 915 chipset which require users to adopt PCI Express graphics solutions. Or course, this board will support a PCI Express x16 videocard (4GB/s bandwidth), but it also has a AGPe slot that is compatible with 8X AGP videocards. Furthermore, since the PX915P-AGPe is built around the Intel 915P core logic and ICH6 southbridge, it makes use of standard dual channel DDR memory, not DDR-2 RAM. Either type of videocard can be used, even at the same time. Although, we should point out that the AGPe (AGP extension) slot is not necessarily equal to that of an 8X AGP slot, as it runs through the PCI bus. The flexibility is nice, and makes it the major selling point of Albatron’s PX915P-AGPe motherboard.”

Gainward’s GeForce 6800 GT Ultra/2400 Golden Sample Goes Like Hell 256MB @ HEXUS
Hexus :: Friday, November 26, 2004
“Gainward’s GeForce 6800 GT Ultra/2400 Golden Sample Goes Like Hell 256MB is a fast and furious card that will ultimately appeal to the enthusiast who desires clock speed above all else. In that respect, it’s a decent effort. Forget that it’s named a GT; that’s just clever marketing. The only question you really need to ask yourself when contemplating a video card at this end of the market is whether an NV40-based 400/1200-clocked card is worth £380 of your hard-earned money. If it is, it’s well worth considering.”

Logitech Z-680 5.1 Speaker Review @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Wednesday, November 24, 2004
“Up until a few months ago, the Z-680 was Logitech’s top of the line computer speakers. That title now belongs to their new Z-5500 Digital. However, just because the Z-680 is not longer top of the hill doesn’t mean the speakers are no good – far from it. The Z-680 is still among the best computer speakers money can buy. And thanks the fact that it’s no longer top of the line, these speakers have become a super great buy.”

Altec Lansing AHP712 Headphones w/ Active Noise Reduction
The Tech Lounge :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“If you have a look at Altec Lansing’s website, you will undoubtedly notice many new products. Among them are a series of new headphones aimed at gaming and all around audio immersion. Having already reviewed Altec’s AHS602 gaming headset, I had a pretty good idea of what to expect when I was asked to review their new AHP712 noise-canceling headphones. Good sound quality to say the least.”

ATI Radeon X600XT Shootout – HIS vs. ABIT vs. GeCube
TweakTown :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“Today we have a PCI Express graphics card shootout comparing three different ATI Radeon X600XT cards from HIS, ATI and GeCube. After taking a look at each product we run them through our usual array of benchmarks and then overclock each as far as possible and then re-run the benchmarks to work our which is fastest for modern day gaming.”

Gigabyte Radeon X800 Pro
InsaneTek :: Tuesday, November 23, 2004

“Although Gigabyte has been a long time participant in the graphic card category, not many people are aware of it. Gigabyte is one of the top 5 largest motherboard manufacturers in the world and focuses primarily on motherboards, until now. With graphic cards becoming so important for smooth gameplay, it’s no surprise that Gigabyte started putting more focus on their graphic cards to gain attention. Gigabyte currently supports both Nvidia and ATI chipsets and provides solutions from low to high end systems. Today’s review will be on Gigabyte’s implementation of ATI’s latest high end GPU–the X800 Pro.”

MSI RX800XT-VTD256E Review @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Saturday, November 20, 2004
“The card bundle is one of the better ones out there, though it’s a shame ATI (and as a consequence, MSI) no longer bundles a Half-Life 2 voucher which could have made the software package worth getting excited about. Nonetheless, performance is where it ultimately matters, and the MSI RX800XT-VTD256E brings it.”

Nvidia Geforce 6800GT PCI Express 256Meg Videocard Review @ Tweaknews
Tweaknews :: Friday, November 19, 2004

“Boiling down my thoughts on this impressive card and chipset is practically a no-brainer. If you are considering buying an enthusiast videocard and were leaning towards the 6800 Ultra, don’t bother. Grab a 6800GT, overclock it and smile knowing you have just kept $150 in your wallet with the same performance.”

NVIDIA’s GeForce 6600GT AGP @ Hexus
Hexus :: Friday, November 19, 2004
“It’s fast, doesn’t break the bank and hopefully, hopefully, will be available in large numbers in a matter of a week or two. Recommended very highly if you’re shopping in the mid-range with just shy of £200 to spend. Drop 150 notes on the card, some change on Half Life 2 and enjoy the game, as ATI struggle to bring X700 XT to AGP. 9800 Pro and XT aren’t far off in terms of performance, but in terms of features and price, the 6600 GT on AGP beats them off with a very big stick. Until RIALTO is a reality, 6600 GT is the new mid-range card to choose on AGP, bar none.”

How To Build Home Theater PC @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Friday, November 19, 2004

“So I concluded my new place needed a media room with a home theater in it and being the hardcore computer guy that I am decided a normal run of the mill home theater setup just wasn’t going to do. This is where the idea for building a Home Theater PC or HTPC came in. The ability to watch TV, DVD movies, surf the web and play 3D games on a big plasma screen was just too tempting to pass up.”

Nvidia Geforce 6800GT PCI Express 256Meg Videocard Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Thursday, November 18, 2004

“Boiling down my thoughts on this impressive card and chipset is practically a no-brainer. If you are considering buying an enthusiast videocard and were leaning towards the 6800 Ultra, don’t bother. Grab a 6800GT, overclock it and smile knowing you have just kept $150 in your wallet with the same performance.”

HEXUS.net Review: ATI XPRESS 200
Hexus :: Thursday, November 18, 2004
“ATI’s designed a multi-purpose chipset that will appeal to a wide range of users. On the one hand, the enthusiast has the choice of opting for a competitive chipset that appears to overclock as high as NVIDIA or VIA’s best. The business customer, meanwhile, can take advantage of an IGP model and produce a low-cost, powerful system. Productivity may suffer once employees understand and exploit its DX9 goodness, though. What ATI and its partners need to do is flood the Athlon 64 market with as many different examples of its XPRESS 200 chipset, both basic and premium, before NVIDIA and VIA do. Timing is everything in this business, and the proverbial clock is ticking.”

How To Build Home Theater PC @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Thursday, November 18, 2004

So I concluded my new place needed a media room with a home theater in it and being the hardcore computer guy that I am decided a normal run of the mill home theater setup just wasn’t going to do. This is where the idea for building a Home Theater PC or HTPC came in. The ability to watch TV, DVD movies, surf the web and play 3D games on a big plasma screen was just too tempting to pass up.

NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT AGP Review @ Beyond3D
Beyond3D :: Wednesday, November 17, 2004
“The inclusion of the GeForce FX 5800 Ultra in this article also highlights exactly the importance of a flexible shader pipeline in current gaming titles. The top level fill-rates and geometry performances between the 5800 Ultra and the newer 6600 GT’s are fairly similar, and yet in gaming titles, even DirectX8 ones that rely heavily on multi-texturing and not so much on shaders, the 6600 GT’s show large performance gains over NVIDIA’s two year old high end technology”

Logitech X-230 Speakers Review @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Wednesday, November 17, 2004

“We recently evaluated Logitech’s X-530 speaker system and found it to be an excellent speaker system for valued listeners. Logitech introduced a 2.1 setup to its successful budget product line with the X-230 system. While there is a price point difference between the two, we must admit that both units performed above par in our audio quality tests. Today we are looking at the Logitech X-230 2.1 system. The X-530 and X-230 systems are quite similar in design with their major difference lying between a full surround sound setup versus an even affordable 2.1 setup.”

ATI Radeon Xpress 200 @ t-break
t-break :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004
“In our opinion, its much harder to compete in the chipset market for the Intel platform as Intel itself dominates this market with their excellent chipsets. However, AMD doesn’t push their own chipsets and with the recent news of AMD outselling Intel CPUs in the retail segment, it makes a lot more sense to design chipsets for the AMD platform. That is exactly what ATI did by releasing two chipsets for the Athlon64- the Radeon Xpress 200 and the Radeon Xpress 200P. The difference between the two is that the Radeon Xpress 200 has integrated graphics while the 200P doesn’t. We received the Radeon Xpress 200P from ATI and its time find out what we think about it.”

ATI X800 Pro Video Card Review @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“The competition between ATI and NVIDIA is now fiercer than ever. ATI was the leader in the marketplace for over a year, but with the introduction of next generation of GPUs, NVIDIA is really starting to dominate the market. NVIDIA is back in the market with full force and ATI is slowly taking the back seat in few of its product lines, namely it’s mid-end graphics card lines. We have evaluated NVIDIA’s 6800 graphics cards previously and have been quite impressed with the overall performance. This time, however, we have changed tracks and will cover ATI’s very own X800 Pro graphics card. ATI’s X800 Pro graphics card is the low-end model of ATI’s three offerings, X800 Pro, X800 XT, and X800 XT PE. Since the competition between the two companies is tough, both have released numerous products in the market to unnecessarily confuse end consumers.”

Samsung SyncMaster 710N LCD Monitor @ TechTastic.ca
TechTastic :: Tuesday, November 16, 2004

“It seems lately that LCD Monitors are becoming more and more popular. Thanks to lower prices the average consumer can pick one up for around 300$ and up. With lower prices one would assume that the quality and performance on these lower priced LCD Monitors would be quite lacking and in most cases this is true. Today we take a look at a reasonably priced LCD Monitor from Samsung their SyncMaster 710N which combines both affordable price and good performance.”

Samsung SyncMaster 710N TFT-LCD Monitor Review @ MODTHEBOX!
MODTHEBOX! :: Sunday, November 14, 2004

“What is impressive about the 710N is that it follows in the tradition of the 172X unit that I reviewed earlier this year and features a thin bezel design and a high contrast ratio of 600:1. The response time of this model has also been cut down to 12ms making this unit a very attractive LCD for the gaming community.”

Altec Lansing AHS-602 Headset Review @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Thursday, November 11, 2004
The Tech Zone takes a look at Altec Lansing’s top of the line AHS-602 headset. The AHS-602 creates 3D sound using SRS Headphone Technology. Sounds perfect for the LAN party. SRS Headphone technology is an audio enhancement technology that provides a realistic and spacious listening experience through standard headphones. Based on the same psychoacoustic research as the patented, Sound Retrieval System (SRS) and further refined for use with headphones. This technology uses the spatial information from recordings to restore the original three-dimensional sound field. This process repositions the sound from inside the listener’s head to outside the listener’s ears, creating a more natural listening experience without relying on special recording techniques or manipulation of the audio signal.

HEXUS.net Feature: A Private Home For Retired Supercomputers
Hexus :: Thursday, November 11, 2004
Snip: “If I were so inclined, and I’m not a small guy, I could quite easily climb inside an empty T90 chassis, into the cooling chamber. And partially empty was what Armari’s T90 was until recently. Collecting the chassis is all well and good – they are spectacles of computing history in their own right – but Dan likes to have them functionally complete, even if they’ll never crunch another vector calculation again. So having secured the T90 chassis from a UK institution, as it and its sister T90 were being decommissioned, he set about laying the groundwork for obtaining the CPU, I/O and memory boards needed to build the T90 into a full 32 CPU T932.”

Photographs are required to really do the machinery justice, take a look for yourselves…

Gigabyte 6800 Video Card Review Updated @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“We received quite a few e-mails regarding our evaluation of the Gigabyte 6800 card. Many users stated that Gigabyte’s 6800 card only had eight pixel pipelines enabled, hence the reason for lower performance numbers. Unfortunately we were not aware of the situation at the time of testing and Gigabyte failed to mention anything about the new BIOS that fix this issue. After receiving concerned comments from our readers, we decided to investigate the situation and found our readers to be right on target. The card that we had evaluated was indeed operating with only eight pixel pipelines enabled. After that we quickly obtained the Gigabyte 6800 card, updated the BIOS, and re-ran our regular suite of tests. We have corrected some of our comments in the evaluation to match the updated performance numbers. At this time, we would sincerely like to apologize to everyone for the incorrect information that was portrayed in the review. And secondly, we would wholeheartedly like to thank our readers for informing us of our errors. If you find any mistakes in our future evaluations, please feel free to let us know so we can work on getting them corrected as soon as possible.”

Gigabyte GeForce 6800 (GV-N68128DH) @ Bjorn3D.com
Bjorn3D :: Tuesday, November 09, 2004

“I think it’s fair to say that Gigabyte is a company that usually offers rather pedestrian cooling solutions on the video cards in its line-up. Gigabyte is not known for breaking the reference design mold too much, which is not necessarily a bad thing, especially if you consider the high-quality products with good bundles that are usually offered by Gigabyte.

The company’s GeForce 6800 offering – the GV-N68128DH – is quite a change-up for them. The card features a completely fanless cooling solution that consists of a rather large heatsink and a heatpipe design. What? A high-end video card with no fan? Yeah, that’s right. Keep in mind, though, that the chip on this board is a standard GeForce 6800, which means it’s the least powerful of NVIDIA’s current high-end graphics accelerator solutions.”

HCT NC-760 Noise-Canceling Earphones Review @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Saturday, November 06, 2004

“The most annoying factor of enjoying music is when you get disturbed from outside noises that you don’t want to be in contact with. This is a particularly tricky situation considering that many of us don’t know what to do except move to a separate and possibly quieter location. Is this a correct way of handling such preposterous circumstances? We, along with numerous manufacturers, believe otherwise. To tackle this problem, earphones and headphones manufacturers have developed noise-canceling technology, which is integrated in the earphones and headphones to prevent outside noise from vibrating through ear canals.”

NVIDIA PCI-Express GeForce 6800 GT @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Friday, November 05, 2004
“PCI-Express video cards have been available for a little while now, but the high-end cards are not widely available yet. ATi’s Radeon X800 and X800 XT cards are starting to show up on e-tailers’ virtual shelves, but the newest NVIDIA card you’ll find in retail form is a GeForce 6600 GT. Demand for PCI-Express cards probably hasn’t been really high yet, though. However, now that nForce4 is about to hit the streets, I’m sure we’ll see a spike in demand.”

Creative Nomad MuVo² 4GB @ HEXUS
Hexus :: Friday, November 05, 2004
“As a compact MP3 player with bags of storage capacity, you’re on to a winner with the MuVo². 4GB of storage space in such a small device can’t be bad, Hitachi’s MicroDrive 1″ format the genius behind the implementation. Battery life is good, comparable to its chief rivals and the software is simple to use.”

Altec Lansing MX5020 Speakers Review @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, November 04, 2004

“Altec Lansing has been around since before the dawn of stereo. Altec Lansing was formed in 1941 when Altec purchased the Lansing Manufacturing Company. In 1946 the former Lansing owner, James B. Lansing, later formed JBL, a name most of us will recognize. Altec has always been known for its speaker systems in the affordable category and today we will take a look at their recently announced MX5020 speaker set.”

Sapphire Radeon X800XT PCI Express Reviewed @ VR-Zone Hardware
VR-Zone :: Thursday, November 04, 2004
“From stock core and memory clock speeds of 500MHz, I was able to overclock the Sapphire Radeon X800XT PCIe’s core 46MHz and memory 55MHz, yielding a final clock speed of 546MHz/555MHz (core/memory). It’s important to note that the core speed is actually faster than the stock core speed of the Radeon X800XT Platinum Edition, and just 5MHz slower than it’s memory clock speed (Core: 520MHz / Memory: 560MHz). I was impressed that we were able to get at and maintain these speeds throughout our testing, with no artifacting or problems at overclocked frequencies after more than a week of playing games at them.”

HEXUS.net Preview: ATI’s Radeon X700 XT and Radeon X700 PRO
Hexus :: Wednesday, November 03, 2004

“This article serves two purposes. We’ll take a look at the new XT, paying close attention to its thermal characteristics before looking at performance, and I’ll also publish some numbers and thoughts from that initial look at the PRO. It was only 5MHz away on the core clock from matching ATI’s final set clocks, so while its results are gleaned using an older driver build that ATI aren’t especially happy with, it’ll serve as a nice reference point for when we get a final PRO board to look at.”

Albatron Trinity PCX5750 @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Monday, November 01, 2004

“In current games such as Serious Sam SE and UT2004, this card can play 1024*768 without any real problems, and for the most part you can enable AA and ansiotropic filtering while still keeping playability. Newer games such as Splinter Cell also are playable at 1024*768, but only without the extra quality settings enabled. New games such as Doom 3 and Far Cry are playable at 800*600 without AA and ansiotropic filtering, but I wouldn’t really suggest going beyond that.”

Gigabyte 6800 Video Card Review @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Monday, November 01, 2004

“NVIDIA launched their GeForce 6 series of GPUs a while back and now every board partner has their versions of 6800 flavors, most notably the regular 6800. This is the most popular version of NVIDIA’s GeForce 6 family of products – maybe because of the poor chip yields. If you are not aware of this, both NVIDIA and ATI are having a difficult time producing chips for their GT/Ultra and PE line of products, which has led to ridiculous price increases for the aforementioned models from NVIDIA and ATI. Recently, at an online retailer, we found NVIDIA’s 6800 Ultra to be around $735.00, which is way higher than its retail price of $500.00. What’s even more annoying is that both NVIDIA and ATI have launched the products, but they are having a hard time bringing them into retail channels. In an effort to compete against each other, they forgot the sufferers of their actions – end-consumers. Why is it that we have to wait months before we can purchase high-end cards for our needs? We like to call this a mere business monopoly. The only difference is we have two companies creating the monopoly instead of one. Just as an advise to NVIDIA and ATI, we would like to see the high-end cards soon in the market.”

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