Tech News November 2006

Corsair HX620W Power Supply
OC Tools :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“If Corsair can make great memory modules, they have now proven that they can also make great power supplies. The packaging is impressive, the design elegant, and the performance superb. Add to that the quietness of the unit, you got yourself one of the best power supplies in its class money can buy.”

Crucial 10th Anniversary DDR2 PC5300-667Mhz Ram 2Gb Kit
Dragonsteel Mods :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
Crucial… The name in itself is extremely well known among enthusiasts and non-enthusiasts alike. Today for review I have some special ram from Crucial, it is their 10th Anniversary Edition DDR2 ram, running at 667Mhz or PC5300 speeds. I’ve found that I can easily get this ram to PC8500 speeds and higher with ease, you’ll have to read on to learn how I did it and just how far I did get this excellent ram to go…

Confessions of a Computer Case Designer: An Interview With NZXT’s Johnny Hou
Futurelooks :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
Some of you may know the NZXT brand name by the cases they put out. Especially their signature model that resembled the head of “Optimus Prime”. We had a chat with NZXT’s Lead Designer and Global Product and Marketing Manager, Johnny Hou to find out about the man behind the cases and what it’s like being the boss of people older than you.

Abit NF-M2 nView AM2 Micro-ATX Motherboard Review
Virtual Hideout :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“There are so many things to like about the motherboard from the color scheme to the quality of components. The motherboard performs very admirably presenting stability and function. It comes with ample features and capabilities that cover the entire spectrum of users from the HTPC user to the gaming enthusiast.”

Alienware Area-51 7500 Review
Digital Trends :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“Alienware’s Area-51 7500 packs a serious punch, but is light on your wallet, that is unless you want to load it up with plenty of options.”

Zalman Fatal1ty FC-ZE1 Champ1on Series Aluminum Case Review
OCIA :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“I will be the first to admit that most all of the Fatal1ty products I have seen to date look pretty sweet, but many end users have complained about the hefty premium price tag put on these items and cannot justify spending the extra money. Today I will be looking at the Zalman Fatal1ty FC-ZE1 Champ1on Series Aluminum Case… definitely a flashy looking system, but does it warrant the near $360 asking price?”

Abit AW9D-MAX Motherboard
Bona Fide Reviews :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
The name Abit is as close to a household name as any when it comes to motherboard brands Abit has been around for quite some and has delivered some really stellar products in their past. The IC7-MAX3 was one such product that was a home run for Abit and really won enthusiasts over. Post IC7, Abit started fade during the 2004 and 2005 years but have recently made a come back into the spotlight. Today, Abit is back in black quite literally as we review their new AW9D-MAX motherboard.

Seagate Barracuda 750GB ES Review
Techgage :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
Seagate made quite a splash earlier this year with their 750GB hard drives. They have since released an ES version of the drive with a far higher reliability factor making them perfectly suitable for RAID and business applications.

Sapphire X1950Pro
Lost Circuits :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
The new GPU produces mixed reactions. On one hand, “Pro” here does not mean, for example, “9700 Pro”. And unlike the X1900 GT it replaces, the new Pro does not share the screaming R580+ core with the X1950 XT or XTX. Instead, we have the newly released RV570, in an 8-vertex/36-pixel shader configuration and a reduction in thread dispatch capability. Then again, the deposed X1900 GT was the product of selective feature disabling, and offered nearly the same specs. Think of the RV570 as more of a middle-end Renaissance: DirectX 9 support is in full bloom, visual goodies such as 16x anisotropic filtering and 6x antialiasing neatly guild the lily, and CrossFire has finally risen out of the Dongle Ages. The processing core may contain yesterday’s high-end technology, but our first impression is that the paint is shiny and the odometer shows a low reading.

SilverStone Temjin TJ08
Phoronix :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“While SilverStone Technology has been around for less than four years during this time we have seen some extremely innovative computer enclosures. Among the SilverStone case series have been the Temjin, Lascala, Sugo, Milo, Crown, and Grandia. The SilverStone Temjin series focuses on sleek high-end ATX cases and they had recently introduced their ninth model. While we will be looking at the SilverStone Temjin TJ09 in just a matter of days, we took this opportunity to look at the TJ08. The SilverStone TJ08 is a micro ATX chassis that is designed to pack the power of a standard ATX chassis but on a much smaller scale. This 195 x 381 x 378 mm chassis ships with dual 120mm fans and a removable motherboard tray.”

Mid-Range DIY Computer Buyer’s Guide
The Tech Lounge :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“The big corporations of this world are starting to foam at the mouth at the thought of astronomical holiday sales. Let’s be honest, we’re going a little rabid ourselves. Our mid-range system budget is set at $1,600, and our goal in this article is to recommend components which offer the best bang for the buck while maintaining an overall balanced system.”

Kinc sets 3DMark 2001/05 world records using an X6800 @ 5347MHz
Nordic Hardware :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
The card is, of course, a GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card from XFX and the processor an Intel Core 2 Extreme X6800. It’s also the processor which has been the key to the new records. He has namely been able to raise the frequency to quite a lot since his last record. From 5060MHz to incredible 5347MHz.

‘The Crazy Things People Do’ Contest Posted!
Tech ARP :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“We have all seen a lot of crazy stunts that people do just to get what they want. Swallow live worms and other insects, jump from tall buildings and worse.

But what about the new Intel Core 2 Duo processor? What would people do just to lay their hands on the new Intel Core 2 Duo PC? That’s what we are here to find out today. ”

Black Ice GT-Stealth Radiator Review
Technic 3d :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“The new Black Ice GT-Stealth Dual and Tripple Radiator arrived Technic3D. Better than the “old” Series? See you in the following Review on Technic3D.”

Sabayon Linux 3.2 Review
Techgage :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
We took a look at Sabayon 3.0 a few months ago and were greatly impressed. The developers haven’t taken a break since that time, and now 3.2 is upon us. We are diving in heads first to see what’s new and what’s been updated.

Windows Vista Upgrade Guide
Windows A to Z :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“The consumer release of Microsoft’s Windows Vista is just around the corner and WindowsAtoZ.com has a complete guide to upgrading a computer to Vista or buying a new computer pre-loaded with Vista. You’ll want to take a look at this before you do anything.”

Cooler Master iGreen-Power 500W Power-Supply
Tweak PC :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
The Cooler Master iGreen-Power Series should have an efficience over 85% and the standby-wastage should be very low. We took a look at the 500 Watt PS. Is it able to compare with other high-end power supplies or can it even beat them?

Hiper Type R & Type M 730W Power Supplies
3dgameman :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“Both the Hiper Type R and Type M 730 watt power supplies perform very well. The Hiper Type R is the fancy model and has a unique stainless steel body and modular design. The Type M 730 watt power supply, on the other hand, is rather basic. It has a satin, black finish and plenty of sleeved leads. The big draw for either is the high wattage which is needed for a hardcore gaming rig. Watch the Video to find out more…”

CoolIT Systems Freezone CPU Cooler
PC Apex :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“The first thing I noticed when I pulled the unit out was the weight of it… It felt a lot heavier then I expected. The CPU block made out of copper, the pre-filled system, and the mag drive pump all contribute to the weight. A plastic shield was placed over the CPU block keeping the base from getting scratched and protected the pre-applied thermal paste from getting all over everything. The coolant is a wonderful blue color that never needs to be changed. The tubing is flexible and coils wrapped around it prevent the tubing from kinking while making tight turns.”

Apack Zerotherm CF900 Socket 775 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“The Zerotherm CF900’s Protechnic MGT9212HS-S25 fan has a thermistor attached to a short length of wire coming out of the motor hub, and this plays a crucial role in how the heatsink performs. The thermistor is cleverly located inside a well formed within in the array of copper cooling fins, so it accurately responds to the temperature of the metal, not the internal case air temperature. This enables the Zerotherm CF900 fan to scale its impeller speed as necessary, and cuts down on unnecessary noise. At its slowest speed (800RPM), the 95mm diameter Protechnic fan barely produces 35 dBA noise. At its full speed of 2300RPM, the fan rumbles away with a moderately audible 48.3 dBA.”

Biostar iDEQ 250N Barebones System Review
PC Stats :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“In this review PCSTATS will be testing out the new Biostar iDEQ 250N Mini PC barebones system. The iDEQ 250N is a socket AM2 AMD Athlon64 platform which is based on nVIDIA’s extremely popular GeForce 6100 and nForce 410 series chipsets. It will accommodate up to 4GB of DDR2-533/667/800 memory, and like all small form factor PCs its expansion capabilities are limited to two devices. In this case, Biostar certainly picked the best of the bunch. It’s iDEQ 250N can support one PCI Express x16 videocard and one 32-bit PCI card. The Geforce 6100 chipset gives away one other hidden talent to this small form factor barebones system… onboard Geforce 6-series graphics come standard. On the list of critical features, the usual suspects are all checked off.”

Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W PSU Review
Technic 3d :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“The new Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850W (RS-850-EMBA) PSU arrived Technic3D. See you in the following Review a PSU with 6x 12V! and 850W. Better than other PSUs?”

ATI Radeon X1950XTX CrossFire
Bjorn 3d :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
Recently, I built two new Intel Core 2 Duo systems each based on the Intel I975X motherboards. One of the systems was designated as my personal workstation and the other was specific for product reviews. Since CrossFire™ technology was the biggest and baddest dual GPU graphics product available for this system I was stoked to review it. After exchanging a few emails with Will Willis, ATI’s North American Public Relations Manager, my request was granted. I received the X1950XTX CrossFire™ components in less than two days, which was absolutely incredible.

The Computer Industry’s Whipping Boy: The Lowly Computer Technician Editorial
Tweaknews :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“PC support companies build their business on the backs of high school and college graduates, the people who get a job just to get by until something better comes along. These people are called hardware technicians; they bare huge responsibility and work for low pay, often for little better than minimum wage. Hardly any of these people take their job seriously and those that do are usually looking to get into a more prestigious field like Network Administration or Security.”

Holiday 2006 PC Case Buyer’s Guide
Think Computers :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“With the holiday season upon us there are tons of gift ideas for your family and friends. So we are going to be bringing you a series holiday buyer’s guides that might help you narrow the choices down to just a few items. Our first buyer’s guide of the 2006 holiday season is PC Cases. Your PC case is a very important part to your PC. It shows off what you have inside. So let’s check out our top picks for 2006!”

Voicing an Electronic Voice
PC Mech :: Friday, November 24, 2006
Growing up in the age of computer and technological, it comes almost as granted that any service or product that involves a human inconvenience will be fixed. A very simply example is the airline. Instead of riding slow intercontinental trains, you can just hop on airplanes and go from coast to coast in less than a day. Or a more pertinent example is how instead of using the postal service and relying on humans to process mail, you can instead send files online. Likewise, relating to the government, you can file your taxes online and be done much quicker than it takes to complete a paper form.

Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 Aluminum Chassis Review
PC Stats :: Friday, November 24, 2006
“Like its predecessor, the all aluminum Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 case is compatible with watercooling systems right out of the box. It is designed for maximum system cooling while maintaining quiet operating parameters – so while there are no less than three large 120mm cooling fans in this case, they all run without really being noticeable. Best of all, it has two tubing pass through vents for watercooling systems. The 3D Aurora 570 case is constructed entirely out of 1.0mm thick aluminum, has a nice grilled side panel that can be swapped out with an included clear case window (how nice is that! It’s even pre-drilled for quick installation), contains plenty of tooless expansion space.”

Super Talent 2GB PC2-8000 DDR2 Memory Kit Review
Virtual Hideout :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“Super Talent recently revamped the looks of all their overclocking kits with new blue heatspreaders. And let me tell you these are some beefy heatspreaders. The kit I’ll be checking out today is rated for 1000MHz operation at an aggressive 4-5-4-15 and a respectable voltage of 2.2v.”

Zalman ZM600-HP Heatpipe Cooled Modular 600 Watt Power Supply Review
Tweaknews :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“I’m very impressed by Zalman’s newest PSU offering. The ZM600-HP seems to deliver the goods everywhere one looks. The heatpipe feature keeps it running cool and the LEDs keep it looking cool. This PSU has enough power to supply all but the most extreme systems with ease. Outstanding stability and efficiency are complimented by near-silent operation and a pleasing blue glow.”

Low-End DIY Computer Buyer’s Guide
The Tech Lounge :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“Black Friday is almost here. The big corporations of this world are starting to foam at the mouth at the thought of astronomical holiday sales. Let’s be honest, we’re going a little rabid ourselves. This guide will get you started on an enviable computer with huge potential for expansion, and with Vista looming, you’ll be glad you made room for it. This price guide is aimed squarely at the price-conscious DIY system builder, with a budget set at $800.”

Getting Paid to Surf Version 2.0 – Here Comes the AGLOCO Train!
Futurelooks :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
Anyone here old enough to remember AllAdvantage? Well since then, the pioneer of the Getting Paid to Surf movement has become all but a brief blip on the dot com history books. Now it looks like a new company has emerged, but this time, things are going to be different. With a plausible business model and an interesting referral program, does Getting paid to Surf have a future in Web 2.0? Let’s find out!

Jetart CK6000 HDD Protector Review
XS Reviews :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“Ever wanted to store a HDD out of your PC which had sensitive data on? Well, to stop your valuable information going down the drain, Jetart have made the CK6000 HDD Guard.”

Triumph Macs 7131-i Cooler
Technic 3d :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“The Triumph Macs 7131-i CPU Heatsink arrived Technic3D. Better than a watercooling ore Titan Amanda? See you in the following Review against others CPU Cooling.”

nPowertek NPH 775-1 Socket 775 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“nPowertek NPH 775-1 Socket 775 heatsink looks deceptively simple at first glance; but at the heart of this Intel cooler is a huge copper cylinder. The large copper column is not technically a heatpipe as we know it, it’s what TTIC call a “heat column.” This column, 25mm in diameter and made from a hollow copper cylinder which is vacuum sealed, has a chemical coating on the inside that works to the same effect as a wick in a traditional heatpipe. The heat column used here is essentially an empty cylinder of copper which has been internally coated with a thin “superconducting heat transfer medium.” The copper cylinder is sealed off at both ends, and inside is under a vacuum of approximately 1 Torr. The 18x80x80mm looks a little timid for the open framed nPowertek’s NPH 775-1 heatsink, but it seems to get the job done without much fuss.”

abit AW9D-MAX Core Duo motherboard Review
Xtreme Computing :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“To put it into a little story I could just say abit got turned out from the hardcore enthusiasts party and did not like it one bit, so they sent the AW9D Max round to sort the problem out, the bouncer (security) looked out the flap on door an was about to say your not coming in when he was met with the size 10 doctor martin boot coming through the door :P and the AW9D-max entered the party with a bang.”

GIGABYTE GeForce 7900GS Review
Motherboards.org :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
The GIGABYTE 7900GS is an excellent card for the money in terms of today’s performance and features, outperforming the 7900GT in many instances and outperforming ATI’s X1950 Pro in many instances on the performance spectrum. This makes the card an excellent choice, especially if you don’t have the $500 that an 8800GTS would ask for. A pro gaming card for the novice budget!

ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium
Bjorn 3d :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
After playing the second fiddle to AMD, at least from an enthusiast’s point of view, for a long time Intel finally has come up with CPU’s that, to put it mildly, kick some serious AMD butt. The new Core 2 Duo’s has an excellent performance to price ration and are bound to be the new favorites among many computer users.

We have earlier reviewed an ASUS nForce 570 motherboard, the ASUS P5NSLI, and today it is time to review the big brother, the ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium which uses the nForce 590 chipset.

OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Special Ops Edition Urban Elite Memory
Technic 3d :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
OCZ offers a memory PC 6400 DDR2 Special Ops Edition Urban Elite 2 GB Dual Kit with a new heatspreader. Technic3D will see as good they are with 4-4-3-15 and Overclocking”

NZXT Zero Full ATX
Phoronix :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“In the past NZXT had pride itself upon its attractive and well-designed cases, but with the Zero chassis NZXT has added another selling point — its cooling abilities. The NZXT Zero is a full tower aluminum chassis that comes equipped with seven 120mm fans and one 80mm fan. What is surprising however is that even with eight case fans the Zero is incredibly quiet. This chassis is composed of aluminum and has an intriguing look to its design.”

Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 Motherboard Review
Legit Reviews :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“I cannot rave about the Gigabyte GA-965P-DS3 enough! Starting at $145 from online e-tailers, it is an overclockers dream! It is fast at default settings! But wait until you overclock it! Gigabyte has certainly unleashed a monster with this board! If you are in the market for a moderately priced overclocking monster, this is the one!”

Apack Zerotherm CF800 Socket 775 Heatsink Reviewed
Frosty Tech :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“The Apack Zerotherm CF800 heatsink is a compact aluminum finned socket 775 cooler. It has been designed to operate quietly, with the ability to scale the speed of its translucent fan automatically and tackle heat loads as high as 130W. That makes this 357 gram lightweight heatsink an ideal candidate for socket 775 Intel Pentium D/Core 2 Duo processors. The CF800 heatsink has a thermally responsive fan that adjusts its speed between 800-2300RPM, blowing upwards of 42CFM over over 2300mm2 of cooling surface area. ”

Ultra Products X-Connect 2 550W Power Supply
PC Apex :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“The improvement on the cables this time around was the switch to Flex Force cables. They are still UV reactive with each wire being independently coated. Since the cables consist of individually wraped wires, the cables themselves are thinner and are easy to fold-over, tuck behind, and even run under the motherboard. Even though this might not be appealing to everyone it still adds a WOW factor to laying out the wires in a system. This is a much needed improvement over the first gen cables that were kinda stiff and round which made it difficult to route them in tight spaces.”

Vizo Sleet Chipset Coolers
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
” For any computer enthusiast heat is a well known enemy, be it overclocking or just making sure you have a nice stable, cool system. Most video cards, motherboards etc have heatsinks on the needed chips but some don’t for whatever reason, be it to cut costs in production or they just felt it didn’t need it. For review today I have the Vizo Sleet Chipset Coolers, these are tiny heatsinks made to be added to those important chips that are without them, or to replace oem heatsinks that just aren’t that great. The Sleet Chipset Coolers are all copper and they are made very well. Read on to check them out…. ”

Top Five Techie Things That She Wants for Christmas
Futurelooks :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
Besides diamonds, women are just as easily tempted with well thought out techie gifts. However, poorly thought out ones have dire consequences. Instead of tempting fate, we’ve asked the women to come up with their own list of possible techie goodies that would be acceptable this holiday season. Print it, and keep it in your wallet guys.

P TS-101: a 9-in-1 NAS Server Station
Bjorn 3d :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
As oppose to a dedicated file server, where you would need a central system dedicated for file sharing and storage, NAS basically strips everything to a bare minimum and its whole function is just storing and sharing files. Not only NAS can save a tremendous amount of hardware and maintenance cost from a dedicated server, they also offer an easy way to store large files so that anyone on the network can access them. In recent years, not only that the cost for NAS has dropped significantly, they are also packed with many other features that are beyond storing and sharing files. Today, we will be looking at QNAP’s Turbo Station TS-101 — 9-in-1 NAS Server.

QNAP TS-101 is an NAS enclosure which takes SATA hard drives. It supports both SATA 1 and SATA II. The enclosure which we received does not come with any hard disks. QNAP advertises the enclosure as an 9-in-1 NAS Server Turbo Station as it does not only supports NAS, it also comes with a slew of other features and applications which we will take a detailed look.

Thermalright Chill Factor Thermal Paste Review
Big Bruin :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
Their CPU coolers offer some of the lowest temperatures that air cooling can provide, but there are two things that Thermalright has not provided for their coolers until now… fans and some high quality thermal paste. The Chill Factor Thermal Paste is Thermalright’s first venture into the premium thermal paste market, and based on their reputation and proven track record with everything else they have done, I have high expectations.

Corsair HX620W PSU Review
PC Modding Malaysia :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“The Corsair HX Series modular power supply marked a new exciting product for Corsair. Corsair has engineered the HX Series to stand up to the demands of the most robust PC systems which includes high performance PCs and gaming systems, audio/video workstations, and file servers. Available in 620W and 520W models, Corsair aims to deliver continuous fully rated output with triple +12V rails. Apart from that, theses new Corsair HX power supplies features modular cable solution that offers flexible cables for better cable management. Join us as we put the Corsair HX620W power supply to the test and pit it against the best 600W modular PSUs in the market.”

OCZ EvoStream 600W
techPowerUp! :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
The OCZ EvoStream 600W is a powerful PSU that comes with modular connectors to help you reduce the cable mess in your case. On top of that you get four independent 12V rails that can supply all the power your video cards may ever need. In our testing on a Crossfire system the 12V line was exceptionally stable, making this unit a great choice for overclockers.

Ultra Box – nForce 4 SLI Socket 939
Modders Inc. :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
Ultra has packaged up several great features with the Ultra Box barebone kit. The MicroFly is by far one of the better SFF cases due to the fact that it provides excellent cooling, offers a removable motherboard tray, and will accept standard size ATX power supplies. It has great looks, is lightweight, and will be easy to carry back and forth to LAN events.

Vigor Monsoon II TEC CPU Cooler
PC Apex :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“The cooler itself is quite a beast, weighing in at almost 1 kg with the fan attached. The design is tried-and-true: heat pipes & a lot of stacked fins. The unique feature of the Monsoon II, of course, is the 50W TEC element integrated into the base. The TEC is sandwiched between the nickel-plated copper base plate and a hot plate. Both the base plate and hot plate contain 4 heat pipes (2 to each side) that carry the heat to the fins. The heat pipes attached to the base plate have the same function as in any normal heat sink, but the ones attached to the hot plate remove heat generated at the hot side of the TEC. This way, the TEC assists the passive operation of the base plate heat pipes. Even if the TEC fails, you still have a semi-functional passive heat sink.”

OCZ PC2-7200 Special Ops Edition
Driver Heaven :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
OCZ are widely regarded as making some of the highest quality RAM modules. Today we will take a look at a very interesting set of DDR2 RAM modules which are supposed to offer great performance with a very aggressive price tag, the Special Ops Edition series PC2-7200 (900MHz) set. Can OCZ offer both great performance and great value in a single package?

OCZ Launches Water Cooled Memory Modules
Legit Reviews :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“Just a couple days ago OCZ Technology announced that they will soon be offering a PC2-9200 DDR2 memory kit that operates at 1150MHz and has the option of being water cooled. This is significant for three reasons. The first is that the OCZ PC2-9200 FlexXLC 2x1GB kit is the fastest 2GB kit of memory that is in production for the retail market, which means that OCZ is still a contender when it comes to the world’s fastest memory…”

Cyber Snipa Mouse and Pad
Gideon Tech :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“There are a slew of gaming mice on the market today. Models ranging from low budget to some very pricey offerings. Flexiglow, the makers of Cyber Snipa, have brought out a mouse that not only has enough programmable buttons to satisfy the hardcore gamer, it also has the functionality to let you tone down the unit for every day use.”

Black Friday Tech Deals
Windows A to Z :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“The biggest shopping day of the year is just a few days away. You want to get on top of all the best Black Friday tech deals. The editors at WindowsAtoZ.com have searched the Web to find the best Black Friday tech deals.”

Kinc sets another world record – 1GHz GPU with GeForce 8800 GTX
Nordic Hardware :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
The last time we reported about Kinc’s progress he had managed to push our GeForce 8800 GTX card to over 900MHz GPU frequency. A neat increase from the 575MHz, which NVIDIA limits its partners to use, simply because there’s a risk of instability at higher frequencies. Kinc has now been able to reach a real milestone, namely over 1GHz clock frequency with the graphics core.

Zalman ZM600-HP 600 W Power Supply
Hardware Secrets :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“Zalman ZM600-HP is a high-end power supply featuring a big 120-mm fan, an internal heatsink with a heat-pipe, modular cabling system and also EPS12V-compatible, being targeted to high-end SLI and CrossFire systems. Let’s take an in-depth look on this power supply. ”

Evercool PT02-9232CP Bifurcated Fin Heatsink
Frosty Tech :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“The Intel ‘Prescott FMB2’ compliant Evercool PT02-9232CP heatsink is equipped with a 32x92x92mm 4-pin PWM fan that rotates at between 1300 and 4000RPM. When installed on a PWM fan compatible socket 775 motherboard, the fan will scale its speed from 4000RPM down to meet the immediate thermal needs of the processor without creating unnecessary noise. When the PT02-9232CP heatsink is connected to a standard three pin fan header however, the fan spins at its maximum speed of 4000 rpm by default.”

Cooler Round-Up Posted!
Tech ARP :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“If you are looking for a CPU cooler, make sure you take a look at our new CPU cooler round-up. We take some of the latest and most popular coolers to task and see how they really perform. Don’t buy that cooler until you have seen our results! ”

Noctua NF-R8 & NF-S12, 80mm & 120mm Case Fans Review
ReviewDesk :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“After looking at the specs and checking out that sweet 6 year warranty, it would appear that these fans have been well-designed. The packaging they came in is even well-designed. Taking a look at their website would lead you again to the same conclusion: they know what they’re doing when it comes to design. My only question is, what’s up with the earth tones? I’m not trying to hate on their color scheme or anything, but it seems like they should provide us with different colors to choose from.”

BartPE
PC Mech :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
regular readers may notice a recurring theme for this week; that of the Windows tweaking variety. See my reviews of nLite and AutoPatcher for more on how to customize your Windows installation. This week however, I take a slightly different tack, looking at a way to boot your system without Windows, to fix a troubled installation, backup data and get your system back on track. So let’s take a look at Bart PE v3.1.10a.

abit AB9 Pro Motherboard Review
Motherboards.org :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Performance on the AB9 Pro board was excellent, typical of the 965 chipset series motherboards seen thus far. Overclocking on the board went well, with uGuru clocking the CPU up to 10% above default with no stability issues and the FSB clocking to 350MHz at maximum. Not the highest ever seen, but not bad either.

ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium/WiFi-AP Edition Motherboard Review
NV News :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
The only real negative to this board is that as it came to the game so late, it has been completely overshadowed by the new nForce 680i. The latest and greatest from NVIDIA features the C55 northbridge chip (whereas this board has the older C19) – which should allow for much more reliable and higher overclocking – along with many other features for a price not that far above the P5N32-SLI Premium/WiFi-AP.

Asrock ALiveNF6G-DVI AM2 motherboard
Pro Clockers :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
One such motherboard that will do very well in a new HTPC/SFF build is the ALiveNF6G-DVI from Asrock. The board is small and packed full of multimedia features that will serve the needs of many. Integrated sound and video are a part of the board’s arsenal, and for the person who needs a little more there is an additional PCI-e slot and a couple of PCI slots to expand on. Now let’s take a look at the ALiveNF6G-DVI.

The World’s Most High-Tech Urinal
John Chow :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
By day, the Urilift is lowered below street level for a nice clean look. Then at night, an operator comes by with a remote and the Urilift hydraulically lifts to sidewalk level in about two minutes. Then the unit is ready to serve all the nighttime party animals who don’t mind peeing in a very exposed public urinal.

Thermaltake Silent Water All-in-One Liquid CPU Cooling System Review
Tweaknews :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“The Silent Water all in one liquid cooling system from Thermaltake is an interesting product in some respects. The small size and mounting options make it compatible with many cases without modification. It offers the novice watercooler a complete, easily installed solution that has fairly wide compatibility at a very reasonable cost.”

Pertelian X2040 V4 USB LCD
Viper Lair :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“Yes, there are a lot of LCD’s out there on the market that are able to do most of the things the Pertelian X2040 can do, but the X2040 takes things a step further and adds quite a bit more interactions in the form of the IRC, eBay, IM and Forum watch plug ins. Like I said early on, I have never owned an LCD before, but in my quick search around the net looking at other LCD unit’s the Pertelian X2040 was the only one I found that offers these types of plug ins, and it does it at a significantly lower cost when compared to other 4 x 20 LCD’s.”

ASRock ALiveNF6G-DVI Micro-ATX Motherboard Review
Virtual Hideout :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
The ASRock AliveNF6G-DVI is an excellent little motherboard with lots of potential. It’s great for people who are on a budget and can’t afford a higher end graphics cards. The add-on DVI graphics adapter is a nice touch for users with a DVI on their monitor.”

Lian Li PC-B20A All-Aluminum ATX Case
Bjorn 3d :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Well known to computer enthusiasts and gamers alike, Lian Li has built a name based on performance and quality above everything else. Every single product released by Lian Li has had meticulous attention paid to details which the competition usually ignores. Clearly, there is no equal to Lian Li, especially in terms of construction and craftsmanship, but even the closest competitors have learned not to try and one-up Lian Li at their own game. In this review, the Lian Li PC-B20A (A for Aluminum Finish) mid-tower ATX computer case is up for close inspection. Labeled as part of the Classical Silent family from Lian Li, you will soon see if this should deserve to be your next investment.

Cooler Master Aquaviva Review
Techware Labs :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“Cooler Master is no stranger to cases and cooling and we were quite pleased to see another innovative product land on our doorsteps. The current self contained systems either aren’t up to par with my performance standards or they are a bit too expensive. I never understood why more manufacturer’s haven’t released more self contained liquid cooling systems. Let’s face it, not everyone has the time, patience or technical know-how to purchase an all out water cooling kit with separate components. It can also get very expensive and messy if you don’t know what you are doing.”

Inter-Tech NitroX 750W PSU Review
Technic 3d :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
The new Inter-Tech NitroX 750W (IT-7750GS)PSU arrived Technic3D. See you in the following Review a Big PSU with a very small Price.”

nVidia nForce 680i SLI Chipset – Core 2 Enthusiasts Dream?
Tweak Town :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
When nVidia announced its first 500 series chipset for the Intel platform, the market was looking forward to a chipset that could perform, after seeing how well the AMD variants worked. We were all expecting to get our Core 2’s blazing on the 500 series for Intel; unfortunately, nVidia dropped the ball here. While a new MCP was introduced, the Northbridge or SPP as its known from nVidia was the same C19 chip that was used on the nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition, the same woeful memory controller and overclocks followed yet still remained fairly popular due to SLI support.

Four 120mm Fans Compared
Madshrimps :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“We test four 120mm fans which aim to provide lots of airflow at low noise levels. In this roundup 2 models from Noctua and 2 from Sharkoon are compared to one of the best from our previous 17-fan roundup.”

Corsair HX620W Modular Power Supply Review
PC Stats :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“Corsair is the king of enthusiast grade memory, and now the company is setting its’ sights on another important and often unacknowledged component of a modern high end PC – the power supply. The Corsair HX620W power supply is the companies first ever, and this unit certainly has many good things going for it. First off the Corsair HX620W power supply has received nVIDIA SLI and ATi CrossFire certification, so you know it’s not a piece of junk. The 620W wattage rating is a sustained value, not peak. Lastly, it comes in a very pretty modular cable design. ”

Thermaltake Orchestra
techPowerUp! :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Passive cooling without fans is the holy grail of cooling because it does not add annoying fan noise to your system. While this is almost impossible using air cooling, Thermaltake has engineered an external watercooling solution that can keep a modern CPU cool without any fans. Thermaltake’s Orchestra is very easy to install, even for novices, and comes with everything included to get you up and running.

Akasa AK-960E Socket 775 Heatsink Reviewed
FrostyTech :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“The Akasa AK-960E heatsink is designed for socket 775 Intel Pentium 4/D and Core 2 Duo processors. As with most heatsinks that are vying to push the stock thermal solution out of the PC, the AK-960E comes equipped with a Pulse Width Modulation controlled fan that can scale between 500-3000RPM. In other words, when your PC is running on idle, the fan will slow down to reduce noise. When the processor is knee deep in a stream of number crunching, the fan spins up to meet the heat. This approach is soon to be the standard for all heatsinks, whether they be for CPU, GPU or chipset thermal solutions.”

Swiftech MCW-RAMcool VGA Memory Waterblock Review
OCIA :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“As with all products from Swiftech, you get everything you need to install and connect their products to your current system. There are three sets of Swiftech’s “Patent Pending” “F” style connectors in the most popular US sizes (1/2″, 3/8″ and 1/4″), so you shouldn’t have any problems connecting the MCW-Ramcool to your current system regardless of the tubing size that you’re running now. Swiftech has also included all necessary tube clamps, 1 foot of 1/4″ tubing, as well as a small tube of Arctic Silver Ceramique thermal paste.”

NZXT Adamas Premium Aluminum Chassis Review
Big Bruin :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Gamers are always looking for new and exciting products to make their rig customized to their liking. NZXT has sent over the Adamas Premium Aluminum Chassis, but it does not seem like the typical NZXT case. It looks nothing like the flashy Apollo they sent us back in August, and it has a more refined appearance which I prefer.

Plextor PlexEraser PX-OE100E
Club Overclocker :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Plextor has sent over a new product for us to test that gives a whole new meaning to the word “burner”. The PlexEraser PX-OE100E is the only device that we know of on the market today that actually destroys the data layer portion of a CD or DVD to make the data unreadable.

Cooler Master Eclipse CPU Cooler
Think Computers :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“So many CPU coolers are the same in design. It is hard to create a good performing CPU cooler whose design sets itself apart from the rest. Well today we will be looking at the Cooler Master Eclipse CPU cooler and its design is something that I have never seen before. We will see if its design hinders its performance against other AM2 CPU coolers that we have previously tested. So let’s check it out!”

Abit AN9-32X AM2 NVIDIA 590-SLI Motherboard Review
Virtual Hideout :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“The ABIT AN9-32X brings a quality configured package with ample features and superb performance to anyone needing a reliable platform for their single or dual graphics needs. This is a serious platform for the serious user demanding the best from their system.”

Crucial Ballistix Tracer DDR2 PC2-5300
LAN Addict :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
To sum it all up, would I buy this RAM if I had the chance? Definitely. It performs great and it looks nice. I know not all of us notice at how pretty something looks, but in the world of computers now, with clear side cases, LED fans, cold cathodes and the like it, definitely is getting to be the norm to look nice. And this RAM definitely gets point for that as well, with the blue LEDs along the base of the RAM, and the chasing LEDs on the top to show activity.

ASUS P5W64 Wall Street Quartet Professional
LostCircuits :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Dual Core CPUs have come, and they have been upped again by Quad Core processors. Multithreading or concurrent processing of threads are the latest, if possible, in combination with multi display configurations. This analytical market is where ASUS is pushing its latest creation: the P5W64 Wall Street Quartet, equipped with four full-length PCIe slots (x16 form factor) and, at least in theory capable of running four individual video cards. In the case of dual display cards, that will allow a total of eight monitors to be powered by a single system. In most cases, a system like this will run desktop extensions with spreadsheets and charts on the different monitors but we thought this would be boring. So we set out to run two GeForce 7800GTs in SLI for gaming, complemented by a single NVidia Quadro FX1400 for concurrent CAD processing. That was really all we could squeeze into the slots without overheating and shorting out everything. Well, we tried a few other things, too…

Corsair’s Dominator memory modules
Tech Report :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
WE DON’T COVER MEMORY much here at TR—it’s largely a commodity product; performance doesn’t vary between modules running at the same speed and timings; and true overclocking potential is difficult to quantify with a limited sample size. However, when we spotted Corsair’s innovative new Dominator memory modules and cooler at Computex, we knew we had to get our hands on a set to test. At the time, the DIMMs were running at an effective 1224MHz with surprisingly reasonable 5-5-5-15 timings and what appeared to be relatively simple air cooling.

Cooling is the crux of Corsair’s new Dominator modules, and there’s more to the equation than forced airflow and a flashy clip-on heatsink. The actual DIMM design has been tweaked for more effective heat dissipation, allowing for higher speeds with tighter timings than we’ve seen from other DDR2 modules. Read on to see just how far we were able to push Corsair’s Dominators and what it takes to keep them cool.

ASUS P5W64WS Professional Motherboard
Bjorn 3d :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
A month passed and I was getting quite antsy and in the process reading everything I could about the experiences of others and the motherboard(s) they chose. To keep an already long story from getting too much longer lets just say I woke one day, had my wake up caffeine, switched on the computer to get some news and clicked on the link to one of the sites I use for research. There was a veritable plethora of information about a new workstation styled board from ASUS® that was churning out some amazing numbers, the P5WDG2 WS Professional; in just over a week I had one. Normally the story would end here but as with any other high-tech computer product ASUS shortly after this announced the birth of a very similar board with even newer and more exciting features, the P5W64 WS Professional. Well I was not going to spend another tidy sum on a new motherboard when the one I had was working just fine.

Freezone by Coolit
Deiver Heaven :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
What if you used the TEC process from a “peltier” type cooler in combination with a traditional water block! That way, you could cool below ambient temps without the condensation, while using recirculating fluid without the need for a large radiator and bulky coolant reservoir!

Antec Spot Cool Review
XS Reviews :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“Ever needed to bolster the cooling in your PC by means of some poorly mounted fan not designed for the purpose? Well, Antec feels your pain, and has created the Spot Cool which provides directional cooling anywhere in your PC.”

Revoltec Graphic Freezer Pro
Driver Heaven :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
A mere 22 euros for a VGA card cooler that supports almost every card currently available, while claiming to be silent and higher performing than almost all stock coolers?

OCZ GameXStream 850w ATX PSU
Overclock 3d :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
OCZ already impressed us a couple of months ago with their 700w GameXStream PSU. Will the 850w version be just as good? Let’s find out…

Thermaltake Jungle 512 Bifurcated Fin Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“Thermaltake’s Jungle 512 socket 775 heatsink looks like it packs a pretty heavy punch…. but does it really? It’s monsterous 92mm PWM fan draws upwards of 1.0Amp at full speed, and its red fan blades spin with enough force to take a big chunk out of careless fingers too. Below the big fan is a circular array of bifurcated aluminum fins, and at the Jungle 512’s heart a large copper slug; all fairly standard stuff for an Intel socket 775 heatsink. The Intel ‘Prescott FMB2’ compliant Thermaltake Jungle 512 heatsink is equipped with a 32x92x92mm 4-pin PWM fan that rotates at between 2300 and 3600RPM. When installed on a PWM fan compatible socket 775 motherboard, this finger chopping fan scales its speed to meet the immediate thermal demands of the processor, without creating too much unnecessary noise.”

Seventeam ST-420BKV 420 W Power Supply
Hardware Secrets :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“Even though power supplies from Seventeam aren’t sold in the USA retail market, they are very popular in several other countries, due to its low cost. In fact, it seems that Seventeam is the OEM manufacturer for some other brands – we discovered that the external power supply series from XG/MGE, Magnum, is in fact Seventeam Fanless series. ST-420BKV is a 420 W power supply without PFC. Let’s take an in-depth look on this power supply to check whether this unit is good or not and how it is compared to competing products.”

HIS X1650XT 256MB Video Card
3dgameman :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The HIS X1650XT 256MB Video Card is certainly not the fastest Video Card on the planet, but it does offer a lot of value. Since it is very affordable and supports the latest games, many price-conscious buyers will be interested. If you are not running at a high resolution and don’t have all the eye candy turned on, this video card might be for you. Watch the Video to find out more…”

Akasa AK-961 Socket 775 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“The Akasa AK-961 heatsink is designed for socket 775 Intel Pentium 4/D and Core 2 Duo processors. The AK-961 heatsink’s fan spins at speeds of 500-3400RPM, which is slightly more than the AK-960E can muster. Also, the fan on the AK-961 is internally illuminated with blue LEDs and the motor is suspended from the frame; an open fan frame style which yields quieter operation and better airflow at really low impeller speeds. Akasa’s AK-961 heatsink is made from a collection of very thin stacked aluminum fins with zippered interlocking tabs, three copper heatpipes, and a small block of copper at the base.”

Zerotherm VGA Cooler GX810 Review
Technic 3d :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“The Zerotherm VGA Cooler GX810 arrived Technic3D. More Cooling and Modding for ATI and NVIDIA Videocards? See you in the following Review.”

Zalman Fatal1ty FC-ZE1 Chassis Review
Virtual Hideout :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Zalman already has numerous other “Fatal1ty” branded cooling solutions, but a full blown chassis is by far their biggest endeavor. Can the worlds best gamer create the worlds best gaming case? Or will this next chapter in “Fatal1ty” branded products prove that you can’t be the best at everything?”

OCZ Evostream 600W PSU Review
R & B Mods :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
If you visit this site frequently, the name OCZ should be familiar by now. We’ve reviewed quite a few products from them in the past, everything from high performance RAM to CPU coolers to power supplies. Today we’ll be looking at OCZ’s latest in their line of power supplies, the Evostream 600W PSU. Will it meet our high expectations for an OCZ product or fall short? Let’s check it out.

Cooler Master Eclipse CPU Cooler
Think Computers :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
So many CPU coolers are the same in design. It is hard to create a good performing CPU cooler whose design sets itself apart from the rest. Well today we will be looking at the Cooler Master Eclipse CPU cooler and its design is something that I have never seen before. We will see if its design hinders its performance against other AM2 CPU coolers that we have previously tested. So let’s check it out!”

Noctua NH-U12F Cooler
Pro Clockers :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The Noctua NH-U12F is an awesome cooler when it comes to size and weight. Weighing in at 790g, the U12F differs from the older U12 in two areas, one is weight and the second is the U12F comes with Noctua’s new NF-12 120mm cooling fan. We will see how the Noctua monster stand up to the two baddest coolers we have tested here at Pro-Clockers.

Releasing the Beasts – Overclocking the GeForce 8800’s
Tweak Town :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The main thing we want to know today; can the 8800 GTS, which sits significantly cheaper, come in and match or even beat GTX performance at stock speeds? And if it does, how much further can the 8800 GTX go to make it worth your while to spend those extra hard earned dollars on it, as opposed to the GTS variant?

TechSpot’s Mid-Range PC Buying Guide
Tech Spot :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
Intel Core 2 Duo processors have become firmly established and prices are beginning to drop across the board. Not only that, but Kentsfield (quad-core) has made its appearance already and while it doesn’t offer much in terms of gaming performance, it also means that dual-core processors are here to stay. Microsoft is just about to release Windows Vista to the public, and what should be the last batch of DirectX 9 GPUs have been released by Nvidia and ATI. In addition, Nvidia has announced its GeForce 8 series which should start to fill store shelves eventually and drive the prices of DX9 cards even further now.

Crucial 10th Anniversary 2GB DDR2-667/PC2-5300 Kit
OC Inside :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The company Crucial should be well known by everyone who is interested in PC or Macintosh hardware and already acquired some memory modules. Crucial recently became 10 years old and they celebrated their 10th anniversary with special chocolate modules (yes, memory modules can can be tasty) and with special 10th Anniversary 1GB PC2-5300/DDR2-667 CL3 memory modules. PC2-5300 does not sound very fast, but sometimes the test results differs from the first impression …

Crucial 10th Anniversary 2GB DDR2-667/PC2-5300 Kit
OC Inside :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The company Crucial should be well known by everyone who is interested in PC or Macintosh hardware and already acquired some memory modules. Crucial recently became 10 years old and they celebrated their 10th anniversary with special chocolate modules (yes, memory modules can can be tasty) and with special 10th Anniversary 1GB PC2-5300/DDR2-667 CL3 memory modules. PC2-5300 does not sound very fast, but sometimes the test results differs from the first impression …

The First Intel Quad-Core Processors Posted!
Tech ARP :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
l has officially launched FIVE quad-core processors. Let’s take a look at these new processors and what lies in store for Intel in Q1, 2007. ”

Supercomputing 2006 Last Day Coverage
Techware Labs :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“The last day of SC06 is here and TechwareLabs completes its coverage with events and observations from the show. Is supercomputing upon us, or are these expensive toys without real world use?”

Santa’s New Server
PC Mech :: Monday, November 20, 2006
I was building a server for Santa’s Workshop Inc., to accommodate an upgrade for their Check it Twice software, when it occurred to me that this is a great year to be on his good list.

Don’t get after me for bringing up Santa this early–most stores I’ve been in have some hint that Christmas is close, and there’s a Christmas store nearby that, with the exception of a month in the Spring, is open year-round.

In order to test the server I had to run the Check it Twice app a few times. Naturally, I entered names of well known personalities, family members, close friends, and editors. The nice thing about this app is it doesn’t just stop at naughty or nice, it also outlines the gifts that will be given based on how nice (and naughty) someone is. You have to have sent an actual list for the program to work, and because everybody waits for the last minute there are very few lists to work with. So I created some of my own.

The Tweny Most Annoying Websites In The World
Futurelooks :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
…and somehow, five more cropped up, so they are included as honorable mentions. If you’ve ever wanted to SPAM your friends with a link to something that will drive them nuts for weeks, this is the place to sample up some annoyance.

Vantec NexStar 3 2.5″ Hard Drive Enclosure
PC Apex :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
“The total install should take less then 3 minutes. One drawback I did notice when installing the hard drive is that there is a lack of a buffer between the case and hard drive. If the case were ever dropped, the hard drive would take the full shock of the fall.”

ECS KN3-SLI2 Extreme AM2 Motherboard Review
Virtual Hideout :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
“The ECS KN3-SLI2 Extreme is a well rounded, good performing AM2 socket motherboard proving to be very stable. The features are plentiful with ample storage potential, 8-channel integrated HD audio, and SLI graphics capabilities. If you are on a budget and contemplating a motherboard to operate your dual graphics card system, give the KN3-SLI2 Extreme a look.”

ASUS 680i SLI Striker Extreme Motherboard Review
Motherboards.org :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
The ASUS Striker Extreme Motherboard has all of the features that you would want from a motherboard today. The nForce 680i chipset is designed for the extreme overclocker and the ability to run two graphics cards in SLI mode is always a big plus in my book. ASUS really went all out on the design of this board and it shows in the craftsmanship and performance of the board.

Supercomputing 2006 Continued Coverage
Techware Labs :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
“Seems that most of the big computer companies have decided that we live in an age of supercomputing. As with most other technologies the strive is to go smaller, faster, and more effecient. Thus each of the major vendors has on display their super high end computer capable of breaking computing barriers that were previously though of as decades away. The major question being asked at the conference by several vandors has been:

“What would you do with a Teraflop of computing power?”

ECS PN1-SLI2
t-break :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
There are two x16 PCI Express slots, two x1 and one x2 slots as well as two 32-bit PCI slots. There aren’t many add-on cards that can utilize the x1 slot so we would’ve preferred an additional PCI slot instead. ECS places an additional molex connector onboard recommending its usage an SLI. One thing we found a little strange was the amount of empty space on the backplate- ECS could’ve easily added the parallel port on the back.

VIA EPIA CN13000G Review
EPIA Center :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
“In general the EPIA CN is found on the low-end of the EPIA motherboard range and at first it may seem like a slimmed-down version of the EN. While the EPIA CN is indeed cheaper than its EPIA EN counterpart the board itself has been designed from the ground up as a unique product rather than just an EPIA EN with some missing parts.

So what exactly is the EPIA CN motherboard, how does it fit in with the rest of the VIA’s Mini-ITX lineup and how does it fare compared to other similarly priced solutions? We’ll try and explore all that on the following pages.” (…)

Thermaltake TMG ND2 VGA Cooler Review
PC Modding Malaysia :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
All in all, the Thermaltake TMG ND2 is a quite powerful cooler for your NVIDIA GeForce graphics card. Based on three copper heatpipes and a large copper base, users can expect top quality GPU coolers with the TMG ND2. While the design is not totally out of this world, Thermaltake really impressed us with the attention to detail. Although the installation was a snap, it was shy that it wasn’t compatible on certain GeForce cards such as the GeForce 7900GS. We also liked the idea of using 4-pin molex connector with the cooler, but some users might prefer to hook it up to the onboard fan header

Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 Case Review
Technic 3d :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
“Beautiful Design for User and Watercooling. The Gigabyte 3D Aurora 570 Case is the next pre-modded Case in the Technic3D Editorship. See you in the following Review which qualities the case presents.”

Top Five Intel 965 Motherboard Buyers Guide
Maxit Mag :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
” So you bought yourself one of the new Core 2 Duo processors, and you were really excited and and… you plugged it into your three-year-old motherboard with a 915 chipset and BSOD. Don’t panic. All you need to do is go out and spend some more money on a new motherboard. Doh! The Intel P965 chipset was designed specifically for Core 2 duo users on a budget – 975 is still pretty expensive. So if you’re looking for a motherboard with an Intel 965 chipset with bags of performance, read on.”

Tyan Typhoon PSC Preview Video
Techware Labs :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
“TechwareLabs has a first look and video interview with Tyan of their newly announced Typhoon PSC 600 Series supercomputer. We bring you a video and some specs of this supercomputer aimed at everyone.”

Zalman CNPS9500 AT Intel Core 2 Duo Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
“Zalman’s CNPS9500 AT is identical in materials and size to previous CNPS9500-series heatsinks, but this heatsink is offered with a 4-pin PWM fan for Intel-based computer systems, rather than the standard 3-pin fan power cable. The heatsink is voluminous in size and weighs about 530grams. Like all heatsinks produced by Zalman, it’s intended to operate quietly and efficiently without much noise. Because the Zalman CNPS9500 AT heatsink uses a Pulse Width Modulation fan, no FanMate2 fan speed controller is included with it – it’s just not needed.”

Socket AM2 Motherboard 3-way Roundup
Driver Heaven :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
“The three motherboards we have for review today are the Abit KN9-SLI, the Asus M2N-E and the MSI K9N Platinum. All of the three are in the 90-120 Euro price range. The Asus and MSI motherboards are using the nForce 570 Ultra chipset, while the Abit is the only one which supports SLI and is using the nForce 570 SLI chipset.”

OCZ readies 1 KiloWatt PSU
techPowerUp! :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
The first is this 1 Kilowatt Power Supply, called ProXStream. It is engineered by the same team that built the award-winning GameXStream and EvoStream PSUs. What makes this unit special is that it is sized like a regular ATX PSU. All other manufacturers that have 1 kW PSUs need to use a longer case which may not fit all computer cases. The ProXStream will have four independent 12V rails with 20 Amps each. The PSU will be available next month.

Coolermaster Mystique RC-631-KWN1-GP Review
Fast Silicon :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
‘Coolermaster is a well respected name in the enthusiast community. Offering a wide range of cases, power supplies and cooling solutions, they run the gamut from the moderate enthusiast, to the extremist. Today we present a video review of Coolermaster’s Mystique Midtower ATX case. We think you’ll be impressed.’

Thermaltake Silent Water II
techPowerUp! :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
Some people would love to get into a water cooled setup, but aren’t quite sure where to start, or don’t really want to get into anything too complex. Thermaltake has a solution for this – The Silent Water II. Coming pre-built and ready to go, it’s just a matter of mounting this cooler to reap the benefits of watercooling without the hassle of setting up pipes, leak testing, and the other aspects of building a water cooled system.

MSI K9N Diamond Motherboard
Viper Lair :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
“If given a choice, we think MSI’s K9N SLI Platinum provides slightly better bang for the buck for gamers on a budget. The performance gap between that board and the MSI K9N Diamond really isn’t that large at all. That said, those looking for a premium 590 SLI based board will be well served by the K9N Diamond. It has the same features as most 590 SLI boards in its price range but also offers a premium sound solution. If you do have a high-end CPU and a pair of $500+ video cards, the MSI K9N Diamond really is the only way to go.”

Techgage Holiday Hardware Buyers Guide
Techgage :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
The holiday season can be a rough time if you are not sure what you buy, or ask for. We have taken out the hassle and delivered a comprehensive guide of our top picks that covers every type of component inside your computer.

Antec TruePower Trio 550w Power Supply Review
Club Overclocker :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
The power supply of a computer is a very enigmatic thing. Power goes in and power comes out, and that is all most people expect it to do. Most people don’t understand how they work, they just expect that they do work. And, worst yet, because of their enigmatic nature, most people underestimate the importance of a quality unit.

Overclockers, on the other hand, appreciate what a good quality power supply can do for a system. As you reach for the limits of an overclock, rock-solid voltage is a requirement for system stability. Cheap power supplies are known for overvolting, undervolting, poor load control, and worst of all, destroying your equipment when they break down and die.

So, the question for the day is, is the Antec TruePower Trio 550W worthy of powering your massively overclocked PC? Read on to find out!

Super Talent 2GB DDR2-800 (PC2-6400) Dual Channel Memory Kit Review
Club Overclocker :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
Even though Super Talent has been a memory manufacturer for a long time, this is the first time I’ve ever given their PC memory a close examination. Super Talent calls this a” memory kit for overclockers.” Isn’t every kit of DDR2-800 for overclockers? Most enthusiast have already answered that one – not exactly. Some memory can be a very BIG hassle to get meshed with a new PC build. Some memory has such high latency that the advantage of running a higher clockspeed is quickly overshadowed. So what makes this kit so special? How about 4-4-3-8 timings for starters! How about the fact that it can hold those timings WELL above its rated 400Mhz bus speed! How much higher? The answer is right here on Club Overclocker!

Cooler Master Aquagate Viva at Overclockers Online
Overclockers Online :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
The Aquagate Viva is an interesting piece of hardware. The ability to cool a processor or a video card is very unique for an all-in-one water cooling setup of this nature. The built in waterblock/water pump really cuts down on the footprint inside of a case and the small radiator that can mount in any number of positions really makes the Aquagate Viva a versatile product.

Piracy Figures Out of Proportion?
PC Mech :: Sunday, November 19, 2006
Some numbers might prove that piracy hasn’t been as bad for the Recording Industry as the RIAA would have you think. While it’s not up to me to dispute the legality of pirating music or other copyrighted materials, I feel obligated to take a look at some numbers just to be sure that the initial outbreak of music piracy early in this millennium wasn’t such a bad thing in the long run. While over the past half-decade or so music sales in the U.S. have raised and declined, the change over the years has been relatively insignificant. Also many sound theories revolve around exposure, things like file sharing have exposed masses to music they may not have otherwise have heard and in the hay-day of Napster the RIAA’s sales went up, rather than down. It should also be noted that the recording industry is not only selling on a physical medium any longer, due, in part, to piracy methods, but in a digital medium in which music is sold in far greater amounts than previously feasible. Despite this trend of exposure and increase in digital sales, the likes of the RIAA and other intellectual property owners, claiming a loss as a result of piracy fail to report how they figured out how much they’ve actually lost.

OCZ Roadster 1Gb USB 2.0 Micro Flash Drive Review
Tweaknews :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“OCZ’s second introduction of a tiny micro flash drive is indeed another winner. It is small, it is robust, and best of all, it is incredibly handy. Carrying your car keys around is twice as hard as carrying this six gram monster around. That is right, it weighs six grams which is lighter than a soda cracker..”

Tom Bihn Super Ego Laptop Bag
Think Computers :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“Purchasing a new laptop is quite an investment these days, and what better way to protect that investment than a high quality laptop bag. Traveling with a laptop can be quite a pain, especially if you are using cheap bag that offers little protection. Well, Tom Bihn will alleviate most of these problems with the Super Ego laptop bag. For those unfamiliar with Tom Bihn, they create some of the best designed and visually appealing bags on the market. The folks over at Tom Bihn were kind enough to send not only the Super Ego bag, but a few extras worth checking out-the Brain Cell, Seat buckle strip, and keyboard cover.”

Antec Solo Chassis
Driver Heaven :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
In the past we have reviewed several computer enclosures from Antec, and so far we haven’t been disappointed with any of them. Today we are having a look at one of their latest products in the “Lifestyle” series; the Antec SOLO.

2006 Holiday Gift Guide
Windows A to Z :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“The time has come to start thinking about holidy gifts and Windows A to Z’s 2006 Holiday Gift Guide is here to help. They have searched the Internet far and wide and have come up with the best technology gifts for this upcoming holiday season. Get a jump start on finding the perfect gift for your special someone by checking out the gift guide today.”

NZXT Adamas Aluminum Chassis Review
OCIA :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“Enter the NZXT Adamas Premium Aluminum Chassis: NZXT’s first attempt at an all-aluminum case. NZXT was established in 2004 with their sights set on the gaming enthusiast market. Their first offering, the Guardian midtower case, had a revolutionary look (many said it resembled a Transformer) and was an instant hit. NZXT has expanded on their Crafted Series to include four other cases and more recently introduced the Classic Series which consists of the Trinity, Lexa and the newest addition, the Adamas.”

Stock Intel Pentium D Radial Curved non-Bifurcated Fin Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“In this review, Frostytech is going to evaluate the stock heatsink model that accompanies most Intel Pentium D processors. It closely resembles just about every other Intel RCBFH heatsink, except that single fins are used in place of bifurcated ones. Intel’s own Radial Curved non-Bifurcated Fin Heatsink (RCBFH) reference solution is a fairly well designed cooler; it uses a 4-pin PWM 84mm diameter Nidec F09A-12B4S1 fan that scales in speed to meet thermal demands, it conforms to ATX motherboard keep-out and high recommendations, it relies on an efficient and light weight mix of copper over the integrated heatspreader and high aspect ratio extruded radially curved aluminum fins, and it installs or removes from a motherboard in a snap without the use of tools.”

Gigabyte GA-8I945GZME-RH 945GZ Express Motherboard Review
PC Stats :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“On the short list of the GA-8I945GZME-RH’s hardware goodies we find an integrated Marvel 8001 Gigabit network card, Intel Azalia High Definition 7.1-channel audio codec (the necessary surround sound cable to take advantage of all 7.1 channels is an optional extra however), four USB2.0 jacks, four 3GB/s SATA connections and of course the onboard Analog Intel Graphics Media Accelerator 950 (GMA950) videocard at the rear I/O. Compact microATX boards don’t traditionally come with a lot of peripheral expansion slots, but the Gigabyte GA-8I945GZME-RH is pretty good on this front. On it we find a triplet of 32-bit PCI slots and a physical PCI Express x16 slot that accomodates a stand alone videocard.”

Cooler Master Aquagate Viva
3dgameman :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“If you are in the market for an uncomplicated, affordable water cooling kit that fits both a CPU or a Video Card, then check out the Cooler Master Aquagate Viva. Keep in mind that a product like this will not be able to compete with a more robust water cooling kit. But, when you consider the features, performance and affordability, it’s a great product. Watch the Video to find out more…”

A first look at Intel’s quad-core Xeon processors
The Tech Report :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
INTEL CHOSE TO DEBUT its first quad-core processor on the desktop with the Core 2 Extreme QX6700, but quad-core’s most immediate potential lies with Xeon processors built for servers and workstations. There is no shortage of multithreaded code in the enterprise world, and plenty of applications—running either natively or on virtual machines—are ready to take advantage of additional processor cores. More is at stake in the enterprise world, too. There, higher performance does more than smooth out in-game frame rates and lower media encoding times; it can increase productivity, yield a competitive a competitive advantage, or reduce the time it takes to answer important scientific questions.

As it has on the desktop, power consumption has also become an increasingly important factor for servers and workstations. In the enterprise world, the cost of a processor is more than the price tag of an individual chip; it also takes into consideration the air conditioning needed to cool it, the electricity consumed by running it, and the real estate cost associated with the rack where it will live.

The Core microarchitecture is particularly power-efficient, and Intel’s manufacturing prowess has quickly spun it into a quad-core design for the Xeon 5300 series. These new Xeon chips fit into the same power envelope as their dual-core predecessors, but pack twice the processor cores. Read on to see what makes the Xeon 5300 series tick and how new chipsets and motherboards will take advantage of its potential.

ECS GeForce6100SM-M AM2 Motherboard Review
Virtual Hideout :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
The small-form factor will keep the foot print small in an entertainment setup. As it is with the onboard graphics, a decent CPU, and 2GB RAM, the GeForce6100SM-M performed flawlessly. Video playback was great, and WinXP ran without any issues from the motherboard.”

VIZO pargon & LUXON Drive Enclosures
Bjorn 3d :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
Not more then one year ago the external hard drive market was comprised of big square one-color solutions, and the industry was satisfied with producing brick-heavy enclosures. For some this was acceptable since the drive enclosure was hidden from sight. But for many users which were tasked with carrying such a device or displaying one on their desk, the chore was unbearable. This absence of creativity has finally spurred the much needed innovation from manufacturers, and as they learn from the past and listen to customer feedback they are able to deliver a more exciting product. With 3.5′ hard drives being quickly matched by their 2.5′ sibling, manufacturers have taken notice by designing enclosure solutions for both.

Intel Xeon 5300 Clovertown
Phoronix :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
On November 2, 2006 the embargo for Intel’s Core 2 Extreme Quad QX6700 was lifted which resulted in a slurry of reviews covering this flagship desktop processor. However, this morning happens to be an important date for Supercomputing 2006 and it serves as yet another milestone for Intel Corporation. This morning Intel will be introducing the Xeon 5300 series, or perhaps better known by its codename of Clovertown. At Phoronix we have had these processors in-house for over a week now and today are able to share our thoughts on these quad-core server/workstation processors as we test them under GNU/Linux.”

MSI K9N Diamond Motherboard Review
Hardware Secrets :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“K9N Diamond (a.k.a. MS-7226) is the most high-end socket AM2 motherboard from Gigabyte based on nVidia nForce 590 SLI chipset and targeted to Athlon 64 CPUs supporting DDR2 memory. Its main feature is its on-board audio, controlled by a Creative Sound Blaster Audigy SE chip – feature not available on competing products. It also features a copper cooler on its north bridge chip and a copper heatsink on its south bridge chip, and they are connected thru a copper heat-pipe. Let’s see how this motherboard from MSI performs.”

Corsair HX 620W Power Supply Review
Madshrimps :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“Corsair has ventured even further away from their home range landing in the middle of Power Supply territory. Their initial offering´s are well constructed and feature one of the best modular cable systems seen to date. Today we have the opportunity to test their CMPSU-620HX modular PSU”

Supercomputing Show 2006 Coverage
Techware Labs :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“The Supercomputing show in Tampa Florida is here and so is TechwareLabs. We are bringing you full coverage of the event. The computing power in the exhibit hall is enough to probably host 1 million instances of Battlefield 2142 online at the same time.”

Thermaltake Big Typhoon VX Cooler Review
Legit Reviews :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“The Big Typhoon VX is an update of the ever popular original Big Typhoon and adds a new mounting system and a variable speed fan. The Thermaltake Big Typhoon VX supports processors that have a TDP of 130W or less, so it will be able to handle the recently launched Intel Core 2 Extreme Processor QX6700 and Core 2 Duo processors with no problem.”

Zippy Emacs G1 PSL-6850 850w PSU
Overclock 3d :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
After being blown away by Zippy Emacs’ 600w single railed bad boy, it was time to bite the bullet and put the 850w model on our test bed. How did it perform? Read on to find out…

EVGA nForce 680i-SLI Motherboard Review
Motherboards.org :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
As far as the 680i goes, I liked what we saw here in the lab, as stability was excellent, and its design is quite nice as well. For those wanting an entirely NVIDIA based motherboard and VGA combination for the Intel platform, this is the hottest game in town at the moment. NVIDIA has once again made a winner chipset, that has translated into a great motherboard in the form of the 680i!

TTIC NPH Big Cooler Review
PC Modding Malaysia :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“It has been awhile since we last reviewed CPU coolers and we thought it would be a great time to feature some nice heatpipe coolers from TTIC (aka nPowertek). Based on their legendary heat column technology, TTIC is back with some nice new coolers to the market. In this review, we had the opportunity to check out their latest lineup of CPU coolers. With support for AMD socket AM2 right to Intel Core 2 Duo socket LGA775, their NPH Big is the biggest heat column cooler from the company. On the other hand, we also checked out their budget heat column coolers; NPH 775-8 and NPH AM2”

Thermalfly I75DUH Bifurcated Fin Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“The second Thermalfly heatsink to cross the FrostyTech test bench this week is the new I75DUH cooler – a socket 775 model with straight, ultra thin bifurcated fins. This is a low-profile cooler for Intel Pentium D and Core 2 Duo processors, and given the pedigree of this thermal design, it should do pretty well by all accounts. Of course we’ll have to wait for the thermal results before drawing any final conclusions… Thermalfly’s I75DUH heatsink is equipped with a 96mm fan that rotates as lackadaisically as 500RPM, yet it can scale up to 2300RPM when the needs demand. The 4-pin PWM is controlled by the BIOS on compatible motherboards, and when it’s installed on motherboards that don’t support PWM CPU fans, it rotates away at full speed. At full tilt, the heatsink produces a little more than 48 dBA. ”

Do you know your lsass.exe from your isass.exe?
Futurelooks :: Thursday, November 16, 2006
Well… Do you? Hell, I didn’t, and it was sitting on my PC the whole time. They look so similar, you tend to look at them, thinking they are the same thing. However, ones very bad, and one’s essential for operation of your Windows based system. Find out how we figure it out right here.

Jeantech Storm 700w Review
XS Reviews :: Thursday, November 16, 2006
“Jeantech are a fairly unknown company when it comes to PC components. But today I have the priveledge of reviewing their flagship PSU; the Storm 700w. Hopefully my first look at their products won’t disappoint….”

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700
t-break :: Thursday, November 16, 2006
The QX6700 is basically two E6700 CPUs stuck together- the same process that Intel did with their initial dual core Pentium D CPUs. To refresh your memory, the E6700 is a dual core 2.66GHz Core 2 CPU from Intel with 4MB L2 Cache. So the QX6700 becomes 2 x 2.66GHz dual core CPUs with 2 x 4MB L2 Cache

Cooler Master iTower 930 ATX Case Review
Big Bruin :: Thursday, November 16, 2006
The Cooler Master iTower 930 ATX Case is a definite winner. It provides attractive styling, good system cooling, extremely quiet operation, mostly tool-less installation features, and high quality construction. These are all things you expect from a Cooler Master case, and they are what makes them one of the premier brands in the business. They then take things to a new level by adding the four extremely useful hot swap SATA drive bays. Cooler Master didn’t cut any corners with the integration of the drive bays, as they are easy to use, do not impact drive performance, keep drives cool, and just look really sharp in the process.

OCZ EvoStream 600W Review
Techgage :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
OCZ recently added a new model to their PSU line-up, the 600W EvoStream. It’s a completely modular unit that offers great reliability and looks great while doing so.

Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2GB DDR2 PC2-6400 Memory Review
Virtual Hideout :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
“This Crucial Ballistix Tracer is without a doubt the best looking memory I’ve ever seen. It’s also some of the best performing memory I’ve ever used. During testing and overclocking, I had not a single issue with this memory. It runs great at stock and overclocked speeds. And it does all this while looking fantastic.”

Albatron KI51PV-754
Overclockers Online :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
If good things come in small packages, this board has it all. For anyone looking to build a powerful car-computer this is a great alternative to the usual VIA solutions. The overall system performance is respectable given the system configuration. The dual Ethernet solution could easily turn this into a mini-server or custom router. The GeForce 6150 makes for a very powerful backbone allowing great video playback and dual display output with TV-out.

Asrock AM2NF6G-VSTA Motherboard
Pro-Clockers :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Asrock realize that not everyone wants to spend $250 on the latest motherboard, but still want and expect the same kind of quality and dependability. So, a board like the AM2NF6-VSTA is right up most people’s alley. Providing decent graphics, quality sound and plenty of room for upgrading, this board is an awesome value.

Scythe Infinity CPU Cooler Review
Madshrimps :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
“Scythe has been at the top of their game the last several years, releasing excellent high end CPU heatsink which offer amazing performance/noise ratios. Today we test their latest product which is set to overshadow all their previous offerings, 5 heat pipes and 120mm fan support make can make this Tower designed HSF the next best thing. Let´s see if that is true…”

Corsair DOMINATOR Modules Get 18K Gold Plated
Legit Reviews :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Celebrating the company’s 1 millionth shipment in 2006, Corsair is currently offering 5 custom 2GB DDR2-8888 gold-plated DOMINATOR memory kits as contest prizes. These modules are rated to operate at 1111MHz at impressive timings of 4-4-4-12 2T. The PC2-8888 modules also feature the best IC’s that Corsair can find, so computer memory doesn’t get any better than the TWIN2X2048-8888C4DF kit. What the press release fails to mention is that these gold plated modules are actually plated with real gold. After getting all the details from Corsair it was found that these modules are 18 Karat gold plated!

Antec Take 3 case
Modders Inc :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
When most people think about computer cases they think of the standard enclosures that you would see on most peoples desks at home. Today we are going to take a look at one of Antec’s rack mount enclosures called the Take 3. Like with the standard PC case, the rack mounted cases are categorized by size using a U rating to signify its size.

Abit AW9D i975X
Phornix :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
“Abit’s AW8 and AW8-MAX were exceptionally well-designed i955X motherboards, and Abit’s latest attempt at a high-performance Intel LGA-775 solution is the AW9D series. We have the Abit AW9D on our test bench, which is backed by Intel’s flagship 975X processor and boasts an arsenal of innovative features. But how does this product perform under GNU/Linux? We have all of the performance metrics to share today.”

Vizo Orbiter HDD Cooler
Dragonsteel Mods :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
A little bit ago I had my hard drive catch fire, and I mean literally catch fire. We would have to assume this was from being a bit too hot, or some other problem related to the manufacture of the drive itself. It seems that as most technology advances the heat emitted from these devices grows as well. Heat is the bane of PC components, and probably the most important part of any system is the hard drive, keeping that cool should be one of the top priorities. It seems it isn’t though, manufacturers really do nothing to help dissipate heat from hard drives, the basic design hasn’t changed much, except to just get smaller. So it is up to the end user to keep their hard drive cool with a well ventilated case or adding a product like the Vizo Orbiter HDD Cooler that I have for review today. It looks cool, works well and as a bonus is almost silent.

Icydock MB559 External Removable Hard Drive Enclosure
Think Computers :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
“With so many companies making external hard drive enclosures it is hard to separate yourself from the rest and make a unique product. Well Icydock specializes in hard drive enclosures and they have really impressed me with their latest offering the MB559 external removable hard drive enclosure. It is one of the best external hard drive enclosures that I have seen. With all of its features it really sets itself apart from all the other enclosures out there so let’s take a look.”

Windows Vista RTM leaked and soon cracked
Nordic Hardware :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Earlier we’ve seen reports about how early builds of Windows Vista have found their way onto the filesharing networks and now an anonymous source confirms that the final RTM version has as well.

Nvidia nForce 600i Preview
Technic 3d :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
The new Nvidia nForce 600i Preview on Technic3D. What is new?.”

VIZO Voyager,Orbiter & Propeller Cooling Fans Review
Virtual Hideout :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
“We all know that cooler components will assist these devices in performing at their optimal design specs, and even last longer. These three fan designs from VIZO will definitely aid in the cooling of the hard drives and video card in the computer system. They also do this job quietly, which is an added bonus.”

Cooler Master NotePal P1
3dgameman :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
“Cooler Master has never disappointed in the quality and uniqueness of their products. The Cooler Master NotePal P1 does not differ from this winning combination. There dedication to the manufacturing process of their products is only matched by only a handful of other manufacturers out there. The NotePal is a sturdy and attractive cooler for any laptop and would nicely compliment any silver themed laptop.”

Enermax Galaxy EGA850EWL Quad Ultra 850W PSU
PC Apex :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
“The first thing you’ll notice is two transformers flanked by two beefy aluminum heatsinks. This is a radical approach from the single transformer found in most units. Not only does it provide a massive increase in power, but since the +12V line on the motherboard is separate from the +12V line used for peripherals, this provides cleaner power for your CPU(s).”

PSU for 8800GTX SLI and Quad SLI
Technic 3d :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
“More Power for the Next Generation Graphic Cards? See you on the following Review with 4 High-End PSUs from Technic3D.”

Optical Drives and Firmware Flashing
Technibble :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
“In this article we’ll examine the workings of optical drive firmware, the reasons to upgrade it and the general procedure how to do it, because like your motherboard BIOS, there are some advantages to having a flashed optical drive.”

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 750W Power Supply Review
Madshrimps :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
“PC Power & Cooling is redesigning their product line to meet the voracious DC-current requirements of the next generations of graphic silicon. With video cards reaching 28cm in length and their power requirement in direct proportion things are bound to “heat up”. The fleet of multi-rail power supplies out there are misleading the public into believing more Rails = more power when the opposite is often true. Today we peer into the PC Power & Cooling´s Silencer series via the Silencer 750 EPS12V for an interesting alternative to multi-rail anemia.”

Vantec eSATA Products Roundup
Techgage :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Are you looking to add eSATA or S-ATA storage to your PC, but your motherboards lacking a few connections? We are taking a look at a few Vantec products that take care of all your S-ATA needs.

Vizo Windstorm 80mm Fan
Dragonsteel Mods :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
Today for review I have a case fan that moves a whole heck of a lot of air, this thing will keep even the hottest case cool that is if you don’t care to much about the noise level of your case. For review today I have the Windstorm 80mm Fan from our friends at Vizo. The Windstorm pushes an amazing 81.5CFM, but puts out over 50 decibels of noise, if you can stand the noise this fan will keep your case, CPU or any component in your system nice and cool with lots of fresh air. The Windstorm could be a great asset for overclockers and enthusiasts who wish to really push their system. I even decided to get creative and throw a couple videos in, this fan can easily push itself across my table. Read on to check it out..

Icemat Siberia In:Ear Headset Give Away
Big Bruin :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Icemat and Big Bruin are teaming up to bring you a new give away. Up for grabs are two sets of the very cool Icemat Siberia In:Ear Headset. Contest will end on November 17, 2006, 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time, enter now!

Coolermaster Hyper TX Review
XS Reviews :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“Coolermaster’s new range of heatsinks seem to be more modern pieces of art, rather than the standard block of metal most people stick on their trusty CPU. Today I have the Hyper TX which is one of the latest of Coolermasters offerings.”

NZXT ADAMAS Premium Aluminum Mid-Tower PC Case Review
Futurelooks :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Weighing in at…a lot…it’s not going to win any lightweight aluminum case prizes. However, if you’re looking for a case that is able to stand up to over 300 lbs of pressure, this is one of few that can step up. Is the NZXT ADAMAS more than just a heavy duty case?

Should You Jump on the Hosted Applications Bandwagon?
PC Mech :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Have you seen that television commercial? The one in which hundreds of bankers in suits jostle at your doorstep for the privilege of servicing your mortgage? It could very well be used for the hosted applications and services. Not long ago, the software industry treated small businesses like step-children. Business software was basically made for the big boys. It was usually too expensive for small businesses, and offered features that were too complex for their needs. Now, all of a sudden, software makers are vying to patronize small businesses by offering them all kinds of hosted applications and services — FREE. That’s right. Free software AND free service. And they are trying to trump one another by offering more features or more free stuff than others. Technology wise, these are good times for little guys.

ABIT nForce 680i SLI mobo on show
TweakTown :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“Today ABIT showed us their upcoming IN9 32X-MAX motherboard. It’s the motherboard which ABIT is most excited about and should prove a good selling product for them – especially if we see typical ABIT overclocking prowess. Talking about overclocking during our visit, ABIT mentioned that the board should be able to do around 650MHz FSB (an amazing 2600MHz bus speed) but with extra work in the cooling department, you may see bus speeds around 2800MHz. Keep in mind that none of this is proven yet and only time will tell as ABIT spends the next couple months fine tuning their BIOS for the release of the board sometime in Q1 next year.”

ASUS P5N32-SLI Premium/WiFi-AP – Old new C19 examined
Tweak Town :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“In early tests from the OEM’s, this chipset performed less than stellar in the overclocking department but it was too late for companies to pull out of, as their production lines were already making boards based on this chipset. While they have been made, we won’t see them pushed like the nForce 600 series. For companies like ASUS who will create their own nForce 680i motherboard design which takes much more time than purely using the nVidia reference design, it is a good stop gap for them while the newer motherboard is being prepared. That is the exact reason why we are even looking at this motherboard here today.”

Ultra Fan Commander
Modders Inc :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
The Fan Commander boast of the ability to control and monitor 7 fans, 3 temperature probes, HDD indication all while telling you the day and time. With a Stylish well lit blue LCD screen with Chrome accents on a removable Black or Silver brushed aluminum faceplate you might have just found the controller that fits the bill.

Dream Machine: Kentsfield + 8800GTX SLI + 680i SLI
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“Using the NVIDIA Forceware 96.97 drivers on the pair of XFX GeForce 8800 GTX’s was an awesome experience and I can’t wait for improved drivers come out to improve performance even more. The test system would run the opening scene from the first game test in 3DMark06 at over 112FPS, which is something you got to see to believe! When it came to power consumption with out system overclocked and running gaming benchmarks we saw the system peak above 600W just once, so the 750W power supply requirement is no joke. ”

ATI X1900 All-in-Wonder November Giveaway
ASE Labs :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
” Want to win a great video card? Post in this thread for a chance to win an ATI X1900 All-in-Wonder PCI Express video card and some other nifty gadgets. Please read the contest rules in the thread for full details. ASE has contests every month so be sure to enter! ”

Apevia Iceberg 680w Power Supply Review
OCIA :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“With nearly a 700W rating this PSU looks ready to tackle the toughest of power requirements, and has some stunning good looks to match. There are also some pretty useful features you don’t find on many other manufacturers power supplies, namely switchable illumination and see-through bottom, as well as a host of other handy gadgetry to keep your computer power needs well fed and easy to manage.”

World-Exclusive: Thermaltake TMG AT2
techPowerUp :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
The Thermaltake TMG AT2 is a cooler for ATI’s Radeon X1800, X1900 and X1950 Series. It uses a combination of copper and aluminum to optimize the cooling. We compared the cooler to the Arctic Cooling Accelero X2 and the Zalman FC-ZV9 Fatal1ty. The temperature results were among the best of the tested coolers. Not only performance is great, but the installation is also very easy to perform, in just a couple of minutes.

Vantec IceberQ 6 VGA Cooling Kit Review
Virtual Hideout :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“The IceberQ 6 runs cool and very quiet, performing very well across the test bench. Its design and construction is a big step above default video card heat sinks. This is a very attractive alternative that looks great and transforms your video card into something above the norm.”

Foxconn 975X7AB Motherboard
Viper Lair :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
” Foxconn has always made a quality motherboard; hell, I have a few that are acting as servers right now they are that stable. The only knock I could ever give them in a review was their inability to overclock; apparently that cloud is thinning more than ever before. They are still not up to par with the likes of DFI, MSI and Asus when it comes to BIOS adjustments and extreme levels of overclocking, the distance to catch up is much less then just a few months ago. ”

Ultra X-Finity 500W APFC at Overclockers Online
Overclockers Online :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
I think we can safely conclude that this is an excellent power supply. But, performance isn’t the only factor that adds up to a power supply, it is an overall balance as well. Today, there are countless high quality power supplies within the 500W range so why choose the Ultra X-Finity 500W APFC power supply? Well the Ultra X-Finity 500W APFC power supply excels in not only performance, but aesthetics and functionality.

Tagan Turbo Jet 1100W Power Supply Review
Bigbruin.com :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
With 1,100W of power, and 20A to each of the four 12V rails, you can be sure that you will have plenty of power for a long time. The Tagan Turbo Jet 1100W TG1100-U95 power supply has everything you can ask for… long cables, a sufficient number of connectors, stable power, and four PCI-E connectors.

Ultra Defender & Grid Cases
3dgameman :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“Both the Defender and Grid cases offer tremendous value. The Defender case has lots of features, but is really intended for the budget market. It only comes with a 350W or 400W Power Supply option and one 120mm fan which is rather small. On the other hand, the Grid case has a 700W power supply option, comes with two 120mm fans, is larger, and more stylish. Watch the Video to find out more…”

Are I.T. Workers Blue Collar?
The TechZone :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“Are I.T. Workers Blue Collar?” Interesting question. I was recently asked this by some executives who were concerned with improving the productivity of their I.T. departments. I asked them to explain why they thought this way. They contended their I.T. people (e.g., analysts and programmers) exhibit a lot of blue collar characteristics, e.g., repetition in types of work performed, they do not dress or act like professionals, and regularly punch in and out of work with little interest in going above and beyond the call of duty.

Saitek Eclipse II Unobtainable Edition Gamers Keyboard
Futurelooks :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Ever see something that you want, but can’t have it? Like seriously, you’ve got a wad of cash, but you just can’t have it? Well, this Saitek Eclipse II Gamers Keyboard is one of them! There’s only 100 of these Special Editions in existence, and guess what? You’re not getting one!

be quiet! Straight Power BQT E5-550W
3d Fusion :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006

abit AN9 32X
techFEAR :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
The abit AN9 32X shares similarities with the higher-end Fatal1ty revision. techFEAR evaluates what is considered a budget version of the Fatal1ty. Does the AN9 32X have a better price to performance ratio?”

SilverStone Temjin TJ08 Review
XS Reviews :: Monday, November 13, 2006
“Silverstone are no strangers to case designing, with over 30 different cases catering for everyones needs, they definitely should have learnt every trick in the book to make their cases the best.”

Thermaltake Mozart TX Cube Tower Case
3dgameman :: Monday, November 13, 2006
“The Thermaltake Mozart TX Cube Tower Case is very big on features. They have done a fantastic job on this product, from the inside out! There’s no mistaking this product because of its size. It’s one of the largest consumer cases on the planet. Being a monster though means you can fit a lot of computer gear inside and that’s what it’s all about! There are plenty of drive bays, lots of fans, and it even accepts two motherboards. This case has hardcore entertainment box written all over it! Watch the Video to find out more…”

Akasa integral P2 LAN 3.5″
techPowerUp! :: Monday, November 13, 2006
The Akasa Integral P2 LAN is just one of many hard drive enclosures from Akasa. It looks quite sleek and solid, holds the hard drive well and comes with everything needed. Setting up the drive may not be as easy as other variants, but the software is bug free and easy to use. You can even use up to eight of these units to build a RAID setup.

Antec Nine Hundred Ultimate Gamer Case Review
Virtual Hideout :: Monday, November 13, 2006
Now, I’m sure everyone is curious about how loud all of these fans can be. Well, in a word: LOUD! Of course, that is with everything turned on high speed. With everything on low speed, the sound level was very acceptable.”

Core 2 Extreme QX6700
Bytesector :: Monday, November 13, 2006
Intel has introduced the consumer markets first quad-core processor. That’s right; four cores that will handle four simultaneous threads. What does that mean for consumers? It means that power users who are photo and video editors, modeling specialists and animators will be in heaven as many applications in those industries will exploit the full potential of having four cores. For casual users and gamers alike, there will be almost no difference between a single, dual or quad-core processor.

OCZ EvoStream 600W Modular PSU Review
PC Modding Malaysia :: Monday, November 13, 2006
The EvoStream 600W is OCZ’s latest modular PSU and it is surely one power packed unit. The overall presentation was good as we really liked the retail packaging and the attention to detail. The power supply was well protected and the cables were packed inside a separate box inside the package. OCZ has a good customer reputation and you get most of it with the EvoStream 600W as it comes with 36 months exclusive PowerSwap warranty. With a price tag of $195 / RM722, the EvoStream 600W is quite expensive for a 600W power supply but you can rest assured that it will last you down the road, considering that it comes with 3 years warranty.”

Thermalfly F1-IACSHA Heatsink Reviewed
Frosty Tech :: Monday, November 13, 2006
“Right now it’s time to get back on track as we evaluate the Thermalfly F1-IACSHA, a large fully copper heatsink which combines a 63mm diameter squirrel cage fan and a unique L-shaped copper cooling fin array. This heatsink has a couple attributes we’ve never seen before in a desktop cooler. The Thermalfly F1-IACSHA is equipped with a four-pin Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) squirrel cage fan that goes one step further than BIOS determined fan speed control. At the base of the F1-IACSHA heatsink is its very own thermistor temperature sensor, taped to the top of the copper processor block with a small aluminum sticker. The thermistor provides accurate temperature readings to the fan, and this determines how quickly it spins at any given moment.”

OCZ GameXstream 700 W Power Supply
Hardware Secrets :: Monday, November 13, 2006
“GameXstream 700 W (also known as OCZGXS700) is a high-end power supply belonging to OCZ’s latest series, GameXstream. This model features a big 120-mm fan and is EPS12V-compatible, being targeted to high-end SLI and CrossFire systems. Let’s take an in-depth look on this power supply. ”

Nvidia’s nForce 680i SLI chipset
Tech Report :: Monday, November 13, 2006
FOR MONTHS, ENTHUSIASTS WAITED for a version of Nvidia’s high-end nForce 590 SLI chipset compatible with Intel’s Core 2 processors. That chipset finally arrived in October aboard Asus’s P5N32-SLI Premium motherboard, but not before Nvidia hinted that a new nForce 680i SLI was just around the corner. Now, less than a month later, we’ve turned that corner to find the 680i SLI riding a motherboard built by Nvidia itself.

Chipset manufacturers usually produce a reference motherboard design to help their partners bring products to market. When the nForce 590 SLI chipset launched for Socket AM2, Nvidia worked with Foxconn to make its reference design a retail board. This time, Nvidia has taken things one step farther, designing and manufacturing its own nForce 680i SLI motherboards for sale to its partners. Some of those partners, including Biostar, BFG Tech, ECS, EVGA, and XFX, have been so impressed with the design that they’ll be offering it as-is.

Of course, there’s more to the nForce 680i SLI than Nvidia’s swanky new motherboard. The chipset also features a new north bridge chip that’s built using 90-nano process technology and features a completely redesigned memory controller. Nvidia has even rolled out an updated version of its nTune system utility for the occasion.

Rather than launching as a standalone chipset, the nForce 680i SLI is coming to market as a complete platform. I really hate to call the 680i a platform—that word is misused in far too many press releases these days—but that’s really what it is: a complete platform, including the chipset, motherboard, BIOS, and software, built explicitly for PC enthusiasts. The question, of course, is whether it’s the right platform for your next Core 2 Duo build. Read on to find the answer.

Scythe Kama Bay 5.25 System Cooler Review
Hardware XL :: Monday, November 13, 2006
Do you own a case that still has 80mm fans installed and ever wanted to get a better airflow in your case but you simple don’t have the room for it? Well Scythe came up with a simple but very effective drive-bay cooler. This cooler can be installed in the front of your case, which adds more airflow going in to your case. I myself was looking for a way to improve and direct the airflow towards the back of my case….

Exclusive Liantec ITX-6900 Motherboard Review
Epia Center :: Monday, November 13, 2006
“Liantec have got some revolutionary boards and that is not because they’ve got Pentium-M or AMD Geode boards. No, it’s because they have something on their boards that others don’t. The Tiny-Bus. The Tiny bus is a small bus that was designed by Liantec to make their motherboards more modular compared to the competition. They allow users and other customers to add modules with a variety of features, ranging from HDTV output to four 10/100/1000 NICs. Although you shouldn’t judge a motherboard based on its on-paper features, they do look very promising in this case.”

Corsair Unleashes the TWIN2X2048-9136C5D DOMINATOR 2GB Kits
Corsair :: Monday, November 13, 2006
— Optimized for the new NVIDIA nForce 680i SLI MCP, the new Corsair DOMINATOR memory delivers record breaking performance at 1142MHz to PC enthusiasts —

Zippy (EMACS) GSM-6600P and PSL-6720P Power Supplies Review
Big Bruin :: Monday, November 13, 2006
Zippy (EMACS) has just about perfected the power supply. The GSM-6600P(G1) and PSL-6720P(G1) power supplies are built to last and have no problem handling a load. This is the first time I have seen a Zippy product, and I am very impressed. They are hard to find in the US, but hopefully they will become much more popular as they make their presence known.

net Express: A
PC Mech :: Monday, November 13, 2006
A lot of us, I’m sure, know that over the course of the past several years, there has been a struggle to define the limits of “free expression” within the neutral boundaries of the internet. Maybe “neutral” is too defining of a word — what I mean more is that no one nation owns it. Earlier today, I came across an Associated Press article published by the Washington Post talking about the increase in over the course of the past few years. Many of you may remember that this entered the public eye most when Wikipedia, the encyclopedia that anyone can contribute to, defied the Chinese government’s demand to censor certain articles and topics.

A Matter of Pride
PC Mech :: Monday, November 13, 2006
I was splitting some wood using a rather old but ingenious piece of technology. It’s called an axe. A splitting axe, to be specific, and if you really know your axes, this one has splitting wedges that push out when embedded rapidly into the wood. The handle was a nice carbon mixture that was good and stiff. All these innovations helped me in the competition I was engaged in–man against machine. I lasted half an hour before admiring the way the log splitting machine didn’t get tired. Ok, it was ten minutes. The machine could split logs that an axe only dreams of splitting. It didn’t care about the number of knots or how twisted the log was. These are things you care very much about when splitting by hand.

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX and nForce 680i SLI Motherboard Preview
nV News :: Monday, November 13, 2006
“NVIDIA’s GeForce 8800 GTX is a technological masterpiece that doubles, and sometimes triples, the performance over the previous generation GeForce 7900 GTX. The GeForce 8800 GTX clearly belongs in the hands of the hardcore gamer. The hardcore gamer will likely have a blazingly fast processor and a 24-inch or 30-inch widescreen monitor, which allows them to take advantage of all the GeForce 8800 GTX has to offer.”

Antec Nine Hundred Review
Tweaknews :: Monday, November 13, 2006
“So, does the Nine Hundred live up to all the hype? Is it, as Antec touts, the “Ultimate Gamer Case?” If cooling and configuration options are the benchmarks we’re looking at, it just may be. With four case fans included (three 120’s and a massive 200mm top fan) and a distinctive look incorporating a chevron side window and mesh front, the Nine Hundred brings a lot to the table in both performance and aesthetics.”

Ubuntu: The Imperfect Operating System Alternative to Windows
Tweaknews :: Monday, November 13, 2006
“Now I know I’m going to be chastised for saying this, so I might as well get it out in the open: Ubuntu needs to be more user-friendly. Although the operating system has a beautiful interface, and is quite easy to use —even for those who have never tried, or even seen Linux before—it is still really difficult to get things up-and-running when you encounter a small glitch.”

GeForce 8800 GTX overclocking preview
Nordic Hardware :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
The graphics cards have become more and more advanced over the years and the fact that both transistors and power consumption have gone way past those we’ve seen for processors is a proof of that. But this generation, by that we mean NVIDIA G80 and ATI’s coming R600, will be something really extraordinary.

Sunbeamtech Zorro Case
Pro-Clockers :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
One of those options may be one of their latest offerings, the Zorro. The Zorro offers a lot of interior spacing and a refreshing design. And for those that are not into doors in the front of the case that opens outwards, this one’s door slides up and down for easy access to your drives bays.

CoolIT Freezone CPU Cooler Review
Techgage :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
With the growth of CPUs, more cores mean more heat. We are constantly interested in new ways to keep our processors cool and the CoolIT Freezone appears to be just that, a new approach to keeping your CPU cool. Does it deliver?

Crucial 10th Anniversary 2GB PC2-5300 Memory
Think Comptuers :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
I’m sure by now all of you have heard of Crucial. If you haven’t crucial makes some of the best memory out there today and their memory advisor is great for finding the best ram when your ready to upgrade. They recently celebrated their 10th anniversary. In recognition of this they have released a special edition of their PC2-5300 module. This special edition features an exclusive heat spreader that you will not find on any other Crucial modules, so let’s take a look.”

Antec Nine Hundred Advanced Gaming Case
Bjorn 3d :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
The case is constructed primarily of lighter gauged steel and plastic components which certainly helps to keep the weight down as opposed to Antec’s previous heavier steel construction. The fit and finish of the case is quite good which has become the norm with all Antec® cases. I really like the mat black paint job which for a change seems highly resistant to fingerprints and other tarnishing. The exterior of the case actually cleans quite easily.

Xfce 4.4 RC2 v4.3.99.2
Phoronix :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
While Xfce doesn’t receive nearly as much coverage in the mass media as KDE and GNOME when it comes to the main desktop environments for GNU/Linux, the 4.4 version of Xfce is shaping up to be a very competitive release. Coming out of the Xfce camp yesterday was the second (and hopefully finally) release candidate for Xfce 4.4 (v4.3.99.2). This release primarily targets bug fixes and optimizations, but we took this as an opportunity to show new users what Xfce 4.4 is all about. There are many changes in this release over the Xfce 4.2 branch, and if you’re looking for a lightweight window manager this release may suit you well.”

Noctua NF-S12 Quiet Fans
Accelenation :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“One way in which fan noise can be reduced is to reduce the speed at which the fan rotates. This approach not only reduces the amount of air disturbance, but also reduces some of the frequency components below that of human hearing. In addition, reducing fan speed also reduces bearing noise — a secondary emanation.”

ATI Radeon X1950 XTX
Hartware.net :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
Hartware.net has reviewed the ATI Radeon X1950 XTX and compared it to its predeccessor, the Radeon X1900 XTX, and several other high-end graphics cards from ATI/AMD and nVidia.

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Quad-Core Processor Review Posted!
TechARP :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“The first quad-core processor is finally out and it’s from Intel. Introducing the new Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core processor! Join us as we take a look at this new processor and what it means for gamers and homeusers alike. ”

Asus P5W64 WS PRO Motherboard Review
PC Modding Malaysia :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
The P5W64 WS Pro comes with a list of features that is currently not available in other Core 2 Duo motherboards such as dual Gigabit LAN, quad PCI-E slots, heatpipe cooling, eight SATA and support for 8GB memory. If you are looking for a feature rich motherboard with unlimited expendability, the P5W64 WS Pro should be in your shortlist. Synonymous with their motto, the motherboard was rock solid and heart touching! We put it through hours and hours of torture testing, but the motherboard didn’t even once crashed or rebooted on us. With overclocking capability up to 429FSB on our little Core 2 Duo E6300, the P5W64 WS Pro has to be one of the top overclocking 975X based motherboard in the industry.”

Crucial Ballistix PC2-8000 Review
Club OC :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
With AMD moving to DDR2 we finally have the majority of new PC platforms on the same page for memory. Performance memory manufacturers like Crucial have responded with a dramatic increase in the availability and speed of their high end DDR2 product lines. Today we will be looking at the current king of the Crucial memory world; the Crucial Ballistix PC2-8000 2 x 1GB kit.

Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II Northbridge Cooler Review
Hardware Pacers :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“Thermaltake’s Extreme Spirit II Northbridge cooler is a finely crafted heatsink (made with 100% copper) with an integrated 40mm blue LED fan. Although larger and bulkier than most chipset coolers, the Extreme Spirit II is definitely worth its weight in style and performance. This cooler’s look and feel, with smooth copper frame and stylish blue LED fan, is amazing. With an almost 10 degree Celsius temperature difference, the functionality is remarkable.”

Buffalo FireStix PC2-9200 1GB DDR2 Memory Kit Review
Virtual Hideout :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“If you’re looking to squeeze every ounce of bandwidth out of your high performance gaming machine, you can’t go wrong with the fastest memory currently on the market… this Buffalo FireStix PC2-9200 running at a scorching 1150MHz!!”

Silverstone EB01 – USB Digital to Analogue Converter Review
Xtreme Computing :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
The results, though subjective as audio is, are pretty good. The EB-01 seems to give a warmer sound than the onboard audio. Basically I think this does what it is designed to and that’s give the user a good solid quality output to send to a home system. I have doubts those of you with quality aftermarket sound cards would need this, but it ideal for the budding DJ or amateur music producer that wants a good solid noise free connection to output through. There is no audible noise / hiss, no power on thump it just works. Other than that there really isn’t anything I can say”

NZXT ADAMAS Classic Series Case
Pro Clockers :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
Today, we are going to be looking at NZXT’s latest offering, the Adamas Classic Series to see if this new full aluminum chassis might fit your dream systems needs with its classic style and design.

FlexiGlow Cyber Snipa Dog Tag Review
Techware Labs :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“Every so often TWL gets a peripheral that is just plain cool. Our friends over at Flexiglow sent us one of their products called “Cyber Snipa” dog tags. Now, to be honest when we first heard they wanted to send us “dog tags,” TWL was thinking “Jewelry?” Though with is premonition of a couple of games hanging out at a LAN party sporting their bling, we said we would be glad to take a look.”

HEC WinPower 480 W Power Supply
Hardware Secrets :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“HEC (a.k.a. Compucase) is a traditional OEM manufacturer, meaning that their core business is to manufacture power supplies (and cases) to other companies. They decided to enter the retail business but in order to not compete with their customers they decided to launch products with lower specs. According to HEC, their goal is to deliver high-quality power supplies costing less than high-end competitors. We’ve got a WinPower 480 W to see if this is really true. Let’s take an in-depth look on this power supply.”

Be-Quiet! Straight Power 700W review
Nordic Hardware :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
Be-Quiet! Straight Power 700W review

Dell XPS 700 Review
Technic 3d :: Friday, November 10, 2006
The new Dell XPS 700 PC arrived Technic3D. See you in the following Review a fast system with LEDs and more.”

Vantec iCEBERQ6 Premium VGA Cooling Kit
Barry’s Rigs n Reviews :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
Temperatures inside your case are higher than the Sahara and you’re one step away from being as deaf as a stone post. The stock cooler on your video card just isn’t cutting it anymore. It’s time to upgrade to an aftermarket solution that will keep heat under control and allow you to keep your hearing. Unfortunately, you’re also planning on upgrading to a different brand video card, one that cranks out more than its fair share of noise and heat. That means shelling out the bucks for a new cooler—unless you choose the Vantec iCEBERQ6 Premium VGA Cooling Kit. But does one size really fit all when it comes to VGA coolers? Let’s find out… ”

Seasonic M12 700W
Phoronix :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
The last time we had a Seasonic power supply in our hands for testing was the Seasonic S12 330W back in April of 2005. Today we happen to have our hands on a new Seasonic power supply, the M12 700W. Are times still going well for Seasonic? We will see in this article as we fire up this modular power supply.”

Fantec LD-U35NU2 Review
Technic 3d :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
The Fantec LD-U35NU2 with NDAS arrived Technic3D. The new external HDD Case faster than other HDD Cases? You can see that in the following Review.”

APEVIA 680Watt Iceberg Power Supply
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
” Today it seems we need bigger and bigger power supplies, with the coming of the 8800 series from Nvidia that is very much true. Just how much is enough though? How do you know exactly how much you need? There are many PSU calculators out there, and they all seem to be different, everyone has a different opinion as to just how much power you need. Today for review I have the Iceberg from Apevia, it is a 680Watt beast of a power supply, it has some really cool features, like the ability to change between three different colors and a plexi glass top and sides to show it off to the world. Well read on to see what I learned about the Iceberg… ”

NZXT Adamas Aluminum Case
PC Apex :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
“The Adamas is NZXT’s first attempt at what I would describe as a “luxury” aluminum case and they didn’t give up their focus on gaming performance to get there. I have to admit, I liked it before it even got here. In a conversation with NZXT designer Johnny Hou, I found out the Adamas was code named “the tank” case. From Johnny, “The usual way we demo this case is stand, and then jump on the case. The welding technology in it really makes it a monster.” Needless to say, my curiosity was piqued.”

Silverstone ST40EF (efficient) 400watt PSU Review
Xtreme Computing :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
think I can safely say that the SilverStone ST40EF passed that particular test with flying colours. No power rail deviated any amount really worth mentioning considering what the pc was doing. I don’t know what the actual specs are for regulation on power rails but, personally, I think the 12v rail deviating only 0.18v from rated value, albeit 1.5%, whilst running a major graphics test and 2 instances of a torture test and copying a cd full of data really isn’t worth worrying about in my opinion”

Valve Hardware Day: Multi Core GPU’s
Driver Heaven :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
Driver Heaven USA Hardware Editor James Gregory was at Valve’s Headquarters a few days ago and he has written up a very nice article on Valve’s new strategic implementation for multi core GPU’s. It is a very interesting read, so make sure you don’t miss it.

Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Review
Hardware Secrets :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
Our review of Core 2 Extreme QX6700, the first Intel quad-core CPU running at 2.66 GHz and compatible with socket 775 platform. Does quad-core CPUs really improve PC performance? Check it out.

OCZ DDR2 PC2-6400 Special Ops Urban Elite 2GB Memory Review
Virtual-Hideout :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
“It is compact, agile, and highly motivated! It’s the OCZ DDR2 PC-6400 Special Ops Edition Urban Elite memory modules which can achieve any objective. The memory performs its duties and exceeds where many other PC-6400 memory modules fail. When comparing price, performance, and its presentation, the Urban Elite memory is a unique and very worthy alternative to any other comparably priced PC-6400 DDR2 kit on the market.”

Zerotherm BTF90 Cooler
Technic 3d :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
The new Heatpipe Tower Cooler Zerotherm BTF90 CPU Heatsink arrived Technic3D. New and perfect? See you in the following Review against others CPU Cooling.”

ECS KA3 MVP EXTREME Motherboard
3dgameman :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
“ECS has come up with an awesome motherboard packed with lots of extras. ATI’s newest chipset shows that they are headed in the right direction and that performance does not have to be heavy on the wallet. ECS’s reputation for providing decent products at a decent price has just been bumped up a notch to provided great products to enthusiast builders at a great price…”

ABIT AW9D-MAX
techPowerUp! :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
Abit has a long history of producing top notch motherboards for overclockers and enthusiasts. Their new AW9D-MAX is designed for Intel’s Core 2 platform using the i975X chipset. On the feature list there is everybody you could find useful: Dual Gigabit Ethernet, 8x SATA-II, Firewire and two PCI-Express x16 slots for your video cards. To make your life easier this board includes abit’s proprietary UGuru technology. We test the board thoroughly to see if it can live up to the hype, especially when it comes to overclocking.

QNext Chat Client
PC Mech :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
In my extensive e-travels looking for new and interesting freeware to share with my readers, I occasionally stumble across a piece of software whose very homepage has me hooked. This is why I am taking a look at QNext v2.3.2 this week. QNext is an all-in-one program for universal instant messaging, streaming music, sharing files, photos, and playing games. Intrigued? I was.

Apple Has Worms
PC Mech :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Apple has made some pretty ambitious, not to mention arrogant, statements in the last year. Particularly in their “Political Ad” style of advertisement, statements that–at the very least–imply that Macintosh has built a completely flawless operating system exempt from viral attack. This is *not* so. While it is true that the amount of exploits are comparatively few in number, many security experts believe that maliciously exploiting something with fewer than five per cent market share is not worthwhile. But, thanks in part to their advertisement, the Apple OSX operating system is becoming increasingly popular, and with this popularity comes coders with malicious intent. The introduction of six new threats in the first half of 2006 were, as it happens, not *that* new; past experiences with more popular operating systems show that those holes were probably already there just waiting to be exploited by a malicious coder, as is the case with most security holes on any operating system.

Intel QX6700 Extreme Quad Core CPU Review
Motherboards.org :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Anyone who runs applications like Photoshop for Photo editing or Maya 3D and CAD for modeling will see huge benefits from the QX6700 Extreme as its multithreading abilities will be taken advantage of. In another instance if you are running or planning on running a rendering house or building a rendering machine the new Quad-Core CPUs have the capability of seriously cutting back on rendering times.

Crucial Ballistix PC2-6400 DDR2 1GB Kit
Overclock 3d :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
“Crucial have been in the memory market for a long time, and today I’ve been given the opportunity to put some of their flagship Ballistix DDR2 modules through their paces.”

New interactive AMD Athlon 64 product ID guide version 3.0
OC Inside :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
The new version 3.0 of the interactive AMD Athlon 64 product ID guide offers now in addition to the manual CPU selection also a direct script control. That is particularly very useful for online dealers and distributors, but also for everyone who would like to post a link to the CPU. Simply select the complete description of the AMD Athlon 64 CPU over the select fields and then copy the appearing link to the clipboard, or add the CPU data directly with ?cpu=XYZ to the script URL. This link can be used in shops, forums, web pages, etc. Furthermore it is now possible to search the CPU directly in the OC-Database, get the respective systembus multiplier and get the data of several new processors. All in all it’s a very extensive development, which let many hearts strike more highly.

Corsair Dominator PC8888C4 Review – Under the hood
Madshrimps :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Once every couple of years a product comes along which can be called revolutionary, and has the ability to upset the market. Corsair brought to the market an entirely new line of memory products, called the Dominator series, with exactly this purpose in mind: dominate the high end memory market. In this review we’ll try to find out what sets apart this memory, and if it really can be called revolutionary.”

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Quad-Core Processor Pictorial Review!
Tech ARP :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
“The first quad-core processor is finally out and it’s from Intel. Introducing the new Core 2 Extreme QX6700 quad-core processor! Join us as we take a look at this new processor and what it means for gamers and homeusers alike. ”

Xraypad Thunder 9 Smooth Surface Mouse Pad
Dragonsteel Mods :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
” Mousepads come in all shapes and sizes these days, and most people feel that you have to pay upwards of forty dollars for a high quality pad, well you don’t. Enter the X-Ray Thunder9 mousepad, an excellent, high quality mousepad that comes with a carrying bag and even mouseskates for under thirty dollars. The Thunder9 is a great performing, hard surface mousepad that will make you and your mouse very happy. Read on to learn more… ”

Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Quad Core CPU Review
Gamepyre :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
The user that can most benefit from the QX6700 is for people that are high-end gamers and for those that use multimedia applications. As HD-DVD and Blu-Ray movies move into the general PC market, the need for high power CPUs like the QX6700 will likely grow. H.264 content is very CPU dependent, bringing high-end single core CPUs to their knees.

The QX6700 is expensive, but you get what you pay for. The target market for the QX6700 is for the high-end enthusiast willing to pay a grand for their CPU and for the OEMs needing a Christmas season refresh of their computers. In that respect, the QX6700 does what Intel wanted it to and is an excellent choice for those wanting the absolute best in multimedia performance. The 975XBX2 is the second iteration of Intel motherboard, designed to work with the Core2 CPUs.

Intel 975 Chipset Mobo Roundup
Driver Heaven :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Back in January Intel introduced the world to the D975XBX motherboard which was the first retail board based on the 975X chipset. Since then motherboard manufacturers have been releasing their own boards based on the same chipset. Two of the most recent efforts come from DFI and Abit. The DFI offering is a reasonably basic affair with a bios that should appeal to the enthusiast where as Abit throw in everything that a consumer should ever need (and then some). Let’s take a look to see how they both compare to a recent revision of the D975XBX.

HIS X1950Pro 256MB Video Card
3dgameman :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
“The HIS X1950Pro 256MB Video Card performs very well and has all the technologies to support current games. This series of video card has the new crossfire bridge which makes installation much easier than the cumbersome external cable used previously. One of the best things about this product is the price. It’s very affordable! This video card has enormous bang-for-the-buck. Watch the Video to find out more…”

Phase Changing Article
Watercoolint 101 :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
“All overclockers want to push their CPUs to the max, however one element stands in the way. This element is heat. Heat causes many problems and makes your computer unstable. We all heard the term Phase Changing, but what does this really do and how can you apply it to your system? Find out and take your CPU to the next level.”

MSI’s StarCam CliP
Tech Gear :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
We take a look a look at MSI’s StarCam CliP, a light, cool looking, and feature packed webcam. With so many webcams to choose from in the market it all comes down to common sense. Performance and ease of use should be your main concerns. To see how well this webcam copes in that field check out the full review.

Silverstone LC20 at Overclockers Online
Overclockers Online :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
marketing about half way. Certainly the case does have a clean, sophisticated appearance, and it does present many cooling options if you require them; however, given the depth of the case, the storage capacity could be severely hampered with the wrong mix of components, and you’ll have a difficult time keeping this case quiet enough to be inaudible during quiet sections of movies or games if it’s not stationed in a console or cabinet.

MSI 975X Platinum V.2 Motherboard
Viper Lair :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
“The 975X has shown itself to be quite resilient despite some newer chipsets on the market. Intel themselves must be fans since they repackaged it again for quad core support. While stability is something that should be a standard, this has not always been the case with many motherboards released. The MSI 975X Platinum V.2 is a solid “reboot” and was very reliable and consistent in our testing. Little things like this is important as it makes for a more enjoyable computing experience and also leaves us with more hair as we’re less prone to getting frustrated and yanking it out.”

Crucial DDR2 PC2-5300 Ltd edition 2 gig kit Review
Xtreme Computing :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
We don’t really like loosening the timings here at Xtreme due to the fact that there are higher speed looser timing modules that are within budget of the lower speed lower latency kits, so the only other thing we could do was go backwards. This resulted in some pretty interesting results as the ram was able to run at 667 at 2.3v with timings of 3, 4, 4, 8 which was pretty impressive I thought until it hung after 4 hours of stress test, I loosened the Cas out a bit to compensate so the memory was running at 4, 4, 4, 8 but this did not prove so fruitful as a few checks on a couple of benchmarks proved it to be quite a bit worse than the ram at 667 with 3, 3, 3, 12.”

MACS MA-7131-A Triumph Deluxe
Bjorn 3d :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
he CPU cooler I am looking at today, the MACS MA-7131-A Triumph, is aimed for the performance seeking gamers. This is not an ordinary cooler. It’s a beast with some cool (pun intended) features and a few drawbacks.

Buffalo Firestix PC2-8500 Memory Review
Legit Reviews :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
There are many players in the computer memory industry that are trying to claw their way to the top and become a name that is synonomous with enthusiasts. Buffalo Technology is one of those companies, and though they are not “new” in the industry, they are trying to break into the enthusiast realm. Do they have what it takes to do it? Find out as we take a look at their PC2-8500 offering.

The Soap Opera History of Processors: Part II
PC Mech :: Wednesday, November 08, 2006
A brief history of this article…The original article (the “prequel”) was written by former PC Mechanic Editor-in-Chief and Forum Administrator Matthew A. Dockter. Authored back in March 2001, an otherwise boring history of microprocessor manufacturers’ marketing schemes and developing technologies was written in an informal, enjoyable story-plot style. As it was long overdue for a revision, I decided to write Part II, picking up with the development of the K7 AMD Athlons. While I tried to cover many important moves from the chip giants, unfortunately, I could not cover everything in the scope of this article.

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 review
Nordic Hardware :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
“Systems based on CPUs with two cores already cover a great amount of the CPU market with just a year after their release. Tendencies throughout the microprocessor industry shows similar results, parallel performance is the way to go in the future.”

HIS IceQ3 Radeon X1950 Pro Review
The Tech Zone :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
HIS is offering their version of the Radeon X1950 Pro as the HIS IceQ 3 X1950 Pro. This comes with their 3rd generation IceQ cooling technology, which boasts better cooling performance and lower noise level than the original ATI specified cooler. The HIS X1950 Pro also is clocked higher, at 620 MHz core and 1.48 GHz (effective) memory, than the other ATI X1950 Pro cards. This should mean better performance straight out of the box for the HIS version when compared to other X1950 Pro cards.

Antec Nine Hundred Case
Pro Clockers :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
With this case we think Antec has outdone themselves again. When they released the P180, I figured that they had one of the best functional and best looking cases released in the past few years. The clean look and the external arrangement was definitely a keeper. But after seeing the Nine Hundred on the Antec site, it was one I had to get and review for our readers. Does the Nine Hundred live up to my self imposed hype? Are we just harping on about an otherwise normal, boring case? Lets check it out.

Vantec NexStar 3 NST-260SU-BK eSATA Enclosure
Bjorn 3d :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
While it wasn’t that long ago that external hard drive market was all square and silver, the industry has learned to evolve from its monochrome king-size past. And like every good manufacturer, they learn from the past and listen to the customer so that they can offer a better future. With 2.5′ hard disk drives making a leap from notebook computers to PDA’s, it wasn’t long before they were replacing the old guard.

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 Processor Review
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Intel has been cranking out impressive processors during 2006 and it looks like Intel has any intentions of bringing that to an end any time soon. The first Intel quad-core processor looks to be a winner in a number of ways, but the most important is the fact that many motherboards that have the i975 Express chipset need nothing more than a BIOS update to enable quad-core support. When it comes to applications that take advantage of four cores no other desktop processor from AMD, or even Intel for that matter, come close to the performance levels that we have recorded with quad-core.”

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 review: Quad Core is here!
Tech Spot :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Step aside dual-core, it is now the time of the quad-core and you better believe it. The new quad-core series consists of the Core 2 Quad Q6600 and the Core 2 Extreme QX6700. Both feature a dual 4MB L2 cache, operate on a 1066MHz FSB, and have a thermal output of 130 watts. However, the Core 2 Quad Q6600 is not scheduled for release until early next year, and so today we will be looking at the more powerful Core 2 Extreme QX6700 version, which Intel had promised to make available this month, humming along to the tune of just 2.66GHz using a cool 1.34 volts of power.

Kentsfield Quad Core QX6700 Full Review with Overclocked Result Sets @ 6 speeds!
Neoseeker :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
The Kentsfield Quad Core QX6700 NDA is up and Neoseeker has published right on time. Kentsfield, the first quad core processor on the market, is essentially 2 Conroe dies in one processor package. Intel claims as much as a 70% performance increase over the E6800 Extreme Edition Core 2 Duo. We put the QX6700 to the test in over 23 benchmarks, including overclocked results to simulate several upcoming Quad Core speed grades. In all we benchmark the QX6700 at 7 total clockspeeds raging from the 2.66GHz stock all the way up to 3.45GHz (aircooled)!

“For servers, it means that the solution is less than ideal, and we can expect a small but measurable performance hit compared to a “true” quad core die solution. Nevertheless, it will still be significantly faster than a “plain” dual core chip.

For heavy multimedia producers, it means they can get their hands on a big performance boost without having to wait for quad cores on one die – and if they make money producing said multimedia, they will be lining up to buy Quad core processors, as it will give them a significant capability boost for rendering and post production.”

CoolerMaster Aquagate VIVA Liquid Cooling System Review
OCIA :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
“To help solve this problem Cooler Master has developed a VGA water cooling solution that will remedy the heat problem as well as eliminate the noise problem. Cooler Master’s Aquagate VIVA VGA cooling is an all-in-one sealed unit that offers the added benefit of being able to convert over to a CPU water cooling unit if the end-user so sees fit.”

Building Your Dreams on the Net
PC Mech :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
There are a lot of good sites that help you plan for the future. My favorite planning sites include ways to look into exactly what you want, and turn your plans inside and out while looking at them from many different angles. I’m talking, of course, about car configuration sites.

LG GSA-H10N DVD-RW Review
Overclockers Club :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
“It wasn’t long ago that CD burners were the accepted standard in a PC and DVD burners were simply an expensive extra. The price of DVD burners has dropped faster over the last few years than CD burners ever did. There are now dozens of manufacturers and brands, though with often confusing features.”

Kama Connect USB Hard Drive Enclosure
GideonTech :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
“The Kama Connect from Scythe is far from being your typical USB enclosure. It does not shell the hard drive or drives, it simply plugs into their ports and is ready to go. Needless to say, this is the PC tech and enthusiasts dream. This kit has the ability to attach an IDE drive, a SATA drive, or both at once.”

Intel Core 2 Quad – Kentsfield arrives with Four Cores
Tweak Town :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
As a matter of fact, we just got out of a meeting with Valve Software today and they indicated to members of the press that soon they will begin to implement multi-core CPU optimisations into the Source engine which will benefit all previous Source based games and new ones including Episode 2. Initially you will see improvements in frame rates but for Valve, that’s just the beginning. They want to leverage the multi-core technology (and we’re not just talking about four cores) and improve AI and the overall realism of the games to levels we’ve never seen before and they seem to be on track for doing it. From a gaming prospective, is it really worth upgrading to Quad Core right now? Probably not! Is it worth waiting a little while and seeing what all the software and gaming developer companies do? Yes! Right now the hardware is ahead of the software – keep an eye out on patches for your favourite games or applications and decide for yourself if you really need four CPU cores inside your system at the moment.

Noctua NF-S12-800 Silent 120mm Fan
PC Apex :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
“If my understanding is correct, a standard fluid dynamic bearing must “spin up” to develop enough pressure in the fluid to suspend the spindle the fan revolves on. Before this pressure builds up, the spindle can bang around at startup, causing friction and cumulative wear over the fan’s lifetime. Noctua’s approach utilizes magnets to suspend the spindle even during startup, thus theoretically eliminating even this minor amount of wear or potential noise. These folks did their homework.”

JustPC R910 Server Tower Review
Techgage :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Run a server? Want a huge chassis? The R910 from JustPC was made for people like you. Besides the fact that the case is huge and allows two full sized power supplies, there are other additions that may sway your decision.

Intel’s Core 2 Quad Extreme Edition QX6700
Lost Circuits :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Today Intel is releasing its latest Extreme Edition CPU, model number QX6700, that signifies the first step into a new era of computing by bringing four processor cores in a single die to the affordable desktop computing market segment. Needless to say that the “affordable” part is to be taken with a certain grain of salt, a msrp of US$ 999.- is just above that – but maybe not. Intelligent Die Pairing, Smart Memory Access and Fast Memory Access, Cache Sharing and Selective Clock Gating are part of the new lingo that every geek better might absorb today rather than tomorrow. But geeks are geeks and mere mortals are interested more in what is behind the buzz words, namely how well the Kentsfield really performs. From isolated power measurements to cache access and from Dr. DivX to Mainconcept, not to mention all kinds of 3D Rendering programs and games, we have a plethora of benchmarks to compare the new Intel flagship with mother’s finest from both Intel and AMD. In a nutshell, it is wicked fast.

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6700 (Quad) REVIEW
Driver Heaven :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Not content with resting on their laurels and waiting for AMD to reply, Intel have followed the age old adage of “attack is the best form of defence” in releasing the world’s first QUAD core product, and on the 14th of November will be available to buy around the world. This processor obviously will be aimed at the high end enthusiast sector, so today we will be ascertaining if parting with your hard earned money is a wise investment.

Intel’s Core 2 Extreme QX6700 processor reviewed
Tech Report :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
YOU’VE GOTTA LIKE Intel’s Core 2 Duo processors. After struggling mightily with performance and power consumption problems in the latter-day Pentiums, Intel came roaring back with the Core 2 Duo, producing a chip that goes like stink without spinning the electric meter into a frenzy. Since it offers a better combination of processing power, energy efficiency, and overclocking headroom than the Athlon 64, the Core 2 Duo has quickly become an enthusiast favorite, capturing prominent spots in our system guide recommendations and prompting a new round of upgrades for many folks.

Mind Your Passwords!
PC Mech :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
I don’t know about you, but I am drowning in a sea of user IDs and passwords. To begin with, I have an ID and a password to log in to my computer. I have another set to access my e-mail. Yet another for my on-line banking. And for Amazon, Buy.com, Oversotck.com, goDaddy.com, and Network Solutions. In fact, I have lost track of how many online IDs and passwords I have.

Thermaltake Tide Water Videocard Water Cooling System Review
Tweaknews :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Thermaltake’s Tide Water does a great job of cooling the GPU on this video card, and can do it very quietly. Currently available in the $55 to $60 US range, you can have liquid cooling for your GPU at a price only moderately higher than some high-end air cooling solutions. The Tide Water has a good design and is well executed. It’s easy to install and you can be up and running in around 30 minutes.”

PNY Announces new 2GB xD Picture Card
PNY :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
With the emergence of higher performance xD-Picture Card(tm) compatible digital cameras and thanks to its Olympus partnership, PNY Technologies enlarges its xD-Picture Card(tm) range launching the 2GB capacity.

Apack Zerotherm GX810 Videocard VGA Cooler Review
Tweaknews :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
ZEROtherm has an excellent product in the GX810. The thermally controlled fan performed as promised and is one of the best features of this cooler. Overall quality was excellent, installation was very easy and the low profile design and silent operation should give this product wide appeal.”

ECS KA3 MVP Motherboard Review
The TechZone :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
ECS has made some amazing strides in the last few years. They’ve gone from making low cost, low performance motherboards to being an serious contender in the enthusiast market. ECS has a solid performing motherboard with the KA3 MVP. This motherboard has all the feature that most hardware enthusiast would crave. The only downside to the KA3 is something that is common to all ECS motherboards – they’re not very good overclockers. The KA3 does improve on the KA1 in the overclocking department, but only slightly. However, at the price KA3 MVP sells for, you are getting a great bang for your performance buck.

Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 320GB SATA II
AOA Forums :: Monday, November 06, 2006
“Can you hear that? Me either, the drive is silent. I powered the drive on by jumping the power supply, and not a peep was heard. Noise isn’t an issue for me, so I considered this a bonus.

The SATA drive (as expected) completely obliterated the older ATA100 drive, beating it consistently by 41%.”

Hi-Techreviews.com Holiday Contest
Hi Tech Reviews :: Monday, November 06, 2006
We are pleased to announce our Holiday Contest the rules for it can be found in our forum. Stop by and participate and have a chance at winning one of the six prizes we are giving away for this contest.

The Real Smashing Pumpkins: Punkin’ Chunkin’ in the USA
Futurelooks :: Monday, November 06, 2006
So what do you do with that burnt out Jack O’Lantern and that stockpile of pumpkins? Well, you could wait a week for them to ripen up and toss them at your neighbours yard, but that’s boring compared to what we have in store for you. How about seeing how far you can launch the sucker with the help of some bored engineers and physicists?

SteelPad QcK heavy mouse pad
Modders Inc :: Monday, November 06, 2006
SteelSeries has been producing high quality mouse pads for several years. The original pads (SteelPad 4D and SteelPad 4S) proved that SteelSeries had a great product. SteelSeries now offers 9 different mouse pads to choose from. Today we are taking a look at one of their cloth mouse pads called the SteelPad QcK heavy.

Logitech G11 Gaming Keyboard Review
ASE Labs :: Monday, November 06, 2006
” What do you get when you take a Logitech G15 keyboard and remove the LCD? A Logitech G11 keyboard that is only a bit cheaper. The G11 is a strange product that probably won’t find to much market space. ”

Get Down to Earth With GPS
BTX Form Factor :: Monday, November 06, 2006
Global positioning has grown from a military feature to a must-have electronic gadget. Although the possibilities for use are still growing, today GPS is still an add-on feature, but within a few years it could become standard equipment. The tech savvy generation growing up today will probably look at the compass and think it ancient…

Cooler Master Mars and Eclipse CPU Coolers Review
Big Bruin :: Monday, November 06, 2006
Both of these coolers feature unique designs which definitely grab your attention, as well as providing respectable cooling performance. The Eclipse and Mars coolers performed much better than the stock AMD CPU cooler, and allowed an AMD X2 4200 AM2 processor to be kept cool even while overclocked.

ECS 945G-M3 M-ATX Motherboard Review
Gruntville :: Monday, November 06, 2006
“As the basis for a HTPC, this is an excellent choice. The board was designed to be used as a stable platform for desktop and HTPC use and it does this job with aplomb. I feel that anyone looking for an inexpensive motherboard for a HTPC will find this board offers everything they are looking for, including the low price.”

Intel X6800 Core 2 Extreme
Viper Lair :: Monday, November 06, 2006
“How the CPU architecture communicates with the memory is one part of the equation. Another part is how the architecture processes data. Before, CPU instructions would break up the data into small bits and executing them at the same time. How it changes now is the processor will combine similar instructions and execute them at the same time. This method is far more efficient and there is less latency involved.”

Antec P180B Case
Modders Inc. :: Monday, November 06, 2006
The P180 is truly a revolutionary breakthrough in case design. Dual chambers isolate the power supply and CPU into separate cooling zones with up to 5 configurable fans. Three-layer sound-deadening panels dampen noise even in very high-performance systems. Ease-of-use, sleek design and Antec’s reputation for quality make the P180 worthy of being the first in a new category we call the Advanced Super Mid Tower.

Arctic Cooling Accelero X1 VGA Cooler Review
Futurelooks :: Monday, November 06, 2006
Swiss have come up with yet another cooling solution. Only this time, it is for your super hot 3D Graphics cards. The Accelero X1 boasts super quiet operation, with extra cooling power. Can this product pull both feats off without compromise? Let’s find out!

OpenOffice : The Free Office Software Suite Everyone Should Know About
Tweak news :: Monday, November 06, 2006
Thankfully, computer users can now enjoy the benefits of having free software that is actually far superior and useful to many of the products available for a hefty price in the retail market . For example, the Firefox browser is much more versatile and handy (think extensions) than any other web browser that can be used on any operating system—Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris and many other esoteric variations. Ditto for OpenOffice.”

T Adamas Aluminum ATX Case
Bjorn 3d :: Monday, November 06, 2006
If it wasn’t enough that NZXT is crafting some of the finest cases available to the market today, they are also reinventing the wheel; with success. The tool-less panel design incorporated in the Adamas is one of the most durable latch systems I have yet to see. You won’t find more then a bottle-cap worth of plastic used to build this case; and even then we’re talking about small pieces used to secure drive doors and make cushion feet for the case. It really seems as though the marketing department over at NZXT didn’t have to stretch the imagination in describing this case.

Zalman CNPS8000 Low Profile CPU Cooler Review
Madshrimps :: Monday, November 06, 2006
“A compact CPU cooler from Zalman for those small cases and office PCs, carrying the CNPS ultra quiet tag, we find out if it lives up to Zalman reputation of silent computing.”

nVidia High-End Graphics Cards for Second Hand Buyers
Tweak Town :: Monday, November 06, 2006
We’re going to be having a look at the current cream of the crop nVidia cards to see what you want to buy with those hard earned dollars of yours. We will have a brief look at the cards but our main intention will be to see how they fair in a straight out comparison in our normal array of benchmarks. We will be looking at five cards today – the 7900GS Extreme from XFX starts the roundup off. From there we will be looking at the highly popular 7900GT. The newly released 7950GT is next on the list with the original bad boy of high-end, the 7900GTX and finally we will be throwing in the 7950GX2 which no doubt will be hitting the second hand market hard and fast.

SuperTalent PC3500 CL2 2GB Memory Review at 3DXtreme
3d Xtreme :: Monday, November 06, 2006
Since being introduced to our first SuperTalent ram products just over 2 years ago we have seen a small company hit the mainstream. In the beginning we dealt with a distributor as a go between for product to review and gain the exposure. Now SuperTalent products are popping up at Newegg and into the mainstream vendors. It just goes to show how a small company putting out a quality product can make it big. With that we are looking at a 2GB kit of DDR ram today. While DDR seems to be on it’s way out slowly in the PC world, making way for DDR2 and DDR3, companies are still putting out some solid product for the enthusiast. Let’s have a look…

Does RAID0 Really Increase Disk Performance?
Hardware Secrets :: Monday, November 06, 2006
“RAID0, also known as data striping, can be used if you want to increase your PC disk performance, being recommended to high-end PCs. It works by accessing two identical hard disk drives in parallel, so in theory it doubles the data transfer rate between the computer and the hard disk drives. We were very curious to see if RAID0 really increases the hard disk performance and how it reflects on PC overall performance, so we set a RAID0 system, benchmarked our system and compared it to the same system with just one hard disk drive installed. We set our RAID0 with several different stripe sizes, from 4 KB to 128 KB, to check which configuration would give us the best performance. Check it out.”

ATI Catalyst 6.10 with Control Panel
NGO HQ :: Monday, November 06, 2006
We have noticed that some people still prefer to use the old ATI Control Panel over the Catalyst Control Center (CCC). As a result we have decided to incorporate the Control Panel into the newly released Catalyst 6.10s. This time – we removed the automatic DeviceID detection from the old Control Panel (means it will work with the newest Radeon cards as well).

Catalyst 6.10 Comparison
Technic 3d :: Monday, November 06, 2006
“Catalyst 6.10 Comparison on Technic3D. Faster then Catalyst 6.9? See you in the following Catalyst Roundup up to Catalyst 6.4.”

Cooler Master Hyper 6+ Review
Techwarelabs :: Monday, November 06, 2006
There seems to be two main ways companies are engineering their new heatsinks, up or out. Now, one of the big problems with these massive heatsinks is that they have compatibility problems with motherboards and cases. Today we’ll be looking at the Coolermaster Hyper 6+ which was created on the concept of “up”

Spire Pininfarina Review
XYZ Computing :: Monday, November 06, 2006
The hardware manufacturer Spire has made a bit of a reputation for itself by producing cooling products, like stock replacement CPU coolers, but recently has done seen some growth. In a rather ambitious move they teamed up with the designer Pininfarina to produce the computer case that we will be looking to in this article. The Pininfarina is a complex and interesting enclosure, definitely not what I would have expected from Spire or a company new to this segment of the hardware market. We had a chance to spend some time with one, so let’s see how Spire did with this performance enclosure.

Noctua NF-S12 120mm Fan
Overclockers Online :: Monday, November 06, 2006
The Noctua NF-S12 fans are nothing short of amazing products. Performance results through testing against similar products only produces relative results. EMB Papst has specialized, designed and produced fans and blowers for years now and it is quite a feat for a brand new company such as Noctua to be able to match such quality and performance. Not only do these fans perform extraordinarily well, but Noctua has also included an excellent set of accessories including rubber grommets and a 5V fan adaptor.

Thermaltake Kandalf LCS Liquid Cooled Case Review
Tweaknews :: Monday, November 06, 2006
“ThermalTake took one of the best cases on the market, and only upgraded it with a component that made a difference. The liquid cooling system included with the Kandalf LCS proves to be a great performer, while not adding too much complexity.”

AMD “Fusion” Vision for the Future – on-die GPU
Overclock 3d :: Friday, November 03, 2006
“Further to our press release about the AMD/ATI merger, I thought I’d fill our readers in on AMD’s plans for the future and tell you what I think. The on-die GPU, x86 instruction set for the on-die GPU and a brief coverage of Torrenza is included.”

1701 A.D. Review
Technic 3d :: Friday, November 03, 2006
“1701 A.D. from Sunflowers comes into the Editorship from Technic3D. Ready for the third Island colonize? See you in the following Review.”

Sapphire Radeon X1950XTX 512MB Graphics Card Review
Virtual Hideout :: Friday, November 03, 2006
“The graphics card in the crosshairs for this review is the Sapphire ATI Radeon X1950XTX. A bit of a mouthful, but it only gets better with some of the features. Like 512MB of GDDR4, HD AVIVO, Dual DVI ,VIVO, PCI Express x16 Lane 32bit Bus, ATI CrossFire Ready, and Windows Vista Ready.”

Alienware Responds to Hardware Blackmail
Fast Silicon :: Friday, November 03, 2006

“In response to a recent report concerning Alienware’s system review process, Alienware would like to take the opportunity to clarify that process. As a matter of long standing policy, Alienware makes no distinctions on who receives a system for review. Alienware offers an equal opportunity to all publications for system reviews. In addition to offering review units to publications, Alienware offers reviewers a unique guidance approach that is available at any point during the review process.”

abit Fatal1ty AN9 32X Motherboard Review
PC Modding Malaysia :: Friday, November 03, 2006
“Overall, the Fatal1ty AN9 32X is a pretty decent socket AM2 motherboard. Based on the successful NVIDIA nForce 590 SLI chipset, abit has done a good job with the Fatal1ty AN9 32X. With its red coloured PCB and underbody red LEDs, this motherboard is probably the coolest looking socket AM2 motherboards in the market, provided if red is your favourite colour. The QTES GT heatpipe cooling also worked flawlessly but it would have been better to have the SB heatsink heatpiped as well. We also had almost no issues with the board layout but we hate the fact that the space between the secondary PCI-E slot and PCI slot was too tight. This will be bad news for those who plan to run SLI and pair up a decent soundcard on this motherboard.”

Palit 7900GS Sonic 256MB
Driver Heaven :: Friday, November 03, 2006
When a certain game proves to be too much for a graphics card to handle, the cheapest solution is to try and overclock the board. This process is getting easier as the years pass with ATI supporting it “out of the box” on most of their cards and nVidia only requiring a small registry tweak to access their overclocking features (via coolbits). It comes as no surprise that card manufacturers like to use the same tactic to gain an edge over the competition by building the increased clock speeds into their bioses. The Palit 7900GS Sonic we are reviewing is one such product. While an overclocked card in itself doesn’t have any real advantage over a reference one (after all you can overclock it yourself) a good cooler included in the package might just be enough to tip the scales in favour of the faster board.

SilverStone ST75F 750W Modular PSU
3dgameman :: Friday, November 03, 2006
“The SilverStone ST75F 750W Modular power supply performs very well and it’s completely modular with lots of leads. With 750 watts of continuous power, it has plenty of juice for the most demanding computer systems. It even comes with four PCI-E leads for a quad Video Card setup. If you’re in the market for a quality, rock-solid power supply, I’d definitely recommend taking a look at this product. Watch the Video to find out more…”

SilverStone 400W ST40EF Review
Techgage :: Friday, November 03, 2006
With power supplies pushing the stratosphere of over 1000 watts we lose sight of the needs of the basic user. If your system isn’t bleeding edge with terabytes of storage, SLI or Crossfire and a pair of power hungry processors you really don’t need tons of juice. If you’re like the majority of users out there with a couple of hard drives, a burner or two, a single video card and a dual-core processor you just need a simple, reliable power supply.

Foxconn 975X7AB-8EKRS2H Review
Ninjalane :: Friday, November 03, 2006
“The layout of this motherboard is very well designed with quite a bit of detail given to making room for two monster video cards. Of course if you don’t have two monster video cards you’ll get to use the abundance of expansion slots otherwise you’ll likely be down to a single 1x PCI Express slot and one regular PCI.”

Abit SG-95 Micro-ATX LGA775 Motherboard Review
Virtual Hideout :: Friday, November 03, 2006
“Having 7.1 channel High Definition Audio should reasonably attract anyone looking for the small form factor home theater solution or computer. Factor in the benefits of better dual processor and memory support, it will be more than capable for almost any system requirement not to mention keep you more up to date with newer….”

Scythe Ninja Plus Rev. B Cooler
Pro-Clockers :: Friday, November 03, 2006
As many of you will have picked up due to its name, this cooler is not, strictly speaking, a new cooler by Scythe. It is actually an improvement on a modern day classic. The Ninja Plus B is basically the same as the Ninja and Ninja Plus updated with support for AMD’s recently released socket, the AM2. The Ninja Plus really tamed the AMD socket 939 and socket T (Intel 775) processors so we assume the Plus B wont have any problems with the much cooler running AM2 processors. Let’s see how well it does against the top two air-cooling kings of Pro-Clockers!

be quiet! Dark Power Pro 430W
Bjorn 3d :: Friday, November 03, 2006
What can I say? While I did expect this PSU to be of high quality judging from their previous products I was skeptical if it would manage everything I would throw at it. I in some way had been fooled by the constant hunt for more Wattage and since I had problems running a similar system with some 500 and 600W PSU’s I didn’t think this PSU would be any better.

In the end I have to capitulate. Even with “just” 430W this PSU can handle a fully loaded system just fine, at least as long it is using a AMD CPU. It probably won’t handle Quad-SLI but we can’t really mark it down for that. This PSU clearly demonstrates that the quality and efficiency of a PSU is more important that the number of Watts and Amps it provides.

abit AW9D-Max Motherboard Review
Motherboards.org :: Friday, November 03, 2006
Intel is set shortly to announce their first Quad Core CPUs, according to their roadmaps. abit has assured me that the AW9D-MAX will support the Kentsfield CPUs. The AW9D-Max is an interesting mix of a 975X motherboard performance-wise, plus the special features you would expect from abit. I can heartily recommend this board for the enthusiast, as it offers excellent performance and Crossfire support right out of the box.

MACS Triumph TEC CPU Cooler Review
Madshrimps :: Friday, November 03, 2006
“Using a TEC/Peltier for CPU cooling is nothing new, water cooling lovers have been doing it for years, the MACS Triumph is a TEC powered unit for the air cooling folks, it performs best at high CPU wattage, something overclockers tend to unleash is current and older processors. Let´s find out if the Triumph can keep successfully keep your CPU and its own TEC cool.”

ATI Radeon X1650XT CrossFire GPU Review
Legit Reviews :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
The Radeon X1650 XT delivers superior mainstream performance with industry-leading image quality and best-in-class HD video in the $149 market segment. With ATI’s new, easy to use “plug-and-play” CrossFire™ configuration the X1650 XT might be one of the best gaming and home theater graphics cards choices on the market today. Read on as Legit Reviews tries a pair of these GPU’s in CrossFire and as a single card to see how it performs.

Spotswood L-18 Wooden Drum Case
3dgameman :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
“If you’re tired of all the mid-tower, desktop and Home Theatre PC cases that are currently on the market, you definitely want to check out this product. This computer case is unlike any other mainstream case because it’s built from the ground up. They do not modify a pre-made drum, but rather build it from scratch. It’s handcrafted and custom-built from lightweight, high-quality maple veneer plywood, which is very durable. This is the ultimate Home Theatre PC case! Watch the Video to find out more…”

Sapphire Radeon X1300 XT OC Edition
techPowerUp! :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
The new ATI Radeon X1300 XT is based on the RV530 GPU core which is used on the X1600 series. That alone should bring quite a nice performance boost. On top of that Sapphire has added GDDR3 memory and a healthy clock increase. There is no need to run an overclocking software on your system, the increased clocks are stored in the BIOS. In our testing we saw a huge performance difference to the X1300 and almost no difference to the X1600 series.

Ultra X-Finity 500W with Active PFC Power Supply
Pro-Clockers :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
Ultra is back again with a new take on an old power supply. There are no modular cables and a flat black paint job. The newly revamped X-Finity PSU now sports dual 12v rails and is label the DR series. The X-Finity PSU promises to add power and stability on a new level.

The Super Talent T1000UX2G4 (2GB PC8000) Memory Kit
Legit Reviews :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
Super Talent has recently introduced some new heat spreaders and really quick 1000MHz DDR2 overclocked memory kits for the gaming enthusiasts. Legit Reviews takes a look at their 2GB kit (T1000UX2G4) and run it at 1GHz with 4-5-4-15 timings and see how the latest and greatest memory from Super Talent does. If you’ve never heard of Super Talent or are looking for some 1GHz memory read on!

Watercooling 101 guide
Fast Silicon :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
“The traditional heatsink is the preferred choice for most enthusiasts, but some enthusiasts take a more drastic approach to cooling. One of the more preferred extreme cooling solutions is Watercooling. There are other means of extreme cooling including phase change and liquid nitrogen. In this guide we will focus on Watercooling.”

Ultra Products XVS Modular 600W ATX Power Supply Review
Big Bruin :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
During testing of the Ultra Products XVS Modular 600W ATX Power Supply I did not encounter any serious issues. It is very quiet (especially once inside a closed case), and was indistinguishable over the other fans in the system. The supplied cables were long enough to reach everywhere in a Thermaltake Eureka full tower server case, and there aren’t many cases bigger than that.

Thermalright HR-05-SLI
Overclockers Online :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
The testing results also dictate that the HR-05-SLI can be added to a system to simply remove a noisy chipset cooling solution with a silent passive one while retaining all the cooling power if not providing more. I was impressed with the HR-05-SLI for both its cooling ability and the flexibility it provides to unique layout issues. Thermalright has always been a favorite of mine with a wide range of cooling products. Introducing the HR-05-SLI after the HR-05 proved to be troublesome in certain setups, shows that Thermalright are dedicated to helping every single user that has cooling needs.

Workstation & Server CPU Comparison Guide Posted!
Tech ARP :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
If you have no idea what’s different between an AMD Opteron processor and an Intel Core 2 Xeon processor, then this is the guide for you! The Workstation & Server CPU Comparison Guide allows you to compare 18 specifications of every processor ever made for the PC!

ThermalTake Muse OTB2.5 eSATA Enclosure Review
PC Modding Malaysia :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
“In this review we checked out an eSATA 2.5″ HDD enclosure named the Thermaltake Muse OTB 2.5. Did the name pique your interest? I bet it did, OTB means One Touch Backup! That’s right folks! This little baby is supposed to back up EVERYTHING on your hard drive with just a touch of the button.”

TeamGroup Xtreem DDR2-800 2x1gb Kit
Eclipse OC :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
As the popularity of DDR2 hits it’s peak, we look at another 2x1GB DDR2-800 kit, this time, from TeamGroup. The overclocking potential is just slightly more than impressive.

Abit AB9-Pro 965 Motherboard
Viper Lair :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
“The Abit AB9-Pro is thus far the fastest Intel board I’ve tested, CPU and peripheral hardware being equal. Oveclocking went well, especially once we updated the BIOS. Whether overclocked or stock, the AB9-Pro was rock solid during testing. Out of the box, once everything was hooked up, the system ran like a champ. Those of you with extensive storage needs should be very happy with the nine SATA connections available.”

XSPC Bay single bay Reservoir review
Xtreme Computing :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
“Now maybe it is only a reservoir and not something to sing and dance about, but I have to say for me it is the best bay res on the market, for the first point it takes up only one bay instead of two and it can do this due to the dividers design layout. This is what makes it possible for the fluid to get right down to the lower levels indicated on the front without letting the output get air, even with its ¼ threads. I was shocked when I had to drain the system for a mobo change and even with only a few mm of water left the output section was still full! I can’t think of any other single bay res that employs a system like this that works so well. ”

Interview with Geoffrey Arone, co-founder of the Flock Browser
Tech Spot :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
Some people see the browser merely as a tool. Others see it as a means to an end. Flock attempts to provide that means, by acting as a “media and community interface” to the Internet and other people, rather than an information-polling device. I will admit that the idea is foreign to me, and didn’t make the most amount of sense at first. The more I had it described however, the clearer it became. Considering that there are millions of people who use the Internet to socialize and share with others, it makes perfect sense to have your interface to be dynamic rather than static. Geoffrey described to me the goal of the Flock browser and how it tries to accomplish this, then answered some questions I had relating to the Internet and browsers as a whole. After he summed up the purpose behind Flock, I asked him specific questions regarding the role of other browsers in business and the home.

Windows Vista 64-Bit only available for OEM?
Madshrimps :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
“A reader from our site recently went to a seminar about Windows Vista, when he asked them about the availability of the 64-bit version of the OS he was told that most likely Vista will follow in the footsteps of Windows XP 64-bit, meaning: only available to OEM, not in retail”

Thermalright SI-128 CPU Cooler
Bjorn 3d :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
Built upon the SI-120 model, the new and improved SI-128 boasts tightly gapped fins for more surface area with longer and wider wingspan. In addition, the huge 8mm multiple heatpipes permit even more efficient heat transfer to the aluminum fins. The SI-128 offers a more robust aluminum fin group, which is perfectly designed to support a 120mm fan mounted onto the top of the unit for maximum cooling performance.

PowerColor Radeon X1650 XT
Hartware.net :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
Hartware.net has reviewed the new PowerColor Radeon X1650 XT and compared it to the GeForce 7600 GT and other graphics cards. Is this new ATI model worth its price of $150?

ATI Chips Comparison Table
Hardware Secrets :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
“With more and more graphics chips being released every day it became very complicated for the user who does not follow the video card market to know the differences among all ATI graphic chips in the market today. To facilitate knowing and understanding the difference among major ATI chips, we have compiled the following table:”

Sapphire Radeon X1650 PRO Video Card Evaluation
Hard OCP :: Thursday, November 02, 2006
“It is not often that the MSRP of a product is lower than it’s retail or street price, but that is the case with the Sapphire’s RADEON X1650 PRO. It does not have the performance to justify a $129.99 price tag, when a GeForce 7600 can so dramatically outstrip it for nearly the same price. If and when its price comes down to a realistic range, it will be a good video card at a good price. Right now, though, it is merely a mediocre video card at a high price.”

Jetart HDD Guard 3.5” HDD Protector
Dragonsteel Mods :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
” Today for review I have a product that I have to wonder why it took so long for someone to come up with… It is a Hard Drive Protector, called the HDD Guard from Jetart, but it’s for when the HDD is out of your case, maybe it’s just sitting on the shelf, or you are transporting it somewhere, but a bare drive is pretty much unprotected. Sure you can put it in one of those plastic casings, or in a box, but why, when you have a product like this? It’s just really cool, and extremely useful, especially for those of us that have a few spare HDDs floating around. This could come in handy for system builders, repair specialists, enthusiasts, or just about anyone who has a spare HDD. This is one of those products that I can see as becoming part of any enthusiasts toolkit, and I can also see it becoming very popular overall. Read on to check it out… ”

Alienware Aurora m9700
Bytesector :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
“The Alienware Aurora m9700 is one of the latest laptop releases from Alienware, one of the best known manufacturers of high-end computer systems in the industry. Their ongoing integration with their parent company Dell means that their systems are going to be more easily available in the coming months. It is definitely a powerful laptop, aimed at hardcore gamers, or all the early adopters out there that need whatever is the latest and greatest. And don’t doubt for a second that this is one of the most advanced laptops out there. ”

Gigabyte Poseidon Case Review
Motherboards.org :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Overall the case has good looks, and an ergonomic design that combined with its predisposed nature to use a liquid cooling kit, makes it ideal for the enthusiast’s user who wants to use the best cooling available. There is enough room inside to accommodate a single slot VGA solution, but SLI or CrossFire solutions may prove to be a bit of a tight squeeze and may seriously reduce the amount of air flow needed to keep the system running within normal heat parameters.

Mushkin HP2-6400 2 x 1GB DDR2
Phoronix :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
“Mushkin has been a long-time player in the memory industry, but the last time we had their products in our hands for testing was when previewing their Redline Heatspreaders. These heatspreaders were designed to create turbulence, to ultimately help dissipate heat. At that time they were known as the Redline Heatspreaders, but they were appropriately renamed to FrostByte. The RAM modules that we have in for testing today are the Mushkin HP2-6400 2 x 1GB kit with enhanced timings and these FrostByte heatspreaders. These memory modules have a SPD frequency of 800MHz with timings of 4-5-4-11 and supported voltages up to 2.1-2.2V. We have paired these DDR2 modules with the i975X-based Abit AW9D, and set out for some performance tests today.”

ECS PX1 Exclusive Motherboard Preview
Fast Silicon :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
“The ECS PX1 Extreme is slated to be ECS’s top of the line S775 platform board, and from our first impressions with this board we can easily see why. If you’re wondering why we aren’t doing a full review of the board, it’s due to board design changes as they relate to BIOS implementation. ECS has changed the configuration of their board, but apparently as of yet haven’t resolved issues with BIOS flashing tools. We’re still a bit in the dark on this ourselves and are working with ECS’s engineers to resolve this before these boards are available at retail.”

Intel D975XBX2 Motherboard Officially Launched
Legit Reviews :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Intel has the D975XBX2 desktop motherboard on their site, which usually means the board should be available at retailers very soon. The first official “production” boards for the Intel D975XBX2 Bad Axe 2 motherboard will be Rev502 and Rev503. Legit Reviews talks about some of the revision changes and tries out the most recent BIOS on the latest enthusiast board from Intel.

Alpine64: A Second Opinion
Dragonsteel Mods :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
” In an effort to bring quality and unbiased reviews to our readers, I have decided to implement a program I am calling: ‘A Second Opinion’. A Second Opinion will take a look at products already reviewed on DSM, another staff member will essentially review the product again, but this review will be shorter and more focused on the testing aspects of the products. The idea is that another viewpoint might shed light on something that the original reviewer missed, and the second reviewers test system is different than the original testing system. Not all products will receive the second opinion, only a select few will. There will be a special category in the reviews section of the site that will be titled ‘A Second Opinion’ here these reviews can be found. I hope everyone finds this program helpful, as the aim to to provide quality, honest and unbiased content to our readers and for our sponsors. So, for our first Second Opinion we have the Alpine64 from Arctic Cooling, this is also our newest staff member, Tom Ratas’s first review for DSM. So stop by and check out his take on the Alpine64 and drop him a note of welcome in the forums… ”

OCZ Tempest Cooler
Technic 3d :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
“The OCZ Tempest CPU Heatsink with blue LED arrived Technic3D. Cool Blue? See you in the following Review against others CPU Cooling.”

Cooler Master I-Tower 930 Review
Neoseeker :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
“With the I Tower 930 case, Cooler Master is looking to hit the enthusiast market with a relatively cheap offering that has high end users in mind. With the addition of a few handy physical case protection features and hot swappable functionality, this case seems to have more than what regular folk expect. There are plenty of reasons to want this case even without the SATA II rack but to overlook the hot swap component of this case would be a shame. Costing $114 at MSRP, this case should neither break a new PC builder’s budget or limit what the user can afford to put inside it.”

Abit AW9D-Max Motherboard
Driver Heaven :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
It’s no secret that Intel’s new Core 2 Duo (and upcoming Quadro) has stirred up a great amount of buzz in over clocking circles. What was an AMD dominated field has been usurped by the new low voltage dual core creations of Intel.

Never one to let down its enthusiasts, Abit has unveiled their new AW9D-Max which they promise to be the Intel enthusiast/overclocking board.

Akasa Evo Blue (AK-922) universal CPU cooler Review
Xtreme Computing :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Whilst I was here I took the opportunity to remove the Intel retaining bracket and fitted the AMD bracket this was an easy enough task as you just unscrew the 4 screws pictured to remove the Intel bracket fit the AMD one then screw it in place. I will never understand why manufacturers fit one or the other at time of manufacture, as they do not know what will be needed??

ASUS M2N32 WS Professional Motherboard Review
Motherboards.org :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
The ASUS M2N32 WS Professional board is unique in several ways. First it’s about the only board on the market today with PCI-X slots on the Socket AM2 platform. PCI-X can use both the PCI-X devices and PCI devices, meaning you lose nothing with the inclusion. As a workstation board, the M2N32 WS Professional scores 37 points on our Features chart. A great board for both the Workstation and Enthusiast user.

PowerColor X1950 PRO
Bjorn 3d :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Beginning of 2006 until now was all about 90 nm chips. Just recently ATI released their first .08µ chips codenamed R580+ (Don’t get fooled though; R580 is X1900 XT, meaning it’s been out but manufactured using 90 nm process, the plus sign is my own remark to distinguish the two) and RV535 (X1650). Throughout this year the company brought us many interesting products with phenomenal performance / price ratio: X1650 PRO, X1900 GT, X1800 GTO to name a few. Die shrink to 80 nm was just an experiment before ATI rolls out the big (small) guns based on 65 nm silicon. On October 17th ATI had released RV570, X1950 PRO also based on 80 nm process. The chip itself brings nothing new as it’s heavily based on R580+. To be frank it’s basically X1900 GT with faster clocks, internal Crossfire support and cheaper price tag.

Cooler Master Mystique 631
Tweak PC :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
A new case from Cooler Master. Just 6kg and a screwless design are worth a look.

Mushkin HP-6400 DDR2 Memory Review
Club Overclocker :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
It has been a very long time since we’ve tested anything from Mushkin, so I’ve been very eager to check out what they’ve been up to all this time. The Denver based company has several lines of memory ranging from the budget to the Extreme Performance (XP) line. The memory we have here today is from their “High Performance” line which is just a step under their Extreme Performance line. With latency timings of 4-5-4-11, we should receive some very good results on our C2D E6600 based test system. So with the ASUS P5W DH Deluxe motherboard warmed up and ready

Full List of Online Web Video Hosting Sites
The Tech Zone :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
With the proliferation of web video sites I thought it may be useful to create a somewhat comprehensive list. I hope everyone will find it useful. Web video sites are typically divided into two types, video hosting like YouTube and Google Video or portals like Channelchooser. Occasionally sites are hybrids like Yahoo video.

PayPal is Watching YOU!
Futurelooks :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
PayPal is kind of like a loan shark or a bookie. They don’t have a license to operate, but they handle your monetary tranactions. If they don’t like you, they can do whatever they want with you (though reports of them offing people may be highly exaggerated). Here are some horrors for you to ponder.

Foxconn And EVGA Motherboard Give-Away At Gamepyre
Gamepyre :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Hello Everyone, Win free motherboards sponsored by our partners at motherboards.org. This Free GiveAway runs from Wedsday October 25th until Wedsday November 15th. Like usual a random winner will be selected on Thursday November 16th 2006 and announced in the forums. Don’t miss out on this event as it is a very short 20 day contest, so do not wait or you may miss your chance, Enter to win and let luck be on your side my friends!

nVidia’s Geforce 7950GX2 and the MSI NX7950GX2-T2D1GE Videocard
PC Stats :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
“The GeForce 7950GX2 is nVIDIA’s flagship graphics card du jour, and the first true dual core, dual slot PCI Express videocard from the boys in Santa Carla. While there have been a handful of single card dual GPU videocards introduced, these have all been brand specific attempts (like the Gigabyte GV-3D1 dual 6600GT and GV-3D1-68GT dual 6800GT). The GeForce 7950GX2 brings SLI power to every PCI Express platform! For SLI compatible motherboards (and anyone with really deep pockets), it’s possible to run two GeForce 7950GX2 videocards together in SLU for a total of four GPUs rendering simultaneously! That’s just ridiculously sweet!”

Antazone ASC1000 Copper Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
“The Antazone ASC1000 heatsink makes use of direct airflow paths from its front mounted 95mm fan to its donut shaped 76mm diameter copper cooling fin section. Yet how the ASC1000 actually handles is directly tied into how efficiently its three 6mm diameter copper heatpipes, and the balk of copper at its base perform together. A thick copper base plate connects the upper portions of the ASC1000 heatsink to the heat generating processor below, and as a final good measure the whole contraption has been sugar dipped in a nice shinny copper plating bath.”

OCZ Technology Enhances the Award-Winning GameXStream with 850 Watt
OCZ :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
OCZ Technology Enhances the Award-Winning GameXStream Family with the Addition of the Ultra-Powerful 850 Watt Configuration

HIS launches the world’s first PCI graphics solution featuring Dual DVI based on ATI X1K family
HIS :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Combining a radically new and efficient 3D shader-core architecture by ATI, offering multimonitors solution and upgrade potential and total silence (0dB), Dual Link DVI (supports up to 2560 x 1600 resolution), DirectX 9.0c, SM 3.0 and AVIVO for PCI bus, promising the best video, the best for office capability and the best multimedia experience to PC users.

Corsair Expands the Award Winning Flash Voyager Product Family
Corsair :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
Encased in the Corsair proprietary all-rubber Flash Voyager housing and boasting water-resistant/ temperature tolerant properties, the new 8GB drive allows users to carry more valuable data and applications without compromise. Equipped with a security application and featuring enhanced dual channel technology, the 8GB Flash Voyager delivers an ideal combination of functionality, capacity and performance.

Antec launches fan for select component cooling
Antec :: Wednesday, November 01, 2006
It can therefore be angled toward the system component most in need of cooling. Spot Cool is powered by the motherboard fan connector, and features a three-speed switch for users to select quiet performance or maximum cooling. In addition, Spot Cool’s blue LED lights beautifully illuminate surrounding system components.

BlackBerry Pearl Review
XYZ Computing :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“At this point in time, a BlackBerry is just about standard issue equipment for anyone who needs to be easy to reach. There are a number of other options, most notably Windows Mobile smartphones, but the BlackBerry remains the tool of choice for business users. The company did this by catering their products to business users- their phones are great with email, are easy to use, and are packed with productivity features. Despite the restrain BlackBerry showed in sticking to phones aimed at professionals, the consumer market was just too attractive for them to stay away. That consumer phone, BlackBerry’s first, ended up being the 8100. This phone was highly awaited because as soon as word of it got out, the blogs were buzzing with excitement. When it was formally announced consumers were met with the small, slickly designed Pearl.”

Ten cool holiday gifts
DV Hardware :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“DV Hardware just published a new shopping guide to help users find gifts for tech savvy friends. First they take a look at some more expensive products (priced at more than $100) and then they take a look at five more affordable gifts.”

ShieldZone invisibleSHIELD (iPod 30 GB)
Barry’s Rigs n Reviews :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
If you own an iPod—particularly one of the latest generation video models—you already know how easy it is for the screen and body to get scratched. Now you can protect your iPod from all those scratches, scuffs and dings accumulated during daily use without adding to its bulk, weight, or sacrificing the use of accessories. Impossible, you say? It isn’t if you’re using ShieldZone’s invisibleSHIELD!”

Wireless PC Lock from USBGeek
Dragonsteel Mods :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
” When you think of security for your computer you might think of firewalls and anti-virus, but what about just when you walk away from your PC? Yes we have the electronic based threats, but what about the human kind? Do you trust your co-workers or other people around you not to tamper with your PC? One way to solve this problem is to turn your PC off each and every time you walk away, but that can be counter-productive, so a possible solution could be what I have for review today from USBGeek. USBGeek sent me their Wireless PC Lock, it comes with a USB Dongle and small transmitter that when separated will lock your PC automatically, then when you come back it will unlock for you. Sound cool? Read on to check it out… ”

Jetart NC3300 Cool Stand Review
XS Reviews :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
Jetart produce a myriad of PC cooling parts, from loud, air moving, monster PCI slot coolers to silent GPU coolers. Jetart also product other products like notebook coolers and temperature displays for case fronts. Today I have with me Jetart’s latest notebook cooling solution that not only helps keep the notebook cool, but allows you to rotate it; excellent for meetings or just spinning it round for fun. Read on to see what we thought of it.”

OCZ Roadster 1 GB
techPowerUp! :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
OCZ’s Roadster is a tiny little USB stick that uses an ingenious folding concept. With only 3 cm in length and 0.5 cm in height, this is probably the smallest USB key on the market. Its 1 GB of storage should be plenty for all your data transportation needs. With a price of around $25 for the 1 GB version it is also very affordable.

Speed Link Cyclon Webcam Review
XS Reviews :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“The 21st century is truly the age of communication. Sites like Myspace, Blogger and Bebo and catering to millions of people daily. Established communications tools like MSN Messenger and Skype are now as vital to the average web junky as their pop tarts and powerade. To help you improve your web presence for a low price, Speed Link has produced the Cyclon, an affordable for solution for everyone.”

Microsoft Zune
3dgameman :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“The newest competitor to come about is Microsoft. This November Microsoft dropped its previous attempt to take over the iTunes market (PlayForSure and MSN Music), and introduced the all new Microsoft Zune. This had been rumored for many months by bloggers around the web but until just a few short months ago, there had been no real proof. Once the player was officially announced, the term ‘iPod Killer’ was instantly tagged to the player. While Microsoft continues to deny, and rightly so, that they are trying to produce an ‘iPod Killer’, there is still the obvious jealousy. Microsoft is dedicating multiples of millions of dollars to creating what they are calling a more ‘social experience.’”

Revoltec Lightboard XL2 review
Driver Heaven :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“The Lightboard XL was one of the first full size 107 key keyboards which featured backlight, and still the Lightboard XL series are of the few full size keyboards with backlight available. Only recently Revoltec introduced the second version of the Lightboard XL, the Lightboard XL 2. There aren’t any significant changes between the two versions. Minor differences include better quality, USB connection support and shortcut keys.”

USB Geek USB to SATA/IDE Universal Kit
Overclockers Online :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
Devices such as the USB to SATA/IDE Universal Kit with One Touch Backup aim to make life easier due to their convenience. However, there is a small price to pay, other than the price itself, for the convenience.

Logitech G7 Review
Techgage :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
Is the G7 the killer wireless gaming mouse we’ve been waiting for? Included is the proven design of the other Logitech gaming mice, spare battery and even DPI control.

Razer Pro|Click V1.6 Review
Tech Gear :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
Today we’re looking at a high precision mouse from Razer. No doubt many of you have heard of Razer before. Well, if you haven’t then we are somewhat surprised. Razer offers many high performance products for gaming enthusiasts with a unique sense of style that totally sets each product apart from its competitors. You know when a product is from Razer as it usually looks totally kick ass.

Digital Trends 2006 Holiday Gift Guide
Digital Trends :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“Imagine smiles a mile wide when they open the gift from you this year. Whether you’re picking up great gadgets for your loved ones, or a few for your technology-loving self, we’ve found the best gadgety gifts and accessories to give (and receive) this holiday season. Our convenient gift guide below, complete with prices and where to buy, features hand-picked items for everybody and every budget to make shopping a no-brainer. Happy gifting!”

Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000 Review
Hardware Pacers :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“This month Hardware Pacers has had the pleasure of reviewing some of Microsoft Hardware’s newest releases, one of which is the Microsoft Natural Wireless Laser Mouse 6000. This mouse has a unique tall design with thumb scoop and conforms to the hand the way that the hand wants to be conformed to. The 4 programmable button mouse plus vertical and horizontal scroll wheel make for flexible functionality that can give the user quick access to frequently used commands. Smooth cursor flow and outstanding response and performance are immediately noticed. Outstanding feel and performance make this mouse a great addition to any computer.”

51 in 1 USB Slim Card Reader from Brando Workshop
Dragonsteel Mods :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
” If you have an older laptop like mine chanced are you don’t have a memory card reader of any kind built into it, even some of the newer ones don’t either, so you need to carry a separate card reader if you wish to have the ability to read any type of flash cards. Of course the less we have to carry with us the better it is, so we try and find the smallest and most useful devices we can. Today for review I have a tiny 51 in 1 USB card reader courtesy of our friends at Brando WorkShop, this thing is tiny, slim and reads pretty much every type of flash card out there. It has become a new addition to my laptop bag, and the older, larger one has been retired from service. So you’ll need to read on to learn some more about this great little card reader… ”

Walk on Water & ASUS Gaming Notebooks
t-break :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
The first one is basically a touch sensitive white screen was laid on the floor and an image projecting from the top

Logitech MX Revolution Wireless Laser Mouse
The Tech Lounge :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“Logitech’s MX Revolution is their newest flagship model featuring wireless connectivity and a swooping new design. A meek remodeling this is not. Bold lines carve sharp curves into this input device while a new technology promises to deliver “The World’s Most Advanced Mouse,” but we’ll see about that. It does have lasers, of course, so that’s a good start.”

Philips GoGear SA9200 MP3 Player Video Tour
Digital Trends :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
The Philips GoGear SA9200 MP3 Player is a Plays4Sure device that has a cool “Sensory TouchPad Superscroll”.

Netgear Skype WiFi Phone Review
XYZ Computing :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“The SPH101 Skype WiFi Phone is a basic device- it is a wireless mobile phone that allows you to connect to Skype in order to send and receive calls. In addition to being used as one would a normal phone, it can be used for free Skype communications, which is a like instant messaging though you can talk rather than type.

The goal of this product is to separate Skype from the computer. After all, if you are willing to pay a few dollars a month Skype can be a full-fledged phone service but there is no reason why you should have to be stuck at your computer the whole time- a phone like this one is how you get the most out of Skype.”

EDOVA Innovations X-Pad Laptop Platform
Bjorn 3d :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
There is a growing trend in notebook computers which could put you in harms way. Since the recent discovery of thousands of defective notebook batteries being used in many of the most popular brands, explosion and heat related injuries have been on the rise. Even though the majority of notebooks are using stable batteries, most systems are so powerful now that the user is still not free and clear of potential burns during routine use. Most users will agree that the term laptop may no longer apply, as the aptly named devices are showing up less and less on a users lap.

Flexiglow Cyber Snipa Intelliscope Laser Gaming Mouse Review
TweakNews :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“The Cyber Snipa, even though it’s geared towards gamers, is a well rounded mouse that works well in both games and everyday PC applications. Gamers will enjoy the six programmable buttons, ultra fast response times, DPI toggle button, and the cool red and blue illumination.”

Corsair Flash Voyager 8GB
Phoronix :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“Last week we had examined the OCZ Mega-Kart 8GB flash drive, and now this week we have the privilege of covering Corsair’s new CMFUSB2.0-8GB Flash Voyager. This USB flash drive offers a storage capacity of 8GB while promising 33MB/sec reads and 16MB/sec writes. Nevertheless, will this 8GB flash drive be able to continue in the legendary success we had previously seen by the Corsair Flash Voyager series?”

Bluetake RC201 PCMCIA Bluetooth Presenter Review
Hardware Pacers :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“One of Bluetake’s newest devices is the RC201 PCMCIA Bluetooth Presenter. Built to fit in a standard PCMCIA slot (for storage only), the RC201 is slim and mobile for users on the go. This presenter easily connects through a computer’s Bluetooth connection and with some quick software installation, a user is ready to present PowerPoint slides or virtually anything. The RC201 acts as a mouse, laser pointer, page flipper (page up / page down buttons), application opener (easily set up to open Microsoft PowerPoint or other presentation software), and presentation starter. This handy little tool is small and powerful. It is a must have for any office professional that is required to make presentations at the office or on the go.”

Sumo Omni & Otto Bean Bag Chairs
Think Computers :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“I’m sure all of you remember bean bag chairs, or maybe still have one today. Well a company called Sumo was nice enough to send us 2 of their specialized bean bag chairs. After first seeing them I thought, “Oh just another bean bag chair”, but after using them I realized they take bean bag chairs to the next level. The Sumo bean bag chairs are a great addition to anyone’s game room, living room, or bedroom so let’s check them out!”

OCZ 8 GB Mega-Kart USB 2.0 Drive Review
OCIA :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“I tried two different approaches, the first using a single large (700MB) ISO file, followed by a collection of around 500 smaller JPG files (250MB) and recorded the amount of time it took to copy these to the drive (Write) and from the drive (Read) separately. Transfer rates were calculated from these times and the Read and Write speeds were averaged to compare to results from HD Tach and HD Tune.”

OCZ Technology Mega-Kart 8GB USB Flash Drive Review
Big Bruin :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The OCZ Mega-Kart features 8GB of storage, a high speed USB 2.0 connection, and a unique design giving it the shape and size comparable to a thin stack of credit cards. This flash drive isn’t like the one that might be in your pocket or on your key chain right now. Although it may be wider and longer, its extremely thin profile makes it easy to store all your photos, music, and files right in your wallet.

Netgear SPH101 Wi-Fi Internet Phone Review
Buzz Me Baby :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“Encouraged by Skype’s catching on popularity with the crowd post Ebay-takeover, Netgear has tried to eliminate the common complaint of the Skype users being anchored to a computer with its latest offering – the SPH101 Skype Wi-Fi phone. A commendable job in view of the difficult task, Buzz Me Baby takes a look at how it peforms.”

Megalaser Scorpion 120mW Green Laser review
Techware Labs :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“At some point in time everyone has likely seen a laser pointer. Lasers are used for a multitude of purposes that range from medical to military. Most people are most familiar with red lasers. Red lasers can be found in your CD players, toys, and of course in the key chains and pointers sold both online and in many stores world wide. Techwarelabs is not reviewing a red laser. We have in our labs the green variety of laser pointer. Green laser pointers are many times brighter than red lasers and have the additional feature of beams that are visible in low light environments. ”

Func Mousepad Roundup
techPowerUp! :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
Func Industries makes gaming surfaces by gamers for gamers. Their product range includes a pad for everybody, from low sensitivity to ultra-large surface area. In this review we will be testing three pads: the Func surface1030, the 1030 Archetype and the F30.R. Also on the testbench we have the Func Antifriction Liquid which is supposed to reduce the gliding resistance of your gaming surface even more.

Scythe Kama-Meter Multi Functional Controller
Pro Clockers :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
and distributor of PC parts & gaming devices. I still remember getting my first Arctic Cooling VGA Silencer from them back when they were the only people importing them. Scythe has since grown to be one of the most highly regarded companies offering top quality PC cooling components and computer accessories, ranging from CPU and GPU cooling solutions to PC chassis and everything in-between. This time around we are going to be taking a look at one of their 5.25 bay devices, the “KAMA-METER” Multi Functional Controller, which works as a fan, temperature and sound controller for your computer.

Everglide g-1000 gaming mouse Review
Xtreme Computing :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
I would say look at your playing style beforehand and if and if you like a flat mouse which you rarely lift then the G-1000 could be the prefect mouse otherwise I think the G-1000 could cause problems with your playing style. If you are looking for a mouse which is precise and has a dpi switch but not for gaming then the G-1000 could also be a good option as it is lightweight responsive and had a very comfortable feel which is one of the advantages of using with a large palmed mouse.”

How To Get More Power From A Wireless Router
The TechZone :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
With the $16 no-name antenna attached to the WRT54GC, my scores increased tremendously. As you can see from the graphs, gains are noticeable right across the board. Bedroom signal strength went up from 1-2Mbps to 54Mbps under most tested conditions (the exception being one pot test @ 48Mbps). As for outside the front door and in the storage room, I could actually pick up reliable signals where there were no signals before. This breathes life into the possibility of sharing WiFi (and the monthly bill) with a neighbor.

As for moving the antenna to the alternate location (antenna 2 tests), it didn’t make as much of a difference as I expected. Scores moved up as well as down, but overall performance difference appeared to be negligible.

Brando Workshop USB Powered Paper Shredder
Dragonsteel Mods :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
” Gadgets are cool, especially most of those that our friends at Brando Workshop have. Security is a big concern and almost everyone owns a paper shredder, but how about a owning a tiny little one that is powered by the USB port on your computer? Today for review I have a cool little USB powered paper shredder, it is actually fairly quiet and can also open envelopes for you. Read on to learn more and check out the couple movies of it in action… ”

Recon X-Series rugged PDA reviewed
PDA Today :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“In today’s work environment it has become increasingly necessary to bring work typically done at the office out into the field. More and more technology has been brought to the fields of construction, surveying, manufacturing, telecom, etc. This brings an interesting issue to light; how do you work in an unfriendly and potentially harsh environment while not burning through laptops and PDA’s weekly?”

Nikon Coolpix L5 7.2MP Digital Camera Review
Techgage :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
Not everyone wants an expensive camera. Nikon realizes this, and their answer is the L series. We are taking a look at the recently launched L5, boasting a huge 7.2 megapixels!

Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 8000 Review
Hardware Pacers :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“The Microsoft Wireless Laser Mouse 8000 is the Microsoft Corp’s first rechargeable mouse. With a sharp design and lasting recharging capabilities this mouse is a top notch product. The included NiMH AA battery charges within one half hour and depending on settings and usage, the battery can last up to a week; even with the most limited charging performance settings the mouse’s charge will easily last an entire day. With amazing 1000 dpi resolution, mouse users will experience smooth cursor control and great performance. Ergonomically pleasing, the smooth feel of the metallic surface conforms to the hand as if it was custom made. The brushed aluminum finish gives it a smart business look that is pleasing to the eye in the home or office. The Wireless Laser Mouse 8000 is a great combination of looks and functionality that should please any user.”

Razer Tarantula Keyboard
3dgameman :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“There are very few true gaming keyboards on the market and many of these are not for the hardcore gamer. Serious gamers need a serious keyboard and the Razer Tarantula Keyboard definitely falls into this category. With great looks, a stylish design, great tactile response, interchangeable keys, programmable macro keys, over 100 profile keys, etc., this keyboard is sure to please. Watch the Video to find out more…”

Antec Notebook Cooler S Review
XYZ Computing :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
This review is going to take a look at Antec’s new Notebook Cooler S. This is a lightweight, portable cooler that is designed to go where you go. If you are picking up and moving your workspace, Antec thought it would be nice to be able to bring your cooling with you. Two fans and low power consumption mean that this product should be just what people are looking for in order to keep their laptop cool.

ICY DOCK Modiflash 722 Mobile Dock
Pro Clockers :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Today, In today’s computing world, data security along the ability to easily transport data from one point to another is becoming more and more important. Icy Dock has been in the business of providing solutions to both these problems for years with their removable and external hard drive enclosures. Icy Dock has recently introduced a removable hard drive enclosure designed for the computer enthusiast/gamer, the Modiflash 722, and we are going to be looking at one of these units today to see if it meets the high standards of the rest of Icy docks product line.

Super Talent Mega Screen MP3 Player
Bjorn 3d :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
Super Talent is a fairly well known company in the industry, however, they are primarily known for their computer memories and flash memories. The Mega Screen MP3 player is their new mp3 player that is probably in direct competition to the iPod Nano given to its specification. Let’s take a closer look at this player and see whether or not it has the needed ingredients to take a bite of Apple’s pie.

USB Ultra infrared receiver DIY guide to remote control and power on/off the PC
OC Inside :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
A new USB infrared receiver guide with a special PC power on/off function is published on ocinside.de The circuit got the name “USB Ultra infrared receiver” or briefly “USB Ultra IR”. The USB Ultra IR does not “only” allow to control the complete PC software with an universal infrared remote control unit, but also offers a special function to power-on and switch-off the PC remotely. The guide includes a full solder guide and a detailed explanation of the USB Ultra IR v1.1, which is by the way also as a complete DIY kit in the Redaktion ocinside.de Fanshop available. Should be a nice handicraft for the colder (pre-) Christmas time … ;)

ICY DOCK MB559 eSATA/USB 2.0 review
Driver Heaven :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“With the advent of Serial ATA storage, a new era was ushered in for the PC. The cumbersome grey ribbon cables we all grew up with were a thing of the past, as was the bottlenecked Parallel ATA bus. Not only did SATA improve performance and unclutter cases, it also gave mainstream PCs the ability to “hot-swap” hard drives without restarting the host operating system, a trick that had been out of reach for everyone except server operators running immensely expensive SCSI controllers and drives.”

Habu – A Gaming mouse from Microsoft and Razer Reviewed
metku Mods :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“First gaming mouse jointly developed my Microsoft and Razer. The fact that Habu is a wired mouse, makes it great for gamers. Yes, the wire will limit the movement up to certain degree but the benefits for having the wire outweighs that con. For example a term like Always-On Mode cuts the latency practically to zero. Imagine what this would do to the operating times with a wireless mouse.”

Ultron Speecision Mouse Pad
techPowerUp :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
The Ultron Speecision is a 2in1 mouse pad, sporting a rough precision side and a fine speed side. The build quality of the pad is incredibly solid, due to the aluminum used. Since there is no cloth in use, the pad is resistant to any spilled liquids. We take our mice for a spin on both surfaces and test how each side fares.

WaterField Cozmo Mambo Combo laptop bag review
DV Hardware :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
The bag is very roomy and features lots of pockets which you can stuff with extra gear for your notebook or other small things. The exterior of the bag is black and only the edges are made out of leather. It’s a bit disappointing that only a small area is covered with leather because you have to pay an additional $30 for this option…”

Zunes Software First Look
Techgage :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
With the Zune being launched shortly, there’s no better time than now to take a quick stroll through its native software. It’s pretty, but has a lot of functionality as well.

Lenovo 3000 V100 Notebook Review
XYZ Computing :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
In this review we will be taking a look at the Lenovo 3000 V100 ultra-portable notebook computer. At first glance people will probably be surprised by just how refined the system appears, but you have to keep in mind that these are the same people that produce the X60s. That said, there is a very clear distinction between the two lines and when you buy a 3000, don’t expect a Thinkpad. This is clearly an interesting situation and one worth investigating if you are someone looking for a good deal on a notebook, are interested in the company that makes your Thinkpad, or like to keep an eye on notebook culture. So let’s take a closer look at the V100…

Jetart Coolstand
Dragonsteel Mods :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
” Our friends at Jetart have sent over another cool little product that I think a lot of people out there might find useful. It is called the Coolstand, not only is it meant to help keep your laptop cool, but it has an adjustable height for good typing posture and it has a swivel base to allow you to move the laptop freely if need be. While it might seem like a simple little product, it is something that business people or even regular users might appreciate. The swivel base is great for presentations, and the adjustable typing posture makes sure you are comfortable while using your laptop, and of course it does promote better airflow under your laptop to keep it nice and cool. Read on to learn more… ”

ASUS Lamborghini VX1 Review
Techgage :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
What do you get when you place a huge computer manufacturer in a blender with an Italian automobile powerhouse? One great looking laptop! Does it prove to be as fast as the cars it mimics?

ASUS WL-500g Premium Router Review
Techgage :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
Routers are often boring, but ASUS proves that doesn’t have to be the case. The WL-500g is a very fast WiFi router that offers USB connectivity and even the ability to download while your computer is turned off!

Vizo Ninja Notebook Cooler
Dragonsteel Mods :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
Yesterday we took a look at a passive, multi-function notebook cooler, today for review I have the Ninja from Vizo. It is a notebook cooler as well, but it features an all aluminum construction with two silent cooling fans that actually do help cool your laptop. I’ve had some experience with Vizo products in the past, in fact I own some of them so I know the quality of Vizo is excellent. The ninja from Vizo looks very cool, and is as silent as a Ninja, so it is very aptly named. Read on to check it out… ”

Logitech G7 Black Gaming Mouse Review
ASE Labs :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
I know what you are thinking. ‘I already read the G7 reviews in the past.’ Plus, you probably own a G7 already. Why would I be reviewing such an old product that even I reviewed in the past? Simple, this is a new product from Logitech. It has the same name, but a refreshed design. Meet the black G7! ”

Polycom Communicator C100S USB Skype Phone Review
Technibble :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
The Polycom Company is usually involved in tele or video conferencing products. But this product from Polycom is a step ahead. On first view it won’t look like a phone but a gizmo. Actually it is a desktop speakerphone (and mic) which when connected to you to your PC via USB cable helps you in hands-free communication with your Skype buddies over the internet.

Microsoft Habu Gaming mouse review
Metku Mods :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“The fact that Habu is a wired mouse, makes it great for gamers. Yes, the wire will limit the movement up to certain degree but the benefits for having the wire outweighs that con. For example a term like Always-On Mode cuts the latency practically to zero. Imagine what this would do to the operating times with a wireless mouse.”

Icemat 2nd Edition
Nippy Chips :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
The Icemat 2nd Edition is not only stunning in looks, but performance. I traded in my previous mouse pad for the past week to fully test out the Icemat 2nd Edition and was surprised with my results. It performed very well, but was a little lackluster is some aspects; such as comfort. Overall it’s a great pad, but it isn’t for everyone. Read on for the whole review.

Buffalo RUF2-S Series 4 GB USB Flash Drive
Think Computers :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
The ability to store large amounts of data on an ultra portable device is something that anyone could find useful. As technology improves, memory becomes smaller and faster, providing the user access to quickly store large files. The Buffalo RUF2-S Series 4 GB flash drive does just that. With 4 GB of storage space, the Buffalo flash drive can hold a plethora of data with some room to spare. Also, this flash drive is among one of the fastest drives we have tested at ThinkComputers. So read on to find out how well it performs.”

Zalman ZM460B-APS Powe Supply
Madbox PC :: Thursday, November 09, 2006
A nice, stylish, powerful and silent PSU from Zalman, if you want to know more about it you can read the entire review”

Olympus Stylus 720 SW Digital Camera Review
ReviewDesk :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
“This camera fits perfectly in your pants pocket (or in your purse), so you can take it anywhere.. and I mean anywhere, even underwater. As it stands, right out of the box, you can take it up to 10ft underwater without worrying about it getting hurt. I don’t know how useful this is for the everyday person, but if you drop it in the toilet, no worries, it can take it.”

Motorola KRZR Video Tour
Digital Trends :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
The Motorola KRZR offers a new design to Motorola’s popular cell phone line. Will it beat out the RAZR as the new cell phone king?

Raptor K2 keyboard
Driver Heven :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Today we are looking at a product from the german based Raptor-Gaming, the “Raptor Gaming K2” which is the follow up to the successful (and rather expensive) K1 model. Interestingly, the price has been reduced from almost £100 (for the K1) in the UK to around £32 (for the K2) so if the quality is in the same area as before, we might have quite the bargain.

Olympus SP-510UZ Review
Digital Trends :: Monday, November 06, 2006
The Olympus SP-510UZ falls short on just about every point. Read our review before even thinking about buying this camera. ”

Verballs : The Internet Telephone Toy
Dragonsteel Mods :: Monday, November 06, 2006
VoIP has become common place these days with various providers offering free calling to almost anywhere in an effort to compete in this fast growing industry. With an industry that is growing at such a fast pace we can expect to see many new tech toys coming out that will try and capitalize on this new trend, so today for review I have one, actually two of those new tech toys, they are called Verballs. Verballs are sort of a speaker phone fore Skype, and other VoIP services. What makes them different is what they look like and what they can do, they are animated with mouth that move to your callers voice, and sort of look like cartoony imps. The company that makes the Verballs was kind enough to send me two of them, one for review an one to give away to one lucky reader at DSM. So read on to learn about this cool little techie toy and learn what you need to do to own your very own for free… ”

USB Skype Phone with LCD Display
Think Computers :: Monday, November 06, 2006
VoIP has really come a long way in the past few years. It has gone from something that was used only be computer geeks into something that the world has embraces through projects such as Skype, Gizmo, and Asterisk. VoIP has also become common place with telephone providers like Vonage who offer VoIP services through your traditional POTS home telephone. There is no doubt that VoIP is here to say and with that said many companies have started making peripheral devices to use in conjunction to many VoIP applications. Today we will be looking at the Skype USB VoIP Phone with Dot-Matrix LCD.”

Dynex Internal All in 1 Memory Card Reader Review
Reviewdesk :: Monday, November 06, 2006
“Dynex is a small company, owned by Best Buy, that makes products to sell in Best Buy stores. As far as I know, you can’t get Dynex products anywhere else (except maybe eBay) and they’re usually entry-level in whatever they make. I bought this Dynex All in 1 Memory Card Reader for one reason, and one reason only: because it’s cheap.”

X-Micro XVDO MP4 F610 Player
Techtastic :: Monday, November 06, 2006
Now that MP3 players are common place, consumers are looking for more than a player that can play music. With the amount of video media available on the web, it’s a natural choice to add video capabilities to MP3 players. Today we take a look at one such player; the new XVDO MP4 F610 Player from X-micro.

iPod shuffle 2nd gen Review
Digital Trends :: Monday, November 06, 2006
The new Apple iPod Shuffle features a completely revamped design and is smaller than ever. But have compromises been made in the process?”

OCZ Roadster 1GB Review
Techgage :: Monday, November 06, 2006
OCZ has got small in a big way. A while back we looked at one of the thinnest thumbdrives on the market from OCZ and today we take a look at another diminutive thumbdrive from OCZ.

Hiyatek Contractible Laptop Cooling Pad
Think Computers :: Monday, November 06, 2006
With so many high performance laptops coming out there needs to be some way of cooling them so they perform at top notch. With some laptops stock cooling just does not cut it. There are so many laptop cooling pads out there it is hard to choose. Well today I have a laptop cooler that is very different than many others. You can open and close it to the desired size you need so if you have multiple laptops you can use it on both. Also because it is contractible it makes it easier to travel with. So let’s take a look at the Hiyatek Contractible Laptop Cooling Pad.”

Art. Lebedev Optimus Mini Three
techPowerUp! :: Monday, November 06, 2006
Art.Lebedev Optimus Mini Three is a very innovative little keyboard product. While the large price tag will make it appealing only to a limited number of customers, the price reflects a designer product. It offers a lot of functionality, but nothing you couldn’t do without. The Optimus Mini Three is the ultimate gadget for the computer enthusiast, so the price will not be as important as the fun factor of the device.

OCZ Mega-Kart 8GB Flash Drive
OCZ :: Monday, November 06, 2006
OCZ Technology is at it again attempting to push the envelope for flash media. When they had introduced the Rally it was a smoking fast flash drive that had finally stolen the performance crown from Corsair’s Flash Voyager. After that OCZ pushed the physical envelope for flash drives with the incredibly small Mini-Kart. Now OCZ Technology is at it again, but this time around they are attempting to push the storage capacity for computer users. The OCZ Mega-Kart offers an 8GB storage capacity while retaining a small footprint, and best of all an economically-minded price.”

10 Reasons to Buy a DSLR Camera
The Tech Lounge :: Monday, November 06, 2006
“One of the most common questions I get as related to photography is “What camera should I buy?” Before I get into the reasons I recommend buying a DSLR, I’d like to state why you should NOT buy a DSLR. There is a saying among photographers: “The camera doesn’t make the photo, the photographer does.” Professional equipment means nothing without someone who knows how to properly use it to its fullest.

I urge you not to buy that Canon EOS 20D or Nikon D80 or [insert other DSLR model here] if you plan to leave it on full automatic mode. DSLRs are expensive light-capturing tools that can help you create some amazing images, but only if you have the time and patience to learn what you are doing and be creative. With my public service announcement out of the way, I present to you: 10 reasons to buy a DSLR Camera.”

Olympus Stylus 750 Review
Digital Trends :: Monday, November 06, 2006
“The popular Olympus Stylus 750 is an attractive credit card-sized camera that works great for those that like to get a little dirty.”

Trendnet ClearSky Bluetooth VoIP Phone Kit Review
Tech Nibble :: Monday, November 06, 2006
“A fairly simple and sound product from Trendnet, the ClearSky Bluetooth VoIP Phone Kit for Skype is a trendsetter that proves that Skype can happen in conjunction with Bluetooth with competence intact.”

Dell XPS M1210 12.1-inch Laptop
Think Computers :: Tuesday, October 31, 2006
“I have been looking for a new laptop for a while. My previous laptop the Dell 700m was great and I had no problems with it at all. I wanted an upgrade, something that was small like the 700m, but also powerful and able to play games. After looking around I found a few laptops I was interested in, but I cut the list down to 2 laptops, the Dell XPS M1210 and the ASUS A8J. The deciding factor was that I was actually able to go look at the Dell and check it out. Also my previous Dell had no problems so I opted for the Dell.”

Samsung Develops Ultra-Slim LCD
Samsung :: Monday, November 27, 2006
Samsung Electronics has developed what it claims is the thinnest LCD panel, just the thickness of a credit card, designed for use in mobile phones.

Super Talent MEGA Screen 2GB Mp3 Player at Overclockers Online
Overclockers Online :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
The MEGA Screen truly is a quality product, screaming with sound quality, stylish construction, and ergonomic design. This audio player would be a great addition to anyone’s pocket to entertain you on your daily commute, in your home, or anywhere else you feel the desire to listen to music.

Logitech Harmony 670 Universal Remote Video Tour
Digital Trends :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
Be the supreme ruler of your home electronics with the Logitech Harmony 670 Universal Remote.”

Sapphire X1650 Pro 256 MB
techPowerUp! :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
If you are looking for a cheap video card that will keep you running until Windows Vista and DirectX 10 are out you may want to look at the Sapphire X1650 Pro. The card will run most games on high details at 1024×768 without taking a sweat. It comes equipped with fast GDDR3 memory and the fan is temperature controlled to keep the noise levels down.

LTB Magnum USB 5.1 Headphones
Phoronix :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“It has been almost two years since we first heard of LTB Audio Systems and decided to look at their USB True 5.1 Surround Sound Headphones. The headphones were surprisingly well designed for coming from this relatively unheard of company. Listen To Believe (LTB) has recently introduced their Magnum 5.1 USB Headphones, which is what we will be looking at today. These headphones offer a built in microphone, onboard audio control, and is true 5.1 surround sound.”

Kinc and XFX GeForce 8800 GTX set a new single-card world record in 3DMark 2001
Nordic Hardware :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
We earlier reported about how Kinc managed to push the card’s GPU to over 1GHz and he has now performed some tests at 997MHz and managed to set a world record for single cards with over 90,000 points in 3DMark 2001; 90,274 to be more precise.

Kinc sets another world record – 1GHz GPU with GeForce 8800 GTX
Nordic Hardware :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
We earlier reported about how Kinc managed to push the card’s GPU to over 1GHz and he has now performed some tests at 997MHz and managed to set a world record for single cards with over 90,000 points in 3DMark 2001; 90,274 to be more precise.

nVidia ForceWare Vista Driver Blunder – Thermal Management?
Tweak Town :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
“This week has been a horrid week for us. We’ve had so much hardware die or fail – first of all, our RAID 0 array failed, then our water cooling pump decided to fail, then one of our Vista installs corrupted itself and finally managed to avoid a fire hazard but killed an nVidia GeForce 7900GS graphics card in the process. They say bad things happen in groups of three – we’re at number four and hope for no more problems.

Today we’ll tell you about the death of an nVidia GeForce 7900GS graphics card and how we think it could have been avoided by better and more thoroughly-tested Windows Vista ForceWare drivers. It seems to be a major blunder by nVidia and we feel as if it is important enough to alert our readers about the issue.”

Zalman HD135 HTPC Case Review
Big Bruin :: Sunday, November 26, 2006
When creating a PC system for use at a desk, noise is somewhat of a concern, but a certain level of noise has become acceptable to achieve cooler temperatures. When setting out to create a PC for home theater duty, noise and heat get a lot more attention. Zalman has tried to make the best of both worlds with their HD135… I cannot find anything I do not like about this case; it looks great, cools excellently, and has plenty of room. Given all of these positives and the absolutely excellent engineering that went into it, I award the Zalman HD135 HTPC Case the “Highly Recommended” Award.

Logitech FreePulse Bluetooth Wireless Headphones
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
” Music is everywhere, the Ipod, the Zune, and on any other Mp3 player out there. You’ll find these devices in use by an extremely diverse group of peoples, from children to construction workers and up to the executive levels of corporations. It seems everyone is plugged in these days in one way or another. One thing I quite never figured out though is why most people settle for the blah stock earbuds or headphones that come with these devices, you like your music enough to take it with you so why not really enjoy it with a quality set of headphones, and why be wired to your device? This is where Logitech comes in with the introduction of their FreePulse wireless headphones, which of course is what I have for review today. I love my music, and it is enhanced even more with the excellent quality of the FreePulse. Read on to learn more about these excellent headphones…

ATI X1950 Pro Crossfire
t-break :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
The X1950 Pro is one of our favorite cards at the moment because of its price/performance ratio. Today we find out if two of these cards are better than one in Crossfire mode and if they can compete with higher-end cards.

ATI Catalyst 6.11 Performance Analysis
Tweak Town :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“If not, we have changed our test system motherboard over rendering our 6.10 benchmarks useless which meant we had to test our cards twice instead of once. We thought we would take the chance though to change it up. We have completely swapped the cards over – low and mid range is represented with the Radeon X1300XT and X1650PRO, high-end gets the Radeon X1950XTX and previous generation gets the X850XT.”

Gainward Bliss 7600 GT PCX Review
Technic 3d :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“The Gainward Bliss 7600 GT PCX arrived Technic3D. As good is the Graphic Card 7600 GT really against others? Technic3D will see that in the following Review.”

HIS X1650XT 256MB iSilenceII Video Cards
3dgameman :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“The HIS X1650XT series of Video Cards offer tremendous value. When combined in a CrossFire configuration they still offer great value, but performance goes way up! As a matter of fact, two X1650XT Video Cards will outperform a single X1950Pro Video Card in some instances. If you’re on a budget and want a CrossFire setup, get ’em! Watch the Video to find out more…”

Icemat Siberia In:Ear Headset
Think Computers :: Thursday, November 23, 2006
“Ever since Icemat’s inception in 2000, they have provided gamers with high quality products that stand out. The Icemat Siberia In:Ear Headset is no exception. Style is one of Icemat’s strong points, and it definitely shows in this headset. It features an amazing rich sound, and great design elements in a small package. With a separate microphone, this headset can be used in a wide array of applications. The small design also makes it perfect for portable devices such as MP3 players. So read on to find out more about the Icemat Siberia In:Ear Headset.”

ASUS EN7950GT HTDP 512MB Review
Techgage :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Looking for a great video card but don’t want to open your wallet -that- wide? Been there. We are taking a look at the ASUS 7950GT with 512MB of GDDR3. It proves to have a pricetag that’s easy to stomach and also a lot of overclocking headroom.

Auzentech X-Meridian 7.1 Sound Card Review
NV News :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
:”The sound that came out of my headphones with Dolby Headphone enabled was awe inspiring. I have never heard anything like it. From ratty old mp3s to high definition audio, this card delivers amazing quality of sound. My wife even agrees. I made her listen to some mp3s normally, then with Dolby Headphone turned on. Then, I turned on the Virtual 7.1 speakers, and she became giddy…a very rare occurrence. For those of us who cannot crank up the audio without disturbing our significant others, the Dolby Headphone feature is the perfect solution.”

Introducing G80 architecture and DX 10
Overclock 3d :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“nVidia have released the G80, their DirectX 10 compatible hardware. Being the first to release meant all eyes have been on nVidia. Asus sent us their 8800GTX for us to put through it’s paces”

How to Secretly Record Phone Calls using Skype
Buzz Me Baby :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“At some point in our lives there will come a time when you would like to record a phonecall. You may need to talk to someone you are having problems with such as a company/partner lieing to you and you need some legal dirt. One of the easiest and cheapest (and undetectable) ways to do this is to use Skype, the popular internet phone call software. In this guide, we’ll show you how to get setup and start recording phone conversations through your computer.”

Three 7600GT budget Graphics Cards reviewed
Metku Mods :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“The accurate models of the cards in this review are MSI NX7600GT Diamond Plus, Palit 7600GT Sonic and Leadtek Winfast PX 7600GT TDH Extreme. It’s pretty easy to say from the outlook of the cards which one is the factory-overclocked TDH version. Leadtek’s cooler not only has the largest fan but also hides almost half of the card under it.”

The Ultimate Budget Gaming Solution!
Tekbunker :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Hi guys, well I ended up selling my 7900GT, and since my 8800GTX is still in the process of shipping, (Should be here by Thursday for the latest) I ended up sticking a 7600GS I had in the store to hold me over for the next 2 days or so. I must say I am pretty impressed at the performance/overclockability of this card.

Altec Lansing FX5051 5.1 Speaker System Review
XYZ Computing :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“A solid audio system can make a tremendous difference- it can turn gaming from just another boring shoot-em-up to a spine-rumbling, surround sound action fest. If you are not a gamer then you might enjoy improved sound quality for your digital music, surround sound movies, or the added bass of a subwoofer.

This time around we will be looking at the FX5051 surround sound 5.1 speaker system from Altec Lansing. The new system was just released in order to round out their lineup as a high-end system with speakers and a subwoofer. Despite its being at the top end of Altec Lansing’s PC series the FX5051 is still relatively affordable (MSRP is $249) for a serious computer sound system. There is extremely tough competition in the audio market though and some very good systems are available for a lot less, so let’s see how the FX5051 stacks up.”

XFX GeForce 7900 GT 470M 256MB VIVO
Modders Inc. :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
The XFX 7900 GT is a mid range card with a mid range price there are no down real sides to speak of. The card performs exceptionally well for its price range and it has outstanding overclocking abilities.

eVGA 7600GS Overclocking / Performance
Tek Bunker :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
Hi guys, well I ended up selling my 7900GT, and since my 8800GTX is still in the process of shipping, (Should be here by Thursday for the latest) I ended up sticking a 7600GS I had in the store to hold me over for the next 2 days or so. I must say I am pretty impressed at the performance/overclockability of this card.

Razer Barracuda AC-1 Gaming Sound Card
Phoronix :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
“The Razer Barracuda AC-1 promises ‘pinpoint specific audio sound cues in-game with 38% greater accuracy than conventional soundcards, providing for the ultimate gaming experience,’ but is this the truth? After this week’s official launch of the Barracuda AC-1 we have our hands on this new sound card and today are offering up a preview. In this preview we expose what audio processor is really is at the heart of the Barracuda AC-1!”

Gateway FPD2485W 24in LCD Video Tour
Digital Trends :: Wednesday, November 22, 2006
The Gateway FPD2485W 24 inch LCD monitor is a sleak, great looking monitor at an oustandingly great price.!”

XFX Geforce 8800 GTS – the “little” 8800
Tweak PC :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The XFX Geforce 8800 GTS is something like the “little” 8800. First of all the price is an important factor.

Razer Barracuda Gaming Headset Review
XS Reviews :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
” Razer have been producing some of the world’s top gaming peripherals for years. From the Boomslang to the Copperhead, and the Exact Mat to the Mantis, Razer have made their mark. However now Razer are branching out a little and trying to make a name for themselves in the world of audio, specifically gaming headsets. Bringing their traditional standards of aesthetics and style, will Razer’s new Barracuda impress? Lets see.”

Catalyst 6.11 Comparison
Technic 3d :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“Catalyst 6.11 Comparison on Technic3D. Faster then Catalyst 6.10? See you in the following Catalyst Roundup up to Catalyst 6.4.”

n DSW1812P 18x Triple Format DVD Rewriter Review
PC Stats :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“The AOpen 18x Triple Format DVD Rewriter (DSW1812P) is one of the few recordable DVD drives on that market that supports every single recordable DVD format there is – we’re talking DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RAM, DVD+RW, DVD-RW, DVD+R Dual Layer and DVD-R Dual Layer. But wait, that’s not all! With the AOpen DSW1812P drive you also get the Chameleon Bezel, AOpens’ mysterious “Silent Technology” and fabled UDMA66 transfer speeds! And if you act now, AOpen will also include CD-R, CD-RW, and regular CD-ROM compatibility!!!”

Pertelian X2040 V4 USB LCD Portable Display Review
Big Bruin :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The Pertelian X2040 is the perfect device for gamers who don’t want an interruption in the action, even if they need their computer to keep track of things in the rest of the world. They can configure it to check the status of just about whatever they want, and keep an eye on the Pertelian’s LCD screen for updates.

ATI Radeon X1950 Pro vs. Nvidia GeForce 7900GS
Tech Spot :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
It’s quite often that we find ATI and Nvidia rebadging their products. As it happens many times, relaunching an existing graphics card with a new name, tweaked settings and a better price point can do wonders. While there are many examples of successfully rebadged products, there are also those that have gone wayward. Today we will be taking an in-depth look into two of those “new” products, as both use parts handed down from existing current generation products, namely ATI’s Radeon X1950 Pro and the Nvidia GeForce 7900GS. Both of these cards fall into the $200 price bracket, and as fairly revised products that they are, we certainly expect a raging battle for the crown of the best mainstream graphics card in the market.

HDD Player Techsolo TMV 330 Review
Technic 3d :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
The HDD Player Techsolo TMV 330 arrived Technic3D. More HTPC with a small Price? See you in the following Review which qualities the HDD Player presents.”

Biostar 7600GS PCIE Videocard – Excellent Gaming on a Budget
Dragonsteel Mods :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
” With the launch of the Nvidia 8800 series of video cards, all other cards seem obsolete, but this is how it always happens, technology advances and those without the cash are left to make due with what they can. If you don’t have the cash to throw down on an 8800 series vid card, there are still many other options available out there, even the so-called budget cards are still very good for what they are. Today for review I have the Biostar 7600GS video card, it is a lower end card for the gamer on a budget, but still plays games and has some nice features including a very low price point, you can run two of them is SLI mode for about $200. Read on to check it out… ”

Generic x1600Pro Crossfire
3dgameman :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
“ECS has come up with an awesome motherboard packed with lots of extras. ATI’s newest chipset shows that they are headed in the right direction and that performance does not have to be heavy on the wallet. ECS’s reputation for providing decent products at a decent price has just been bumped up a notch to provided great products to enthusiast builders at a great price…”

Sennheiser MX 550 earphones
DV Hardware :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
About a year ago I bought the Sennheiser MX 550 earphones for my MP3 player. After using a pair of Sony earphones that came with my Sony Walkman for more than 6 years the right earphone suddenly stopped functioning. It’s kinda annoying to only hear the left channel of music so I decided to buy a new pair of headphones. I did some research on the web and decided to go for the Sennheiser MX 550.

MSI Geforce NX7900GTX 512MB GDDR3 PCI-E Video Card Review
Futurelooks :: Tuesday, November 21, 2006
With the release of the next king of video cards, the 8800 series GPU from nVidia, it might be time to rethink that upgrade to the 7900 series. Now that it has been dethroned, cards like the MSI NX7900GTX should be coming to a store near you, at a much more affordable price. Check out what we thought of it right here.

More GeForce G80 Series Revealed
NGO HQ :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
Nvidia has already taken steps to reduce the amount of data leaks from their software. But, apparently they forgot about a leaked version of ForceWare 96.94. Nvidia provided this driver to the G80 reviewers and it seems that someone leaked it out. If you will open a file called “modes.txt” from the ForceWare 96.94 package, you will notice a few new G80 strings.

Multi-Monitor Tips & Tricks Guide Rev. 1.1 Posted!
Tech ARP :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
If you have a multi-monitor system or are thinking about getting one, be sure to check this guide out! Find out how you can obtain the best experience from your multi-monitor setup!

ASUS PW201 20″ LCD Review
Techgage :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
If you are in the market for a modestly sized widescreen computer monitor, then ASUS has you covered. It’s hard to denote the PW201 as a “computer” monitor though, as it’s fully capable of handling your game consoles and cable TV. The functionality doesn’t end there though.

Sennheiser CX300 Review
Digital Trends :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“While most canalphones are touted as being noise-reducing, the CX300 takes a different angle, creating a hybrid ear bud-canalphone product. ”

Albatron Mini-ITX Mobo turned into Car PC
Tweak Town :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“Today we are not only reviewing a Mini-ITX motherboard that we think is ultimately the best car and HTPC motherboard to hit the market, we also built ourselves a rather basic yet impressive car PC into one of our FWD vehicles. Today Albatron enters the micro PC market with their KI51PV-754 motherboard. We’ll first take a close look at the board and then built it into a car and show you how we did it.”

Thermaltake Mozart SX (VC7001SNS) Slim Home Theatre PC Enclosure Review
Futurelooks :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
If slim is your thing, then you should be checking out the Thermaltake Mozart SX Slim Home Theatre PC Enclosure. Measuring at only 90 mm tall, it’s about as tall as a standard coffee mug. But just because it’s slim and sexy, doesn’t mean it’s all that. Read on for the full story and make up your own mind.

Abit iDome DS 500 and SW 510 Digital Speakers
Tech Gear :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“If there’s any criticism of the speakers, it can’t be its looks. The satellite speakers are quite attractive with the polished black finish and the cones showing through the metal grilles. On the primary speaker that contains the amp and volume controls, there is also a red LED that lights up the acrylic stand. To be honest, I don’t like this much mostly because the other speaker doesn’t have one to match it and partly because the power LED is blue would have looked a lot better. Situated at the back of the speaker is a switch which allows you to turn off the red LED light if needed.”

7600 GS 512MB passiv Review
Technic 3d :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“As good the Graphic Card 7600 GS passiv from Club 3D really. Technic3D will see that completely silent.”

Pioneer PDP-5070HD Plasma TV Review
Digital Trends :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
Pioneer’s 7th generation plasma, the PDP-5070HD makes strides over last years offering, the 5060HD with improved black levels and color decoding. ”

HannsG HC174DP 17″ TFT Monitor Review
XS Reviews :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“There are only a few things we haven’t reviewed here at XSR, one of those is a TFT monitor; today that’s going to change. This particular model is the HC174DP from Hanns G. This 17″ monitor with built in speakers is a fantastic budget choice for gamers and casual PC users alike, read on to find out why.”

ATI 8.31.5 Display Drivers
Phoronix :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“Coming out two weeks after the fglrx 8.30.3 display drivers is now 8.31.5. But what is new for these ATI display drivers? Well, it is primarily another bug fix release, but at Phoronix today, we have all of the fine changes detailed as well as a performance comparison. Some of the documentation has also been updated to reflect AMD’s acquisition.”

Gigabyte 7600GS w/ HDMI and Abit Fatal1ty AN932X reviews
Neoseeker :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“Nvidia’s reference design made it possible for a passive cooler to exist on regular 7600 GS since core clock speeds were set at a relatively low 400 Mhz, but Gigabyte decided to bump up their core speed to 450 Mhz. The 7600 GS also sports 5 vertex shaders, 12 pixel shaders and 12 texture units. The increase in speed is relatively minor, so while it will help a bit with framerates during gaming, it isn’t high enough to overload the passive cooler. It does make it hot though which I’ll get to later. For the RAM on this board, Gigabyte used Hynix DDR2 memory chips rated for 2.5ns which run at 800Mhz and do not have much room for overclocking.”

Razer Barracuda HP-1 Surround Headphones
The Tech Lounge :: Saturday, November 18, 2006
“While Razer is well known for their gaming mice and related accessories, they are just now beginning to diversify their product line, while still remaining true to their motto, “for gamers, by gamers.” The Barracuda is the first product by Razer that isn’t a mouse or mouse accessory so it’s definitely new territory for them. These headphones are actually only one half of the audio solution that Razer hopes gamers will buy into. These headphones sport surround sound a nifty boom mic, but are these really the ultimate headphones for gamers? We’ll see…”

Asus X1950 Pro Crossfire (EAX1950PRO) Review
overclock 3d :: Wednesday, November 15, 2006
ATI announced their X1950 Pro fairly recently. With great bang for buck and dongle-free crossfire they look to be a winner. Take a look inside as we explore single and dual-card performance.”

Xbox 360 HD-DVD arriving before Christmas (and other accessories, too)
Microsoft :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
And those of you who are looking for an affordable way to jump into the next generation of DVD should look no further than the Xbox 360 HD DVD Player. All of these will be in store by Christmas and add to a fantastic range of accessories already available such as the Xbox Live Vision camera:

Microsoft Xbox 360 Wireless Headset
Think Gaming :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“Are you tired of that constantly nagging wire hanging from your headset to your wireless controller while playing on Xbox Live? If so, Microsoft has an alternative for you with the official Xbox 360 wireless headset. But this wireless freedom comes with a steep price of around $59.99, so read on to find out if this headset is worth the cost.”

Sonos Digital Music System
The TechLounge :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“I have discussed in many reviews the desire to live the digital lifestyle. This so-called new lifestyle has obviously been coined by many companies and countless marketing majors as they try to sell us their new products. These products range from high storage capacity NAS devices to full service media PC’s. Each company puts their own spin on a particular product, in an attempt to get the consumer to bring their music or their video off their computer and onto their device. Sometimes this works, other times it is a horrible failure. Today’s digital lifestyle contender is the Sonos Digital Music System. Basically, this is a network MP3 player. Although not exactly a groundbreaking idea, in the end it all comes down to execution. If you think about it, the iPod is just another MP3 player very similar to all the rest, but its execution (and arguably, the design) was spot on. What I want to know is if Sonos’ new ZP80 bundle is actually a well executed network MP3 player, or just another shot in the dark. For my tests, Sonos has provided a ZP80 bundle, ZP100 ZonePlayer, SP100 LoudSpeakers, and a Cradle.”

nVidia Chips Comparison Table
Hardware Secrets :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“If you don’t follow almost daily the video card market it is really complicated to understand the differences between the several different nVidia graphics chips available on the market today. To facilitate knowing and understanding the difference among these chips, we have compiled the following table:”

XFX Geforce 8800 GTX – the new 3D king
Tweak PC :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
The new GeForce 8800 GTX wins the 3D crown easily, but it aso comes with excellent features. 16xAA in 1600×1200 is no problem. We took a look at the top-model of XFX, of course with our interactive benchmarks.

ASUS GeForce EN8800GTX Review
motherboards.org :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
If image quality and performance are your schtick, the 8800GTX is the card for you. The new anti-aliasing modes are incredible looking. The ability to turn on HDR+AA without losing much framerate is another definite plus. Near-perfect angle independent anisotropic filtering makes NVIDIA the IQ leader even without Windows Vista games and Shader Model 4 games being on the market till next year. I am an avid gamer and prefer higher IQ to more fps. 1280×1024 16xq AA +16x AF is fully playable in almost every game I tried on the 8800GTX, with some games playable at 1600×1200.

NVIDIA Pushes Vista to a Whole ‘Nother Level
Design Technica :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“Earlier today I had the honor of attending the Nvidia launch of their flaming hot GeForce 8800 GPU and nForce 600 MCP. While the performance of these new products is stunning (you can get benchmarks from other articles) what I want to share is the experience of the launch event itself. While most of you won’t be able to get the operating system until next year, those of us in the analyst community are already receiving systems and let me tell you, the visuals on the right hardware are impressive. But this isn’t really about that either, its about a blockbuster event and we don’t get that many in this industry so let me try to give you a feel for what this was like. ”

Logitech X-540 5.1 Speakers Review
Techgage :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
As enthusiasts, we expect a performance premium from our hardware. A lot of the time, this premium comes at a cost. What if we didn’t have to take out a second mortgage the house to get the performance that we so desire? Today we are taking a look at the latest offering to the audiophile on a budget from Logitech.

Anydrive 3 reviewed
BurnOutPC.com :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
I’ve been using this FM transmitter for a while now and performance overall is a lot better than I’m used to. I previously used a crappy transmitter which was still analogue. This thing however does it’s job much better. There’s background noise but it’s only fm right. Features like having an mp3 player with SD card or thousands of mp3’s on a harddrive-like player hooked onto the Anydrive 3 is certainly the best feature of this device. Apart from the cheap plastic design and funky backlight, I still find it a must have in any car without a decent radio.

Altec Lansing FX5051 USB 5.1 Surround Speakers Review
Everything USB :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“It seems that Altec Lansing is finally making a comeback when it comes to desktop audio outside of the OEM sets they manufacture for Dell. Their latest product, the FX5051 boldly stands out spec and design-wise from the typical Creative and Logitech sets we’re accustomed to seeing, and one-ups the whole market by being the first 5.1 channel speaker system to incorporate a USB input! On to the review…”

Icemat Siberia In:Ear Headset Review
XS Reviews :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“Following Basshunter’s gratuitous product placement of Icemat’s headsets, everyone has been talking about them. To make sure that its not just all hype I was kindly sent an Icemat Siberia In:Ear headset.”

XFX GeForce 8800 Graphics Cards
Tweak Town :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“Most these differences can be seen on the front of the card. With the coolers being slightly larger in size on the GTX, the only other difference between them is that the model number differs. Clearly we can also see that when it comes to size, the GTX is much longer than the GTS – it comes in at 10.5 inches long. nVidia say that they did their research and enthusiast uses most of the time have the case to carry a card so long but if you’re looking at the GTX, we urge you to make sure you can before buying as it is really long. There are also some differences when it comes to the PCB layout of the part of the card that we can see.”

XFX 7900GS Video Card
GideonTech :: Tuesday, November 14, 2006
“This time around on the review scene I was lucky enough to get an XFX brand nVidia 7900GS. This card didn’t come to market claiming to beat all previous cards released, but rather as a value-priced offering which can be pushed to impressive speeds through overclocking. It also has the power to hold someone over until the next revision of cards (DX10 for Vista) appear.”

Anatomy of a Podcast: White Roof Radio
The Tech Lounge :: Monday, November 13, 2006
“If you haven’t heard of podcasting, chances are you’re still using a Sony Discman and reading your news off dried wood pulp. Time to join the 21st century. I remember listening to a radio news broadcast back in 2004 which proclaimed that “podcasting” was to be the future of radio. It’s true; podcasting breached the mainstream and now offers users a new dimension to the old terrestrial radio format while expanding the popularity of handheld video. In this article we’ll talk a bit about the history of the podcast and how it is working to penetrate the mainstream. We’ll also chat with the guys behind the popular podcast at WhiteRoofRadio.com to get a little behind-the-scenes info on how they do things.”

Sapphire X1950 Pro 256 MB PCIe
Modders Inc. :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
With all the new video cards available on the market today the manufactures are fighting for your dollar. This is good for us the consumers and Sapphire wants to make sure that you get the most bangs for your buck. The X1950 Pro could be the card for a reasonable price. With the new Native CrossFire, Core RV570, Shader Model 3.0 vertex and pixel shader support along with other features you just have to take a look.

NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX / 8800GTS Linux Preview
Phoronix :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“Coming out of the green camp today is a hard launch of the GeForce 8800GTX and 8800GTS. These G80-based graphics cards are designed to deliver a new level of graphics realism for gamers and enthusiasts alike. At Phoronix we have a technical preview this morning of the GeForce 8 series as we look at primarily how the GeForce 8 Family will affect GNU/Linux users.”

JVC NX-PS1 Audio System Review
Techware Labs :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“TechwareLabs received one of the latest micro-stereo systems for connecting to your iPod by JVC, the NX-PS1. In a market that is being heavily introduced with various players for the iPod does the JVC NX-PS1 deliver performance and design worthy of its $249.95 retail price? TechwareLabs has taken a look at the design and functionality of the NX-PS1 to answer this question. ”

nVidia 8800GTS * 8800GTX
t-break :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
The GeForce 8800 GTX GPU implements a massively parallel, unified shader design. Each stream processor is capable of being dynamically allocated to vertex, pixel, geometry, or physics operations. NVIDIA’s GigaThreadTM technology implemented in GeForce 8 Series GPUs supports thousands of independent, simultaneously executing threads, maximizing GPU utilization

Samsung SyncMaster 225BW 22″ Widescreen TFT-LCD Monitor Review
Review Desk :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
Just a few days ago, I purchased a Samsung 225BW 22″ widescreen LCD monitor. Did I buy it simply because it was Samsung? Of course not, I know better than to fall into love with brand names like that. I bought it because it was the most visually appealing. I’m not talking about the picture quality, either. The monitor itself is quite handsome. The fact it has some nice specs is just a bonus.”

SteelSound 5Hv2 PC Gaming Headset Review
Tweak News :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“Before I opened the box I was hoping that SteelSound fixed everything and released a product that is worth the money of our readership and I am happy that I can say that time has come. It might have taken three tries, but it certainly wasn’t three strike, you’re out. Every conceivable problem with the previous versions have been attended to and fixed. The sound quality is no longer muddled, the microphone works perfectly and the ventilation has been improved.”

MSI GeForce 8800GTS is here – Hello DX10
Tweak Town :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“G80 is clearly the most anticipated GPU update for nVidia for quite some time now and unless you have been living under a rock, you would know why. Previous generation cards like the GeForce 7800 and 7900 series have been more of a speed increase then anything else. While we have seen implementation of new graphics technology built into them they are nothing near as major as what the new GeForce 8800 series brings with it today. DirectX 10 is going to be the platform for gaming over the next few years.

There are two sides of arguments to the 8800 series – both of which make a very good point. Those who felt that buying the previous generation top cards wasn’t a waste of money, because while the 8800 line up was coming out with DX10 support (which of course is such a major leap), how long was it going to be until we actually see DX10 technology implemented into games? While the other side felt that the 8800 was not only going to bring increased DX9 performance but also support for DX10.”

NVIDIA GeForce 8800GTX and GTS Gra
Maxit Mag :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“With the NDA from Nvidia lifted, Foxconn are first off the mark with their flagship models based on the G80 next generation graphics processor. The FV-N88XMAD2-OD and FV-N88SMBD2-OD PCI Express® graphics cards powered by the latest NVIDIA® GeForce® 8800GTX and 8800GTS graphics processing unit (GPU) sport unique blue LEDs for the Extreme Gamer and a turbocharged GPU with DirectX® 10 and Shader Model 4.0, for realistic, high-quality graphics.”

XFX GeForce 8800GTX Video Card Review
Motherboards.org :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
Faster than a speeding bullet, more powerful than ATI’s most loaded, able to render millions of Pixels in a single bound, it’s going to burn the comp, that’s the plan and it’s NVIDIA, yet once again. The GeForce 8800 series signals another turn in the evolution of the video card and one that arrives just a bit earlier than Microsoft’s Direct-X 10 debut in Vista later next year.

EVGA eGeForce 8800GTS Review
Gamepyre :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
The 8800GTS has a MSRP of $449 from EVGA. At this price point, you get the better image quality, features and performance that’s faster than any other video card on the market today except the 8800GTX, which is also $150 more money retail. The 8800GTS has about 25% less streaming processors than the 8800GTX accounting for the performance difference.The advent of the 8800 series from NVIDIA has taken the performance and image quality crown back from ATI in every respect. 16X Coverage Anti-Aliasing allows the graphics card to improve image quality without the serious hit that 16XQ AA would inter. The 8800GTS is the perfect upgrade for those wanting a graphics card today without wanting to pay the $599 premium price for the 8800GTX, as a lot of situations are CPU limited.

XFX 8800 GTS and 8800 GTX
Driver Heaven :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
As well as designing a GPU which is capable of excelling in DirectX 10 situations Nvidia had to accommodate existing technology and ensure that not only did their card have the ability to play catch-up with ATI in areas such as the ability to do HDR and AA the ideal scenario would be a product which also outperformed existing competitor solutions in titles from the past few years.

Nvidia’s GeForce 8800 graphics processor reviewed
Tech Report :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
DURING THE LAST couple of years, whenever we’ve asked anyone from Nvidia about the future of graphics processors and the prospects for a unified architecture that merges vertex and pixel shaders into a single pool of floating-point processors, they’ve smiled and said something quietly to the effect of: Well, yes, that is one approach, and we think it’s a good future direction for GPUs. But it isn’t strictly necessary to have unified shader hardware in order to comply with DirectX 10, and it may not be the best approach for the next generation of graphics processors.

Nvidia’s response to queries like this one was remarkably consistent, and most of us assumed that ATI would be first to market with a unified shader architecture for PC graphics. Heck, ATI had already completed a unified design for the Xbox 360, so its next GPU would be a second-generation effort. Surely ATI would take the technology lead in the first round of DirectX 10-capable graphics chips.

Except for this: Nvidia seems to have fooled almost everybody. Turns out all of that talk about unified architectures not being necessary was just subterfuge. They’ve been working on a unified graphics architecture for four years now, and today, they’re unveiling the thing to the world–and selling it to consumers starting immediately. The graphics processor formerly known as G80 has been christened as the GeForce 8800, and it’s anything but a conventional GPU design. Read on for more detail than you probably need to know about it.

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 Preview
techPowerUp! :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
Today NVIDIA released their highly anticipated GeForce 8800 Series based on their all-new G80 GPU. The first two cards available will be the GeForce 8800 GTS and 8800 GTX. We take you through the changes in the GPU design and what’s new and great on these cards.

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX Preview
Viper Lair :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“The 8800 GTX will consume about 125W of power, and NVIDIA recommends at least a 450W power supply and about double if you’re going to setup SLI. That said, the latest 8th generation GPUs from NVIDIA is about efficiency as well. Despite going up from 82W (7900GTX) to 125W, their performance per Watt has jumped nearly 100% in synthetic testing. We’re still in the process of benchmarking, but we can tell you that performance has increased dramatically.”

Massive NVIDIA 8800 Launch
Bjorn 3d :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
Below are the links to our reviews and overview.

NVIDIA 8000 GPU/VPU: An Introduction: http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1000

Leadtek Winfast PX8800 GTX TDH: http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1003

XFX Geforce 8800 GTX: http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1004

Sparkle GeForce 8800GTX: http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1005

FOXCONN GeForce 8800 GTS: http://www.bjorn3d.com/read.php?cID=1006

BFG 8800 GTX u. XFX 8800 GTS
Technic 3d :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“The new BFG 8800 GTX and XFX 8800 GTS arrived Technic3D. Fast and Faster with a new Generation? See you in the following Review from Technic3D.”

NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX Review
Tech ARP :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
“Do you want a piece of the new unified graphics architecture? Then you won’t want to miss this review of the new NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTX graphics card. Let’s see what makes it tick, and how fast it really goes!”

XFX 8800 GTS and 8800 GTX review
Driver Heaven :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
As well as designing a GPU which is capable of excelling in DirectX 10 situations Nvidia had to accommodate existing technology and ensure that not only did their card have the ability to play catch-up with ATI in areas such as the ability to do HDR and AA the ideal scenario would be a product which also outperformed existing competitor solutions in titles from the past few years.

XFX GeForce 8800 GTX and eVGA 8800 GTS GPU’s
Legit Reviews :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
The 8800 GTX will be the fastest video card for some time to come and is the card to have for anyone with coin to spend on it, at least until we see the debut of ATI’s R600 sometime in the first quarter of 2007, rumors say February. The 8800 GTS gets a very strong recommendation; if you’re looking anywhere near its $449 MSRP you need not look at anything else. The 7900 GTX and 7950GX2 are now being phased out (if you can still find them) and the X1950XTX doesn’t have the DirectX 10 capabilities of the 8800 GTS.”

Thermaltake Mozart TX Home Entertainment Chassis Review
Virtual Hideout :: Sunday, November 12, 2006
The Thermaltake Mozart TX is probably the most unique, yet capable chassis they have ever produced. The system configuration possibilities are endless. Its unique design offers a great amount of space and air cooling that will keep any dual configuration cool and quiet.”

SSI SI-1168SAS HDD-ROM Review
Hi-Tech Reviews :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Today we have the pleasure of reviewing the SSI SI-1168SAS HDD-ROM from SSI Computer Corporation, while the companies name may not be familiar I’m sure they will become well known once a few more people see how well this unit is made. Most normal mobile racka allow you to either connect your SATA or PATA drive to your computer while the SI-1168SAS HDD-ROM goes one step further and allows for Serial-Attached-SCSI connections as well. This is one unit that is indeed worth checking out.

Multi-Monitor Tips & Tricks Guide
Tech ARP :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
“If you have a multi-monitor system or are thinking about getting one, be sure to check this guide out! Find out how you can obtain the best experience from your multi-monitor setup! ”

InFocus Play Big IN76 DLP Projector
The Tech Lounge :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
“In the world of electronics, “smaller” is almost always better. Chip manufacturers are continually striving to shrink their processors, cell phones are so thin you can barely hold on to them anymore, and portable media devices have gotten so small you could almost mistake some models for your daily multi-vitamin. Despite this trend in the larger world of electronics, there’s still at least one BIG exception where “bigger” still is “better” and that’s in the realm of televisions and monitors. Who doesn’t want to be able to boast that they have the biggest screen amongst their friends? If you can relate to that desire, then you might be interested in the product we have for review today because it could help that little dream of yours become a reality.”

NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT HDCP Compliant Preview
MVK Tech :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
“Everyone must surely remember the introduction of the GeForce 7900 GS a month and a half ago by NVIDIA. At the same time NVIDIA also announced another card that would replace the GeForce 7900 GT. The GeForce 7950 GT bring graphics horsepower with a faster core clock and a whopping 512MB of memory while delivering exceptionally smooth frame rates at maximum settings. The NVIDIA GeForce 7950 GT is capable of supporting HDCP. Make no mistake this isn’t a dual-GPU accelerator like the GeForce 7950 GX2, and except for the kind of similar naming the suffix just mentions GT and that means a single core video card.”

HIS X1300 XT IceQ Turbo Review
XYZ Computing :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
The X1300 XT is a new budget card, basically a revision of an older X1600 series video card. For this reason and because we took a look at the X1650 Pro, which is also quite similar, just a few days ago, this review is going to be quick and dirty.

Sapphire Radeon X1950 XTX – GDDR4 @ 1000 MHz
Tweak PC :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
The Sapphire Radeon X1950 XTX is an optical highlight. More than that it is the first baby that uses GDDR4 @ 1000 MHz. Worth a look, right?

3 High End Affordable Graphics Cards
T-Break :: Tuesday, November 07, 2006
take a look at three graphics cards that fall in the segment of affordable high-end cards. Lets find out which ones we like from ASUS 7950GT, X1950 Pro and XV 7900GS.

Three HDMI Graphics Cards Tested on LCD TV
Tweak Town :: Monday, November 06, 2006
Video technology hasn’t been quite as in parallel, however. True AV hardware has been using high-definition component and HDMI technology for some time, while the best that HTPC’s could manage was S-Video. So the options have been to either get a TV which could take RBG/DVI inputs, or put up with a lower quality video signal. Luckily, graphics card manufacturers have addressed this imbalance, with new units hitting the market which support high-definition HDMI standards.

Creative GigaWorks ProGamer G550W
Tech Gear :: Monday, November 06, 2006
Looking for a high quality and solid performing audio setup for your gaming rig or movies? Don’t bother looking past Creative. You just so know your purchase isn’t going to be in vain when opting for audio solutions available from Creative Labs. Creative have established themselves well in the field of audio technology offering top end solutions as well as other decent great value products such mp3 players, webcams and other peripherals.

Exploring EAX with onboard audio
Tech Report :: Monday, November 06, 2006
ANALOG DEVICES RECENTLY published a document challenging reviewers not only to benchmark the CPU utilization of integrated audio solutions, but also to explore how well those implementations handle EAX positional 3D audio. According to the document, most motherboards don’t handle EAX properly, despite the fact that they claim to support the standard. Analog Devices diplomatically avoids naming names, but with the vast majority of integrated audio solutions powered by Realtek codecs, the writing’s on the wall.

The question, of course, is whether it’s true. Analog Devices’ whitepaper cites tests conducted in Creative’s, er, labs, but we’re not happy until we can explore an issue with our own systems in an environment we can control. So, we’ve rounded up a couple of nearly identical motherboards with Analog Devices and Realtek codecs to see how they handle EAX positional 3D audio, with conclusive results.

Ultrasone PROline 650 Headphones
The Tech Lounge :: Monday, November 06, 2006
“The product we’ll be discussing comes from a company named Ultrasone that many of us are probably not all that familiar with. There are a couple reasons why you may not have heard of Ultrasone before. First of all they’re based in Germany, and since they were founded in 1991, they’re also fairly new as well. Ultrasone’s focus has primarily been on providing high-end headphones to professionals in the music industry, so most of their products are priced higher than what most the average person would be willing to pay for headphones. The PROline 650 headphones that we’ll be looking at today aren’t what I’d consider “cheap” at $300, but let’s take a closer look and see if they’re really worth it.”

Steelsound 5H v2 Gaming Headset Review
XYZ Computing :: Monday, November 06, 2006
Before we get too involved in v2 you may want to read the review of the original thing. Looking at the product we can see that whatever was changed from the first version to the second must not have been that drastic because they look identical. From the first review you can see that I was happy with the 5H- it was simple to use, smartly designed, and different from the rest of the products on the market. I really liked that the headset could be broken down into three pieces and that the microphone was built into the earpiece. The sound quality was pretty good, not an industry leader but still acceptable, though the price was definitely an issue.

The second version of the 5H is what Steelseries calls a “revision”. This is basically a code word for saying “we fixed what was wrong the fix time around,” which is not a problem, unless you bought the first version. According to Steelseries the v2 has an improved microphone on a longer cord, larger ear cushions, additional frame pressure and a number of other changes.

NGO NVIDIA Optimized Driver v1.9371
NGO HQ :: Monday, November 06, 2006
The NGO NVIDIA Optimized Driver is a modified version of the NVIDIA ForceWare driver. The main purpose is to satisfy the users with better performance, image quality and compatibility. The Driver has support for all GeForce/Quadro cards (including laptop GO series).

ATI Catalyst 6.10 Performance Analysis
Tweak Town :: Monday, November 06, 2006
While we don’t use the P965 in our Catalyst articles or Crossfire performance, we will continue to have a look at what happens with the four cards we usually use for testing. We can also see that ATI have included support for their latest cards and the Chuck patch is no longer needed for Oblivion players who have the hardware to support HDR and AA.