Tech News September 2003

 

CoolerMaster Jet 7 CPU Cooler Review
Voided Warranty :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“Well my fellow modders, that has changed completely with this new cooler from the folks at CoolerMaster, whom we would like to take this opportunity to thank for sending us this beauty in advance of the retail release.”

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X-SuperAlien Case Review
Furioustech :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“Cases so many choices, well I had the opportunity to review a modified case called the X-SuperAlien, an all aluminum case packed full of features. This case almost does your laundry! Well maybe I am telling a bit of a tall tale. Want the whole lowdown then read on my friends, and see what I mean!”

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ABIT IC7-MAX3 Motherboard
ViperLair :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“We would have left it at that, but a couple days before wrapping the review up, we got our hands on some Corsair TWINX1024-4000 Pro Series ram. Look for our review shortly, but we managed an impressive 290FSB at 1/1. I wasn’t able to run many benchmarks at this speed though, but did grab this screenshot. At 288FSB, 1/1, the system was much happier.”

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X-micro’s APEX Flash Stick
Think Computers :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“Carrying floppy disks around can be such a pain. They are larger than a credit card and can hardly hold that much information. Most people do not even have floppy drives in their computers, I have not had a floppy drive in my main computer for over a year. The reason for this is because if I would have to transfer data from one computer to another(home to school) I would either e-mail it to myself or burn it to a cd. This is always not the best way. Some e-mail providers only allow a certain amount of data to be stored and you do not want to waste a cd just for 50MB of data. Well if you have not heard of flash drives then today you will learn what they are. They are nothing new, but with USB 2.0 coming out there has been a lot of new products on the market. Today we will be looking at X-Mirco’s APEX Flash Stick.”

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500W Aspire Super UV Reactive Power Supply (Blue)
Xoxide :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“This extremely powerful power supply is one of the most eye catching on the market. The power supply is designed with a translucent top and serveral colored interior parts. The power supply also features 2 UV LED Blue Fans that light up when powered on. The entire power supply is also tricked out with UV reative sleeving and parts, even the connectors! This is by far one of the nicest and most powerful power supplys you can fit your case with.”

Only $72.99

ASUS A7N8X-X Motherboard
OCAddiction :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“A quick glance at the motherboard looks strikingly similar to the older brother A7N8X Deluxe. The first apparent difference is the all black DIMM slots. Due to the lack of dual channel support, Asus colored all the DIMM slots black. This indication shows that no matter how your memory sticks are arranged, no dual channel support will be given. A more detailed look shows that the board is without the Silicone SATA controller. “

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Athlon 64 and AMD’s 64-bit technology
PCStats :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“With the successful introduction of the Opteron processor in late April, AMD completed one half of its forecast entry into the 64-bit processing world. Based on an evolution of the x86 instruction set used by current 32-bit processors made by Intel and AMD, the Opteron is targeted at the high to mid-range server and workstation market. The second processor released under the AMD64 architecture will be the Athlon 64, formerly known as ‘Clawhammer,’ which aims to bring 64-bit computing power to the desktop and mobile markets. 64-bit… Sounds magical doesn’t it? Full of the promise of faster and more powerful computing. After all, 64 is two times 32, so there has got to be a performance increase right? Well, yes and no. When we refer to 32-bit or 64-bit processors, what we are talking about is primarily the size of the registers, tiny, high-speed memory areas built right into the chip itself, closer even than the level 1 cache memory. You can think of them as the hands of the processor, in that they hold values to be operated on or combined.”

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Vantec Nexus NXP205 Fan-Controller Review
Frosty Tech :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“The original Vantec Nexus NXP201 fan controllers took up one whole 5.25″ bay and brought speed control of up to four fans with a nifty blue LED backlit dial. They were blue, they were cool, but they were just too large. Coming in either black or silver aluminum, the panels looked sleek and worked nicely at controlling the fan speed of case fans. Well, that was then and this is now – enter the 3.5″ Vantec NXP205 Fan controllers. The NXP205 fan controllers maintain the four dials with blue LED black lights, but this time around the package is much smaller. Packed into a standard 3.5″ FDD frame, this fan controller allows the user to adjust the speed of up to four case fans via responsive dials accessible from the front of the computer. The panels come in either black or silver, and blend in equally well with all black cases as they do with aluminum ATX.”

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Four Way AMD Athlon XP Heatsink Shootout
TweakTown :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“Even though it is under one week till AMD conduct their worldwide launch of their desktop 64-bit processor, Athlon 64, many people will still buy current Athlon XP 32-bit processors for a little while to come as Athlon 64 drives its pricing down across the globe. Today Shawn “Toxic” Baker has a four way AMD Athlon XP heatsink shootout comparing two heatsinks from CoolerMaster and Thermaltake including the CoolerMaster Jet 7 which was only came out of NDA today!”

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Antec TrueControl 550watt PSU Reviewed and MoDDeD
GruntvillE :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“It’s not often that there’s a bay insert included with your PSU. The bay insert offers a 3.5” bay and the TrueControl Panel. The 3.5” bay can hold either a floppy or a hard drive. They were kind enough to vent the front to allow for some cooling of the HDD. They also made the 3.5”bay cover easy to remove if you plan to fill it with a floppy or flash reader. Once I took it out, I realized how bland the finish of the unit is. It’s a perfect match to the Antec gray towers but isn’t going to go well with other products. The back of the 3.5” cover was a polished aluminum that I felt was incredible looking. This finish on the whole insert would be sure to impress most of us… but then again it’s hard to please everyone.”

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Monarch Hornet SFF Barebone rReview
The Tech Lounge :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“The world we live in is changing. Giant computers are no longer the head of the show. The army of Small Form Factor (SFF) PCs is growing at an alarming rate, and their forces push onwards. I fear that some day, anything larger than a mini-tower will be banished.”

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Cobalt Pyramid V
Monkey Review :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“Cobalt3 has gotten hold of a very promising concept, but I feel the Pyramid V, even a latter model in the Pyramid line, is still a very buggy product. If Cobalt3 could lower the temperature requirements for the alarms, and make them a little more distinct and operational, it would already be a worthy product. I urge Cobalt3 not to give up on what they already have, but to look over the design of the product, and give it a little more testing.”

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CoolMaster Aero 4 Lite heatsink
PimpRig :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“There are a total of three different cables you must deal with when installing the Aero4. Because of the voltage thirsty blower, CoolerMaster used a 4 pin Molex to connect the power to the fan. There is also a 3 pin connector to handle the RPM monitoring functions and of course the fan controller itself.”

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Antec Modular TruePower 550W PSU
ViperLair :: Tuesday, September 16, 2003

“The PSU is modular (or segmented), where you only have to plug in the necessary cables that you need. So, at the minimum, you’ll need an ATX, and 12v for most modern motherboards, a couple 4-pin molex connections for a hard drive and CD drive, and a floppy connection for a video card or floppy. Let’s add 2 more 4-pin molex connections for case fans, and that brings our total to 7 connections.”

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Arkua Q85X7J Heatpipe Pentium 4 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Tuesday, September 16, 2003

“Heatpipes have been finding their way into more and more heatsinks for a couple of very good reasons. They are very efficient at moving thermal energy, so heatpipes allow designers to try new things, and that helps to distinguish their product in a sea of other designs. Heatpipes have also come into their own for practical reasons. The challenge then becomes not noise production, but maintaining the thermal efficiency of the heatsink as a whole. Once the fins are moved away from the base of the heatsink the equation becomes somewhat more complicated than a standard skive or extruded heatsink. All of a sudden there are joints where the heatpipe interfaces with the base, and the fins, to worry about. If the manufacturer doesn’t join the components correctly we’re left with a heatsink that can’t do its job.”

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Plextor PX-504UF External DVD+R/W and CD-R/W
Bjorn3D :: Tuesday, September 16, 2003

“External drives such as this one seem to be most interesting to people who have run out of IDE connectors or bays in their PCs, who do not like opening up their PCs to do upgrades, or who like the portability and flexibility of an external drive. The PX-504UF features both USB 2.0 and IEEE 1394 (FireWire) interfaces, so this drive can be used with a wide variety PCs and Macs, even ones with older USB 1.1 ports.”

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AngelEye Technologies Bay-Res Revision 2 Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Tuesday, September 16, 2003

“The Bay-Res Reservoir Revision 2 measures 19mm (L) x 15mm (W) x 4mm (H)and is designed to reside in a 5.25″ bay. This form factor allows for an easy, diverse installation on almost any case without the need for modifications to be made. The Bay-Res Reservoir Revision 2 is constructed from 1/4″ cast acrylic which has been joined together with a water tight seal and pressure-leak tested.”

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DFI nForce 2 Lanparty Motherboard Review
TweakTown :: Tuesday, September 16, 2003

“Sure, the AMD64 series of 64-bit mainstream processors are starting to become a hit among enthusiasts around the world before its official worldwide launch later this month. For the time being though AMD fans will need to stick with Athlon XP and one of the chipsets available to power this CPU: nForce 2 from nVidia. Today Cameron “Sov” Johnson takes a look at the DFI nForce 2 Lanparty motherboard. Can’t afford or wait for Athlon 64? Then take a look at this!”

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Leadtek WinFast K7NCR18D-Pro
ViperLair :: Tuesday, September 16, 2003

“This motherboard is a good performer, and for a low price as well, and has some overclocking potential. However the lack of the ability to change the multiplier and the poor overclocking with a 133MHz FSB processor push it just out of range of a recommended award, though if you want a inexpensive and good nForce 2 motherboard this should be at the top of your list.”

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Thermalright SLK-947U Heatsink
IpKonfig :: Tuesday, September 16, 2003

“Thermalright has been in the heatsink business for some time now, and without any doubt has produced some of the best on the planet. While it tends to appeal more to enthusiast users, the heatsinks are not cheap. But with Thermalright heatsinks you always get a product that performs, complete with everything needed for mounting. The SLK 947U comes with a bit more than your typical heatsink and because of this it is able to support both AMD and Intel processors. The good news is that this doesn’t include any additional parts or accompanying extra costs. So you get everything needed in a top quality workmanship heatsink that is designed to perform, and perform it does.”

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PolarFLO Water Block
SystemCooling :: Tuesday, September 16, 2003

“While the majority continues to air-cool their computers, water-cooling is slowly attracting new enthusiasts weekly. Competing for this growth are the well-known, mainstream manufacturers who continue to offer improved products, and relatively unknown manufacturers offering new products. We have one such product today, the PolarFLO water block by the Horse of Iron.”

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Zalman ZM-WB2 Water Block Review
OCAddiction :: Tuesday, September 16, 2003

“Overall I was very impressed with the Zalman ZM-WB2 water block. It appears to be a very well designed water block for a reasonable price. Especially when you consider all the mounting hardware that is included in the package. For Zalman’s first attempt at a water block they’ve done great. I can’t wait to see what new hardware they may have on the horizon. Hopefully they are developing a full water cooling kit to compete with Koolance, Swiftech, and others.”

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ColorCase.com’s Ahanix SilenX 350watt PSU Review
GruntvillE :: Tuesday, September 16, 2003

“Today we’ll be looking at the SilenX 350 Watt PSU from Ahanix; a unit designed to meet your power needs and do so in a near silent manner. Their homepage states: “The power supplies offer the quality and reliability that you need for mission critical applications. Plentiful cables and a generous amount of overhead for the most demanding systems. Built to tolerate environments that exceed its own specifications, sometimes by as much as 50%, these power supplies are rugged and built to withstand what you throw at it!” Let’s see if it truly lives up to their marketing and is worth your almighty dollar.”

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Wire Sleeving
PimpRig :: Tuesday, September 16, 2003

“We have a new guide up on a unique way to sleeve your wires.”

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The All New Swiftech MCX462-V Heatsink (systemcooling.com exclusive)
SystemCooling :: Monday, September 15, 2003

“When it comes to the highest quality, high performance heatsinks, one of the first names that pop’s into your head is Swiftech. When you think of the highest quality, low noise heatsinks, the first name that pop’s into your is not Swiftech’s!! But that is going to change with the release of Swiftech’s latest air-cooling offering.”

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Slit Edge Performance Water Block Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“The Slit Edge incorporates what BE Cooling calls it’s “Wide Micro Channel Design”. In the center of the copper base are 10 x 1/16″ parallel micro copper channels. As water flows from one side of the block through the micro channels this creates high flow turbulence. The high flow turbulence improves cooling performance and the removal of heat away from the dye of the CPU. Unlike typical water blocks currently on the market, the Slit Edge has been designed to be less restrictive by not having an inlet positioned over the dye of the CPU.”

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Lian Li PC-60H3 Mid-Tower Designer Aluminum Case Review
Tweaknews :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“As one of the few pioneer companies to create and mass market the aluminum case, Lian Li Industries has always been known to have THE best high quality aluminum cases on the market. A little over a year and a half ago, I had the opportunity to review the Lian Li PC-86 Black Aluminum Computer Case and found it to be a great case. Has the quality gone down hill over time? Has the company taken the cheaper approach their new models? You will find out in this review..”

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ISI Cold Cathode Review
Furioustech :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“CCFLS, you got to love them, they make that modded case look even better. My friends at ISI sent me some of their cathodes to take a peek at. What better case to put them in but the VT-XRAY, let’s glow together! ”

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Radeon 9600 from Sapphire
Red & Blackness Mods :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“It was awhile ago we reviewed a video card here at rbmods but that is about to change now since Sapphire was nice enough to send their ATI Radeon 9600 for a review. This card is a middle class card which most people can afford yet still performs quite well. We are going to compare it against a FX5600 card. We are going to benchmark with 3dmark 2002 and 2003. For game benchmarks we are using the classic Quake 3 and then Unreal Tournament 2003 and probably a few other games so stay tuned to see if this will be your coming video card.”

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JetAudio iAUDIO CW300 MP3 Player
Voided Warranty :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“At first I was skeptical about MP3 players. Would they be worth the money, the extra time to transfer music from the computer to the MP3 player. After receiving the CW300 from Jet Audio my thoughts about MP3 players quickly changed. Not only can you store music on the CW300 with the jetshell software, you can store any type of file to the CW300.”

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