Tech News September 2003

 

Gainward Ultra 760XP Review
Ninjalane :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“The board features a signature red PCB, 128megs of memory. This card is quite a bit different from the other Gainward FX5600 cards in that it also comes equipped with super fast TinyBGA memory and the fancy cooling gear.”

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Kingwin K-11 Aluminum Case
SystemCooling :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“The K-11 is a brand new all aluminum mid-tower case that is aimed at the cost conscience consumer that wants the benefits of aluminum’s lightweight and efficient cooling. But at the same time wants great looks, features like USB, audio and FireWire ports and a pre-manufactured side window. ”

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Asetek WaterChill Kit w/Chipset Block
IpKonfig :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“Want to get into water-cooling, but unsure about what components to use? Are you leery of trying to figure out what components work best together, without annoying “how do I fit this to that” problems? Liquid cooling can be quite difficult to work with, especially if you’ve never worked with such setups. It offers better and quieter cooling solutions, but can also be extremely dangerous. However, if you’re willing to experiment and have always wanted to move from air to liquid cooling, then you may be in the market for a pre-configured water-cooling kit!”

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Epox 4PDA2+ Rev2 i865PE Motherboard Review
PCStats :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“With the release of the i865PE ‘Springdale’ chipset in May of this year, Intel introduced a core logic that was targeted squarely at the masses. And did it ever sell! Enthusiasts, and regular consumers alike have been flocking towards this gem of a chipset, largely because it offers 95% of the performance of the i875P for about 80% of the price. Looking at the feature set and design of the Epox 4PDA2+ Rev 2.0, it’s quite clear that designers built for the present, without cutting short on the future. Too many motherboards these days are being designed for the common PC of six months to a year from now. As you can see, the Epox 4PDA2+ is a pretty busy motherboard but the layout is still good. The 4PDA2+ has the main IDE and ATX power connectors placed in their ideal location to the right of the DIMM slots. Sure the ATX12V power connector is to the left of the Northbridge, but with the cable so small it will not affect airflow much. Incidently, the Northbridge heatsink is located far enough from the AGP slot that GPU heatsinks like the like the Zalman ZM-80A HP are installable.”

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FPS: The Quest for more
ViperLair :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“You’ve probably seen in forums or heard from your friends about the latest drivers for there system, and how many extra frames per second (or FPS) they got from them. About how the Latest Video Card supports such and such and gave them an extra 30 fps over there old card. Maybe you’ve just accepted all this as nothing more than a pissing contest but is there a real reason?”

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XPCases XSuper-Alien Case Review
Virtual-Hideout :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“To me, the most noticeable element of the case is the aggressive design that adorns the front of the X-SuperAlien. The design has a futuristic feel to it, while still maintaining the classic PC case feel. The case has a central located front access panel for quick adjustment of fan speed, checking CPU and HDD temps, hooking up headphones or a microphone, plugging in your USB MP3 player, and even ripping digital video via Firewire. All of those features located in a 4″ x 2.5” dash right on the front of the case! Saves a lot of time from reaching around to the back of most cases. The front also has a locking door that covers the drivebays and power/reset buttons. A nice feature to keep your disks from being stolen when you leave the room for a bathroom break, or for keeping the power buttons from being “accidentally” pressed by your younger siblings…(I know it’s happened to me a few times!)”

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X-UFO Ultimate Aluminum Cube Case
Xoxide :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“This 12.5 LBS Aluminum cube is the ultimate computer hardware enthusiasts dream. Do not be deceived by its huge 18″ cubed size, the case is custom fabricated out of 100% aluminum. One simply can not ask for more room, airflow, or aesthetics. Features include a sliding motherboard tray, fully removable drive racks, full screwless design, four wheel feet for mobility, chrome switches, and more fan mounts than you can shake a stick at! The case comes with windows on the motherboard side, the ceiling of the case, and the drive bay / power supply side of the case. The full design of the case is of industrial grade aluminum, manufactured here in the USA, and is guaranteed to be the top showpiece of interest no matter where you go.”

Only $274.99

SilverStoneTek SST-ST360 360 Watt Power Supply Review
3dXtreme :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“What makes this product stand apart from other Power Supplies on the market is the claim that its able to deliver performance and maintain low acoustics. The product box has a few key claims “New aerodynamic technology to create the best thermal performance and lowest acoustic” and “SilverStone Power’s unparalleled expertise in engineering and design power system extands from function and styling.”

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Abit NF7-S Rev. 2 Motherboard Review
GruntvillE :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“With VIA’s release of the KT600 it appears that we’re up for some more AMD action. Intel has stolen the show from AMD over the last few months. AMD’s saving grace appears to be the nForce2 boards. Features that most are familiar with include the Dual Channel Memory and auto unlocking of the multipliers. These two features alone have kept AMD in the ranks against Intel’s 800MHz fsb. AMD is back in action again but with a new product using 64bit technology. It appears that AthlonXP owners are left with what’s available in the market aside from the KT600 boards that most manufacturers should have released by the time you read this.”

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Sunbeam Meteor LED Light Stick
OCIA :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“The inverter is connected to both the Meteor Light Stick and to an on/off switch that fits in one of the card slots on the rear of your case. There is also a button, green in the picture below, that changes the different modes the light is capable of. What modes? The meteor blinks, glows solid, strobes and fades in and out in segmented as well as complete stick patterns. It’s almost like the ginsu of case lighting.”

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Breeze MAXX Cooler Review
Mikhailtech :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“The top swings back after you press and lift the cover. The fan itself can then be lifted and positioned accordingly. Unfortunately one of the hinges on my sample was broken, but some superglue fixed it in a jiffy. The mount has a red button which controls the two speed settings (and subsequent airflow). There are three advertised (four total) positions. Atop the fan mount are three holes which lock into the clear cover. The possible angles are between 60-80 degrees (approximated).”

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CASE4U EOS Mini-itx / Micro-ATX Case Review
Tweaknews :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“For a small inexpensive case, the EOS does have some value. The case is well built (although heavy), attractive and wouldn’t be a bad choice for an inexpensive small workstation, HTPC or a file server. The questionable inclusion of the Anion Air Purifier is a good idea, but I really think that it could be removed and the money placed in other parts of the case.”

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Zalman ZM-WB1 Water Block Review @ GruntvillE.com
GruntvillE :: Monday, September 08, 2003

“One thing to note is that there is mounting hardware available for any of the current modern processors. The P4 mounting utilizes the standard Pentium 4 bracket that is already on your motherboard. You may have noticed that there are no instructions included with this kit. I thought it kind of odd myself, until I took a visit to the Zalman Website and saw the detailed instructions as well as a Flash video on how to install this waterblock. Everything you need to know is there.”

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Logysis Blinking Multicolor 4 LED Fan Review
OCIA :: Monday, September 08, 2003

“I’ve reviewed many fans in my time and have learned that fans are like furniture, you have to have an overall theme or the finished product looks tacky. The Logysis 4 LED Fan utilizes 4 LEDs which blink on and off in intermittent patterns and in multiple colors.If you like blinking lights in multiple colors and need a visible case fan this fan is worth looking in to.”

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Cooltech Idrastation Liquid Cooling System Video Review #345:
3dgameman :: Monday, September 08, 2003

“The Cooltech Idrastation Liquid Cooling System is an all-in-one solution but installation does require some case modification. Unlike normal liquid cooling setups which take up valuable space inside the case, this product is external. Overall this product is very well built and offers excellent performance. Watch the Video to find out more…” ~3dGameMan.com

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Athenatech A100SC M-ATX Case Review @ MonkeyReview
Monkey Review :: Monday, September 08, 2003

Opening the side of the A100SC gave way to some warm welcomed features. Which, I honestly wasn’t anticipating. The first thing I noticed was that the 5.25” / 3.5” cage swings out, and is removable. This makes installing the mobo a little easier, as well makes swapping drives a snap. Also while inside, at the front, we find another area for a fan; this location is for an 8cm/80mm fan.

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Vantec Spectrum Cold Cathodes @ ThinkComputers.org
Think Computers :: Monday, September 08, 2003

“Cold cathodes are the most common lighting source for computers. Many people choose them because they are bright, cheap, and effective. You may think that all cold cathodes are the same, well you are wrong. Today I will be looking at some cold cathodes from Vantec. These cold cathodes are part of Vantec’s spectrum series, they are to be used with Vantec’s Nexus 301/305. Therefor they do not come with an inverter. So lets see what these things can do!”

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Spire SP411C5 QuieTude II Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Monday, September 08, 2003
“Where do heatsinks come from? A simple question to be sure (they come from a factory), but I often find it rather remarkable just how spread out around the world most heatsink manufactures are. Take for example Spire. Spire’s offices are in the US, Taiwan and the Netherlands, but the heatsinks are manufactured in China. The Pentium 4-based Spire SP411C5 has traveled far to come to the FrostyTech test labs, so let’s not postpone the evaluation further! Sitting in front of us we have a m478 heatsink designed to cool the processor with a moderate amount of noise, scaling fan RPM as things heat up. At 300RPM the SP411C5 is good in the noise department, but at higher temperatures it can get somewhat loud. Chances are, with good case ventilation most computers will never reach this high-RPM plateau, but after a few hours of gaming you never can really tell for sure. In any case, the SP411C5 comes packing a 45mm copper disc which has been inserted into the base to improve thermal conductivity between the processor and the rest of the heatsink.”

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Thermal Paste Comparison @OCA
OCAddiction :: Monday, September 08, 2003
“It is good to know that the Ultra II is not electrically conductive. This makes it safe to spread over video card GPUs and Northbridge chips. It would be dangerous to spread conductive paste over video cards GPUs and Northbridge chips because if even just a tad amount touches electrical bridges, shortage will occur. This has happened to me before. I was lucky my video card didn’t end up cooked. “

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Coolmax Chameleon LED Fans
SystemCooling :: Monday, September 08, 2003

“Running fast, cool and quiet is always a nice thing, but sometimes you just have to have a bit of flash to go with your function. The subject of this review, the Coolmax Chameleon LED cooling fan, combines both flash and function in a product that will definitely spruce up the appearance of your favorite desktop machine. Of course, the Chameleon is no ordinary LED fan. The LED’s on the Chameleon shift colors at regular intervals, rotating through the entire spectrum before starting again. A full set of them can create a very striking effect inside your PC.”

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Thermalright SLK-947U
SystemCooling :: Monday, September 08, 2003

“The heat sink we’re going to look at today, the Thermalright SLK-947U, is in fact the long-awaited update to the SLK-900U, and the changes made to the unit are not only meant to minimize compatibility problems with AMD systems, they also improve compatibility with Intel P4 systems as well.”

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Silence is the Lian-Li 6070 Mid-Tower Case
SystemCooling :: Thursday, September 04, 2003

“An old saying goes that “Silence is Golden”, in this case (pun intended), it happens to be “Silver”. Today we’ll share with you the very first case that from design concept to finish product concentrated its focus to “Quiet Computing”. The Lian-Li PC6070 all aluminum mid-tower, is the first of it’s kind to hit the marketplace and anyone interested in quiet computing will just love what Lian-Li accomplished.”

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Fiberglass Tutorial
Think Computers :: Thursday, September 04, 2003

“Wanna get a mod going that will blow away everyone who sees it and will cause a crowd to gather around you at the next LAN party? It’s getting harder and harder to do everyday. Most people don’t have the skills or resources to make a case from scratch, and a lot of current modding techniques are centered on removing things from the case or replacing them, not actually adding to it. In the next pages, I will show you how cheap and easy it can be it incorporate fiberglass into a case mod to add truly unique things to a case.”

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Abit IC7-G Max II Advance Motherboard Review
GruntvillE :: Thursday, September 04, 2003

“Looking at the big picture, one can’t help but notice the thought that went into the placement of connectors on the IC7-G. With the exception of the Fire wire and USB headers, all of the connectors are at the edge of the board. It’s pretty obvious that the design team that worked on this board has spent some time around PC’s. The placement of the AGP slot is far enough away from the DIMM slots to not cause problems with some of the longer video cards like some motherboards. The inclusion of 5 fan headers will allow the most paranoid user to monitor as many fans as possible.”

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Enermax Double-Shot Case Review
The Tech Lounge :: Thursday, September 04, 2003

“We’ve looked at a few cases from Enermax before, and so far they have all been decent at the very least. The cases we are looking at today are actually similar to the Enermax CS-528 case, with the exception of the front panel and some other things. The reason we have decided to review two cases in one article is that they are identical aside from the front panels. As we have seen already, Enermax knows how to build a quality case with lots of features; hopefully they have kept the same standards of quality with these cases. These cases utilize some unique bay covers that make installing new 5.25″ a little less of a hassle. Find out more details in the review…”

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MSI CR52-M 52/32/52 CDRW
ViperLair :: Thursday, September 04, 2003

“Since the CDRW occupied most of the disc, we can see the CR52-A2 inching closer to its maximum thoroughput. The drive tops out at about 51x, and averages about 39x through the disc. CPU usage was low as well, so the drive shouldn’t drag your system to a halt when reading data CDs.”

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RaidMAX Scorpio Case Review
Overclocker Café :: Thursday, September 04, 2003

“Overall the case is very well built. From its aluminum construction to its tool free design, the manufacturers have built this case with the enthusiast in mind. While many of us would like to mod our own cases, sometimes neither the time nor the ability to do so is available.”

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FSP Group 460 Watt ATX Server Power Supply
MODTHEBOX! :: Thursday, September 04, 2003

“The rear portion of the FSP460-60PFN Quiet Power Supply is fairly standard housing most of the common features found on power supplies. The right hand side facilitates an over sized ON/OFF switch along with a single AC plug connector located below. While not used in North America, absent from the rear is any form of switch used to toggle between 115/230V modes. Being geared towards high performance machines and severs; I was surprised not to see an additional AC output, which could be used to power a monitor amongst other devices.”

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Horse of Iron’s PolarFlow milled water block and fan adapters
Techwarelabs :: Thursday, September 04, 2003

“Milling from a solid piece of metal is worth mentioning because the alternative is a block or adapter made from a mold and molten metal. Such a product is inferior due the the possibility of bubbles in the metal. Additionally, molded pieces crack more easily when portions of the metal that were poured cool faster than others. Milling is a more expensive, time consuming process, however, the end result is a product that will stand up to time and stress.”

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ICEMAT Mouse Surface Review
Furioustech :: Thursday, September 25, 2003

“Having a good mousing surface is one of the smaller things in your computing experience which is just as important as having good quality components and peripherals. While some feel that having a generic cloth or foam mousepad, or even just the desktop surface is more than enough, there are individuals out there who prefer a separate surface for mousing altogether.”

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STeelpad 4s
8Balls Hardware :: Thursday, September 25, 2003

“Having a good mousing surface is one of the smaller things in your computing experience which is just as important as having good quality components and peripherals. While some feel that having a generic cloth or foam mousepad, or even just the desktop surface is more than enough, there are individuals out there who prefer a separate surface for mousing altogether.”

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Microsoft Wireless Intellimouse Explorer review
Ripnet-UK :: Tuesday, September 23, 2003

“Whilst it may look strange at first, the shape of the Wireless Intellimouse Explorer makes it extremely comfortable to use. It’s almost a perfect shape for the hand and seems to have grooves and curves in all the right places…”

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ICEMAT Mouse Pad Review
GruntvillE :: Tuesday, September 23, 2003

“The Icemat was carefully delivered in the standard packaging. Icemat did not go generic on the packaging either, as the box was covered in print and pictures. Comments about the Icemat’s “Sliding Perfection” are printed on almost every side of the box. On the front of the box, Icemat states “The Icemat is no ordinary mouse pad. Made of glass with a special coating, the Icemat provides unique gaming and design qualities”

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Steelpad 4s Review
Virtual-Underground :: Monday, September 08, 2003

“This is a great mouse pad all around. It achieves what it promises, a bigger surface with more accuracy by offering better control over your mouse, just what every gamer wants. The noise is just something that you either get used to or play louder noises over, to me, it’s no biggie. The Steelpad 4s is almost indestructible.”

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Albatron Gigi FX5600 Ultra 128MB
Overclockers New Zealand :: Thursday, September 25, 2003

“At stock, Nvidia’s FX5600Ultra is around 6% faster than ATi’s R9600Pro, the difference stretches to 20% under UT2003. Nvidia had certainly made the right move by adapting flip-chip packaging and lifting the working frequency of FX5600Ultra. However, the table starts to turn when both cards are overclocked to the maximum. That is when ATi reclaim the champion title again.”

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XFX GeForce FX5600 Ultra 128MB video card
OCAddiction :: Thursday, September 25, 2003

“The Coolbits registry tweak gave me quite a bit of headroom to overclock the XFX FX5600 Ultra so I stuck with that instead of using a program like RivaTuner. I initially used the auto detect feature to jump to a safe overclock. It brought the card up to 428/857MHz (remember, stock is 400/800MHz). I then began overclocking in increments of 5 MHz, first focusing on the core then memory. I ran one full loop of 3DMark01 in between each setting to look for artifacts and test stability.”

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Chaintech Apogee FX71 GeForce FX 5600 Ultra
TweakTown :: Tuesday, September 23, 2003

“The GeForce FX has recently given nVidia a bad name with various decisions which could have been handled better. Chaintech is a long time supporter of nVidia and has stood by them in thick and thin. Today Cameron “Sov” Johnson takes a look at Chaintech’s Apogee FX71 with some amazing cooling technology which is based on the Apogee FX71 core. Can Chaintech help nVidia in the performance department? Read on and find out!”

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Albatron KX18D Pro II nForce2 400 Ultra Motherboard review
Overclockers New Zealand :: Tuesday, September 23, 2003

“Albatron KX18D-Pro2 has the optimal blend of overclocking and system board, with a wide range of integrations and fully functional overclocking features. ”

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Zalman Theatre 6 Headphones
Short-Media :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“Can a set of headphones be classified as a “quiet computing product”? They most certainly can compared to the alternative of blasting through a game surrounded by loudspeakers. Zalman is well known for quiet computing products and steps up front and centre (and rear) with Theatre 6 Real Surround Sound Headphones. Zalman claims to deliver that 5.1 surround experience, normally had with 6 speakers, in a set of headphones.”

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Hercules 3D Prophet 9600 256MB
Hexus :: Thursday, September 18, 2003

“The Hercules 256MB 3D Prophet 9600 isn’t a bad card at all. It’ll impress most onlookers if you choose to run the supplied DX9 demos, and it also produces reasonable scores in our benchmarks. We just feel as if the 256MB model is unwarranted, especially in view of the card’s stunted pixel-pushing and bandwidth power. The 9600 Pro and FX 5600 128MB cards are clearly faster in every department and cost little more. That’s the knowledge which stops us from recommending this particular card. Hercules has done an excellent job with a product that’s going to find it difficult in marketplace where buyers know exactly how each card fares. It’ll, however, do well in OEM systems where 256MB is the all-important selling point. There’s better ‘value’ to be had elsewhere, but if you really, really need a 256MB 9600 Pro, this one sure looks the part.”

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Samsung SyncMaster 173B Review
Monkey Review :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“As you can see, the specs aren’t too extraordinary compared to Samsung’s higher end models. When the price is factored in we see where the price cut affects the specs. The brightness level (250cdm²) seems to be lower than what we’d like to see, though the 450:1 contrast level is on the ball in terms of mid-high end LCD’s. The other two specs which are in line with the monitor class are the 25ms response time and the .26 dot pitch.”

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Inno3D GeForce FX5900 Review
Overclocker Café :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“For the extra $100 over the 5600 Ultra you get some excellent frame rates and will have a card with a good lifespan in your system. (Not all of us can afford to upgrade our VGA card every 6 months or every 16 months for that matter.) The Inno3D Tornado GeForce FX 5900 is a good solid product that won’t fail to please.”

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BFG Asylum FX 5900 Ultra
Bjorn3D :: Thursday, September 11, 2003

“After using ATI cards for a year I’ve finally gotten the opportunity to review a BFG Asylum FX 5900 Ultra card. The review includes both ‘real’ gaming benchmarks, gameplay discussions with screenshots and image quality comparison with the ATi Radeon 9800 Pro.”

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DVD X Copy and DVD X Copy XPress Review @ Bjorn3d
Bjorn3D :: Monday, September 08, 2003
“Most movies don’t actually seem to utilize the full capacity of a dual-layer DVD; however, they often use more than 4.7 GB of data, which means two discs would be needed any way. DVD X Copy XPress attempts to alleviate this problem by compressing the data to make it fit on one disc. I will also examine the standard DVD X Copy, which allows for a complete and perfect copy of a DVD movie, according to 321.”

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Albatron KX18D Pro II Motherboard Review
PCStats :: Thursday, September 04, 2003

“While nVIDIA is losing its position as graphic core market leader, the nForce2 has held top spot in the AMD chipset world for the last year without much effort. The competition has simply been unable to mount any sort of counter, even after so long a time… one has to be wondering why VIA lost their magic? VIA, nVIDIA’s arch rival in the world of AMD chipsets have released two models since the nForce2 launch. In each instance VIA’s chipsets failed to match nForce2 performance and stability levels. Perhaps the upcoming VIA KT800 (the third attempt) will once and for all retire the nForce2, but by that time will any consumer even be paying attention? With the beloved AMD K7 near the end of its life, and the Athlon64 around the corner, a few manufacturers are having one last dance with the Athlon before it goes down in the history books. Today we’re going to be taking a look at Albatron’s KX18D Pro II nForce2 Ultra 400 based motherboard.”

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ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256 MB
Bjorn3D :: Thursday, September 04, 2003

“One of the perks of working on a hardware website is the opportunity to try out the high-end stuff you never would be able to afford to buy. I’ve been running a ATI 9800 Pro 256 MB in my machine for some time now and today released a review of it complete with lots of benchmarks and game screenshots.”

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