Tech News December 2002

NewsDec 31, 2002June 29, 20140

DFI NT72-SA i850E Motherboard Review
PCStats :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“With Intel dropping support for RDRAM and adopting dual channel DDR for the Pentium 4, it’s obvious that RDRAM will be soon be taking a less important role in the P4 mainboard markets. Still, Rambus is not going to go down without a fight, and today we’re examining the DFI NT72-SA. The DFI NT72-SA is based on the i850E chipset, which is Intel’s last to support RDRAM. The NT72-SA was originally released by DFI in May of 2002 and with the recent release of Granite Bay based motherboards now, it sits under the spotlight once again. The goal then, as it is now, was to produce a cost effective high performance desktop motherboard so there aren’t many overclocking options to fiddle with.”

Globalwin CAK4-76T Copper Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“With a thermistor controlled fan that ranges in noise from about 37 dB – 45 dB, the Globalwin CAK4-76T is one of the quieter heatsinks out on the market, but also one which will scale its speed to meet the cooling requirements placed on it. As the thermistor senses an increase in the temperature of the body of the heatsink it will increase the fan speed to compensate. This technique has been used for quite some time on power supplies where it was effective at decreasing the overall sound output of a computer.”

Samsung SPL4225 Tantus 42 inch Plasma Display Review
PCStats :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002
“After watching countless DVD’s on good old televisions, tiny computer screens, high-resolution LCD displays, and even rear projection HDTV’s, I can say without a doubt; once you go plasma you never go back! Samsung’s Tantus SPL4225 Plasma display measures an impressive 42″ across, and a scant three and a half inches thick. The image quality is just luscious, and if you can forget about the nearly ten thousand dollar (CDN) price tag for a moment, there is virtually no downside to this display. This 42″ plasma display can be connected to a computer to act like a giant monitor for presentations, or heck even gaming. As part of our…ummm testing…we played a few rounds of UT2003 on the 42″ SPL4225.”

Laser Etched Fan Grills review
PimpedOutCases :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

Looking for another alternative for dressing up your existing fans, or not looking to replace them anytime soon? Enhance there overall appeal and aesthetic by utilizing Xoxide Modifications Laser Etched Fan Grill covers. Seven highly detailed, laser etched acrylic grills will defiantly please any modder looking for a finishing touch for there rig.

CPL Winter C3 2002 Coverage
Virtual-Hideout :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“In my Xabre C3 Summer CPL Case Mod Competition article, I gave a small history of the C3 competition. If you missed it, be sure to run through it. This article will be focused on the event and competition. Unfortunately this time around there were much less competitors, however the few that were there were all amazing. I was among the spectators this time around along with many other long time competitors who couldn’t make it because various reasons. I couldn’t make it because of lack of funds, and time. This also marks the first CPL event I haven’t brought my computer to in 4 years years of perfect attendance (which totals 9 events). The fact that the majority of the event was during finals didn’t help. As last time, and pretty much all times before, it was held in downtown Dallas, Texas, blocks away from the Kennedy Assassination, in the Hyatt Regency Hotel.”

Abit Ti4200 OTES review
Nexus Hardware :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“The Geforce 4 Ti4200 has a great reputation of being a great overclocker, so Abit added some touch to it that will improve its overclockability even more. The Abit Siluro GF4 Ti4200-8X OTES video card I’m reviewing has 128MB of memory and supports the new AGP 8X. “OTES” stand for Outside Thermal Exhaust System. The unique OTES design is suppose to keep the GPU temperature low at stock and overclocked speeds. The GPU fan runs at an incredible speed of 7200 RPM! The video card comes overclocked to 275/550 MHz (This is the stock speeds of a Geforce 4 Ti4400) with 3.6ns ram while the regular clock speed of a GeForce 4 Ti4200 is 250/444 MHz with 4ns ram.”

BeanTech BT84 Acrylic Case Review
Virtual-Hideout :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“Acrylic cases are nothing new. As a matter of fact, they’re been around even before VH started out. Where case windows only let you see a certain portion of your valuable hardwares, acrylic cases are totally transparent so you can see everything inside. These cases also helps in educational and display purposes. There’re not many companies out there making them and most, if not all of them are based in the States or Canada but if the recent Comdex is any indication, be sure to see more and more variations of the acrylic case from the Taiwanese folks! And one of them is BeanTech International. BeanTech is a relatively new company, formed only recently but have grown into one of the leading manufacturers of mobile racks in Taiwan. They also manufacture their own line of aluminium cases and recently launched their acrylic case line. And the BT84 is one of the prototypes that we’re looking at today.”

Lost In Space LCD panel review
Ripnet-UK :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“…more problems raised their ugly heads – namely, it didn’t work! I knew that the LIS was receiving power, because the lights came on, but it seemed that despite this no-one was home; nothing was coming up on the LCD. Thus I deduced that it must be a problem with the serial port and not the USB, so I took the computer apart again, and first of all checked that the wire was pushed firmly into the L.I.S and tried a different serial port. Next step was to get online and have a browse about. What do you know? I found a latest software update here, and even better a pictorial installation guide. All of a sudden, Bingo! The LIS was up and running :-) …”

Swiftech H20-8500 Watercooling Kit review
OCIA :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“This kit is aimed at those who want the low noise operation of watercooling, but are confined to a somewhat small case and/or those who don’t want to fool with extensive modding of their case to accommodate a watercooling setup. The only requirement for your case is at least one 80mm rear exhaust fan opening and an empty 5 1/2″ drive bay. I will take a look at each component provided in detail, then will walk you through our installation and testing.”

Starfish Ray Lights review
IpKonfig :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

Just when you think you’ve seen it all, something else gets handed to you. Let’s face it, we’ve seen most all possibilities there are to modifying a computer case–or have we? When the market was hot’n’heavy with all sorts of case gadgets, there was lots to choose from. But that market has slowed down quite a bit. Now, we’re seeing more creative devices appear, and the prices are quite reasonable. The biggest craze in all this madness was Neon Lighting. Most people had already installed a window onto their side panels, but not much was seen there until Neon lit up the hardware behind the sidewalls. Then came different colors of lights. Now, we have Cold Cathode lights-and even they come in multiple colors! The measurements of the Starfish Ray are 1.75″ x 1.75″ x .75″, and that should tell you that it can be placed almost anywhere. What I find most valuable about the Starfish Rays is their assortment of colors. Ranging from Blue, Green, Red, and White, you can find the color you’re looking for to suit your needs/wants.

Arkua 838T-7G 2U Pentium 4 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“The 838T-7G heatsink from Arkua has already made its way into more than a few Small Form Factor PC’s and desktops thanks to its small 2U stature, and easy clipping system. The heatsink makes use of the existing Pentium 4 heatsink retention mechanism and simply clips into place, with a small lever to then put the core under tension and finish off the installation. In those small book-sized systems and SFF PC’s space is at a premium, and so manufacturers have taken to using heat pipes, or hybrid heatsinks like this unit from Arkua which are shorter than a typical P4 heatsink. Even though the space may be small, the goals remain the same – good cooling with little noise. Although the Arkua 838T-7G is not specifically designed as a low-noise cooler, its 70mm fan is pretty easy on the ears.”

Xoxide Sunbeam 4 Port Rheobus review
XtReMoDs :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“Cooling is by far the most important thing that takes place inside your case. The primary method to cool your PC most people use are fans; without them it would be impossible to achieve such high processor speeds that we do today. But lets face it, if you have a high performance computer then chances are you have a bunch of fans. I know if your case is anything like mine then it is pretty loud. How can you fix this problem? One way is to install the Sunbeam Rheobus Easy Fan controller.”

Seagate ST380023AS Hard Drive review
Hexus :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

Serial ATA is a “serial” architecture as opposed to today’s “parallel” ATA internal disc drive bus. Serial ATA wraps many bits of data into a packet and then at a higher speed (up to 50% higher) than parallel, transfers the packet of data down the wire to or from the host. Today Cyclic Redundancy Checking (CRC) is performed on the data being transmitted back and forth but not on the commands. Serial ATA integrates CRC on the command and data packet level for enhanced bus reliability. Cyclic redundancy code detects all single and double-bit errors and ensures detection of 99.998% of all possible errors.

10GB Apple iPod for Windows Review
PCReviewSpot :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“Probably one of the biggest highlights that strikes everyone about the iPod would have to be it’s awesome design. With a mirror finish stainless-steel chrome back to the smooth white acrylic front, everything about this mp3 player looks awesome. It has a big clear 2″ (diagonal) LCD display that can show up to 7 line of nicely sized text. It features a white back light which makes viewing easy in dim light, as well as enhances it’s aesthetics. A lot of Apples products look great, but they really hit the nail on the head with this one.”

Vantec’s IceberqDDR review
DataFuse :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“I can easily say the removal is just like taking off your taillights with a powerdrill, you don’t really want to damage your taillights but you sure as hell don’t want to scratch your porshe GT2, unowatumsayin.”

Thermaltake Volcano 9 HSF Review
myWORLD :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“Looking back at the previous year, we knew that Thermaltake was well-known for it’s series of ORB cooler. Back then, when the ORB cooler came out it had good feedbacks. Later, in order to cope with the changes, Thermaltake started to abandon their ORB series and came out with newer and improved cooler known as Volcano series….”

Akasa AK 824 HSF Cooler Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“The heatsink composition of the AK 824 is constructed entirely from aluminum and lacks any copper base or inlays commonly found on most 80mm coolers. The dimensions of the aluminum heatsink are 80mm x 80mm x 36mm. I was unable to obtain and information regarding the exact weight but from handling the cooler itself, the overall weight is rather light and should not pose a threat to the fragile cores of AMD processors. Using what appears to be traditional fin technology, the fins; totaling 21, all vary in height and rise towards the center. Having the highest point in the center of the heatsink accommodates for the core being directly below this portion, thus the need for tall fins and thicker base in that area particular to assist in heat dissipation.”

HighSpeed PC Xpider TM2000 Thermal Monitor Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“There are a total of 3 included thermal sensors used to obtain temperature readings from the Processor, Hard drive and overall internal system temperature. Each sensor comes clearly labeled to avoid confusion when installing. By using the provided thermal tape, users can install the sensors on whichever piece of hardware they see fit but must keep in mind that the LCD screen will still display the CPU, HDD, and SYS acronyms. In order to get accurate results, I attached the temperature probe labeled HDD to bottom center of a 20GB Maxtor Diamond Max Plus 45 drive.”

Plexmaster G1 Clear Computer Case Review
Voided Warranty :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“When I looked through the contents to make sure everything would be possible to install, I notice that two of the plastic 5 ¼” drive bay coverings were missing. When I installed my CD-ROM drive, I still had a big hole just waiting to take in dust, which is a problem.”

Kingwin Tri-Window Black Aluminum Case with UV Highlights review
OCIA :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“Like I said I want to make this case mine. Gold grills on black fans seems so passé and like I said I wanted to personalize the case so I put some neon blue UV sensitive fans with chrome grills in place of all five stock black fans. I found something interesting in the case; the front and rear pairs of fans have been spliced. I know that the splicing seems like no big deal but when one is building a case for viewing, less is more when it comes to wires to hide. Nice idea. I’ll add that to my bag of trickin’ tricks one day.”

Cooler Master Ramsinks & Alloy Front Bezel Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“Cooler Master has developed two specific types of RAM chip coolers, which consist of an all copper, and all aluminium based solution. Each package contains 8 ram chip coolers in total measuring approximately 22mm (W) x 8mm (L) x 5mm (H). The chip coolers have been designed to be universal and used in a wide variety of applications which include RAM cooling, GPU video card cooling as well as motherboard chipset cooling. Cooler Master has advised that these kits should meet all heat dissipation requirements for current and future RAM chips currently on the market. Consumers contemplating the use of these kits should measure their existing components prior to purchase.”

Nexus Multifunction Panel NXP-101 review
PimpRig :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“The three interchangeable panels that came with the unit were a nice touch, but the colors definitely leave something to be desired. I like where Vantec is headed with this trend though, and hope many other manufacturers begin to follow suit.”

AGP8x Leadtek Winfast A280 Review
Tech-PC :: Monday, December 23, 2002
“A closer look shows that this is a graphics card based around the well proven nVidia GeForce4 Ti4200 core with 128MB of high speed DDR memory capable of up to 8gb/s bandwidth. As you can see from the features below, this is an advanced graphics card. AGP X8 and Leadtek’s quite superb’MyViVo’, make this card far more interesting than most Ti4200’s in the market place.”

Vantec Stealth 420 watt 3 fan P4 P/S Review
3dXtreme :: Monday, December 23, 2002
“Overall the Vantec Stealth 420 Watt Power Supply is a winner. Combining an Aluminum housing with 3 Fan switchable operation along with rock solid performance you cannot go wrong with this unit….”

Fujifilm FinePix F402 Digital Camera Review
PCStats :: Monday, December 23, 2002
“Fujifilm must have been looking towards style conscious consumers when they designed the F402 because it is endowed with more sex appeal than a digital camera really ought to have. If this aluminum camera and its’ little blue light don’t scream “James Bond spy toy” to you I don’t know what does… It goes without saying that this is a camera for regular folks – it is fully point and shoot ready, and small enough to fit into any pocket so it can be effortlessly carried around. To turn on the F402, you pull back on the little part of the metal circle shown to the left. The motor-driven lens pops out from behind the protective cover, and then it’s simply a matter of framing the shot through the LCD or optical viewfinders, and pressing the shutter release. Easy as pie.”

CaseAce Geargrip LCD Harness and LT Case Carrier review
Tweaknews :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“Enough already with the clumsy boxes and wheels. You need to carry a case? CaseAce it! If these two products don’t quite fit your needs they will always have something else. And they are always open for suggestions. I now look forward to going to a LAN-party instead of fearing the agony of carrying the case and monitor. Get it on the web!”

Pyramid 2 fan silencer review
Ripnet-UK :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“… I decided to use an Antec fan to test the Pyramid so I could still monitor the fan speeds through the motherboard. The first thing I noticed is just how much noise those Antec fans make! You may not think so but just with the one fan running slower the overall system noise dropped a noticable amount…”

PSU Relay Timer Mod Guide
Virtual-Hideout :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“Anyone with a water-cooling system has one major question that needs to be answered: How will I power my AC pump, when my computer uses DC power? The answer is rather simple, a relay. The people over at Swiftech have been nice enough to put together a kit with the previous question in mind. CrazyPC.com was kind enough to send me one such kit for this review, and I would like to take this time to thank them for this article’s sponsorship. While planning the installation out in my head, I realized that it would also be possible to incorporate a PCMods.com “Power Down Protector” (or “PDP” for short). The PDP is a kit, which is designed to keep two fans on for a specific amount of time after you shut down your computer. My goal for this project was to modify a power supply, so that it would automatically turn a 120w pump on when the computer is turned on, and so it would keep the pump on for a specific amount of time after the computer is shut down. Quite a long goal, but I hope it makes sense when you read it.”

Milling a Pentium 4 Processor?
IpKonfig :: Monday, December 23, 2002
“Scot from OverclockersHideout sent us an email today, something I wasn’t prepared to see, of a Pentium 4 1.8Ghz processor getting milled to remove the heatspreader. We’ve seen people use all sorts of tools to remove it, but this is just too extreme. I’m not sure I could recommend this to anyone, but it sure is fun to watch the mill carve right into the heatspreader. Check out the end results and a video of the actual milling.”

Antec Plusview1000AMG – SOHO File Server review
Monkey Review :: Monday, December 23, 2002

Performance is a major aspect of this towers appeal. Before utilizing the Plusview 1000AMG I had been using an aluminum tower. It was equipped well enough for airflow and had offered me sufficient temps, yet the location of fans, combined with the fact that I had to flip my PSU over to get it installed, made some major dents to my CPU temps. The PLUSVIEW 1000AMG proved that it deserves its place in the Antec’s Performance Series as my system temps dropped from the low 50’s to the mid 30’s.

Vantec Nexus Fan Speed Controller reivew
ViperLair :: Monday, December 23, 2002
“What separates the Nexus Fan Controller from other baybuses is ease of installation. An issue many baybuses face is having only 3-pin fan connections. This is an issue because only 60mm and 70mm fans (unless I forgot a larger fan) use these connections.”

VIA Epia M9000 Mini-ITX Motherboard review
Tweaknews :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“The VIA EPIA M-Series Mini-ITX Mainboard is a revolutionary, ultra-compact x86 platform optimized for today’s killer digital applications. At just 17cm x 17cm, Mini-ITX is the world’s smallest native x86 mainboard platform, and is fully compatible with Microsoftand Linux Operating Systems. Available with an embedded VIA Eden ESP processor core for fanless systems with ultra low-power requirements, or an embedded VIA C3 E-Series processor for more demanding digital multimedia applications, the EPIA M-Series is the perfect platform for a whole range of small form factor, low-power digital media devices and home entertainment centers.”

Akasa Silver Mountain 2Q HSF Cooler Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“Out of the box, my initial impressions of the Silver Mountain 2Q were very positive, the entirely silver plated heatsink coupled with a black fan guard boasts a nice amount of aesthetics. Bearing a striking resemblance to its predecessor; the original Silver Mountain, the Silver Mountain 2Q features Silver plated copper construction along with a slightly increased base from 60mm to a 72mm footprint. The Silver Mountain 2Q is Akasa’s prestige offering and is rated to handle up to AMD Athlon XP 2800+ speeds.”

CoolerMaster’s XDream HSF review
Voided Warranty :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“No more taking the panel off of your case just to change the speed settings of your HSF. I would like to give some props to Cooler Master for this new design. Good work guys… Even if I did think of it first.”

Soltek SL-85ERV review
3dXtreme :: Monday, December 23, 2002
“That’s right, unofficial support for DDR400!! Not only that but Soltek also had a bios update that makes this board Hyper-Threading capable…..”

A RabidHardware Weekend 1.0: Shopping Carts
Rabid Hardware :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“This article started with 4 particular people (Doc (Ben), Brother McNasty (Adam), Pigvomit (Tom), and me (Niels) being in a mildly Jackass ™ mood, and completely and utterly bored as well. Upon driving past the local school playground one evening (which has a fair size hill) a nice high performance Walmart shopping cart was detected, and somehow the idea was brought up to take said shopping cart for a run down said hill. Our objective was to gather various shopping carts and to pit them against one another and pick our favorite based on speed, durability, comfort, and stability.”

SystemCooling has a look at Vantec’s USB 2.0 Solution
SystemCooling :: Monday, December 23, 2002

With Firewire not quite meeting the expectations hoped for, due in a large part to the high retail pricing of compatible devices, the door was left wide open for USB 2.0 with it’s moderately priced compatible peripherals such as most modern printers and scanners, digital cameras, hard drives, and the list seems to be getting longer each day. The only problem is that unless you have a rather new motherboard, or have purchased a USB 2.0 PCI card, the new device’s will not work in general, while some devices will work, but at reduced speed with USB 1.1 ports.

Laser Goodness! (Review)
SystemCooling :: Monday, December 23, 2002

Have you ever followed a link while surfing, a friend had given you in search of a particular product and getting so excited about a whole range of products being offered that you almost forgot why you were there in the first place? Well, that is exactly what happened to us. We found KoolPCMods and their fantastic collection of laser cut mods. In this article we will show you just a few of the ones that caught our attention, otherwise we could go on for days!!

Vantec Nexus Fan Controller NXP-201 Review
PimpRig :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“The Vantec Nexus Fan Controller is not a run of the mill rheobus like you see on other mod supply websites, as a matter of fact, it isn’t a rheobus at all.”

FrozenCPU Rounded Electro Luminescent Cable Review
Virtual-Hideout :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“I think there’s certain things that “if they aren’t broke, don’t fix them” and this is one of them. Like we don’t have enough stuff in our cases that need power and/or molex plugs, now the damn IDE cables too?!…. HELL NO, WE WON’T GO!!…LOL! I’m a huge supporter of LED fans myself. Why? Because they not only serve their cooling purpose, but they add the great colors and glow to the product WITHOUT adding any additional wiring. It’s totally an invisible feature. That to me, is the perfect kinda product. This EL IDE Cable, is the exact opposite of an led fan. Instead of taking a messy product and either adding features or making it neater, this product takes a perfectly fine item and turns it into a pricey mess. Remember guys, even if you like the spiral glow of these, think x 3. Three inverters to hide, Three wires to hide, Three molex plugs you’ll need …..just for your ide cables!””

Vantec Nexus Multifunction Panel review
Nexus Hardware :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“The Nexus Multifunction panel is the best looking fan control and temperature monitoring device I’ve seen on the market. It comes with three interchangeable faceplates to properly fit your “style”. The knob in the middle controls fan speed (as well as noise). The unit is equipped with an lcd display for temperatures as well as fan RPM:”

Asus A7N8X nForce 2 motherboard review
Overclockers New Zealand :: Monday, December 23, 2002
“A7N8X is without doubt THE fastest AMD platform (single CPU) on the market now. It blitzes through the benchmarks like a thunder, surpassing all other VIA boards. It is amazing what Nvidia has achieved in a years time.”

Vantec Nexus NXP101 MultiFunction Controller Review
Frosty Tech :: Monday, December 23, 2002
“There was a time when only a few cases had USB or Firewire ports on the front bezel. That meant when you wanted to hook up a USB device you had bend down behind the desk to try an find a free port. USB hubs solved a lot of those problems, and gradually case manufacturers began creating bezels with integrated USB and Firewire ports to solve access issues. Those cases which don’t support front mounted USB/Firewire ports can be upgraded pretty easily with a USB/Firewire bay in either the 3.5″ or 5.25″ slots. With the abundance of bay devices being installed in modern systems, we are gradually running out of space. So when Vantec introduced their Nexus NXP101 Mutifunction Panel with two USB headers, a Firewire header, a fan controller and a digital LCD readout of three temperature sensors and fan RPM things were looking good. The LCD screen is backlit green, so even in darker areas it will be readable, and the entire unit is powered by just one floppy drive power connector (or molex).”

PC Toys DDR Maxx Heat Spreaders Review
OCIA :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“RAM heat spreaders… everyone has their own opinion on this subject. Some feel they are a waste of money; only adding to the aesthetics of your system and doing absolutely nothing at all in the cooling department. Others swear by these heat spreaders, reporting an increase in stability and often times an increase in overclocking ability. Today we look at two DDR heat spreaders from PC Toys in hopes of finding out once and for all the truth behind RAM heat spreaders.”

Tt Aquarius II Water Cooler Kit Review
Overclocker Café :: Monday, December 23, 2002
“This is by far the smallest water pump I have seen used in PC water-cooling kits. Moving 23.8 GPH, which is roughly the equivalent amount of water moved by flushing the average American toilet fifteen times. Superficially, this seems like a lot but most water cooler systems use either the Eheim pump or something very close to it. The Eheim pump moves roughly 158 GPH; which is six times that of the Tt pump.”

Soltek SL-KT400-A4 KT333CF motherboard Review
Overclockers New Zealand :: Monday, December 23, 2002
“It is pretty evident that the FRV and KT-400-A4 are essentially the same board, except for AGP 8X function. The performance is nearly identical for both of them under various applications and games.”

Sky Hawk Galaxy-LX Review
XtReMoDs :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“Everyone wants a computer case that will catch people’s attention. Everyone also wants a case that will keep your high end machine cool. Sky Hawk has done a very nice job in bringing style and performance together into one case; Sky Hawk USA’s Galaxy-LX case with Q-window.”

Beantech’s BT-68AEA Alu Mobile Rack review
Tech-Dreams :: Monday, December 23, 2002
“A couple of days ago, when I received the BT-80 Clear Acrylic case from BeanTech, they also sent me their BT-68 AEA Aluminum Mobile HDD Rack to review. Now, I was never into mobile racks because I never really saw the need for them, but I must say — I really put myself at a disadvantage before by not having a mobile rack! You see, I have five computers networked here at home – one computer is mainly used to download, surf the web, play games, and do other things of this nature while another computer is used for just multimedia – playing music and movies. My multimedia computer feeds off my main computer, which eats up its resources. So, when I thought about what I would do with the mobile rack, I immediately thought about using it for my multimedia. This way, I can easily swap it between the other three computers to make my life, well, just a bit easier. Easy is good, don’t let anyone ever tell you differently.”

Zalman ZM300A-APF PSU Review
myWORLD :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“Power supply, I can say is one of the most important part for a particular computer system when it comes in powering the motherboard, drives, fans, and so on. Without them, how are we supposed to do the daily computing? Choosing a good and suitable power supply is crucial too. If you chose a bad and low quality power supply, you may run into some power supply breakdown or your system won’t work as stable as you’ve expected.”

BeanTech’s BT84 Clear Acrylic Case Review
Think Computers :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“With case modding growing, just about everyone is modding their cases. The thing we see most is people putting windows on their case. They do this to show off their components and cooling systems. Many hardware companies are making their products more visually appealing, so a window is almost standard on cases now. What if you wanted to take it futher? Have an all windowed case? Or a clear case? Well few companies have come out with clear acrylic cases. BeanTech is one of them and today we will be taking a look out their BT84 Clear Acrylic Case.”

ABIT KX7-333 RAID v ABIT KD7-RAID Comparative Review
Hexus :: Monday, December 23, 2002
“For now though, the winner of this shootout is the ABIT KX7-333 for its no hassle speed and stability – a simply outstanding board. It isn’t packed with features I won’t use, it just has everything you need, where you need it, fast.”

Cooler Master Alloy Front Bezel review
ViperLair :: Monday, December 23, 2002
“So first things first you open the packet and measure up the bezel to make sure everything fits. Those of you with curved tray fronts need not worry as the tray front replacement has 2 lips either end for a standard tray or for a curved tray you can stick the 3M tape onto the back of the replacement tray front itself, insuring a proper fit.”

MobileMaxx Removable Hard Drive Rack Review
OCIA :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“The rack has programmable alarms so that you can set your computer to alert you whenever your drive is getting too hot. The rack also has a fan alert alarm that lets you know if the fan stops working. I find both of these features to be quite useful. Some might consider it overkill but if you have ever had a drive crash and burn while full of data, anything that might help your current drives not to crash gains value quite rapidly.”

Cooler Master HAC-V81 X-Dream CPU Cooler Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“The design of the 80mm fan and fan guard is more than just an aesthetic decision. Fabricating a plastic guard instead of a metal one eliminates some of the noise caused by vibration. As well, the design of the guard allows for less turbulence from air being drawn in, and reduces the amount of back pressure the fan generates. The fan itself can run anywhere from 2500 to 4800 RPM, while pushing up to 62.8 CFM of air. Even at it’s lowest setting, the benefits of a 80mm fan become obvious; over 31 CFM, better than some moderate level cooling solutions. Cooler Master doesn’t provide a decibel rating for the fan. At full speed, however, it is slightly quieter than a Delta Screamer, and the 80mm fan generates a pitch much lower than a smaller 60mm fan.”

Design Comp’s Custom ATC-210 Case review
ReviewNation :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“Design Comp is a company that makes custom computer cases, for the high end PC user. When they send us their custom Cooler Master ATC-210 case, my jaw dropped all the way to the floor when first looking at it. We’ve reviewed Cooler Master cases in the past, but none quite like this… Design Comp went out of their way to mod this case to the utmost extreme, and obviously with that comes quite a hefty price tag of $441.50 total. Lets see if this case is really worth the near 450 bones you’ll be throwin on the table, or if its just a dud in a hot body…”

XP 2400 OverClocking Article
OCIA :: Saturday, December 14, 2002

“Pinto, Palomino, and Phen Phen… What do these three have in common? They all once where the cream of the crop until they got the ax. Remember the Pinto? Wasn’t that a nice little car? To bad it exploded whenever it got rear ended. What about Phen Phen? Great stuff for weight loss if you don’t mind heart failure. Then there is the Palomino. A fast little devil that required a new fire extinguisher mod on the side of your case. Now we have the new Thoroughbred “B” chip that helps one of AMD’s biggest weaknesses: heat. But just having a cooler running chip wasn’t enough for the guys at AMD.”

Vantec AeroCool VP4-C7040 and CA4-C7040 review
Think Computers :: Saturday, December 14, 2002

“If you’re reading a heatsink article, then you no doubt know that CPU heat is increasing steadily with each new clock increase. The need for greater heat dissipation has advanced to the point that aluminum heatsinks can no longer cut the mustard, as we are now seeing copper coolers and aluminum/copper hybrids.”

Crystalfontz USB 20×4 LCD (Model: CFA634-TMC-KU) Video Review
3dgameman :: Saturday, December 14, 2002

“The Crystalfontz USB 20×4 LCD is the USB interface version of their 634 model which means only one cable and allows for easy installation. Also, with 20 characters per line and 4 lines it translates into a lot of data being shown at once. Their CrystalControl software is easy to configure and easy to use. Watch the Video to find out more…”

BeanTech’s BT-80 Clear Acrylic Case Review
Tech-Dreams :: Saturday, December 14, 2002
The front of BeanTech’s acrylic case provides you with the standard power on/off button, reset switch, power on/off LED, and HDD activity LED. A little below that holds a place for two USB 2.0 ports, and a Firewire 1394 port connected to a small PCB board visible inside the case to the side of the 3 1/4″ drive bays. There are a total of four 5 1/4″ drive bays and two 3 1/2″ bays centered in front of the case. Below the drive bays is a 80mm clear blowhole fan. Incidentally, take a look at the cuts on the grills for the fans. Very nice!

Zalman ZM-NB32J North Bridge Heatsink RevieW
myWORLD :: Saturday, December 14, 2002

“In this era of IT age, computer system nowadays tends to run faster and better with the help of the ever improving technology, such as an advancement of the chipset design, CPU, video card, and much more. However, the problem in designing these fast computer components is they generate a lot of heat. But, with the help of the heatsink, this temperature can be lowered thus controlled at the satisfactory level.”

Icy Dock removeable HDD rack review
Ripnet-UK :: Saturday, December 14, 2002

“…data loss is a pain in the neck but probably not a massively big deal, but if you use your PC for business purposes then losing something like a customer database could be far more serious, and maybe even see you heading for bankruptcy. Back-ups could be made to another partition on the same hard disk, but of course there are attendant dangers there. Far safer options are either copying your files to some form of removeable media like a CD or tape, or else copying them to a removeable hard-disk…”

Xoxide PC Tachometer Kit Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Saturday, December 14, 2002

“The back of the Sun Super Tachometer II features a switch to select the cylinders for the intended vehicle. Configuration selections are 4, 6 or 8, however this is not important for our purposes in a PC. Another feature on the back of the tachometer is a supplemental lamp plug to illuminate the unit when the headlamps are turned on. If one was so inclined, a bright LED could be worked in for a similar purpose to supplement the (weak) lighting included by default in the Sun Super Tachometer II.”

FrozenCpu 3.5″ Dual-Voltage Baybus Review
Virtual-Hideout :: Saturday, December 14, 2002

“One of the really nice things about this design is the fact that you can access the fan connections while it’s installed on the faceplate!. That’s a highly under-rated feature folks…..it’s totally worth having and thanks to FrozenCPU.Com for bringing back that design feature from the 6-port to this 3-port model. The sencond nice feature here is that you can adjust the onboard “pots” for tuning the 7v switch from 7v-9v just in case you need alittle more juice to spin-up your particular fans, or if you just have a desired setting.”

Swiftech MCW-50 GPU waterblock review
GruntvillE :: Saturday, December 14, 2002

“The Swiftech block has 4 holes in the base for mounting it to the NVIDIA GeForce line of products. Mounting the block is as easy as making the assembly. Put the block on with the inlets pointing away from the PCI slots. Start one assembled screw in first while holding the block flat against the GPU. Start a second screw in the opposite corner and then get the other 2 started. Tighten them down evenly doing a small adjustment to each one and going to the next till it is secured against the block. I found that my supports weren’t touching the board but felt it was plenty tight.”

Innovatek Water Cooling Kit review
Nexus Hardware :: Saturday, December 14, 2002

“Innovatek has been a pioneer of the retail water cooling since the beginning. Ingenious German design, and high quality components are symbolic of the growingly popular Innovatek name. Today I will be looking at one of their water cooling kits. Hopefully, it will live up to its name!”

ABIT AMD 333 HAPPY HOLIDAYS Contest until Christmas
ABIT :: Friday, December 13, 2002
To celebrate the upcoming holidays, ABIT wants to bring you more joy by offering MORE PRIZES and are extending the ABIT AMD 333 HAPPY HOLIDAYS Contest until Christmas.

In the spirit of the holidays, Corsair, Thermaltake, [H]ardOcp, Enermax, Lian-Li joined in their 333 Contest. In addition to (3) ABIT AMD motherboards, (3) ABIT Siluro VGA cards, (3) AMD Athlon XP 2700+ 333 FSB CPUs, we will give away (3) 430W Enermax Switching Power Supplies, total of (3) [H]ardOcp Ratpadz™, total of (3) Lian-Li PC Cases, total of (3) Corsair CMX256A-3200C2 memory modules, total of (3) Thermaltake Volcano 7+ CPU Fans and total of (3) Thermaltake Highest Performance Case Lighting “CoolMods” every week until Christmas.

To enter the contest, click here

3.5″ drive bay rheobus @ Lux-Design
Lux-Design :: Friday, December 13, 2002
Lux-Design is having a sale on their brand new rheobus that fits in a 3.5″ bay, they look really cool… Head over and buy one

LI Utilities WinBackup Software
Tweaknews :: Thursday, December 12, 2002
“Life can be hard on the net. Numerous viruses are out to get you and spyware crawls up the phoneline. But how can you really keep the data you want to keep in one peace save? Making backups ! In this review I will take you all on a trip through LI Utilities WinBackup Software and show you the good and bad points of this backup suite.”

ThermalTake SS Volcano9/CoolMod review
GideonTech :: Thursday, December 12, 2002
“So instead of a screaming 4800RPM fan blasting all day and night, you can finally control the amount of performance you need. Let it auto adjust itself through temperature changes using the probe or run it non-stop if you need the cooling. Better yet, slap on the adjustable dial and tweak to your hearts content…”

its a cool lookin heatsink

Triplex GeForce 4 Ti4600 Millennium Silver VGA Review
Overclockers New Zealand :: Thursday, December 12, 2002
“Triplex is able to catch a lot of people’s attention with the 007-style aluminium box (To be honest, it got me too). However, the packaging is rather plain besides the fancy box. There is no DVI to VGA converter (that is rather unusual for a Ti-4600 card) and no games were included either.”

thats a really nice video card

PCToys PowerMaxx 520W PSU Review
Virtual-Hideout :: Thursday, December 12, 2002

“Lately more and more things in computers have started to be changed to be more appealing to the eye, to perform better, or to be more user friendly. The case mod community in a sense has been a catalyst to the movement away from typical beige. So, naturally once one has a kickass rig, pre modded or not (I’m becoming more tolerant, but it still don’t make it right!), they can sit back in the neon glow of their creation and just smile. But wait! What’s that big gray ugly box in the back top of their case? The typical PSU, well unless they had done a good mod job on it of course. However, PSU enclosures made from new materials and colors are starting to show up at retailers and we’ve been asked to take a look at one of these… The black aluminum 520W “Power Maxx” PSU from PCToys. Sounds nice. :)”

Cooler Master X-Dream HAC-V81 review
ViperLair :: Thursday, December 12, 2002
Performance wise, the HAC-V81 delivers quite nicely, although I wouldn’t call it a top performing HSF. Were it really shines though is in its ability to control the fan speed and therefore the noise output. Being able to choose a fan speed dependent on the systems current function can be a great asset to those looking for a ‘best of both worlds’ cooler.

MonkeyReview Holiday Giveaway
Monkey Review :: Thursday, December 12, 2002
MonkeyReview has teamed up with Crucial, Evergreen Technologies/Thermagic, and oracle Graphics to bring you some free goodies around the holidays. MonkeyReview is giving away 256MB PC2700 DDR from Crucial, a Thermagic CSS(Self Contained Liquid Cooling Kit) Kit from Thermagic, some Thermagic Thermal Compound, and finally some nicely done custom appliqués from the people at oracle graphics. For our full contest rules and guidelines, please take a look here

Vantec Nexus NXP201 Fan-Controller Review
Frosty Tech :: Thursday, December 12, 2002
“I can remember when the first home-brew fan speed ‘rheobus’ was introduced on an enthusiasts website a few years back. Since then, a lot has changed in the computer world, and more than a few manufacturers have started producing their own variation of fan speed controller. A fan speed rheostat (as they were originally called) is meant to bring RPM control to the users’ finger tips. With the case fans connected to such a device you can decrease the speed of each fan independently for optimal airflow vs. noise.”

a7n8x review @ maximum oc
Maximum OC :: Thursday, December 12, 2002
Maximum OC took a look at the new A7N8X which is a nForce 2 motherboard, he also done the voltage mod for it, see what he thought

Vantec Nexus Multi function Panel Review
SystemCooling :: Thursday, December 12, 2002
Control seems to be popular with PC’s lately. Noise control, that is. There was a time when we lived with the noise of the CPU fans we installed, but now the accessory market has stepped up the offerings of external fan control devices. Vantec’s Nexus Multi Function panel is one example. Not only does it allow fan control, it displays temperature and fan speed as well. The unit also adds convenient front mounted USB and Firewire ports. You can also customize the appearance.

What do you think?

NAYA Design cristO Classic Case Review
Hexus :: Thursday, December 12, 2002
If the case is available at half the quoted price, I would recommend it for someone wanting a unique case where you can see all the internals. It has adequate cooling for most people, those wanting high overclocks should look elsewhere.

ZXMods Clear PSU Cover
Tech-Dreams :: Thursday, December 12, 2002
Finished modding your case? Just beginning to? Can’t think of any other ideas for it? When you look through your window of your case what do you see? Most likely some nice rounded cables, your beautiful graphics card with it’s pretty chipset cooler, oh yeah and your neon light making everything visible to see… Ahhhhh… Beauty… Err.. *Gasp* Wait… What the hell is that? Up there… towards the back.. Eww.. It’s your plain looking power supply sitting in its standard power supply cover… what can we do about that? How about a clear acrylic PSU cover by ZXMods?

PC Hardware Gift Guide for 2003
3dXtreme :: Thursday, December 12, 2002
“Whether you’re looking for that perfect gift for the “Techie” in the family or just shopping for yourself here are some ideas and suggestions from us to you…. ”

You can all buy me something ;)

Antec TruePower 430W Power Supply Review
PCStats :: Sunday, December 08, 2002
“Power supplies are one of the most basic building blocks of a computer system, and they are also one of the most important . We’ve generally had pretty good experiences with Antec’s power supplies around here, so today we’ll be looking their TruePower 430W model. I’m sure from your perspective a power supply looks like is a pretty bland thing – after all, it’s really just a metal box with some circuitry inside that you install once, and forget about. Apart from the odd noisy fan, or a motor seizure which causes overheating, there really isn’t much to worry about, or is there?”

Vantec Fan Controllers review
SystemCooling :: Sunday, December 08, 2002
Continuing on in our series of items that we have termed “functional eye-candy”, we bring you one of the very best “Fan Controllers” we have had the pleasure to work with. I said one because both the “pcToys SYSTEMAXX Fan Controller” and the “Vantec Nexus Fan Controller” are obviously produced by the same manufacturer, so from this point on we’ll refer to them as “the Fan Controllers” to simplify things.

Asus A7N8X Deluxe NForce2 Motherboard review
Nexus Hardware :: Sunday, December 08, 2002

“Today we’re going to look at an NForce2 motherboard packed with features and overclocking options by one of the most respected motherboard manufacturers in the business, Asus and their NForce2 offering, the A7N8X. We’ll look at the performance difference between running in DDR and DCDDR and just how well the motherboard overclocks an AMD XP2400+”

Soyo P4X400 Dragon Ultra Platinum Edition Motherboard review
Overclockers New Zealand :: Sunday, December 08, 2002
“Soyo Dragon is a very stable motherboard and offers many features and useful bundles (a typical Soyo style). The inclusion of Sigma box enabling front USB connection is something rare for a motherboard package. The eye catching silver colour with clear NorthBridge fan has good visual appearance especially for case modders.”

Vantec Nexus NXP 101 Multi-function Panel Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Sunday, December 08, 2002

“My initial impressions of the Vantec Nexus NXP 101 Multi-functional panel were very positive; combining brushed aluminum, acrylic, and chrome style control knob provides a generous amount of aesthetics. Measuring 148.5 mm X 41.5 mm X 62.0 mm, the Vantec Nexus is designed for use in a 5.25″ bay. The Nexus unit comes pre-assembled and with the purple faceplate applied by default. The front portion consists of three main elements; an LCD display, Fan Control knob and USB 2.0 and Firewire ports.”

Molex 37256 heatsink review
Overclocker Café :: Sunday, December 08, 2002

“Molex Thermal Acoustics was once a private company named Silent Systems. The Molex we all are familiar with bought the company and moved the business to its corporate office area in Illinois in October 1999. Therefore, with Molex’s acquisition of a company specializing in silent coolers, they may have got the know-how to combine with a fistful of money to put out some efficient coolers. The Molex coolers are designed for the OEM market but the design is there for a good cooler; let’s see if they can pull it off though.”

Check this thing out

Antec Plusview 1000 AMG review
GruntvillE :: Sunday, December 08, 2002
“The placement in this case was perfect. The plexi is firmly attached and would not move with sizable amount of force. The first thing you will notice is the raised ridges running horizontal over the fan hole in the side panel’s plexi. It is the first we have seen something like this, and is interesting to say the least.”

Sunbeam Rheobus Kit #2 Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Sunday, December 08, 2002

“Behind the bay cover is the printed circuit board driving the unit. Four massive heatsinks cool chips that control four channels capable of handling 20 watts per channel, more than adequate for even the most power-hungry cooling solutions (Vantec Tornado users take note!). The PCB is secured to the cover by the control knobs and two support arms at the rear quarters of the board, which have screw mounts to hold the board firmly in place. To prevent an accidental short,the bottom of the PCB is padded with an open-cell foam pad. Overall, the unit shows lots of care has been taken in engineering a rock solid product.”

Abit NF7-S Motherboard (Socket 462) Video Review #248
3dgameman :: Sunday, December 08, 2002
“The Abit NF7-S Motherboard is based on nForce2 chipset which delivers bandwidth speeds up to and beyond 333MHz. This board sports onboard 5.1 Channel Audio, USB2, LAN and RAID Serial ATA. It’s stable, performs well and is great at overclocking. Watch the Video to find out more…”

go give it a watch

Swiftech MCX4000 Review
ViperLair :: Sunday, December 08, 2002
“Since copper can absorb heat fairly quickly, it was no surprise that the MCX4000 allowed us to POST at the highest levels we were able to acheive with our CPU/Motherboard combo. The previous high was 161FSB, but with the MCX4000, we managed a 165FSB POST. The system eventually hung at the POST screen, but we were able to boot into Windows and run benchmarks at 158FSB. Temperatures after 20 minutes of testing was about 59C.”

Hitachi CML174SXW LCD Monitor review
Tech-PC :: Sunday, December 08, 2002
“This is probably the first LCD monitor that can truly be recommended for gamers due to its fast performance, yet non-gamers will similarly benefit during desktop use and for watching DVDs and video. It’s not just fast response times that are the key to this monitor getting high appraisal. Of course it’s fast, but the picture also has to look good and I feel that it excels in every department. As you can probably gather, I really like this monitor! I decided to buy an LCD monitor after I saw how much better they looked compared to CRTs and with the Hitachi CML174SXW it is the ideal time for people who might be wary about buying an LCD (especially gamers who are concerned about ghosting) to experience the overwhelming advantages of this technology. You won’t be disappointed.”

Iwill P4HT-S i845PE Motherboard Review
PCStats :: Wednesday, December 04, 2002
“Red is the colour of roses, fast cars, and in this case an i845PE motherboard from the folks at Iwill. In celebration of the overwhelming use of the colour red on this motherboard, we here at PCStats.com just felt compelled to write this entire review in red. Red, red, red! IWill want to catch your attention as you browse around the store shopping for a motherboard, and by colouring the PCB this bright colour they have built one of the flashiest motherboards around – I mean even the PCI and AGP slots are red! Based on Intel’s i845PE chipset which supports 533MHz HyperThreading Pentium 4 processors, the P4HT-S offers a good value to consumers looking to move up to speeds of 3.06GHz now or in the future”

etched 8-Ball Window Kit review
OCIA :: Wednesday, December 04, 2002
“I took a few pictures of my modded case and created a small Geocities website to show off my work. My case went over well in the small “community’ and the website grew, which lead me to create another site – but that is another story. The point of this article is to focus on the window. While at the time a window in a PC was revolutionary, there is no hiding the fact that it was a “simple” mod. I just slapped up a piece of plexiglass behind the window, put on some window molding around the edges and was done. I suppose I was so intrigued by the window that I didn’t see the plainness in it. It was not until a bit later that case lighting became all the rage. Shortly thereafter, window appliqués started making an appearance on some case windows. Now, Case-Mod has taken things one step further by taking a case window and laser etching a design into it, thus creating the 8-Ball Window Kit we are looking at today.”

Lian Li’s PC6089A Review
ReviewNation :: Wednesday, December 04, 2002

“Where to begin is the question I’ve been asking myself over and over when I think about writing this review. I decided just a random start will do. First off let me thank Lian-Li for this AWESOME case. It just amazes me that they make cases that only get better as time goes on. Every little detail is thought of. There are no sharp edges, no screw holes that are just that little bit too far away to connect your motherboard right. Everything is perfect in this case. I’ll start with the first thing that caught my eye…”

AMS G-Mono Mid Tower Case Video Review
3dgameman :: Wednesday, December 04, 2002
“The AMS G-Mono Mid Tower Case has to be the coolest looking case on the planet in its very affordable price range. With a Firewire, USB2 and audio connections at the front, and an amazing high gloss paint job it has buy and mod me written all over it. Watch the Video to find out more…”

New Interview: Rob “linear” Arnold.
ABIT :: Wednesday, December 04, 2002
Rob “linear” Arnold: The Invisible PC and more. In the December 2002 issue of Maximum PC magazine Rob “linear” Arnold was awarded the Coveted back page that is the home to the “Rig of the Month”. In true Pheaton.com tradition we subjected him to some questions so that we could find out a little about the man behind the project known as the Invisible PC.

Check out this interview

ABIT AMD 333 Contest!
ABIT :: Tuesday, December 03, 2002
ABIT AMD 333 Contest! From December 2 to December 22, 2002, they are giving away 3 ABIT AMD motherboards, 3 Siluro VGA cards, and 3 AMD Athlon XP 2700+ CPUs with 333FSB support every week for (3) three weeks! To enter head over to their website and enter!

Mouse Pad Roundup
ViperLair :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“Nowadays we have mouse pads that are specifically designed for optical mice – and even though it might seem a bit silly, the market for mouse pads has gotten quite big. In this review, the [H]ardOCP’s RatPadz, PCXMods’ X-Trac, M3’s Precise Mousing Surface, and a common mouse pad are all put to the test – for optical and ball mice.”

Albatron Ti4680P-Turbo GeForce4 Ti4200-8X Review
PCStats :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“For half of the price of nVIDIA’s high-end GeForce4 Ti4600 videocard, you can grab yourself 90% if its performance with a GeForce4 Ti4200 based card. There’s really no argument about which GPU has been the best value in 2002; the GeForce4 Ti4200 sits on that thrown, and rightly so. Now if you ask any computer enthusiast which GeForce4 Ti4200 to get, you’d no doubt hear the name “Albatron” mentioned more than once. Albatron’s original Ti4200P-Turbo videocard took the hardware community by storm. The card combined a Ti4400/4600 PCB and 3.3ns memory so well that many enthusiasts could overclock it well past Ti4600 levels. We played with the Ti4200P-Turbo in September ’02 and were equally taken with its performance qualities. With nVIDIA rehashing their Ti4200\Ti4600’s to incorporate 8x AGP technology, it was only inevitable that Albatron would redo their very successful Ti4200 Turbo’s as well!”

How-to on Ultra-thin Video modules
GruntvillE :: Tuesday, December 31, 2002

“Now seeing as I chose to mount the module into my front Antec door, one of the main selling points of this unit is “19mm in Depth”. If you take a look at some of the other modules available you’ll see the depth quickly shoots up to 40mm……….. but I suppose if one wanted to, you could also mount them else ware in the case. With all the wires extended and hooked back up to their respective places, its time to put a switch inline with our modules power. I chose to use a toggle switch salvaged from an old blacklight to give me control over the modules power. This isn’t a necessity but it should extend the life of the unit dramatically if you turn it off when not in use; especially if your computer runs for days on end without anyone in front of it.”

SAMSUNG SYNCMASTER 241MP 24INCH TFT LCD MONITOR review
Tweaknews :: Monday, December 23, 2002

“So, you want bragging rights. You have the latest video card, the fastest processor overclocked to stupendious speeds complimented with as muchram you can muster to squeeze into the available slots on your motherboard that can do pretty well everything other than take your dog out for a walk. How about your monitor? Is it the everyday CRT? If yes, shame on you!!! What I will be reviewing today is THE largest multifunction TFT LCD on the market. This TFT does everything from DVD’s to TV and yes, as a minor point, you can use it as a monitor and a huge one at that.”

Iiyama 18.1″ LCD Monitor Review
Tech-PC :: Wednesday, December 04, 2002
“When using my TV card, which gets its picture from a Sky Digital Box, the monitor was easily able to cope. This is the part I really liked, it dawned on me that what I have in front of me is not only a monitor, it was a space saving monitor. Not only did it display a PC image, it displayed a television image, meaning that for people stuck for space you can buy a TV Card for your computer and save an enormous amount of space. Take the size of a television and a monitor and compare that to the size of this TFT, quite a saving, I’m sure you’ll agree.”

I would like a LCD please

ATI R300 Package: Thermal Problems Caused by the Shim
Frosty Tech :: Wednesday, December 04, 2002
“To put it bluntly, there is problem with the ATI R300 processor package that impacts just how well heatsinks can cool on the Radeon 9700 Pro. With the area around the R300’s silicon core populated by ultra small capacitors and resistors, the manufacturer has placed something there for protection. That protection comes in the form of a 4mm wide band of copper which runs around the perimeter of the 40mm square package. It helps to prevent the tiny components from getting crushed, or the core from being chipped. This copper shim is glued to the surface of the PCB, and if it were installed flush to the height of the silicon core, it would actually be very useful.”

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