Tech News February 2008

ATI/AMD’s Open-Source Plans
Phoronix :: Thursday, February 28, 2008
“Starting off the X.Org talks at FOSDEM 2008 was AMD’s John Bridgman, who has been leading the AMD GPG open-source efforts. John had talked briefly about the history of their open-source efforts for the R500+ series and the evolution of AMD GPU hardware. Among the interesting comments made were that TexturedVideo/X-Video support for the R500/600 may be coming quite soon, DRM and Mesa work forthcoming, open-source multi-GPU CrossFire support is on the road-map, and they will be re-releasing R200 programming documents. The RV620 and RV635 documentation is expected in the near future.”

G.SKILL DDR2 PC2 8500 (8 Layers PCB) Memory Review
RB Mods :: Thursday, February 28, 2008
Today we take a look at a DDR2 kit from Gskill. We got their new 8500 kit that seems to perform quite well according to some other reviews I have seen. We are going to compare this vs our previous DDR2 kits that have performed the best. We are also going to try to boost this kit a bit to see how it performs under heavy overclocking.

Cooler Master Cosmos S Case
Overclock 3d :: Thursday, February 28, 2008
“We take a look at Cooler Master’s all-aluminium (well nearly) Cosmos S case”

Hard Drive Performance Comparison Guide
Tech ARP :: Thursday, February 28, 2008
“WinBench 99 2.0 has proven that it can still serve as a consistent and reliable hard drive benchmark even in Windows Vista. It has given us a lot of interesting data. If the Business and High-End simulations were not good enough, the raw transfer rate results were certainly most useful. From the transfer rate results, you can see which hard drive has a higher transfer rate, and how areal density affects that performance metric. It also shot down the perception that a newer model is always faster.”

Coolink GFXChilla VGA Cooler Review
Hardware Canucks :: Thursday, February 28, 2008
Spearheading this push into North America is Coolink’s new graphics card heatsink; the aptly-named GFXChilla. This cooler represents Coolink’s first graphics card heatsink and with it they are aiming straight at some of the most popular graphics cards on the market: the 8800GT and HD3870. Even with compatibility for these two best-selling cards, the GFXChilla also boasts compatibility for nearly every other graphics card made within the last few years including the Nvidia 7×00-series, 6×00-series as well as ATI’s X1800 and X1900 series. This broad compatibility coupled with the fact that Coolink advertises this as a silent, dual-slot cooling solution should make the GFXChilla a very popular choice among consumers.

Lian Li PC-A17 Midtower Chassis Review
OCIA :: Thursday, February 28, 2008
“Lian Li is a name synonymous with quality in the case market. Almost every year, they release new chassis, all improvements upon the last in their line. Naturally, when LanCool PC (a subsidiary of Lian Li) said that they wanted to send over a Lian Li case, I was pretty excited to check it out. Today’s review sample, the PC-A17, may have a familiar sounding name: it’s the next generation PC-A16 case, and they’re about as similar as their names are.”

Are AMD Digging Their Own Grave?
Tweak Town :: Thursday, February 28, 2008
“We’re all still waiting on an official supporting Crossfire X driver from AMD (said to come in next month’s Catalyst 8.3 drivers) which will allow a couple of HD 3870 X2s to be paired up.

AMD are going to run into a problem when they release the HD 3870 X2 driver. That problem is that the hype is going to be gone on the card and everyone will be waiting for the 9800 series of cards from NVIDIA.”

Importance Of Using E-Mail Whitelists
PC Mech :: Thursday, February 28, 2008
“Many people out there know what e-mail blacklisting is but may not necessarily be familiar with whitelisting. In basic terms, to blacklist means “don’t accept” and whitelist “accept” when speaking of e-mail. You could also say it as “block” and “not block” and it would mean the same thing more or less.”

FSP Everest 1010W Review 
XS Reviews :: Thursday, February 28, 2008
“As the need for PC juice increases, so does the size of the PSUs providing the needed power. Fortunately, there are a few companies who aren’t willing to extend the chassis of their power providers, and instead stick faithfully to the compact size that we’ve come to expect.

Once such company is FSP who have created the Everest PSU which is capable of sending (just) over 1000W of energy to your ever-hungry components. It features a modular design alongside 4 PCI-e connectors and comes in shiny blue. What else could you need? Read on to find out.”

CE-Secure Vault Edition Review
Techware Labs :: Thursday, February 28, 2008
“CE-Secure Vault Edition is a software released by CMS Products and is aimed at assisting users with securing files and information. With the urgent rise in the need for security software CE-Secure Vault Edition is an easy to use software that does what its meant to do. See why we feel this software is an excellent value.”

ASUS P5K64 WS Intel P35 DDR3 Motherboard Review
Think Computers :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
“It’s not something that we in the enthusiast world really think about, but there is a market out there for high-end computers that will probably never do any gaming, be overclocked, water cooled, or any other of the cool stuff that geeks do with their rigs. For example, a design engineer might desire a CAD workstation using multiple large screens…as many as six or eight…at high resolution. Anyone designing animation would like such a rig. So, what does someone desiring to build a modern upper-end graphics workstation do? Asus has an answer with the P5K64 WS, a workstation motherboard based on the very successful Intel P35 chipset. Today we will be looking at the P5K64 WS, to see if it has anything that would hold the interest of the enthusiast. Can it satisfy the geek? Read ahead to see.”

AMD Phenom 9600 Black Box Edition Review
Overclockers Club :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
“The AMD Phenom 9600 Black Box Edition is definitely not a processor that does well when overclocked. From BSODs to BIOS corruption when trying to overclock, you might be missing some hair since you’ll be pulling it out wondering what you are doing wrong. Out of the box I would say it performs the way it is suppose to; I did not have any problems running mybenchmarks and all applications ran quite smoothly.”

Installing Linux onto your Sony PS3
Tweak Town :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
“Linux on Sony hardware has been done before, but not to any great success. Some of you may remember that the PS2 could run a strange version of the open source OS with a bought package that gave you a 40GB HDD, a keyboard and a mouse. However, it did not allow for any functionality of the DVD-ROM because Sony thought you might start using your PS2 to rip off all their games.

There was a lot of noise in the beginning of the PS3’s marketing-hype-launch that the console would have Linux pre-loaded, but Sony came to their senses when they realized how much more work that was going to be for them. So we are left to figure this one out for ourselves.”

Scythe Ninja Copper CPU Cooler Review
Hardware Logic :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
“While the CPU Cooler trend of “Bigger is Better” has been debunked by such puny newcomers as the OCZ Vendetta, Scythe carries on it’s tradition of mammoth sized coolers with the all copper release of it’s popular Ninja line. Featuring an (almost) all copper construction and a breadth to challenge a sumo wrestler, can the Ninja’s girth let it push it’s way to the top or does the effective new HDT technology mean it’s time for a diet? HardwareLogic’s got the score to see who wins in the Cooler Battle of the Bulk.”

Gigabyte GA-EX38-DS4
Bjorn 3d :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Currently, the high-end motherboards are fairly similar her in terms of performance and features. Unlike old motherboards where they differ from each other in terms of overclockability, amount of ports, bundles, and features. Current motherboards seem to be performing so close to each other that often motherboards with same chipsets will have performance less than 5% from each other. In order to differentiate themselves among other boards, motherboard manufactures are starting implement different approaches. Asus is probably the most ambitious with their motherboard bundle and avant-garde chipset cooling and designs. MSI, on the other hand, tries to stands out by incorporate Audigy onboard audio. Gigabyte is doing something slightly different than either Asus or MSI. They have decided to produce greener motherboard with their latest DES motherboard family. In fact, Gigabyte is commented to the “greener” products as many of their current line-up of products (graphic cards and motherboards) are designed to reduce power consumption.

Cooler Master Cosmos S Full Tower Case Review
Big Bruin :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Cooler Master really included many new features that I would expect to become a standard with high end computer cases, like the very cool touch sensor that replaced the standard power button. When building a high end computer system many user’s focus on the internal components and not on the case, but with the Cosmos S arriving in March, the case should become a high priority.

Bgears b-Envi Micro Case
Modders Inc :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Bgears has burst onto the case modder/enthusiast scene with some pretty innovative products. With the new b-Envi Small Form Factor (SFF) case, Bgears tosses its hat into the ring and wants to spar with the other manufacturers in a crowded case market for the SFF crowd. Does this case have what it takes to make your friends b-Envious? I think you will find this to be a special case in many ways, so… step on through and learn about one of the best kept secrets in town!

Gigabyte VPower Review
XS Reviews :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
“Having proved themselves as commendable GPU cooler manufacturers with their Cyclops, Gigabyte were keen for us to test their slightly higher end model, the V-Power. With a wider compatibility and 4 heatpipes more than the Cyclops’ 0, let’s see how it adds up.”

Noctua NF-S12 Fan Review 
ASE Labs :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
” While most people reading ASE Labs as well as other enthusiast publications are very concerned with heat, there is another niche that is concerned with sound. Selecting a fan to provide adequate cooling that is quiet is really a shot in the dark. The fan rating may say one thing, but in practice it means something completely different. Noctua steps forward to provide a fan that satisfy the cool and quiet needs of enthusiasts. ”

Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme 8800
Driver Heaven :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Today we are reviewing the Accelero Xtreme 8800 and it has a tough test ahead of it, can it match or exceed the Thermalright HR-03 Plus?

AeroCool DoublePower VGA Cooler Review
Club OC :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
With the increased power of the modern performance video card comes the need for more power and the creation of more heat. While we cant do much to bring down the power needs of these monsters companies like AeroCool are working hard to bring down the heat. Today we will be looking at the AeroCool DoublePower VGA cooler. With not one, but two heatsinks is this cooler worth an upgrade?

Glacial Power 550W PSU 
GideonTech :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
“Glacialpower was kind enough to send over their 550W power supply, the GP-PS550BP. With an intelligent and silent design, it should provide great performance with some peace and quiet. I’ll crack open the PSU to take a look inside as well to see what it’s made of. With 550 Watts of power, it can power just about any mid-range PC you can piece together and possibly more.”

Dell XPS 630
Hot Hardware :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
Dell just took the wraps off their latest XPS desktop system for gamers and enthusiasts today and this time around the new systems are targeted at being more affordable. The new XPS 630 we’ve reviewed at HotHardware, is Dell’s new customizable machine with support for NVIDIA dual-GPU SLI graphics , the latest dual and quad-core Intel processors, and a slick chassis design that will turn heads at the LAN party. Click the link below and check it out…

Thermaltake BigWater 760i Liquid Cooling System Review
Virtual Hideout :: Wednesday, February 27, 2008
“Overall, the Thermaltake 760i BigWater Liquid Cooling System is one efficient compact liquid cooling system. Not only does it integrate nicely in to your chassis, it’ll also compliment most any system you want to assemble. Thermaltake took the time to preassemble some things and make the installation process much simpler. All these factors have made it a very easy system to use and should be simple enough for any and every user wanting to make a change in the way the CPU is cooled.”

Noctua introduces NH-U9B CPU cooler
Noctua :: Tuesday, February 26, 2008

Seasonic S12 Energy Plus 650 Watt Power Supply Review
Mikhailtech :: Tuesday, February 26, 2008
The Seasonic S12 Energy + 650 watt has incorporates a “dual magnetic amplifier” circuit to achieve a maximum ripple on the +12V line of only 3%. This works out to only a 0.36mV ripple, which, compared to max ATX spec of 120mV is very palatable. For you non math gurus out there, the Seasonic unit produce a max ripple on the +12V line one third less than the max allowed by the ATX spec. Very impressive!

Mtron MOBI 3000 2.5-Inch 16GB SSD MSD-SATA3025
Benchmark Reviews :: Tuesday, February 26, 2008
Solid State Drives are not for everyone. Similar to the evolution towards DDR3 system memory, a gradual replacement of the Hard Disk Drive (HDD) by the Solid State Drive (SDD) is going to move very slow. The cost of purchase for SSD’s is the primary cause, since most drives cost more than an entire computer system. Other factors include the restricted bandwidth available to flash-based SSD’s. But what if the price was within reach? What if the data throughput was comparable? This is where Benchmark Reviews comes in to answer the tough questions, as we test the Mtron MOBI 3000 2.5-Inch 16GB SSD MSD-SATA3025.

OCZ PC2-8000 4GB Platinum Edition Dual Channel Memory Review
OCIA :: Tuesday, February 26, 2008
“The team at OCZ are among those manufacturers. The past couple of months have seen OCZ release several new DDR2 memory kits, this one, which is a 4 gig version of their popular PC2-8000 5-5-5 Platinum Edition. Will we get the performance from this Platinum Edition memory that we have come to expect from OCZ?”

Cooler Master COSMOS S Review
Techgage :: Tuesday, February 26, 2008
In the world of computer cases, it seems that far too many do not stand out from the crowd. Cooler Master has decided to break tradition and create something special. With many features not seen before and full eATX compatibility, how well does the Cosmos S stand out?

ECS GF7100PVT-M Motherboard Review
Overclockers Club :: Tuesday, February 26, 2008
“So, what can we conclude about this motherboard? Well, it’s a sure thing that this board isn’t made for overclocking. We also know that the onboard video isn’t made for today’s hottest games and high resolutions. But this motherboard did perform well against the Foxconn, which was shocking to say the least. The difference between other MicroATX motherboards and this ECS GF7100PVT-M is that this ECS motherboard is half the price of the Foxconn and simliar X38 boards.”

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Processor Review
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, February 26, 2008
“The Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 that we specifically looked at in this article did very well in the benchmarks and consistently beat the AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition quad-core processor. This goes to show how well the Wolfdale core has been developed and also how bad of a position AMD is in when it comes to processors. When it came to overclocking, the 45nm Wolfdale processors do great and hitting 500MHz FSB is easily possible, which means 2GHz DDR3 memory kits can be finally released and companies like Corsair Memory have already launched such products…”

Tuniq Ensemble 1200W Review –
XS Reviews :: Tuesday, February 26, 2008
“With the recent addition of triple SLI and multi GPU gaming rather than single powerful cards, power supplies with quadruple figure watt values are being recommended more and more by manufacturers. Whether it’s due to actual necessity or the want to sell more, high power PSU’s are now more common than ever.

Today I have the Tuniq Ensemble which will be pitted against a couple of 8800 Ultra’s to determine whether it passes the gamer grade. Featuring four PCI-e connectors, dual fans and 87% efficiency, let’s see if you can frag while saving the earth at the same time.”

Measuring Ubuntu’s Boot Performance
Phoronix :: Friday, February 22, 2008
“Last year leading up to the release of Ubuntu 7.04 “Feisty Fawn” and Ubuntu 7.10 “Gutsy Gibbon” we had published several articles looking at various aspects of this desktop Linux distribution. These articles had varied from looking at Ubuntu’s power consumption for the past six major releases to presenting the visual history of Ubuntu and how its graphics have evolved since Ubuntu 4.10. With Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” shipping in just two months, we are once again looking at Ubuntu from several points of view. In this article, we are looking at Ubuntu’s boot performance for the past five releases through the use of Bootchart for measuring its boot time, disk throughput, and the running processes.”

NZXT Rogue mATX Gaming Case
techPowerUp :: Friday, February 22, 2008
The NZXT Rogue is a very unique case. It combines the portability of a cube with the possiblity to install large graphic cards and high performance power supplies. A carrying strap is also included, to make carrying the black or silver cube – featuring either blue or red LEDs – to and from a LAN party as easy as possible.

Scythe Kama Bay Amp
Overclock 3d :: Friday, February 22, 2008
“Never ones to sit idle and let an opportunity pass them by, Scythe has decided to take on the PC Audio market with their Scythe Kama Bay Amp.”

Thermaltake BigWater 760i Liquid Cooling Kit
IXBT :: Friday, February 22, 2008
“Thermaltake Big Water 760i proves that a liquid cooling system is still a rational choice: given the performance is a bit higher and the pump quieter, we would have got an absolute must have!”

Corsair TX750W 750watt Power Supply
Tweak Town :: Friday, February 22, 2008
“We had the chance a while back to review the Corsair HX series 620 watt power supply and it managed to be one of the most stable we have yet to come across. The power levels were incredibly clean and showed no stability issues at all. While this was a sure winner in our labs, past performance won’t help out in today’s testing.

When it comes to power supplies, the days of picking up whatever happens to be on the shelf are long gone. With the advent of more powerful processors, graphics and cooling solutions, power is just too important to take shortcuts with.”

SilverStone Decathlon DA800 800W Modular Power Supply Review
Think Computers :: Friday, February 22, 2008
“SilverStone Technologies, founded in 2003, has in less than five years become one of the industry leaders in PC power supplies. Though probably not as well known as some of the popular companies who have recently branched out into the power supply field, SilverStone’s robust PSUs are well respected by those who are serious about power supplies. SilverStone was one of the first two companies to receive SLI certification from nVidia. The DA800, being a new model, has not received its SLI certification by nVidia, but both the DA750 750 watt, and the DA850 850 watt models of the Decathlon line have been certified for a pair of 8800GTXs, so I can assume that it will receive the same rating.”

Lian Li Lancool Metal Boned K10 Case Review 
Hardware Secrets :: Friday, February 22, 2008
“Lancool Metal Boned K10 brings the best of both worlds: its exterior is made of aluminum, bringing a flawless finishing and being lighter than all-steel cases and, at the same time, its internal body is still made of zinc-coated steel (a.k.a. “SECC”), which makes this case to cost far less than all-aluminum products . This case is particularly targeted to users that go to LAN parties, not only because it is lighter than other steel and hybrid cases around, but because it presents a very robust construction and a couple of small features to prevent unauthorized people from opening your case.”

Kingwin Revolution RVT-12025 Heatsink Review
Club Overclocker :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
It was not long ago when I held the original Kingwin Revolution (RVT-9225) in my hands and said “This would be great as a 120mm heatsink”. It appears the gods of overclocking have heard my plea, as my wish has been granted with the RVT-12025. So, is this new heatsink truly a blessing, or are they a curse?

DFI Lanparty LT X38-T2R Motherboard
Overclock 3d :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
“Some of DFI’s previous Lanparty branded boards have reached almost iconic status. Will their latest X38 based board be able to meet our expectations?”

Zerotherm Hurricane HC92 Cu 8800
Technic 3d :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
“The Zerotherm Hurricane HC92 Cu 8800 VGA Heatsink arrived Technic3D. HC92 Cu 8800 supports almost all VGA cards including NVDIA Geforce 8800 series. (Except ATi Radeon X2900 series). The VGA coolers provide 3-in-One function (Fanless mode, Aero-Dynamic mode and Overclocking mode). See you in the following Review the Apack Cooler on a XFX 8800 GTX XXX against Standard CPU Cooling.”

Thermaltake Armor + Case Review
RB Mods :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
Thermaltake´s Armor case was a huge success a few years ago and now they have released a new version of their case named Armor +. This case is HUGE and I really mean huge! It also holds very nice features like screwless, fans, removable motherboard tray just to mention a few. We are going to turn this thing inside out to see what type of case they have come up with this time.

Nexus Caterpillar ATX Quiet Case Review 
Virtual Hideout :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
“In the past few years we have seen the move towards quiet computing. In the early days of modding, the aim was to achieve a well-cooled system no matter what the cost, with the “cost” usually being annoyingly loud fans. No more, some have said. With the multitude of other “quiet cases” out there currently, Nexus has set out to beat them all with their Caterpillar, dubbed the “Silent System PC Case”. Can this innovative case live up to the promises?”

Scythe Zipang SCZP-1000 Ultra Low Noise Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
“The number one question Frostytech readers ask us is “what’s the best silent heatsink?” Much of the time, readers find themselves asking us this question after they’ve built a media center PC using the standard type of heatsink one normally finds in local computer stores. If you need a silent heatsink, and I do mean silent, the Scythe Zipang (SCZP-1000) is the next best thing to a passive block of aluminum (the only truly silent option). What makes the Zipang quiet is a 138mm wide fan that spins at a lazy 1000RPM.”

Eagle Tech ET-CS2LSU2-BK 2.5 Inch USB Drive Enclosure Review
Big Bruin :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
With a built in USB connector and leather trim, the Eagle Tech ET-CS2LSU2-BK 2.5 Inch USB Drive Enclosure has an interesting appearance that instantly sets it apart from a typical drive enclosure. This review will take a closer look to see what else it offers that might differentiate it from other similar devices on the market.

Thermaltake Bigwater 760i
Bjorn 3d :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
enthusiasts know that water is inherently better than air when it comes to cooling our nuclear powered rigs. This is primarily due to water’s capability to hold and transport more heat than air within the same volume of space. It is this property that has long allured users to take the plunge and stick water inside their machine regardless of the dangers. It is these same dangers that have kept water cooling on the fringe of mainstream acceptance. No one wants to deal with the reality of coming home to a dead machine only to realize the cause of the untimely demise was a leak in their water cooling loop. And so company after company has sought to solve this problem and devise a system so easy, a system so fool proof that it could rival the ease of air cooling while maintaining the benefits of water cooling. Not an easy feat to be sure. Enter Thermaltake, a company dedicated to cooling since 1999. With their vast amount of experience and R&D resources they stand ready to bring water cooling to the mainstream.

Presenting the Thermaltake Bigwater 760i, an internal, all-in-one water cooling solution for the masses. It has an adjustable LED fan, easy to read reservoir, quick disconnect fittings and a whole lot more. But does it have what it takes to supplant air cooling as the choice of cooling for millions of users? I intend to find out.

Kingston DataTraveler HyperX 8GB USB Flash Drive
Legit Reviews :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
“The Kingston DataTraveler HyperX USB Flash Drives have a read speed of 30MB/s and write speed of 20MB/sec so they certainly deserve the HyperX name as it is hands-down the fastest USB Flash drive that Kingston offers. The Kingston DataTravler HyperX USB Flash drive that we are looking at today is the 8GB version, but Kingston offers the drive with different capacities at various price points, so if you want a HyperX USB Flash drive you can pick from a 2GB ($54.99), 4GB ($99.99) or 8GB (189.99) capacity…”

Apevia X-Supra Mid Tower Case Review
OCIA :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
“Apevia has a lot of cases. A quick look at a popular online retailer shows 127 listings at the time of this writing. Most of these are economy-priced premodded mid-towers, in many different colors, some with a power supply, some without. This will be the fourth Apevia/Aspire case I have owned, and I have liked each of them. For someone wanting a decent lower-priced premodded case, you can’t go wrong with one from Apevia.”

Apevia G-Junior Type X-Telstar Review
XS Reviews :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
Apevia aren’t the most widely known maker of cases, especially since they changed their name from Aspire. We’ve seen a couple of their cases before, and today I have another to add to the list. The rather cumbersome name – G Junior Type X-Telstar – relates to a front temperature and voltage display with a couple of 120mm fan thrown in.

AMD Phenom 9600 Black Edition
Techware Labs :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
“With the release of the Phenom, AMD has introduced the world to native quad core computing at a consumer level. We test the Phenom 9600 Black Edition for its performance and overclocking results. Will the Phenom 9600 Black Edition please consumers and provide results as well as overclocking? Read our review to see our “Mixed” results.”

Foxconn G33M-S Micro-ATX Motherboard Review
Virtual Hideout :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
I have really grown to like the Foxconn G33M-S a lot. It’s a good looking board with an excellent feature set and has proven to be extremely reliable. The integrated Intel chipset will more than satisfy your basic graphics needs like surfing the web, checking email, and even some light gaming. However if you’re looking for a bit more graphics power you can add any PCI-e graphics card and really unleash this m-ATX powerhouse. Do like I did and add an 8800 series graphics card, a couple gig of memory and a decent Core 2 Duo CPU and you’ll have a stable and powerful small form factor system that packs a punch.”

Asus Silent Square EVO CPU Cooler Review 
Hardware Logic :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
HardwareLogic takes a look at one of Asus’ newest CPU coolers, the Silent Square EVO, and put it through the torture chamber otherwise known as ‘The Cooling Lab’. After hours of grueling testing and dissecting, the Silent Square Evo made it out alive but how did it fare? Read on and find out if this cooler is what you’re looking for.

Asus Silent Square EVO CPU Cooler Review 
Hardware Logic :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
HardwareLogic takes a look at one of Asus’ newest CPU coolers, the Silent Square EVO, and put it through the torture chamber otherwise known as ‘The Cooling Lab’. After hours of grueling testing and dissecting, the Silent Square Evo made it out alive but how did it fare? Read on and find out if this cooler is what you’re looking for.

Asus Silent Square EVO CPU Cooler Review 
Hardware Logic :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
HardwareLogic takes a look at one of Asus’ newest CPU coolers, the Silent Square EVO, and put it through the torture chamber otherwise known as ‘The Cooling Lab’. After hours of grueling testing and dissecting, the Silent Square Evo made it out alive but how did it fare? Read on and find out if this cooler is what you’re looking for.

Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU Cooler Review
Futurelooks :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
Today we’re looking at the Hyper 212 CPU cooler; a cooler that bridges the gap between the subtle and the ostentatious. The cooler is a tower design that has multiple heat pipes running from a block on the CPU to two towers of cooling fins. These fins are then cooled by a large 120mm fan. That means this cooler is by no means subtle or small in stature, but may just turn out to be acoustically quiet.

Tweaking the Phenom 9600 Black Edition
Tech Report :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
The Phenom 9600 Black Edition is a veritable enthusiast’s playground if you know how to tweak it. We turned the knobs and dials on the Black Edition to see what we could get–assisted by a cooler the size of your head.

Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme 8800 Video Card Cooler Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
The processing power of the current graphic card generation is phenomenal, in fact some of the newer graphics chips can run distributed computing projects such as Folding at Home. This processing horsepower of course requires some pretty potent cooling. Most of these cards come with large GPU coolers attached and sometimes take up two PCI slots on the motherboard, however, some of these cards get pretty darn loud when the card is under load. I have had a few NVIDIA cards that sounded like small vacuums when playing F.E.A.R. or some other graphically intensive game. These stock coolers perform their job, but at the price of higher noise levels, if you want to overclock your card, then they will get even louder. Arctic Cooling makes some of the best GPU coolers on the market and they are about to unleash their newest model, fortunately, we were able to get our hands on the Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme 8800 Video Card Cooler. This cooler is designed to fit the nVIDIA 8800Ultra, GTX, GTS(G80) model graphic cards. Please note, this cooler is designed to fit the G80 GPU versions of these cards. Arctic Cooling has garnered a reputation for making excellent products that provide superb performance with whisper quiet operation. Let’s see if they can continue the trend with the Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme 8800 Video Card Cooler. Let’s get started….

Adesso Win Touch Pro Desktop Multimedia Touchpad Keyboard Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
Keyboards come in many shapes, sizes and most are pretty much the same, but companies are of course trying to come up with things to make their product stand out from the crowd by adding features and integrating other things into them. Today for review I’ve got the Adesso Win Touch Pro Desktop Multimedia Touchpad Keyboard, (quite a name there eh?) and it is a feature rich product that most people should appreciate. The Win Touch Pro Keyboard has an integrated Touchpad in the palm rest just like you would find on a laptop computer, along with that it features shortcut and multi-media buttons as well. This is a great keyboard for those that use laptops often and are accustomed to using a touchpad instead of a mouse. So let’s just jump right in…

Sonos Bundle 130 Digital Music System Reviewed
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
For the sake of full disclosure, I admit that I am a huge SlimDevices (now owned by Logitech) Squeezebox fan, I have owned a Squeezebox2 for the past three years and have used it almost daily during that time. It is a great device, but it does have some drawbacks, particularly, the Squeezebox requires setting up Squeezecenter (aka SlimServer) on a machine to get your personal music library to stream to the device. Setting up this server can take a fair amount of time when tweaking its settings and plugins Sonos has come up with a similar system to manage your digital music system. The main difference between the two products is the presentation and the ease of set up. The Sonos is a plug and play system with a beautiful remote control. They have released the Sonos Bundle 130 which includes a Sonos ZonoPlayer 80 (ZP80), a Sonos Zoneplayer 100 (ZP100) and a Sonos Controller (CR100). Using these devices will provide instant access to your entire digital music collection, along with millions of songs from music services and online radio. It takes literally ten minutes to get this setup up and running, it is basically an idiot proof setup. Plus, the Sonos system is infinitely expandable, by creating a wireless mesh network (aka SonosNet), you can expand your music listening capabilities all over your residence. Just add a Zoneplayer to the area you want to have music and you are all set.

Bgears b-Envi SFF Case Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, February 21, 2008
PC Cases come in a variety of shapes and sizes, the most popular of course being standard ATX format sized cases as they will fit pretty much all form factors of motherboards and can hold many components. The SFF or Small Form Factor case is a somewhat specialized case that is meant to have a small footprint and be portable if need be. SFF cases became popular with gamers so they didn’t have to carry full-sized heavy cases with them to LAN parties, but with the popularity of Home Theater PCs, these same cases are finding a new use as the center of our home entertainment systems. Today for review I’ve got the b-Envi SFF case from Bgears and it’s a nice case overall packed with several cool features like a built in removable 2.5” hard drive enclosure, 58-in-1 card reader and quiet 120mm fan. The b-Envi is an all aluminum case making it very lightweight and portable with room for two hard drives and one optical drive. The first thing that struck me about this case was the fact that there are no buttons on it, it features a touch sensitive panel with ‘buttons’ that light up to be touched when you want to power of/off or reset the system, it even has an automatic locking mechanism so the ‘buttons’ can’t be accidentally touched. So, let’s just jump right into this and check it out…

ASUS Xonar D2 Sound Card; Portable Media Player Buyer’s Guide, Part 1
IXBT :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“In this series of articles we’ll try to provide a clear description of the portable media players industry. What to pay attention to? How to understand technical specs or some obscure terms? This series of articles is written for inexperienced users, not for professionals. In this respect, it will describe simple things mostly.”

Asus Triton 77 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“The ASUS Triton 77 heatsink is one of the latest processor thermal solutions to come from motherboard manufacturing giant ASUS. The heatsink is equipped with a Sunon MagLev 92mm vapo-bearing PWM fan which runs at a very quiet 2300RPM. Standing a moderate 125mm tall, the Triton 77 heatsink has five copper heatpipes spread across its curved array of nickel-plated aluminum fins, and weighs 505 grams. The bulk of this heatsink is elevated 55mm above the CPU socket for good component clearance.”

Corsair TX750W Power Supply Review
Hardware Secrest :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“TX750W belongs to the latest power supply series from Corsair, TX. It is the power supply with the highest wattage from Corsair today – rated at 50º C, by the way, which is great – and also the only one featuring four power connectors for video cards – even the 650 W model from TX series doesn’t have four connectors. Another technical feature of this new series is the use of a single high current +12 V rail instead of several virtual rails with lower currents – units from their HX series have three virtual rails, but models from their VX series also feature a single +12V rail. It doesn’t feature a modular cabling system like HX series, but it has a 140-mm fan, high efficiency and active PFC. Let’s take an in-depth look inside this power supply and see if it can truly deliver its rated power.”

ASUS Eee PC 
t-break :: Monday, February 18, 2008
ASUS’ ultra-portable Eee PC has certainly been making a lot of noise and after playing with it for a few days, we can tell why. Although it will be officially launched in the region during the April time frame, ASUS was kind enough to send us a review sample.

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 45nm Wolfdale CPU Review 
Madshrimps :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“We take a closer look at the fastest dual core CPU from Intel, the E8500, dubbed Wolfdale, is manufactured at 45nm which translates in low power usage and excellent potential for overclocking. We compare the performance of this newcomer to a 65nm Core 2 Duo and overclock past the limit using LN2. Read on to find out if we froze the Wolf!

GMC K1 Muse MediaCentre Mid Tower Review
Xtreme Computing :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“The Muse K1 case from GMC is so feature packed that it has made for my longest review yet, and even after this review there are still features of the case left un-shown. Before reviewing this case I wasn’t so keen on it. But since I have used it, it has really grown on me. The extensive feature set surprised me time after time, and I was pleasantly surprised on more than one occasion when I would enter a different mode on the software and find a new use for the buttons and display on the front of the case.”

How to Gain Access to a Windows User Account
Technibble :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“Technibble has posted a list of all their favorite freeware computer repair tools that computer Technicians use. There are tools for recovering data when Windows wont boot, virus/adware/spyware removal tools, hardware monitoring tools (specs, speeds and temperatures), password/cd-key retrieval and much more”

Tagan BZ 800 Watt Power Supply Review
Club OC :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Tagan is back in the Club with their new BZ 800 Watt modular Power Supply. This unit promises six +12V rails and one of the most feature rich packages I have ever seen in a power supply. The Tagan BZ 800W is a intriguing mix of innovative features, packaging and color, but will the performance live up to all the promise?

Scythe Ninja and Ninja Mini CPU Coolers
Techware Labs :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“Recently we tested the Scythe Ninja and Ninja Mini heatsinks for performance, design, and installation. We present to you our results may surprise you. Scythe has taken an unusual approach to heatsink design and combined outside the cube thinking with traditional design to come up with a heatsink that performs well but has issues. Read our review to find out more.”

Intel 1600 MHz Platform Update
Tech ARP :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“Previously, the only real difference between the Extreme and mainstream Core 2 processors is the unlocking of higher multipliers in the Extreme processors. This allows for easier overclocking of the Core 2 Extreme processors, albeit at a much higher cost. The restriction of the 1600 MHz FSB to the Core 2 Extreme segment would allow Intel to further differentiate those extremely-expensive models from mainstream Core 2 processors.”

Scythe Shuriken SCSK-1000 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“The Japanese manufacturer Scythe has introduced a low profile, sub-70mm tall heatsink for Intel and AMD processors tailor made for low profile computers. If you’ve got a low profile PC and are looking for that extra cooling edge, this might be just what the doctor ordered. The Scythe Shuriken (SCSK-1000) heatsink features copper heatpipes, high density stacked aluminum fins, a copper base and a low profile 12mm thick 100mm Pulse Width Modulation (PWM) fan.”

Outel USB Media Remote Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“The USB Media Remote is tiny, feature packed including a built-in laser pointer and it fits right inside of a free PCMCIA slot for storage and easy portability. So if you’re like me and the majority of laptop owners out there who didn’t get a remote with their laptop but want one then I can easily recommend this product, so read on to check it out… ”

AMD Phenom 32-bit vs. 64-bit Linux
Phoronix :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“Since publishing our Linux review of the AMD Phenom 9500 on the Spider platform a month ago, we have continued in our investigation of this first AMD desktop quad-core processor that has been very problematic with Ubuntu 7.10 Linux. Fortunately though this support isn’t stagnate and a better picture is painted when using the latest development builds of Ubuntu 8.04 “Hardy Heron” with the Linux 2.6.24 kernel. Per reader requests, we have carried out additional benchmarks of the Phenom 9500 to compare its 32-bit and 64-bit Linux performance.”

DisplayLink’s USB-to-DVI adapter reviewed
Tech Report :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Last year, Samsung released a 19″ LCD monitor capable of being hooked up via a simple USB connection. To work its magic, the display uses an embedded video chip made by a company called DisplayLink that works like a sort of self-contained graphics processor. That’s neat, but what if you already have a spare monitor you’d like to use via USB? Is there a cheaper alternative to coughing up the $300 or so for a USB display? As it turns out, yes there is. DisplayLink’s video chip is also available in standalone USB-to-DVI adapters, which allow one to connect any monitor with a resolution up to 1600 x 1200 via USB.

GlacialTech Igloo 5750 Silent CPU Cooler Review
Hardware Canucks :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Today we will be looking at an aftermarket cooler that will be released shortly and is marketed as a not only a budget cooler but a “silent budget” CPU cooling solution. GlacialTech may be a newcomer to the marketplace, as they only opened for business in April 2006, but the founders of the company are anything but inexperienced.

Kingston SD2/8GB SDHC Card Review
ASE Labs :: Monday, February 18, 2008
The SD2/8GB is an 8GB Class 2 SDHC memory card. Class 2 means that the card writes at (a minimum) of 2MB/s. This is the lowest speed class you can get in SDHC. Don’t let that stand in your way; this is an 8GB card after all. Kingston offers a lifetime warranty on all its memory products. You don’t have to worry about it breaking, but if it does, you are covered.

Asus Silent Knight II CPU Cooler Review
Hardware Logic :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“Just as there are two basic types of people, the enthusiast peripheral market is made up of leaders and followers. Not content to mingle among the latter, Asus often leads the pack with innovative designs, and this week we’re focusing exclusively on three very different CPU coolers from Asus. Today we get medieval with the Silent Knight II. Will the Silent Knight II prove but deadly against two modern day foes (heat and noise), or simply be found wanting? Pull up a spectator’s chair as we get set to joust from within HL’s cooling lab.”

Noctua NH-U12P CPU Cooler – The Sound of Silence
Legit Reviews :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“Noctua derived its name from the Greek mythology. The little owl, Athene Noctua, is the symbol of the Greek goddess Athene, who represents wisdom, science and strategy. She has a marked preference for the most clever among the Greek heroes, like Odysseus, who endure their adventures by the use of savvy consideration instead of mere force. It is the owl’s silent flight that Noctua keeps in mind with their fan design…”

Thermalright IFX-14 CPU Cooler Review 
Madshrimps :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“CPU coolers keep growing in size, this monster from Thermalright is proof of that. The Inferno Fire eXtinguisher is a heatsink large enough to accommodate up to three 140mm fans! Furthermore it comes with a separate smaller heatsink which sole purpose is to keep the backside of the CPU socket cool. Will this powerhouse CPU cooler grab first spot in our performance charts? Time to find out!”

Moneual Labs M775 Mid Tower Professional Series Case Review
Big Bruin :: Monday, February 18, 2008
The Moneaul Labs M775 Mid Tower Professional Series Case is what you would expect to find on the lower end of the spectrum. It includes only the basics of a computer case, lacking the innovative features that we like to see. While it doesn’t manage to pack in things like tool-less drive bays or removable cages, the M775 does have its only little nifty qualities.

EVGA 780i SLI Motherboard Review
Motherboards.org :: Monday, February 18, 2008
NVIDIA’s new motherboard chipset builds upon the successful 680i SLI chipset from last year. The competition from Intel in the motherboard market is about to get very heated with the release of the Skulltrail platform for the high-end enthusiast and the X48, P35 and X38 chipsets offering higher performance with almost the same feature set (sans SLI). The 780i SLI adds support for the new PCI express 2.0 specification via bridge chip and the 45nanometer Intel CPUs to NVIDIA motherboard chipsets.

UniBlue ProcessScanner Software Review
Tweaknews :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“This free utility is a good starting point for troubleshooting a slow system or one that is suspected of being infected with a virus or spyware. A quick scan results in a well organized list of all processes running and their associated security threat level. Knowledge is power, and being aware of malicious processes is the first step in preventing future infections and keeping a PC running smoothly.”

Cooler Master Hyper 212 CPU Cooler
Tweak Town :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“While the design isn’t unique, it does follow a pattern set forth by some very efficient CPU Coolers. From a distance it would be difficult to tell the 212 from our current performance leader and award winner, the Noctua NH-12P; the designs are so close.

Cooler Master does have a vast distribution system and getting your hands on a Hyper 212 is going to be a lot easier than finding the Rosewill Z5. A big plus for consumers is that they can walk into many retail locations and pull a Cooler Master product right off of the shelf.”

Thermaltake DuOrb VGA Cooler Review
Virtual Hideout :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“The foot print of the DuOrb is much smaller and lighter than the stock heat sink which is always a nice result. And, the DuOrb does look better adding a bit more flash to a pricey graphics card with a somewhat boring stock cooler. Unfortunately, the included video memory sinks are plain gray, aluminum. This doesn’t do the cooler justice and steals away a bit of its potential. Matching copper sinks would definitely compliment the DuOrb better and keep the look more balanced. The Thermaltake DuOrb VGA Cooler is otherwise a good performer and would make your 8800 series graphics cards stand out. Due to the limited designs of stock VGA coolers, it’s nice to have a better option made from copper. If you need better cooling and your current card configuration just can’t keep up, give the DuOrb some consideration.”

Intel’s SkullTrail Platform, Playground for Titans? 
Lost Circuits :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Awhile back we looked at Intel’s V8 system, kind of a proof of what is technically feasible using off the shelf components. Even though the performance in truly multithreaded applications was impressive, the gaming performance was somewhat lackluster, primarily because of the use of FBDIMMs and only a single PCIe graphics slot. On the other hand, the entire platform was never meant to become the backbone of a gaming rig in the first place. Then came the QuadFX platform with a promising architecture but it failed to impress compared to even AMD’s in-house competition. Meanwhile, there is a new generation of CPU out there based on Intel’s P1266 45 nm process and with a 12 MB L2 cache per package. There is also the recurrent rumor about Intel supporting SLI, or rather nVidia allowing Intel to support it in view of the AMD-ATI marriage. Well, something’s happening here, what it is ain’t exactly clear … This time we are not having the carrot juice, rather we are embarking on a rather grizzly adventure on the SkullTrail, looking at the architecture and the core assignment of different applications and then try to come up with some halfway educated guesses why some software behaves the way it does, once it is confronted with eight individual cores and caches and two largely independent memory subsystems. That part actually turned out to be easier than we thought.

ASUS Maximus Formula Intel X38 Motherboard Review 
Think Computers :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“If you know what a motherboard is, chances are pretty good that you have heard of Asus. Between their enthusiast and OEM motherboards, they have built a significant number of the motherboards in PCs throughout the world. They also build nearly every other component found in a PC…video cards, sound cards, power supplies, LAN and WLAN products, chassis, optical drives, and whatever else. The Maximus Formula is among the latest Asus Intel X38 boards utilizing DDR2 memory. Will it prove to be the excellent board that Asus’ P35 boards are? Stay tuned to see!”

Intel G45 & G43 Chipset Details
Tech ARP :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“Both the G45 and G43 chipsets are very similar. Both have integrated Intel graphics circuitry that support DirectX 10 and qualify for the Windows Vista Premium logo program. In fact, you can think of the G43 as a slightly crippled version of the G45.”

Intel Skulltrail Platform
Driver Heaven :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Skulltrail. Even the name sounds mean. If you haven’t heard the codename before now then we have a treat in store for you today. Skulltrail is a high end desktop PC platform based on Xeon class workstation processors. How does Dual Cpu, 8 Cores, four graphics card slots, dual 1600mhz front side buses with a total of 25.6 GB/s of bandwidth grab you?

Great, now that I have your attention, let me preface the testing. Driver Heaven missed the NDA launch a while ago. Not because we were being lazy, but we decided to spend considerable time with the system and explore some avenues no one else has touched upon yet, such as installing a full set of four modules to get Quad memory bandwidth and testing it with both high end Crossfire and SLI components, we also worked with Intel and received a newer BIOS for testing, but more on that later.

If this isn’t enough we then decided to overclock the hell out of it with watercooling to give you guys the best and most thorough review we can. If you are lucky enough to have the money to afford a system like this when it is released then you will definitely want to know how it performs under every situation, both with real world testing and with synthetic benchmarks. Turn the page to find out what Skulltrail is all about.

OCZ ProXStream 1000 W Power Supply Review
Hardware Secrets :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“With systems with multiple video cards requiring more power everyday, 1,000 W power supplies are becoming very common. OCZ has released a new 1,000 W product in the market, ProXStream 1000 W, targeted to power-hungry consumers that are willing to put three or four high-end video cards (this unit has four six-pin VGA power connectors) and several hard disk drives inside their systems. What is really different about this power supply compared to other 1,000-watt units around is it uses a small form factor, being at the same size of any standard ATX power supply, due to its interesting internal design using two printed circuit boards stacked. We completely disassembled this new unit from OCZ to see how it looks like inside and what design and components were used, plus we put it on our load tester to see whether it can deliver its rate 1,000 W or not.”

Technic3D/Hiper TypeM 630W Mk II
Technic 3d :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“The Hiper TypeM 630W Mk II (HPU-4M630-PE) PSU arrived Technic3D. See you in the following Review from Technic3D the PSU with a efficient from over 85% , 4x independent 12V rails, 20 db(A) and a good price?”

Antec NeoPower 550 Power Supply
Hardware Secrets :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“NeoPower is a high efficiency power supply series from Antec, being sold in the past as “HE” (High Efficiency). According to Antec, power supplies from this series have an efficiency of up to 85% (compare to less than 70% on regular power supplies), meaning less power loss – an 85% efficiency means that 85% of the power pulled from the power grid will be converted in power on the power supply outputs and only 15% will be wasted. This translates into less consumption from the power grid (as less power needs to be pulled in order to generate the same amount of power on its outputs), meaning lower electricity bills. Power supplies from this series – currently available on 380 W, 430 W, 500 W, 550 W and 650 W versions –feature a modular cabling system and a standard 80-mm fan on their rear side. We took an in-depth look on the 550 W model and tested to see if it could really deliver its rated 550 W or not.”

Intel Core 2 Performance Comparison Guide 
Tech ARP :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Specifications are all well and great, but can you really tell how much faster is one processor from another? Both Intel and AMD are trying to do just that with their model numbering scheme. But with over 30 SKUs, the Intel Core 2 family of processors has become a confusing bunch of numbers.

We begin a performance comparison project for the Intel Core 2 family of processors where we test and compare the Intel Core 2 processors’ performance in five different benchmarks. It will show you exactly where a higher clock speed would be more advantageous and where the number of processing cores is far more important, as well as situations where the processor itself won’t really matter much.

In this revision, we have added both Intel Core 2 Extreme QX6850 and QX6800 quad-core processors into the mix. Let’s check out how they performed.

Apple MacBook Air Review 
TechReviewSource :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“Apple’s latest innovation, the MacBook Air, has been getting a lot of media attention over the past few weeks, so TechReviewSource.com’s editors have decided to take a look at the MacBook Air to see what it is all about and whether or not it is worth your money. They take look at everything from the design to the apparent lack of external ports in their full review.”

Thermaltake BlacX USB Hard Drive Docking Station Review
OCIA :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“Thermaltake took note of this and created a product that really stood out at the show, a hard drive docking station known as the BlacX. The idea behind this product is so simple and yet, so ingenious that I am shocked that nobody else has thought of it yet. Simply put, the BlacX is a USB 2.0 hot-swappable 2.5″ and 3.5″ SATA docking station that accepts all hard drives up to 1TB in size.”

Auras SMF-660 TwinW Intel Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“The Auras SMF-660 heatsink is a compact Intel heatsink that weighs just over 400 grams, stands 108mm tall, and hides its lone fan quietly away. If you’ve been faced with the problem of an ill-fitting processor heatsink for a compact PC chassis, take comfort that sub-150mm tall CPU coolers do indeed exist. Auras ship the SMF-660 heatsink with a 92mm PWM fan that scales in speed from 1200-2100RPM with compatible motherboards.”

HeadRoom Total BitHead Portable Amp&DAC 
techPowerUp :: Monday, February 18, 2008
The HeadRoom Total BitHead portable amplifier and DAC is a great combination of both a USB audio codec and a headphone amplifier that will drive most high end cans on the market today. The HeadRoom Total BitHead sells for only $149.99 which can be considered a steal for such a product.

Intel Skulltrail Platform Review
Gamepyre :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Overall the Skulltrail as a platform is one that is on a road all its own as no one at this timeframe has a platform that crosses so many different barriers in one system package. Price may be a daunting factor to some, but you have to figure into the equation how many systems you are not buying when you get a Skulltrail. This entire platform will only appeal to those who really work from home and want an all in one solution to both their business and personal computing needs. Personally I can’t wait to see what happens as the drivers and BIOS mature as then I am sure we will see some even better results performance wise from the Skulltrail.

Patriot Viper 2x1GB DDR3 PC3-15000 Review
Hardware Canucks :: Monday, February 18, 2008
This kit of Viper Extreme memory from Patriot is rated at an industry leading DDR3-1866 or 933MHz at timings of 8-8-8-24 with only 1.9v. When we first heard of the possibility of these specifications we thought it sounded like Patriot may have gone a little far with their expectations but the memory is available and here today for us to look at. With such high rated operating frequency, this memory doesn’t leave anything back and it should be pretty interesting to see how these modules shake down.

Aeneon XTUNE DDR3-1333 2GB Memory Review 
Hardware Logic :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“While almost every enthusiast who has tinkered with memory knows the name Infineon, few know Infineon’s memory division, Qimonda (the #3 DRAM maker in the world), or Qimonda’s OEM branch Aeneon (although, again, those familiar with memory ICs, might recognize the name from some pretty good enthusiast kits). Aeneon memory has, until recently, made their mark primarily as a supplier of OEM parts for notebooks and desktops.”

Gigabyte MA790FX-DS5
Technic 3d :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“The Gigabyte MA790FX-DS5 Mainboard arrived Technic3D. The Mainboard from the AMD Spider Platform with 790FX Chipset, see you in the the following Review with a AMD Phenom under Linux and X2 in Windows XP.”

VIZO Ninja II Notebook Cooling Stand Review
Futurelooks :: Monday, February 18, 2008
As you may already know, keeping your notebook computer cool has several key benefits, including the extended longevity and the improved performance of the components housed within. As laptops have continued to increase in popularity in recent years, so have the options for keeping our notebooks nice and cool. In terms of cooling performance, active solutions — those that include fans — typically outperform passive solutions. I’ve reviewed several cooling pads in the past and I’ve found that the Ninja II notebook cooler from VIZO implements a series of features that are lacking in other solutions.

Ultra X2 750W Extreme Edition ATX Power Supply Review
Virtual Hideout :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“You may notice in the test graph that the PF rating is rather low or high, depending on how you look at it. The .82% is above the normal reading that is given from Ultra, and will be what the average user will see due to the fact that I’m only pulling roughly 350W. My system setup didn’t even dent the capabilities of the Ultra X2 750W Extreme Edition, but users with a higher demand for the wattage will see a much more efficient reading overall. You may also notice that I don’t have any voltage readings of the rails fluctuating; well, any minor fluctuating is normal whether at idle or at full load.”

Thermaltake BlacX USB Hard Drive Docking Station Review
Think COmputers :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“When you think of Thermaltake you think cases and power supplies, not hard drive enclosures. While they do make hard drive enclosures they are not known for that, but they soon might be with the BlacX. The BlacX is not really a hard drive enclosure, it is more of a docking station. Unlike other hard drive docking stations we have seen the BlacX has a totally different design and since it is made by Thermaltake we know it won’t be like the cheap docking stations we have seen. Let’s check it out…”

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610 EPS12V Power Supply
Hardware Secrets :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“Silencer 610 EPS12V is a 610 W power supply from PC Power & Cooling using the traditional PC power supply design with a single 80-mm fan on its rear side. Besides its Spartan looks this unit features active PFC, two video card power connectors for SLI and CrossFire, EPS12V connector and is labeled at 40º C, so the manufacturer guarantees that you will truly get 610 W of power. In fact, this unit came with a testing report generated by a Chroma 8000 machine (probably the most high-end power supply load tester available today), showing that not only this unit can deliver its 610 W but it can peak up to 680 W. We completely disassembled this power supply to take an in-depth look on its design and components and also tested it by ourselves to see if it can truly deliver 610 W of power.”

ASUS P5K Deluxe/WiFi-AP
Motherboard Review :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Intel has done an excellent job with their P35 chipset and it supports virtually every feature on the market with the exception of 1600MHz FSB CPUs and PCI Express 2.0 bandwidth, both of which are new to the market with the X38 chipset from Intel. The P5K Deluxe Wi-Fi AP Edition board is an excellent example of the P35 chipset with enough features to suit the enthusiast and enough expansion room to grow for even the hardest core enthusiast.

Tuniq Tower 120 Ultra Silent CPU Cooler Review
RB Mods :: Monday, February 18, 2008
One thing that is common with most CPU coolers that use air cooling is that they typically include a fan. We’ve seen all kinds of fan mounts- either horizontal or vertical, and on all sides of the cooler. But what about sticking the fan in the middle of the cooler? Tuniq, makers of a wide variety of computer products, has produced a new cooler, the Tuniq Tower 120 CPU cooler, that does just that. Will this unique design result in cooler performance? Let’s find out in this review.

‘Compact’ Multislot Card Reader / Writer
Dragonsteel Mods :: Monday, February 18, 2008
” I’ve checked out quite a few card readers in my time, but never one quite like this. Companies are always trying to make gadgets blend in more with our everyday objects, but I think this is the first ‘girly’ type product I’ve reviewed. Sure it’s a gadget, it’s a card reader and writer after all but they’ve taken that and basically stuck it into a cosmetic case so it would look right at home in a womans purse. I’m guessing this is an attempt to attract female consumers, but since I’m a guy I can only tell you the ‘manly’ stuff about it, like its read/writes speeds etc… So continue on to check out this most interesting product…”

MSI K9A2 Platinum Motherboard, AMD 790FX Chipset (Socket AM2+)
ICBT :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“There are three chipsets in this family, which differ only in the number of graphics ports (and PCI-E lanes) and consequently in supported CrossFire modes. All these chipsets support Hyper-Transport 3.0 (backward-compatible with Hyper-Transport 1.0). Maximum bus clock rate has grown from 1000 MHz to 2600 MHz. Thus, its throughput has grown from 6.4 GB/s to 20.8 GB/s.”

Safe Mode in Windows Vista For Crash Recovery 
PC Stats :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“The first step to recovering a crashed computer is Windows Vista’s Safe Mode. Knowing this will allow you to deal with bad software drivers, determine if it’s a hardware or software error, and fight off virus attacks. Safe Mode is like a second chance to save your PC from certain doom! This PCSTATS Guide is designed to provide the average computer user with the tools to repair his or her Vista operating system and access files in an emergency, using almost nothing but Windows Vista’s own inbuilt tools and utilities. All of this is done through the most useful of all these tools, the Windows Safe Mode option.”

Asus Triton 75 Heatsink Review 
Frosty Tech :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“The fangs at each corner of the Triton 75 bring a smile to our intrepid engineers’ face; pointy strips of aluminum dangle like a canines teeth over each Intel retention clip and lie in wait for unsuspecting fingers! Should we really expect anything different from the Asus Triton 75 heatsink though? With errant design elements that hamper the user experience and do nothing to improve thermal performance, the Asus Triton 75 is an example of what not to do. On top of that, the Triton 75 fails as a heatsink for processors with a 150W power rating. And yet, the Triton 75 is not a complete write off…”

Sunbeamtech Tuniq 3 Mid Tower ATX Case Review
Big Bruin :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Sunbeamtech is a manufacturer of computer components that has been around for a while, and they have sent a large number of items to Bigbruin.com for review over the years. They are also the parent company of a line of higher performance components that they have decided to brand under a different name… Tuniq. This review will be focused on a chassis from Sunbeamtech’s Tuniq series, the Tuniq 3 Mid Tower ATX case.

Eight power supply units encounter The Beast
Tech Report :: Monday, February 18, 2008
There was a time when the power supply was the most neglected component inside the PC. The PSU was an afterthought for most, usually a generic unit that came bundled with a case. And there it would sit, often not-so-quietly, entrusted with the important task of supplying power to other components that were usually chosen with far more consideration and deliberation. Over time, the odds that a generic PSU’s voltage lines would start sagging were pretty good. If you were lucky, this would only cause system instability. However, in more serious cases, other system components could be damaged.

Thankfully, the enthusiast community has taken power supply units more seriously as it has matured. We know there’s much more to the equation than simply a wattage rating; we’re looking for consistent DC voltages, minimal AC ripple content, high efficiency, low noise levels, and effective cooling—and those are just the basics.

Manufacturers have picked up on enthusiast, er, enthusiasm for quality power supply units, promising to deliver cleaner and quieter power more efficiently as wattage ratings scale skyward. Some have even developed unique features, including monitoring and control software, adjustable voltage lines, integrated USB hubs, and modular cabling solutions in attempts to differentiate their products in an increasingly crowded market.

To help make sense of the wide selection of power supply units available, we’ve rounded up eight contenders between 700 and 1000 watts from Antec, Corsair, Gigabyte, Hiper, PC Power & Cooling, Super Talent, Tagan, and Ultra. Keep reading to see how they compare in the real world and when pushed to their limits by our beastly test rig.

SilverStone Kublai Series KL03 Case Review
Hardware Secrets :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“Launched under SilverStone Kublai series, KL03 is the latest case from this manufacturer, targeted to users that want a big case with high-end thermal performance but don’t want to buy a very expensive all-aluminum product, like the cases from Temjin series also from SilverStone. In fact KL03 is a hybrid product: its body is made of zinc-coated steel, but its frontal panel is made of aluminum.”

Mark Friga Jr. owner of FrozenCPU.com
PC Apex :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“PC Apex: What do you think are the most common misconceptions you face from the general public towards your line of business? (e.g., Frozen CPU must make billions/are ripping me off/must have an aircraft hangar full of modded cases/should be able to sponsor my 4-man LAN etc.)

FrozenCPU: Ha Ha. Most customers are generally easy going and polite and generally understand that we are a business. However, some call our toll free number and want to play “Name Your own Price Hardware”. We expect that and we quickly explain to them that we are what we call a “boutique”. Our reseller ratings speak for themselves that we follow through with any issues customers may have. We are not a “fly by night” company. We have real people working here with real phone lines at a real place of business; not someone’s basement or garage. Once we explain that, they usually get the picture, that “no we cannot sell you the case you want for 1 dollar over ! what we paid for it. We basically offer too many services and have real staff on-hand to help our customers. You get what you pay for.”

Vantec NexStar MX Dual Hard Drive External Enclosure Review
Mikahiltech :: Monday, February 18, 2008
External hard drive enclosures are nice. Their function is obvious: to connect a hard drive to a computer through an external means. However, their use is extremely useful. But what if you need more storage than just one drive? Or if there is critical data on the drive? A regular single drive enclosure cannot serve the users who require these things. Enter the Vantec NexStar MX dual SATA hard drive enclosure!

3D LCD Monitors 
Review Spring :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“3D LCD technology has existed since the very first commercial monitors were on sale, but they were prohibitively expensive and lacked the image quality of the current panel generation. The most popular form of 3D LCD technology is called “autostereoscopic technology” and is able to provide a 3D image without any glasses!

This technology works by diverting each column of pixels to an individual eye, essentially halving the vertical resolution but providing a unique image to each eye. By displaying a correctly rendered image on the monitor it is then possible to trick the brain into believing that the two 2D images are a single 3D scene.”

ASUS EN8800GTS TOP
Bjorn 3d :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Almost a year later when rumors were abounding about an even faster series of graphics solutions in the offing, NVIDIA® again came through. This time it wasn’t a new series of cards, but a die shrink of their 90nm wonder to 65nm and a new moniker, the G92. If you are like us at Bjorn3D, you are in awe of the sheer number of different graphics solutions that have been created from one MCP/VPU and its substantive variants. There is most certainly a solution available for any consumer’s needs. The only real problem is trying to keep up with all the model numbers as many of them have been used with both the G80 and G92 versions. Alas, we’re a consumer enthusiast site and we’re not focusing our attention on anything but the fastest and best in show.

OCZ Vendetta CPU Cooler Review
Hardware Logic :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“OCZ Technologies is no stranger to us here at HL. Over the past few years, we’ve covered OCZ’s excellent system memory, flash media, and power supplies. As we saw at CES, OCZ is definitely not a company to rests on its laurels, releasing a plethora of new products.

Today we’ll take an up close and personal look at OCZ’s newest cooling product, the OCZ Vendetta CPU Cooler. It is obvious with a quick glance that the Vendetta isn’t your “run of the mill” cooler. While upon initial inspection it fits the mold of the average cooler, aluminum fins attached to copper heat pipes, flipping the OCZ Vendetta over reveals something unusual.”

Thermalright XWB-01 Waterblock Review
Ninjalane :: Monday, February 18, 2008
The XWB-01 is a rather small waterblock and measuring no larger than 2.5 inches on its longest side. In terms of size it is comparable to the Danger Den TDX. The block is plumbed for 1/2″ ID hoses in a 2 barb configuration with the center inlet directly over the processor core.

Phenom 9600 Black Edition Review & TLB Fix Investigation
Neoseeker :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“The TLB fix causes an incredible 42FPS performance loss in the Minimum FPS of World In Conflict with the Phenom 9600 Black Edition – you read it right, the TLB fix drops the minimum performance by greater than 50%.”

NZXT Cryo LX Aluminum Notebook Cooler Review
OCIA :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“This isn’t something you’d expect to see under the notebook of some guy in a dress shirt and tie sitting next to you on a plane, or of someone in a business suit at Starbucks. More likely, you’d see this under an Alienware gaming laptop at a LAN party. I have no problem believing this is something from NZXT.”

Arctic Cooling Accelero Xtreme 8800 Video Card Cooler Review
Madshrimps :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“Arctic Cooling is known for their highly efficient and affordable CPU and VGA heatsinks, when they offered us their latest high end Geforce 8800 / ATI HD 2900 cooler for test we jumped at the opportunity. The Accelero Xtreme is the biggest VGA cooler we have tested yet and promises to gives the best from Thermalright and Zalman a runs for its money. Can this product grab top spot in our VGA cooler performance chart? Let’s find out.”

Rosewill RX81-CW-US-SLV eSATA/USB 3.5″ Drive Enclosure Review
Big Bruin :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Rosewill seems to have a hard drive enclosure for just about all common drive sizes and interfaces, with configurations to meet the needs of just about any user. This review is going to take a look at one of their newer models, the RX81-CW-US-SLV, an enclosure designed for a 3.5″ SATA hard drive that connects via eSATA and USB 2.0.

Asus Maximus Extreme Intel X38 Express Motherboard Review 
PC Stats :: Monday, February 18, 2008
“The Asus Maximus Extreme motherboard PCSTATS is testing today is based around Intel’s X38 Express and ICH9R chipsets. It comes absolutely loaded with features, almost too much in fact. The Maximus Extreme motherboard supports Socket 775 Intel processors running on an 800/1066/1333/1600 MHz FSB, which means and is compatible with Intel Celeron D, Pentium 4/D/XE and Core 2 Duo/Quad processors, including the new 45nm Penryn. ”

Watercooling Fluid Shootout
Bit-Tech Modding :: Monday, February 18, 2008
We’ve all seen those non-conductive fluids that are supposed to be better than water – or at least safer. But do they cool any better? We take a look at three of the top NCFs and decide who’s king of the proverbial hill…and if any of them are better than good old water.

Wolf King Warrior Gaming Pad Review
Overclockers Club :: Monday, February 18, 2008

APEVIA X-Telstar Jr. G Type Case Review
Overclockers Club :: Monday, February 18, 2008

Firefox 3 Beta 3 For Download
PC Mechanic :: Monday, February 18, 2008
I’m a little late to posting this one, but for the benefit of those who haven’t yet seen it, Firefox 3 Beta 3 is available for download. One blogger is calling it an "IE Slayer". We shall see. ArsTechnica posted a review of Beta 3 for your enjoyment. I gave it a quick try under Windows. It […]

Google To Do List Coming?
PC Mechanic :: Monday, February 18, 2008
I have been waiting for Google to release it’s own to-do list application. If they could do this and integrate it well into Gmail and Google Calendar, they would have the ultimate Outlook killer on their hands. And they would make one happy little nerd out of me. Well, it is possible we’re closer to […]

Mac User Report: Am I Turning Mactard?
PC Mechanic :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Rich and I have affectionately referred to die-hard Mac lovers as “MacTards”. It has been an ongong joke around here, and we’ve both used the word in various posts around PCMech. It even has a budding entry on Wikipedia! Today, I ask the question: Am I turning into a Mactard?

Prevent Autorun Attacks
PC Mechanic :: Monday, February 18, 2008
I read a very interesting article today regarding an obvious attack method I had never thought of, a CD autorun script. In a nutshell, if you have the autorun feature of your CD drive turned on and you were to insert a malicious CD (however unlikely that is), it could automatically trigger installation of some […]

Links To Reviews For Feb. 14-15
PC Mechanic :: Monday, February 18, 2008
ASUS U6S Ultraportable Notebook – “Except for the relatively small 12.1″ LED backlit screen, the U6S offers many of the same features of a standard full-size notebook, but in a compact ultraportable body.  Built on Intel’s fourth-generation Centrino platform, also known as Santa Rosa, the U6S manages to cram the same level of performance as a […]

Find Out What Time It Is Anywhere
PC Mechanic :: Monday, February 18, 2008
I recently have started working with some customers overseas, which typically isn’t a problem except for when it comes to phone conferences. Since the difference in time is pretty drastic (8 hours) scheduling these can be challenging. A web site I have found very helpful is the World Time Server. This web site is extremely simple […]

HD-DVD Is Officially Dead
PC Mechanic :: Monday, February 18, 2008
If you ever wanted official notice that HD-DVD is dead as a doorknob, here’s your wake-up call: Netflix announced it won’t be renting HD-DVDs. Best Buy won’t be selling HD-DVD players. Toshiba is going to kill off its HD-DVD players entirely. And the big one.. After June, Wal-Mart won’t sell HD-DVD movies or players. Like it or not, when Wal-Mart gives […]

Script To Delete Windows Temporary Files
PC Mechanic :: Monday, February 18, 2008
While doing some system maintenance the other day, I noticed my Windows Temp directory had an unusually large number of files in it (over 1 GB). Upon browsing through the files, most simply appeared to be garbage. Unlike the temporary Internet files, there isn’t an obvious way to limit the size of the temp directory, so […]

Strip Away The Unwanted Vista Bloat When Installing
PC Mechanic :: Monday, February 18, 2008
I read an interesting article today about a rather “slimming” Vista installation tool, vLite. vLite, simply put, is a tool which allows you to install Windows Vista without all added “features”. You can remove these options at install time so the components are never put on your system to consume resources. There is a terse write […]

Microsoft Makes Scoble Cry – In a Good Way
PC Mechanic :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Robert Scoble got an opportunity to preview something being worked on inside of Microsoft. And apparently, he thought it was so groundbreaking, it made him cry. Say what? And the crap part is that he’s not allowed to tell anybody about it until February 27th. It’s amazing to me how well mysteries make geeks stick to it […]

ASUS EAH3870 X2 1GB
Techgage :: Monday, February 18, 2008
Does a multi-GPU setup with one card interest you? You may want to take a look at AMD’s latest high-end offering, the HD 3870 X2. We are taking a look at ASUS’ version of the card which features a fantastic bundle, including an HDMI adapter and Company of Heroes: Opposing Fronts.

AutumnWave OnAir GT USB HDTV Receiver Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
TV has become a huge part of our daily lives, not only for entertainment but information and education as well, most houses have more than one TV that’s on most of time. With technology we’ve seen ways to bring our entertainment with us to our desktop PCs and even take it with us on our laptops, but up until lately most of those devices were for basic over the air channels and cable TV hookups if available. With the quickly approaching deadline for going digital TV only we’re seeing more and more products that offer the ability to tune in those digital stations, and some of those feature the ability to tune in HDTV stations as well, call it an added bonus I guess. Personally we’ve got three TVs in our house, but only the main 27” one gets used really and that’s mainly for watching children’s shows. I’ve got three young children and we either watch PBS children’s programming or one of our many DVDs or VHS tapes that we have, and the TV watching is done through standard over-that-air channels. I did have cable at one point but found that we never utilized it, we usually only watched one or two channels and paying the extortionate amounts that cable asks was just not worth it to us. Today for review I’ve got an excellent product from a company called AutumnWave that’s called the OnAir GT. The OnAir GT is a portable HDTV/DTV/ATV receiver that allows you to not only watch Hi-Def television on your PC but also record it to watch later like a standard DVR allows you. The OnAir GT also features the ability to attach external devices like game systems, video cameras, and DVD players as well to watch on your computer, or record, like in-game movies to share with your friends. It comes with a fully functional remote to control the OnAir GT, and even comes with software to edit the videos that you’ve recorded. I have to say that this is one of the coolest and most useful products to come across my review desk in quite a while, in my time with it I’ve got a chance to really enjoy watching HDTV and DTV on my PC, it’s amazing how much of a difference there is between analog and digital television programming. I really like the DVR feature of the OnAir GT it allows me to not miss shows that I normally do because I’m busy doing something else, I can record them and watch later when I get some free time. I don’t watch much TV really, basically because I don’t like having to schedule my time around a TV show, now though I can record and watch whenever I want and that to me is worth quite a bit, full control over my time management is something that is priceless…

iPod AA Battery Emergency Charger
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Recently, I reviewed a portable battery for the iPhone. Today I will look at another mobile charging device for use with the iPod. The iPod AA Battery Emergency Charger from USBFever allows you to use two AA batteries to charge most any iPod iteration, including the iPhone and iPod Touch. It is light weight and portable, giving you the extra “juice” when your iPod is not going to last. Let’s see how much power this charger truly holds. Let’s get started….

Outel USB Media Remote Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Lately I’ve noticed a trend from laptop makers to include small remotes with their laptops, especially ones that are designed for multimedia, this is a great additional feature and something that should become a standard. My friend has a new laptop and it came standard with a tiny little remote that actually fits inside the newer smaller ExpresCard slot so it’s really small. I have an older laptop that uses the standard PCMCIA slots and of course it didn’t come with a remote, sure I could buy a larger remote to carry along with it but that’s a pain when you’ve got a product available like the one I have today for review. The product is called the USB Media Remote, the name is kind of misleading, but it does use your USB interface so it works that way. The USB Media Remote is tiny, feature packed including a built-in laser pointer and it fits right inside of a free PCMCIA slot for storage and easy portability. So if you’re like me and the majority of laptop owners out there who didn’t get a remote with their laptop but want one then I can easily recommend this product, so read on to check it out…

SteelSeries Ikari Laser Gaming Mouse Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
I’ve always been a fan of Laser mice, I find them much more accurate and just easier to use, and of course I do like some of the higher end optical mice as well but not as much as the laser type mice. I used my Logitech G5 from when it came out originally till the second version came out this past year and used that version of the G5 everyday on my main system, that is until I got the Ikari Laser for review… Don’t get me wrong though, I like the G5 and always will, but I found that I only use two of the DPI settings and none of the others that are available, the Ikari offers two settings, High and Low that can be set in increments of one to truly customize your mousing preferences. The G5 also has a weight kit, but I put them in and left them there, I never changed them out, I like a fairly heavy mouse and don’t feel a need to change the weight so it was kind of a cool but rather useless feature for me. I received the Ikari Laser about three weeks ago and at first it was a bit disconcerting to use, but now I am truly in love with this mouse and it will remain hooked to my main system probably until it dies… Gaming mice manufacturers seem to think that more is better, but that’s not always the case, sometimes less is better especially when they focus more on the actual performance and the usability of the mouse, rather than added frivolities. SteelSeries has done just that and created a gaming mouse that has a nice balance of performance and features that you’ll actually use… so continue on to learn more about my new mouse!

Multislot Card Reader / Writer in Cosmetics Case
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
I’ve checked out quite a few card readers in my time, but never one quite like this. Companies are always trying to make gadgets blend in more with our everyday objects, but I think this is the first ‘girly’ type product I’ve reviewed. Sure it’s a gadget, it’s a card reader and writer after all but they’ve taken that and basically stuck it into a cosmetic case so it would look right at home in a womans purse. I’m guessing this is an attempt to attract female consumers, but since I’m a guy I can only tell you the ‘manly’ stuff about it, like its read/writes speeds etc… So continue on to check out this most interesting product…

Turtle Beach Ear Force X-52 PC Gaming Headphones Review
Overclockers Club :: Thursday, February 14, 2008

Foxconn Mars Review
Overclockers Club :: Thursday, February 14, 2008

Patriot Viper Fin Extreme Latency PC2 6400 Review
Overclockers Club :: Thursday, February 14, 2008

mStation 2.1 Stereo Orb iPod Dock Review
Overclockers Club :: Thursday, February 14, 2008

Using a Mac Keyboard in Windows XP
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Dave has a Mac Pro but didn’t care for the wired keyboard that came with it so I decided to see if it would work on Windows XP. It does, but they keyboard doesn’t have PrintScreen, Number Lock, Scroll Lock and so on. Using a freeware utility called SharpKeys I was able to remap the keys […]

Smart Tech Companies Grab ‘em Young
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
A customer to any internet company can be anyone that can read and knows how to use a computer. When a company brands itself as early in life as possible, you’ve potentially got a customer for that life. Here’s a few examples of tech companies and kids: Apple Computer has always put heavy focus on education. I […]

Make Websites Think Firefox Is Internet Explorer
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
As Firefox users are probably aware, not all sites work 100% correctly in Firefox. You can typically get around this in a few ways, so here is another method to add to your toolbox. The User Agent Switcher Firefox add-on allows you change the way Firefox reports itself to a website. For example, you can set […]

Links to Reviews for Feb. 12-13
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 45nm Wolfdale CPU – “We take a closer look at the fastest dual core CPU from Intel, the E8500, dubbed Wolfdale, is manufactured at 45nm which translates in low power usage and excellent potential for overclocking. We compare the performance of this newcomer to a 65nm Core 2 Duo and overclock […]

Rush Limbaugh’s Appeal to Steve Jobs
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Technology must have a way of making everybody equal. If people have problems with their computers, that means even the people with big influence are having those problems. And Rush Limbaugh is no exception. The conservative radio talkshow host is an owner of 4 Mac Pro computers. He just upgraded them with the Leopard 10.5.2 […]

LCD Monitor Buyer’s Guide
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors are becoming hot items as prices drop and technology improves. If you haven’t made the leap from your old CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) screen yet, or you plan on upgrading your monitor anytime soon, this is for you. Obviously, one needs to compare features when shopping around for a product. Here, […]

Sneak Peak: PCMech EDU
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Today, I tried my hand at iMovie 08 on the Mac in order to bring you a sneak peak inside our new premiere membership site: PCMech EDU. You’ve heard me talk about PCMech EDU, the new premiere membership site just launched about two weeks ago. By now, you’ve heard how I am pulling out all the […]

Script To Automate Opening Multiple IE Tabs
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
I read a very interesting post on an MSDE blog regarding a script to automate opening multiple Internet Explorer tabs. You do not have to understand the script at all to use it, just copy and paste the text on his site into a notepad file and save it as “scriptname.js“. Of course, you will […]

The Fail Blog
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
This isn’t a piece of technology news. Instead, it is simply a link to a really funny site I found over a week ago. It is called The FAIL blog. Each post is simply an image, and you can judge by the sample what the tone of the blog is:     You get the jist. […]

In Search Of The Ideal Ustream Setup
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
A few days ago, I set up PCMech LIVE. This live video feed is being powered by Ustream.TV. For the last few days, I have been doing my research to try to find the best setup to have here in my office for broadcasting on Ustream. What I’m finding is that doing a professional […]

TRENDnet TEW-631BRP Wireless N Router
Techgage :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Looking to move up to Draft N wireless but don’t want to spend a fortune? TRENDnet has a $70 solution for you, in the form of the TEW-631BRP. Despite it’s budget price and bright blue hue, the router turns out to be a great offering.

Logitech Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote
Techgage :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Logitech’s Harmony division have put a lot of of effort into the One, so we put it to the test to see if it all paid off. In addition to the comfortable design and individually contoured buttons, the One features a large LCD screen, support for over 5,000 brands, a stylish charger and a respectable price tag.

CoolIT PURE Silent Liquid CPU Cooler
Techgage :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Having the ability to overclock a Quad-Core processor while keeping your machine quiet used to be a pipe-dream, until CoolIT’s latest CPU cooler came into the picture. With the PURE, we managed a nice 3.67GHz clock on our QX6850, all while being able to hear our hard drives over the cooler.

Intel SkullTrail Platform Review
Motherboards.org :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
Intel really has been firing up their engines at full speed and the new SkullTrail takes the multiplatform system to new levels. This is the first anything and everthing platform as it has all the power that worstation class users need, and all the thrills and features that gamers and enthsiasts covet for their personal PC. This is the only Intel platform that integrates NVIDIA’s SLI technology and on a board that supports CrossFire as well. There is more to this system than we even got to in this review, but so far this system has been the fastest and most feature oriented one we have seen yet. Truly Intel has been doing their homework and the overclocker audience once shunned and ignored is now embraced in the boldest move by the boys in blue yet. Check out the cool SkullTrail case we modded from a CoolerMaster Stacker 830, its sweet!

Zalman CNPS8700 LED Low Noise Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
“Got a noisy computer? If you’ve finally decided to take some action and replace a loud heatsink for something quieter, and cooler-running, take notice of the Zalman CNPS8700 LED heatsink. Based on the proven “flower heatsink” design, the CNPS8700 LED is an extension of that concept. This all copper heatsink utilizes two looped copper heatpipes and hundreds of thin copper fins set around a quiet 2300RPM 105mm internally illuminated fan. The heatsink is compatible with socket 775 Intel and socket 754/939/940/AM2 AMD processors.”

Intel SkullTrail Preview – Dual Core 2 Extreme QX9775 Processors 
Legit Reviews :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
“When it comes to performance the Intel Skulltrail platform is hands down the fastest platform that we have ever looked at. With the dual 3.2GHz Core 2 Extreme QX9775 quad-core processors in the system it consistently outperformed the other test systems in multi-threaded tests that could take advantage of the eight cores. The only two areas that the Skulltrail platform didn’t shine was in memory bandwidth and gaming. The DDR2-800 FB-DIMMs just don’t provide the memory bandwidth needed to compete with DDR3 memory kits and it shows where memory bandwidth does come into play. When it comes to gaming it’s not the fact the board is only PCI Express 1.0, it is because the games are not optimized to run on eight cores. In reality many games are designed to run on just three cores as many games are now written with consoles in mind…”

Fedora 9 Alpha Preview
Phoronix :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
“On this Super Tuesday here in the United States, Red Hat has this morning released the first and only alpha release for Fedora 9. This ninth Fedora release, which has been codenamed Sulphur, will ship in April and go head-to-head against Ubuntu 8.04 LTS “Hardy Heron”, but what features can one expect in this forthcoming release? Among the features being worked on are encrypted file-system support, updating the KDE spin to KDE 4.0, PackageKit integration, and switching to upstart initialization. In this article, we are taking a brief look at Fedora 9 Alpha and the features planned for Fedora 9.”

Aerocool FP-01 LCD Display
Techware Labs :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
“Aerocool makes a very interesting flip out syle LCD which fits into a standard 5.25″ drive bay. This device sports a long list of functionality in addition to just plain looking amazing. The color display reads temperature, fan speed, drive access, and more. Check out what the FP-01 can do and see why this device may or may not be a good choice for your case.”

Thermaltake Sword M Super Tower Case w/Liquid Cooling Review
Hardware Canucks :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
Is the Sword M really the last word in the world of cases or are all of those seemingly convenient components only window dressing for a case that is merely ok? Considering its unbelievable price and its bold claims, we are going to have MUCH higher expectations for this Thermaltake enclosure than we have had for past cases so let’s hope our 14 month wait has been worth it.

C2D 6420 vs C2Q 6600 – Quad Vs. Dual Comparison 
Dragonsteel Mods :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
” I recently upgraded my Core 2 Duo 6420 to a Core 2 Quad 6600 and of course I was very curious to check out the differences between them. So after doing all my testing in Vista and Xp I decided why not share my results to let other people know what’s up with these Quad Core CPUs and if they really are worth it.”

Hiper TypeR 680W Mk II and 880W
Technic 3d :: Saturday, February 09, 2008
“The Hiper TypeR 680W Mk II (HPU-5K680-PE) and Hiper TypeR 880W Mk II (HPU-5B880-PE) PSUs arrived Technic3D. See you in the following Review from Technic3D the PSUs with a USB-Hub and Power-only USB-connection. The PSU Ready for the T3D Eco Award and enough power for High-End PCs?”

Buffalo MiniStation 320GB Turbo USB Hard Drive Review
Everything USB :: Saturday, February 09, 2008
External hard drives are becoming almost as popular as flash drives and it isn’t hard to see why. They are extremely easy to install and offer the portability that internal drives simply don’t offer out of the box. This makes them great for users on the go needing to store large amounts of data or need an easy to use yet still cheap backup system. Bus powered external drives are even more portable than their non-bus powered brethren, however their size usually requires them to sacrifice some speed as they usually offer only USB support. Buffalo thinks that this shouldn’t be the case which is why we are taking a look at the Buffalo 320GB MiniStation Turbo USB portable hard drive, a drive they claim to be up to 64% faster than the competition.

Yate Loon D12SL-12 120mm Case Fan Review
Overclock 3d :: Saturday, February 09, 2008
“With some fans from possibly one of the most respected cooling manufacturers in the world, we’ve set out to test the rumour”

Promise SuperTrak EX STEX8650 8-port SAS
Tweak Town :: Saturday, February 09, 2008
“Serially Attached SCSI is based around the same SCSI principal that makes it faster and more reliable than the IDE interface, however it’s now moved to the Serial Transfer method. In fact, the cables and interface slots are identical, which makes SAS controllers rather interesting.

Today we have the big bertha from the Promise SuperTrak family, the STEX8650 8-port SAS controller. How does it stack up against onboard Serial ATA RAID as the storage preference? Let’s have a look.”

Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 Case Review 
OCIA :: Saturday, February 09, 2008
“Naturally, Cooler Master is a company focused on cooling performance in their products. Last October I reviewed their most recent budget case, the CM690, which had all of the right features for the overclocker in all of us with expandability for many fans. Today, we’re going to have a look at their latest high-end case, the Cosmos 1000. This case, however, has a slightly different focus than most CM products: silence. Priced at nearly $200 USD, it’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser, but can Cooler Master keep true to their name while dampening noise?”

Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB Hard Drive
Viper Lair :: Saturday, February 09, 2008
“The biggest change from the 7200.10 to the 7200.11 is the increase in platter size. We mentioned there will be a few capacities offered, but we can sum it up by saying that there will be 3; 500GB, 750GB and 1TB. If you’re shopping for the 1TB version, another change from the previous model is the doubling of cache from 16MB to 32MB. The 500GB and 750GB will only ship with 16MB. As the name implies, the Barracuda spins its drives at 7200rpm, allowing for a sustained transfer rate of 105MB per second.”

Zalman ZM500-HP 500W Modular Power Supply Review 
Think Computers :: Saturday, February 09, 2008
“South Korea-based Zalman is most well-known for its cooling products, but it makes a line of power supplies, as well. The ZM500-HP is Zalman’s 500 watt unit. Zalman’s main selling points for the series are its high efficiency and ultra-quiet heat pipe cooling system. Additionally, it’s modular! Read on for the review.”

ASUS P5K-E/WIFI-AP
Nordic Hardware :: Saturday, February 09, 2008

NZXT Rogue SFF Gaming Case Review
Metku Mods :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“During its existence, the shape and the size of the PC-case have gone through many evolutions. One of the newer designs is a cube. Case design has much to do with personal preference, so it’s good to see variety on the market as many find the cube shape to be very practical.”

Upcoming Intel Processor & Memory Technologies 
Tech ARP :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“To increase the amount of on-die memory, a cheaper memory technology (in terms of chip real estate) was needed. To this end, Intel developed a new category of DRAM memory, called 2T Gain-Cell Memory. Unlike commodity DRAM, this type of DRAM is built using standard microprocessor technology and is designed to provide a new choice of fast on-chip memory.”

Thermalright Ultra 120 Extreme Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“The Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme heatsink is a continuation of the Ultra-120 series, only with a little more muscle and a couple extra heatpipes. It’s predecessor has remained at the top of Frostytech thermal test results for both AMD and Intel platforms basically since we tested it, so we’re especially interested to see how the Ultra-120 Extreme model handles. Like the Ultra-120 that came before it, the Thermalright Ultra-120 Extreme applies fairly simple concepts to yield a well performing tower heatsink that doesn’t have to generate much noise to get the job done.”

Computer User Beginners Guide
Techware Labs :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“Recently Jason Dumbaugh and Michael Lynch sat down and created a common computer users guide to the basic programs and utilities that beginners use. We will be adding more content to this guide as we go along and are happy to anounce the Computer Users Guide Ver. 1.0.”

Antec Veris Fusion 430
Phoronix :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“Home theater PCs are a growing market. More and more people are looking for a device that can drive their entire home theater. For many, the HTPC is the solution; however, most do not want a clunky computer intruding into their living room. Who wants a Cooler Master Cosmos towering over everything in their living room? Thus over the years, many companies have offered PC cases designed specifically for the task of housing a Home Theater PC. We’ve looked at other HTPC cases in the past, such as the SilverStone Milo series and the Lascala LC20M, but today we will look at the Antec Veris Fusion Black 430, which is also referred to as the Fusion Black v2.”

Thermaltake Xaser VI VG4000BWS Super Tower Case Review
Hardware Logic :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“The Xaser VI is the latest offering in Thermaltake’s popular Xaser series of full-towers, the flagship line of their cases. Today we will be looking at the Xaser VI VG4000BWS, a steel version of the case with a side window. Will this behemoth carry on the Xaser name in style? Will we be blown away by its features? Will Frank get a hernia from trying to carry it? Read on and see!”

Aqua-Pcs Flow Performance CPU Block
Overclock 3d :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“The Flow Performance CPU Block boasts not only great performance but great looks too. Today we gave it a workout in the OC3D Labs”

Sunbeam Quarterback – ATX case review
Club OC :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Since the year 2000, Sunbeam has been making case-mod accessories and PC enclosures. The Quarterback is from their mid-tower ATX line-up and comes equipped with some extra cooling. The Dual Core-Fan is a Sunbeam patent protected feature that can offer extra ventilation under the right circumstances. The case itself is sturdy enough to survive the rigors of LAN party life.

Intel’s Skulltrail dual-socket enthusiast platform
Tech Report :: Friday, February 08, 2008
It’s the coolest codename known to geekdom, and it has the hardware to back it up. Two sockets, eight cores, and a total of 24MB of L2 cache. We put Intel’s Skulltrail through its paces and came away feeling dizzy.

HighPoint RocketRAID 2300 PCI-E SATA
Tweak Town :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“While we do have onboard RAID, what if you’re the type that wants more? The only option is to chuck in a RAID controller card, and thankfully HighPoint are still in the game as they continue to expand their line-up of controller cards.

Today we have been given the chance to look at the RocketRAID 2300 PCI Express based controller card designed for the desktop user. How does it compare to the chipset integrated RAID? Let’s have a look.”

Adesso Vista Remote Control Reviewed 
Dragonsteel Mods :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“With the ever increasing popularity of multi-media computers comes an increase in specialized products aimed at these types of users, specifically the ones that build Home Theater PCs . One such product is the remote control, there are many types out there that come bundled with some items you can buy, but most aren’t that great, in what they can do and their overall range. Today for review I’ve got a remote control from Adesso, called the Vista Remote Control, yes the name Vista is attached but it can work in Windows XP, and Media Center Editions of Vista and XP as well. ”

Zalman ZM850-HP Power Supply
PC Apex :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“Voiding the warranty on the PSU, I took off the top to get a look at the inside and the “Dual Heatpipe Cooling” design and all the other internals. The inside is nicely laid out with the output wiring bundled off to one side and two heatsinks running from front to back like most power supplies. However, unlike any other PSU I’ve seen, this unit boasts two copper heat pipes that run from the standard heatsinks to a pair of finned heatsinks right in front of the exhaust venting at the back of the unit. This design allows the heat disapating from the main heatsinks to travel along the copper piping, and out to the fins where the exhausting air from the fan will blow the heat out of the box thus keeping more heat away from the electrical parts in the power supply.”

Kingston HyperX PC2-9600 DDR2 2GB
Gideon Tech :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“Kingston Technology released the first 1.2Ghz RAM kits to the public last December. I was able to get a set of the KHX9600D2K2/2G for some fast action 2GB of ram for my Core 2 Duo system. Knowing that the 975 chipset in my DFI Infinity 975X/G was going to limit the modules in the basic BIOS setup, I needed to overclock the system to take advantage of the speed.”

Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2x1GB DDR2-8500 Memory Kit Review
Mikhailtech :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Many of us heard about Crucial and their high quality Ballistix Tracer memories. Crucial was nice enough to send me the Crucial Ballistix Tracer 2x 1GB DDR-8500 Memory modules for today’s tests and I must say that these memories are exceptional compared to other vendor memories that you can find on the market at the moment. With two rows of activity-indicating light – emitting diodes (LEDs) and ground-effects LEDs we can say that these memories are far the best looking memories on the market at the moment. But with its great look, can it keep up with the other memories? We’ll take a look at it in this review.

Kingwin 1000 Watt Mach 1 Power Supply Review
Club OC :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“When selecting a power supply, a Novice may look no further than the total wattage of the unit while an enthusiast will look for more stringent stats such as Active Power Filtering Circuits or the SLI Ready logo. As always, the competition among manufacturers is fierce which can reap huge benefits for the consumer. Advancements in the power supplies energy efficiency, the added aesthetics, and even shrinking the physical size of the unit itself, all go a long way in giving the consumer more of what they want.”

How On-Board Audio Works
Hardware Secrets :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“Today all motherboards have an embedded sound card (this feature goes by several different names, like on-board audio, on-board sound, integrated audio or integrated sound). On this tutorial we will explain you how the on-board audio is produced, allowing you to understand what a codec is and what its importance to the audio quality is.”

Intel Core 2 Processor Performance Comparison Guide
Tech ARP :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Specifications are all well and great, but can you really tell how much faster is one processor from another? Both Intel and AMD are trying to do just that with their model numbering scheme. But with over 30 SKUs, the Intel Core 2 family of processors has become a confusing bunch of numbers.

Today, we begin a performance comparison project for the Intel Core 2 family of processors where we test and compare the Intel Core 2 processors’ performance in five different benchmarks. It will show you exactly where a higher clock speed would be more advantageous and where the number of processing cores is far more important, as well as situations where the processor itself won’t really matter much.

PC Power & Cooling Silencer 610W PSU Review
Xtreme Computing :: Friday, February 08, 2008
“PC Power and cooling have been around since before I was born, and are one of the oldest and best PSU brands around. It was with their reputation ahead of them that I came to testing their new PSU, the silencer 610W EPS12v. Why EPS and not ATX? Well the EPS is a higher classification standard that ATX is heading towards anyway, it basically means it has to have a 24pin motherboard connector and 8pin 12v aux power to the board/CPU. Don’t worry though as the Silencer is also ATX 12v compliant, so will work if you only have a 4pin aux 12v on your motherboard. Let’s see what treat PCP&C have got for us then.”

Gigabyte GA-X48-DQ6 Preview
Motherboards.org :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Introducing the all new GA-X48-DQ6 from our friends over at Gigabyte, this is their flagship motherboard for the new Intel 1600MHz FSB CPU line and it looks like a winner from first glance. The motherboard comes in an all gold box that is so shiny it gleams and reflects in the light. Featuring support for ATI’s dual VGA card CrossFire cards and DDR3 memory are just the tip of the iceburg on this one folks. Come over and see our preview of this fine product, we have lots of nice pics to glance through.

IBM presents 45nm Cell B.E. at ISSCC
Beyond3d Processor News :: Friday, February 08, 2008
IBM introduced the 45nm version of the Cell B.E. processor at ISSCC earlier this week, fabbed on IBM’s 45nm SOI line at East Fishkill and targeted primarily towards future revisions…

Megan Fox vs Jessica Biel
Maxit Mag :: Friday, February 08, 2008
It’s monday morning in loose wires and seeing as the sun is shining through the MaXit dungeon, we thought we’d start a little cat fight for the weekly hotty. Truth be told we couldn’t decide between Jessica Biels butt cheeks and Megan Fox’s ability to change into a giant forty foot metal robot. Maybe we just imagined the last bit? Both girls have plenty to offer the discerning surfer with titbits of scantily clad outfits appearing everywhere but who would you take home to play with your Wii. Megans so beautifully airbrushed and doll like we’d have to let her grasp our controllers for some Wii Sports. Wouldn’t you? Then you have the bunny rabbit face of Jessica Biel with those gleaming white teetch and sexy pink lips looking like a souped up version of bugs bunny dressed up as a lady bunny. And the body. Oh my. Anybody know how she carved that ass. Does she live on the Stair Master? Who cares, we’d give up our quad cores for a quick squeeze. Enough of this nonsense. Bring on the pics. And the winner is…..

New Intel CPUs and price cuts
Maxit Mag :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Not one, not two, not three… but a whole lot, and all of them at once. We’ve got laptop procesors, server processors, Quads and dual cores, whatever you like. The dual core CPUs (Wolfdale) should be available already, as they were announced quite some time ago. Quads (Yorkfield), on the other hand, will be released in Q1, with no specific release date (this was also known, but contrary to the initial announcement). This delay affects Xeons too, even though there aren’t a lot of four layered server motherboards (the excuse given) around. Price ranges will be held, with the Q9300 substituting the Q6600 and the E8200 (E8190) doing the same for the E6550, starting at the bottom of the list. Having desktop CPUs with a FSB of 333 MHz (x4), you will need a damned good board to fully squeeze them. Either that or you pay a little bit more for the Q9450 or the E8400. At Vr-Zone (http://www.vr-zone.com/articles/Intel_Desktop_CPUs_Price_Cut_Schedule/5510.html) they have a complete list with all the Intel microprocessors currently (or shortly) available. The six last columns are very interesting, as they tell us that a price cut will take place on the 20th of April. We’re only talking about 10 or 20$ for a Celeron or a dual core, proportional to their low price, but the Q6700 is getting the same treatment the Q6600 had this summer: from 530 to 266$! Intel must have noticed nobody bought them. And speaking of the Q6600, you will get it for only 224$. Link: AnandTech (http://anandtech.com/GalleryImage.aspx?id=19).

Whatever comes after Penryn?
Maxit Mag :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Not satisfied with their current 45nm processor line-up, the folks at Intel are starting to give us a glimpse of the following architecture and the models that will be out first. There’ll be a test later so I hope your remembering all these new names – anybody getting their Nehalems mixed with their Havendales will be forced to buy AMD instead. Nehalem will be among us this year (if no motherboard issues arise, if you know what I mean), and it won’t be cheap with the most expensive Quad version of Nehalem – Bloomfield, or Bloominexpensive – set to break your wallets. Then, in the first quarter of 2009, Lynnfield will come, also with four cores, targeted at a market segment that wants performance (just not so badly). The dual core, Havendale, will be postponed for the second quarter of next year. Havendale will also have an integrated graphics unit for the entry level market in mind. If we talk about laptops, the Quad (Clarkefield) and the dual core Auburndale will also debut in the first half of 2009. Auburndale will also have an IGP, but is nevertheless expected to suck less power than Penryn. No mention at any time of a single Octal, serves us right for not buying AMD. Link: DigiTimes (http://www.digitimes.com/mobos/a20080107PD200.html).

Cellphone charger on a diet
Maxit Mag :: Friday, February 08, 2008
The product covered in this article has been out for some time, so let’s just say we’re talking about a little cellphone charger, which can be powered by two AA batteries, and address the review in itself. It turns out that the advertised autonomy for three full charges was a bit conservative, as there’s still some juice left in it. The device also has a couple of LEDs that are powerfull enough to serve as a flash light. If you read the article, you won’t find any big complaint about the gadget: the LEDs used to provide battery status information aren’t very reliable (meaning that you don’t really know how much power you have left) and the noise can be bothersome enough that you may be forced to leave it in another room, if you want some rest. Two pros and two cons, not bad. The price seems to be appropriate ($29.95), what could really prove to be it’s Achilles’ heel is the availability issue, because you can only buy it on their shopping page. Link: BigBruin (http://www.bigbruin.com/2008/turbocharge_1).

2.5″ Solid State Drive with a 832GB capacity
Maxit Mag :: Friday, February 08, 2008
The International Consumer Electronics Show has given us a lot of new products, some of which are close to being ready. Case in question: BiTMICRO Networks has a flash solid state disk up it’s sleeve that will reach 832 GB, as a part of their E-Disk Altima(tm) (http://www.bitmicro.com/press_news_releases_20080107.php) SATA flash SSD series (in 2.5 form factor). Taking advantage of the latest NAND Flash Technology improvements, it’s now possible to achieve these capacities in very a small space. They also say it will pave the way for mass SSD deployment in the, more price-sensitive , PC market. More specifically, they expect no less than a rise in sales by 477% annually, from 2006 to 2011. The main progress made in memory chips, consists in the new multi-level cell (MLC) type of NAND flash, compared to the old single-level cell (SLC). With them, the number of bits stored per memory cell, gets doubled. Add to that, BiTMICRO’s own propietary EDSA(tm) and LUNETA(tm) controllers, to optimize performance, and the disk should sustain transfer rates of up to 100 MB and up to 20,000 I/O operations per second. Link: BenchmarkReviews (http://benchmarkreviews.com/index.php?option=com_content task=view id=2947 Itemid=38).

Diamond XtremeSound – 5.1/16 bit Sound Card Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 08, 2008

Asus EAH3870X2 1GB Top Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 08, 2008

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 08, 2008

Thermalright Ultima 90 Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 08, 2008

Tuniq TX-2 Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 08, 2008

Links to Reviews for Feb. 6-8
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Asus Eee PC – “It is a fact that modern notebook computers cope with the average user’s needs most easily. All those GHz and dual-core processors sound great, but but surfing the Internet, writing in Word watching films and listening to music are not tasks that require such power. Many are willing to renounce the extra […]

Smart PC – Free Giveaway Today Only
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Consider this post a public service of PCMech. GiveAwayofTheDay.com is, today only, offering a product called Smart PC for free download. The program usually costs $29.95. Here is a synopsis, swiped from their site: In a few easy steps you can make your PC run faster, cleaner and error-free with the help of a new […]

Yahoo Launched LIVE Service and It Sucks
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Yahoo just flipped the switch on it’s new Yahoo Live service. I’m not exactly sure why the company wanted to get into this arena, especially considering how much it sucks compared to the likes of Ustream. For those not familiar, this is a service (free one, though), which allows you to broadcast live over the Internet […]

Decision Time For Yahoo
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Techcrunch is reporting that Yahoo has scheduled a special board of directors meeting for today in order to decide how to deal with the bid from Microsoft. The offer of $31/share is not being challenged by anybody, leaving Yahoo to decide between a Microsoft buy-out and a partnering with Google. The board, we’ve heard, is basically […]

Play Risk In Linux
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 08, 2008
One of the great all time classic board games is the timeless game of Risk. Anyone who has ever played a 4 person game of “world domination” knows both how fun and agonizingly long (especially once you are eliminated) the game can be. If you can’t get a group together, why not play over the Internet […]

The Mystery of the Cut Telecom Cables
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Stories have been all over the place. In short, a series of 5 undersea cables have been cut. Cables very important to Internet connectivity in large areas of the world, including many countries in the Middle East and Southwest Asia. This has affected a LOT of people in that area of the world. 1.7 million users […]

Windows Users Frustrated over Vista SP1 Delays
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 08, 2008
When Mike Nash, from the Windows Product Management Group at Microsoft, posted to the Windows vista blog, he probably didn’t realize he was going to cause such a reaction. See, after giving a lot of corporate-speak about how great Vista is, he provided a timeline for the release of SP1 that was, essentially, a delay […]

Disposable Email Addresses For Yahoo Mail
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Users of Yahoo Mail should take notice of the AddressGuard disposable email feature they offer. While I am not a Yahoo Mail user, this function seems very useful for doing things like signing up for new accounts on websites which want to validate your email address. You can basically create a truly disposable email address […]

SSD on MacBook Air Expensive?
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Some may have seen how the Macbook Air changes from an $1800 laptop to a $3000 laptop when you opt for the 64GB solid state drive. This is not Apple price gouging but rather a technology that is still so new it commands a hefty price tag. SSD is definitely the wave of the future, […]

Links to Reviews for Feb 4-6
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Sony VAIO NR160E/T Laptop Review – “Priced at under a grand available in three distinctive colors, the Sony NR series laptop is stylish enough to be shown off.” LapWorks Futura Laptop Desk – “The Futura provides a simple solution to the problems of using a notebook in your lap. No power necessary, no moving parts and it fits […]

OCZ 2GB DDR3-1600 Titanium – Intel XMP Edition
Techgage :: Friday, February 08, 2008
DDR3 might be slow to catch on, but the competition is fierce and the selection, huge. One of the first DDR3 kits to really catch my eye was OCZ’s Titanium 2GB PC3-12800, featuring an XMP profile to offer even better settings than what are advertised. Luckily, it also has some OC’ing room to boot.

Actiontec MegaPlug AV200 Mbps Ethernet Adapter
Techgage :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Looking for an alternative solution to a wireless LAN or drilling holes in the walls for a clean wired connection? The Actiontec AV200 might be of interest, with the ability to create a network using the power sockets already in your house. As it turns out, it’s effective, and incredibly easy to set up.

Samsung 743B 17-inch Monitor
Techgage :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Think large displays are over-rated? Then Samsung’s brand new 743B might just be worth a look. At 17-inches, it sure isn’t for everyone. It offers a 1280×1024 resolution, fast 5ms response time and an outstanding 7000:1 contrast ratio. Does this small monitor pack a big punch?

Intel Skulltrail Enthusiast Platform Preview
Techgage :: Friday, February 08, 2008
Consisting of two Extreme Quad-Core processors, Intel is looking to redefine what we know as “high-end”. Skulltrail is touted as being the “ultimate” enthusiast platform, offering SLI and Crossfire support, huge overclocking abilities and enough sheer power to make the competition weep.

Thermaltake Muse X-Duo Raid
Bjorn 3d :: Thursday, February 07, 2008
If you walk into a computer store today you are met with a large amount of different external storage solutions. It is now possible to expand the storage of your computer quickly and inexpensively without having to open up the computer and installing a hard drive.

The majority of the external hard drives for sale are simple USB-enclosures. While cheap and easy to use, they are in many ways “dumb” as you cannot easily share them on a network or set up permissions. If you want more features you have to be willing to spare some more cash for a NAS (Network Attached Storage) solution. Once something you mainly found in small businesses, NAS-enclosures are now finding their way into regular consumer homes.

The advantage with a NAS-enclosure is that not only do you get the ability to share it easily over a network and can set up permissions for separate users; you often also get access to features like a media server, an html-server and a built-in bittorrent client. A lot of companies have started to release NAS-enclosures. We have tested a few before from Qnap and Synology but today I am reviewing a NAS-enclosure from a company more known for their cases and power supplies: Thermaltake.

Intel Releases 965/G35 IGP Programming Documents
Phoronix :: Thursday, February 07, 2008
“At the Linux.Conf.Au conference today, Intel has announced NDA-free programming documentation covering the 965 Express and G35 Express integrated graphics processors (IGPs). Intel’s display driver has long been open-source, but up until now, they have not been releasing the programming documentation for these products to the public. This move comes months after AMD announced their new open-source strategy and began releasing register documentation on their R500 and R600 GPUs. These newly released documents by Intel even cover 3D and video programming for their IGPs.”

Intel Core 2 Duo 45nm Wolfdale vs. 65nm Conroe
Tech Spot :: Thursday, February 07, 2008
For some time now we’ve been waiting for Intel to move on to a more efficient and highly hyped 45nm fabrication technology, which was released just last month. The new 45nm Wolfdale line-up includes the E8200 (2.66GHz), E8400 (3.00GHz) and E8500 (3.16GHz) processors that are expected to operate at lower temperatures – and thus reduce fan noise – as well as receive newer SSE4.1 instructions and ship with a larger 6MB L2 cache.

It should not take pages of benchmark results to convince you that the E8500 is a better buy than the E6850 as that clearly is the case. However, those currently in possession of an E6000 series processor or even older Intel or AMD processors, may still be quite interested to see how much faster these new E8000 series CPUs are, and if they are worth upgrading to. The non-race is on then!

MSI P35 Diamond Motherboard
Tweak Town :: Thursday, February 07, 2008
“Today MSI’s game has picked up, producing some of the most impressive boards we have seen. The Platinium boards are really impressing us, and today the Diamond has managed to become another high quality contender with just about every feature you’re going to want.

To this end the P35 Diamond is shipped with a PCI Express x1 Sound Blaster X-Fi audio card. This is the exact same card that Creative sells as their X-Fi audio PCI Express card.”

Swiftech H2O-220 Compact Liquid Cooling Kit Review 
OCIA :: Thursday, February 07, 2008
“Swiftech has been around since 1994 and is perhaps best known for their thermoelectric and liquid cooling solutions that first gained popularity in late 2000 / early 2001. Recently I had the opportunity to test out one of their latest water-cooling kits, the H2O-220 Compact. I know some of you are probably thinking, “oh no, not a water-cooling kit…”

ASUS Triton 75 CPU Cooler
Tweak Town :: Thursday, February 07, 2008
“As mentioned before the Triton 75 is a passive cooler. ASUS includes all of the hardware needed to attach a 120mm fan to the cooler. Assuming that most users will be adding a fan we are going to test the Triton 75 with a 120mm fan.

The Triton 75 is a four heatpipe cooler with a copper base and uses aluminum fins to dissipate heat. As you will soon see the cooler is designed to pass air from above and push it down to the motherboard.”

Shuttle’s XPC SP35P2 Pro SFF barebones system
Tech Report :: Thursday, February 07, 2008
Intel’s P35 Express has reigned as the enthusiast chipset of choice for Core 2 processors since its introduction last May, and for good reason. The P35 delivers a fantastic combination of performance, features, and overclocking potential with a low enough price tag to allow for a wide range of affordable motherboards. But what if you desire a system smaller than your average mid tower or even Micro ATX enclosure?

Then you’ll probably be eyeing something like Shuttle’s XPC SP35P2 Pro. Built on a small form factor P2 chassis that Shuttle has been tweaking for years, the SP35P2 packs a P35 chipset, four DIMM slots, two hard drive bays, and support for double-wide graphics cards into an enclosure not much larger than a shoebox. There’s even an integrated fingerprint reader, and in defiance of the system’s proportions, ample options for overclocking.

On features and specifications alone, the SP35P2 is easily the most interesting small form factor system for PC enthusiasts—not that there are many to choose from these days. The question, then, is how the SP35P2 stacks up against its full-sized ATX counterparts. Read on to see what, if anything, Shuttle has compromised to bring the P35 Express to market in a small form factor system.

ASUS P5E3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP@n Motherboard Review
Gamepyre :: Thursday, February 07, 2008
There are an abundance of new advances and available feature options with this board and it actually has so many features it could easily have a score over our 100 point limit. The notable features include support for DDR3 memory, 3 PCI Express x16 slots (2 2.0 slots), support for Intel’s Yorkfield CPUs and the ability to overclock like no tomorrow, we reached a stable 4.2GHz on air cooling alone.

7 Things You Should Know About Windows Vista 
Review Spring :: Thursday, February 07, 2008
“Many PC users will have taken the plunge and either bought a new PC with Microsoft Vista or upgraded their old machine. Although this operating system debuted with a mixed reception, it is the default operating system for many systems.As with any operating system there are a few tips and tricks that you may not know, but probably should. This guide lists the top advanced tricks to get the most out of your Windows Vista installation. Some of these things are items that you might miss from Windows XP, others are new features that Vista hides away.”

Sapphire Radeon HD 3650 512MB
Phoronix :: Thursday, February 07, 2008
“Last week AMD introduced the ATI Radeon HD 3400 and 3600 series, which are the new low-end graphics processors compared to the Radeon HD 3800 series. These budget graphics cards are branded as the Radeon HD 3450, 3470, and 3650 and are all available for under $100 USD. While they may be cheap, they are the first graphics cards to introduce support for DisplayPort. DisplayPort is the newest digital display interface standard, backed by VESA, and is direct competition to HDMI. DisplayPort has yet to be fully supported by the available Linux display drivers, but the Catalyst Linux driver already supports these new ATI graphics cards and there will be open-source support through the RadeonHD driver in the coming days. At hand today we have the Sapphire Radeon HD 3650 512MB graphics card as we deliver the first Linux benchmarks for this RV635 GPU.”

MSI P35 Platinum Combo Motherboard
Viper Lair :: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
“Overclocking the old fashioned way was actually very easy, despite the E6750’s 333MHz FSB. With little effort, we were able to reach 490Mhz on air. Granted, we’ve had to increase the voltages to the max for CPU and chipset, but this was impressive considering we were using air cooling. I was able to squeeze an extra 4MHz out of the Gigabyte board, but given in the past I’ve had some issues with overclocking MSI boards, I was quite pleased with the results.”

Danger Den MPC-975X Chipset Waterblock
techPowerUp :: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
With the redesigned MC-TDX CPU waterblock, Danger Den has also released some new chipset blocks based on the same pin design. The new MPC series chipset blocks feature 225 heat-dissipating columns in the typical copper base. We take a look at the MPC-975X chipset block, which is designed to work with the Intel 975X chipset.

Setting up an FTP Server in WindowsXP
PC Stats :: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
“FTP is an easy way to transfer files over the Internet and in this guide we’ll explains the basics of using it, and how to set up a home FTP server in WindowsXP”

XFX 780i SLI Motherboard
Overclock 3d :: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
“Another 780i board goes through the rigorous Overclock3D test suite, but does XFX’s offering live up to the rest of the top end boards?”

Ultra Products M998 Case Review
Motherboards.org :: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
Overall this is a nice case. There is plenty of room to work, and it has some nice features. Though the power bar is a cool feature I think there are some revisions that could be made to make it more compatible with the majority of power supplies out there. The cooling performance of the case was adequate. The two 120mm fans provided moved enough air through the case to keep the temperature inside 20 degrees of ambient. Considering we were running an over clocked e6650 with an 8800GTS video card that’s pretty good

MmM Part3 Video
Technic 3d :: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
“After doing a lot of tutorial vids on YouTube and searching for new bands for the next vid on MySpace, ModMyMachine (powered by PC-Max and Technic3D) is back again with another video full of fun and the finest modding. This time we build our very own LianLi style cube. Pure luxury with many special features, such as touchscreen TFT, gigabit switch, servos and much more. You can download the english video in 3 different resolutions.

G.Skill DDR3 PC3-12800 2x1GB Kit Review
Hardware Canucks :: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
The star of the main attraction is going to be the top offering from quite an exhaustive DDR3 collection already amassed by G.Skill. The F3-12800CL7D-2GBHZ is a 2x1GB kit of PC3-12800 RAM that is rated for operation of 800MHz (DDR3-1600) with 7-7-7-18 timings at 1.9v. Being rated for DDR3-1600/7-7-7 slots this memory into the DDR3 world about the same spot that DDR2-1066/5-5-5 sits.

Antec Truepower Quattro 1000w ATX PSU
Overclock 3d :: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
“A PSU with go-faster stripes?? It looks like Antec may have just awoken the boy racer in me!”

NZXT Cryo LX Notebook Cooler Review
Big Bruin :: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
This Cryo LX definitely takes inspiration from some of NZXT’s cases, and incorporates quality materials and a well thought out design into a cooler capable of handling 17″ (and even 19″) notebook computers. Constructed mostly of thick Aluminum, and sporting three 120mm fans, this isn’t just an oversized version of the typical notebook cooler.

LaCie Hard Disk Design by Neil Poulton 500GB Review
Digital Trends :: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
“Designed by Neil Poulton, the Lacie Hard Disk provides ample storage, and a sleek high-end look.”

Booq Mamba Sling Laptop Bag Review
Think Computers :: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
“It seems so many laptop bags are the same. Booq is out to change that. Booq is a new company to us so here is some information about them. Booq strives to create high-end laptop bags while providing excellent customer service to the next generation of ambitious creative professionals. The Mamba sling is a very attractive sling-type bag that not only looks good it is comfortable and protects your laptop too. Let’s take a look…”

ASUS P5E3 Deluxe/WiFi-AP@n Motherboard Review
Motherboards.org :: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
There are an abundance of new advances and available feature options with this board and it actually has so many features it could easily have a score over our 100 point limit. The notable features include support for DDR3 memory, 3 PCI Express x16 slots (2 2.0 slots), support for Intel’s Yorkfield CPUs and the ability to overclock like no tomorrow, we reached a stable 4.2GHz on air cooling alone.

6 High End CPU Water Blocks Tested and Compared
Madhsrimps :: Wednesday, February 06, 2008
“In this group test we compare the performance of six high end water blocks from Koolance, Danger Den, D-Tek, Swiftech and EnzoTech on an overclocked Intel Quad Core Processor. Which one keeps the CPU running the coolest? Read on to find out.”

Gigabyte 6Quad GA-P35-DQ6 Review
Motherboards.org :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Gigabyte has hit a home run in many respects with the 6Quad GA-P35-DQ6. The performance of the board in default mode is right up there with the ASUS Blitz Formula Edition and the other enthusiast motherboards on the new test platform that we’ll be reviewing in the upcoming weeks. Feature-wise, the 6Quad GA-P35-DQ6 fully utilizes all of the features of the P35 chipset with the exception of the non-inclusion of DDR3 support (not an issue as DDR2 is still the main memory available), scoring a 40 on our Features chart. Overclocking was excellent on the board as well, making this a true enthusiast’s dream.

CPU Cooler Roundup on C2D – 12 Compared, who’s the best?
Dragonsteel Mods :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
“One thing about being a reviewer is that you get lots of stuff, especially CPU Coolers, so I’ve got quite a few of them on hand and thought I’d compare them all together. This isn’t just a comparison of results from a bunch of reviews, this is all new testing done with these coolers specifically for this article.Where applicable I’ve even tested these coolers without fans to see just how well they perform as truly silent cooling solutions. Inside you’ll find sections with the coolers using the fan connected to a Molex, meaning running at full speed, connected to the CPU header, PWM controlled if applicable and of course a section just for coolers without their fans. ”

Ultra Stackables System Review
Club OC :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Over the last couple of years I have amasses a nearly endless array of external devices that clutter my desktop both at home and in the office. This fact is not lost on the engineers over at Ultra Products. The Stackables Series represents Ultra’s solution to all that mess; a stackable, matching system of external devices that let you pick and choose the devices you need and stack them neatly on your desk. Today we will be looking at some of the more useful components in the series and the power center that brings it all together.

ThinkComputers & Thermaltake Giveaway!
Think Computers :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
“ThinkComputers and Thermaltake have teamed up together to give you some great grear! Up for grabs is a Thermaltake Armor Case a $159.99 value, a Thermaltake Toughpower 850W Power Supply a $259.99 value, and a Thermaltake V1 CPU Cooler (review) a $59.99 value. So we are giving out over $450 worth of free gear! So how can you win? Since we have not had a contest in a while we are going to make this simple. The contest will be forum based so all you have to do is be an active member of our forums with 10 posts or more to qualify for the V1 CPU Cooler, 20 posts or more to qualify for the Armor Case, and 25 posts or more to qualify for the Toughpower 850W power supply. We are really trying to grow our forums and we feel like giving away free gear is the perfect way to do it!”

Asus BLITZ Extreme Intel P35 Express DDR3 Motherboard Review
PC Stats :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
“Asus has released some really nice Intel motherboards in the last little while, and of those the enthusiast grade BLITZ line really stands out. The DDR3 powered Asus BLITZ Extreme motherboard PCSTATS is testing in this review is the sister-board to an identical DDR2-powered model called the Asus BLITZ Formula. While both motherboards are based around the Intel P35 Express chipset, what we really want to know is if the BLITZ Extreme and DDR3 memory will allow it break out ahead!? Let’s find out!”

Antec True Power Quattro 850W Power Supply Review
Hardware Logic :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
“Antec, Inc. considers itself a brand of high-performance computer component supplier for the gaming, upgrading, and the Do-It-Yourself enthusiast markets. They are over 20 years old and most of us know them as a purveyor of quality PC cases. But the Antec product line is not limited to enclosures. They also market cooling accessories, media components, and (as you might guess from this article’s title) power supplies such as the True Power Quattro (TPQ) series – their top of the line power supply series. Today we have one of those TPQ supplies in the form of a True Power Quattro 850 watt unit.”

ECS GeForce7050M-M and Foxconn 945G7AD-8EKRS2H Motherboards
Digit Life :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
“It has been a while since we have tested the first board based on GeForce 7050 chipset. Meanwhile, we noticed the low interest of the other manufacturers towards this basically good chipset that reached the market a little late. We examined a board from ECS, a renowned expert in cheap integrated solutions.”

DDR2 PC2-6400 Platinum Dual Channel 2gig Kit OCZ2P8002GK Reviewed 
Dragonsteel Mods :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
“So for review today I’ve got 2gigs of OCZ Platinum Dual Channel DDR2 PC2-6400, one of the main reasons I selected this ram was the low price point, there was other ram that was lower but I know OCZ quality and trust my systems to it. So continue on to see what I learned about this set of ram through my testing in Windows XP and Vista… ”

ASUS DRW-2014L1T DVD±/RW Drive w/ LightScribe Review
Hardware Canucks :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
The one thing that should boost ASUS’ sales of this drive is the addition of the LightScribe technology. The great thing about LightScribe is that you won’t need to put stickers on your freshly-burned CD/DVD, now you just burn the picture or title directly onto the CD/DVD itself. However, this technology comes at the price of the increased cost of Lightscribe-compatible media.

Nesteq ECS7001 PSU
Driver Heaven :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Today we will take a look at the ECS7001, a powerful 700W PSU featuring a patented cable connecting system. It may look like yet another modular PSU but unlike all other modular PSUs you don’t have to connect each cable directly to the unit; you can connect each cable right where another cable ends. Interesting? We think so.

Akasa revo Bubble Pump cooler Review
Xtreme Computing :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
“OK, so what I can understand is that the Revo works by having a mix of coolant in the ‘cooling-loop’. Part of the coolant is liquid and part of it is a liquid that expands to a gas under the heat of the CPU (and cools back to a liquid when it passes through the radiator). There is a mini reservoir in the base of the cooler, and as the coolant gets hot it moves up the big pipe, and the resulting convection system moves it all around the cooler. The coolant that changes to gas creates bubbles in this loop and these help move the liquid round (somehow).”

Uniblue SpyEraser Spyware Removal Software Review
Tweaknews :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
“This program has probably the most intuitive and attractive interface of all the anti-spyware programs out there. For less advanced users it is simple to use, offers real-time protection, and works well at removing known threats. Customization options and explanations about spyware types and infected areas should satisfy the more savvy users as well, furthering its appeal.”

PC-Doctor, Inc. Always on call
Bjorn 3d :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
So you overclocked your PC a bit too far and now you can’t boot your system. Did you short out your motherboard? Maybe it’s just your power supply? Did static electricity zap your shiny new $500 GPU while you were tinkering inside the tower looking for the culprit to your PC woes? Who’s to say? How would you find out with an un-bootable system? Did your BIOS get corrupted, or is it a hardware problem? Geek squad to the rescue you say? Not this time, have that black and white VW bug towed! If you are the lucky owner of PC Doctor Service Center 6 you are on your way to performing successful surgery and diagnostics on your ailing PC’s innards and sending it to the recovery room for some Jello in no time. Service Center 6 will diagnose Windows compatible systems all the way back to Windows 2000, allowing you to test just about any compatible device on the market that you can cram into your pc and somehow manage to short out, but is it worth your hard earned cash? Let’s find out as we delve into what’s included and play a high-tech game of Operation with our PCs.

Seasonic M12II 500watt Power Supply
Tweak Town :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
The M12II features the ability to sustain a steady 500 watts of power flow. Both the 3.3v and 5v rails are rated at 24A power draw. This model has a dual 12v rail system with one rated at 17A and the other rated at 18A draw.

All cable assemblies included with the M12II are mesh wrapped to keep that beast called “Cable Management” at bay. There is also a decent selection of cable harnesses that come with this power supply.”

GMC R2 Toast Mid-tower Review
MikhailTech :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Every case manufacturer is looking for a way to differentiate themselves in recent years. Making your case quiet, cool, windowed, well lit, it’s all to stand out in the crowd. One thing that isn’t often messed with however, is the optical drive placement. 99% of cases have optical drives mounted in the exact same way; GMC decided this is how they would differentiate themselves though, and have found an ingenious way of mounting it.

Tuniq TX-2 Thermal Paste Review
Club OC :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
At the 2008 Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, amid all those new big screen TV’s and custom paint jobs on PC enclosures, even thermal paste got an occasional mention. We heard from more than once source that there is growing discontent over the Arctic Silver 5 formula. The general feeling is that enthusiasts want more performance without the long cure times and thick viscosity. As always the paste must have no electrical conductivity.

Raidmax Axtec Elite Gaming Case Review 
Club OC :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
Raidmax was kind enough to send us their latest gaming case, the Aztec. The Aztec is part of their Elite line of gaming cases. Over the years we’ve reviewed quite a few Raidmax enclosures and we have been pleased with their products. Raidmax has always offered modified cases at affordable prices. The Aztec is priced right at just over $90, but does it live up to the standards that we are accustomed to seeing from Raidmax?

Asus BLITZ Formula Intel P35 Express Motherboard Review 
PC Stats :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
“The Asus BLITZ Formula motherboard is based around Intel’s P35 Express Northbridge and ICH9R Southbridge chipsets. It supports up to 8GB of DDR2 800/1066 MHz memory. The motherboard also has two integrated Gigabit network cards, two IEEE 1394a ports, 12 USB 2.0 slots, six Serial ATA II slots (RAID 0,1,5,10,JBOD), one IDE channel and supports AMD CrossFire technology too. Asus bundle a mountain of accessories, including a SupremeFX 11 8-channel audio card and software like a full version of 3DMark06 (good for the benchmark freaks out there) and the game STALKER: Shadow of Chernobyl!”

Zalman ZM-NB47J Passive Northbridge Heatsink
Frosty Tech :: Tuesday, February 05, 2008
“One of the problems with old motherboard chipset heatsinks, apart from their small size, is the little fans almost always seize up. Constant use, time, and dust bunnies conspire to stop impeller blades from spinning. If the fan stops on a postage size heatsink, there’s a good chance the chipset will overheat too. For this problem Zalman have introduced a small passive aluminum chipset heatsink called the ZM-NB47J.”

Aerocool Giveaway 3DXtreme
3d Xtreme :: Monday, February 04, 2008
We’ve posted a new contest that opens today and runs till February 7th at 12:00am midnight. It’s open to residents of US and Canada only. Prizes include an AeroCool i-Curve+ Case, 620 watt Power Supply Unit, AeroCool Infinite card reader / HD enclosure and 3 consolation prizes of 14CM fans. One entry per person using the form on the following page.

Burnout Paradise for Sony PS3 Review
i4u :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“This is one of the best racing games I have played on the PS3 or any other system in a long time. One of the coolest things about this game is that you never have to endure a load screen. That’s right no load screens ever, not even to get online or start a race. When you get tired of driving around the city crashing into traffic and hunting big jumps all you need to do to get a race is pull up to any stop light and spin your tires by holding brake and gas at once.”

HighPoint RocketRAID 3520 SATA Raid Controller Review
Techware Labs :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“We recently tested the HighPoint RocketRAID 3520 which sports more features than a fully outfit sports car and is just as fast. The RocketRAID 3520 really managed to pass up every bit of competition we threw at it and then some. Read our review to see the scortching hot numbers this card was able to produce and see what this upgrade to your workstation, server, or business will really help you accomplish. ”

Scythe Kama Connect 2
Overclock 3d :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“Looking for ways of accessing your HDD’s externally and on the run? Scythe may have something of interest for you then…”

Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus 750GB 
t-break :: Monday, February 04, 2008
Users today look for a big capacity hard disk with fast read and write speed for transferring their videos, music and other files that they would want to keep it in a reliable external data storage system. Maxtor brings them the new OneTouch series External HDD series called the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus which is equipped with 750GB of space to fill it with their needs.

Thermalright Ultima-90 Heatpipe CPU Cooler Review
Big Bruin :: Monday, February 04, 2008
Thermalright always puts out top quality products that offer computer enthusiasts a significant upgrade over stock cooling hardware. The Ultima-90 Heatpipe CPU Cooler is without a doubt an excellent choice for your hot processor due to its cooling capabilities, relatively simple installation, compact design, and support for most modern CPUs.

Enermax Jazz
Technic 3d :: Monday, February 04, 2008
he Enermax Jazz EB307ES External Hard Drive Enclosure arrived Technic3D. USB 2.0 ane eSATA connectivity for 3,5″ in a Mesh/Alu Design see you in the following Review. We looks how good it is against other HDD Cases.

MSI K9A2 Platinum 790FX Motherboard Review
Neoseeker :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“I was quite pleased with how well the MSI K9A2 Platinum overclocked – it managed to reach 270MHz HT speed stably; granted this is lower than the 300MHz the M2N32-SLI can reach, but it is very good for a Socket AM2 motherboard nonetheless.

As you saw from the charts, the 12×250 (3.0GHz) results were often better than the 11×270 (2.97GHz) results. Unlike Intel’s FSB based architecture, the independent HyperTransport and memory channels mean that there is not an “all critical” FSB that must be tuned as high as possible. For AMD architectures, as long as the memory is running fast enough to feed the cores, the absolute core speed will be more important than the highest possible hypertransport speed.”

Gigabyte 6Quad GA-P35-DQ6 Review
Gamepyre :: Monday, February 04, 2008
Gigabyte has hit a home run in many respects with the 6Quad GA-P35-DQ6. The performance of the board in default mode is right up there with the ASUS Blitz Formula Edition and the other enthusiast motherboards on the new test platform that we’ll be reviewing in the upcoming weeks. Feature-wise, the 6Quad GA-P35-DQ6 fully utilizes all of the features of the P35 chipset with the exception of the non-inclusion of DDR3 support (not an issue as DDR2 is still the main memory available), scoring a 40 on our Features chart. Overclocking was excellent on the board as well, making this a true enthusiast’s dream.

99 Windows Vista Performance Tips and Tweaks
PC Stats :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“Welcome to PCSTATS massive 99 Windows Vista performance tips and tweaks guide! This collection of tips is all about making your PC system perform to its full potential with Microsoft’s newest operating system. Knowing Vista, chances are good that there’s a tip or two in this article that’ll make a world of difference for you and your computer. Whether you are looking for desktop performance, quicker boots and shutdowns, better gaming or more battery life for your Vista powered laptop, there’s something in this Performance Tips for Windows Vista Guide from PCSTATS to help. ”

Thermaltake DH102 VH2001BNS HTPC Case Review
Club OC :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“What it really comes down to, however, is the LCD. When I told some friends about this case, they balked at the $540 price tag. When they came to actually look at the case, however, all were amazed, and two of them guaranteed that they would buy one, all because of the cool factor that the touchscreen LCD had to offer.”

Kingwin Revolution Heatpipe Direct Touch RVT-12025 CPU Cooler Review
OCIA :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“Kingwin is one of those companies that many enthusiasts often overlook. The name has not previously been associated with higher quality and performance hardware, but lately they have really stood out with their upper-end SLI certified PSUs, high-tech CPU coolers and very attractive HDD enclosures.”

Klegg Electronics NetDisk Mega – Advanced Network Storage 
Club OC :: Monday, February 04, 2008
Klegg Electronics has devised an external storage solution that offers the best of both worlds; local area network access and the conveniences of USB portability. They call their solution, the NetDisk. The NetDisk is offered as either an empty enclosure where you use the drive of your choice, or it comes in a wide variety of sizes with a pre-installed drive. Klegg sent us a 320GB model to test and to share our results with you.

Vantec NexStar MX Dual Hard Drive Enclosure Review
Futurelooks :: Monday, February 04, 2008
Sure, you could back up that data onto a series of blank DVD discs, but those are only a few gigs in size. It doesn’t take much to fill up a disc, so it’s probably a better option to look at online storage or, alternatively, a reliable external hard drive, particularly one with loads of space. The NexStar MX external hard drive enclosure from Vantec sounds it fits the bill, because it houses two drives instead of just one. And each of these drives can be up to one terabyte in space, effectively giving you enough room to backup a full 2TB of photos, music, videos, documents, and whatever else you want to store. Most importantly, it looks great doing it too!

Nexus Caterpillar Silent PC Case Review 
Techware Labs :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“If you are looking for a good case with a focus on silence and good cooling then the Nexus Caterpillar may be just right for you. We take a look at this case and show you it pro’s and cons.”

ASUS P5E3 Deluxe WiFi X38 Motherboard Review
Hardware Logic :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“Chances are, if you know what a motherboard is, you’ve heard of Asus. Over the years, Asus has carved out an excellent reputation for their products, ranging from budget to full featured enthusiast level computing solutions. With the introduction of their most recent fully featured motherboard, the Asus P5E3 Deluxe is a top contender in the motherboard arena. Borrowing a bevy of features from their vaunted “Republic of Gamers” line of motherboards, the P5E3 Deluxe boasts Asus’ exclusive AI Lifestyle technology, and a penchant for serious overclocking ability.”

Thermaltake SwordM Full Tower Case Review
Think Computers :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“We first got a glimpse of the SwordM at CES 2007, we were amazed at the style and that Thermaltake would try such a radical case. Finally this year the case was released for sale and you know we had to get one to check out. Handmade of all aluminum with hydraulic mechanisms for the top and side panel it is unlike any other case we have seen before. This is a very limited case with only 10,000 units world-wide. Let us show you what this amazing case has to offer.”

OCZ 4GB Reaper X HPC PC2-6400 Memory Review
Virtual Hideout :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“The kit I received was the 4GB kit, or 2x2GB PC2-6400, that runs at 800MHz and has a timing rating of 4-4-3-15. The modules will run those timings at 1.8v – 2.1v and handle up to 2.2v without voiding the EVP (Extended Voltage Protection) warranty. The 4-4-3-15 timings are really good for DDR2. With such tight timings I wouldn’t expect high overclocking rates at the stock timing; but loosened up, the result might be impressive.”

OCZ Vendetta CPU Cooler Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“The Vendetta is a heatpipe based CPU cooler that is very popular because the system works well. The Vendetta though is a different in that it is small compared to most heatpipe based coolers, and it features a unique fan mounting system that is the easiest I have used to date. So read on to learn more about the OCZ Vendetta and to see how it does up against other coolers I’ve got on hand… ”

Intel Penryn architecture dissected
Nordic Hardware :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“Thanks to the new 45nm process, the power leakage has been severely reduced, and we now have a much cooler and more efficient processor. But what does a refining of the process really mean? How much performance does the increased cache really bring? ”

Sunbeamtech Freezing Storm ATX Case 
LAN Addict :: Monday, February 04, 2008
Sunbeamtech’s Freezing Storm is a very good PC case. The tooless drive and expansion card installation work wonderfully well and the two interior 120mm fans keep your system components nice and cool. The allowance for up to two additional 120mm fans, one in the front and one on the side panel, make this case an air flow junkie’s dream.

Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound Review 
RB Mods :: Monday, February 04, 2008
When I think of quality cooling fans, typically one name jumps to mind first: Noctua. However, Nocuta isn’t just about fans, as they’ve started to branch out into other peripheral products. Today we get the chance to take a look at one such product, the Noctua NT-H1 Thermal Compound. Will the Noctua product be able to stand up against the established incumbents in the thermal compound market? Let’s find out.

ECS N8800GT-512MX DT 
t-break :: Monday, February 04, 2008
ECS is generally viewed as a budget company and a graphics card that you’d expect to buy from ECS would be a stock reference design with a sticker on top saying ECS. Not so with their newly released 8800GT based graphics card the N8800GT-512MX DT. Not only does this new VGA card from ECS uses higher clock speeds but also a custom cooling in the form of Arctic Cooling’s Accelero S1Passive VGA heatsink.

Ultra 3.5” Aluminum Hard Drive Cooler Review 
Cluyb OC :: Monday, February 04, 2008
Less heat and reduced noise are two phrases that always perk up the ears of any PC enthusiast. It doesn’t matter if you are stretching for that next benchmark or just trying to get down to the next dB for your HTPC, heat and the associated noise of cooling a high end build is always a factor. With the Ultra Aluminum Hard Drive Cooler, Ultra is bringing the same heat pipe solution found in may top heatsinks to your high performance hard drive.

Intel Core 2 Performance Comparison Guide 
Tech ARP :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“In this article, we will be comparing the performance of several Intel Core 2 processors in five benchmarks – three game-based benchmarks and two application benchmarks. We hope to add on more and more results as we get hold of additional Core 2 processors over time. Let’s take a look at the Core 2 processors we have rounded up for this comparison.”

GIGABYTE X38T-DQ6 Motherboard
Tweak Town :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“Today we have a new candidate in our labs for consideration, GIGABYTE’s X38T-DQ6. The “T” series of the GIGABYTE boards denotes that it is a DDR3 variant of an already existing DDR2 model.

X38 based motherboards are soon to take a nose dive in price since the chipset is due to be replaced as the enthusiast offering by the X48 which we have already managed to get our hands on and test in both DDR2 and DDR3 flavours.”

Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 Intel X38 Express Motherboard Review
PC Stats :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“The Gigabyte GA-X38-DQ6 board supports 800/1066/1333/1600 MHz Intel Celeron D, Pentium 4/D/XE and Core 2 Duo/Quad processors. This platform comes equipped with DDR2 memory slots, and can be installed with a maximum of 8GB of DDR2-1066 MHz memory. Gigabyte went this route because the price premium on DDR3 memory is still pretty heavy. By choosing to pair the X38 Express with DDR2, early adopters can use their current memory instead of spending a fortune on all new DDR3 modules like these.”

Zalman ZM-NBF47 Northbridge Chipset Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“Xigmatek’s MAC-S3501 memory heatspreaders are intended for DDR and DDR2 memory modules, and assuming the sticks of memory you have are bare, installation is a quick affair. A thin strip of jelly silicon thermal interface is laid down on the DRAM, and then the anodized aluminum Xigmatek MAC-S3501 heatspreaders are set in place. If on the other hand your memory already has heatspreaders that are attached with adhesive or frag tape, there’s a good chance you may destroy your memory if you attempt to remove the heatspreaders. ”

Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-9136C5D Memory Kit Review 
Hardware Logic :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“Corsair has been in the memory business for quite some time now offering value ram for the budget minded consumer, to uber-expensive kits for the ultra high-end enthusiast. Today we take a look at one such high-end kit of DDR2, the Corsair Dominator TWIN2X2048-9136C5D. Does this kit have the performance to match it’s dominating price tag, or will your wallet be the only one feeling dominated? Read more to find out!”

Super Talent Project X 2x1GB DDR3 PC3-14400 Review
Hardware Canucks :: Monday, February 04, 2008
Always at the leading edge of DRAM technology, it was no surprise to see the press releases this past summer from Super Talent regarding DDR3 modules. Then in the early fall, the new heat sink design was announced and their top-end DDR3 modules were outfitted sporting the new design. With increased surface area and increased mass, Super Talent aimed to further push the DRAM cooling envelope with the Project X memory heat sink.

Aeneon Xtune DDR3-1333
Bjorn 3d :: Monday, February 04, 2008
Today we are looking at the newest offering in DDR3 from the company AENEON. Now if you’re like me, chances are you prefer to stick with a well established company that has a long history of quality and commitment to their customers. Well you’re in luck because AENEON is just that company. Before you call the guys in white coats to come a drag me away to the padded room let me explain. AENEON is a new brand of memory being offered by Qimonda. You can find Qimonda memory chips just about everywhere, even in some of the hottest video cards like the 8800GT. Today we are going to look at their enthusiast line of memory kits dubbed ‘Xtune’. Like it or not DDR3 is here to stay so you might as well find what kits excel and which ones crash and burn. With speeds guaranteed up to 1500 MHz at 1.5 volts and a warranty backed by Qimonda, this memory looks to establish itself as the RAM to beat. Let’s cut to the chase and get down to the nitty gritty.

AirLive WMU-6500FS
Inside HW :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“OvisLink AirLive WMU-6500FS offers a case for a 3.5″ SATA or IDE hard disk, enables the user to connect to it via LAN cable or by wireless and employ a downloader that frees your PC away from file sharing and file downloading tasks.”

Apricorn Aegis Biometric 120GB Portable Hard Drive Review
Everything USB :: Monday, February 04, 2008
When carrying your data becomes a necessity, and using web-based methods like server storage just aren’t an option, you have two choices: flash drives, or portable hard drives, each with a number of possible security options, from password-protected encryptions to biometrics. Although solid-state drives are increasing in capacity and declining in price at a rate that will soon revolutionize the storage industry, if you’ve got a lot of data to tote, you’re going to need a portable hard drive. With today’s concerns about hackers and data thieves running rampant like characters out of a William Gibson story (not to mention government regulations like Sarbanes-Oxley), there’s a good chance you’ll need some sort of protection on that drive, so your company doesn’t end up on the evening news as the latest victim of a data theft scandal. Today we’ll be looking at Apricorn’s Aegis Bio, a line of portable hard drives that attempts to meet all of these considerations. Let’s see how it fares.

Thermaltake SwordM VD5000BNA Super Tower Chassis Review
Big Bruin :: Monday, February 04, 2008
Thermaltake has really taken case design to the extreme with the SwordM VD5000BNA Super Tower Chassis. The quality of the components is top notch, the styling is definitely unique, the features are generally well thought out, and some of the innovative design elements might actually be revolutionary.

Raidmax Sagitta 2 PC Case Review
Think Computers :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“The Raidmax Sagitta 2, the new second edition of the original Sagitta, offers a number of aesthetical as well as design improvements. This stylish case will certainly stick out at the LAN party scene. Gamers alike will be asking you where you got this pimpin’ case. This isn’t one of those cases that are great on the outside, but not so great on the inside. The Sagitta 2 has a number of features that help separate it from the pack. This really isn’t your every day gaming case. Let’s take a look to see why it isn’t your typical gaming case.”

Apevia X-Telstar Steel Mid-tower Case Review
OCIA :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“This will be my third Apevia/Aspire case. Besides the X-Dreamer II, which I used for the better part of a year, I had an X-Plorer that I used for at least a year, a long time for someone who gets as many cases as I do. So I am familiar with Apevia cases, and expect the X-Telstar to be a mid-priced, fairly well built and finished, pre-modded case with a few interesting features. Read on to see if it meets my expectations.”

Gateway FX7020 Review
Digital Trends :: Monday, February 04, 2008
The Gateway FX7020 is the company’s budget gaming system that has a lot to offer for the price.

A look at VIA’s next-gen Isaiah x86 CPU architecture
Tech Report :: Monday, February 04, 2008
A brand-new x86 processor microarchitecture doesn’t come along every day, but today, we have just that. We visited the offices of VIA Technologies’ processor subsidiary, Centaur Technology, Inc., yesterday to learn about its new x86-compatible processor architecture. Remarkably, Centaur President Glenn Henry and his team of less than 100 people have created a thoroughly modern x86 processor microarchitecture from scratch over the course of the last four years. The resulting design, which bore the code-named CN during its development and is also known as the VIA Isaiah microarchitecture, is a superscalar 64-bit processor with speculative, out-of-order execution.

ATI Chips Comparison Table
Hardware Secrets :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“With more and more graphics chips being released every day it became very complicated for the user who does not follow the video card market to know the differences among all ATI graphic chips in the market today. To facilitate knowing and understanding the difference among major ATI chips, we have compiled the following table.”

Foxconn P35AP-S Motherboard Revisited: New BIOS
Madshrimps :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“In our latest P35 motherboard round-up we had the Foxconn P35AP-S to test. It featured both ddr2 and ddr3 memory compatibility, which introduced a few unknown problems. We asked Foxconn if they planned to fix the problem, not long afterwards we got a response.”

Scythe Quiet Drive
Overclock 3d :: Monday, February 04, 2008
The Scythe Quiet Drive promises to quieten and cool your hard drive.

Logitech ChillStream Actively Cooled Gamepad Review
Tweaknews :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“To say the least, this controller is a mixed bag of pros and cons with neither of them propping the product to be a winner or pushing it down to being an absolute failure. Sure this is a good ergonomic controller which should perform its gaming tasks with ease, but the main defining characteristic, the cooling, needs work.”

Crucial Ballistix PC3-12800 2GB DDR3 Kit
Overclock 3d :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“Crucial Ballistix DDR2 kits have always been a favorite among overclockers. Today we’ll be reviewing the DDR3 incarnation to see if they are worthy of the Ballistix name.”

Kingwin Mach 1 ABT-800MA1S 800W Modular PSU
Benchmark Reviews :: Monday, February 04, 2008
Kingwin has recently decided to join the ranks of other companies which have branched their product line into the power supply unit industry. More know for their very effective HDT Heatpipe Direct Touch coolers, Kingwin is also insistent that their PSU line be just as beneficial to the hardware enthusiast. Overclockers and gamers will most likely enjoy the impressive nickel-finished appearance, while system builders and casual users will appreciate the quality build into this power supply. Benchmark Review load tests the Kingwin Mach 1 ABT-800MA1S 800W Modular PSU for AC power ripple and DC voltage regulation.

Xigmatek MAC-S3501 DDR/DDR2 Memory Heatspreaders Review
Frosty Tech :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“Xigmatek’s MAC-S3501 memory heatspreaders are intended for DDR and DDR2 memory modules, and assuming the sticks of memory you have are bare, installation is a quick affair. A thin strip of jelly silicon thermal interface is laid down on the DRAM, and then the anodized aluminum Xigmatek MAC-S3501 heatspreaders are set in place. If on the other hand your memory already has heatspreaders that are attached with adhesive or frag tape, there’s a good chance you may destroy your memory if you attempt to remove the heatspreaders. ”

Fujitsu LifeBook S6510 Laptop Review
Digital Trends :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“The Fujitsu Lifebook S6510 lets you have all the features of a regular notebook, while offering the size an ultra-portable.”

All Celeron Models
Hardware Secrets :: Monday, February 04, 2008
“Since its launch, in April, 1998, Intel Celeron processor has been going through some changes. The name Celeron is used by Intel to denominate its low cost line of processors. In fact, Celeron is an economic version of Intel top processors. In other words, Celeron is a simplified version of Pentium II, Pentium III, Pentium 4 or Core 2 Duo, with some of its features being reduced or removed. Celeron models already launched and top processors in which they are based on are listed below:”

Links to Reviews From Jan. 28-30
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 01, 2008
Gigabyte 6Quad GA-P35-DQ6 – “Feature-wise, the 6Quad GA-P35-DQ6 fully utilizes all of the features of the P35 chipset with the exception of the non-inclusion of DDR3 support (not an issue as DDR2 is still the main memory available), scoring a 40 on our Features chart. Overclocking was excellent on the board as well, making this a […]

Ideazon Merc Stealth Illuminated Gaming Keyboard Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 01, 2008

QuarkXPress 7 Passport Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 01, 2008

Zumax 950 Watt X4 Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 01, 2008

Seagate FreeAgent Pro 1TB Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 01, 2008

HighPoint RocketRAID 1740 and RocketRAID 2300 RAID Controllers Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 01, 2008

Patriot Viper Fin DDR3 PC3 12800 2 x 1 GB Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 01, 2008

OnAir Solution GT USB HDTV Receiver/Recorder Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 01, 2008

A-DATA PD7 8GB Flash Drive Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 01, 2008

Asus Blitz Extreme Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 01, 2008

Razer Destructor Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 01, 2008

AMD 5000+ Black Edition AM2 X2 Processor Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 01, 2008

Ideazon Reaper Edge Gaming Mouse Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 01, 2008

Ultra X2 750 Watt Extreme Edition Modular Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, February 01, 2008

PC Mechanic Now Officially Just “PCMech”
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 01, 2008
As we near the end of this week, I wanted to publicly make known a little bit of news pertinent to this very website. Ever since I started this website WAY WAY back in 1997, it has been called "PC Mechanic". That is how everybody knows it. However, our URL is obviously not www.pcmechanic.com. […]

Microsoft Attempts Hostile Takeover of Yahoo
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 01, 2008
OK, the blogosphere is ablaze in the news of this bid by Microsoft to buy Yahoo. So, I guess I’ll pile on and bring you the news, too. Yep, it is true. Microsoft is bidding to purchase Yahoo for $31 per share, or $44.6 billion, according to the press release by Microsoft. The per-share offer gives […]

Businesses: Use A Professional Email Address
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 01, 2008
If you run a business of any size, from a full-time self employed to a “this and that” side gig, looking professional is very important. On that note, one of the simplest and important things you can do is having a professional email address: yourname@yourbusiness.com. Nothing is more unappealing than using an @aol.com/@yahoo.com/etc. address when you […]

Windows Vista Turns One Today
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 01, 2008
Windows Vista today turns one year old. The team at Windows Vista magazine decided to order a cake with a big Windows logo on it and pig out. As the latest Windows operating system turns one, let me look at the history of Vista here at PCMech. I started out by upgrading my PC to […]

Macbook Air CPU To Go Into Windows Machines
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 01, 2008
One of the things Steve Jobs really trumpeted when he announced the Macbook Air at MacWorld was the customized Intel Core 2 Duo processor used in the computer. Because of the small size of the Macbook Air, Apple worked with Intel to develop a very small version of the Core 2 Duo. The chip is […]

How To Stop People From Freeloading Your Broadband
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 01, 2008
It is now much more common than not to have a wireless network in your home. Many broadband ISPs are actually bundling routers with their service that acts as a wireless access point. That means that, chances are, you and many of your neighbors are using wireless. So, pop open your laptop computer and have it […]

Garmin Super Bowl Commercial
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 01, 2008
The last time I saw Garmin put out a Superbowl commercial it was Maposaurus. To be honest I wasn’t too enthused about it. I understand they were going for something different but it just didn’t work. Superbowl commercials are not about selling products, but rather just having a presence on a huge telecast. As such, it’s […]

Tweak UI For Ubuntu
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 01, 2008
Many Windows users are familiar with the Microsoft Tweak UI tool for XP which allows you to easily change many aspects of how the OS looks and operates. If you are looking for a similar tool for your Ubuntu install, then check out Ubuntu Tweak. Ubuntu Tweak has a similar look and feel to the Microsoft […]

PCMech EDU: Doors Open
PC Mechanic :: Friday, February 01, 2008
After quite a bit of hard work behind the scenes (which lead to a decreased supply of fresh content to the site, unfortunately), I am finally happy to announce that I am opening PCMech EDU to the public. PCMech EDU is what I have referred to as "the next big thing" for PCMech. So, what is it? […]

GeForce 8800 GTS/GTX Cooler Comparison
Techgage :: Friday, February 01, 2008
We take a look at two aftermarket alternatives to the NVIDIA GeForce 8800 GTS/GTX’s stock cooler, the VF1000 LED from Zalman and the Hurricane HC92 from ZEROTherm. See which one took top honors in our testing!

Intel Core 2 Duo E8400 3.0GHz – Wolfdale Arrives
Techgage :: Friday, February 01, 2008
Intel’s 45nm Dual-Cores have finally arrived, so it’s only fitting that we take one for a spin. Our test subject is the 3.0GHz E8400, offering 6MB cache, SSE4 and more. Overclocking is impressive, with 3.8GHz stable being possible without even raising the voltage! This chip definitely proves itself a winner.

Gigabyte GA-P31-DS3L
Techgage :: Friday, February 01, 2008
There are few P31-based motherboards on the market, but as we find out, they are well-deserving of some attention. The board we are taking a look at today hovers around $100, but despite it’s value status, it’s a great offering.

Palm Treo 750
Techgage :: Friday, February 01, 2008
Palm’s Treo 750 is one of two models offered with Windows Mobile – this one in particular using 6. Specs include a 2.5″ 240×240 touchscreen, 300MHz processor, miniSD support, 1.3MP camera with 2x zoom, 4-hour talk-time, GSM/UMTS support and more.

DisplayLink – Multi-Display Setups with USB
Techgage :: Friday, February 01, 2008
In a world where multi-tasking is a necessity, multi-display configurations are becoming ever more popular. DisplayLink is a new kind of technology that promises to take the hassle out of adding additional displays to your PC – even six is possible. Best of all, you don’t need a second GPU.

CoolIT Freezone Elite CPU Cooler
Techgage :: Friday, February 01, 2008
During CoolIT’s CES-presence this month, the Freezone Elite was unveiled. In addition to offering stellar performance comparable to the original, the new MTEC control center is thrown in as well. This self-regulating module proved to do a fantastic job, making the Elite a superb cooling solution.

Thermaltake BigWater 760i
Techgage :: Friday, February 01, 2008
If you thought about liquid-cooling your PC, but were put off by the complexity of a typical installation, Thermaltake’s BigWater 760i may be the solution for you. The drive-bay mounting system is a novel solution, but can it provide enough of an advantage over air-cooling to make it worthwhile?

Best of CES 2008
Techgage :: Friday, February 01, 2008
We saw numerous products and technologies at CES earlier this month, but only ten of those deserved our “Best of” award. Included inside is Gateway’s latest gaming notebook, Logitech’s Squeezebox Duet, CoolIT’s dual-GPU cooler, DisplayLink’s USB display tech and more.

NZXT Rogue SFF Gaming Chassis
Techgage :: Friday, February 01, 2008
If on the search for a great-looking gaming chassis that’s also portable, NZXT might have you covered. Their “SFF” label might be a bit of an understatement though – this case is far from being small. Despite that, it looks good, offers a whack of functionality and is definitely worth a look.

CES 2008: Lian Li
Techgage :: Friday, February 01, 2008
Lian Li’s booth always attracts a lot of attention from the press. Who doesn’t love those sleek and stylish cases? We are taking a look at their entire new line-up, which even includes a replacement chassis for your Xbox 360. Yes, you read that right.

Analysis: VIA strikes back with Isaiah: OoOE, Fast SSE3, 3.5 to 25W
Beyond3d Processor News :: Friday, February 01, 2008
It might have felt as if VIA’s CPU designers were sleeping for the last 3 years and asked the package and PCB engineers to keep the company going for the…

Mod of the Month – January 2008
Bit-Tech Modding :: Friday, February 01, 2008
We’re baaaaaack… After a holiday respite, it’s time to get back down into the trenches. This month, it’s about new mods to ring in the new year – we’re going to look at a few of the best mods still in their infancy. Whose mod is the best? We don’t know, but I bet you’ll tell us…

Watercooling 201: The Waterblock
Bit-Tech Modding :: Friday, February 01, 2008
There are very few things about watercooling that are misunderstood more than the waterblock. After all, how does it really work? And what makes a good block? We take a look at the anatomy of a waterblock and even give you some tips for if you want to build your own.

The Weighted Companion PC
Bit-Tech Modding :: Friday, February 01, 2008
It’s pretty safe to say that Portal was one of the best games released in 2007. For those of you who can’t get enough of it, our mega-modder Wolverine has a treat for you. It’s time to work with your Weighted Companion PC – cake not included.