Tech News January 2005

NewsJan 31, 2005June 29, 20140

Lian Li PC-7 Plus Case Review @ Overclocker Cafe’
Overclocker Café :: Saturday, January 29, 2005

“The midrange price case market has surprisingly never threatened the high end case lines for some reason. Over the years, we have looked over several midrange boxes that have 95% of the features and 100% of the quality of the top of the line models. In fact, my two favorite cases, bar none, are from the midrange group; the Kingwin KT424 and the Lian Li PC-7. Both cases offer tons of features and more importantly are affordable.”

Akasa Integral 3.5in External HDD Enclosure Review @ Mikhailtech
Mikhailtech :: Saturday, January 29, 2005

“Akasa went with a minimalist approach when designing their Integral series of enclosures. There are three parts to the entire case: the main aluminum shell, an acrylic front panel, and a sliding acrylic back panel. On each side is a clear plastic strip with indentations to refract light coming from rear-mounted LEDs, in effect creating a lighted strip. The rear has a USB2.0 connection, a power plug, and an on/off switch. There are also a few vent holes present. Notice that no fans are present. Many 3.5″ cases use 40mm fans to cool down the drives inside them. I assume Akasa decided against any fans in order to allow for a quieter and much smaller enclosure; how this impacts heat output is something we’ll see in our thermal test.”

GeIL Ultra-X PC3200 1GB DC Kit @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Saturday, January 29, 2005

“GeIL has been around for a long time, but since their company is based in Asia, we sometimes forget the excellent memory products they have released in the past. I remember the first time I purchased the GeIL Golden Dragons with the nifty clear/golden PCB and chips that never got hot. Simply plugging in GeIL Golden Dragons into my HP Pavilion fostered my interest in LED’s, cathodes, watercooling dye, and case-modding. If it wasn’t for GeIL, I wouldn’t be on the staff of InsaneTek! GeIL has always impressed us with their dedication to the enthusiast community, and today we have the honor of reviewing the GeIL Dual Channel Ultra-X PC3200.”

ASUS A8N-SLI Motherboard Review @ t-break
t-break :: Saturday, January 29, 2005
“The black PCB and the mostly white slots and connectors on the A8N-SLI make it a very attractive board that you can show off in your casing. The components on the board are generally well placed like the CPU socket had enough room for us to install the Thermaltake HSF unit without any problems”

Delphi MyFi xm2go Portable XM Satellite Radio Receiver Review @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Saturday, January 29, 2005
“Think of the MyFi as the Sony Walkman of satellite radio. The Delphi MyFi xm2go is a 7 ounce satellite radio receiver and recorder that will work at the beach, at the gym, in your car, or anywhere else you can dream up. At 4.5 inch high by 2.8 inch wide by 1.3″ deep the MyFi is about the size of a large portable music player”

Intel Sonoma Platform Launch Report @ rojakpot.com
Tech ARP :: Saturday, January 29, 2005

“On January 19th, Intel launched the Sonoma mobile platform and we released our technology review of the Sonoma platform as well as an exclusive look at two Sonoma notebooks!

Today, we present our coverage of the actual Intel launch event! If you want to see what went on during the event, come in and take a look!”

Corsair Voyager Flash Drive Review @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Saturday, January 29, 2005

“After a surge of flash drive manufacturers in the past year or so, Corsair has entered the market to try their storage products. We are all aware of Corsair as being the tier one enthusiast memory provider in the industry. They certainly account for a huge percentage of market shares, and they have introduced quite a few unique and innovative products, namely PC3200XL (the first low-latency modules in the market), LED lights at the top of memory modules, and now the XPERT series with scrolling marquee text functionality to their customers. Admittedly, their market position is thoroughly strong, but with so much competition – do they have what it takes to reach the top?”

Prime Cooler Memory Cooler Review @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, January 29, 2005

“Remember four, five, six years ago when we hardly thought about cooling, much less memory cooling? Nowadays, with faster and faster components, making more heat than ever it is critical to keep the temperatures down to protect all of your valuable investments. The product up today is the Prime Cooler Memory Cooler.”

Cooler Master Aquagate ALC-U01 Review @ Hexus
Hexus :: Saturday, January 29, 2005
“Overall, the Aquagate has a fair bit going for it. Although perhaps not the most exceptional water cooling kit from a performance point of view, it nevertheless performs admirably. Add to that its ease of installation thanks to a good design and manual, and you have a tempting set-up.””

Modifying the Swiftech MCP350 Pump for Increased Flow @ SystemCooling
SystemCooling :: Saturday, January 29, 2005

“Everything I said in the original Swiftech MCP350 12 VDC pump review still stands. But for the hard-core enthusiast that is willing to perform a relatively simple modification, this little pump has the potential to deliver significantly more flow. As expected, the modified MCP350 pump remained just as quiet as the original and current draw increased ~0.1 Amp (at 12.0 VDC) under full flow.”

XG Vortec 600w Power Supply Review @ Controlled-Insanity
Controlled-Insanity :: Saturday, January 29, 2005

“Let’s jump in the waaay back machine for a minute. Power supplies have come a long way since the days of the Pentium 1 and 2, needing only a 250w PSU to deliver more then enough power to keep your system stable was pretty standard. Nowadays, gaming systems are blazing fast, and thus require a stronger, more reliable source of power. Enter our next product for review. Not only does it look amazing, but this 600w PSU from XG (Extreme Gamer), dubbed the Vortec, packs a big punch. Let’s go see if the Vortec delivers a knock out blow, or is just swinging at air”

CTX International X701A 17 Inch LCD Monitor w/ Speakers Review @ Tweaknews
Tweaknews :: Saturday, January 29, 2005

“If you are looking to upgrade your monitor, I would recommend this one without hesitation. It doesn’t have all the bells and whistles as some of the more expensive monitors on the market, but for the price of about $225-260 you absolutely cannot go wrong with the CTX X701A.

It is cheap, at 14ms response latancy it is a very capable gamer, did I mention it is really cheap? This will be one of the smartest investments you will make for your desktop.”

HEXUS.review – Gigabyte 3D1
Hexus :: Friday, January 28, 2005
Snip: “Before I even touch on the real-world feasibility of the 3D1, I have to say this – The technology is cool. No matter how logically you try to look at it, the fact that you have a single video card with the power of two cores is simply drool-worthy, even more so when you imagine the potential of doing this with higher-end GPUs like the 6800GT or (heaven forbid, considering the cooling solution and power you’d require) Ultra. I remember the disappointments of the Rage Fury Maxx and XGI Volari Duo well, two boards which made it seem that a modern day dual core GPU was almost in the realms of impossibility. But Gigabyte have taken a chance, thrown caution to the wind and produced an outstanding piece of technology – And even better, it actually works! Sure, this is just a different flavour of SLI, but it has opened the door to a new plain of possibilities, and that is a very good thing indeed.”

Enermax CS-718B Maxflow Case Review at 3DXtreme
3dXtreme :: Friday, January 28, 2005
“We enjoyed reviewing this Case, some of the high points are the screwless drive rails, top USB ports, quiet 120 mm cooling, LCD with temperature and RPM readout and the overall classy, stylish look of this particular Case. Also, the included Enermax 465 Watt Power Supply that delivers as much power to each of the rails as any $100+ Power Supply Unit would. The only real downside to this Case is that not all Motherboards will work as advertised, you may not be able to mount the wind tunnel or may have issues with cable lengths.”

[Phoronix] Prime Cooler Memory Cooler
Phoronix :: Friday, January 28, 2005

Summary: “Remember four, five, six years ago when we hardly thought about cooling, much less memory cooling? Nowadays, with faster and faster components, making more heat than ever it is critical to keep the temperatures down to protect all of your valuable investments. The product up today is the Prime Cooler Memory Cooler.”

Crucial 1GB Ballistix PC4000 Review @ PCmoddingmy
PC Modding Malaysia :: Friday, January 28, 2005

“From the testing and benchmarking results on the previous pages, I can conclude that the Crucial Ballistix performs very well at the highest level and its ability to run at high frequencies makes it all the more exceptional and unique. For its sterling performance at a relatively low price of USD249.99, the Crucial Ballistix PC4000 DDR500 is a steal and should not be missed out!”

News – ThermalRock OceanDome Aluminum Chassis
Techniz.co.uk :: Friday, January 28, 2005

“Have you heard of “ThermalRock”? If no, today we are going to introduce you about this new manufacturer. ThermalRock Incorporation was established by a group of multinational Research & Design, and Marketing elites from USA, Taiwan, China, Japan, Germany, France, and Australia. They specialize in the design and manufacture of aluminum, copper and metallic alloy products that raise industry standards, while remaining cost effective. Their expertise in thermal solutions and industrial design have assisted ThermalRock in creating innovative computer peripherals that users will appreciate and makes them the index of many followers.”

Matrix Orbital MX424 LCD Review
VR-Zone :: Friday, January 28, 2005
“The Matrix Orbital MX4 series comes in a variety of drive bay insert colors. Colors such as: silver aluminum (pictured above), white, black and black aluminum. The silver and black aluminum inserts blend right into brushed aluminum cases, looking so good it seems as iflike part of the case. The aluminum finish is top notch and sturdy. The display is a 20 character x 4 lines LCD and is approximately 76mm x 25.0mm.”

Neoseeker Leadtek WinFast PX6600GT SLI Review @ Neoseeker
Neoseeker :: Wednesday, January 26, 2005
“The single 6800GT does much better (as it should) in comparison to the single 6600GT. Nearly half the time are the framerates above 55 FPS but there is still a good amount of time spent in the 30-40 FPS and sub 30 FPS zones which means that the end user will have noticeable dips in the framerates.

The results with the Leadtek WinFast PX6600GT TDH SLI pair makes the choice between the 6600GT SLI pair and 6800GT much more difficult. A whopping 76% of the time has the framerates in the 55 FPS range.”

Enermax CS-718 Server Case Review @ Overclocker Cafe
Overclocker Café :: Wednesday, January 26, 2005

“With the Enermax CS-718 having the mainboard mounted in an inverted fashion, this means you get in via the opposite side panel as normal. Peaking inside, we see the painfully simple yet very smart Wind Tunnel Design. The Wind Tunnel connects two 120mm case fans on opposite sides of the case in such a way that the CPU cooler’s exhaust is whisked directly out of the case’s rear with minimal contact with the rest of the ambient air inside the case.”

SilenX IXtrema CPU Cooler Review @ AuphanOnline.com
AuphanOnline.com :: Wednesday, January 26, 2005

“When it comes to building a silent PC, reducing the sound of the CPU cooler is a key step. SilenX steps up to bat with a silent CPU cooler which promises to run at less than 24dBA. Let’s see how it stacks up..”

Modding Bootcamp – Sleeving & Cable Tidying @ PimpRig Daily Disturbance
PimpRig :: Wednesday, January 26, 2005

“The DD team has a new installment to their Modding Bootcamp series. This latest article takes a look at cleaning up your PC’s wiring.”

Evercool WC-202 Water Cooler @ Techniz
TechFreaks :: Wednesday, January 26, 2005

“Again, the WC-202 is another good design water cooler from Evercool. As for the performance, it was pretty good compare to the Intel stock cooler, you can refer to this water cooler cooling performance at the testing section. The only noise came out from this water cooler is from the both fan that blowing the radiator, but the noise is not loud. The water block of this water cooler is support the Intel P4 (Socket 478 and Socket T), AMD K8 and K7.”

Titan Vanessa Heat Pipe CPU Cooler Review @ PCmoddingmy
PC Modding Malaysia :: Wednesday, January 26, 2005

“The retail price for this Titan Vanessa is 49USD, inexpensive for a heat pipe CPU cooler of this performance. From the previous page, we can see that the Titan Vanessa actually outperformed some of the more popular high-end heat pipe coolers out in the market today. Performance aside, the Titan Vanessa also has a nice package bundle, a great looking fan controller, universal mountings, silent operation, light in weight, easy installation etc. The Titan Vanessa is definitely a good air-cooled replacement for a water-cooled solution (which is much more expensive and complex). For those who are still deliberating on which solutions to choose from, look no further because the Titan Vanessa might just be the answer!”

Sunbeam Liquid Neon @ Adrian’s Rojak Pot
Tech ARP :: Wednesday, January 26, 2005

“CCFLs are quite the rage with case modders. But are you getting tired of plain CCFLs? If so, why not check out patterned CCFLs?”

Patriot 512MB PC3200 TCCD RAM @ eXtreme Hardware
eXtreme Hardware :: Wednesday, January 26, 2005

“Patriot is a distributer of TCCD module memory. TCCD (manufactured by Samsung) is considered by many to be the best memory that can be found in the world. In this review, we will benchmark a Patriot 512 MB PC-3200 RAM module against a Corsair XMS 512 MB PC-3200 module, one of the world’s most popular gaming RAM modules. Think this is an unfair comparison for Patriot? Think not!”

ogisys Glacier 500W Power Supply @ PimpRig
PimpRig :: Wednesday, January 26, 2005

“The PSU itself is quite rugged and sturdy. It weighs in at approximately 3lbs on my bathroom scale, which (considering the acrylic and aluminum casing) is quite heavy. For reference, my all steel 470Watt Enermax Noisetaker weighs 4.5lbs”

Firmware upgrade for the Plextor PX-716 Series DVD±R/RW drives
Plextor :: Monday, January 24, 2005
Plextor® Corp., a leading developer and manufacturer of high-performance digital media equipment, today announced a free firmware upgrade for PX-716 Series DVD±R/RW drives. The new software boosts recording speeds to state-of-the-art 6X DVD+R Double-Layer (DL) and 6X DVD-R Dual-Layer (DL), thereby protecting the investment of customers who previously purchased a Plextor PX-716 series drive. The firmware upgrade will be available in two releases. Release 1.04 is available today on Plextor’s website http://www.plextor.com. This firmware supports 2X DVD-R DL and 6X DVD+R DL on 8.5 GB DVD DL media, along with 8X DVD+RW and 16X DVD±R on recommended single-layer DVD media with Plextor’s AUTOSTRATEGY® recording optimization feature. Release 1.05, available March 31, 2005, supports 6X DVD-R on DL DVD media.

OCZ Platinum PC3200 Rev2 1GB DC Kit Review @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Sunday, January 23, 2005
“Today we have OCZ’s Enhanced Latency Platinum Revision 2 PC3200. OCZ’s EL series focuses on low latencies at all of their rated speeds, making it an overclocker’s dream. The Platinum series is just one of the many groups of memory that OCZ produces. OCZ’s primary goal is customer satisfaction and their warranty assures that. OCZ does not only produce memory, but power supplies, cooling solutions, and a DDR booster, which allows the user to adjust memory voltage higher than what many motherboards allow. Read on to find out just how well the Platinum PC3200 Rev2 performs.”

Akasa Integral 2.5in External HDD Enclosure Review @ Mikhailtech
Mikhailtech :: Sunday, January 23, 2005

“The case itself is very sleek. The body is black anodized aluminum while the sides are acrylic. Akasa claims that you can install a drive in this enclosure without any screws. Well, you can, but it won’t be very stable. To get inside, you need to remove the pair of screws in the front. Then depress the button on top of the front panel and remove it. Once that’s out, the rear of the case slides outward to reveal the PCB and installation rack. If you look closely, you’ll notice a pair of LEDs on opposite sides of the rear panel; these are used to display power and activity status.”

Help the Tsunami Victims @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Sunday, January 23, 2005
“InsaneTek and our sponsors (Corsair, SilverStone, OCZ, Sidewinder, Crucial, and Cooler Master) are here again with another contest. This time we’re dedicated to help the victims who have suffered from the tsunami disaster. Since we don’t actually know anyone who lives there, the best way to help is to donate money. The contest is for a good cause so please try to participate if you can. Every little bit helps.”

Raidmax Samurai Black Review @ FastLaneHW
FastLaneHW :: Sunday, January 23, 2005
“Lately, computer cases don’t seem to be marketed as computer cases anymore. These days it’s more like the tagline of an action flick, in an effort to market to the easy-to-please “hardcore gamer” crowd. We’ve seen everything from flashy expensive cars, to viking warriors, to aliens from outer space. But today Raidmax shows us that the marketing doesn’t stop there, so we’re having a look at the Raidmax Samurai case in everyone’s favorite color, black.”

CoolJag JVC558A Review @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Sunday, January 23, 2005
“This is the second CoolJag product that we have had the pleasure to get our hands on. At first, we were expecting somewhat of a heavy heatsink and noisy fan but we were happily proven wrong. Let’s see how the Skiving fins compare not only to the AMD stock fan, but also to its brother the CoolJag JAC103C.”

Shuttle XPC SB77G5 Review @ Hexus
Hexus :: Sunday, January 23, 2005
“Shuttle are aiming the SB77G5 at the gamer, giving them recent P4 processor support in a small form factor, while letting them use existing AGP graphics and good DDR400 memory. The performance relative to DFI’s excellent 875P-T shows they’ve succeeded in the performance endeavour, using that processor. But if you’re a gamer, with the money to spend on SB77G5, why are you using Pentium 4? Shuttle’s alternate SN95G5 is more suited to you.”

1A-Cooling SET Blacklord 240 Water Cooling Kit Review @ MODTHEBOX!
MODTHEBOX! :: Sunday, January 23, 2005

“The SET Blacklord 240 Water Cooling Kit represents the best of breed in terms of components that are both brand name and of high quality. While the components in this package are pre-selected, consumers also have the option of individually selecting a custom setup which best suits their own personal needs directly from the 1A-Cooling website.”

NSLU2 – Easy Network Storage @ GideonTech
GideonTech :: Sunday, January 23, 2005
“As the year was turning from 2004 to 2005. I was looking at ways to add more disk space to my home network. With costs of a new computer just out of my reach and having a couple of hard drives that were out of commission and out of places to even use them, I was in a jam. I was looking for a way to keep the cost down but be able to expand the drive space over all of my systems on the home network.”

Kingston shows off PC2-6000 @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Sunday, January 23, 2005
“Today Kingston showed off samples of their PC2-6000 memory, which is the fastest DDR2 memory that we have seen to date. For those that don’t know PC2-6000 is running at 750MHz DDR2! The modules that we have are 256MB modules and carry the part number KHX6000D2/256 and come with a rated CAS Latency of 4…”

Swiftech MCX64-V Review @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Sunday, January 23, 2005
“Swiftech is one of the first companies that comes to my mind when I think of cooling products. They started out with Celeron heatsinks way back in 1998 and have provided overclockers with quality products ever since. Their innovative pin design heatsinks were, up until recently, considered one of the best performing products in their class. The newest trend in air cooling is the heatpipe, a phase change type of cooling that enhances the performance of air cooled heatsinks. Swiftech has not introduced a heatsink with heatpipe technology because their pin design isn’t compatible with it. They have stuck with the pin design and worked with what they have. Swiftechs latest heatsinks sport pins bent out in a flower shape to improve performance and reduce noise.”

Mushkin 1GB DC DDR2 PC2-5300 Review @ Techniz.co.uk
Techniz.co.uk :: Sunday, January 23, 2005
“The Mushkin DDR2 PC5300 memory modules are very overclockable RAM. Furthermore, it comes with a sexy black heat spreader. As for the performance, with the slightly loosen the timing, the RAM was able to hit 336.5MHz which is equal to DDR 673. That was an excellent result. But, we were unable to test it higher due to the limitation of the processor default speed which is at 3.2GHz, we have hit the wall of this processor. This Mushkin DDR2 PC5300 memory module is really a good buy at the MSRP at US $274 for a DDR2 range of memory.”

Abit X300 SE Review @ eXtreme Hardware
eXtreme Hardware :: Sunday, January 23, 2005

“By now you’ve probably heard of PCI-Express, and all of its promises of speed and upgradability. What’s that you say? Don’t have money for that high-end, PCI-Express graphics card? You don’t need a high-end card, but you need PCI-Express? That’s okay, there are budget options out there too! Welcome to the X300 SE by Abit. For about $75, you can have a 128MB, PCI-Express card.”

Soltek K8T890 Performance Preview @ t-break
t-break :: Sunday, January 23, 2005
“VIA had their K8T890 chipset announced for the Athlon64 platform quite some time back. If we remember right, it was announced before nVidia’s nForce4 as the first PCI Express solution for the AMD platform. However, boards based on this chipset are yet to make an appearance on store shelves. Today, we have recieved the first motherboard based on the K8T890 chipset and its an Engineering sample from Soltek modelled the K8T890.”

Edifier R501 5.1 Six Channel Surround Computer Speaker System Review @ Tweaknews
Tweaknews :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“This beautifully simplistic designed sound system shows Edifier, a relatively unknown speaker manufacturer, really knows what geeks want their speaker system to look like. Simple design is becoming more and more the trend in computer peripheral manufacturing. Have the product perform well, but keep the aesthetics uncomplicated.”

Benq PB 6100 @ Overclockers Online
Overclockers Online :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“Well here lies the real matter. The only real reason to overclock, is to game, no? And we are here online to overclock, yes? For this test I hooked up my gaming rig and ran the projector through its paces. What can I say; playing huge…is huge. Having a larger than life-size Gordon Freeman hand as your entry into his world is definitely a plus, but again there were issues surrounding the rainbow effect. Especially a game like Half Life 2, with light and dark being a key feature of the visual style of the game, it unfortunately suffers due to the rainbow effect being painfully apparent.”

Seasonic PowerAngel Power Meter Review @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“Power consumption is a great concern in the computing industry, nowadays. Although, it wasn’t much of a concern a while back, users now want to know the power ratings and consumption of their personal computers, and the components that reside in it. We are at a point where we don’t want high-powered products in our systems. Power consumption is the cause of elevated electricity bills and mere annoyance, when it comes to thermal issues. Add the aforementioned points to 600W+ power supply units and the scenario gets much worse.”

Overseas Outsourcing @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“John Guzman, our main editorialist here at Phoronix, recently shared his opinions on the outsourcing of jobs out of the United States. More specifically, an experience with his new Internet Service Provider.”

Corsair TWINX1024-3200XLPRO Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“If you are a hardcore overclocker or PC enthusiasts, then you should definitely consider getting the Corsair TWINX1024-3200XLPRO modules because they can run at 224MHz with 2-2-2-5 timings and 247MHz with 3-4-4 timings. Even though it was not able to achieve DDR500 results on our test bed, we believe that you can achieve higher results with certain motherboards. Besides that, the LED activity lights are not only cool looking, but also indicates the memory usage through the ram itself. Considering that the retail price of RM1650 / USD435 for the 1GB Corsair XMS XLPRO might be a little expensive, I would say it is worthy as it offered rock solid performance and stability”

Wintec AMP-X DDR2-5400 Review @ GruntvillE
GruntvillE :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“Wintec was raving about their memory’s ability to adjust its timings to the system. They claimed that if your system was running at 400fsb that these modules should be able to hit Cas 3. This is a very impressive for DDR2 modules. In fact, Wintec is the first to claim this. I set the system up to run 200FSB and set the memory to 533 and was able to run at 3-2-2-8. Anything over 540 and it was time to adjust the modules.”

Intel ‘Sonoma’ Centrino Platform @ Hexus
Hexus :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“Today sees the birth of Sonoma – Centrino 2 if you will – Intel’s next generation mobile platform which has been refined and sees some of Intel’s recent desktop technologies put into it. These are carried to Sonoma using the i915 core logic as a base. Sonoma also demands the use of the next generation Pentium-M CPU (Dothan), Intel Pro Wireless 2200BG or 2915ABG WiFi module, and Intel state that this new module supports new software which gives tightened security and easier configuration.”

MonsterGecko Pistol Mouse FPS @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“MonsterGecko, a previously unknown company to Phoronix, has released their Pistol Mouse FPS and has graciously allowed us to test and review it. Let’s take a closer look at it and see how it performs.”

Aerocool Spiral Galaxies Case Review at 3DXtreme
3dXtreme :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“The Aerocool Spiral Galaxies is a quality made Case; there was never any doubt about that. The “screw-less” design makes installation a breeze. The issues we ran into were related to the non standard Form Factor that everyone is trying to copy while using ATX hardware. Aerocool delivered a quality product, its flaws while not entirely Aerocools’ fault can be attributed to the sudo BTX standard implementation”

Shuttle SB77G5 XPC – Socket 775 through Intel Canterwood @ TweakTown
TweakTown :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“We’ve got yet another Shuttle small form factor system under the spotlight today, this time it’s the SB77G5 XPC. It makes use of the Intel Canterwood chipset supporting AGP and DDR memory but supports the newer Socket 775 Intel Pentium 4 processors. Today we take a look at the XPC and what has changed (if any) as well as see what type of overclocking performance we can get from the unit.”

JAVOedge Bluetooth Keyboard review at SLCentral
SLCentral :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“In an age where electronics are prized for their mobility, Bluetooth has become an increasingly prominent technology. Several companies are taking advantage of this popular and efficient close-range wireless technology, implementing it in such devices as handheld computers and cell phones.

Because of this, many companies who manufacture accessories for mobile devices are incorporating Bluetooth into their product lines. One such company is JAVOedge. Today we will be looking at this company’s recently released Bluetooth keyboard. So read on to find out what the JAVOedge Bluetooth keyboard is all about.”

Steamed at Steam, and Heapsize @ IpKonfig
IpKonfig :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“There’s no doubt in my mind that Steam is a big load of Steam, but Valve seems to think there’s a need for massive control. I’ve often thought of Valve as another Microsoft greed corporation, but that might be pushing it a bit.

Steam is Valve’s way of trying to control the copyright issues abroad, and with good reason. The internet has brought good and evil for publishing. Software is easily distributed across the internet and easily downloaded by those who know where to find it. So Valve’s main concern was to protect its ‘new car’ from thieves. Well, ok, cool; — however… ”

Thermaltake Purepower 680W Power Supply @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Thursday, January 20, 2005

“Thermaltake have come out with a good looking and great PSU. The performance of the Pure Power 680W PSU is very good and stable as you can refer back to the testing and performance section. Moreover, the PSU is finished in Electroplate Black Nickel, it also looks so great!. A part from that, it comes with the 20-24 Pin adapters which are able to support all the platforms of motherboard nowadays. There is total of 4 SATA connectors included as well for supporting SATA hard disks. Beside that, 2 units of PCI Express connector is ready to support the NVIDIA SLI graphic card setup. The noise of the PSU is very quiet as well which is rated at 17 dBA. The most important thing with this PSU is an Active PFC PSU and fully coloring sleeving.”

EPoX 9NPA+ (Nvidia nForce4 Ultra) Motherboard @ The Crucible
The Crucible :: Thursday, January 20, 2005

“EPoX has delivered an excellent product in the 9NPA+. It provides a ton of options, great overclocking and very nice performance all at a reasonable price. If you are looking to upgrade to a new PCI Express Athlon64 system and are looking for a board that won’t let you down take a look at the EPoX EP-9NPA+ nForce4 Ultra.”

2005 Motherboard Plans Revealed @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, January 20, 2005

“We had a few meetings scheduled with tier-one motherboard makers to bring you the latest industry information right from the core. As of right now, motherboard makers are thoroughly enjoying the success of Athlon 64 based motherboards for the past few quarters. They strongly, and obviously, predict the sales of Athlon 64 based motherboards to soar the skylines in 2005. While AMD platform is getting the most attention from enthusiasts, motherboard makers are seriously worried about Intel’s Grantsdale and Alderwood motherboards. The reason to worry is due to poor performance to ratio of the Intel platform.”

MSI MegaStick 256 Reviewed @ VR-Zone Hardware
VR-Zone :: Thursday, January 20, 2005
“Secondly, the bundled earphones actually stopped working after about two weeks usage, and before they broke, the sound quality from them wasn’t anything to be proud of. Also, radio reception and quality were far from what you get out of most portable radios.”

Corsair Flash Voyager 512MB USB 2.0 Drive @ OCIA.net
OCIA :: Thursday, January 20, 2005

“Above we have a photo of the Voyager itself. As you can see, the exterior is constructed of rubber. This rubber construction makes for a water-resistant and shock-proof drive. Get caught outside in the rain or accidentally drop the drive down a flight of stairs? No worries! On the right side of the drive, you see a hook, which can be used to attach the drive to the included neck strap (kinda dorky, but if you use the drive frequently, it works great). I chose to attach my drive to my key ring. Next to the hook, we have the LED activity light. When activated, the LED flashes blue. The left side of the drive is where the USB 2.0 connector is, hidden under its protective cap.”

2005 CES – State Of The CE Industry Report @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“Anyone who struggled to make their way through the three football fields of fantasy we call CES would come away believing high definition TVs, camcorders, recorders/players are going to be snapped up and snapped together by any consumer who knows what is good for him or her. The big problem is it still requires credit cards with a huge spending limit, a lot of patience or assistance and hurdles thrown in the way of the buyer by factions that focus more on patent payments than the consumer.”

HEXUS.net Analysis: ATi Catalyst 5.1
Hexus :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“Special mention should also be made of the new pause and stop buttons added in to the 3D preview of CATALYST Control Center – I’m sure I’m not the only person who has been frustrated by the sluggishness this 3D preview can add when trying to change settings, so this new functionality gets the thumbs up from me. I can fully understand the usefulness of the preview for more novice users, and its inclusion is to be applauded, but now I can also sleep soundly knowing that us ‘power users’ who already know our way around the more advanced 3D settings are still being thought of too.”

Soltek SL-K8TPro-939 Review
Neoseeker :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“We managed to overclock the Soltek K8TPro-939 to a maximum stable speed of 255 MHz on the HT bus, with a memory divider of 1:1, HT multiplier of 4x, and CPU multiplier of 9x. These settings resulted in a total CPU clock of 2295 MHz, memory clock of 255 MHz, and HT bus clock of 1020 MHz. Unlike the 3901a, the SATA port on this particular board is locked and we experienced no problems with data integrity”

Corsair Announces 2GB USB Flash Voyager Drive
Corsair :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“The new CMFUSB2.0-2GB card offers a great amount of storage capacity in an extremely small package. Corsair’s new Flash Voyager products are as highly acclaimed for their durability as they are for performance. Their soft rubber shock resistant, water resistant casing protects valuable data from the elements better than any other USB drive on the market. Supporting read speeds of up to 19MB per second, this drive also offers award-winning performance.”

Corsair Flash Voyager Review
Ninjalane :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“The big issue many users have with flash drives is the typically the device itself since they tend to fall apart with minimal use. Corsair has tried to solve this by wrapping the entire drive in a durable rubber shell.”

Interview with Intel @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“If the application is not threaded, it will not see benefits from Dual Core. However, if the OS is threaded and it’s running two non-threaded applications, we’ll see some improvements as compared to a single core design. Say you have a virus scanner running and you open a 20MB PowerPoint presentation, a dual core CPU will do so much more efficiently.”

Thermaltake Schooner Fanless VGA Cooler
Techniz.co.uk :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“The Schooner VGA cooler performs very well during the testing when comparing it with the stock cooler. Moreover, the VGA cooler itself has two pieces of large aluminum heat sink and using the heat pipe technology to cool down the GPU core. Besides that, it supports universal VGA cards even you can upgrade your VGA cards in the future. The Schooner VGA cooler is able to produce the max cooling performance with the most noiseless solution. It was a worth purchase item in terms of the performance and look.”

Futurelooks CES 2005 Photo Essay Report
Futurelooks :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“Snow, Rain, and 2 Hr Cab Lines were just some of the highlights of this years CES 2005 in Las Vegas. I guess you had to be there. Since you weren’t, we’ve decided to give you all the goods, in full color, using the power of Futurelooks new Photo Gallery. Check out the cars, the babes, and of course, the New Technology from the largest consumer electronics show in the world!”

SilverStone Zeus ST-52F 520W Update
InsaneTek :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“We have an update from SilverStone regarding the potentiometers. Apparently I was blind and did not see it, but in fact, the potentiometers are there. Extreme enthusiasts, rest assure that you’ll have access to manipulate the voltage rails as you please. But remember, tampering with the potentiometers will result in a voided warranty. SilverStone and InsaneTek are not responsible for any of your mishaps.”

Enermax Venus MicroATX Case
3dXtreme :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“3DXtreme today presents the our latest review of the Enermax Venus CS-10068-B MicroATX case. We have reviewed a lot of products by Enermax and what is most common is that they produce quality hardware, whether it be cases or power supplies. With a big push for smaller and smaller cases for the home theatre enthusiast it makes sense for Enermax to jump on the bandwagon and present their own solutions. Can this case meet the needs of the HTPC crowd and avoid the issues that have plagued the small form factor crowd? Let’s find out…”

AeroCool Spiral Galaxies Case Reviewed
Hi-Techreviews :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“AeroCool really upped the ante when they introduced their new Spiral Galaxies case to the market, for a company that in the past had only dabbled in computer cases to see this bold of a move from a company is both refreshing and exciting. The Spiral Galaxies introduces us to a new type of cooling technology in what AeroCool has dubbed their “Air Tunnel Cooling System”. If you’re looking for a case with plenty of room to work in or if your the watercooling the layout of this case makes it almost ideal for any of the front mount radiator watercooled systems.”

Comparing SLI setups @ t-break
t-break :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“With SLI boards hitting retail shelves, we’re sure that quite a few people are interested in comparing SLI setups. We thought that it would be a good idea to compare the lower-end and higher-end SLI setups. Since SLI is only officially available on an nForce4 platform, we didn’t have much choice with a lower-end system- especially since all nF4 boards are socket 939.delines.”

Zalman CNPS 7700ALCU CPU Heatsink
Tech-Mods.net :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“Its no secret, we are building systems that create high amounts of heat produced by the CPU. We need heat dissipating products that work effectively; all the while we want to be able to hear ourselves think. Today we will be taking a gander at a Massive sized heatsink The CNPS 7700-ALCU CPU Heatsink from Zalman to see if size really does matter or not.”

Ultra X-Connect 500w Modular PSU Review
Overclocker Café :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“The Ultra Products X-Connect power supply is the best thing that has happened to power supply units in years. Its innovation and forward thinking greatly simplifies things for the end user; be that installation or the passive needs of a case neat freak (like me). The principle of ‘plug in what you need’ cannot be given too many laurels. Add in UV reactive windows, a mirror finish paint job, pliable UV power cables or its virtual silence when in operation and you have a winner any way you look at it.”

Thermaltake Hardcano 13 A2259 Multifunction Fan Controller Review
Tweaknews :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“While the Hardcano 13 is not for everyone, the PC enthusiast wanting a device to monitor multiple system temperatures and control up to four fans would have to look long and hard to find anything better. Throughout several days of testing, the device performed flawlessly and exceeded my expectations in a number of respects.”

Thermaltake CL-W0005 BigWater 12CM Liquid Cooling System
SystemCooling :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“Until recently water cooling was the domain of the hardcore. But with Intel’s latest CPU’s turning PC’s into toaster ovens, and darn near everyone looking to get more speed via overclocking, it is becoming an option for more and more people. To be able to achieve common status with the general enthusiast crowd, a water cooling system must be simple to install, easy to operate and effective at cooling the processor. If it can add to those general requirements by looking good and being able to run quiet, then you’ve got a winner. Today, we’ll take a look at the latest water cooling kit from Thermaltake and see just how it measures up to those guidelines.”

Intel Sonoma Mobile Platform Review Posted!
Tech ARP :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“Today, we take a close look at the new Sonoma mobile platform as well as the spanking new Techdos and Fujitsu Sonoma notebooks! Be the first to read about Sonoma and why it will change mobile computing as we know it!”

Thermaltake Xpeaker Panel Review @ Mikhailtech
Mikhailtech :: Sunday, January 16, 2005

“The drivers are too small and too weak to reproduce any low frequencies, so the result is a slight boost in sound levels. As for distortion, there really is none since it never reaches levels where it would be noticeable. In short, these are quiet speakers. For what it’s worth, the Xpeaker is a neat contraption and useful in certain situations. However the hype is rather misleading. Thermaltake claims (and I quote), “Play it LOUD!! Xpeaker builds you a heart-pumping experience for games, music, and more!!”. This couldn’t be further from the truth. I did almost everything with the setup: fragging, listening to some tunes, watching a movie, etc. Yes, it’s bearable, but the fact remains that the speakers are low on both physical dimensions and power. Therefore, any low frequency reproduction is unheard of.”

CES 2005 Coverage: Nothing Exciting in Desktop Hard Drives This Year @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Sunday, January 16, 2005
“One of the most uninteresting topics of discussion, when it comes to PC components, are hard drives. This particular field in the computing industry simply doesn’t move at the same pace as other system components. When Intel and AMD launched their new platforms, the entire computing industry changed to better architectures, at least theoretically, with improved efficiency and better performance (let’s take Intel’s high-priced, immature platform out of the question for a moment and focus on developments). With newer platforms came new standards, but with hard drives, nothing much has changed. Sure, we saw Western Digital’s 10K RPM Raptors and Maxtor’s 16MB cache drives with NCQ, but is the time frame justifiable? Even after these developments, users are left wanting more out of this industry as a whole. That’s not to say that we expect hard drive manufacturers to develop hard drives like AMD, Intel, NVIDIA and ATI does with their CPUs and GPUs, but we would certainly like to see a set pattern where users can expect something significant in this industry. After talking to some manufacturers at the Consumer Electronics Show, we were surprised at what they had to say about the industry as a whole and their plans for 2005.”

TITAN Vanessa CPU Cooler Review @ Techniz.co.uk
Techniz.co.uk :: Sunday, January 16, 2005

“This Vanessa CPU cooler from Titan is a good performance CPU cooler. This CPU cooler was an ideal choice for those users who wish for a good cooling system. Not only that, the performance of the Vanessa CPU cooler is very good as you can see in the performance section. But, there is always some downside which is the size of this cooler, it is huge!, which will cause some problems for the smaller pc cases. However, it might not be a problem as long as the cooling performance is good.”

SilverStone Zeus ST-52F 520W Power Supply Review @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Sunday, January 16, 2005
“SilverStone strives to make great products that generate little noise. They have a number of power supplies that are equipped with large fans for cooling. Today’s sample we’ve received is SilverStone’s high end power supply, which comes rated at 520W and uses 2 80mm fans for cooling. The power supply comes reasonably priced and has many of the options that would satisfy many users.”

Centon Gemini PC3200 Low Latency DDR Review @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Sunday, January 16, 2005
“Ever since the announcement of Samsung TCCD memory die, every manufacturer has been jumping on board to get out their own version of low latency DDR memory. Corsair started it all and the rest of the players followed. Even the uncommon brands, like PDP and PQI, sprung out with their own sticks of memory. Thus, it’s no surprise to see Centon jump out to compete with the rest of the players. Never heard of Centon? Well that’s because they’ve never focused on anything high end that would catch much attention. Centon is actually a large memory manufacturer and they’ve been in the memory field for a very long time. They usually target standard memory that offer more stability and compatibility for low end systems.”

SuperPower XP02 Gaming Case Review @ 3DXtreme
3dXtreme :: Sunday, January 16, 2005
“Today 3DXtreme presents their latest review of a modded mid tower case by SuperPower. They are not one of the bigger names in computer cases, however the case we present today is definitely different than what you would normally see. Let’s have a look at this case and see how well it rates.”

CES 2005 Coverage: Better Looking Computer Cases & Power Supplies @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Sunday, January 16, 2005
“Lately, many users are complaining about the gaudy physical attributes of their computer cases. More and more manufacturers started concentrating on gaming cases after they received quite a bit of attention in the early days, but now user preference has changed, but gaming cases are still entering the market strongly. Many users pose concerns that manufacturers, such as Thermaltake and Sunbeam, have cases that are too “immature” for them. This is why Cooler Master, Silverstone and Lian Li has captured a fair share of the market and has always targeted “serious” customer base, so to speak. Well, your complaints were answered this year at the Consumer Electronics Show where many companies revealed their 2005 product roadmaps.”

Scythe Kamakiri SCKKR-1000 @ Tech-Mods.net
Tech-Mods.net :: Sunday, January 16, 2005

“The Kamakiri cooler is a solid idea that needs abit more refining for it to shine above others. Scythe’s main mission is to make DIY builders create their drem machines with quality parts. The SCKKR-1000 Kamakiri is a copper tubed heatpipe cooler for many platforms that utitizes a push/pull fan design across all 6 heatpipes.”

Superpower XP03P Gaming Case reviewed @ Hi-techreviews
Hi-Techreviews :: Sunday, January 16, 2005
“Superpower has introduced a new case the model XP03P Gaming Case that reminds me of a cross between a Power Mac G5 and a Star Wars battle pack. On the outside it has some rather unique features like the grab and snatch handles located on the top and bottom of the case, as well as removable access side panels that maybe the easiest to remove of any case we have ever reviewed. But as we all know good looks alone do not make a great case. So come on along as we check it out and find out just how good it really is.”

Vantec NexStar 2 External 5.25″ Enclosure @ Techniz.co.uk
Techniz.co.uk :: Sunday, January 16, 2005

“The Vantec Nexstar 2 External 5.25″ Enclosure is a very good enclosure. Our review unit was a USB 2.0 and Firewire hard disk enclosure. So, it do have extra feature compare with the normal version which is only support USB 2.0. The NexStar 2 top and bottom panel is in metallic pearl color which is very good looking. The disadvantages of this enclosure are the entire housing is made of plastic and does not support 3.5″ HDD. The MSRP of the Vantec Nexstar 2 External 5.25″ Enclosure is around US $40. It will be a good buy for a optical devices enclosure with a USB 2.0 and Firewire.”

Logisys KB602BK EL Keyboard Review @ Mikhailtech
Mikhailtech :: Saturday, January 15, 2005

“Near the top of the keyboard you’ll notice a PCB and a yellow coated transformer. This is used to power the EL backlight and the blue LEDs. There is a slight hum/buzz generated when the EL is working, but it’s pretty quiet and unnoticeable beyond a few inches. Seeing as how most people will have at least a foot or two between their ears and the keyboard, this shouldn’t pose a problem. Newer keyboards are using LEDs for backlighting (as they’re more reliable and don’t require a transformer), but EL still has the advantage of being more uniform without any pockets of extreme brightness and darkness.”

Microsoft Windows Anti-Spyware (beta) Software Review @ PCStats
PCStats :: Saturday, January 15, 2005
“Overall we came away impressed with the Microsoft Windows AntiSpyware (beta) software, though we felt that some things needed improvement. This application’s strong suit right now is its appealing and simple interface, coupled with the real-time protection offered by its ‘agents.’ This type of protection is something that the major free antispyware applications out there just aren’t providing right now, and it gives a compelling reason for using this Microsoft beta product.”

Soltek Qbic 3901a Socket 939 SFF Review @ Neoseeker
Neoseeker :: Saturday, January 15, 2005
“Soltek’s QBics have always had one consistent advantage over every other SFF. The QBics would consistently achieve a much lower noise level than competing cases. No change here. Even with the extra side fan, the noise level from this thing is still lower than most cases. Whereas cases like the Shuttle would start off really loud and then drop after booting into Windows, the Soltek starts quiet and stays quiet.”

Spire Coolwave II (LGA 775 Heatsink) Review @ Hi-Techreviews
Hi-Techreviews :: Saturday, January 15, 2005

“This must be our week to review heatsinks for LGA 775 motherboards since we have one more for you to checkout today. This time around it’s the Spire Coolwave II, a very nice looking unit featuring a UV reactive fan and mounting assembly and perhaps one of the securest mounting methods of any 775 heatsink we have tested. So come on along as we take a look at this unit and see just how well it performs under stock conditions and with a 500 MHz overclock.”

Logisys UV Red Acrylic Case Review @ Phronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, January 15, 2005

“Up on the review block today we have the Logisys Assembled UV Red Acrylic Clear Case. Many of the cases we see at Phoronix on a daily basis are composed of aluminum, steel, or plastic, but when the Logisys CS888UVRD entered our sights, we knew everyone would be in for a big surprise.”

Mushkin 1GB PC2-4200 DDR2 Dual Pack @ Systemcooling
SystemCooling :: Saturday, January 15, 2005

“Mushkin is a company that’s been around for a while, and one whose product I’ve always liked. As a matter of fact, the first “high performance” memory I ever bought carried the Mushkin label. I’ve owned several of Mushkin’s memory products since then, and when I got the opportunity to take a look at a member of their DDR2 line of products, I didn’t hesitate. Today we’re taking Mushkin’s 1GB PC2-4200 (533) Dual Pack CL 4-4-4 modules and putting them through their paces to see if they’re worthy of your hard-earned dollars.”

Aspire Chameleon 550w PSU Review @ Overclocker Cafe
Overclocker Café :: Friday, January 14, 2005

“Strong stable power with a bit of panache. The changeable colors of the LED fan and UV reactive cable sheathing and connectors will be the pride of many windowed case owners. This in addition to the unit’s adjustable fan speed and its ability to run virtually silent, make it a top choice for an upgrade or replacement component to anyone’s system.”

Vantec EZ Swap 2 Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Friday, January 14, 2005
“This Vantec EZ Swap 2 has a better cooling solution than the EZ Swap. Although this Vantec EZ Swap 2 does not come in fancy designs e.g. LCD display, temperature probes but it has its own advantages because it is simple and cheaper. (around 7.00 USD cheaper than EZ Swap.) Vantec’s EZ Swap 2 definitely is one of the better choices amongst the plethora of removable HDD racks out in the market right now in terms of both price and performance.”

CES 2005 Unveiled Part 2 @ Designtechnica
Designtechnica :: Friday, January 14, 2005
“Welcome to part two of our 2005 CES coverage. In our part one coverage of this fantastic show, we featured products which fell into three basic categories: displays, media devices such as Media Center PC’s and streaming media devices, and IPTV based products, not to mention a few products which simply stood out among others. Part two has a very strong showing of home audio products as well as a few miscellaneous products which were just too cool not to show off.”

CS Bot for CS: Source
Valve Software :: Friday, January 14, 2005
The official Counter-Strike Bot will be released for Counter-Strike: Source on Monday (January 17th). The Bot features enhanced abilities and will be available for all owners of Counter-Strike: Source. Also included in Monday’s release is an updated version de_tides, rebuilt by Turtlerock Studios. For more information or to purchase your copy of Counter-Strike: Source, please visit www.steampowered.com.

Last 2 Days to Sign Up To Win Corsair RAM @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Friday, January 14, 2005
“Bjorn3D and Corsair Memory are teaming up to give away 4 sets of TwinX1024-3200XLPro!

The Rules: The contest untils Saturday January 15th. You may enter only once during the contest. You must supply a valid e-mail and shipping address. Winners will be selected randomly by the staff of Bjorn3D”

Corsair TWINX1024-3200XL v1.2 Review @ ViperLair
ViperLair :: Friday, January 14, 2005
“The benchmarks really didn’t give us any surprises as higher frequencies equals better performance. The focus of the review today was simply the overclocking, and the new TWINX1024-3200XL v1.2 brought it in spades. The new PCB was the deciding factor here as we’ve reached overclocks that were unattainable with Corsair’s earlier XL kit.”

Zalman CNPS 7700-Cu Review @ OCIA
OCIA :: Friday, January 14, 2005

“A side-by-side comparison with the AMD 64 OEM (supplied with Athlon 64 3000+ / S-754) to give you an idea of the size of this cooler. There is no question about which cooler would appear to be more effective at first glance.”

SunbeamTech Various Accessories @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Friday, January 14, 2005
“Sunbeam is a company quietly developing modding accessories, cooling solutions, and cases. We had the opportunity to look at the Samurai case, which was great in terms of quality. Today, we’ll be taking a look at SunbeamTech’s line of accessories for the modding geek.”

Extreme Wireless Networking from Gigabyte – Turbo G emerges
TweakTown :: Wednesday, January 12, 2005

“Have you ever considered implementing wireless LAN? With some of the initial hiccups of wireless LAN seemingly out the way, now might be a good time to consider adding the freedom and flexible of wireless networking to your home or office. Today we take a look at some of the latest wireless equipment to come from Gigabyte with their Turbo G gear which offers data throughput up their with wired networks.”

Razer Diamondback Gaming Mouse
Tech-Mods.net :: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

“In the fast paced gaming world it pays to have a high speed mouse for fragging. Razer is the first name to come to mind when speed and precision are of the up most importance! Razer sent over their Diamondback Chameleon Green precision gaming mouse and let’s say right out of the box it is very impressive with its smooth styling and color shifting green to purple paint. Razer has been making precision gaming devices for 5 years now and has added the edge gamers need to win!”

Pioneer DVR-S806 16x Dual-Layer DVD Writer Review
CoolTechZone :: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

“At times it seems that drive speeds are moving along in small steps, inching along just enough so that you feel that your six month old drive is slow and ready for replacement. This is exactly what we have been experiencing in the optical drive market. Occasionally, we find that a simple firmware upgrade is all that is needed to hit the next jump in speed. A trip to the development labs of any of the major drive manufacturers would reveal some amazing drives operating at speeds much faster than we can purchase. This trickle of technology is due to economics and little else. Basically, we have to watch closely and make our purchases when the time seems right.”

Get Your Move On
Futurelooks :: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

“Buying a house and moving to it is probably one of the most stressful things we modern humans do. Change may be good, but it’s still nerve-wracking. But fret not, Net.friends; relocating in the digital age is much easier than it’s ever been, thanks to the vast resources available online.”

Gigabyte’s SLI based nForce4 board
t-break :: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

The BIOS also features some old Gigabyte-specific options and a new one. The older features like Dual BIOS and QFlash are there for safety purposes while MIB and CIA allow you to dynamically adjust the speed of your CPU and memory modules. Gigabyte also adds RGB to this list which stands for Robust Graphics Booster and basically overclocks your VGA card.

Crucial Gizmo! High Speed USB 2.0 Drive
The Tech Lounge :: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

“”The reign of the floppy disk is finally coming to an end. 3.5″ diskettes have been around forever and while they have had a good run, their physical size, minute storage capacity and dreadfully slow access times are a constant reminder that they are a thing of the past. Even rewritable CDs can be a bit of a pain these days. With their large size and delicate surface that needs to be protected, many people have been looking for other methods of portable storage. USB drives, also known as thumb drives, aren’t anything new but have recently been given a lot of attention from manufacturers and consumers alike. The first generation of USB drives offered a very nice portable solution that you could simply toss in your pocket, but they were still relatively limited in their capacities and were quite costly. As of late, manufacturers have been revising their drives and offering more affordable solutions. Today you can find thumb drives in capacities up to 2 GB and others that are literally smaller than your thumb!”

VL’s Editor’s Choices of 2004 @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

“Some things caught our attention, and other things not so much. In the end, we saw some interesting technology, and put together a list of what we felt is truly deserving of recognition, and one company guilty of dipping its hands into the well once too often.”

Also be sure to check out our best of 2004 article here at OCmodshop.

Basic System Buyer’s Guide – January 2005
Mikhailtech :: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

“With a good Socket 754 motherboard still out of our budget by $20 or more we’re left with a Socket A solution. NVIDIA’s nForce chipset still reigns supreme on the AMD platform. This month we decided to spend an extra $4 and opt for a much more potent nForce2 Ultra 400 chipset which supports dual channel memory (our previous pick was the non-Pro, non-Ultra version of the board). The added memory bandwidth accounts for a significant performance boost. While primarily an OEM builder and not big on enthusiast-herding features, Biostar makes rock solid boards that do have some overclocking settings. The M7NCD Pro has 3x DIMM slots for up to 3GB of memory (though we only recommend populating 2 banks for dual channel support), 2x UltraDMA 133 channels for up to 4 devices, an 8x/4x AGP slot, 5x PCI slots, 2x onboard USB2.0 ports (with support for 6), integrated Realtek 8201BL 10/100M LAN, and integrated Realtek ALC650 6-channel AC97 audio.”

BYTECC Hotdrive HD-201U2 @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

“There have been several times, that for both business and personal uses, we wish there would have been a device as portable as a thumb drive, while offering the storage capacity of an IDE hard drive. The device in this review is a 2.5″ IDE hard drive enclosure, which not only includes the enclosure but a leather wallet for housing the unit and a noise-dampening patch.”

Cooler Master Centurion ATX Case
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

“Cooler Master did a wonderful job with their tool-less design, both locking systems did a great job securing their individual components without issue and made installation a breeze. Their new design, with the individual covers secured by screws instead of plastic clips also ensures that your new case will keep its clean, undamaged look for as long as you own it.”

CaseBuy EZ Power Suppy Tester
HardwareHounds :: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

“Today’s review is for all you technically inclined readers out there or for anyone who just seems to have a lot of bad luck when it comes to computers. I have in front of me the EZ Power Supply Tester from CaseBuy Tech. Simply put, this device is a must have for anyone who repairs, builds and/or troubleshoots computers on a regular basis.”

A4Tech Easy Go Optical Notebook Mouse Review
Mikhailtech :: Monday, January 10, 2005

The cable is approximately 2 feet long. This is optimal length for a notebook (since the mouse is never far from it), but a bit short for desktop use, especially if it has to be wired up, under, over, or around a desk. One of the best features of the Easy Go is its ability to wrap up completely. The cable can be fed through the back and locked into place via the rectangular block. It then wraps around 3.5 times before the USB connector snaps into the hole in the back. It not only makes the mouse compact, but also reduces the annoyance caused by trying to take a mouse out of a laptop bag only to find it tangled with your power cord/headphones/LAN cable/etc.

Prime Cooler Hypercool III+ & Hypercool 4+ @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Monday, January 10, 2005

“Prime Cooler, a cooling manufacturer, was established in 1998, but a lack of distributors has made their products almost unheard of. We recently got our hands on the Hypercool III+ and 4+ which are Prime Cooler’s flagship products. Can these two massive copper radial heatsinks prove to be a viable alternative for enthusiasts trying to get the maximum potential out of their processor?”

PCI-Express Mainstream Roundup Part 2: nVidia 6600 and 6600GT @ Madshrimps
Madshrimps :: Monday, January 10, 2005

“Still saving up your lunch money for a PCI Express graphics card? Salivating in anticipation for Nvidia 6600 series graphics card benchmark numbers? Or just bored enough to read part II of our PCI Express Graphics card comparison? No matter, we got you covered here as we added an Albatron 6600 and a XFX 6600GT to the mix, stirred the pot, and came up with some interesting numbers that just may change your opinion of mainstream PCI Express graphics cards.”

Bjorn takes a look at the ATI Radeon X850 XT PE and X800 XL.
Bjorn3D :: Monday, January 10, 2005

“Earlier this autumn, ATi revealed details about their new PCI-Express video cards, the X850 XT Platinum Edition (PE) and the X800 XL. While the X850 XT PE of course is the new high-end video card, the X800 XL is ATI’s answer to NVIDIA’s GeForce 6800 GT. ATI was kind enough to lend us two reference cards for a quick spin in some of our benchmarks.”

Evercool WC-202 Water Cooling Kit Review @ Overclocker Cafe
Overclocker Café :: Monday, January 10, 2005

“The Evercool WC-202 has a lot going for it to include universal CPU application, almost universal VGA application, trim clean looks on the exposed bezel, lots of copper pipes and fins throughout and all for about $100. Pricing is definitely fair and inline with Evercool’s competitors. The con column was short. A non functional flow meter was a drag as was the difficulty reading the LCD display of the panel.”

SunbeamTech Transformer Case Review @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Sunday, January 09, 2005
“We recently reviewed the Samurai case, providing consumers with quality at a decent price. SunbeamTech also produces the Transformer case, which bears a strong resemblance to the Samurai. Today, we’ll see if the Transformer lives up to the precedent set by the Samurai.”

CES 2005 – Lunch @ Piero’s @ TheTechLounge
The Tech Lounge :: Sunday, January 09, 2005

“On Thursday, the opening of the CES show-floor, we attended the Lunch @ Piero’s press event at Piero’s restaurant (what a coincidence). The Piero’s event was much smaller, and much more exclusive than the Pepcom Digital Experience that we attended on Wednesday. While the building was fairly small, being a restaurant and all, there were some very cool products being shown. Some of the more interesting products were from Hush, Zalman, Pioneer, Mad Dog Multimedia, VIA Technologies and Autocom. Jeffrey Stephenson was also there showing off a couple of his custom cases built around VIA’s mini-ITX boards.”

PQI Turbo Memory PC4000 Review @ FastLaneHW
FastLaneHW :: Sunday, January 09, 2005
“Today PQI (formerly known as PMI) brings us their Turbo Memory 1GB PC4000 DDR dual channel kit. It’s rated at an aggressive 2.5-3-3-7. It used to be that if you wanted PC4000 memory, you’d have to give up your latency to do so. This appears to no longer be the case with PQI’s new PC4000 sticks.”

A4Tech BatteryFREE Wireless Optical Mouse Review @ Mikhailtech
Mikhailtech :: Sunday, January 09, 2005

“This is not your average mouse and pad. Inside both are rings of copper wire which generate an electric charge. That power moves from the pad to the mouse and vice versa through induction (in layman’s terms, electricity “jumps” from one charged object to another nearby object). Hence the lack of batteries. The benefits are twofold: first, you don’t have to spend money on batteries. Second, even mice with rechargeable packs are still heavier than the corded variety and are therefore slightly harder to move around. This way you get the best of both worlds: the light weight of a corded mouse with the freedom of a cordless one (albeit limited freedom).”

Vantec NexStar 2 External 5.25″ Device Enclosure Review @ GideonTech
GideonTech :: Sunday, January 09, 2005
“A few months ago I took a look at the original NexStar 3.5″ Hard Drive Enclosure, and was somewhat less than impressed with it. Since then Vantec has completely redesigned their NexStar line and was kind enough to send us one of their new NexStar 2 5.25″ drive enclosures. Once again armed with support for USB 2.0 and Firewire, the redesigned enclosure just might be a worthy addition to your desktop.”

CES 2005 Day 1 – Walking the Show Floor @ TheTech Lounge
The Tech Lounge :: Sunday, January 09, 2005

“Our second day in Vegas for CES, and our first day on the actual show floor was pretty much what I expected: mountains of new gadgets, people in suits staring at your name tag and scantily clad models trying not to get angry as they are repeatedly photographed.

We started our excursion on opening day in the upper levels of the South Hall. Big name companies like ATI, nVidia, AMD, Logitech, and HP were showcasing anything and everything they could fit into their floor space.”

Thermalright LGA775RM Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Sunday, January 09, 2005
“If you are upgrading to the LGA775 package from your previous 478 package and you happen to own a great CPU cooler such as the Thermalright XP-120 or XP-90, don’t sell it off yet. Yes, this is good news for almost everyone. Thanks to the Thermalright LGA775RM, now you can install your favourite s478 CPU cooler or heatsink directly on your socket LGA775.”

The Phantom Game Service @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Sunday, January 09, 2005
“While looking around the nVIDIA booth we ran across the Phantom Game Service area and had the opportunity to speak with Richard Skoba from Infinium Labs. As the Executive Vice President of Sales and Business Development Richard gave us the run down on the system and some information on the gaming network…”

asetek VapoChill XE II Review @ Madshrimps
Madshrimps :: Sunday, January 09, 2005
“Plug and play subzero cooling for your CPU, is it possible? The latest generation of asetek´s VapoChill Xtreme Edition promises easy installation combined with great performance, all wrapped up in an attractive package. We thermally accelerate an Athlon 64 and P4 up to speed beyond air and water cooling limits.”

Danger Den TDX Block @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Friday, January 07, 2005
“While the TDX has been reviewed many times, there has not been very many instances featuring this block with its fairly recent Socket-775 hardware. I’ve been running several Socket-775 systems with the TDX, and it’s done well with a P4 530 (3.0GHz), and 540 (3.2GHz)…”

Asour VPC-1000B Multimedia DVD Optical Drive Review @ PCmoddingmy
PC Modding Malaysia :: Friday, January 07, 2005

Content: “The Asour VPC-1000B is a exotic thus unique product that you might want to have in your rig. So far I’ve only known of such similar product in the market, which is from another manufacturer and it is OEM from Asour. The VPC-1000B is much nicer because it gives a cooler interface with its vacuum fluorescent display.”

Thermaltake Purepower 680 Watt ATX Computer Power Supply Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Friday, January 07, 2005

“It’s a rare product indeed that I can’t find some fault with. The Thermaltake PurePower 680W is one of those products. Stability, power, features, finish and quality are all first rate. Hell, I’m even using the box it came in, with its nifty plastic carry handle, to store spares. I’ve always considered the PSU to be the most important part of a system, feeding and protecting all the other components. With a retail price of around $170 US, it’s not the cheapest PSU out there, but it’s not the most expensive either and factoring in what you get for your money, it’s a good value.”

Soltek QBiC EQ3901M Barebone Small Form Factor Review at 3DX
3dXtreme :: Friday, January 07, 2005

“The Soltek EQ3901M QBiC had it’s flaws, however those aren’t necessarily flaws of the EQ3901M they are flaws of the whole Small Form Factor genre. Soltek did a good job with the EQ3901M with room for enough hardware to make it a decent gaming rig or media center. The Motherboard gives users plenty of options for overclocking however with the limited space and airflow overclocking isn’t a reality. The performance of the EQ3901M puts it on par with any desktop board, this is nice because moving to a SFF unit doesn’t mean you have to sacrifice performance.” We would appreciate a posting in your Daily News!

MGE XG Vigor 500 Watt Power Supply reviewed @ hi-techreviews.com
Hi-Techreviews :: Friday, January 07, 2005
The MGE XG Vigor 500 Watt Power Supply may just be ideal power supply for the computer user that wants good looks, a well ventilated case, exceptional tight voltage on all the rails and most of all at a price they can afford. With a MSRP of $60.00 this power supply may prove to be the sleeper of the year if our tests are indicative of what this power supply is capable of doing. Where most power supplies are happy to fall within a 5% tolerance on rail voltages the Vigor 500 shocked us by producing results of less than 3%.

Extreme Wireless Networking from Gigabyte – Turbo G emerges
TweakTown :: Friday, January 07, 2005
“Have you ever considered implementing wireless LAN? With some of the initial hiccups of wireless LAN seemingly out the way, now might be a good time to consider adding the freedom and flexible of wireless networking to your home or office. Today we take a look at some of the latest wireless equipment to come from Gigabyte with their Turbo G gear which offers data throughput up their with wired networks.”

PQI Turbo PC3200 DPU 1GB DC Kit @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Thursday, January 06, 2005

“Today, we have the honor of reviewing one of PQI’s best products of their famous Turbo line: the dual channel PC3200 low latency platinum edition. Like many of the low latency modules that we have recently reviewed here at InsaneTek, PQI also utilizes the Samsung TCCD chips in their PC3200 Turbo modules. Whether or not these memory modules separate themselves from the rest of the TCCD pack will be revealed…so read on.”

Sunbeam Transformer Mid-Tower Gaming Case Review @ MODTHEBOX.COM
MODTHEBOX! :: Thursday, January 06, 2005

“The Sunbeam Transformer Gaming Case includes what is now a standard amongst most case manufacturers, the inclusion of a pre-modified window on the left side panel. The window deploys a very busy and overly done window design that uses a series of push-in pins to support a sheet of clear acrylic that is aligned on the inside of the case.”

Belkin Pre-N Router
eXtreme Hardware :: Thursday, January 06, 2005

Quote: “A new contender has emerged into the 802.11 wireless playing field. Belkin has introduced the new 802.11n, or at least the pre-version of it. Named the Pre-N router, it operates at 108 mbps, and incorporates MIMO technology that is not going to be released for at least another 2 years.”

NZXT Nemesis Elite Aluminum Gamer’s Case @ Tech-Mods.Net
Tech-Mods.net :: Thursday, January 06, 2005
Quote: ” Today we’ll be looking at the NZXT Nemesis Elite aluminum gamer’s case that Johnny at NZXT was nice enough to send my way! The Nemesis Elite is NZXT’s newest creation to their product line. NZXT is a fairly new company but its designers have twenty plus years in the business and strive to create the ultimate gamers chassis.”

Evercool Mini Watercooler WC-301 Review @ PC Review
PCreview :: Thursday, January 06, 2005
“There are a bewildering amount of water cooling components and kits on the market, ranging from custom made components to ready made kits containing everything you need to take the water cooling path.

Most ‘off the shelf’ kits cost in the region of £150.00 so we were interested to receive a review package of this all-in-one water cooling solution from vadim.co.uk which retails for £85.00.

Our review kit contained only a block to cool the CPU though further solutions are available for VGA and hard drive cooling.”

XrayPad Thunder 8 Dual Surface Gaming Mouspad Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Thursday, January 06, 2005

“Switching from the normal gaming surfaces (desktop and cloth mouse pad) to this Thunder 8 gaming pad was a great

pleasure. I honestly did not think it would make much of a difference. Well, I was wrong there . . . very

wrong.”

Logisys Pitbull 500 watt PSU @ OCIA.net
OCIA :: Thursday, January 06, 2005

“I couldn’t find any specs on the rear fan but the low setting was about the same as a normal PSU rear fan. Cranking it to high created great airflow out of the back. Unfortunately this was quite a bit louder. I would guess its in the 30+ dba range; definitely audible over the other fans in my case.”

Epox 9NPA+ (nForce4) Motherboard @ t-break
t-break :: Thursday, January 06, 2005
“With their AMD CPU based boards, Epox hasn’t normally target the mainstream user. Instead, they focus on the enthusiasts by generally providing better options for overclocking. With that philosophy in mind, they’re releasing their nForce4 based 9NPA+ motherboard and we test drive it today and find out how fast this baby goes.”

Matrix Orbital MX421 LCD Kit @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Thursday, January 06, 2005
“What device would a network administrator, an electronics gadgeteer, and a computer enthusiast all find that is useful and maybe even a little fun? Whether you are looking for a programmable device to display status messages, a car stereo, or a downright wicked cool toy to play with (that doubles as a fan controller), the Matrix Orbital MX4 series of LCD kits offers tremendous versatility for just about anyone with an imagination and a purpose. ”

HighSpeed PC Tech Station @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Thursday, January 06, 2005
Tearing apart an ATX enclosure for PC testing annoying the hell out of you? HighSpeed PC has the solution for you.

“The Techie in me rejoices, a case that I can quickly build a system in and test its function, rip it down as quickly and start all over again. HighSpeed PC has hit the mark with the Tech Station. Not only does it fit the bill, you can rest assure your components are cool and protected from static shock the short period of time it will reside there…”

Logisys Phone Smart LED Keyboard Review
Hardware-Pacers :: Thursday, January 06, 2005

“The only extra feature that comes with this keyboard is the phone smart LED feature that informs users of incoming phone calls. Many people use their monitor screen flickering as a warning, but this keyboard will actually light up and warn of the incoming call. It even works if the phone is not in the keyboard vicinity. They keyboard, as soon as it detects incoming phone signal will start the signaling procedure which consists of the keypad lights turning on and off. This is great feature for people who tend to leave their cell phones on ‘vibrate’ and sometimes can’t hear the incoming call.”

News: Ultra Products UV X-Connect
Overclockers Online :: Thursday, January 06, 2005
Quote: The UV X-Connect is another high quality product. Ultra Product engineers are expecting to add dedicated rails, and hopefully in the future we’ll see some filtered rails and EMI Shielding like in the RaidMax power supply we’ve looked at. Afterwards there won’t be much left for Ultra Products to do on the X-Connect but let the sales cash in. This is one popular power supply and in many places still very hard to find. The sales in Canada and in Europe have just begun, but it won’t be very long until there will be one of these in many computer enthusiast’s systems.

Promise Technology ULTRA133 TX2
Phoronix :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“Promise Technology has long been known for manufacturing reliable IDE and SATA controllers. We recently had the chance to examine one of Promise’s ATA offerings the ULTRA133 TX2.”

Seasonic Power Angel Test Kit Review
PCStats :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“A computer running day and night can handle fun tasks like P2P file sharing, distributed computing or code compiling, but people should start to take notice of just how much power their computers use. Now what if you knew that leaving a PC on all night cost X amount of money, would that change things? To answer such a question we need a test kit to find out how much power is actually being drawn to keep your PC running…. Enter the Seasonic Power Angel Tester. This nifty device provides everything you need to precisely measure the power draw of your PC and monitor, and even power efficiency of your PC’s power supply.”

Corsair TwinX1024-4400C25PT Memory Review
PCStats :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“These two TwinX1024-4400C25PT Platinum Edition DDR modules are 512MB in size, and run at 550MHz. This memory isn’t as fancy as the LED-illuminated TwinX1024-4000PRO models PCstats burned in recently, but they are faster.”

Da Blue – Lian Li PC-V1000 & Koolance EXOS Mod
SystemCooling :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“In today’s article I’ll be pimping out my Lian Li PC-V1000 case and the Koolance EXOS watercooling system, two items that even when stock already look great. My goal is not to make the mod so over powering that I’ll get sick of it in the next few weeks but to give it that extra kick which will make everyone’s head turn. To do this I’ll install five new LED fans, UV Cold Cathodes, rounded cables, power button, cut out a stamped fan grill, replace a digital display and LED’s and run blue coloured coolant.”

Razer Diamondback Gaming Mouse
OCIA :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“Some of the coolest features on this mouse are found in this control panel. Here we are looking at the overall sensitivity and the double click speed. Above that is the “on-the-fly” on/off switch. If you click this to “off”, then button 4 will activate/deactivate that feature. If “on” is selected, button 4 will not function. What on the fly does is enable you to change the speed and sensitivity of the mouse during gameplay.”

The Tech Zone has a new article explaining how Voice Over IP works.
The Tech Zone :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“VoIP is the newest advancement in audio communications technology, and has a variety of different applications that make it useful. VoIP stands for Voice over Internet Protocol, and how VoIP works is actually quite revolutionary because it streamlines the process of sending analog audio signals by converting them to a much easier to send digital form for transmission.”

Crucial Ballistix PC2-5300 DDR2 1GB DC Kit @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“Crucial never targeted gamers until now. Rather, their focus was stability and compatibility. With the release of their new Ballistix line, Crucial is reaching out to gamers. Additionally, Ballistix is available in DDR and DDR2. Many enthusiasts were forced to jump to Intel to get the new PCI-E performance, which offers no real distinguished performance increase right now. To compensate for the “slow” processing performance, DDR2 was necessary. It’s true that DDR2 comes with high latencies, but it does provide great bandwidth. Like the recently reviewed Kingston HyperX PC2-5400, the Ballistix offers the lowest latencies available at ultra high frequencies.”

Aigo MP-P750 @ HEXUS.net
Hexus :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“All in all, Aigo’s offering here is a tempting, feature rich one – Not only do you get music playback for your money, but also FM radio and recording abilities. The massive 20Gb of storage is nothing to be sniffed at either, and should be enough to hold more than enough music to take with you on your travels, holidays etc. You also won’t be ashamed to be seen out and about with this player – Sure, it’s no iPod, but its still a neat, sleek looking device.”

Nikao Hero Mid-Tower Gaming Case Review @ MODTHEBOX.COM
MODTHEBOX! :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“The Nikao Hero Mid-Tower Gaming Case includes two front mounted USB 2.0 ports, an option for IEEE 1394 Firewire port, ON/OFF switch for the LED lighting system as well as an Audio and Headphone jack. Each port is connected using a bypass cable that must be connected to the appropriate motherboard headers. Consumers will be required to check their motherboard manual on the proper instruction for attaching each cable. The ports are hidden by a plastic blue coloured shield which can be pushed up when the ports are not in use.”

Pentium 4 HSF Roundup
Overclockers Online :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“Today we look at three new Pentium 4 choices on the market: the Zalman CNPS7700-AlCu, SilverStone NT01, & Spire CoolWave II. Accompanying our look are updated numbers reflecting some of the previous coolers used in recent reviews.”

Media Player Shootout
The Tech Zone :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“Back in the day, we had Winamp, and it was good. Unfortunately the original Nullsoft team has all moved on and instead of the hacker cred that Winamp used to have back when Justin Frankel et all were on the job it is now just another corporate media player with a hazy future.”

The Radeon 9800 Pro To Radeon 9800XT Mod Guide Rev. 6.0 Posted!
Tech ARP :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“Even with the introduction of a new class of GPUs from ATI and NVIDIA, your Radeon 9800 Pro card is still something to be reckoned with! In fact, many Radeon 9800 Pro cards can be given a further boost in performance by modding them into full Radeon 9800XT cards! Check out Chai’s comprehensive guide on modding the Radeon 9800 Pro into a Radeon 9800XT! It will teach you everything you need to know about identifying moddable Radeon 9800 Pro cards, how to mod them and which BIOS to use!”

Matrix Orbital MX212 LCD Panel Review @ PCmoddingmy
PC Modding Malaysia :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“Matrix Orbital MX2 was designed for PC enthusiasts and it is a great product especially for case modders. Even thought the LCD screen only supports 20*2, but it is able to deliver the usage and performance to user where it support many functions and fancy displays. This product is a bit pricey where the base unit already cost USD$99.99 without other accessories. However, if you plan to build a LCD display then I’ll suggest you get this Matrix Orbital MX2 since a custom made LCD might cost more minus the extra functions found with the MX2.”

Designtechnica First Look: Lafayette MediaReady 4000
Designtechnica :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“The MediaReady 4000 from Video Without Boundaries is an integrated DVD player and Internet device which provides access to a wide array of different forms of media. It is designed to be tied into your existing home entertainment center, acting as a home media server with a 40 GB hard drive to store music, pictures and video.”

ASUS P5GDC Deluxe @ Viper Lair
ViperLair :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“With the ability to upgrade yet maintain your current DDR, this motherboard provides enough flexibility to make it well worth a look. You will need a new graphics card since the 915 Grantsdale chipset doesn’t support AGP, replacing it with PCIe, but this statement rings true for the majority of 915 boards (discounting the AGPe equipped boards).”

Enermax Coolergiant 430W Power Supply Unit
Techniz.co.uk :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“Ther is a unique Sanyo Denki blower 8cm blower directly exhausts heat from CPU, RAM, chipset, and graphic card to enhance system cooling effect. Even after the PC shut down, the blower will keeps running for at least 2 minutes to effectively cool down parts and hardware inside PC case. Thus, ensure longer product life time of hardware inside PC case.”

Abit AV8 K8T800 Pro Motherboard
hardCOREware :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“I have to admit, I was somewhat let down by the bundle (or lack of) in the AV8 box. I guess I have just been spoiled after reviewing boards from DFI and Gigabyte. However after spending a few weeks with this board, and witnessing its unbelievable overlocking and monitoring features, I have to say I am quite impressed with this board! It’s lacking some bells and whistles, but for the hardcore overclocker… well…”

20 Questions with 3DCool.Com!
Virtual-Hideout :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“We pride ourselves on being connected. We test all the latest computer technology to ensure that we understand the ramifications on our end users (overclockers, gamers, pc enthusiasts, brick and mortar retailers, etc.). Additionally, we are continuously globally sourcing new and innovative leading edge technologies to keep 3DCOOL.COM at the forefront of our industry. We are contacted by product developers, and VARs alike, to have us test their latest products to sell through our channels.”

ATake PipeTower K7/P3 Review @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Sunday, January 02, 2005
“When we thought we had seen everything from ATake’s Phantom Robot series, Wisetech USA sprung out and unleashed the PipeTower. This cooler utilizes a 1″ heatpipe to cool K7 and P3 CPUs.”

CaseBuy EZ Power Supply Tester Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Sunday, January 02, 2005

“Troubleshooting a PC quickly and correctly is an art mastered only by a select group of enthusiasts. However, more often than not, troubleshooting tools are occasionally needed to complement this “acquired” knowledge to find out the root of the problem. Hence, today I am going to introduce a power supply tester from CaseBuy – the EZ power supply tester. The main highlight of the EZ power supply tester is its ability to check if the power supply is faulty or in working condition easily and without fuss. Please read on to find out more about this product.”

Xtrac Mad Dotz Review @ ap0calypse
ap0calypse :: Sunday, January 02, 2005
“After taking a look at Xtrac’s RipperXL mouse pad, I figured now was a good time to take a look at their Mad Dotz. What are Mad Dotz? Simply, they are little Teflon discs that adhere to the feet of your mouse to reduce friction and help your mouse slide easily. Let’s see how well they help.”

PQI Turbo 1GB PC4200 DDR2 Memory Review @ Systemcooling
SystemCooling :: Sunday, January 02, 2005
“A few months ago, PQI knocked our socks off with their PC3200 DDR RAM, which performed so well that it shamed not only every other PC3200 RAM we tested it against, but every other DDR RAM we had tested, period. Now, we’re back with another set of PQI RAM to test, this time their new 1GB kit of PC4200 DDR 2. By the time we’re done putting the memory through its paces, we’ll know if PQI has taken the trend it started with the PC3200 and continued it on this entirely new platform.”

Gainward’s Hollywood@Home Roundup Review @ Hexus
Hexus :: Sunday, January 02, 2005
“I’ve looked at one of their Hollywood@Home components before, their Hollywood@Home 7.1 not doing too badly and in hindsight it probably deserves a slightly higher score, recent drivers enabling excellent stereo output for music using the high quality Wolfson DAC. Gainward aren’t all about the graphics and they do have other tricks up their sleeves.

So it’s with an open mind that I agreed to look at a triplet of their latest Hollywood@Home editions. A USB TV tuner, USB soundcard and a set of surround sound headphones, they seem to have applied the same high-value, low-cost mantra that Gainward used to create the original soundcard product.”

HighSpeedPC Tech Station @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, January 01, 2005

“HighSpeedPC, one of our newest sponsors here at Phoronix, recently presented us with one of their patent pending product – the HSPC Tech Station. This is by far not a traditional chassis for your computer, but an open-air computer workbench.”

Zalman Reserator 1 @ OCIA
OCIA :: Saturday, January 01, 2005

“Moving on to the CPU block, we can see that care was taken to ensure the longevity of the block by making sure that bare metal is not exposed to the elements. In fact this kit doesn’t require antifreeze to be added to protect the components. I would however, still recommend it to keep the algae to a minimum.”

Cyril’s New Hardware Guide, Part III: New Socket Technologies and SLI @ PimpedOutCases
PimpedOutCases :: Saturday, January 01, 2005
“Processor socket changes are interesting events. They tend to pave the way for great technological strides, and always cause a good deal of confusion and uncertainty during their introductory period. With dual-core processors on the horizon and ever widening buses, it isn’t a coincidence that both AMD and Intel decided to launch their new sockets at barely a month’s interval this summer.”

Thermalright XP-90 Heatsink Review @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Saturday, January 01, 2005

Zalman CNPS7000B-Cu 92mm CPU Cooler @ TheTechLounge
The Tech Lounge :: Saturday, January 01, 2005

“Normally when I review a product, I formulate my opinions within the three to four weeks that I actually have the product for testing. This is not so with the Zalman CNPS7000B-Cu. Nearly all of my friends have this heatsink in their systems and I have already had quite a bit of experience with the Zalman 7000. In addition, I currently have the CNPS7000B-AlCu in my system, which is the same heatsink but with both copper and aluminum fins. While I already have a very good idea of how this heatsink works and how it will perform, I am still taking a bottom-up approach and will present an objective review of this heatsink based on my current findings. With that in mind, let’s begin by taking a look at the package and its contents”

Leadtek WinFast TV USB II Deluxe Review @ Everything USB
Everything USB :: Friday, February 25, 2005
“The WinFast TV USB II Deluxe has a cleverly designed pearl white body that reveals only the infrared sensor when viewed from the front. The most frequently used connections of coaxial-in, mini-USB, on/off switch and power cable are hidden in the back of the unit, with composite, S-Video, audio, and USB ports on the concave black sides accented by gray rings for each port. To top it all off, the sides of the unit cast a blue glow from two bright LEDs.”

Handy Recovery 2.0 Undeletion and Data Recovery Software Review
PCStats :: Wednesday, February 23, 2005

“In PCstats critically important guide to data recovery, we walked through several freeware applications that you can use to restore your data in case of disaster. Today we’re going to take a quick walk through the features and tools of a commercial option for data and file recovery, SoftLogica’s Handy Recovery 2.0. As you’d expect, this $30 data recovery program is free from many of the limitations that can make using freeware recovery software a trying experience. Handy Recovery supports the NTFS file system, has a full GUI and most importantly, is easy to use.”

Bluetake BT007Si Bluetooth USB Adapter & G5 Headset Review
Hardware-Pacers :: Wednesday, February 23, 2005

“Both the BT400 G5 Bluetooth Headset and the BT007Si Bluetooth USB Adapter are cleverly designed products. The Bluetooth USB adapter is exceptionally portable and still maintains an excellent stable signal. The USB Bluetooth adapter can connect to any Bluetooth device, from Bluetooth cell phones to Bluetooth headsets. With the thickness of only ten mm and the length of forty nine mm, the USB Bluetooth adapter still packs a load of features. These features include the ‘Human Interface Device’, ‘Advance Audio Distribution Profile’, and the ‘Basic Image Profile’. The Bluetake adapter is perfect for consumers who have numerous amount of Bluetooth products. This adapter is designed to be capable to be conveniently transported along with other Bluetooth products. It can easily fit into any pocket and carried around all day.”

Logitech Cordless Precision Controller for Xbox Review
Virtual-Hideout :: Wednesday, February 23, 2005

“The first thing I noted was that there was no lag at all with this cordless controller. Once the controller has established a connection, button presses are reflected in the game immediately. I tested this controller in an environment with both an 802.11b/g network, and a 2.4GHz cordless phone in operation, and experience no lag whatsoever.”

Casebuy USB Vacuum Cleaner Review @ PCmoddingmy
PC Modding Malaysia :: Wednesday, February 23, 2005

“I’d say that if you are a desktop computer owner and wish to clean the hard to reach areas of your computer from time to time and you’re worried that your nice keyboard may be evolving into an eco system, you could invest some money to get this tool to help you out. You could also clean your CRT Monitor Screen real quick with this item without the need of wetting a cloth, wringing it out and running it where water shouldn’t be present. So I’ll say that it is a nice tool to have, although it isn’t a MUST for everyone out there. I believe that you could use it to clean the insides of a dusty desktop computer, but please, do not switch it on while doing it!”

Glacial Tech Igloo 7200 Light @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, February 12, 2005

“Not an overclocker? Is your system screaming for quieter options (pun intended)? We have a Glacial Tech Igloo 7200 light in our labs, so let’s see how well this little heatsink, designed for Socket 754/939/940, can really perform!”

iRiver H10 MP3 Player Review @ Designtechnica
Designtechnica :: Friday, February 11, 2005
“The H10 is iRiver’s first micro-drive based digital audio player. Sporting a 5GB drive from Seagate, the sleek looking H10 comes in four different colors and features a color display. The H10 is priced at $279.99 which is about $30 more than the non-color Zen Micro and iPod mini. Will good looks and a color screen be enough to bring buyers over the iRiver camp? Read on to find out.”

Palm Tungsten T5 @ TheTechLounge
The Tech Lounge :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“As we all know, technology never stops, nor does the onslaught of new gadgets and fun things to buy. PalmOne is no stranger to this phenomenon, and they have just released their new handheld, the Tungsten T5. Of course, being the ‘latest and greatest’ in any product line is sure to have an impact on pricing. The T5 is on the top end of PalmOne’ product line, so I am expecting to see top end performance. Not only does the T5 come with a hi-res screen, but it also takes advantage of several of the features introduced with the T3 such as the larger viewing area, the ability to rotate into landscape mode, and the digitized writing surface.”

Apple iPod photo 60GB
Designtechnica :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“The iPod photo is another great piece of Apple engineering that takes what could be a remarkably cumbersome idea and executes it with ease. Not much has changed from the original iPod menu navigation, which has been the pinnacle of efficient user interface since its introduction. The added photo slideshow ability, color screen and larger hard drive offerings are a step forward, but the Windows software is still buggy at best. Also, with so many iPod accessories, the slight change in form factor has caused many case companies to go scrambling back to the drawing board. Even so, the iPod remains the best easy-to-use MP3 player available.”

Casebuy USB Vacuum Cleaner reviewed @ MetkuMods
MetkuMods :: Saturday, February 05, 2005

“Small size combined with powerfull suction and work light make this product very usefull. It doesn’t take that much space to store away and is instantly ready to be used after you plug it in to an USB port.”

Logitech Cordless Rumblepad 2 @ The Tech Lounge
The Tech Lounge :: Saturday, February 05, 2005

“Well this should be a familiar sight for most of us gamer geeks. Logitech’s wireless Rumblepad 2 bears more than a passing resemblance to the ubiquitous stock PlayStation controller. Of course this is what they are aiming for, taking the comfort and familiarity of the console gaming pad and coupling it with a desktop computer. And with the added features of force feedback and wireless connectivity, you’ll never know that you have stepped away from your PS2.

But, unlike the stock PlayStation controller, the Logitech Rumblepad 2 carries with it a larger range of programmability and functionality. With the included programming software, you can designate X and Y axis control and sensitivity, assign specific button functions and even load pre-made game profiles for your game pad. It’s even compatible with Macs! But will it capture the essence of console gaming on a PC?”

SanDisk Cruzer Titanium 512 MB USB Drive @ TheTechLounge
The Tech Lounge :: Tuesday, February 01, 2005

“USB flash drives have been around for quite some time. In the beginning of their existence, they were useful tools, but were generally bulky, slow and of limited capacity. Of course, when compared to the dying floppy disk, they were a godsend for those who could afford them and live with their quirks. Today’s USB drives, also known as thumb drives, have reduced greatly in physical size and price while sporting capacities of up to 2 GBs and transfer surpassing 15 MB/s. Additionally, the market has started to evolve in different areas, bringing on some great new features to some of these devices such as water-proofing, shock-resistance, and extreme durability. Today, we will be taking a look at SanDisk’s Cruzer Titanium USB flash drive which, as SanDisk claims, can resist 2,000 pounds of pressure without any data loss.”

I-Rocks Beetle Mouse @ HardwareHounds.com
HardwareHounds :: Wednesday, January 26, 2005

“There are hundreds of different styles of mice on the market today that do a hundred different things. The big question is: what do you need your mouse to do for you? Today, we are taking a look at I-rocks’ Beetle mouse. A nice solid mouse that performs very well, without a lot of fancy add-ons.”

InnoDV MiniDrive-USB2! Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Sunday, January 23, 2005

“All in all, the MiniDrive-USB2! is definitely the smallest yet spacious mini drive out in the market. Best of all, it supports USB2.0 for high transfer speeds and weighs around 40g. The sexy leather case not only serves to protect the mini drive, but to give a elegant touch to the mini drive. If you need a massive storage on the go, the MiniDrive-USB! from InnoDV should definitely be in your pocket. Priced only at USD$116 / RM 450, this has got to be the cheapest, portable and smallest USB drive in the market!”

CaseBuy’s USB Vacuum Cleaner @ TechTastic
TechTastic :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“It seems lately that more and more USB powered gadgets are popping up these days. Are these gadgets useful? Well some are, but a lot of them are more of a novelty item, such as USB powered coffee cup warmers, light up Christmas trees, etc for example.”

Kingston 2 GB Data Traveler Elite Review @ Controlled-Insanity
Controlled-Insanity :: Thursday, January 20, 2005

“I am a computer professional by trade and there are just some tools in a technicians toolbox that are indispensable, this is one of those tools. I have used the Data Traveler for just about everything, but my favorite use is to deploy system images. This thing can pump a 2GB system image out in a blistering 1:24, yes you read that right, one minute and twenty four seconds. This is fast considering a common CD-R took 4:57 for the exact same image. My boss is really happy too. Because now I can do 4 times the work!”

The Era of MP3 Players @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Thursday, January 20, 2005

“While at the Consumer Electronics Show this year, we were surprised to see the amount of flash drive MP3 players on display from numerous manufacturers. In fact, flash based MP3 players seemed to be the next product line for many companies, even hardware companies like Micro Star International (MSI) that specializes in system motherboards, graphics cards and CD/DVD writers. Aigo was another manufacturer with a lot of MP3 players on display.”

Notebook Fiasco Episode III : Post-Purchase Blues @ Adrian’s Rojak Pot
Tech ARP :: Sunday, January 16, 2005
“Buying notebooks was supposed to be a pretty clear-cut affair. Determine what you need, eyeball the available notebooks and choose the best one that suits your needs. Simple, no?

Unfortunately, this was not to be as Ken and Adrian discovered. Check out Episode III : Post-Purchase Blues and find out what happened next!”

I-Rocks Slim EL Keyboard Review @ Hi-techreviews
Hi-Techreviews :: Friday, January 14, 2005
“The I-Rocks Slim EL provides you with the identical features of other keyboards costing as much as $30.00 more. For the money the Slim EL could possibly be the best keyboard in it’s price-range. ”

MS IntelliMouse Explorer Vs Logitech MX900
The Tech Zone :: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

“In one corner we have the MS IntelliMouse Explorer for Bluetooth, in the other corner we have the Logitech MX900 Bluetooth mouse. Both are wireless mice powered by Bluetooth technology and both promise to open your computer to a Bluetooth world by allowing it to connect to other Bluetooth devices like cell phones, PDA or anything else that is Bluetooth enable. But the question remains, which mouse is better?”

Microsoft Optical Desktop with Fingerprint Reader Review @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Friday, January 07, 2005

We all know someone at home or at the office who can never remember their passwords. These are the people who have stickers all over their monitor and desk in plain view for anyone to look at. Microsoft is hoping to eliminate this problem by offering a new form of password management technology; a fingerprint scanner built directly into the keyboard. While fingerprint technology is far from new, price and availability have so far prevented it from being used in the home or on every system in the office.”

Logitech MX1000 Cordless Laser Mouse & Ratpadz GS @ SystemCooling
SystemCooling :: Thursday, January 06, 2005

“The optical mouse revolutionized how we look at these input devices. We no longer had to deal with the jerky cursor movement or the dust and goop clean up from the rollers and ball. But just when you thought it couldn’t get any better, Logitech again brings us a world’s first in their MX1000 Laser Cordless Mouse. The Logitech MX1000 features a completely new laser tracking technology from Agilent and a more reliable communication method with FastRF Cordless. Will these two technologies make the MX1000 the mouse we’ve all been waiting for or will it prove to be another over hyped product? In today’s review we’ll take a closer look at the MX1000 and take it for a test drive on the GS Ratpadz mouse pad to see if this combo is as good as it gets.”

Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse Review @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Thursday, January 06, 2005

For the longest time I have used a normal sized corded mouse with my laptop. I only recently switched to wireless mice for mobile use but the mice were still full size desktop units. This is because I haven’t found a single notebook sized mouse that felt good or perform well. This all changed when I got my hands on the new Microsoft Wireless Notebook Optical Mouse. If you’re a laptop user unable to warm up to a touchpad or pointing stick then you’ll want to check out the Wireless Notebook Optical – it’s an almost perfect notebook mouse.

Bluetake Bluetooth Adapter, Headphones and Audio Station @ TheTechLounge
The Tech Lounge :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“Wireless. This word is usually followed by numbers such as 802.11 b, 802.11g, etc. But did you know there is another form of wireless called Bluetooth? Bluetooth has been with us since 1998, but now we are seeing more and more products with the technology built in. Many of today’s PDAs support the Bluetooth standard as do many cell phones. But what is Bluetooth and why should you care?”

MSI GeForce 6600GT PCIe Graphics Card Reviewed @ VR-Zone Hardware
VR-Zone :: Friday, January 28, 2005
“After seeing MSI’s unique cooling solution, I expected the NX6600GT-TD128E to have some overclocking potential. Fortunately, I was left impressed, with the card reaching a maximum stable core speed of 565MHz and maximum stable memory speed of 1.115GHz. This was a 13MHz core increase over Albatron’s GPU overclock, but at the same time a 5MHz decrease in memory speed over the card.”

NVIDIA nForce Professional Launch
NVIDIA :: Monday, January 24, 2005
NVIDIA has released their nForce Professional line of chipssets and we have a new article hot off the presses for you to read here at OCmodshop.

Designed for cost-effective server and workstation environments—including blade servers, computing farms, computer-aided design (CAD), digital content creation (DCC), and visualization platforms—the NVIDIA nForce Professional MCPs are the first and only solutions to offer support for PCI-Express and other advanced technology solutions, including integrated client-based security features, TCP/IP offload, fault tolerant storage designs, and optimizations for NVIDIA Quadro® workstation graphics solutions, including multi-display and NVIDIA® scalable link interface (SLI™) environments.

Dell Pocket DJ Review @ Adrian’s Rojak Pot
Tech ARP :: Sunday, January 23, 2005
“Pocket-able MP3 players are becoming more popular by the day. Dell saw how big the market is for MP3 players and thus have jumped on the bandwagon with their very own Dell Pocket DJ.

Pitted to compete against Apple’s iPod mini, let’s join Psykhotik today in analyzing the Dell Pocket DJ to see if it has what it takes to bring on the reigning champion of MP3 players, the iPod mini.”

Samsung CLP-550 Color Laser Printer Review @ The Crucible
The Crucible :: Sunday, January 23, 2005

“At $699 the CLP-550 is probably still a little expensive for most home users. For the person with a home office or small business the CLP-550 could end up saving you a bundle in printing fees over the course of just a few months. With it’s very fast and high quality printing the CLP-550 is the most versatile color laser printer we have used.”

Inno3D GeForce 6600GT PCI-E & AGP Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Sunday, January 23, 2005
“Both the Inno3D GeForce 6600GT PCI-e and AGP comes powered with four units of Samsung K4J55323QF-GC16 memory chips onboard totalling up to 128/256MB onboard. While the reference NVIDIA GeForce 6600GT PCI-e we reviewed previously, these Inno3Ds comes with 1.6ns memory chips instead of 2.0ns that we found on the reference model. Looks like we have plenty of headroom when overclocking these cards.”

MSI’s NX6600GT-TD128E @ Hexus
Hexus :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“As a single board in isolation, MSI’s 6600 GT makes a great case for itself. A fantastic software bundle, component video out for use with HDTV sets in the main, and quiet cooler round off a great product that I could only think to improve with the inclusion of dual DVI ports instead of analogue VGA and DVI, which other 6600 GT vendors are happy to specify. I’ve seen the NX6600GT-TD128E online for around £135 including VAT, which means that the MSI 6600 GTs are attractively priced considering the software bundle”

ATI’s Mobility Radeon X700 Launch @ Hexus
Hexus :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“Performance is quoted as being twice that of Mobility Radeon 9700, something I’m inclined to mostly agree with, given their relative architectures. So to sum up, in the absence of any samples or comparisons with NVIDIA’s upcoming announcements in the same sector (Seiko would be proud), Mobility Radeon X700 has some serious on-paper promise, based on the presented information ATI have given to press for today.”

Gigabyte Geforce 6200 Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Saturday, January 22, 2005

“The Gigabyte GeForce 6200 graphics card is an entry level graphics card which was not targeted for gamers. However, with some ingenious overclocking (a 250Mhz overclock on the core), you most definitely can play some system stressing games with decent frame rates. Besides that, it is also future proof thanks to its SM3.0 support and many other interesting features inherited from GeForce 6800 and 6600 series. The active cooler also helps to keep the card cool but thankfully, the GeForce 6200 naturally runs pretty cool when compared to its predecessor. If you plan to build a new NF4 or LGA775 setup with a PCI-e motherboard on a tight budget, the Gigabyte GeForce 6200 should definitely be in your check list!”

Sapphire Radeon X800 (R430) Review @ Beyond3D
Beyond3D :: Thursday, January 20, 2005
“One thing that can be noted on this board is that it features full 2ns GDDR3 RAM, which is the same RAM used on the X800 XL and numerous other higher end boards. Given that X800’s RAM is only running at 350MHz this represents a fairly serious underclock of that RAM and board vendors could very well just utilise DDR memory closer to those ratings. As such, while we believe initial board samples will use 2ns GDDR3 RAM this may not continue further into the lifetime of the board.”

ATI Catalyst 5.1 Performance Analysis @ TweakTown
TweakTown :: Thursday, January 20, 2005
“New Year, New Month and that can only mean one thing – ATI has released yet another set of their monthly Catalyst drivers for your Radeon based graphics cards. This time we are up to version 5.1 and we compare against the two previous versions (4.11 and 4.12) in our usual array of benchmarks. Has ATI continued the trend and increased Half Life 2 performance? Read on and find out if these drivers are worth the upgrade!”

nVidia SLI Technology Review @ AMD Review
AMD Review :: Thursday, January 20, 2005

“A lot of people have no idea what SLI is, or what it does. SLI (Scalable Link Interface) allows your computer to use two video cards at once and it improves your video performance. To use SLI you need to have a PCI Express motherboard that supports SLI, currently only the NVIDIA nForce 4 chipset supports it. The board must have two 16x PCI-E slots, and you must have 2 identical video cards that support SLI, like the GeForce 6 series GPUs.”

Albatron GeForce 6600GT PCIe Reviewed
VR-Zone :: Wednesday, January 19, 2005

“From a stock core clock speed of 500MHz and memory speed of 1GHz, we were able to overclock the core 52MHz and memory 120MHz. We’re comparing these overclocked results to what we got from the XFX, and as you can see from the graphs below we were able to get 8MHz increase in core and 26MHz increase in memory speeds over the XFX GeForce 6600GT card. Albatron’s use of a custom heatsink fan and memory sinks have significantly helped the overclockability of the card..”

Albatron GeForce 6600GT (PCI-E) Review @ Overclocker Cafe
Overclocker Café :: Sunday, January 16, 2005

“The 6600GT chipset is probably the best mid-range solution that nVidia has ever produced, and Albatron has done a fine job manufacturing their version of it. With the oversized gold heatsink on the blue PCB, it’s got the looks. And with very nice frame rates in all of our benchmarks it’s got the horsepower under the hood as well.”

Albatron Trinity GeForce 6600GT AGP Videocard @ PCStats
PCStats :: Saturday, January 15, 2005
“The Albatron Trinity GeForce 6600GT AGP is only compatible with 1.5V 4x/8x AGP motherboards and it’s physically impossible to insert this videocard into a 2x only AGP slot. If you tried to force it, you’d only damage both the videocard and the motherboard (and possibly yourself). The Trinity 6600GT AGP sports 128MB of Samsung BGA DDR3 memory, and uses a 128-bit memory bus; which is enough memory for today’s most demanding games.”

Albatron Trinity Geforce 6600GT AGP Video Card Review @ 3DXtreme
3dXtreme :: Friday, January 14, 2005
“Today 3DXtreme is presenting our latest review of the Albatron Trinity Geforce 6600GT AGP Video Card. The Nvidia 6600GT AGP chipset has arrived on the scene and we’ve put it through the paces to see how it performs in the mainstream market. This card features 8 Pixel Pipelines, 128MB of DDR3 memory, 500MHZ Core Clock Speed as well as VGA Out, TV-Out, DVI and support for HDTV. Targeted directly at the heart of the mainstream market this chipset is out to steal the crown from the much loved ATI 9800 series. The 6600GT AGP is the PCI-E chipset with an added unit that ports to AGP. Can Nvidia strike a blow at the $200 price point the way the 6800GT did at $400?”

Albatron PX915G4 Pro motherboard
Overclockers Online :: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

“Albatron decided to stick with the current Socket 478 processors on this model. This allows existing P4 users to migrate over to the PCI-E world without having to buy a new processor. They can further break down the upgrade process as the Albatron PX915G4 Pro already comes equipped with an shared video memory.”

ATI Radeon To ATI FireGL Mod Guide Rev. 4.1 Posted!
Tech ARP :: Tuesday, January 11, 2005

“Want a FireGL workstation card but can’t afford to pay ATI’s exhorbitant prices? Well, why don’t you grab a Radeon desktop card and mod it into a FireGL card? Yes, you can easily mod a Radeon into the FireGL! Our guide will go through all the possible FireGL mods for the Radeon 8500, 9500, 9600, 9700 and 9800 series of cards and teach you just how to mod your Radeon into a FireGL!”

Gigabyte GeForce 6600 GT (GV-NX66T128D) PCI-E Review @ Hi-Techreviews
Hi-Techreviews :: Sunday, January 09, 2005
“The Gigabyte 6600 GT (GV-NX66T128D) that we are reviewing today has proven once and for all that a mid-priced PCI-E video card is a viable alternative to the standard AGP card. Throughout our tests this card proved more than capable of playing any game we presented it with and did it with relative ease. When you speak of price versus performance this card proves that there are still great cards for good prices available.”

Leadtek WinFast PX6600 GT TDH PCI-Express 128MB Review @ TheTech Lounge
The Tech Lounge :: Sunday, January 09, 2005

“In the world of video cards, we all want pretty much the same thing – great quality, performance, and a low price. A middle-of-the-road video card may leave you wanting a little more, but it’s the sweet spot for those of us with eyes larger than our pocketbook. On the NVIDIA side, there are three lines of the new-generation cards: 6200s, 6600s, and 6800s. These are low-end, mid-range, and high-end respectively, and there are variations within each group. NVIDIA’s 6600 series of cards is aimed at the average gamer and offers some pretty outstanding performance at a relatively low price-point.

Today we are looking at Leadtek’s WinFast PX6600 GT TDH 128 MB, their PCI-Express 6600 GT offering. It is worth mentioning that availability is still limited with PCI-Express cards, as AGP still makes up the majority of the market. The 6600 GT has 8 pixel pipelines, a core clock speed of 500 MHz and memory clock speeds of 500 MHz (1 GHz DDR). Also worth mentioning is that the memory on this card is DDR3 and it also SLI capable.”

Creative Nomad MuVo (128 MB) @ eXtreme Hardware
eXtreme Hardware :: Monday, January 03, 2005

“So it’s Christmas time and you need a last minute gift for that special someone who loves music? So it’s Christmas time and you need a last minute gift for that special someone who loves to run/bike ride? So it’s Christmas time and you need a last minute gift for that special someone who loves to have tech toys? In any case, here to save the day is the Creative Nomad MuVo.”

Desktop Graphics Card Comparison Guide Rev. 7.4 Posted! @ rojakpot.com
Tech ARP :: Sunday, January 02, 2005

“Covering over 200 desktop graphics cards, this comprehensive comparison allows you to easily compare 14 different specifications for each and every card! If you need to find out about the specification of any card, just come over and check out our Desktop Graphics Comparison Guide!”

PowerColor X600 XT PCI-Express 128MB Review @ The Tech Lounge
The Tech Lounge :: Sunday, January 02, 2005

“Right now PCIE is still in its infancy. Because of this, there is not a lot of demand for PCIE cards, and so they aren’t as readily available as their AGP equivalents for the most part. Until just recently, if you were in the market for a PCIE card, you were pretty much limited to ATI products because NVIDIA’s cards were largely unavailable. Finally we are starting to see more of NV’s PCIE cards in the marketplace, at least in the low-end and mid-range sectors.

Today we will be taking a look at the Radeon X600 XT 128MB from PowerColor. The X600 XT has 4 pixel pipelines and operates at 500 MHz core and 370 MHz (740 MHz DDR) memory speeds. At present, the X600 XT is pretty much a middle-of-the-road offering. Above the X600s you have the X700s, which offer better performance for just a bit more money. On the NVIDIA side, we have the 6200 series and the 6600 series, which are the closest competitors to ATI’s X600s and X700s.”

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