Tech News March 2008

ASUS Striker II Extreme (nForce 790i Ultra SLI) review

Tech Spot :: Friday, March 28, 2008
Today we have in our hands what is easily the most lethal SLI platform yet, as we bring you the ASUS Striker II Extreme motherboard, based on the new Nvidia nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset.

Unlike the previous generation 780i, this new chipset has been completely redesigned to properly accommodate technologies such as PCI Express 2.0 and Triple-SLI. The nForce 790i adopts Nvidia’s C73 north bridge and MCP55 south bridge, giving it proper 1600MHz FSB support for the latest Intel 45nm processors.

OCZ Technology PC2-8000 Platinum Edition 4GB DDR2 Kit Review
Big Bruin :: Friday, March 28, 2008
Rated at 5-5-5-18, the OCZ Technology PC2-8000 Platinum Edition 4GB DDR2 kit is quite impressive in terms of timings, speed, and capacity. Running at 1000MHz it was able to outperform competition in the form of DDR2 from Patriot and DDR3 from OCZ Technology. While overclocked to 1080MHz it was even able to outperform the DDR3 kit running at 1333MHz.

Sunbeamtech UFO Acrylic Cube Case (ACUF-T) Review 
Hardware Logic :: Friday, March 28, 2008
“With a history of well received items, Sunbeamtech has had their share of success with many well known items, the most popular being the Tuniq coolers and cases. Will their eye for detail continue on with their latest case offering? HardwareLogic looks into (and through) this alien attempt at a completely clear case…”

GIGABYTE DES and ASUS EPU Tested
Tweak Town :: Friday, March 28, 2008
“With the big focus on the environment and how much of a negative impact the 21st century society is having on it, it’s not surprising we are seeing things moving towards “green”. When we refer to green, we aren’t talking about the colour, we are taking about measures used to reduce the devastating impact we are having on the environment because of our industrialised society.

Computer companies are now starting to take the green initiative very seriously with new production methods to make them more environmentally sound. The first stages have already been implemented with the RoHS designs from GIGABYTE and ASUS, this is accomplished by moving from lead based solder to a totally lead free substitute, thus reducing the overall amount of lead required.”

Antec Sonata Plus 550 Case 
Modders Inc :: Friday, March 28, 2008
Need a stylish case with plenty of power included, but want to maintain a lownoise level? Perhaps the Antec Sonata Plus 550 is the case for you. We will take a closer look at the Antec Sonata Plus 550 and see just what Antec has to offer in this stylish case.

Glacialtech Altair 380 Media Center PC Chassis
Techware Labs :: Friday, March 28, 2008
Today we have a quick look at a relatively new player in the chassis market, Glacialtech. On the review bench we have the Altair 380 a Media Center/HTPC focused chassis that is tall on features and extras. Matt explains why the Altair 380 is an ideal choice to fit into your living room and wraps up the review with a few suggestions.

Windows XP SP3 RTM Schedule & Updates! 
Tech ARP :: Friday, March 28, 2008
“With the exception of Windows XP Media Center Edition and Windows XP Tablet Edition, Windows XP Service Pack 3 will be released in both standalone and integrated formats. It will be available in both CD and DVD formats, except for the Japanese language version which will only be in DVD format.”

Intel and Microsoft Fund Multi-Threading Research
Hot Hardware :: Friday, March 28, 2008
“Even today, writing software able to take advantage of multi-threading is notoriously difficult. In order to help drive the development of the tools and threading-aware applications, Microsoft and Intel are together awarding the Univerity of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the University of California at Berkeley $10 million dollars over five years to fund two Universal Parallel Computing Research Centers (UPCRC).”

Q Q6600 Heatsink Roundup -12 Tested 
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, March 27, 2008
“As a follow up to the Heatsink Roundup on C2D, I’ve got another batch of tests using a Core2Quad Q6600 CPU, I’ve got twelve coolers in all being tested. I’ve eliminated a couple coolers I used for the C2D roundup though as they were not adequate to cool the C2D so they would not be able to handle the C2Q, but I’ve added Liquid Cooling and the Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme to the testing charts. The same as before, you’ll find testing involving the fans connected to the CPU header, connected to a Molex and of course coolers that are able to use no fan at all. ”

Kingston HyperX 2GB PC3-14400 DDR3-1800 Review
ASE Labs :: Thursday, March 27, 2008
” Even though my previous reviews on Kingston Technology products were about their flash division, Kingston still is very much an enthusiast RAM company. Their HyperX series now comes in DDR3 at very high speeds. While DDR3 is still very new, Kingston offers a kit that runs at a scathing PC3-14400 which is 1800MHz DDR. The KHX14400D3K2 is on the bench for review. ”

ABS / Tagan BZ900 900W Power Supply Review
Hardware Canucks :: Thursday, March 27, 2008
If you look at things from a pure performance standpoint, the ABS / Tagan BZ900 exceeded our expectations by putting out some impressive numbers. Efficiency, voltage regulation and ripple suppression were all spot-on and the 135mm fan gave a new name to the term “silent operation”. Tagan also deserves a huge pat on the back for including every extra that an enthusiast could ever want.

Coolink Chipchilla Chipset Cooler Review 
RB Mods :: Thursday, March 27, 2008
Chipset coolers are often overlooked in a computer build, as most people focus on CPU coolers and case fans. But as computer performance increases, these chipset temperatures are also rising. Today we’ll look at a new chipset cooler, the Coolink Chipchilla Chipset Cooler. Will this chipset cooler be an improvement over a stock chipset cooler? Read on to find out.

Acer Closes in on HP, With Inspiration from Apple
Digital Trends :: Thursday, March 27, 2008
I was at the Acer launch of their Aspire Gemstone laptop line in New York and was very impressed with their new showing. Of course the fact they started with one of my favorite driving tunes (eiffle 55s Blue – which my wife hates) helped a lot. Acer, now chasing HP for the number one spot in the notebook market, appears to be taking inspiration from Apple in terms of user experience and quality of design with this unique Acer offering. Let’s talk about what makes this line interesting and weave the Apple influence into it.

MSI X48 Platinum Motherboard 
Viper Lair :: Thursday, March 27, 2008
“Overclocking the old fashioned way was actually very easy, despite the E6750’s 333MHz FSB. With little effort, we were able to reach 490Mhz on air, which is the exact same result we hit on the MSI P35 earlier this year. Default voltage wasn’t enough for this though and we were required to increase the voltages to the max allowable for CPU and chipset.”

OCZ Reaper HPC DDR2 1066 2 x 2 GB Review
Overclockers Club :: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
“I wanted to see how far I could get the memory to go, so I started playing with numbers. The highest overclock I could get was 1167MHz, but to get there I had to loosen the timings all the way to 5-8-8-22. At these timings, the scores were lower than the stock speeds so they were not usable as an overclock. The sweet spot that I found for the best performance was at 1120MHz with the stock timings of 5-5-5-18. This gave a slight improvement and was thoroughly stable. These are the scores I am going to use for overclocked benchmarking later in this review.”

Mtron Pro 7000 2.5-Inch 16GB SSD SATA7025
Benchmark Reviews :: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Mtron offers the Pro 7000 SSD as a high performance storage device designed to solve the bottleneck of computing system by traditional hard disk drives. The Pro 7000 SSD can be a drop-in replacement to hard disk drives without any additional software installation. Customers may benefit instantly from the SSD’s high random access performance and solve the legacy problem of access time bottlenecks traditional to hard disk drives. Benchmark Reviews tests the performance of the Mtron SATA7025 Solid State Drive to see if it’s worth the high purchase price.

EVGA NVIDIA 790i SLI Ultra / 9800GX2 1GB Review
Motherboards.org :: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
The new 790i motherboard brings NVIDIA up to speed on many of the features that have left them a bit dragging behind Intel for the last two quarters and makes a strong comeback on the new 790i. DDR3 was one of the most lacking features in the 780i series and is addressed well in the 790i as it can handle up to 2000MHz EPP DDR3 memory without a hitch. This and PCIe 2.0 are the main new features to be seen here and they both bring a bit more performance to the table when combined with the right system parts that enable these features to shine.The new 9800GX2 is a great card for anyone who has a 24” or bigger monitor as the card really begins to rock in resolutions of 1920X1200 or larger. In these instances this card is the fastest single slot solution there is on the market currently and cannot be touched by ATI’s 3870X2 card. These are both hot products for the enthusisat and gaming crowd!

VOX V1 750GB External Hard Drive Review
Techgage :: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
External hard drive enclosures are a dime a dozen… kind of. VOX’s solution delivers similar features as the others, such as USB 2.0 and FireWire connections, along with some backup software. In the end though, what should be a killer offering proved to be a very mediocre one.

Bgears b-Envi Cube Case 
Techware Labs :: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Adding to our recent coverage of HTPC and Media Center PC’s is another look at a HTPC focused chassis. The b-Envi from Bgears is a rather interesting case full of features and includes some extras we don’t normally see that make this case both an eye pleaser and much more functional.

OCZ XTC Memory Cooler Review
Club OC :: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Surprisingly, the heatspreader of the Ballistix reached up to 60C even when under a load for 15 minutes, which is more than I expected. Not surprising, the XTC RAM cooler did an excellent job of cooling the RAM to reasonable levels, idling at 32.9C and loading at a mere 36.1C, with a delta of nearly 24C. Even better, the XTC was barely audible when running.

Noctua NT-H1 Pro Grade Thermal Compound Review
Hardware Canucks :: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
Noctua has realeased a long line of high performance cooling products so it was only a matter of time until they released a thermal compound. The NT-H1 is Noctua’s first foray into the highly competitive thermal compound market but does inexperience in TIM equate a good debut?

Cooler Master Real Power Pro 850 W Power Supply Review
Hardware Secrets :: Wednesday, March 26, 2008
“Real Power Pro is the high-end power supply series from Cooler Master, featuring models from 550 W to 1,250 W. We reviewed the 850 W model (a.k.a. RS-850-EMBA), which features a big 135-mm fan, dual-transformer design and six +12V rails, being targeted to high-end systems featuring three or four video cards. According to Cooler Master this unit was labeled at 50º C and can deliver up to 1,000 W during peaks. Let’s see whether this is true or not and also let’s take a trip inside this unit.”

Rosewill R6XR8-BK Black ATX Computer Case Review
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
“The overall process of putting everything together in the Rosewell R6XR8-BK case was a seamless and painless one. Rosewill’s idea of screw less design certainly delivered and made the process a little more enjoyable. The two supplied 120mm fans…”

Scythe Kama-Flex 80mm Case Fan Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
” Touting a 80000 hour life span and a fan speed clocking in at 1500, the KamaFlex looks like a great fan for keeping your case cool and quiet for quite some time. Like the 92mm version, the Kama-Flex 80mm Case Fan features the Sony developed S-FDB (Fluid Dynamic Bearing) to provide quieter and improved performance”

Antec Sonata III Mid-Tower Case Review
Futurelooks :: Monday, March 24, 2008
In many ways, the Sonata III seems to be more of a tweaked version of the Sonata II than a complete imagination. Why mess with something that works? But are these tweaks really an improvement or just cosmetic changes to sell a few more cases? Today, we’re going to find out if Antec continues with the “Quiet Computing” legacy with the Sonata III.

ASUS M3A32-MVP Deluxe/WiFi-AP Motherboard Review
Think Computers :: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
“ASUS is one of the most well-known motherboard manufacturers. Its boards are known for consistent stability and awesome features, as well as excellent design. ThinkComputers reviewed the M3A32-MVP Deluxe/Wifi, a top-shelf, Crossfire-capable motherboard using the AMD 790X chipset and an on-board wireless module. This writer’s first motherboard review, I load this board with everything I could throw at it: a top of the line power supply and graphics card, oodles of RAM, and three operating systems.”

Intel E8500 Core2 Duo CPU Review
Motherboards.org :: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
The E8500 is the fastest Core 2 Duo solution on the market with the clock speed set at 3.16GHz, fully 266MHz higher than the next fastest E series CPU. For a MSRP on the Intel CPU price list of $266 this makes an affordable solution for those not wanting to spend $999 on an Intel CPU like the QX9770 that’s upcoming. Dual Core CPUs like the E8500 are excellent choices for the everyday user. The E8500 also overclocks like a beast reaching 4.389 GHz, a nearly 40% overclock on normal air-cooling. Other people have reached over 4.5GHz on theirs. Dual Core processors still have a market as only the Q6600 Core 2 Quad CPU reaches this level of price but performance on the E8500 beats that CPU in many cases.

Icy Box NAS 4220 Enclosure Review
OCIA :: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
“Today I have for review an Icy Box multi-drive NAS device, the IB-NAS4220-B. NAS is short for Network Attached Storage, and unlike a typical external hard drive enclosure which must be connected directly to a host computer in order to access, a NAS device uses a network client to allow access across a shared medium, like Ethernet.”

Asus Striker II Extreme
t-break :: Tuesday, March 25, 2008
Last week we have reviewed a motherboard based on the Intels latest chipset for enthusiasts, X48. Nvidia closely monitored the launch of Intels new chipset and decided to take on it with its own high-end chipset for Intelss processors, nForce 790i Ultra SLI. New chipset brings support for DDR3 memory, 3-Way SLI, 1600FSB and all 45nm Penryn-based processors. Finally.

Zalman ZM750-HP Power Supply Review
Hardware Logic :: Monday, March 24, 2008
Zalman opened up shop in 1999 with a focus on bringing peace to the computer world – in the form of silent computing. They became well known for their quiet and unique (if not bizarre at times) cooling products. Nearly a decade later, Zalman’s product line has expanded, but their philosophy of producing unique and quiet products has continued. That philosophy can be seen in the Zalman HP power supply line. The Zalman HP line of supplies are designed for silent performance and utilize a heat pipe system in pursuit of that. It’s unique, and it’s oh so “Zalman.”

VIZO Luxon Advanced ED HDD caddy Review 
Xtreme COmputing :: Monday, March 24, 2008
“Today I am going to be looking at another product from a company that I have only recently been introduced to. The company is Vizo Technology Corp and the item under review is the Luxon Advanced ED hard drive caddy. After the very promising introductory product I have quite high expectations of this little piece of hardware”

Paragon Disk Manager 2008 Suite
Techware Labs :: Monday, March 24, 2008
Matt takes a look at the Paragon Disk Manager 2008 Suite. This suite by Paragon Software includes several handy tools for managing your PC, improving performance, backup and restore, and even migration tools. Read our review to find out if we liked this software and if it performed as well as it should.

What is Happening to Modding
Modders Inc :: Monday, March 24, 2008
Strangely enough it seems that lately there has been a decrease in the Modding community. We see more of the same mods over and over and less new stuff. So, why is that? I have an opinion, yeah I know everyone usually does and they usually stink! lol

Mediasonic SU2LA Dual Bay RAID + NAS Enclosure Review
Hardware Canucks :: Monday, March 24, 2008
Today we will be looking at one Mediasonic’s newest products: the HUR1-SU2LA. This unit is a 2 bay Raid+ NAS Drive Enclosure Kit that not only includes USB connectivity but also RJ45 network abilities. Just like its other siblings it has RAID 0 and 1 capabilities and can use any standard SATA 3.5” hard drive.

ECS A780GM-A Motherboard on the AMD 780G Chipset (Socket AM2+)
Digit Life :: Monday, March 24, 2008
“The first motherboard on AMD 780G to be tested in our lab is a full-size ATX motherboard, which reminds of the popular Gigabyte M55plus-S3G, Gigabyte MA69G-S3, and MSI K9AG Neo2-Digital. This product starts a new Black Series aimed for users in need of a functional and upgradeable basis for an all-purpose PC.”

Cooler Master Cosmos S
techPowerUp :: Monday, March 24, 2008
The Cooler Master Cosmos S is the “sport” variant of the original Cosmos chassis. Coolermaster has taken various aspects of the Stacker series and fused them with the original Cosmos case. The door is gone and the plastic top has been redesigned to fit a triple radiator of your choice. The new Cosmos S is also made of Aluminum which makes it much lighter.

WD Caviar and RE2 GreenPower 1TB Hard Drives
Hot Hardware :: Monday, March 24, 2008
We’re writing to let you all know that we have just posted a new article at HotHardware in which we evaluate the features, performance, and power consumption of Western Digital’s Caviar and RE.2 GreenPower 1TB hard drives. In addition to their large capacities, these drives offer a number of proprietary features designed to lower their power consumption and acoustic profiles, like IntelliPower, IntelliSeek, IntelliPark, and in the RE.2’s case RAFF (Rotary Acceleration Feed Forward). Head on over to the site and check them out…

BTX vs ATX: Is BTX Doomed?
Techware Labs :: Monday, March 24, 2008
BTX was the long awaited follow-up to ATX and was to bring a significant increase in performance as well as being an overall better design. So where is BTX today and why don’t we see it more? We take a look at what BTX is and compare it to the older design of ATX which we still use today. We attempt to answer the question: Is BTX doomed?

GMC AVC-S7 Case
Driver Heaven :: Monday, March 24, 2008
GMC is a Korean based company who focus almost entirely on the design and production of HTPC cases. We had a look at several of their products in the past, each of them designed with a different purpose in mind. Today we will take a look at their latest HTPC case, the AVC-S7. The AVC-S7 is an elegant but very short case which is designed to match DVD players and other home theater equipment. Let us see if such a short case can be practical for housing modern home theater systems.

Aeneon XTUNE 1GB DDR2-1066 Dual Channel Memory Kit Review 
Big Bruin :: Monday, March 24, 2008
While a 1GB dual channel DDR2 kit might be a tough sell considering the demands of operating systems like Windows Vista and the extremely low prices on 2GB and 4GB kits, the Aeneon XTUNE 1GB DDR2-1066 Dual Channel Memory Kit did perform well. The speeds and timings are competitive with many kits from other brands, and the performance was quite respectable.

MSI P35 Platinum Combo
Hot Hardware :: Saturday, March 22, 2008
We’re writing to let you all know that we have just posted a new article at HotHardware.com in which we evaluate the features and performance of MSI’s P35 Platinum Combo motherboard. As its name implies, this board is based on the P35 chipset for the Intel platform. But what makes it interesting is its somewhat unique ability to work with both DDR3 and DDR2 memory types and its funky “Circu-Pipe” cooling apparatus. Head on over to the site and check it out…

Fantec LD-H35NSU2
Technic 3d :: Saturday, March 22, 2008
“The Fantec LD-H35NSU2 External Hard Drive Enclosure arrived Technic3D. NAS and SATA connectivity for 3,5″ in a Alu Design see you in the following Review. We looks how good it is against other HDD Cases.”

Tuniq 3 Mid-Tower Chassis Review 
OCIA :: Saturday, March 22, 2008
“Since the merger of Sunbeamtech and Tuniq, we have seen many of their products share cross-company styling cues and design features. Sometimes it is difficult to say exactly which company is responsible for what. Take for example the patented Core Fan idea we first saw implemented on our Sunbeamtech Quarterback case review. Now we find that same technology applied to the third case design to come from the folks over at Tuniq, named simply “3”.”

Windows Vista Crash Recovery and Repair Installs
PC Stats :: Friday, March 21, 2008
“PCSTATS explains what you need to know to bring a crashed Vista PC system back to life. When Windows Vista fails and won’t boot, separate the hardware from the software and get it fixed with the help of this Beginners Guide. Windows Vista appears to be at least as resilient and stable as Windows XP in operation, yet it’s still quite vulnerable to a variety of errors which can leave the operating system in an non-bootable state. If you were familiar with the Windows XP suite of repair tools, you might as well throw all that knowledge out the window(s) because none of it applies any more. ”

Foxconn X38A Digital Life 
Bjorn 3d :: Friday, March 21, 2008
Upgrading your rig can be such a pain can’t it? Trying to figure out where technology is headed so you don’t waste your money on obsolete garbage. With the speed at which progress takes place it is no wonder that many people find themselves searching for answers. Take for example the new DDR3 standard. Right now DDR2 is so inexpensive you can get 4GB for under $100 USD and that is just an awesome price. But DDR2 days are numbered and DDR3 is so expensive right now it just doesn’t make much sense. What is an enthusiast to do? Thankfully Foxconn has a solution. They have taken Intel’s X38 high-end chipset and installed it on a board capable of supporting DDR2 or DDR3. Now you don’t need to worry about which standard to choose. Better yet when the time comes to migrate over to DDR3 you won’t have to throw away your motherboard. But are things as rosy as they appear? We have seen these hybrid motherboards before and what they bring in compatibility they usually lack in raw horsepower. Come with me as I take the X38A from Foxconn out for a spin and see if this board can deliver where it counts or does it end up dead on the side of the road.

Thermaltake BlacX Hard Drive Docking System Review
Big Bruin :: Friday, March 21, 2008
The Thermaltake BlacX Hard Drive Docking System seemed like a great idea to me prior to getting my hands on one, and I am no less impressed after the review. While not a mobile solution, it is much more convenient than a traditional hard drive enclosure for those with multiple drives to be accessed from one location.

Aerocool I-Curve Mid-Tower PC Case Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Friday, March 21, 2008
” Today for review I’ve got the Aerocool I-Curve Mid-Tower PC case, it’s a very sleek and sophisticated chassis that should appeal to everyone. It’s available in black or silver and features a touch sensitive panel instead of buttons to power on your case, reset your system or turn it off. The I-Curve is a steel based chassis with an elegant aluminum, sand-blasted finish, bezel that should meet the needs of the average consumer out there for looks and functionality.”

How To Fix The PCI Express X1 Bug
Tech ARP :: Friday, March 21, 2008
“Crysis enjoyed a 223% increase in framerate, as it is a very GPU intensive game, especially with the High settings and high resolution.”

Noctua NH-U12P Cooler
Driver Heaven :: Friday, March 21, 2008
In the past we have reviewed several cooling products from the Austrian company Noctua; we have tested their CPU coolers, chipset coolers and fans before and have been very impressed with the performance.Noctua have released an updated version of the very successful NH-U12 CPU cooler the NH-U12P.

Mushkin XP2 8000 Redline 2 x 2GB DDR2 Review
Overclockers Club :: Friday, March 21, 2008
“Getting the most out of the memory that is installed in high performance computers usually comes at a cost. That cost is the voltage needed for the results. Many times, the higher the voltage applied to the DIMMs, the better they perform, to a point. The Mushkin XP2 8000 Redline modules are no different. Whereas 2.3 or 2.4 volts usually is a good, even point on DDR2 memory, these did not want anything higher than 2.05 volts. Used to the “give ‘er a bit more Johnny” school of thought, I tried 2.2 volts and did not get the desired increase I was after. So I settled on 1.98 volts for the final overclock. The Redlines ended up giving me 562MHz, 62MHz over the stock speed of 500MHz. I can hear the nay sayers jeering that 562MHz is low for DDR2 DIMMs. You have to realize that this is a four gigabyte set of modules. So 562 MHz is pretty decent and even better when the price point comes into play.”

Identify Theft – Don’t Be Stupid
PC Mechanic :: Friday, March 21, 2008
We’re all users of the Internet. We pay bills online. We have our identity out there online. We also have credit cards – usually several of them. All of this adds up into one thing… Your identity is digital. It is portable. And it is in other people’s hands. And this means it is a matter of […]

VOX V1 750GB External Hard Drive
Techgage :: Friday, March 21, 2008
External hard drive enclosures are a dime a dozen… kind of. VOX’s solution delivers similar features as the others, such as USB 2.0 and eSATA connections, along with some backup software. In the end though, what should be a killer offering proved to be a very mediocre one.

Stock Up Your PC Using Google Pack
PC Mechanic :: Friday, March 21, 2008
I have been a huge Google whore for some time now. I routinely use Google for search, email, site statistics, advertising (and hence making money online), keeping up with news, spell checking….need I go on? But, there is another thing that Google does that is really convenient. And, of course, they give it away in true […]

Intel Details Nehalem, Dunnington, Tukwila & Larrabee
Techgage :: Friday, March 21, 2008
At a press briefing, much more was revealed about the numerous upcoming technologies from Intel. In this article, we will be taking a look at Nehalem, Dunnington, Tukwila and Larrabee, along with a look at the new QuickPath Interconnect.

Belated Analysis: Intel Atom/Silverthorne
Beyond3d Processor News :: Friday, March 21, 2008
EETimes published a nice piece on what media coverage got wrong regarding Intel’s new Atom platform (based on Silverthorne) earlier, it’s well worth a read – but other points may…

Easily Convert Media Files To Different Formats
PC Mechanic :: Friday, March 21, 2008
Have you ever had the need to convert audio or video files to a different format to either save space or make the file compatible with a particular player? If so, you can probably find a program to do the job for that particular conversion. While this is great, wouldn’t it be nice to have […]

Aerocool I-Curve Mid-Tower PC Case Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Friday, March 21, 2008
There was a time when PC cases didn’t have doors on them to cover their drive bays, then they became popular and it seemed that every case had a door on it, but lately though I’ve noticed a more even balance between the availability of a door or not. For me this is a nice thing, at one time I thought having a door on my case was cool, but eventually I realized it was more of a hassle than anything and now I prefer cases without doors on them. This is also good for everyone as well, it allows more choices for consumers and choice is always a good thing, this allows consumers to find the case that fits their particular style. Today for review I’ve got the Aerocool I-Curve Mid-Tower PC case, it’s a very sleek and sophisticated chassis that should appeal to everyone. It’s available in black or silver and features a touch sensitive panel instead of buttons to power on your case, reset your system or turn it off. The I-Curve is a steel based chassis with an elegant aluminum, sand-blasted finish, bezel that should meet the needs of the average consumer out there for looks and functionality. So let’s hop right on into this review..

PCMech Free Wallpaper #19: Lean
PC Mechanic :: Friday, March 21, 2008
This is an exclusive RSS-feed-only wallpaper download. Click the image below to view, right-click (or command-click on Mac) and set as your wallpaper. Standard Widescreen

PortableApps Can Be Installed Individually
PC Mechanic :: Friday, March 21, 2008
A few weeks ago I wrote about the PortableApps software package which allows you to install and run many popular applications on a flash drive. One thing I have found most useful about this package is the ability to install only select applications instead of the whole suite. In my case, I wanted Notepad++ only and […]

Tweak Windows Vista Settings
PC Mechanic :: Friday, March 21, 2008
For Windows Vista users wanting to make modifications to some of the user interface and security settings, check out WinBubble. You can think of WinBubble as a TweakUI for Vista which allows you to: Customize OEM information. Customize screensavers. Tweak security settings (disable task manager, control panel, etc.). Activate a hidden Aurora boot screen. This program is 100% free and […]

Matrox TripleHead2Go Digital Edition
Techgage :: Friday, March 21, 2008
With the digital edition of the TripleHead2Go, hooking up three LCD’s via DVI and VGA is possible. This allows you to drastically increase your desktop space and/or improve your gaming. Best of all, you don’t need to add a second GPU, and not even an additional power outlet is required!

Arthur C. Clarke Passes Away at 90
PC Mechanic :: Friday, March 21, 2008
For those not familiar with Clarke, his most famous work is arguably 2001: A Space Odyssey written with Stanley Kubrick. He passed away at 90 in his home in Sri Lanka. In sci-fi circles (and in many other circles), Clarke was known as a master science fiction writer and captured the wild imagination of space, future […]

Seero – Ustream Crossed With GPS
PC Mechanic :: Friday, March 21, 2008
I ran across a new lie webcam site today called Seero. With PCMech LIVE, we are users of Ustream. Ustream, so far, has been the best service I’ve tested. So, is Seero just a Ustream clone (like Yahoo LIVE)? Actually, no. Because Seero is mixing it with mapping technology and GPS. Say what? There is a story […]

C2Q Q6600 Heatsink Roundup -12 Tested
Dragonsteel Mods :: Friday, March 21, 2008
As a follow up to the Heatsink Roundup on C2D, I’ve got another batch of tests using a Core2Quad Q6600 CPU, I’ve got twelve coolers in all being tested. I’ve eliminated a couple coolers I used for the C2D roundup though as they were not adequate to cool the C2D so they would not be able to handle the C2Q, but I’ve added Liquid Cooling and the Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme to the testing charts. The same as before, you’ll find testing involving the fans connected to the CPU header, connected to a Molex and of course coolers that are able to use no fan at all. For testing I’ve got names like Thermalright, JetArt, GlacialTech, Corsair, OCZ, Scythe, Noctua, Coolink and the Intel Stock cooler. To make all testing even I used Arctic Cooling MX-2 thermal compound on all coolers. This little roundup has been a while in the making so jump on in and see what’s going on…

Convert It All (Link of The Moment)
PC Mechanic :: Friday, March 21, 2008
We all have times where we have to convert something to something else. US Dollars to Euros? Yards to Feet? Centimeters to Inches? Teaspoons to Tablespoons? Pounds to Ounces? Bits to Bytes? You get the idea. A web site I use often is CalculateMe. You can literally convert anything to anything on this site, and to date I have not seen a single […]

Links to Reviews for March 18-19
PC Mechanic :: Friday, March 21, 2008
Crucial Ballistix DDR3-12800 Memory Kit – “Since the start of their company they have been making solid, high-quality memories that don’t let us customers down.” Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure – “The latest piece of technology to see a significant drop in prices has been the 2.5″ size hard drives.  You can easily pick up a […]

GMC R-2 Toast Case Review
Techware Labs :: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Joe has taken a look at the new Toast R-2 case from GMC for you and has his reactions as well as the unique pattented feature of this case. He explains why this case will fit into your love it or hate it category. For an in depth look inside and out at the R-2 read our review.

Make your Home Network go Gigabit
PC Mech :: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
“If you have ever noticed, almost all current network cards support 10/100/1000 ethernet, but very few routers actually support the /1000. The last /1000 is actually called gigabit networking, allowing you to transfer 1 gigabit per second – which is the same as 1000 megabits per second or 125 megabytes […]”

Tagan BZ 900W Power Supply
Phoronix :: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
“The last time we had looked at a Tagan power supply was last October when exploring the Tagan ITZ 1300W and comparing it to Thermaltake’s ToughPower 1200W power supply. While most enthusiasts don’t need power supplies in excess of 1,000 Watts, for those that do the ITZ 1300W did perform admirably but its voltage rails did fluctuate some, though it did have the “WOW” factor on its side thanks to the stunning paint job. Since then Tagan released a new power supply, which has a maximum power output of 900W, boasts six +12V rails, and is modular with LED indicators for each cable. This new power supply is the Tagan BZ 900W, and today we are reviewing it at Phoronix.”

Rosewill RX81-MP-SC eSATA HDD Enclosure
Tweak Town :: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
“For most folks, the name Rosewill means peripherals. Whether you are looking for enclosures, switches, keyboards, KVM devices or external enclosures, Rosewill likely has something that fits the bill. They are also generally known for offering a product for a reasonable price, something that isn’t always a common practice in today’s marketplace.

On the table this time around is one of their newer external hard drive enclosures, the RX81-MP-SC; this is an enclosure designed to fit SATA hard drives in an easy to use manner. With SATA drives becoming the standard, IDE devices are getting to a point where they are no longer needed, but an external SATA enclosure can be a true friend for those looking for a means to back up important data.”

Nvidia’s nForce 790i SLI Ultra chipset
Tech Report :: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
Barely three months have passed since Nvidia launched its high-end nForce 780i SLI chipset, and already the green team has another round in the chamber. To be fair, the 780i wasn’t so much a new design as a second-coming of the nForce 680i decked out with PCI Express 2.0 support via a custom SLI bridge chip. The 780i wasn’t the most elegant answer to the 32 second-generation PCI Express lanes lurking in Intel’s X38 Express chipset, but it was the best Nvidia could do at the time to keep up with the Joneses. Today, however, Nvidia’s real next-generation core logic arrives in the nForce 790i SLI and its spoiler-equipped Ultra variant.

Unlike its predecessor, the nForce 790i SLI has an all-new north bridge chip bristling with 32 lanes of bandwidth-rich PCIe 2.0 goodness. Within it also lies Nvidia’s first DDR3 memory controller, which has been carefully tweaked with Penryn in mind. The 790i has native support for 1600MHz front-side bus speeds, too. And, of course, everything comes neatly packaged on a fresh motherboard design tuned for overclocking and packed with ESA functionality.

This is Nvidia’s answer to the X48 Express—the very flagship of Intel’s chipset aristocracy—leading us to a heavyweight bout for high-priced bragging rights and technical superiority. Keep reading to see if Nvidia has managed to unseat the incumbent.

Asus Striker II Extreme 790i DDR3 Motherboard
Overclock 3d :: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
“Is nVidia’s latest 790i chipset an X48 killer? We put it through its paces on Asus’ latest Republic of Gamers motherboard.”

Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
“The latest piece of technology to see a significant drop in prices has been the 2.5″ size hard drives. You can easily pick up a SATA 60 GB drive for around $50. If you want to use one of these drives as an external hard drive, you will need a proper enclosure. Zonet has come out with enclosure that is both utilitarian and sexy at the same time. The Zonet ZNS8021 USB 2.0 Leather SATA Enclosure provides a solidly constructed protective case that is also pretty nice to look at. In addition, it is lightweight and compact. ”

Kingston SD/2GB-U Review
ASE Labs :: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
” Kingston Technology produces all kinds of memory including RAM for a computer to flash memory. Kingston is pushing harder and harder into the consumer flash market. Kingston sent over their high speed SD flash memory for review and the SD2/2GB-U is really fast. ”

Windows Vista SP1 is here!
Tech Spot :: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The much anticipated release of Vista SP1 is slated for release today, and while many are waiting for that to pop up as an optional download on Windows Update, the full standalone installer is now available for 32-bit and 64-bit editions of the OS.

PC Building Guide 
Nodic Hardware :: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
The PC Building Guide has been adapted from an online format to book form and is even used by schools in their computer education. The PC Building Guide simply outclasses the classic teaching literature since it is always up to date and more flexible than a book can ever be.

Today we launch the PC Building Guide in English: a complete introduction to how a computer and its individual parts work, and how to assemble them into your very own computer. Complete with pictures, videos and pedagogic explanations on how to install the various hardware of a computer, its the ultimate PC Building Guide.

If you run into problems you can turn to the troubleshooting section with complete explanations of the different BIOS beep codes and the most common problems. Weve used our gathered experience from running the hardware support at the worlds largest LAN party and try to walk you through any potential problems.

This 33 page article should prove to be a good help for everyone, no matter if youre about to build your first computer, or have been doing this for years.

EVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLI Motherboard
Hardware Secrets :: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
“As its name implies, EVGA nForce 790i Ultra SLI motherboard is based on the latest high-end chipset from nVidia for the Intel platform. What is new on nForce 790i compared to its predecessor, 780i, is the support for DDR3 memories and PCI Express 2.0 support generated by the chipset itself – nForce 780i was in fact an nForce 680i with an additional nForce 200 bridge chip making the conversion between PCI Express 1.0 and PCI Express 2.0. Both chipsets support 3-way SLI mode, which allows three GeForce 8800 GTX’s or three GeForce 8800 Ultras to be connected together, and Quad SLI, allowing two GeForce 9800 GX2’s to be connected together and enjoining four GPU’s, as each GX2 is powered by two GPUs. Two of its three PCI Express x16 slots are PCI Express 2.0 and this motherboard has also two Firewire ports, optical SPDIF output and more.”

DFI LanParty UT ICFX3200-T2R/G Intel LGA775 Motherboard Review
Think Computers :: Wednesday, March 19, 2008
“Back when Socket A, and later Socket 939, were the preferred platforms for enthusiasts, one motherboard company emerged as the king of overclocking, DFI. DFI’s LanParty boards had it all: colorful UV reactive components, excellent BIOS conducive to overclocking, rock-solid stability, and excellent reliability. Today we will be looking at the DFI LanParty UT IFCX3200-T2R/G. It is an LGA775 motherboard powered by the ATI RD600 chipset, and featuring ATI CrossFire Xpress 3200 IE. This board has been around for some time but is still available, and at an excellent price, I might add. So rather than spend time comparing it to newer boards with newer chipsets that cost up to triple the price, I am going to attempt to review it on its own merits, and look at it more as an economy board rather than the upper-end board it was a year ago.”

Intel’s X48 Express chipset
Tech Report :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Intel’s Core 2 Extreme QX9770 is due out this quarter, bringing with it not only four Penryn cores clocked at 3.2GHz, but also a front-side bus running at 1600MHz. That faster FSB presents a bit of a problem, though, because Intel’s current P35 and X38 Express chipsets only support front-side bus speeds up to 1333MHz. So the QX9770 needs a new chipset, or at least a new north bridge, which is where the X48 Express comes in.

Based on Intel’s existing X38 Express, the X48 brings with it official support for 1600MHz front-side bus speeds. With this faster bus, the X48 looks poised to supplant its predecessor atop Intel’s chipset lineup, which means a new wave of motherboards is coming from all the usual suspects.

Gigabyte’s X48T-DQ6 is the first X48 offering to hit our labs, and in addition to packing Intel’s latest chipset, it comes with an innovative Dynamic Energy Saver mechanism designed to lower power consumption. Join us as we put this power saving scheme to the test and run the X48 Express through it paces against the rest of Intel’s chipset lineup.

Thermaltake Purepower 430W NP Power Supply Review 
Hardware Secrets :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
“Thermaltake Purepower 430 W NP, which is also known by other names like W0070, TR2-430W and XP550 NP, is one of the simplest and cheapest power supplies from Thermaltake. In this review we completely disassembled this unit and tested to see if it can really deliver 430 W. Check it out.”

Titan RTNV TTC-HD90 Hdd Cooler
Overclock 3d :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
“Titan release a new HDD cooler into the market promising reductions in noise and temperatue of your drive. We see if it lives up to it’s claims.”

Dissecting an eBay Scam
PC Mech :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
“If you do any form of communication over the Internet, online frauds and scams are something you always have to be wary of. I have been fortunate enough to avoid such scams as I keep my email reasonably locked down, have a relatively good “BS detector” and am overall a tad bit on the cynical […]”

Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9770 
Nordic Hardware :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
“Intel is at it again. After the recent launch of its first 45nm and so far most extreme CPU, the QX9650, its now time for the QX9770. The logic behind the model numbering is questionable, but whats new with this model is 400MHz FSB, which thanks to Intel’s quadruple bus give us an effective transfer rate corresponding to 1600MHz. This is denoted by the third number; 9770. The frequency has also increased to 3.2GHz (8×400), which is denoted by the second number; 9770.”

x264 HD Benchmark
Tech ARP :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
“Simply put, it is a reproducible measure of fast your machine can encode a short, HD-quality video clip into a high quality x264 video file. It’s nice because everyone running it will use the same video clip and software. The video encoder (x264.exe) reports a fairly accurate internal benchmark (in frames per second) for each pass of the video encode and it also uses multi-core processors very efficiently.”

Is .Mac Worth The Money?
PC Mech :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
“A little over a week ago, I went out and picked up a 15″ MacBook Pro using the new Penryn processor. In a word – SWEET! I’ll have more to say about that later. But, for now, I wanted to take a look at dot-mac, or .MAC. It is the online service Apple offers with […]”

ASRock 4Core1600P35-WiFi+ Motherboard Review
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
ASRock continues to produce products that will tempt the enthusiast and power user crowds to consider using them for their upgrade path. This time, ASRock takes a mature Intel P35 Express chipset and adds the latest features to it to make a feature rich motherboard. The ASRock 4Core1600P35-WiFi+ motherboard uses all solid state capacitors, supports 45nm 1600MHz quad-core processors and has integrated 802.11g WiFi. Read on to see what this board can do and to see just how low the price is.

Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme CPU Cooler Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
“The Thermalright Ultra 120 eXtreme CPU cooler is very popular among enthusiast circles as the reigning champion of CPU coolers and most people will quickly recommend a TRUE to someone asking. So today I’ve got the TRUE for review, and I’ve put it to the test using both C2D and C2Q processors, is it all that? Well you’ll have to read on to find out… ”

Thermaltake Xaser-VI VG400BWS (LCS) Case Review
Xtreme Computing :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
“The model that I shall be looking at today is the VG400LBWS, or more specifically the ‘Xaser VI Super Tower Black with Transparent Side Window With Embedded Liquid Cooling’. Yeah, that’s quite a mouthful; but Thermaltake have made 8 variations of this same model case, so they have to distinguish between them properly somehow!”

Intel Core 2 Performance Comparison Guide
Tech ARP :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
“In this article, we will be comparing the performance of several Intel Core 2 processors in five benchmarks – three game-based benchmarks and two application benchmarks. We hope to add on more and more results as we get hold of additional Core 2 processors over time. Let’s take a look at the Core 2 processors we have rounded up for this comparison.”

Ubuntu Disk Encryption Benchmarks
Phoronix :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
“Introduced in Ubuntu 7.10 was install-time encryption support where using the alternate installer one can fully encrypt their disk in an LVM using dm-crypt. Unfortunately, the Ubiquity installer in Ubuntu 8.04 continues to lack LVM and encryption support, but using Ubuntu 8.04 Alpha 6 we have looked at the performance cost of this encrypted configuration on Ubuntu Linux. Rather than looking directly at the disk read/write overhead caused by the encryption process, we have provided some benchmarks to see how the real-world performance is impacted in both gaming and other desktop tasks.”

Cebit 2008 Coverage Part 1
Madshrimps :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
“We explore the Halls at Cebit in Hannover 2008, in this first part of our coverage we show the latest products from Titan, Sparkle, Calibre, JetWay, Coolermaster, Biostar, Gainward, Arctic Cooling, Asrock, OCZ, Be Quiet!, Revoltec, Twintech3D, HIS, Galaxy, FSP, Xirex, Silverstone, CoolIT, Scythe and a special LN2 OC session at Mushkin.”

Xigmatek NRP-MC851 Power Supply Review 
RB Mods :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
Today we take a look at an interesting looking product from an exciting new company. Xigmatek seems to have been on the market since 2005 but it is the first time I see one of their products. We got a sample of the NPR-MC851 PSU which seems to have some very nice features as 4x 12V rails all the wya from 18 to 30 amps. You also have modular cables and a smart silent fan which should run this product fairly quiet.

Gigabyte X48-DS5
t-break :: Tuesday, March 18, 2008
When we first heard about Intel X48 chipset, we thought it would be a DDR3 only chipset. However, many motherboard manufacturers, including Gigabyte, decided to offer a version that supports exclusively cheap DDR2 memory. Lets see what a new chipset and an old memory can do together.

Antec P190 + 1200 Case Review
Hardware Logic :: Monday, March 17, 2008
“Our first experience with the Performance One dates back to the P160W, which now stands out as an aberration in a series that took a turn towards elegant aesthetics and quiet computing. The metamorphosis began with the original P180, a chassis we felt had potential, but ultimately described as a “time sink” in terms of installation. Then came the P182, which brought with it an effective cable management scheme, but left us hot under the collar with its ho-hum cooling potential.

Cooler Master Cosmos S Case Review
Think Computers :: Monday, March 17, 2008
“Cooler Master’s Cosmos case made waves last year because of its incredibly silent design, awesome size, and excellent accoutrements. This year, Cooler Master altered the Cosmos design and released a new model: the Cosmos S. Whereas the Cosmos case was a silent beast, the Cosmos S is designed to keep things inside as cold as possible, sacrificing silence for performance. After salivating upon seeing this case in Cooler Master’s booth at CES, we had to get our hands on it. ThinkComputers blasts off to explore the unknown regions of this expansive case.”

Introduction to Overclocking Guide for Beginners
Benchmark Reviews :: Monday, March 17, 2008
Overclocking is the technique used to increase the speed of a device beyond stock. ‘Stock’ is the name given to the default specifications of a device. Once you have altered the device it is no longer considered stock unless it is returned to its initial specifications. Overclocking describes the alteration of clock speed above stock (hence the name overclocking) of any given device, usually RAM and CPUs, but also other components such as GPUs and PCI busses. When a devices clock speed is decreased from stock (or from an overclock), it is called underclocking.

Gigabyte MA790FX-DS5 Review
Overclockers Club :: Monday, March 17, 2008
“After playing with the MA790FX-DS5 for a while, I was thoroughly impressed with the stability and the ease of overclocking the board has to offer. The high quality components and the layout of the board are second to none. The 790FX chipset is coming into maturity and will only get better with time. AMD users will have an excellent upgrade path if they choose to ride out the current storm with the X2 and Phenom CPUs currently lagging behind Intel’s offerings.”

Seagate Momentus 5400.4 250GB
Bjorn 3d :: Monday, March 17, 2008

Life Without Gmail?
PC Mech :: Monday, March 17, 2008
“About a month ago I did something only the few and brave do; I stopped using Gmail. Number of times I’ve been tempted to switch back since then: 0. Honestly speaking I thought I was going to go into GWS (Gmail Withdrawal Syndrome). I thought that going back to using e-mail with a client (Mozilla Thunderbird in […]”

Western Digital Caviar RE2 750GB HD
Hot Hardware :: Monday, March 17, 2008
Western Digital’s RE2 lineup is targeted at workstations and servers, which need lots of disk capacity along with top-notch RAID performance and long-life reliability. At its core, the RE2 lineup is identical to the SE16 lineup for the performance desktop, but the RE2 has a slightly different feature set, along with more robust MBTF (mean-time between failure) ratings and warranties. We test the drive standalone and in a dual-drive RAID 0 configuration. Head on over to the site and check it out…

Make your Home Network go Gigabit
PC Mechanic :: Monday, March 17, 2008
If you have ever noticed, almost all current network cards support 10/100/1000 ethernet, but very few routers actually support the /1000. The last /1000 is actually called gigabit networking, allowing you to transfer 1 gigabit per second – which is the same as 1000 megabits per second or 125 megabytes […]

Zalman Reserator XT Hybrid Liquid Cooling System
Techgage :: Monday, March 17, 2008
Given their nature, external water-coolers have a lot of room to do things right. Zalman took full advantage of the space they had with the XT and delivered a superb external solution with excellent performance. Though slightly expensive, “you get what you pay for” rings true here.

Behind The Scenes at PCMech LIVE
PC Mechanic :: Monday, March 17, 2008
PCMech LIVE is our new live show that we are doing via Ustream.Tv. While we are live streaming pretty much 24/7, our scheduled show time is 8 PM EST on Wednesday evenings. We’ve had a LOT of people ask how we put together the feed. I have prepared a video for you which shows how I […]

Links To Reviews for March 11-12
PC Mechanic :: Monday, March 17, 2008
Lamptron FC1 fan controller – “Looking to control fan speed easily and on-the-fly? That’s exactly what Lamptron’s FC1 fan controller promises, and at an insanely low price point to boot.” Apiotek Extreme Adaptor 24 in 1 Express Card EC-CR24 – “Anybody who has used a media reader pc card adaptor in a laptop knows how much of a […]

AMD Shangai die size disclosed; Fudzilla hints at 0MiB L3 chip
Beyond3d Processor News :: Monday, March 17, 2008
AMD displayed wafers of its 45nm Shanghai chip at CeBit, and Hans de Vries took the opportunity to create a comparison picture between Shanghai and Nehalem. Surprisingly, their die size…

China Blocks YouTube (and why you should pay attention to this)
PC Mechanic :: Monday, March 17, 2008
For those not aware, China has a nationwide firewall in place called the Golden Shield Project that’s also known as the "Great Firewall of China" (in reference to the Great Wall of China). China can and does block things on a nationwide basis routinely. The reason for the blocking of YouTube is because of the footage […]

Give Your Business A Web Presence
PC Mechanic :: Monday, March 17, 2008
For the most part, today, virtually all small businesses should have a website (but at the very least you should have a professional email address). Whether or not the value is direct or indirect there is indeed value in just having a web presence. If you want to get one started without any upfront cost […]

Take Benchmarks With A Grain Of Salt
PC Mechanic :: Monday, March 17, 2008
When looking at benchmark numbers of any kind, always be wary of what a benchmark truly is: simulated relative tasks and not real world tasks. While there is value in a benchmark as it is a way to somewhat measure performance between different components, but keep in mind the tests the benchmark program runs may […]

Windows Mobile Gets Flash, PDF Viewer
PC Mechanic :: Monday, March 17, 2008
In the ever-increasing mobile phone tech market, one thing that’s been sorely lacking is the ability to display Adobe Flash content well. At the present time most devices, including the iPhone, have little to no support for Flash. Microsoft has stepped up to the plate and licensed the Adobe Flash Player runtime for the mobile version […]

Energy Efficient Computer Components
PC Mechanic :: Monday, March 17, 2008
If you are looking to build a new system or upgrade some existing components, you should weigh in the energy efficiency of the components you are purchasing. Not only do energy efficient components put less strain on the environment, but can really save you some cash both directly (lower power usage in your computer) and […]

Close Firefox Daily
PC Mechanic :: Monday, March 17, 2008
The (seemingly) biggest complaint Firefox (version 2 at the time of this writing) users have is that the browser takes up enormous amounts of system memory when running. While the number and type of extensions you have installed on Firefox can influence memory usage, it is not unheard of for the browser to be consuming […]

Links To Reviews for March 13-14
PC Mechanic :: Monday, March 17, 2008
Thermaltake Max 4 Active Cooling HDD Enclosure – “Hard disk drive enclosures are cases for you to install a hard disk drive outside the computer, being a terrific way to carry a huge amount of data around, for backing up data, for storing and carrying files from home to the office and vice-verse, for storing and […]

A Modder’s Guide To Acrylic
Bit-Tech Modding :: Monday, March 17, 2008
No matter how much you love it, working with acrylic (in its many forms) can be a difficult task to the new modder. We’re here to clear up a bit of the confusion when it comes to bending, cutting, joining and enjoying one of modding’s most versatile materials.

Stopping Vista From Thrashing Hard Disks to Death
PC Stats :: Thursday, March 13, 2008
“While your PC may be doing nothing, all of a sudden you notice the hard drives are trashing around like the entire drive is being copied. Never fear, PCSTATS is here to help you stop Windows Vista from excessive hard drive usage, and show you how to free up some disk space too! In this PCSTATS Beginners Guide we will explore the reasons and culprits behind Windows Vista’s high disk usage, and explore ways to not only reduce the noise and activity, but also save and reclaim drive space Vista is using for features that you may not want.”

AeroCool EasyWatch System Controller Review
Club OC :: Thursday, March 13, 2008
AeroCool has made quite a name for them selves with system controllers like the GateWatch and the FP-01, but sometimes you don’t need all the extra bells ad whistles a full size controller has to offer. With the EasyWatch, AeroCool provides the core functions you really need in a slim 2.5 inch package.

Corsair Dominator DDR3 1800
Technic 3d :: Thursday, March 13, 2008
“The Corsair Dominator Twin3X2048 1800C7DFIN DDR3 2GB Kit arrived Technic3D. Technic3D will see as good they are with Overclocking against the OCZ 1.800 Memory Kit on Windows Vista Ultimate and the Asus P5E3 Deluxe WiFi Mainboard. You can see 1.860 MHz with 7-7-7-20 in the following Review.”

Intel SkullTrail Super High End PC Platform Review
Madshrimps :: Thursday, March 13, 2008
“How do you define the ultimate gaming system? Is it the best price/performance system or just the system with the most power, regardless of the cost? Intel’s answer goes by the name of SkullTrail, which gives you the opportunity of using two high-end processors and two high-end video cards in one system. Today we’ll take a look at what Intel is offering in terms of performance compared to a regular high-end system.”

MegaCon 2008 Babes Gallery 
Techware Labs :: Thursday, March 13, 2008
As promised we bring you a gallery full of the babes we ran into while at the MegaCon 2008 convention in Orlando Florida. The costumes are wild, the babes are hot, and you have a front row seat. Grab your popcorn and make sure you enlarge the thumbnails to get the full experience.

Seasonic M12II 500W Power Supply Review
Hardware Canucks :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
While the M12II 500W may be a far cry wattage-wise from some of the bruisers we have been testing these last few months, it allows us to showcase a power supply that should appeal to a much broader market. This power supply is the spiritual successor to the original (and extremely popular) M12 and shares the same modular interface but as we will see later, the similarities stop there.

Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini Review
Overclockers Club :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
“The Maxtor OneTouch 4 Mini has a lot of things that really make it an attractive buy, but most are not what you look for in a typical hard drive. Instead of blazing speed and low CPU usage, the OneTouch offers extreme portability because of its small size, a rather large storage capacity, and the ability for it to run without an external power adapter. These features are amazing, because who dosen’t want to carry around 250Gb of storage in a device about the size of an iPod.”

Thermaltake BlacX HDD Docking Station Review 
Hardware Secrets :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
“BlacX is a USB 2.0 SATA hard disk drive enclosure for you to install your hard drive outside your computer. O.k., you’ve seen hundreds of devices like this before, but what makes this Thermaltake product really unique is the fact that it is a docking station, allowing you to install and remove hard drives with the computer turned on and without needing to open the device to install your hard drive – just insert your hard drive on the available slot on the docking station. In fact hard disk drive installation with this unit remembers the installation of cartridges in older video game consoles. Sounds interesting? Read on.”

Kingston HyperX DDR3-1625 2GB Memory Kit Review
Think Computers :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
“Kingston is one of the oldest names in the PC world, and they are the largest manufacturer of system memory purchased by third party buyers. I remember hearing of Kingston in the late 1980s, a time when most PCs only had a megabyte or two of system memory, and I used their memory in my first RAM upgrade about a decade later. Recently I reviewed the Kingston HyperX PC3-11000 2 gig kit. Kingston considers it an entry-level enthusiast DDR3 HyperX kit. Today I will be looking at the PC3-13000 HyperX 2 gig kit, which at present, is considered the “sweet spot” of DDR3 memory by some. Will the HyperX PC3-13000 impress us more than the HyperX PC3-11000 did? Read on to see.”

Thermaltake M9 Mid-Tower Case Review
OCIA :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
“Today I’ll be looking at the recently released M9 series mid-tower case. There are two versions available, the VI1000BWS with side panel window and the VI1000BNS non-windowed case, which is the one I received for review. Measuring 17″ tall by 8″ wide and almost 20″ deep, this black-only steel mid-tower offers the typical micro and standard ATX size in a compact frame.”

Vista update KB940510 detects “bad” OS
Tweak Town :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
“We were just sent some details by a reader who said that he just installed Windows Vista update KB940510, which seems to have appeared just this last week or so.

This update is a “sniffer” which detects activation exploits that bypass product activation such as Paradox OEM BIOS Emulator and TimerStop grace period stopper.”

Crucial Ballistix 2GB PC3-12800 Kit Review 
ASE Labs :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
” These modules are rated for operation at DDR3-1600 which is PC3-12800 at 1.8V. The modules have SPD values for lower speeds (DDR3-1066) at JEDEC specs to provide boards the needed initial boot to provide the RAM with the proper voltage and timings. The stock timings at DDR3-1600 are 8-8-8-24. DDR3 latencies are very high compared to DDR2 and should only get better in time. These modules are lead free which helps the environment. Nothing like being green in today’s world. I almost forgot that the command rate is 1T which means you get an extra performance boost. ”

Asus Striker II Formula nForce 780i SLI
Hot Hardware :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
We’re writing to let everyone know that we have just posted a new article at HotHardware in which we evaluate the features, overclockability, and performance of the Asus Striker II Formula nForce 780i SLI-based motherboard for Intel processors. The Striker II Formula is a member of ASUS’ high-end Republic of Gamers, or ROG, series of motherboards. As such, the board is loaded with features and integrated peripherals that set it apart from run of the mill products. Head on over to the site and check it out…

Auras CTC-868 Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
“What makes the Auras CTC-868 heatsink stand out is that it’s split into thirds, with the two outer sections holding the integrated fans. A slip connection at the base of the CTC-868 allows each outer third of the heatsink to pivot on the connecting heatpipe 20 degrees, in the process noise is slightly reduced and the exhaust airflow can be directed down towards the motherboard.”

Cooler Master COSMOS S
Techgage :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
In the world of computer cases, it seems that far too many do not stand out from the crowd. Cooler Master has decided to break tradition and create something special. With many features not seen before and full eATX compatibility, how well does the Cosmos S stand out?

Security Warning For G-Archiver Users
PC Mechanic :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Here is a really scary one. Apparently, the developer of G-Archiver (a program which backs up your Gmail) has code embedded in their program which emails the developer user name and passwords of everyone who uses the program. From the article: John Terry, the apparent creator, hard coded his username and password to his gmail account […]

Techgage 2008 Birthday Contest
Techgage :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
We’ve just turned three, so to celebrate, we are holding a few contests throughout the month. Our first and primary contest can be entered by filling out a simple survey to aide us in improving the site. You have a chance to win a cutting-edge gaming PC (with nothing left out!), so go enter!

Gateway XHD3000 30-inch Wide-Screen
Techgage :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Gateway, not content to let Dell and others hog the limelight in the display market, have recently launched their XHD3000 monitor. It offers a wide-range of connectivity options along with bright picture and an incredible upscaler. When said and done, this is one model we can heartily recommend.

TRENDnet TEW-637AP Wireless N Access Point
Techgage :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Glued to your current wireless setup but want to make the leap to 802.11n? With the TEW-637AP, it’s very possible. By adding this to your existing network, you open up all of the “n” benefits, while retaining all of the settings on your current router. Is 802.11n worthy of such a unique upgrade?

ATI TV Wonder HD 600 PCI & HD 650 Combo USB
Techgage :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
AMD recently released two new ATI TV Wonder HD tuners, both of which have been in our lab for the past few months. In that time, we’ve put them through numerous tests to see what each one was made of. While the 600 PCI left a bit to be desired, the 650 Combo USB proves to do a lot of things right.

Palit GeForce 8800GT Super+1GB
Techgage :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
We’ve been fans of NVIDIA’s 8800 GT since launch, and Palit helps us remember why. Though utilizing reference clocks, the Super+1GB doubles the competitions memory, but as we found out, it’s difficult to see a difference. Overclocking yields far better results, and luckily, this card delivers there as well.

AblePlanet Clear Harmony Headphones
Techgage :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
When we met AblePlanet at CES, their Clear Harmony noise canceling headphones really caught our attention. Their built-in noise canceling circuitry is intended to reduce the infiltration of ambient noise, but can they stack up sonically against some serious competition within their price bracket?

Life Without Gmail?
PC Mechanic :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
About a month ago I did something only the few and brave do; I stopped using Gmail. Number of times I’ve been tempted to switch back since then: 0. Honestly speaking I thought I was going to go into GWD (Gmail Withdrawal Syndrome). I thought that going back to using e-mail with a client (Mozilla Thunderbird in […]

Setting Up E-Mail With Opera 9.26
PC Mechanic :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
A while back I got some questions about how to *exactly* set up e-mail with Opera so I decided to put together a video showing how it’s done. Some people aren’t aware that the e-mail client within Opera isn’t too shabby (it does OperaMail, POP and IMAP). See video below for details.

ASUS EN8800GT TOP 512MB
Techgage :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
If building a new computer or simply upgrading, you likely want to make sure your GPU decision is a good one, all while making sure not to break the bank. We are taking a look at the EN8800GT TOP which fits the bill. Even better, it’s pre-overclocked, to improve performance even further.

ASUS VW222 22-inch Wide-Screen
Techgage :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
The display market is chalked-full of models that fill up the quality spectrum, from sub-par up to high-end. The VW222 falls into the sub-par category, sadly, with overall poor color representation and noticeable screen-door effects, resulting in a model that should not be considered for purchase.

Logitech Z Cinema Speaker System
Techgage :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Logitech unveiled their Z Cinéma speaker system at this year’s CES, to plenty of fanfare. The system blends a refined two-way satellite design with a robust, powerful subwoofer. We take the latest high performance Z-series PC speaker system for a spin, and find lots of cause for excitement.

Really Stupid OS X Errors in Time Machine
PC Mechanic :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Every operating system, whether it be Linux, OS X or Windows, throws error messages when something goes wrong. Sometimes those errors make sense and are descriptive. Other times those errors are cryptic and you’re left Googling around for what the hell it means. Other times the errors are just plain stupid. This morning, I awoke to […]

A “Safer” Way To Shutdown Windows
PC Mechanic :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
Have you ever gone to shutdown your Windows machine (via Start > Shutdown) and once the process starts you remember there was one quick thing you needed to do? If so this is a hassle as you now have to turn the computer back on again to take care of it. Instead of the usual procedure, […]

PCMech Free Wallpaper #14: Gold Spiral
PC Mechanic :: Wednesday, March 12, 2008
This is an exclusive RSS-feed-only wallpaper download. Click the image below to view, right-click (or command-click on Mac) and set as your wallpaper. Standard   Widescreen

Ultra Micro Hughes 300 RC Helicopter Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
TrendTimes.com (http://www.trendtimes.com) and it’s called the Ultra Micro Hughes 300. The Micro Hughes 300 is very cool and lots of fun to fly around all over the place. The helicopter itself is very well made and very rugged as I crashed it many, many times while playing with it. It’s also highly detailed as well, it features a plastic body and not a styrofom body like other micro helicopters out there making it look more realistic with the many added details. So continue on to check out all the pictures and movies I’ve got for you…

Gigabyte GeForce 8800 GT NX88T512HP v1.0 Review
Overclockers Club :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008

PCMech Free Wallpaper #12: Blue Fern
PC Mechanic :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
This is an exclusive RSS-feed-only wallpaper download. Click the image below to view, right-click (or command-click on Mac) and set as your wallpaper. Standard Widescreen

PCMech Free Wallpaper #13: Fire Blue
PC Mechanic :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
This is an exclusive RSS-feed-only wallpaper download. Click the image below to view, right-click (or command-click on Mac) and set as your wallpaper. Standard Widescreen

Fifth Beta for Firefox 3.0
PC Mechanic :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Mozilla has said that it will be issuing a fifth beta for Firefox 3.0 because of the number of unfixed bugs remaining in the browser. The company is expected to "code freeze" it on March 18th, which means we should see a preview release of Firefox 3.0 in early April. Beta 4 went into "code freeze" on […]

Logitech Harmony ONE Review
Overclockers Club :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Phase III by cc3d
Bit-Tech Modding :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
What do you get when you give a crazy modder with a passion for accessibility total access to a water jet cutting instrument and high-end hardware? You get a test bench on crack! We take a look at cc3d’s Phase III and see if the build is as good as it is unique…

Links to Reviews For March 7-10
PC Mechanic :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
XFX 8400GS 256MB Video Card – “All around for what it is XFX has made a great card here, perfect for the media center computer. Some of the best features being the ability to put it in a low profile case, an S-video out, dual monitor support and it’s nice and quiet.” Hard Drive Performance Comparison Guide Asus […]

Wireless FM Transmitter Ver2 Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
I like gadgets, pretty much all gadgets really, but especially the ones that are multi-functional, those are the coolest I think. A while back I took a look at a decent wireless FM transmitter for transmitting music from your portable audio player to your cars’ radio, today for review I’ve got the 2nd version of that, aptly named the Wireless FM Transmitter Version 2. It looks and works pretty much the same as the first version but the 2nd version features a clock and a thermometer built in as well. A clock is a nice added touch and I like the temperature feature as well…

How To Make A Batch File
PC Mechanic :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
I have seen this question asked many times on the forums here at PCMech. Sometimes, what one takes for granted, makes others scratch their head so I figured this is worth a tip posting. Suppose you wanted a batch file to simply print the name of your computer. The command you would run would be the […]

NZXT Cryo LX Notebook Cooler Review
Overclockers Club :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Noctua NF-B9 92mm Fan Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Up on the review block today we’ve got a fan! Yep it’s a plan old fan, well sort of, it’s from Noctua so that should tell you that it’s not just any plain old fan right? The NF-B9 is a 92mm fan that is very different from every other fan out there on the market today, it has teeth on the blade, well technically they are called Vortex Control Notches, but they look like teeth to me. Anyway, the NF-B9 also has beveled blade tips, and Noctua’s own SC Drive system and SSO bearing to make for one very quiet fan that still can move quite a bit of air. So, let’s just get right into this review…

Online Security: Dissecting an eBay Scam
PC Mechanic :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
If you do any form of communication over the Internet, online frauds and scams are something you always have to be wary of. I have been fortunate enough to avoid such scams as I keep my email reasonably locked down, have a relatively good “BS detector” and am overall a tad bit on the cynical […]

Asus Striker II Formula Review
Overclockers Club :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Apevia X-Supra G Type Review
Overclockers Club :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008

PCMech Live: Quick WebCamMax Tutorial
PC Mechanic :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Since starting the live chat I get asked how I put together the stream. I use WebCamMax. In the video below I give a quick explanation on how I have mine configured.

Foxconn 9600GT 512 MB Review
Overclockers Club :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Mod of the Month – February 2008
Bit-Tech Modding :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
It’s that time of the month again – put down what you’re doing and whip out the trusty Dremel of love! We’re back with a new selection of mods to compete for your heart in February’s Mod of the Month.

Is .Mac Worth The Money?
PC Mechanic :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
A little over a week ago, I went out and picked up a 15″ MacBook Pro using the new Penryn processor. In a word – SWEET! I’ll have more to say about that later. But, for now, I wanted to take a look at dot-mac, or .MAC. It is the online service Apple offers with […]

Ken’s World 3/11/08: Silicon Valley Cocktail Party
PC Mechanic :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Cebit 2008 Coverage
Overclockers Club :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008

Study: Big Monitor Makes You More Productive
PC Mechanic :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008
Some people with perhaps a tad too much time on their hands, from the University of Utah, conducted a study which tested how quickly people performed tasks using different size monitors. They tested using an 18-inch monitor (where’d they find that?), a 24-inch monitor, and dual 20-inch monitors. What did they find? People using a single 24-inch […]

Saitek GM2400 Laser Mouse Review
Overclockers Club :: Tuesday, March 11, 2008

QNAP TS-409 Pro Turbo NAS Review 
Ninjalane :: Sunday, March 09, 2008
“When it comes to a cool feature packed Network Attached Storage device you’ll be hard pressed to find anything more versatile than the TS-409 Pro Turbo NAS. It comes with a whole laundry list of features specific to the task of serving up files but also for serving up other things like multimedia content, dynamic database content and even downloading over BitTorrent.”

E-Power EP-2KW 2000 Watt PSU Review
Overclockers Club :: Sunday, March 09, 2008
“Getting inside the main power supply we are greeted with two 1000W power supplies that are run in parallel to achieve the 2000W rating. The power supply internals are industrial grade and built to last. The dual capacitors, coupled with the thick copper wound inductors on each board on the primary side, the transformer sitting between the large black heatsinks, and heavy gauge wire on the secondary side make for a winning combination.”

Honeywell SecuraDrive 1.8-inch 80GB USB Hard Drive Review 
Think Computers :: Saturday, March 08, 2008
“On the run all the time? Transferring large documents through silly USB sticks? The Honeywell SecuraDrive has the perfect solution for you. Available in three different capacities: 80GB, 120GB, and 160GB, the SecuraDrive offers security and portability for all of your files. The included software allows you to partition the external drive into two different partitions: public and private. Keeping your friends and co-workers away from your “personal” files has never been so easy. Read on to see what other features the SecuraDrive has to offer.”

Cooler Master Real Power Pro 750w Power Supply Review
OCIA :: Saturday, March 08, 2008
“Today I’m taking a closer look at the Cooler Master Real Power Pro 750W, which is a non-modular power supply with a 750W continuous load rating. Like all of the Real Power Pro line, the 750W carries a five year warranty, has an 80-plus efficiency certification and is SLI-ready with dual 6 and 8-pin PCIe configurations.”

Patriot Memory PC2-9200 2GB EP DDR2 Kit
Tweak Town :: Saturday, March 08, 2008
“The sticker on one side of each module contains the full specs of the memory modules; these are rated for PC2-9200 or 1150MHz with timings of 5-5-5-12 and a maximum voltage rating of 2.3v.

Our test system is identical to the one used in the PC2-6400 test setup, this time however we are using the PC2-9200 memory and the Geil. For our stock setup we used 800MHz memory dividers.”

Coolink Chip Chilla Chipset Heatsink Review 
Techware Labs :: Saturday, March 08, 2008
“Cooling your chipset can be very important. Think of the chipset as the nerve center of your motherboard. It communicates with the CPU commands from many components and if running hot can lead to reduced performance or end up in a damaged system. Read our review to find out why the Chip Chilla has both a good and bad design.”

Seventeam ST-420BKV 420 W Power Supply Review
Hardware Secrets :: Saturday, March 08, 2008
“Even though power supplies from Seventeam aren’t sold in the USA retail market, they are very popular in several other countries, due to its low cost. In fact, it seems that Seventeam is the OEM manufacturer for some other brands – we discovered that the external power supply series from XG/MGE, Magnum, is in fact Seventeam Fanless series. ST-420BKV is a 420 W power supply without PFC. Let’s take an in-depth look on this power supply to check whether this unit is good or not and test it to see if it can really deliver its announced 420 W.”

ChipChilla – Chipset Cooler
Modders Inc :: Saturday, March 08, 2008
CPU cooled… Check! GPU cooled… Check! Hard drives cooled… Check! Case cooled… Check… Did you cool your chipset?!?! Is your chipset overheating? You know your chipset is a very important part of your motherboard, so it only make sense to cool it better than stock as well. Coolink has the answer, the ChipChilla will indeed cool your chipset.

Seagate Barracuda ES.2 1TB Hard Drive
Hot Hardware :: Friday, March 07, 2008
A few months ago, we evaluated the 1-terabyte (TB) Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 SATA hard drive and found the drive to offer many positive features in addition to its massive capacity. In this article though, we’ll be looking at Seagate’s new flagship enterprise-class, mass storage solution, the 1TB Barracuda ES.2. While the Barracuda 7200.11 and ES.2 are almost identical drives, there are some important differences to highlight between them. For instance, the 7200.11 has a mean time between failure (MTBF) rating of 750,000 hours while the ES.2 boasts a superior and more server-oriented MTBF of 1.2 million hours. Essentially, this means the ES.2 should be a more reliable drive that is less likely to fail. Head on over to the site to check it out…

How Long Should You Hold Out With Windows XP?
PC Mech :: Friday, March 07, 2008
“Windows XP will be officially retired in June 2008. And maybe you’re the type of person that says “Well.. I like my computer the way it is and I really don’t feel like buying a new computer or changing the operating system. How long can I continue to use XP before it’s unusable?”

Coolink Silentator CPU Cooler Review
Hardware Canucks :: Friday, March 07, 2008
If you are in the market for a quiet CPU cooler you should definitely give some serious consideration to the Silentator. It may not be for everyone since it does have a few quirks, but if you can overlook these minor annoyances the Silentator easily pays for itself in its noise reduction abilities and good cooling performance.

OCZ Cryo-Z Phase Change Cooler Tested
Tweak Town :: Friday, March 07, 2008
“Today is finally the day when we can tell you more about the OCZ Technology Cryo-Z. The information that we have gathered is not from a press release nor an assumption based on seeing the unit at a technology show. This is in fact real hands on with the unit, sitting at the Secret Bunker of Technology.

Not listed in OCZ’s official documentation is the fact that the Cryo-Z was designed in part by chilli1, a HVAC/R engineer who has become known in the computer enthusiast industry for making one-off and small scale production phase change components.”

TRENDnet TEW-637AP Wireless N Access Point Review
Techgage :: Friday, March 07, 2008
Glued to your current wireless setup but want to make the leap to 802.11n? With the TEW-637AP, it’s very possible. By adding this to your existing network, you open up all of the “n” benefits, while retaining all of the settings on your current router. Is 802.11n worthy of such a unique upgrade?

Patriot Viper PC2-6400XLK 2GB Memory Kit Review
Virtual Hideout :: Friday, March 07, 2008
“So, what can you do to improve the current DDR2 4-4-4-12 memory kits? How about, improve the kits with better ICs and improve the memory timings by lowering them to 3-4-3-8. Of course, this has only been achieved at the factory with 800MHz DDR2 ICs. Patriot has been the first to bring you 4-4-4-12 2x2GB memory kits, now they are the first to give us some 3-4-3-8 kits. This is good news for straight shooter computer users. Check out the new Patriot 2GB PC2-6400XLK Viper Memory Kit.”

Testing Intel’s X48 chipset: ASUS P5E3 Premium WiFi
TechSpot :: Friday, March 07, 2008
The upcoming Intel X48 chipset has been a poorly kept secret, but then again there has been little to be secretive or excited about. This is because the X48 is nothing more than a slightly updated version of the existing X38 chipset, which is a solid offering that nevertheless is not a whole lot better than the less pricey P35. So why not, let’s blame Intel for making great mainstream chipsets that perform like its cream of the crop.

And while the X48 chipset is yet to be officially released, we have already seen a number of motherboards that use it and are just waiting for the announcement to go mass production. Intel should be unveiling the X48 chipset later this month bringing official support for 1600MHz FSB (Front Side Bus) processors and DDR3-1600 memory, but other than that picking a difference between the X38 and X48 chipsets is near impossible. So don’t expect Intel or any of its partners to make a big fuss about it. The X48 is an evolutionary step that we believe may not come at any price premium over current X38 products, with that in mind today we will be looking at the ASUS P5E3 Premium WiFi-AP @n motherboard, the company’s first X48 motherboard.

Best Bang for The Buck Gaming Computer of 2008?
PC Mech :: Friday, March 07, 2008
“For those of you want more out of your computer than e-mail and Internet, but don’t have the money to dish out for a $3,000 rig that will get outdated in a week, look no further. I have compiled a list of the various components to let you get the most for your money for […]”

Cooler Master Cosmos S
Bjorn 3d :: Friday, March 07, 2008
Generally I don’t pay much attention to enclosures. It doesn’t have to be a particular brand, model or color — though I prefer black. My thoughts regaring PC cases had changed over the years. The case does not need to be fancy, flashy or unique anymore. What I do care about is the functionality, overall simplistic look and price. A lot more manufacturers release such cases nowadays. The boom for extraordinary designs had gone with the wind. I do however like a tiny bit of finesse that goes along with the case.

The enclosure that I have for you today comes from Cooler Master and is the latest model that had been recently released (February 22nd). It’s the highly anticipated Cosmos S featuring an updated look, better thermal solutions and plenty of more functionality. The biggest upgrade over the older Cosmos 1000 however is the aluminum design. Worth mentioning is the fact that while designing the Cosmos S, the Cooler Master team had been greatly inspired by the world’s finest race cars. The effect is simply stunning, see for yourself.

Cebit: Day 3 Coverage
Driver Heaven :: Friday, March 07, 2008
In our final Cebit roundup for 2008 we will be taking a look at the Asus, Corsair, and Razer stands as well as some other products we missed on previous days.

Coolink GFXChilla VGA Cooler Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Friday, March 07, 2008
“Up on the block today is the GFXChilla VGA Cooler from Coolink and I’ve tested it with my ATI X1800GTO video card and with my two Nvidia 8600GTS video cards as well. I’ve got comparison results with the GFXChilla going up against names like Thermalright, Arctic Cooling, Aerocool and of course the stock coolers. One thing cool (pun intended) about the GFXChilla is that it is small and able to be used with my Nvidia cards in SLI. From my testing I’ve found that the GFXChiila is virtually silent and performs extremely well, especially if you consider just how small it is. ”

Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 Review
OCC :: Thursday, March 06, 2008
“Overclocking this chip has been a pure pleasure. When paired with the X38 chipset, the potential could be far out there with the correct cooling setup. I started at 400 x 9 and 1.35v and the system booted so flawlessly that I knew that it was thirsty for more. So I jumped the multiplier to 9.5 and kept raising the FSB by 15MHz while keeping the voltage the same until it would not boot. Then I upped the voltage and started again. In the end I was able to push the Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 chip to 4.322GHz before the temps got high enough to make me not want to take the chance. I ended up with the E8500 at 455FSB x 9.5 multiplier for the speed I obtained with a voltage increase to 1.45v. At 4.322GHz I was able to complete SuperPI, Orthos Prime and all of the benchmarks with no problems at all.”

The Bundle – Do we really care?
Tweak Town :: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
“Sometimes the only thing that separates one graphics card from another is the bundle. Some card makers choose to include a nifty extra from time to time, while others choose to include extra cables or converters. However, more often than not it’s the game that separates the graphics cards apart, as it’s one of the most noticeable additions to a package.

The thing is though, it’s all well and good for us to say it’s nice to see that these extras were included, but you have to wonder; do we ultimately care about all these extras? – If I found myself working at a graphics card manufacturer I would probably attack the bundle a completely different way.”

Turn a small home UPS into a giant UPS (video)
TechSpot :: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
“Having a UPS is fairly common these days. However, one gripe I’ve always had and that you might too is the limited capacity you get on them. Even nicer $200+ ones might only give you a few minutes on a powerful PC, and for large capacity you could easily spend $1000 or more. Neither option was good for me. So I decided to make a better one myself.”

akasa 1000w PowerMax PSU Review
Xtreme Computing :: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
“Akasa has been around for a while and in the PSU game since we reviewed the Akasa pax power 460W which was a high end PSU back then, since then they have released some solid performers and for the right price too. Now we look at there latest offering the Akasa PowerMax 1000w PSU, will it perform as well as its predecessors, only one way to find out so let us get on with the review.”

AblePlanet Clear Harmony Headphones Review
Techgage :: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
When we met AblePlanet at CES, their Clear Harmony noise canceling headphones really caught our attention. Their built-in noise canceling circuitry is intended to reduce the infiltration of ambient noise, but can they stack up sonically against some serious competition within their price bracket?

Überclok Ion: Custom built fragging goodness 
Bjorn 3d :: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
So you like to play games; a lot of games. You want a powerful machine but just don’t have the time to research all the different parts. You also prefer to have a company standing behind you in the case something goes wrong. You’ve been to the popular boutique builders and you quickly realize if you are going to game on one of their systems you will probably need that arm and leg they are asking for. So what do you do and where do you turn? Here at Bjorn3D we recognize that not everyone wants to build their own machine. Some people prefer to order one and be done with it. For those of you that just want to game on some of the latest hardware and have it pushed to the absolute limits have I got a treat for you. To help usher in a new era of system reviews here at Bjorn 3D is with a lot of excitement that I introduce to you Überclok and their ION gaming machine. Don’t worry if you have never heard of Überclok because they are a new to the field but when you hear what they offer you will feel right at home.

Kingwin RVT-9225, RVT-12025, and RVT-12025D CPU Coolers Review 
Techware Labs :: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
“TechwareLabs tests out three new CPU coolers from Kingwin that use direct thermal transfer to integrated heatpipes. This is supposed to result in a great decrease in your CPU operating temperature. Does it work? Read our review on these three to find out.”

Scythe “KAZE MASTER 5.25” Multi Channel Fan Controller Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
To help gain more precise control of our fans, Scythe has sent us the KazeMaster KM01-SL Fan Controller and Temperature Monitor. This unit fits in the 5.25″ bay of any standard case. The KazeMaster is capable of monitoring up to four fans and four separate temperature probes. It even features an alarm for fan failures and high temperature readings, plus, all this information is presented on a beautiful VFD screen. How well does the KazeMaster control the cooling and volume of your case fans? Let’s take a closer look.

VIA EPIA-SN1800 Review
ASE Labs :: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
” The EPIA series from VIA has really come a long way since its initial inception years ago. When the series was first released, it was a unique formfactor. The problem is that it was slow and the expandability was not there. Fast forward a few years and the later designs are nothing like what it was. You get speed and expandability in a great size. If Windows is your thing, this board is Vista certified. ”

Noctua NH-U12P Heatpipe CPU Cooler Review
Big Bruin :: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
The cooling performance of the Noctua NH-U12P Heatpipe CPU Cooler is exceptional. With the fan at full speed it produces minimal noise and provides excellent thermal results, and cutting the fan speed down to near silence doesn’t impact the cooling at all. Even though the performance was exceptional, achieving it took more effort than I am used to needing in order to install a CPU cooler.

Gigabyte GA-EP35-DS4 DES
Phoronix :: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
“Back in December we looked at the Gigabyte GA-P35-DS4 motherboard and compared it against the ASUS P5K-E WiFi, which was also backed by Intel’s P35 Express Chipset. In that review, the Gigabyte motherboard had presented a slight lead when it came to the Linux desktop performance, but both motherboards received our recommendations. Since then, Gigabyte has made a few changes to their latest motherboards in order to provide heightened power efficiency. The newest Gigabyte motherboards support DES, or Dynamic Energy Saver, technology. In this review we are taking a brief look at Gigabyte’s efforts into green computing with their Dynamic Energy Saver technology on the GA-EP35-DS4 motherboard.”

Gigabyte GA X48-DS5 review 
Hardware Overclock Austria :: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
Hardwareoverclock Austria has tested one of the first Gigabyte GA-X48-DS5 boards with Intel’s X48 Express chipset. The most important themes in the article are the performance, the bios and the overclocking features. Please take a look at the overclocking results, looks very fine.

Coolermaster Cosmos S ATX Case Review
Madshrimps :: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
“It did not take Coolermaster long to update their high end chassis, the Cosmos S is based on the Cosmos, but made from aluminum, more cooling options, comes with a massive 200mm fan and has a very unique I/O panel. We compare this S(port) version to the original to see how it stacks up.”

Shuttle XPC P2 3500G 
Bios Magazine :: Wednesday, March 05, 2008
“High performance always comes at a price, but Shuttle’s XPC P2 3500G is a really compelling single graphics card solution for hardcore gamers short on space. I’d have been totally sold if there was a Blu-Ray, HDMI and 802.11n, but the choice of components and build quality are still striking. An added bonus is that every fully-configured system from Shuttle comes with a 24-month Pick-up and Return service. How’s that for service! Overall this is a mini-gaming powerhouse to be taken seriously.”

GIGABYTE ODIN Pro GE-MK20A-D1 1200w PSU
Tweak Town :: Tuesday, March 04, 2008
“When you hear the company name of “GIGABYTE”, odds are good that you are not thinking power supplies. These folks have been a premiere manufacturer of motherboards for quite some time. They have also recently begun to delve into the techno segment with a line of laptop systems, video cards, cooling components and even cell phones and other communication devices. But power supplies?

We are going to take a look at the feature set of the ODIN Pro 1200 and then put it to the test. We will see if these folks have a winner on their hands or whether they should stick to the other components that they are already good at making. ”

33-Way Thermal Interface Material Comparison
Benchmark Reviews :: Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Benchmark Reviews has seen a lot of products made for the purpose of delivering better performance. Some of these products exist for overclockers and enthusiasts, and often times help deliver performance out of otherwise tame hardware. Other products sometimes only deliver the empty marketing claim of improvements. Of all the products we have seen and tested, one particular category always stands out as the culprit for over-hyped promises: Thermal Interface Material (TIM). Of all the heatsink compounds and thermal pastes made and marketed, they must all only concentrate themselves to deliver the simple function of mating the CPU to the cooler with the highest thermal conductivity possible. Of course, some work better than others, and this is exactly what Benchmark Reviews intends to discover. Please join us for a comprehensive testing of 33 different TIM products.

Seagate FreeAgent Pro 1TB External Hard Drive Review
Futurelooks :: Tuesday, March 04, 2008
Seagate has long since established itself as a leader in the hard drive industry and one of their latest external offerings is not only attractive, but it’s also versatile and it comes with loads of storage capacity. The Seagate FreeAgent Pro external hard drive is now available with a whopping one terabyte of space; that’s 1000GB, folks!

Patriot Memory PC2-6400 4GB LL DDR2 Kit
Tweak Town :: Tuesday, March 04, 2008
“DDR2 is still kicking, and today we have a new kit from Patriot memory who have come through with a bang in the last six months with new modules hitting the shelves. We have been given their latest PC2-6400 4GB kit with low latency timings on offer.

Each module has a sticker on one side that includes the model number, speed rating and timings. These modules are designed for a 4-4-4-12 rating and support up to a maximum of 2.2 volts under the manufacturer’s warranty.”

AMD 780G Chipset and Athlon X2 4850e Preview
Hot Hareware :: Tuesday, March 04, 2008
“The 780G platform launching today combines the core logic expertise and graphics technology brought in from ATI with AMD’s latest low-power Athlon X2, yielding a very fast, very inexpensive platform that won’t rack up a substantial energy tab. Additionally, the chipset supports a new feature called Hybrid Graphics—a Vista-only capability that harnesses the power of an add-in card, combines it with the integrated engine, and gives you a CrossFire-like experience at a price point so low that AMD doesn’t want to call it CrossFire. Sounds like just the ticket for cost-conscious gamers eager to hang with the big boys.”

AMD’s 780G chipset
Tech Report :: Tuesday, March 04, 2008
I’ve had a computer hooked up to my television for as long as I’ve had a living room. What would eventually be called a home theater PC had humble beginnings, starting its life tasked with simply playing movies and MP3s before eventually morphing into a personal video recorder and an occasional game box. Before long, living room gaming duties were offloaded to consoles, allowing years to pass with nary an upgrade to my media PC. So long has it been since I last cracked the case that a thin blanket of dust has draped itself across the system’s internals, making the now-vintage hardware look all the more old and decrepit.

The HTPC market has exploded since I last built one. What was once an expensive accessory confined to enterprising geeks and do-it-yourself enthusiasts has moved into mainstream living rooms. And thanks to the relatively modest requirements of multimedia playback and recording, even today’s budget hardware is up to the task—hardware like AMD’s new 780G integrated graphics chipset.

The latest fruit borne of AMD’s purchase of ATI packs a DirectX 10-complaint graphics core pulled from a Radeon HD 2400 graphics card, decode acceleration for HD DVD Blu-ray movie playback, second-generation PCI Express, Hybrid CrossFire, a new SB700 south bridge, and a Phenom-ready HyperTransport 3 processor link. All that’s coming to motherboards that should cost less than $100. Alongside it, AMD is introducing a new energy-efficient Athlon X2 4850e with a 45W TDP and $89 price tag.

AMD 780G Chipset and Low Power 4850e Processor Review 
Techware Labs :: Tuesday, March 04, 2008
“AMD has just released the new 780G chipset and the 4850e low power processor. We have each of these in house and ran them through a few rounds of testing for you. The 780G provides users with an all new level of performance and gaming at an unbelievable low cost all while introducing the world to something called “hybrid graphics”. Get ready for a wild ride.”

Landisk NS347 NAS Review
Review Spring :: Tuesday, March 04, 2008
“The Landisk NS347 Hard Drive Enclosure is a very cost effective way of adding extra storage space to your network. This is more often called a NAS (Network Attached Storage) device, as it simply hooks up to your existing wired LAN and provides network shared storage. At under £30 (about $55) it is one of the cheapest NAS devices available.

The casing has a brushed metal finish and has a surprising feel of quality about it, and looks rather stylish. It would be particularly suited to owners of brushed aluminium tower cases.”

Intel Atom & Centrino Atom Technology Report 
Tech ARP :: Tuesday, March 04, 2008
“Although the new Intel Atom processors are not mainstream mobile processors, they will have a significant impact on the development of low-cost Netbooks as well as powerful new MIDs and UMPCs. The Atom processors would not only inject greater performance into those devices, they would also allow them to shave at least 12W of power consumption, improving their battery life.”

Hiper Anubis 
Nordic Hardware :: Sunday, March 02, 2008
“Many companies are now offering cases with a lot of clever features, but few are complete. Some are too far out, some could’ve used some more work, some are simply hideous. Some are just way too expensive, and some are simply lacking quality or distinguishing features. Hiper has attempted to avoid all of these traps, and here we will see if they’ve succeeded in doing so.”

Tuniq TX-2 Thermal Compound Review
RB Mods :: Sunday, March 02, 2008
When we think about achieving better cooling performance, we often focus on hardware solutions. However, the quality of the thermal compound/paste that interfaces between the chips and the cooler is another critical factor in getting better cooling performance from your cooler. Today we’ll take a look at a new thermal compound from Tuniq, well-known makers of a variety of cooling solutions, known TX-2. Will this product stand up against the incumbents in the market? We will attempt to answer that question in today’s review.

XFX nForce 630i Socket 775 mATX Motherboard 
Overclock 3d :: Sunday, March 02, 2008
“An nForce 630i mATX motherboard with integrated GeForce 7150 Graphics. Does this sound like the ideal HTPC motherboard for you? ”

SilverStone SG03 SFF Case Reviewed
The Tech Lounge :: Sunday, March 02, 2008
“SilverStone must be a cool place for an engineer. Not only do they obviously put engineering first, but they don’t simply accommodate innovative designs; they make them their staple. Without re-working the same products again and again, SilverStone produces top-shelf enclosures for all possible form factors, from Mini-ITX mobile-on-desktop to Extended-ATX server cases. All elegant, and every one an award-winner.”

Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus 1TB Review
Overclockers Club :: Saturday, March 01, 2008
“While comparing the Maxtor OneTouch 4 Plus 1TB to the Seagate FreeAgent Pro 1TB models, it did just about the same if not quite as good in just about all of the different benchmarks that it was thrown up against. The OneTouch 4 Plus was unable to compete with the internal hard drive, which is to be expected due to the fact that no matter how the device was attached to the computer, it had to run through some sort of bus.”

Noctua NH-U12P Heatsink
techPowerUp :: Saturday, March 01, 2008
On the heels of the successful NH-U12F CPU heatsink, Noctua has released a newer, more compatible version called the NH-U12P. This version has more clearance below the fins, making it easier to install on many motherboards. It comes with the new, ultra-quiet NF-P12 fan and a tube of the new NT-H1 thermal compound.

AeroCool DoublePower VGA Cooler Review
DragonSteel Mods :: Saturday, March 01, 2008
“Today for review I’ve got the DoublePower from AeroCool, it’s a VGA cooler that promises to help keep our video cards cool while looking rather cool as well. The DoublePower is fairly lightweight, and it features a built in fan speed controller, the fan has white LEDs in it that get brighter as the fans speed in increased to give you a visual clue to the speed of the fan. I’ve put the DoublePower up against the Stock cooler on my X1800GTO video card along with the Thermalright V-1 Ultra and the Arctic Coooling Accelero, so read on to see what I learned… ”

Going Virtual? You May Be Forced To Go 64-Bit
PC Mech :: Saturday, March 01, 2008
“An increasingly popular option for “switchers” from Windows XP to OS X or Linux is to run XP in a virtual environment instead of giving it up entirely. My feeling on that is that it’s the best possible maneuver you can do because you don’t lose anything save for game and performance and video-intensive apps. […]”

BFG ES-800 800W Power Supply Review
Hardware Canucks :: Saturday, March 01, 2008
BFG has done it. They have completely turned around every aspect of their older 800W power supply and produced a unit which deserves the “enthusiast power supply” moniker. If we could once again hearken back to our review of the original BFG 800W Power Supply it really becomes apparent the massive strides BFG has made towards improving their power supplies. It is not that the older 800W power supply was that bad (as a matter of fact it was a good performer) it is just that the new ES-800 unit is so much BETTER that the older unit pales in comparison.