Tech News May 2005

NewsMay 31, 2005June 29, 20140

OCZ EL DDR PC-3200 Dual Channel Titanium Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Monday, May 30, 2005

“Since OCZ is marketing the Titanium series as being “exceptionally reliable”, I decided to test how well it would do under constant stress testing. While only one week of virtually constant stress testing may not be enough for me to say that this memory is “exceptionally reliable”, I will update this section of the review should I encounter any problem at all with this memory. I will be running it 24/7 perhaps for the next year or so in my server, so rest assured that I will keep everyone updated should it be any less than exceptionally reliable”

Swiftech H20-120 Rev. 3a Water Cooling Kit Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Monday, May 30, 2005

“Overall, the Swiftech H20-120-SB Revision 3a kit is a perfect water cooling kit. It is almost compatible with almost any case available in the market and the integrated bay reservoir and pump is simply space saving. I have to admit that this is the most convenient water cooling kit I have ever reviewed, period. Besides that, the Radbox allows installation on any case and it gives better performance with the radiator installed externally. I was also impressed with the Coolsleeves as it gave better flexibility to the tubings (without kinking) even under the tightest situation.”

THERMALTAKE SVIKING BA400BWS BLACK COMPUTER CASE REVIEW @ Tweaknews
Tweaknews :: Monday, May 30, 2005

“The Thermaltake SViking series is a good buy, with a few exceptions. The sharp edges were kept to a bare minimum and for the most part the metal was rolled nice and neatly. The case offers a lot of room for optical and hard drives. The cases airflow is designed well, but mark my words, you won’t be able to take the full speed setting for long.”

Danger Den MCT-40 Coolant @ Techniz.co.uk
Techniz.co.uk :: Monday, May 30, 2005

“The Danger Den MCT-40 is specially design for the water cooling usage. The coolant of the MCT-40 is able to reduce the temperature of the water to improve the cooling performance. During our testing, the MCT-40 is performing better than the distilled water. Beside that, by using the MCT-40 in your water cooling setup, it will have a lot of advantages such as controls algae by eliminating food source, extend the life of the water block and water cooling system.”

Shuttle XPC ST20G5 Review @ Hexus
Hexus :: Monday, May 30, 2005

“All wrapped up in the very stylish G5 XPC chassis, the ST20G5 has a whole lot going for it. Until Shuttle pair nForce4 with the G5 chassis, there’s arguably no better teeny PC to place a Socket 939 CPU and a PCI Express graphics board into.”

Corsair COOL Watercooling Kit @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Monday, May 30, 2005

“Corsair continues their watercooling line with products from Swiftech. Sure they didn’t actually manufacture it but they do make a nice bundle at a great price. Plus you get a green bracket that Swiftech doesn’t offer”

Ultra compact IWILL 4-Way, dual-core Intel Xeon MP mainboard pictures @ Hexus
Hexus :: Monday, May 30, 2005

“The board is based around the 6th generation Intel 8500 core logic and supports 4-way, 64-bit Intel Xeon Processors, and the chipset also has full dual-core Xeon support. It has the ability to use 16 DDR2-400 ECC Registered Memory modules, supporting hot-swap, memory raid – sparing/mirroring. ”

DVdoctor.feature – PCI Express technology backgrounder @ Hexus
Hexus :: Monday, May 30, 2005

“PCI Express isn’t just about increased bandwidth. It also offers better power management, including native hot-plug support. And, although the physical interface is not backwards compatible, the driver architecture is. So PCI products can rapidly be moved over to PCI Express with little rewriting of software needed to make them work.”

Intel Pentium 4 670 and Pentium D 820 @ Hexus
Hexus :: Saturday, May 28, 2005

“To state the obvious, where the Pentium D 820 thrives is in multi-threaded applications that take full advantage of both its cores concurrently. When that happens, its performance beats out the fastest and most expensive single-core models with comparative ease. Above all else, what the £200 Pentium D 820 does is bring real dual-core goodness to the masses.”

Mushkin 1GB DC DDR400 Redline Review @ Techniz.co.uk
Techniz.co.uk :: Saturday, May 28, 2005

“The Mushkin 1GB DDR400 Redline series memory module is a very highly overclockable memory module that will meet the needs of most enthusiasts. This pair of DDR400 is one of the fastest frequencies RAM of the DDR memory range. This dual channel RAM is able to run at tight timings of 2-3-2-6 which is the best and basic requirement for a good memory module. Furthermore, with the voltage of 2.9V, it was able to hit 236 MHz which is equal to DDR 472 with the tight timings of 2-3-2-6. With a higher voltage at 3.6V, the Redline modules are able to reach 258MHz at the timing of 2-3-2-6.”

DFI Lan Party nF4 Ultra-D Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Saturday, May 28, 2005

“This board is just another legendary board from DFI. Without any doubt the DFI Lan Party nF4 Ultra-D will be the dream board for overclockers due to its high overclocking ability and luxurious BIOS tweaking. If you are lucky, you might get the older batch which can be modded to nF4 SLI without extra cost. However, if you are not an average / hardcore overclocker and do not bother to do the tweaking, you can still purchase this motherboard but it will be pointless getting a super-overclockable motherboard when you don’t even intend to overclock at the first place. Besides, this motherboard needs a lot of tweaking and trials to bring the best out of this board. Besides the high overclocking ability, this board also has other advantages as well such as the CMOS reload, EZ-on buttons and dual Gigabyte LAN, just for the list. With the price of around 130USD, it definitely an inexpensive solution for your ultimate overclocking setup”

Talkback: The Console Wars
Designtechnica :: Friday, May 27, 2005
“All three gaming consoles have been disclosed at E3, the new Sony/Apple-like Xbox 360, the new Playstation 3, which looks like it was designed by Porsche, and the Nintendo Revolution, which rather looks like it was designed by, well, Sony.

The good news is all of the products look much better than those preceding them, and they should outperform their predecessors as well; however, there are massive differences between them. The Nintendo product is the lightweight in terms of performance, but it’s expected to cost less than half of what the other two products cost, in a market that traditionally has not liked products over $200 very much. Unfortunately, it will also be the last to market and it will enter when the other two players should have vastly greater game support. That gives the Nintendo long odds for this race, which has been increasingly between Sony and Microsoft.”

E3 2005 Convention Coverage at TechIMO
Techimo :: Friday, May 27, 2005

The Electronic Entertainment Expo attracted much media attention this year, and we are serving up a quick overview of the spotlight attractions. Excerpt: Today’s roundup is the first of several articles that will be released about E3 2005. Future articles will include: game previews, game console previews, and even a couple of hardware previews. In the meantime, check out our official E3 gallery, complete with plenty of booth babe pics.

News Flash – Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Deluxe Webcam Review
Futurelooks :: Friday, May 27, 2005
“It’s small and you can hide it in the palm of your hand. What is it? It’s the Logitech quickcam, for notebooks deluxe. It’s the smallest webcam I have seen. The specifications that I have read are very impressive, but will it stand up to the test?”

PimpRig Review // Sapphire Tech Toxic X700 Pro PCIe Video Card
PimpRig :: Friday, May 27, 2005
“One of the main benefits of this X700 Pro vs the vanilla one is that this one comes packaged with Sapphire’s A.P.E. software. This is definitely the easiest out of the box overclocking software I have ever used… to a fault. Simply slide in the install CD and run the setup app and reboot. Done. Don’t bother to look for any settings or fancy system tray setup. It won’t be there. For the minimalists among you this little app will be extremely attractive but for control freaks like me that love bells, whistles, switches and options (for starters) this little app just won’t sit well and you will most likely opt to use your preferred overclocking software instead.”

Shuttle SB83G5C Media Center XPC @ t-break
t-break :: Friday, May 27, 2005
The two drive bays and the front panel are all concealed making the look consistent and elegant. The front also houses the VFD display which is a two line display with the top line showing icons of the currently used function and the bottom line showing text such as the time or the temperature of your XPC. We must say that the VFD display gels real well with the mirror finish giving it a somewhat Sony floating glass touch.

Sharp Zaurus SL-C3000 Review
Designtechnica :: Friday, May 27, 2005
“It’s been a while since we’ve seen any innovation in the PDA scene, especially since Sony stopped selling their Clie line. With the PDA market seemingly shrinking and stagnating, Sharp has released a new versatile PDA that may change what the definition of a PDA is.

The Zaurus SL-C3000 is the latest in the line of Linux-based PDAs from Sharp. What distinguishes the Zaurus from other popular PDAs is the use of Linux as the core operating system. This allows the Zaurus to have a stable, tried and true operating system with a lot of flexibility and extensibility. In addition, Sharp packs the Zaurus SL-C3000 with the best of technologies to create a very unique product.”

VIA EPIA SP 1300 All-In-One – HTPC Dream and Car PC Paradise
TweakTown :: Friday, May 27, 2005
“Today we’re taking a look at VIA’s latest small form factor All-In-One EPIA motherboard, the SP 1300 based on the latest processors and chipsets to come from the VIA labs. This low power consumption platform with hardware MPEG-2 decoding and hardware MPEG-4 acceleration might just what you’re looking for in a silent HTPC or car computer. Read on as we take a close look at the humble yet impressive EPIA SP 1300 All-In-One motherboard from VIA Technologies.”

News – LiteOn SOHW-1693S DVD Writer
Techniz.co.uk :: Friday, May 27, 2005

“LiteOn have come out with another great DVD Writer, the SOHW-1693S. The SOHW-1693S was a very good optical drive in terms of performance. The overall performance was much better than the previous model which is the SOHW-1673S and this new model is support the writing of the DVD-R Dual Layer media. The drive itself is very stable during the reading/writing of any CD/DVD media. As for the noise level, it was much quiet compare to the all the previous model. Furthermore, this new unit is comes with the extra bezel kit that you can change the color of the bezel according to you needs to match with your chassis. The LiteOn SOHW-1693S DVD Writer is a worthy solution of the new 16x Dual Layer DVD writer”

Prime Cooler Hypercool III+ & Hypercool 4+ Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Friday, May 27, 2005

“Basically the Prime Cooler Hypercool III+ and Hypercool 4+ are both good coolers for midrange overclockers because it seem that it can’t handle the heat for higher overclocking. Although these coolers are huge in size but the installation isn’t that hard. I found that it is quite easy to use for all kinds of sockets. Besides that, these coolers are silent, universal (Hypercool 4+), and its ablility to cool down not only the processor but other motherboard components (MOSFET) as well. With its acceptable price, I would suggest you to try it if you’re looking for a silent CPU cooling solution”

HEXUS.net – ZMAXd2: More Pictures
Hexus :: Friday, May 27, 2005
Packing support for NVIDIA’s SLI technology via nForce4 SLI core logic, along with support for dual-core Opteron, the ZMAXd2 crams even more into the same space, doubling the CPU and graphics power with help from a new 400W power supply, specially developed by IWILL for the unit.

Aspire X-QPACK Micro ATX Case Review @ ModdersHQ.net
ModdersHQ.net :: Friday, May 27, 2005

A Quote “…Now for some not so typical testing. My wife has always rolled her eyes at my passion and desire for computers and all things geeky. She would often laugh at me when I would ramble on about the new (insert name here) case. While doing the final photos for this review, she stuck her head in the door to see what I was doing and immediately feel in love with the X-QPACK. I was politely ordered to earmark this case (including the hardware…bye bye Gainward) for her next rig. If a case can demand that kind of attention from MY WIFE, it has to be doing something right.”

The Future of Linux on Laptops @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Friday, May 27, 2005

“Although Linux is growing meekly when it comes to end-user usage and interaction, the overall experience of using a Linux distribution has turned out to be a positive one for numerous beginners. In recent years, Linux has made advancements in leaps and bounds, which has led to its adoption by many corporate users as well as regular desktop users. Though it’s still not in a perfect state, the rapid pace of development in numerous areas of Linux promises a bright future, nonetheless.”

Gigabyte G-Power Cooler Pro (GH-PDU21-MF) Review @ Bjorn3D
Beyond3D :: Friday, May 27, 2005
With today’s high-end CPU’s running hotter than ever, companies are trying to come up with new CPU heatsink and fan combinations to keep the CPU cool. Today, I am going to look at the Gigabyte’s G-Power Cooler Pro (GH-PDU21-MF) on my AMD Athlon 64 FX 55. We will be comparing it to the Thermaltake K450 that I reviewed last month.

THERMALTAKE PUREPOWER TWV 500W ATX 2.0 MODULAR POWER SUPPLY REVIEW @ TWEAKNEWS.NET
Tweaknews :: Friday, May 27, 2005

“Thermaltake has done a good job with their first entry into the modular power supply market. The TWV 500W sells for around $130US, putting it at the high end of the spectrum, price wise. The inclusion of a case fan and the TWV module offsets the high price somewhat, if the prospective buyer finds these features desirable.”

Iwill ZMAXd2 Dual-Opteron Dual-Core ready Specs, Motherboard & first photos ever published!
AMDboard :: Friday, May 27, 2005
The Computex show in Taipei is always bringing some exciting new products and today AMDboard.com is revealing one of those The Iwill AMD dual-Opteron is based on the hugely attractive ZMAXdp barebone design with incredible specifications. The motherboard is dual-core ready (yes, that’s potentially 4 AMD Opteron cores in a SFF!) which sports NVIDIA NFORCE4 SLI chipset for allowing 2 PCI Express x16 graphic cards to run simultaneously. To power such hungry puppy, Iwill has integrated no less than a 400W power supply unit (PSU) and that’s undoubtedly a minimum. But that’s not all and we invite you to enjoy more pictures, motherboard and short specification at:

HEXUS.review – ABIT AN8 Fatal1ty S939 Motherboard
Hexus :: Friday, May 27, 2005

Snip: ABIT Fatal1ty AN8’s passes its biggest test, that is, being a supreme enthusiast-orientated S939 motherboard. What makes it so good is the sensible choice of a feature-rich chipset, nForce4 Ultra, and due care and attention that’s given over to both frequency and fan-speed manipulation. These two factors combine to push the sample’s stable HTT frequency to 320MHz – the highest yet seen at HEXUS. It’s achieved without any additional cooling and it paves the way for the Fatal1ty AN8 to be paired with the best S939 overclocking CPUs available today, be they Venice or San Diego cores.

Thermalright XP-90C Heatsink @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Friday, May 27, 2005
“Three or four degrees difference over the Zalman cooler may not seem like much, but to an enthusiast that may mean the difference in a decent overclock and a great overclock. Naturally when compared to the stock cooler on the 3.4 there is no surprise in the huge temperature difference, but it does give a great example of how much more efficient the XP-90 is.”

Ultra X-Connect 500W Power Supply @ GideonTech
GideonTech :: Saturday, May 21, 2005
“The Ultra X-Connect is rated at a beefy 500W, which should more than enough for most modern day machines. That’s actually not the selling point of this model. Instead of the typical wires, the design is made to incorporate modular wires. Use what you need, remove what you don’t.”

OCZ PC3200 Gold Edition (BH5) DDR RAM @ PimpRig
PimpRig :: Saturday, May 21, 2005
“BH5… the Lich King. Any avid overclocker who is worth his salt and has been involved in the OC scene for a while has at least heard of the legendary Winbond BH5 RAM. This RAM was heralded for it’s ability to keep low/tight timings (2-2-2-5 1T) at rediculous overclocked speeds (250+MHz) as long as you could feed it the juice it needed (3.5V+). BH5 is back from the dead! OCZ has arranged to have new BH5 chips made from old dies. The result is a lightning quick pair of 512MB sticks available for under $160!”

The Bard’s Tale (PC) Available Summer 2005; details & screens @ amdgamer
AMDGamer.com :: Saturday, May 21, 2005

“The Bard’s Tale is an action/role-playing game in which the player takes on the role of the Bard, a sardonic and opportunistic musician and adventurer, driven by carnal rather than noble pursuits. The Bard is not interested in saving the world, his humble motivations are strictly coin and cleavage”

Crucial Radeon X850XT 256MB PCI-E review @ XtremeResources
Xtreme Resources :: Saturday, May 21, 2005

“A very large percentage of PC users are compromised of PC gamers. Gamers do not place silence, versatility or even value of their system as their top priority, but only 3D performance. While most of us search and evaluate the best price to performance ratio and solution, the majority of Gamers simply want the best there is when it comes to a video card. However, the best video cards are usually the most expensive. Crucial came forward to offer this portion of that market offering the ATi Radeon X850 XT 256MB card following the reference design, which currently is one of the fastest cards on the planet. Let us see what this card is made of and what it can offer the hardcore enthusiast”

Abit AX8 Review @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Saturday, May 21, 2005

“While VIA K8T890 chipset may be a little lacking in the performance department, die-hard VIA fans will be glad to know that the AX8 is a great implementation of the chipset. It’s budget oriented and overclocks pretty nicely.”

SunBeamTech Wherever PCI Rack @ TechTastic
TechTastic :: Saturday, May 21, 2005

“Let’s face it. There’s a limited amount of slots and space in a computer case. Most computer users wouldn’t even give this a second thought, but among overclockers and case modders it something to consider. Well today we take a look at Sunbeamtech’s Wherever PCI Rack that allows you to install more components to your computer case. Maybe you want to mount a fan just above the videocard for added cooling, or maybe you just want to mount a third hard drive. With the Wherever PCI Rack you can do that and more.”

Antec TruePower 2.0 480W Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Saturday, May 21, 2005

“With up to 4 SATA power connectors on the TPII-480, you have a solid power supply that is ready to take on anything you can throw at it while not breaking a sweat even at full load. Although the cable management can be a little messy, I wished that the TPII-480 had a few more 4-pin molex connectors. If you’re looking for a decent power supply to cope up with your power hungry system, Antec True Power 2.0 might just be the right hardware for you. Given that the TPII-480 is sold at around USD$99, you can’t get a better power supply for that price! If you’re looking into getting a EPS complaint power supply, you can also check out the TPII-550EPS12V from Antec”

Low-End Buyer’s Guide (Q2’05) @ TheTechLounge
The Tech Lounge :: Saturday, May 21, 2005

“The goal of this guide is to outline an entire low-end computer system for around $750. This includes the internal hardware, input devices, monitor and speakers. The components we have chosen for this system are what we consider to be good all-around products with the best bang for the buck. *Product discounts inside* ”

Cooler Master Aquagate Mini R120 @ Overclockers Online
Overclockers Online :: Saturday, May 21, 2005
“Although I would not call this a completely silent cooling system, it is an excellent step in the right direction for manufacturers to get products that stress reliability to consumers to strike more interest in water-cooling. If I can get a product, such as the Aquagate, that is easy to install, comes with a 2 year warranty, very cost effective, and provides great cooling, why not?!”

SilverStone TJ06 Case Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Saturday, May 21, 2005

“The TJ06 is undoubtedly another champion case from SilverStone! Although it is not as perfect as the TJ03 nor TJ05, the TJ06 has its own advantages such as supporting up to five 5.25” drive bays, air guides, aluminum front panel and other neat features. On the installation part, the TJ06 is a very user friendly case and it find it amazingly easy to work with. This is because you only need to open the right side panel and the front panel to install everything whereas most cases needed a lot more effort to get things done. With the price at around USD135, it is quite pricey for a steel case but I believe that the price is worth if you look at the build quality and the features of the case. Anyway, if you find that its advantages appeals to you, then just go ahead and get this case. You won’t regret it since its a SilverStone!”

Jetart JACSH1 Graphics Card Cooler Review @ Adrian’s Rojak Pot
Tech ARP :: Saturday, May 21, 2005

“Everyone has heard of Zalman and Arctic Cooling graphics card coolers but Jetart is relatively unknown in this market. However, they may have a potential winner in their new JACSH1 graphics card cooler!

Don’t ask us about the name – we really have no idea why they named it JACSH1. But we know how well it performs! Check out the review and find out just how good this cooler is! ”

Mushkin DDR PC-4000 Redline Dual Channel Memory Video Review @ 3dGameMan
3dgameman :: Saturday, May 21, 2005

“This memory is aptly named Redline because it’s extremely fast, highly overclockable, stable and reliable. With a timing of 2-2-2-6 at 500MHz DDR it’s wicked fast, but this memory can be pushed even further. This product will easily outperform most other memory. It’s a must have for the performance enthusiast. Redline all the way! Watch the Video to find out more…”

ASPIRE X-QPACK-AL/420 Black/Silver Aluminum MicroATX Computer Case w/ 420W PSU Review @ Tweaknews
Tweaknews :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005

“Did I mention that I like big cases? Well, I do. I also like the Aspire X-QPACK. It looks good without sacrificing functionality. It’s compact, yet offers room for two 5.25 inch drives, two hard drives and a floppy. It’s lightweight, but still quite sturdy. The carry handle makes for easy portability and the cooling is surprisingly good. With three windows, LED fans, LCD temperature display, a 420W power supply with a dynamite finish and sleeved cables, and five color choices it also gets big points as a pre-modded case. In fact, the X-QPACK really challenges the modder to mod the components inside the case, as so much of the interior is visible.”

GeIL Ultra-X UTT BH5 Contest: 2 Weeks Left! @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005
“GeIL Ultra-X UTT BH5 Contest: 2 Weeks Left! @ InsaneTek GeIL’s new Ultra-X memory based on the Winbond UTT BH5 memory is getting excellent reviews and results all over the world. Here’s your chance to get some for free!”

Virtual-Hideout Visits Performance-pcs.com @ Virtual-Hideout
Virtual-Hideout :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005

“V-H headed to the sunshine state of Florida recently to check out one of the best online mod shops in the business. We rode an air boat on the everglades, tackled hungry gators, even survived a shark slaying all in order to get you the scoop on performance-pcs.com and see if they deserve your hard earned cash. You won’t want to miss this adventure! ”

A Guide To Audio Cables – Do They Sound Different? @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005
“One of the most common questions asked by consumers faced with purchasing cables for their audio or home theater system is, “What is so important about cables anyway?” They can cost as much or more than some of the hardware in the system and to many it is difficult to understand why wire isn’t just wire.”

Aerocool Magic-3D ATX Computer Case Reviewed @ Hi-Techreviews
Hi-Techreviews :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005

“Aerocool’s newest case the Magic-3D may be perfect case for those of you that have a processor that is running just a bit to hot since the case comes with a pair of 120mm twin-bladed turbine Aerocool fans and the case has room for one additional 120mm at the rear of the case for a total of three. So as you can see this case will definitely provide you with plenty of air flow. So come on along as we check out the rest of the features of this newest addition to their line-up.”

Western Digital (WD740GD) 74GB “Raptor” HDD Review @ Virtual-Hideout
Virtual-Hideout :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005

“I had been eyeing the Raptor ever since it has hit the market because of the performance it has vs. the standard IDE drives. This drive is simply amazing. It can be compared to the top end SCSI drives without the price tag. The drive may be more expensive than a normal SATA drive but the 10,000RPM speed is just phenomenal. ”

EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra (nForce 4 Ultra AMD) Motherboard Review @ TweakTown
TweakTown :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005
“EPoX sent us one of their newest motherboards recently, the 9NPA+ Ultra, which is based on nVidia’s new nForce 4 Ultra chipset for the AMD Athlon Socket 939 processor platform. We’ve compared the motherboard against the nForce 4 SLI chipset to find out if there are any differences in performance in a non-SLI system setup. If you’re on the market for a new PCI-Express Socket 939 motherboard with some decent overclocking support, you might be interested in the EPoX 9NPA+ Ultra.”

Cool by Corsair 120MM Advanced PC CPU Liquid Cooling System Review @ Futurelooks
Futurelooks :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005
“Have a super loud CPU fan sitting inside your case that you want to quiet down? Looking for something much quieter and quite possibly more awesome? We check out Corsair’s very own liquid cooling system to see if its all that”

FlashPEZ mod @ MetkuMods
MetkuMods :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005

“In this particular mod the idea is to use PEZ candy dispensers as a case for flash memory devices. You may find this mod interesting or fail to see the point completely. In any case, here it is. :)”

Titan Alaska 3D HD Cooler (TTC-HD88) @ eXtreme Hardware
eXtreme Hardware :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005

“Although many consider hard drive coolers as an insignificant addition to the cooling world, there are those who buy a cooler for the heck of it, or just for looks. But what do hard drive coolers really do? At what point does a hard drive actually need active cooling in order to sustain stability? Well, one things for sure, you most probably won’t reach that temperature under normal circumstances. So what else does an HD cooler, such as the Titan Alaska 3D HD Cooler (TTC-HD88), have to offer? We’ll find out in this review”

Aspire X-QPack Case @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005
“Those of you looking to build a SFF PC from scratch will want to give the Aspire X-QPack a close look as it offers more in terms of options from most pre-built SFF PCs. Overall, it’s a decently designed chassis though it doesn’t stray too far from the basic fundamentals of a “cube” SFF.”

Corsair XMS2 PC2-4300 Pro 1GB DDR2 Twin2X Review @ Overclockers Online
Overclockers Online :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005
“The Corsair memory modules tested here today presented a great deal of value compared to SimpleTech’s offering we most recently looked at. What’s more is that the Corsair memory features extras that users might expect when spending more than $200 for memory; heatspreaders, lower latencies, higher stock frequency, and Corsair’s unique activity LEDs. I can say that I’d recommend this memory to people looking for fast, stable, and high performing memory. Most users, with current chipsets won’t find this memory or any other DDR2 we’ve looked at so far to limit their system overclocks.”

Thermaltake Soprano Case Review @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005

“Thermaltake is no stranger to the computing scene. They have been designing cooling products for five years now, starting with the infamous Golden Orb CPU cooler. They have come a long way since then and have diversified their product line beyond CPU coolers. Thermaltake has been producing cases since 2002, when they first established their Xaser line”

Mitron Aluminum Reservoir Review @ PC Modding Malaysia
PC Modding Malaysia :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005

“Although the Mitron reservoir only able to best ordinary reservoir with 1C during our testing but this doesn’t apply to the other users as well because it also depends on the airflow, environment, and many other factors. Anyway this Mitron reservoir looks cool and easy for users to add the coolant if it is mounted externally. The Mitron anodized aluminum externally mounted reservoir is really good especially for hardcore water cooling users if they do not care to pay more and the hassle of the installation in some certain cases.”

Thermaltake CircleFire Review @ GruntvillE
GruntvillE :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005

“Now it’s time for the bad news… The 2W speaker is very low quality and has a squawking, somewhat ‘tinny’ sound. I honestly believe my Nintendo GameBoy from 10+ years ago had better sound. To make things worse, the volume button on the unit has three states; Loud, Louder, and Louder+1. The only way I could tolerate the sound was to have the Circlefire set on the lowest setting, and drop my PC volume to less than 25%. And I use “tolerate” in the least enthusiastic way possible.”

Corsair PC3200XL v1.2: Why Not Name It PC4800? @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005

“Corsair’s TCCD v1.1 isn’t known as a great overclocker. Their touched up TCCD v1.2 features a “special” Brainpower PCB and one low price. The result? High overclocking headroom for everyone.”

Linux vs. Windows Web Hosting @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Sunday, May 15, 2005

“Microsoft developed and owns the Windows operating system. Linux is open source and generally free. This means it can often be more expensive to set up and run a Windows server. However, this fact doesn’t really affect you unless you are actually setting up a server for yourself and if you’re reading this article then I’m guessing that it’s safe to assume you’re not.”

Point of View GeForce 6600 GT Review @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Sunday, May 15, 2005
“Being a reviewer, it is sometimes easy to forget that not everyone can afford all those high-end cards that we get to review. Not everyone wants to spend as much on a video card as they do on the rest of the system. NVIDIA and ATI of course know that and have released a bunch of low and mid-end cards catering for every size of wallet.

Today, I am reviewing one of these cards, the Point of View 6600 GT, a mid-level card using the NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GT chipset.”

Vantec All in 1 USB Card Reader @ Techniz.co.uk
Techniz.co.uk :: Sunday, May 15, 2005

“The size of the Vantec All in 1 USB Internal Card Reader is specially design to be mount into the 3.5″ drive bay. It also bundles with a extra face plate to be exchange in order to match the color of your case. The card reader function is even better, it able to support the CF/CF ll, MMC/MMC2, SD,SM, Microdrive, MS, MS DUO, MS Pro and MS Pro DUO. Beside that, there is two LED indicators for the Power and Activity individually. The MSRP of each unit is at around $18 USD only. So, the price is very affordable for a internal card reader with USB port.”

Mountain Mods U2-UFO Brushed Aluminum Case @ SystemCooling
SystemCooling :: Sunday, May 15, 2005

“For the computer enthusiast and modder there never seems to be enough room inside your computer case. With all the lights, fans and water cooling, you’re lucky to find a place just for your basic components let alone anything extra. Mountain Mods has a solution to that problem and what’s even better, it looks great and it’s light. Mountain Mods has been in the computer case business for almost 2 years, making high end custom cases and special made to order cases as well. Today we’re going to be looking at their U2-UFO brushed aluminum case to see just what the case has to offer the modder and enthusiast alike.”

OCZ EL DDR PC-5000 Dual Channel Platinum DFI nF4 Special Memory Video Review @ 3dGameMan
3dgameman :: Sunday, May 15, 2005

“This dual channel memory is rated at 625MHz DDR with a timing of 3-4-4-10 and is specifically designed for DFI nForce4 motherboards. While this default speed is blistering fast it can be pushed even further. Overclockers will adore this product for its raw performance, stability and reliability. Without a doubt, this memory is the best of the best! Watch the Video to find out more…”

Centon Advance PC2-5400 Memory @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Sunday, May 15, 2005
“Depending on how Centon prices this DDR2 in comparison to other brands, this PC5400 Advance memory bears watching. Centon’s initial entry into the enthusiast/gamer market looks promising…”

Tagan TG480-U22 PSU Review @ OCPrices
OcPrices :: Sunday, May 15, 2005
“Tagan now have an established reputation here in the UK as one of the best quality PSU manufactures in business. With this new model, Tagan are the first manufacturer to release a PSU compatible with both the ATX 12V 1.3 and the latest ATX 12V 2.01. The so-called Two-Force series is so named due to its dual 12V rail. Dual 12V rails are nothing new, as both Enermax and OCZ employ them for their top of the range 600W models. Tagan, however, is unique in the facility to combine these split rails into a single one via a switch on the back if required.”

Thermalright XP90-C @ OCIA
OCIA :: Saturday, May 07, 2005

“Finally, the XP90-C itself. This is an attractive sink. Unlike the XP120 and XP90-Aluminum refered to as “Light ‘n’ Easy”, this sink has some weight to it, 1.52 lbs to be exact. (XP90-Aluminum = .79 lbs, XP120 = 0.81 lbs) The stepping on the fins is exactly the same as the XP90, accommodating either an 80mm or 90/92mm fan.”

Thermaltake Silent 939 CPU Cooler @ Techniz.co.uk
Techniz.co.uk :: Saturday, May 07, 2005

“Thermaltake have come out with a nice and great CPU cooler again. The Silent 939 cooler is adopting the heatpipe technology with a low noise fan. Furthermore, the fan is a 11 blades silent fan. As for the cooling performance, you can view it on the testing section. It’s performing much better and more low noise compare to the AMD K8 stock cooler. Overall, this Silent 939 CPU cooler is very good in terms of the cooling performance, low noise, and style.”

Soltek EQ3501-300P SFF @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Saturday, May 07, 2005
“Overall, we found the Soltek EQ3501-300P a solid system with a few flaws, both minor and major depending on what you’re looking for in a SFF PC. The system itself is suitable as a full sized system replacement, and if you’re aware of the limitations and can work around them, you’ll be fine. Whether or not you like the appearance though is up to you.”

Beginners Guides: Understanding and Tweaking Windows XP Services @ PCStats
PCStats :: Saturday, May 07, 2005
“The reason for this occasional slow performance is the same reason why Microsoft Windows XP runs considerably slower than Windows 2000 at times; it’s what’s going on in the background. Every modern operating system needs to run certain processes constantly, regardless of what other programs and operations are currently active and regardless of what the user may be doing. These background processes may be used to detect new hardware, monitor the network for incoming data, or a variety of other things that require the operating system to pay constant attention to its surroundings. In Windows XP, these background processes are called Services and they will be the topic of this edition. We’re going to look at what the WinXP Services are and do, why they are necessary, which ones should be running on your system and which ones you can do without.”

File Management For The Disorganized Packrat @ SystemCooling
SystemCooling :: Saturday, May 07, 2005

“All they really consist of are magnetic representations of 1’s and 0’s. They exist only in an ephemeral way, yet more and more people rely on them for their work, relaxation, and entertainment. They’re all the same in many ways, but can be as different as night and day. They can’t be touched, and they don’t have any mass, yet they take up valuable space, and can become cluttered and unwieldy. We’re talking about files here. More accurately, computer files. As we become more reliant on computer technology, these bits and pieces of virtual information get more valuable, not to mention more numerous. And just like anything else that tends to pile up, computer files need to be managed and organized in order for them to be accessible and useful.”

Raidmax Virgo 811 Black Computer Case Review @ Tweaknews
Tweaknews :: Saturday, May 07, 2005

“All said, I think this case is amazing for the price. It’s got a clean look and great styling. Definitely a contender to consider.”

Revoltec case modification products review @ XtremeResources
Xtreme Resources :: Saturday, May 07, 2005
“People began looking into ways to make their systems look original, prettier and different than all the rest. Some even became obsessed over modifying their PCs for originality. These are the so called modders. Today we are going to see what one of the companies which aim to please the modders market has to offer and some of their modding products are under the scope today. Revoltec is a German company, a subsidiary of Listan, rather new but well established in Europe, since they are known for their good prices but they tend not to sacrifice quality for low prices.”

Steelpad Qck+ Mouse Pad Mini-Review at TechIMO
Techimo :: Friday, May 27, 2005

Michael Hoffman serves up commentary on current events in the tech industry, plus delivers a mini-review of Steelpad’s popular cloth mouse pad. Excerpt: sPeople often ask me which mouse pad I would recommend using for LAN parties. After playing on the QcK+, this is certainly the pad that I would recommend. It is a cloth pad that can be folded or crumpled and tossed inside of a bag quickly.

D-Link DGL-4300 Wireless 108G Gaming Router Review @ MODTHEBOX.COM
MODTHEBOX! :: Friday, May 27, 2005

“The highlight of the DGL-4300 Wireless 108G Gaming Router is the

inclusion of D-Link’s GameFuel technology. GameFuel is essentially a QoS (Quality of Service) feature that refers to a broad collection of networking technologies and techniques. The goal of GameFuel is the prioritization of network traffic; in this specific case network traffic in reference to gaming. Consumers can define specific gaming rules that will allow a single or multiple gaming PC’s to have top priority on the network when compared to standard applications such as e-mail, chat clients or web browsers.”

Logitech Cordless Desktop LX500 and LX700 Showdown @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Friday, May 27, 2005

“Logitech is one of the most well known makers of computer peripherals. Founded in 1981 in Switzerland, this company has grown to near 7,000 employees and have their products sold in more than 100 countries worldwide. Here in North America they have achieved an extremely deep market penetration, evidenced by their presence in nearly every electronic retailer in the country. If you walk in any Best Buy or Fry’s Electronic you will see Logitech keyboards and mice for sale.”

Digital Photo 101 – The Digital Darkroom @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005
“In the last three weeks, I have heard from four professional photographers who used to work exclusively in film. Two of them have added digital to their shooting arsenal and two have made a total switch to digital capture. All of these people have national reputations. All of them are nervous about switching. And all of them e-mailed me this week and asked pretty much the same questions. “How do I make the move from the wet darkroom to the digital darkroom? How do I get started with Photoshop? What is a workflow?”

It occurred to me that there must be others out there who have recently made the switch or who are about to make the switch to digital. If you too are making the switch, here’s what you need to know”

PowerColor Bravo X700 @ Overclockers Online
Overclockers Online :: Saturday, May 28, 2005
“Where the Bravo X700 gets its market share is from those loving their silence. Utilizing the heatpipes and heatsinks, the silence would be golden in an HTPC machine. Seeing as the card is bundled with TV Out, HDTV support and paired with CyberLink and not a Half-Life 2 voucher coupon, this is what you’d want in playing your latest and greatest movies. However, at the lower resolutions, the Bravo X700 will be able to perform well for those who have an itch to play a game or two on a large HDTV. When it comes to a PC, the dual digital outputs will be great for the executives who can’t be bothered with a whining fan but also need to power dual digital LCDs. Either way, the PowerColor Bravo X700 is one card you don’t want to overlook when it comes to finding a very versatile card at a midrange price.”

HIS Excalibur Radeon X850 XT iTurbo and X850XT Platinum Review @ OcPrices
OcPrices :: Saturday, May 28, 2005
“The HIS iX850XT Turbo card is without doubt the best value X850 XT card I have seen. Thanks to the included iTurbo program, HIS can guarantee that it will run at full Platinum Edition clock speeds without issue. This was proved to be true in our benchmark suite, where we never observed any problems running it at these elevated speeds. When you consider that the X850XT Platinum Edition offers no improvement in performance or features compared to the iTurbo, it is a little more difficult to recommend.”

ATI TV WONDER USB 2.0 REVIEW @ Tweaknews
Tweaknews :: Saturday, May 28, 2005

“As I said earlier, for the money and the software included, if you are in the market to turn your computer into a handy TV with A/V functionality and don’t have the ability to use a PCI version, you really can’t go wrong with this product. It is easy to install and setup, comes with ATI exceptional multimedia software along with GemStar’s GuidePlus which on it own is worth over US$200 for its’ subscription. The image quality is just as good as all the TV wonder and All in Wonder videocard’s that I have tested in the past..”

Powercolor X800 up for grabs! @ Hexus
Hexus :: Saturday, May 21, 2005
“In order to get this card we have set a very simple task. Most of you will not know, but Powercolor is being headed up by some new fresh faces within the UK, and we want to help them out :o)

We want you – in no more than 10 words to think up a snazzy slogan about their products/cards which they could use on a potential banner advert on a site – like HEXUS. ”

Logitech Z-5500 THX certified speaker review @ XtremeResources
Xtreme Resources :: Wednesday, May 18, 2005

“In the past, Logitech was known for producing mice and keyboards, and quality speaker systems aimed at economical price points and OEM replacement speakers a few years ago. With the advent of the Z-Series of performance 2 channel and Surround Sound speaker systems, Logitech has built up quite an enthusiastic following. The quality, attention to design and detail, and power which was supplied with the previous Logitech Z-640 5.1 channel speaker systems, and the Logitech Z2200 THX Certified 2.1 systems, Logitech comes from a solid background now in speaker design and implementation.”

ATI R520 to Hit Retail Shelves in Q3, 2005 @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Saturday, May 07, 2005

“After some of our sources disclosed that information, we were immediately interested in product availability and pricing information on ATI’s upcoming R520 based cards. A source close to ATI’s board partners revealed that R520 based graphics adapters will start appearing on shelves sometime in Q3 or between July – September timeframe. This would mean that if ATI introduces their R520 at Computex, which will take place in Taipei, Taiwan from May 31st – June 4th, there’s a minimum of one-month delay before actual products appear on retail shelves”

Albatron GeForce TC6200Q (Turbo Cache) @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Saturday, May 07, 2005
“The Albatron 6200 Turbo Cache will not blow your mind but you won’t have to sacrifice your gaming experience to upgrade to PCI-Express on a budget. The 6200 Turbo Cache uses innovative technology to establish harmony between cost and performance…”

MSI NX6600GT-VTD128SP Videocard Review @ PCStats
PCStats :: Saturday, May 07, 2005
“Since competition has always been a deciding factor with mainstream videocards, manufacturers are really pulling out all the stops to differentiate their 6600GT-based cards. The standards are pricing, flashy colours, lights, silent cooling set-ups, or even an occasional software package. MSI has pretty much done all of this.”

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