Tech News April 2005

Bjorn3D Review: HIS X850 XT IceQ II Dual DVI VIVO 256MB PCIe
Bjorn3D :: Friday, April 08, 2005
‘The HIS X850 XT IceQ II Dual DVI VIVO 256MB PCIe is yet another high-end ATI-powered card from HIS that costs a premium but delivers a lot of horsepower to your computer. ‘

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OCZ DDR2 PC2-4200 Platinum Enhanced Bandwidth Ltd. Revision 2 Dual Channel Review @ AuphanOnline.com
AuphanOnline.com :: Friday, April 08, 2005

quote: “DDR2 memory has always been shunted due to its high price and high latency. Can OCZ’s latest DDR2 PC2-4200 turn the tide?”

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Thermaltake Kandalf @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Friday, April 08, 2005

Quote: “Today, InsaneTek has the honor of reviewing Thermaltake’s latest addition, the Thermaltake Kandalf Series. The Thermaltake Armor Series has already received considerable praise for its amazing features and versatility. The Kandalf series adds some extra features to the already acclaimed Armor series. We will be looking at the black version of this case, which utilizes a steel chassis. Thermaltake also has a silver version of this case that utilizes aluminum for lighter weight.”

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XG Extreme UV Mod box Kit review @ XtremeResources
Xtreme Resources :: Friday, April 08, 2005

“I would like to thank the great guys at XGBox, today as I bring to you the XG Extreme UV Mod Kit. XGBox is hard at work establishing themselves in high end computer cases and aggressively pursuing what every LAN gamer wants, that one custom case everyone wants to check out and copy off of to make their own. The XG Extreme mod kit has what you need to make your case just a little more special than the rest.”

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News Flash – Targus ChillHub Notebook USB 2.0 Cooling Pad Review
Futurelooks :: Friday, April 08, 2005
“Is your laptop overused? Does it overheat, slowdown or freeze? Are you running out of USB ports? If so the Targus ChillHup Notebook cooling pad may be the answer you have been looking for.”

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Powmax Demon 580W PSU review at SLCentral.com
SLCentral :: Friday, April 08, 2005

“Powmax is a company typically associated with lower end power supplies. But when I had seen that they had a 580W model with a “black chrome” finish and red LED’s for around $50, I had to check it out.”

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Titan Vanessa S-Type Heatpipe Cooler
SystemCooling :: Friday, April 08, 2005
snip: “Titan Computer Co. has been around since 1989 (first known as Sogic Computer Co.). Today they manufacture a wide array of CPU, VGA and system cooling devices. We were recently contacted by Titan and offered a review sample of their Vanessa S-type CPU cooler. So, without further ado, let’s see if design and performance can work together with this cooler.”

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News Submission: ATI TV Wonder Elite @ Bytesector
GideonTech :: Friday, April 08, 2005
“ATI has developed some great products in the past and broken some barriers, but I don’t think that much can come close to their latest multimedia package that they have dubbed, the TV Elite Wonder. The TV tuner card sports their latest Theatre 550 Pro video processor, 12-bit analog-to-digital conversion, an advanced motion-adaptive 3D comb filter, and PVR capabilities. It is needless to say that the card sounds wonderful. The package also comes with a third generation radio frequency remote control also known as ATI’s Remote Wonder Plus. A complete package designed with perfection in mind and I intend to find out if perfection is what it actually delivers.”

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News – Chaintech VNF4 Ultra ZENITH VE
Techniz.co.uk :: Friday, April 08, 2005

“The Chaintech VNF4-Ultra was featuring the new Nvidia nForce 4 Ultra chipset that delivers significant performance gains with variety of new generation architectures including dual-channel DDR, PCI-Express interface and Serial-ATA II interface for improving storage performance. The motherboard itself has a lot of built in features such as Gigabit LAN, RAID, and 7.1 channel sound.”

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Mikhailtech Basic System Buyer’s Guide – April 2005
Mikhailtech :: Friday, April 08, 2005

Thanks to dropping prices, this month we were able to give our video card a slight boost. We’re still recommending a Sapphire Radeon 9600 PRO, however this time around we were able to get the 256MB (vs. 128MB) version. The extra memory helps in certain cache-intensive, high content games (such as World of Warcraft). Having full DX9 and OpenGL 1.5 support as well as 400MHz core and 446MHz memory clocks allows this card to play all the latest titles at least on medium settings. We’re only a few dollars shy of a 9800SE (though it’s a toss up between getting the 128-bit or 256-bit version) or a vanilla GeForce 6600 (non-GT). Hopefully next month we’ll be able to make the switch.

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News Flash – The Tech Zone goes in search of the next “Killer App”.
The Tech Zone :: Friday, April 08, 2005
“One definition of a killer app is: A program that gives average people the capability to use technology to solve everyday problems and enrich their lives. E-mail was the first of these. Its usefulness has been demonstrated clearly by it being embraced across the entire spectrum of computer users. Another killer app, according to some people, was the Web browser.”

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Mass Confusion Rules the Graphics Market @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Friday, April 08, 2005

“I don’t know about you, but I’ve had enough with the games ATI and NVIDIA are playing with their customers these days. Yes, I am referring to the abundance of X800 series, X850 series and 6800 series products that are “flooding” the market. I am sure you got a whiff of what I am trying to imply by placing the word flooding in quotes. I have discussed the lack of availability issues in my graphics card evaluations before, so I don’t think I have to go through that again. We all know the poor state of product availability and while it is improving, it’s still far from perfect. The ironic thing is that both companies will bring in new products this year and with availability already scarce with current generation of graphics adapters, it’s needless to say that ATI and NVIDIA will have a lot of catching up to do.”

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Backpacking With A PDA Posted!
Tech ARP :: Friday, April 08, 2005

Quote – “The importance of a PDA during a journey abroad cannot be denied. Many seasoned travelers swear by them.

Join Jason today in his journey to Beijing with his trusty Sony CLIE TH55 PDA. See how a PDA can save your trip from a disastrous end!”

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Sunbeam Samurai Mid Tower Case Review @ Tech-Mods.net
Tech-Mods.net :: Thursday, April 07, 2005

”

There have been a lot of different cases that have come out as of late, some of us like to personalize our computers to our persona. Pre-modded cases are on the rise; case manufacturers are taking control over the unable or unknowledged. For those that want a custom looking case of their own, and are not able to personalize it, there is hope. Today we are going to look at the New Samurai mid tower case from Sunbeam Tech.

”

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MGE XGbox Extreme Mod Kit @ InsaneTek
InsaneTek :: Thursday, April 07, 2005

”

XGbox provides a nice set of simple mods in the Mod Kit for anyone looking to improve the appearance of their case. Though there is certainly more out there in the realm of modding, the Mod Kit provides a decent start.

”

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OCZ Modstream 520w PSU @ OCIA.net
OCIA :: Thursday, April 07, 2005

”

Heatshrink is used near the molex connectors instead of the sleeving continuing all the way to the connector. A previous PSU that I looked at ran the sleeving all the way to the molex, which made for some pretty stiff ends that were a little difficult to work with in some situations.

”

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Can RAID Systems Fail? @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Thursday, April 07, 2005
”

RAID undoubtedly offers more data protection than non-RAID disk systems. However, the management of the disks and the data distribution across them can be complex. Complex redundant systems can suffer failure, most often not a fault of the technology used or the design of the array, but most likely because of its failure to correctly apply these systems which leads to a single point of failure causing disastrous data loss.

”

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Centon Advanced Gemini PC2-4200LL 3-2-2-5 @ PCModdingMy
PC Modding Malaysia :: Thursday, April 07, 2005

”

When it comes to performance, Centon really impressed us all. Being a fairly new player in the enthusiast market, Centon has earned our respect. Although at the beginning I was a little sceptical about the appearance and outlooks of their Advanced DDR2 modules, it all backfired when the sheer performance showed in numbers. Although the heatspreaders were single sided, the price at USD$349 for the Centon modules is a little bit expensive when compared to the Corsair XMS2 Pro modules at USD$275. If you think that it is worth to spend a little bit more for a pair low latency DDR2 module, the Centon Advanced Gemini DDR2 PC2-4200LL should probably be your choice

”

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Xtrac Hybrid Gaming Mousepad Review @ Tweaknews.net
Tweaknews :: Thursday, April 07, 2005
”

XTrac aimed to give us a decent gaming mouse pad, and there is no doubt that they succeed in doing so. They have provided us with something that looks good, feels good, is easily packed and most importantly achieves what it’s meant to do, provide you with something that gets the most out of your optical mouse.

”

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Clean Case Contest 2005 @ MODTHEBOX.COM
MODTHEBOX! :: Thursday, April 07, 2005

”

This month’s contest is focused on testing your organization skills by demonstrating how clean you can make your case interior or computing environment. What exactly does this mean? In the modding community, there is so much emphasis placed on modding the external appearance of a case with little regard for the interior. We would like to see how creative and meticulous you can be at cleaning up the inside of your case or work environment and at the same time win some great prizes for your participation.

”

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PimpRig Project // Frozen$Solid$ :: The Road to the ORB Buster
PimpRig :: Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Not satisfied with his #13 worldwide score in 3DMark2001, PimpRig staff member $Solid$Necro has enlisted the help of the infamous cooling madman known as ZENNZZO. These two have a thread log currently running where they are trying to build an “ORB Buster” comprised of a CUSTOM TRIPLE PHASE CHANGE UNIT which will cool the CPU as well as the GPUs for two 6800 Ultras! Check out the madness!

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[ocnz-news] Nvidia SLI Performance Test
Overclockers New Zealand :: Tuesday, April 05, 2005
“Is SLI worth the money? Yes, definitely, if you have a bottom-less pocket. The performance increase from going to SLI on 6600GT PCI-E is anywhere from 20% to 64%, depending on the resolution and benchmark/game.”

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HEXUS.review – Intel Dual Core Extreme Edition CPU
Hexus :: Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Snip: The 3.2GHz Pentium XE 840 is offered as an alternative to current single-core Extreme Edition CPUs. It may not quite have the pure gaming performance punch as, say, the 3.73GHz XE, but it’s a better proposition when considered over a wide variety of applications. Think of it this way. The worst-case performance scenario is that the £650 Pentium XE 840 performs much like a single-core 3.2GHz 640 model. The best-case scenario, that is, being run with apps. that take advantage of its 4-thread parallel processing ability, is performance that no single-core Pentium 4 could ever hope to match, even under the most esoteric cooling.

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Ultra X-Connect 500W Titanium PSU review at SLCentral.com
SLCentral :: Tuesday, April 05, 2005
“Ultra’s been around for a long time. Starting out as the white box division for Midwest Micro, Ultra is now largly an enthusiast component company, manufacturing all sorts of niche components with that little tweak to it that makes them unique. Ultra sells everything from rechargable MP3 players with built-in email clients to DDR memory with heat spreaders in mahogany boxes. But their most popular items are no doubt their power supplies.”

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VIA Epia SP-13000 review @ Epiacenter.com
Epiacenter.com :: Tuesday, April 05, 2005

“The EPIA-SP 13000 is an important update to the VIA EPIA range improving the 3D graphics performance of the system – However, despite the boards shortfalls, this is the best VIA EPIA system yet – highly capable as an office machine, or entertainment platform, even capable of the odd game or two.”

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Sharkoon Silvation Case Review @ XtremeResources
Xtreme Resources :: Tuesday, April 05, 2005

“Cases, cases and more cases are released out o­n the market monthly. Every color and shape for every given taste at your disposal. But most of them are still the same case inside, nothing innovative and with very little difference. There is o­ne company that released a single case which is trying to make a distinction from the rest while not being very expensive or drastically different o­n the outside. Sharkoon is the company and the Silvation Basic is the case. From the outside, it just looks like an ordinary, large, nicely built steel case with elegant looks. But the whole fuss about this case is the interior. Let us open the shipping box and see what is inside.”

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EPoX EP-5LWA+ 925XE @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Tuesday, April 05, 2005
“EPoX put together a very nice motherboard based on the 925XE chipset. While you need to own the incredibly expensive 1066FSB Extreme Edition CPUs to get the most out of it, we see little reason to pickup a 925X based board even if you have an 800FSB CPU. The extra headroom should allow better overclocking as the chipset is validated at the higher speeds, and there isn’t much of a price premium between 925X and 925XE boards.”

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Intel Dual Core: Pentium EE 840 Arrives @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, April 05, 2005
Today, for the very first time, Intel is letting the media show off the Intel Pentium Processor Extreme Edition 840. Legit Reviews has the pleasure of being among the first to use the Intel 955X Express chipset, the I/O Controller Hub (ICH7/R), and the Pentium Extreme Edition 840 processor.

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Linux vs. Linux: The Battle for the Desktop @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Tuesday, April 05, 2005

“So, you have mastered every aspect of computing (or maybe not), and you are bored with the Internet. What can you do to bring back the thrill that you had the first time you fired up the latest Windows operating system? How about downloading or purchasing Linux? Linux is an “open-source” operating system that is in the “public domain”, meaning that it must be offered free and no company or individual can claim it. Even for the most literate users, experimentation into new areas of computing can be a fun and an interesting challenge; therefore, trying out one of the latest Linux distributions is an excellent way to venture into the world of Unix based operating systems.”

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1GHz DDR2 Memory Barrier Broken @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, April 05, 2005
By using the just released Corsair XMS PC-5400UL modules Legit Reviews has managed to surpass the 1000MHz memory barrier by a hair. This was done by running at 500.3MHz or 1000.6MHz DDR2 at loose 5-5-5-15 timings. Did we mention that this was also done on the new Intel Dual Core CPU?

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