Tech News April 2005

SoundBlaster Audigy 2 NX review @ techniz.co.uk
Techniz.co.uk :: Saturday, April 30, 2005

“The overall package is well packed with software, you can play cd’s DVD’s, record audio and change the way it sounds, ie using sound profiles ie CMSS. The handy demo CD igives you an idea of WHAT this card can really do. The good thing with this unit that you can have three inputs, and still have a 5.1 speaker system plugged it. Many other units make use of the mic and line inputs to provide the 5.1 support, not this one!”

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Asus Extreme N6600GT/TOP Limited Edition Videocard review @ XtremeResources
Xtreme Resources :: Thursday, April 28, 2005

“With every new generation of video cards come many iterations of the new technology. With nVidia’s introduction of the 6 series of GPUs, there have come multiple cards based on similar families of GPUs. Most notably the 6800 family brought to the table the 6800, 6800GT and 6800 Ultra. Likewise with the midrange 6 series card(s) I’ll be looking at today, the Asus Extreme N6600GT/TOP/TD, there are many flavors based on the enthusiast’s budget. With the Extreme N6600GT/TOP/TD we have what is one of the most expensive 6600GTs on the market, but include Asus’ reputation for ultra high quality components, build quality, and with this model, equipped with 128 MB of Samsung 1.6ns DDR3. Follow along on my evaluation to see if this Limited Edition card provides the performance to go along with it’s higher than average price tag.”

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Albatron 6600GT PCI-E 128MB VGA Review @ OCNZ
Overclockers New Zealand :: Thursday, April 21, 2005
”

What can I say? Albatron managed a fine score at the stock speed, as expected with its reference design, and achieved an unprecedented overclocking of 597MHz core and 1200MHz memory, thanks to the use of copper HSF. ”

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GIGABYTE GeForce 6600 TurboForce Ultra Edition @ Techniz
Techniz.co.uk :: Thursday, April 21, 2005

” The GigaByte GeForce 6600 128MB PCI-Express graphic card is great mid range graphic card. The performance of this GigaByte GeForce 6600 128MB PCI-Express graphic card is out perform the ATI 9800 series even the ATI X700 Pro and it was very close to the GeForce 6600GT performance. Beside that, the bundles was very good which including of a full game of the Thief. As for the overclocking results from this GigaByte GeForce 6600 128MB PCI-Express graphic card is very good as well. There was an increment of 137MHz for the core and 200MHz for the memory that brings up from the default at 500/1000MHz to 587MHz/1200MHz. This was the most value and affordable price for the main stream users. Highly Recommended! ”

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nVidia nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition
TweakTown :: Tuesday, April 19, 2005
“After many hours of blood, sweat and tears we’ve finished our look at nVidia’s latest chipset for the Intel Pentium 4 platform. It’s the nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition or as its become known around the labs, the NF4 IE. It follows the features found in the nForce series of chipsets but helps fills a gap in the gaming market offering SLI gaming performance on the Intel platform.”

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Turtle Beach Video Advantage USB at Designtechnica
Designtechnica :: Tuesday, April 19, 2005
“If you hadn’t noticed lately, the age of digital entertainment is more than upon us. Your old analog VCR and camcorder which served you so well through the early 90s are wearing down, as well as the tapes you use with them. It is time to digitally convert and backup your old wedding and graduation videos if you hope to keep them for the future. Turtle Beach, a maker of PC audio solutions, thinks they have an easy solution to help in this endeavor in the form of the Video Advantage USB.”

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Albatron PC6600GT Video Card Review @ LAN Addict
LAN Addict :: Sunday, April 10, 2005

“When all is said and done, I think the Albatron 6600 GT is a great mainstream card. I would have liked NVIDIA to support OpenGL 2.0 with the 6xxx series, like ATi has done with the X8xxXL cards. When it comes to performance, the PC6600GT is great. This card is one of the best mainstream cards on the market, and for $200, it’s priced to sell.”

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MSI NX6800GT-T2D256E Geforce 6800GT Videocard
PCStats :: Friday, April 08, 2005
“PCSTATS is pleased to be looking at the MSI NX6800GT-T2D256E Geforce 6800GT-based PCI-Express videocard in this report. Beyond the catchy name, the NX6800GT’s notable points are 256MB of GDDR3 Samsung BGA DRAM, and that it doesn’t take up an extra slot on your motherboard with a huge cooling solution like ATI seem so fond of doing lately. nVidia had its fun in this ballpark with a loud, and now obsolete GeForce 6800 Ultra videocard series. Quiet is king, so listen closely as we dish out the details…”

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Samsung SyncMaster 243T 24-inch LCD Display Review
PCStats :: Friday, April 08, 2005
“In this review, PCSTATS will be testing out one of its latest TFT-LCD models, the 24-inch Samsung SyncMaster 243T. This lovely piece of LCD technology sports some impressive specs including a 1920×1200 native resolution, a 500:1 contrast ratio, 170 degree horizontal/vertical viewing angles, 0.270mm pixel pitch, a pivoting display and dual digital/analog modes. It is ideally intended for commercial applications where its wide viewing angles and crisp graphics would be a definite asset. At a cost of approximately $2700 CDN, this is not a home desktop monitor by any stretch of the imagination.”

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Albatron Px915P4/G4 Pro Review @ Techware Labs
Techwarelabs :: Thursday, April 07, 2005
”

Albatron is a name you are probably becoming more familiar with these days. They make some of the best products available in the computer market. Their product line extends from Wifi Audio to SFF barebones and also Plasma screens. See how their motherboard ranks with the others we have tested.

”

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HIS Radeon X800XL Review @ OCC
Overclocker Café :: Thursday, April 07, 2005

”

If you’re going to do a price/performance comparison this card is going to come out on top every time. Quite a bit less expensive and yet still giving out excellent performance. By overclocking this card, you can reach equivalent frame rates of the X850XT at stock speeds, and all for no extra money. You just can’t ask for more than that. Though I have yet to handle an nVidia based 6800GT, this cards direct competitor, I’d have to say that this card is truly going to be the card to beat in it’s price range.

”

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NVIDIA nForce 4 SLI Intel Edition @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Tuesday, April 05, 2005
“Application performance is probably secondary as the nForce4 SLI is aimed squarely at gamers and enthusiasts. Going back to AMD Vs Intel, it used to be pretty clearly AMD all the way, but now the waters have muddied somewhat as the nForce4 SLI Intel Edition has bridged the gap by allowing the user to plug in two NVIDIA cards into their system. Granted, one card will also do for those who can’t splurge on two cards, but the idea we’re trying to make clear is you now have a choice.”

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Samsung SyncMaster 243T 24-inch LCD Display @ PCStats
PCStats :: Saturday, April 02, 2005
“In this review, PCSTATS will be testing out one of it’s latest TFT-LCD models, the 24-inch Samsung SyncMaster 243T. This lovely piece of LCD technology sports some impressive specs including a 1920×1200 native resolution, a 500:1 contrast ratio, 170 degree horizontal/vertical viewing angles, 0.270mm pixel pitch, a pivoting display and dual digital/analog modes. It is ideally intended for commercial applications where its wide viewing angles and crisp graphics would be a definite asset. At a cost of approximately $2700 CDN, this is not a home desktop monitor by any stretch of the imagination”

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SilverStone Gemini ST46GF Redundant Power Supply
SystemCooling :: Saturday, April 02, 2005

“SystemCooling.com has reviewed a lot of power supplies over the past two years but none that provided hardware redundancy and hot-swap capabilities. The new SilverStone Gemini series ST46GF is actually two power supplies in one. Each power supply module is capable of delivering 460 watts continuous power. During normal operation the two modules share the load but if either one should fail, the other module will automatically carry the full load”

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BFG Tech GeForce 6600 GT OC (Solo and SLI) @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Friday, April 01, 2005
For the out-of-the-box warrantied overclock, you will have to pay a slight price premium over stock speed 6600 GT’s, but if you want one of the highest performing 6600 GT’s available, then BFG has you covered with its 6600 GT OC. It’s a great card with cool looks and a mediocre bundle. As always, though, I have to emphasize BFG’s lifetime warranty and 24×7 tech support. Those two things are very big selling points to me and offer a lot of comfort you just can’t get from many other companies.

Obviously since the 6600 GT OC offers great performance by itself, it will also provide some of the best performance numbers (if not the best) in SLI mode when you set up a pair of them on your SLI motherboard. If performance and support are your top concerns, then look no further than BFG. The ‘OC’ line continues to offer top performance.

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Albatron PX925XE Pro-R @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Friday, April 01, 2005
“The Albatron PX925XE Pro-R is a fine board but not one that a true hardcore enthusiast should aim for; if balls out overclocking is your thing you should look elsewhere. That said, if you have a 200FSB CPU, you can feel safe in the knowledge that the 925XE will allow you headroom up to 266FSB at least, but the same can be said of other 925XE boards.”

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The Ingredients For A Great Computer Game @ The Tech Zone
The Tech Zone :: Friday, April 01, 2005
There are millions of computer games out there on the market, how do you make your game best selling? What features have to be included? I have taken a look on previously best sellers trying to determine what makes a great game.

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