Gigabyte GA-M59SLI-S5 Mainboard Review
Technic 3d :: Monday, December 11, 2006
“The Gigabyte GA-M59SLI-S5 Mainboard arrived Technic3D. The fanless High-End Mainboard for Gamer and Overclocker with nForce5 SLI. A Dream? See you in the following Review on Technic3D”
Scythe Kama Meter Fan Controller & Temperature Gauge Review
Review Desk :: Monday, December 11, 2006
“Only the nerdiest among us use fan speed controllers and temperature probes, right? Well, that’s what I used to think – not anymore. I never tested out a multi-function controller that fits in the 5.25″ bay because, well, I never really cared… However, my ideals have changed now, thanks to the Scythe Kama Meter.”
OCZ PC2-8000 Titanium Alpha VX2 DDR2 Memory Kit Review
Tech ARP :: Monday, December 11, 2006
“Overclockers looking for a good memory kit to play with should take a look at the OCZ PC2-8000 Titanium Alpha VX2.
Thanks to its Micron D9 chips, and its ability to support up to 2.52V, it’s fast, loaded with capacity and will give you plenty of room to play in. ”
AeroCool Zero° Gaming Case
Club Overclocker :: Monday, December 11, 2006
AeroCool, makers of some of the coolest front panel displays and system monitors available, has a new case hitting the market this month called the Zero° (Zero Degree). Targeted towards gamers and computer enthusiasts, this case has some fresh and innovative features that will take you by surprise. Some of the cool features include a HUGE 250 millimeter cooling fan mounted right on a professional looking window mod. The internal design of the case is also different than most standard ATX cases because the motherboard actually mounts on the left side of the case, not the right. This means the motherboard is mounted upside-down. AeroCool has dared to be different with the Zero Degree Case, but is the Zero Degree a good quality gaming case or just another box? Let’s take a closer look and find out.
Tyan Tempest i5000XT S2696
Phoronix :: Monday, December 11, 2006
“Last month Intel Corporation had announced their Kentsfield and Clovertown processors. The Intel Core 2 Extreme Quad QX6700 was the first processor (and only one at this time) based upon the quad-core Kentsfield. Meanwhile Intel had introduced the Clovertown Xeon 5300 series at Super Computing 2006. With the two Clovertown quad-core processors in hand, we had delivered our launch-day preview back on November 14. The motherboard we had used for those tests, as well as to test the Xeon 5000 and 5100 series, was the Tyan Tempest i5000XT S2696. Now having spent nearly a month with this flagship motherboard we have a few thoughts to share about this Xeon creation.”
OCZ GameXStream 850w SLI-Ready PSU Giveaway
OCIA :: Monday, December 11, 2006
OCIA.net has teamed up with OCZ Technology to give away an OCZ GameXStream 850w SLI-Ready PSU.
Coolit Freezone Review
Overclockers Club :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
“Coolit? Cool what? Coolit The name of the company that released the Freezone CPU Cooler. While not being a major name in cooling they seem to be making a name for themselves, skipping the entire line of air cooling, as well as water cooling, and moving straight to a hybrid TEC (Peltier) cooling method. This may have been a very bold step, coming from no one to someone seemingly overnight, and skipping the entire general market, aiming their products at the enthusiasts of the market. This seems to be a bold step though this product is acclaimed to be a very safe the thought of using a TEC system without insulation is still a little bit daunting. Coolit Systems while being a fairly new, they seem to have done their research of just what we want. That being the ultimate in performance, at a reasonable cost, we are about to get down and dirty with the new Freezone CPU cooler.”
Thermaltake Extreme Spirit II Chipset Cooler Review
Hardware Logic :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
While CPU’s and GPU’s get lots of cooling attention, chipsets often seem to go overlooked. Most chipsets are cooled by a cheesy plastic heatsink or a noisy active cooler. Today we will take a look at the latest chipset cooler by Thermaltake, the Extreme Spirit II.
Ultra X Connect VS 700w
Driver Heaven :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
Today we will take a look at the Ultra X-Connect VS 700W power supply, those with good memories will remember Ultra introduced modular power supply units to the PC world. As strange as this may sound to some, this is not a power supply unit for the hardcore enthusiast but mostly aimed towards gamers and modders.
PC Power & Cooling 1KW-SR, 1 KW Power Supply
Bjorn 3d :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
It was about this time last year that I had a most enjoyable time playing with NVIDIA’s new 7800GTS 512MB’s in SLI. As you may recall finding a power supply that would run those 2 cards turned into a nightmare. Several high end power supplies could not keep my system from shutting down. In the end I turned to PC Power and Cooling and got a 1KW from them to solve my problem. That power supplied worked flawlessly and earned a Golden Bear Award from Bjorn3D.
Now I have a new configuration, running XFX 8800GTX cards in SLI along with a few other power hungry system goodies. The XFX 8800GTX(s) each require 2 PCI-E power connectors. I almost went with the PC Power and Cooling 1K Quad for this system, but was just a little concerned that the power supplied on each rail might not be adequate to meet the needs of the extremely power-hungry 8800GTXs. After discussing the mater with the professional staff at PC Power and Cooling, I decided to try out their brand new 1KW-SR.
OCZ EvoStream 600-watt SLI PSU using Modular Design
Tweak Town :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
“As far as the numbers are concerned, the EvoStream 600 is designed to handle a continuous load of 600 watts. It makes use of four 12v rails, each of which are rated at 15A. While this isn’t the beefiest setup on the block, it will be sufficient for all but the most hardcore systems. Our test system runs a pair of hungry video cards and no issues were noted even under load.
The 5v rail is rated at 30A and the 3.3v rail is rated at 20A, so even older Athlon based systems should be well provided for.”
Christmas 2006 Gaming PC Buying Guide Posted! 
Tech ARP :: Friday, December 08, 2006
“Christmas is very close now. Don’t settle for yet another t-shirt or more free kisses under the mistletoe. Get yourself a brand-new gaming PC!
If you think it’s too expensive, think again. We will show you how to get it all for only $1010! Heck, we will show you how to get an SLI gaming PC for less than $1200.”
NZXT LeXa Case Review
Technic 3d :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
“The NZXT LeXa Case is the next Midi Tower in the Technic3D Editorship. See you in the following Review which qualities the case presents with a new Lan Style.”
Test Your Skills
Hardware Secrets :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
“We’ve just added a new section to Hardware Secrets called Test Your Skills. On this section you can take quizes on several hardware- and LAN-related subjects in order to check whether your knowledge on a given subject is good enough or if you should study more. We started today with 23 quizes and we should be adding more quizes in the near future.”
Silverstone ST40EF PSU Review: Power Through Efficiency
Madshrimps :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
“Equipped with a new generation of design and components, the Element ST40EF continues SilverStone’s stride toward more efficient power supplies, with higher than 80% efficiency across all loading conditions.”
Logisys Blue Acrylic/Clear Yin Yang Case
Modders Inc. :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
The clear Yin Yang Case combines the beauty of colors with the contemporary sense of clarity in the form of ancient Chinese Yin Yang curve. With a clear front door, it adds more protection for your valuable drives and more elegance and style. The light transparent color gives the case a fresh look in the beige dominated PC world. You have to see it to appreciate its beauty.
Windows XP Safe Mode Explained
PC Stats :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
“In this article, PCstats will explain how Windows XP’s various ‘Safe Modes’ work, how you access them and how they can help you troubleshoot various software and operating system issues. Now, isn’t this a handy topic!? Safe Mode has been a component of the Windows operating system since the days of Windows 95. The basic idea is to allow the user (or technical support worker) access to the windows interface without loading any unnecessary drivers or software.”
Foxconn WinFast MCP61SM2MA-ERS2H Mainboard Review
Technic 3d :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
“The Foxconn WinFast MCP61SM2MA-ERS2H Mainboard arrived Technic3D. The new Mainboard for Office PC, HTPC Cases with NVIDIA 6100 Onboard Graphic? See you in the following Review on Technic3D”
Cube Dual GPU Radeon X1650XT Tested
Tweak Town :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
“This week we were given an exclusive opportunity to visit the GeCube office here in Taipei and test out their unreleased, highly anticipated and upcoming Gemini 2 dual GPU Radeon X1650XT graphic card. In the CPU game, everyone is talking about Quad but in the VGA game, Dual cards are on the mind at the moment. According to the product managers and marketing folks from GeCube who we talked with throughout our visit, the product is almost finished and will be ready and for sale early next year – that is, very early January, as long as everything goes to plan. That’s good news as GeCube as well as Gigabyte and ASUS (and the former XGI and probably many others behind closed doors) have tried producing dual GPU graphics cards in the past but they didn’t really turn out as planned.”
Vizo Uranus External HDD Enclosure Review 
R&B Mods :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
Looking for a simple solution to backing up your computer’s system or critical files? Vizo, makers of a wide range of computer peripheral products, has released a new series of hard drive enclosures offer such a solution. Today, we’ll be looking at the Vizo Uranus 3.5” SATA HDD enclosure that offers a one-touch backup solution. Read on to find out more.
Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn Herd 1
Phoronix :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
“The first development build for Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn has been released. While Ubuntu has tagged development builds as Colonies, Knots, and Flights in the past, this time around the development versions will be Herds: Ubuntu Feisty Fawn Herd 1, Feisty Fawn Herd 2, etc… Featured in Ubuntu 7.04 Feisty Fawn Herd 1 is GNOME 2.17, new disk analyzer, Linux 2.6.19 kernel, and a massive package merge from Debian.”
CoolerMaster Mars at Overclockers Online
Overclockers Online :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
Overall I was pleased with the Cooler Master Mars. The size and design of the Mars compliments installation on a number of motherboards and the mounting hardware included with the Mars makes it a snap to install on AMD or Intel. Performance wasn’t quite were I was hoping in the AMD testing but the C2D from Intel responded quite well to the Mars.
DFI Infinity 975X/G Review
Techgage :: Saturday, December 09, 2006
Long known for their overclocker friendly motherboards, DFI is back with a board for the highly popular and extremely powerful Core 2 Duo. Using Intels 975X chipset, the DFI Infinity 975 X/G looks to introduce the enthusiast crowd to Conroe, DFI style. Using the BIOS that shipped with the board, we got less than spectacular results, forcing us to go with a poplar Beta. How high could we get the FSB and is the board worth it?
Ultra Grid ATX Case
Think Computers :: Friday, December 08, 2006
“Computers have really changed over the few years, gone are the days when a simple “duct-mod” meant that your cooling needs were more than met. Today’s computers generally require a lot of cooling but at the same time the cooling must be efficient otherwise the noise level would be unbearable. Ultra has recently released the Ultra Grid ATX case that includes a slick paint job, stylish looks, and a 500 watt V-Series Power Supply which should be able to meet the needs of most mid level users without breaking their budget.”
Swiftech H20-Apex Ultra Watercooling Kit Review
Madshrimps :: Friday, December 08, 2006
“Swiftech is an institution in the water-cooling field. They are a true pioneer bringing water-cooling into the homes of many countless PC-enthusiasts. Today we review their H20-220 Apex Ultra, a water-cooling kit anyone can love. Based on the APOGEE water block, the kit features a dual 120mm radiator and powerful pump for overclocking performance or can be setup for near silent operation.”
ASUS EAX1650XT Review
Gamepyre :: Friday, December 08, 2006
The EAX1650XT is not meant for the high-end of the market, and should be compared performance and feature-wise to similarly price cards. The features of the X1650XT are excellent, with full support for Pixel and Vertex Shader 3.0 programs and HDR. In terms of performance, the card outperforms its intended competition, the 7600GT by goodly margins, but the market doesn’t stand still and the 7900GS is much closer in price to the EAX1650XT card making it harder to choose the best value on this price point. As such I can easily give the card a Silver Gamers’ Choice award.
Spire Swirl SP-7062B Case Review
Technic 3d :: Friday, December 08, 2006
“The new Spire Swirl SP-7062B is the next Case in the Technic3D Editorship. See you in the following Review which qualities the Case presents.”
Albatron KI51PV-754 Mini-ITX Motherboard Review
PC Stats :: Friday, December 08, 2006
“Albatron takes Mini-ITX into a new direction with its KI51PV-754 motherboard, a high powered 64-bit compatible alternative based on a pair of very capable nVidia chipsets which boast an integrated Geforce 6-series videocard and MPEG-2/WMV9 High Definition video playback support. Outside of purely industrial single board computers (SBC), it was VIA that originally delivered the Mini-ITX formfactor in all its 170 x 170mm glory to mainstream computer geeks. The standard is quite a bit smaller than conventional ATX or BTX motherboards, but really the only features lost are expansion slots. With the high level of integration in most of todays graphics-enabled core logics, the loss of a few, or virtually every expansion slot is not that big a loss. Compact sizes also make the Mini-ITX motherboard a really versatile x86 platform.”
Overclocking AMD’s Quad FX Platform – Hit or Miss?
Legit Reviews :: Friday, December 08, 2006
“Although it is far from orthodox and practical I took the system outside and onto the patio for the rest of the time I spent overclocking it. St. Louis just had a huge ice storm and with about 3 inches of clear ice on the patio and plenty of snow I figured the nice below freezing temperatures would be the best way to cool AMD’s Quad FX platform…”
BitDefender
PC Mechanic :: Friday, December 08, 2006
I am always amazed at just how many anti-virus programs are available online for free, yet so many computer users are still shelling out cash for Norton or McAfee products. Everyone has an opinion on those programs, but as your Freeware Frenzy editor, I’m here to bring you free alternatives. I’ve covered a few others in the past, but for this week I’m taking a look at BitDefender 8 for your virus combating needs.
