Tech News February 2005

Sparkle 6600GT 128Mb AGP Graphics card Mini Review
TekBunker :: Tuesday, February 08, 2005

“Supercharge your gaming with the power of an NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GPU. The NVIDIA GeForce 6600 GPUs deliver best-in-class performance and advanced visual effects for next-generation games. The only GPU in its class with support for Microsoft DirectX 9.0 Shader Model 3.0 and with support for PCI Express, the GeForce 6600 delivers ultra-realistic effects, unmatched features, and rock-solid stability so you can play your game the way it’s meant to be played.”

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Wireless Networking Troubleshooting Guide
The Tech Zone :: Tuesday, February 08, 2005

“Fortunately for us, fixing a Wi-Fi problem is really not that complicated. In fact, most problems associated with wireless networking fall into three main categories: problems connecting initially, throughput and connection speed problems, and coverage issues. To get you back up and running we present the TTZ Wireless Networking Troubleshooting Guide. The guide covers all three wireless issues you’re likely to encounter – with fixes and solutions to all of them.”

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Sunbeamtech Transformer Give-Away Contest
Madshrimps :: Tuesday, February 08, 2005

“The innovative guys at Sunbeamtech have paired up with Madshrimps to present our readers with free give-away contest, all you need to do is answer a few simple questions about one of their latest ATX Cases: the Transformer. The winner will be picked from the correct entrees and will receive a brand new Transformer case at his doorstep.”

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February 2005 Giveaway @ Mikhailtech
Mikhailtech :: Tuesday, February 08, 2005

“Today we begin our 6th consecutive monthly giveaway. This time we’re teaming up with XtracPads again and giving away several performance gaming accessories with a yet-to-be-released mouse pad among them.”

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Evercool WC-202 Watercooling Kit Review
3dXtreme :: Tuesday, February 08, 2005

“About a year ago we had the opportunity of reviewing the WC-201 which was a decent all-in-one unit for watercooling. We did a little modding to the unit and brought it to a point where it would perform much better in it’s capacity. We mentioned some of our concerns to Evercool and I’m sure others did also and they have since updated the unit with the WC-202 that 3DXtreme has the pleasure of reviewing today. Our main focus of this review will not be to look at it completely as we did the WC-201, but to highlight the updates and to show performance of the unit in our modded setup. So without further ado, let’s take a look at the WC-202…”

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Ultra X-Connect Green UV 500W Power Supply Review
PCStats :: Tuesday, February 08, 2005

“There’s a good reason why we always recommend consumers spend good money on a power supply, and skimp elsewhere, if necessary, when building systems. The danger of a cheap power supply blow up and destroying the rest of the computer is more likely than you might imagine. In this review, PCstats will be testing the Ultra X-Connect Green UV PSU. Each power cable has its own port on the power supply unit, so you only need to connect the cables you need. No more having to stuff extra cables into the 5 1/4″ drive bays, or hide them behind the motherboard tray for a neat looking system.”

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BenQ Joybook 7000 Notebook Review
Tech ARP :: Tuesday, February 08, 2005

“You followed our journey to the Loss of Joy (Episode II of the Notebook Purchase Fiasco). Now read the review!

Join Peaz as he explores the features of the BenQ Joybook 7000 and find out of it was worth all the anguish and pain. ”

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Telecommuting Editorial
Phoronix :: Tuesday, February 08, 2005

“Telecommuting is defined by Webster’s dictionary as to working at home by the use of an electronic linkup with a central office. With today’s technology, telecommuting has become a reality for more and more people. I have been able to work from home many nights, had dinner with my family, and then continue working instead of staying back in the office. It seems like an excellent alternative to late nights at our place of employment.”

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St. Louis Gaming – Warfactory LAN
Legit Reviews :: Tuesday, February 08, 2005

“This nice “bunker-style” concrete room was the perfect setting for some major gaming action! As I mentioned, 74 systems running and fragging is a beautiful thing! There were some pretty slick looking cases on those tables. One that comes to mind was an amature custom rig with a Mario Bros. theme…”

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FSP AX500-A Blue Storm PSU Review
Short-Media :: Tuesday, February 08, 2005

“Fortron Source Group (FSP) is a power supply that should be at the top of any PC buyer’s list. FSP launched the AX500-A Blue Storm PSU late in 2004 to meet the demands of the “bigger, better, faster”. The “norm” is quickly becoming 500 watts and FSP puts in a good showing with the AX500-A.”

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Logisys Multimedia Acoustics System Review
Hardware-Pacers :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“Logisys Multimedia Acoustics System is a handsome, easy to set up speaker system. Its major advantage over some of the competitor’s sound systems is its price and design. Since most of the speakers on the market today perform similarly, sound as third advantage is excluded. However, it must not be underestimated since the speakers do sound well. The package has some minor design deficiencies which can be neglected due to its overall performance.”

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X-Micro USB 2.0 Flash Drive Review @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“We thought of flash drives as being incredibly similar to each other and to a point we were right. After all, you get the same partitioning and security software, same storage options and same features from one drive to another. But there are quite a few aspects that differentiate one from the rest. These aspects include brand, warranty (although it is unnecessary with Flash drives, since the failure rate is unheard of), price and performance. It is natural for manufacturers to gain customers with their brand, assuming that it’s a trusted one. While brand, warranty and price are understandable, we were surprised to see different performance numbers from various drives.”

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OCZ Announces PC2-5400 DDR2 Enhanced Bandwidth Platinum
OCZ Technology :: Monday, February 07, 2005
OCZ Technology Group, a worldwide leader in innovative, ultra-high performance and high reliability memory, today announced the release of PC2-5400 Enhanced Bandwidth DDR2 Platinum Edition series, an exceptionally high-performing DDR2.

OCZ’s PC2-5400 Platinum series with Enhanced Bandwidth technology is designed to exceed standard DDR2 capabilities and deliver indomitable performance and speed to gamers, PC-enthusiasts, and graphics professionals. As a member of the Enhanced Bandwidth Series, PC2-5400 Platinum maintains lower latencies than conventional DDR2-667, while providing intelligent bandwidth management to allow maximum system performance without compromising stability. Ideal for the most demanding computing environments, this memory can achieve blazing speeds of up to 667MHz at CL 4-2-2-8.

Link: http://www.ocztechnology.com/aboutocz/press/2005/120M

Newest NVIDIA nForce Professional motherboard from Arima-Rioworks
AMDboard :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“After Abit WN-2S+, Asus K8N-DL, Iwill DK8E, DK8E2 DK8S and Tyan Tiger K8WE, Thunder K8SRE, Thunder K8WE, it’s now Arima Rioworks’s turn, with the HDMA Express, to release a NVIDIA nForce professional motherboard accepting AMD Opteron from grade 240 to 252. The socket 940 motherboard loaded with SATA 2, IEEE1394, PCI Express, PCI-X, Rioworks HDMA Express accept up to 16GB of registered DDR 400 and supports RAID 0, 1, 10. ”

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Acer AL1715b @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“Acer is undoubtedly a leader in the digital world, ranking among the top 10 branded PC vendors, and manufacturing a whole array of products from notebook computers to video projectors. In this article today, we will be trying out one of Acer’s LCD monitors, the AL1715b. Not only do we have one AL1715b in our lab today, but two! With its 12ms response time, we will be sure to check just how well these LCD flat panels can handle some gaming, along with every day tasks, as we go dual head in Fedora!”

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VIA’s PT880 Pro and PT894 Core Logic
Hexus :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“PT880 Pro is just what the doctor ordered for those not interested in Athlon 64. If you’re a P4 fan and you want to continue on that path into 2005 and fancy a piecemeal upgrade to PCI Express and DDR2, PT880 Pro is for you. Good performance matches obvious upgrade potential. The ability to bring AGP and your existing DDR400 to a board that supplies LGA775, DDR2 and PCI Express is not to be underestimated.”

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ThermalRock Dragon Case Review
Overclocker Café :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“Beauty is in the eye of the beholder and with that in mind, the aesthetics of any case are a purely subjective measure. Designing a case to be smart looking without being gaudy ensures its appeal to the masses. Match that with features to rival any case on the market at a low price, ensures success. Let’s face it, we are all on a budget and make our purchases accordingly. ThermalRock approaches the high end case market in such a way as to make us all feel like Donald Trump.”

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OCZ 520W ModStream Power Supply @ Bjorn3D
Bjorn3D :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“Known mostly for their overclocker-friendly RAM, OCZ provides top-tier products for the PC enthusiast market. Established in 2000 by enthusiasts and for enthusiasts, OCZ has branched out into the power supply market recently with their PowerStream and ModStream power supplies. The ModStream is one of the new modular power supplies that have been sweeping the world due to their vast combinations for powering your hardware components. OCZ offers two versions of their ModStream, the OCZ-450 and the OCZ-520. Our review sample was the OCZ-520 that produces 520 watts but is capable of a peak load of 620 watts. Read on to see how the OCZ ModStream performs in a modern system.”

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Intel Centrino Overclocking Guide
Tech ARP :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“Due to their proprietary nature, notebooks have so far eluded attempts at overclocking. Except for isolated cases, notebooks have so far been safe from the overclocking craze. Until today, that is. Today, we will show you how to overclock Intel Centrino motherboards! We will show you how to do it, as well as explore the risks and the rewards associated with such an attempt. ”

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SilverStone TJ03 Case Review @ PCmoddingmy
PC Modding Malaysia :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“One of the included items in the HIS X700Pro package was Hightech’s own overclocking software. The interface is great and very easy to use, and it worked very well. Not only can you adjust the clock and memory speeds, but you can also manually adjust the fan speed.”

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Intel P4 3.46EE Review @ t-break
t-break :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“The 3.46GHz CPU is based on the Gallatin core and is basically a Xeon with a 1066MHz (4 x 266MHz) FSB sold as a Pentium4. This was a bit surprising as the Gallatin is based on the older Northwood core and not the newer 0.90nm Prescott core that is used by all new Pentium4 CPUs. Besides the FSB speed bump, this CPU being an Extreme Edition, features 2MB of L3 cache which is over and above the L1 and L2 caches found is standard Pentium4 CPUs. Like most new CPUs by Intel, the 3.46GHz EE is packaged in an LGA775 format.”

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Swiftech H20-120(Rev. 3) Liquid Cooling Kit @ OCIA.net
OCIA :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“Now it’s time to install the radiator. The first step is to install the PCI bracket. Choose a spot that won’t interfere with any of your AGP/PCI cards. You’ll notice a little notch that is beside on of the holes on the PCI bracket. This is for the 120mm fan power wire. I chose to not use this slot as there were no fan headers near where I installed the bracket. I instead routed mine in an opening above the AGP slot.”

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VIA PT Series Chipset Preview
The Tech Zone :: Monday, February 07, 2005

“Today VIA launched three new core logic chipset for the Intel Pentium 4 processor platform; The PT880 Pro, PT894 and PT894 pro. The new chipsets are designed to compete head to head with Intel’s 915 and 925 chipset and will offer users an alternative and less expensive PCI Express solution.”

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Prime Cooler Hypercool III+ & Hypercool 4+ @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, February 05, 2005

“Prime Cooler, a cooling manufacturer, was established in 1998, but a lack of distributors has made their products almost unheard of. We recently got our hands on the Hypercool III+ and 4+ which are Prime Cooler’s flagship products. Can these two massive copper radial heatsinks prove to be a viable alternative for enthusiasts trying to get the maximum potential out of their processor?”

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VIA PT880 Pro, PT894, PT894 Pro Chipset Preview @ CoolTechZone
CoolTechZone :: Saturday, February 05, 2005

“Intel has usually dominated the chipset market for a long time. While chipsets from SiS and VIA were always there, Intel’s core logic chipsets were the choice of many Intel preferring enthusiast. If we were to take out Alderwood and Grantsdale out of the picture for the time being, their Springdale and Canterwood chipsets were a new step in performance for the last generation of Intel microprocessors. Intel offered almost all features desired by the enthusiast crowd and with new performance discoveries and features of the Springdale chipset, no other chipset maker could take the crown away from the world’s largest chipmaker in both mainstream and high-end performance segments. In fact, after third party board makers started tweaking the Springdale core logics, they were robust enough to compete against its high-end counterpart.”

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Logisys UV Red Acrylic Case
Phoronix :: Saturday, February 05, 2005

“Up on the review block today we have the Logisys Assembled UV Red Acrylic Clear Case. Many of the cases we see at Phoronix on a daily basis are composed of aluminum, steel, or plastic, but when the Logisys CS888UVRD entered our sights, we knew everyone would be in for a big surprise.”

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ASUS S-presso SFF System Review @ Adrian’s Rojak Pot
Tech ARP :: Saturday, February 05, 2005

“Like coffee as well as small form factor PCs? Then you will be interested in the new SFF system from ASUS.

Christened the ASUS S-presso, is this new SFF system really your cup of coffee? Read on and find out!”

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EPoX 9NDA3+ Socket 939 (nForce3 Ultra) Motherboard Review @ TweakTown
TweakTown :: Saturday, February 05, 2005
“Mike takes a close look at the EPoX 9NDA3+ Socket 939 motherboard today which is based around nVidia’s nForce3 Ultra chipset. The motherboard makes use of an AGP port instead of the newer PCI-Express version which makes it a good option for users wanting to keep their old yet workable AGP graphics card and upgrade to the new Socket 939 Athlon 64 platform. Read on as we compare the EPoX 9NDA3+ against other solutions in its league and work out which is best for your needs as a gamer.”

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XG Quantum ATX Case Review @ PimpRig
PimpRig :: Saturday, February 05, 2005

“Despite its gaming credentials, I could tell by the way Attila the UPS guy was huffing and puffing when he reached my second story doorstep, this was no Lan rig I was going to be reviewing. Shipping weight was 37 lbs., sans psu the net weight is just under 32 lbs. MGE’s 500 watt psu option was not included with this sample. It’s a steel case, it’s a big case, it’s a man’s case, and it’s a hernia waiting to be born. In short, the suckers heavy! 1.0mm SECC construction and a heavy aluminum bezel make for a very sturdy case.”

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Prime Cooler Cable Accessories reviewed @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Saturday, February 05, 2005

“In this short write up at Phoronix, we have several accessories for any case modder. These items include the Prime Cooler PC-C1, PC-C3, PC-C4, PC-CC1, PC-EC1, and finally the PC-EC2. Since obviously the product names aren’t very descriptive as to the actual product function, we are looking at a variety of different extension cables and cable connectors.”

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