SteelSeries Ikari Laser Gaming Mouse Review
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
I’ve always been a fan of Laser mice, I find them much more accurate and just easier to use, and of course I do like some of the higher end optical mice as well but not as much as the laser type mice. I used my Logitech G5 from when it came out originally till the second version came out this past year and used that version of the G5 everyday on my main system, that is until I got the Ikari Laser for review… Don’t get me wrong though, I like the G5 and always will, but I found that I only use two of the DPI settings and none of the others that are available, the Ikari offers two settings, High and Low that can be set in increments of one to truly customize your mousing preferences. The G5 also has a weight kit, but I put them in and left them there, I never changed them out, I like a fairly heavy mouse and don’t feel a need to change the weight so it was kind of a cool but rather useless feature for me. I received the Ikari Laser about three weeks ago and at first it was a bit disconcerting to use, but now I am truly in love with this mouse and it will remain hooked to my main system probably until it dies… Gaming mice manufacturers seem to think that more is better, but that’s not always the case, sometimes less is better especially when they focus more on the actual performance and the usability of the mouse, rather than added frivolities. SteelSeries has done just that and created a gaming mouse that has a nice balance of performance and features that you’ll actually use… so continue on to learn more about my new mouse!
Multislot Card Reader / Writer in Cosmetics Case
Dragonsteel Mods :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
I’ve checked out quite a few card readers in my time, but never one quite like this. Companies are always trying to make gadgets blend in more with our everyday objects, but I think this is the first ‘girly’ type product I’ve reviewed. Sure it’s a gadget, it’s a card reader and writer after all but they’ve taken that and basically stuck it into a cosmetic case so it would look right at home in a womans purse. I’m guessing this is an attempt to attract female consumers, but since I’m a guy I can only tell you the ‘manly’ stuff about it, like its read/writes speeds etc… So continue on to check out this most interesting product…
Turtle Beach Ear Force X-52 PC Gaming Headphones Review
Overclockers Club :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Foxconn Mars Review
Overclockers Club :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Patriot Viper Fin Extreme Latency PC2 6400 Review
Overclockers Club :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
mStation 2.1 Stereo Orb iPod Dock Review
Overclockers Club :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Using a Mac Keyboard in Windows XP
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Dave has a Mac Pro but didn’t care for the wired keyboard that came with it so I decided to see if it would work on Windows XP. It does, but they keyboard doesn’t have PrintScreen, Number Lock, Scroll Lock and so on. Using a freeware utility called SharpKeys I was able to remap the keys […]
Smart Tech Companies Grab ‘em Young
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
A customer to any internet company can be anyone that can read and knows how to use a computer. When a company brands itself as early in life as possible, you’ve potentially got a customer for that life. Here’s a few examples of tech companies and kids: Apple Computer has always put heavy focus on education. I […]
Make Websites Think Firefox Is Internet Explorer
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
As Firefox users are probably aware, not all sites work 100% correctly in Firefox. You can typically get around this in a few ways, so here is another method to add to your toolbox. The User Agent Switcher Firefox add-on allows you change the way Firefox reports itself to a website. For example, you can set […]
Links to Reviews for Feb. 12-13
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 45nm Wolfdale CPU – “We take a closer look at the fastest dual core CPU from Intel, the E8500, dubbed Wolfdale, is manufactured at 45nm which translates in low power usage and excellent potential for overclocking. We compare the performance of this newcomer to a 65nm Core 2 Duo and overclock […]
Rush Limbaugh’s Appeal to Steve Jobs
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Technology must have a way of making everybody equal. If people have problems with their computers, that means even the people with big influence are having those problems. And Rush Limbaugh is no exception. The conservative radio talkshow host is an owner of 4 Mac Pro computers. He just upgraded them with the Leopard 10.5.2 […]
LCD Monitor Buyer’s Guide
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
LCD (Liquid Crystal Display) monitors are becoming hot items as prices drop and technology improves. If you haven’t made the leap from your old CRT (Cathode Ray Tube) screen yet, or you plan on upgrading your monitor anytime soon, this is for you. Obviously, one needs to compare features when shopping around for a product. Here, […]
Sneak Peak: PCMech EDU
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Today, I tried my hand at iMovie 08 on the Mac in order to bring you a sneak peak inside our new premiere membership site: PCMech EDU. You’ve heard me talk about PCMech EDU, the new premiere membership site just launched about two weeks ago. By now, you’ve heard how I am pulling out all the […]
Script To Automate Opening Multiple IE Tabs
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
I read a very interesting post on an MSDE blog regarding a script to automate opening multiple Internet Explorer tabs. You do not have to understand the script at all to use it, just copy and paste the text on his site into a notepad file and save it as “scriptname.js“. Of course, you will […]
The Fail Blog
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
This isn’t a piece of technology news. Instead, it is simply a link to a really funny site I found over a week ago. It is called The FAIL blog. Each post is simply an image, and you can judge by the sample what the tone of the blog is:     You get the jist. […]
In Search Of The Ideal Ustream Setup
PC Mechanic :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
A few days ago, I set up PCMech LIVE. This live video feed is being powered by Ustream.TV. For the last few days, I have been doing my research to try to find the best setup to have here in my office for broadcasting on Ustream. What I’m finding is that doing a professional […]
TRENDnet TEW-631BRP Wireless N Router
Techgage :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Looking to move up to Draft N wireless but don’t want to spend a fortune? TRENDnet has a $70 solution for you, in the form of the TEW-631BRP. Despite it’s budget price and bright blue hue, the router turns out to be a great offering.
Logitech Harmony One Advanced Universal Remote
Techgage :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Logitech’s Harmony division have put a lot of of effort into the One, so we put it to the test to see if it all paid off. In addition to the comfortable design and individually contoured buttons, the One features a large LCD screen, support for over 5,000 brands, a stylish charger and a respectable price tag.
CoolIT PURE Silent Liquid CPU Cooler
Techgage :: Thursday, February 14, 2008
Having the ability to overclock a Quad-Core processor while keeping your machine quiet used to be a pipe-dream, until CoolIT’s latest CPU cooler came into the picture. With the PURE, we managed a nice 3.67GHz clock on our QX6850, all while being able to hear our hard drives over the cooler.
Intel SkullTrail Platform Review
Motherboards.org :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
Intel really has been firing up their engines at full speed and the new SkullTrail takes the multiplatform system to new levels. This is the first anything and everthing platform as it has all the power that worstation class users need, and all the thrills and features that gamers and enthsiasts covet for their personal PC. This is the only Intel platform that integrates NVIDIA’s SLI technology and on a board that supports CrossFire as well. There is more to this system than we even got to in this review, but so far this system has been the fastest and most feature oriented one we have seen yet. Truly Intel has been doing their homework and the overclocker audience once shunned and ignored is now embraced in the boldest move by the boys in blue yet. Check out the cool SkullTrail case we modded from a CoolerMaster Stacker 830, its sweet!
Zalman CNPS8700 LED Low Noise Heatsink Review
Frosty Tech :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
“Got a noisy computer? If you’ve finally decided to take some action and replace a loud heatsink for something quieter, and cooler-running, take notice of the Zalman CNPS8700 LED heatsink. Based on the proven “flower heatsink” design, the CNPS8700 LED is an extension of that concept. This all copper heatsink utilizes two looped copper heatpipes and hundreds of thin copper fins set around a quiet 2300RPM 105mm internally illuminated fan. The heatsink is compatible with socket 775 Intel and socket 754/939/940/AM2 AMD processors.”
Intel SkullTrail Preview – Dual Core 2 Extreme QX9775 Processors
Legit Reviews :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
“When it comes to performance the Intel Skulltrail platform is hands down the fastest platform that we have ever looked at. With the dual 3.2GHz Core 2 Extreme QX9775 quad-core processors in the system it consistently outperformed the other test systems in multi-threaded tests that could take advantage of the eight cores. The only two areas that the Skulltrail platform didn’t shine was in memory bandwidth and gaming. The DDR2-800 FB-DIMMs just don’t provide the memory bandwidth needed to compete with DDR3 memory kits and it shows where memory bandwidth does come into play. When it comes to gaming it’s not the fact the board is only PCI Express 1.0, it is because the games are not optimized to run on eight cores. In reality many games are designed to run on just three cores as many games are now written with consoles in mind…”
Fedora 9 Alpha Preview
Phoronix :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
“On this Super Tuesday here in the United States, Red Hat has this morning released the first and only alpha release for Fedora 9. This ninth Fedora release, which has been codenamed Sulphur, will ship in April and go head-to-head against Ubuntu 8.04 LTS “Hardy Heron”, but what features can one expect in this forthcoming release? Among the features being worked on are encrypted file-system support, updating the KDE spin to KDE 4.0, PackageKit integration, and switching to upstart initialization. In this article, we are taking a brief look at Fedora 9 Alpha and the features planned for Fedora 9.”
Aerocool FP-01 LCD Display
Techware Labs :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
“Aerocool makes a very interesting flip out syle LCD which fits into a standard 5.25″ drive bay. This device sports a long list of functionality in addition to just plain looking amazing. The color display reads temperature, fan speed, drive access, and more. Check out what the FP-01 can do and see why this device may or may not be a good choice for your case.”
Thermaltake Sword M Super Tower Case w/Liquid Cooling Review
Hardware Canucks :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
Is the Sword M really the last word in the world of cases or are all of those seemingly convenient components only window dressing for a case that is merely ok? Considering its unbelievable price and its bold claims, we are going to have MUCH higher expectations for this Thermaltake enclosure than we have had for past cases so let’s hope our 14 month wait has been worth it.
C2D 6420 vs C2Q 6600 – Quad Vs. Dual Comparison 
Dragonsteel Mods :: Sunday, February 10, 2008
” I recently upgraded my Core 2 Duo 6420 to a Core 2 Quad 6600 and of course I was very curious to check out the differences between them. So after doing all my testing in Vista and Xp I decided why not share my results to let other people know what’s up with these Quad Core CPUs and if they really are worth it.”
Hiper TypeR 680W Mk II and 880W
Technic 3d :: Saturday, February 09, 2008
“The Hiper TypeR 680W Mk II (HPU-5K680-PE) and Hiper TypeR 880W Mk II (HPU-5B880-PE) PSUs arrived Technic3D. See you in the following Review from Technic3D the PSUs with a USB-Hub and Power-only USB-connection. The PSU Ready for the T3D Eco Award and enough power for High-End PCs?”
Buffalo MiniStation 320GB Turbo USB Hard Drive Review
Everything USB :: Saturday, February 09, 2008
External hard drives are becoming almost as popular as flash drives and it isn’t hard to see why. They are extremely easy to install and offer the portability that internal drives simply don’t offer out of the box. This makes them great for users on the go needing to store large amounts of data or need an easy to use yet still cheap backup system. Bus powered external drives are even more portable than their non-bus powered brethren, however their size usually requires them to sacrifice some speed as they usually offer only USB support. Buffalo thinks that this shouldn’t be the case which is why we are taking a look at the Buffalo 320GB MiniStation Turbo USB portable hard drive, a drive they claim to be up to 64% faster than the competition.
Yate Loon D12SL-12 120mm Case Fan Review
Overclock 3d :: Saturday, February 09, 2008
“With some fans from possibly one of the most respected cooling manufacturers in the world, we’ve set out to test the rumour”
Promise SuperTrak EX STEX8650 8-port SAS
Tweak Town :: Saturday, February 09, 2008
“Serially Attached SCSI is based around the same SCSI principal that makes it faster and more reliable than the IDE interface, however it’s now moved to the Serial Transfer method. In fact, the cables and interface slots are identical, which makes SAS controllers rather interesting.
Today we have the big bertha from the Promise SuperTrak family, the STEX8650 8-port SAS controller. How does it stack up against onboard Serial ATA RAID as the storage preference? Let’s have a look.”
Cooler Master Cosmos 1000 Case Review 
OCIA :: Saturday, February 09, 2008
“Naturally, Cooler Master is a company focused on cooling performance in their products. Last October I reviewed their most recent budget case, the CM690, which had all of the right features for the overclocker in all of us with expandability for many fans. Today, we’re going to have a look at their latest high-end case, the Cosmos 1000. This case, however, has a slightly different focus than most CM products: silence. Priced at nearly $200 USD, it’s sure to be a crowd-pleaser, but can Cooler Master keep true to their name while dampening noise?”
Seagate Barracuda 7200.11 ST31000340AS 1TB Hard Drive
Viper Lair :: Saturday, February 09, 2008
“The biggest change from the 7200.10 to the 7200.11 is the increase in platter size. We mentioned there will be a few capacities offered, but we can sum it up by saying that there will be 3; 500GB, 750GB and 1TB. If you’re shopping for the 1TB version, another change from the previous model is the doubling of cache from 16MB to 32MB. The 500GB and 750GB will only ship with 16MB. As the name implies, the Barracuda spins its drives at 7200rpm, allowing for a sustained transfer rate of 105MB per second.”
