Tech News January 2004

by NewsJanuary 31, 2004June 29, 201400

CES 2004 and Cyber-X Games Coverage
GruntvillE :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“On January 8th-11th 2004 Las Vegas was the home to not only the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) which was held at the Las Vegas Convention Center, the Las Vegas Hilton, and Alexis Park, but also the Cyber X Gaming Competition (at the Stardust) and the Adult Entertainment Expo (AEE) (at the Venetian and Sands Expo Center). With over 110,000 people in town for CES and several thousand very colorful characters for the AEE it was a hopin’ town, and I, DickNervous, was in the middle of it all.”

Beginners Guides: Preventing Data Theft From a Stolen Laptop
PCStats :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“Portable computers are made for traveling and computing at the same time, and are thus incredibly valuable for their weight. We’re talking ‘carton of cigarettes’ dollars-to-weight ratio here. Consequently, laptop’s make a tempting target for thieves and have been known to go AWOL with distressing frequency when compared to less expensive things like your baggage full of Hawaiian shirts. Having a laptop stolen is a double-dose of bad news, since not only are you confronted with the fact that your (at least) $1500 portable PC is now gone, perhaps forever, but you also have to deal with the possibility of data theft. It’s sort of like losing a wallet, but a wallet cannot hold gigabytes of potentially valuable or personal data. Credit data, email records, license keys, personal documents, all at the fingertips of the kind of person who was willing to steal your laptop in the first place. For business travelers, this is especially bad news.”

Nikao F-1 Mid-Tower Case Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“Located under the two floppy bays is the main visual attraction for the Nikao F-1 Mid-Tower Case. A plastic chrome emblem surrounds the recess and sports a chrome heart at the top. Behind the chrome heart is another blue LED that will slowly pulsate on and off once powered. On the bottom of the emblem is the computer power button, a reset button and both power and hard drive activity LEDs.”

Vantec Vortex
Red & Blackness Mods :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“Today I’m going to be reviewing the Vantec Vortex hard drive cooling system. Their have been many different hard drive coolers recently. They are being required more and more. The faster hard drives spin/work the more energy is lost to heat and as we all know heat can shorten the life of components. ”

SilverStone Technology Temjin TJ-01 Mid-Tower Case Review
3dXtreme :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“Today 3DXtreme has the great pleasure of reviewing one of SilverStone Technology’s latest cases, the Temjin TJ-01. We’d like to thank SilverStone Technology for supplying this case to us. With the focus mainly on modded cases and lighting of cases it’s actually refreshing once in a while to come across a design that is not. SilverStone Technology has put a lot of effort into providing a wide variety of case solutions to meet everyone’s needs. This case is no exception…”

VIA K8T800 Performance Motherboard Shootout – Gigabyte, MSI and ABIT
TweakTown :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“It’s time for the battle of the big guns in the AMD Athlon 64 motherboard department. We’ve collected three high-end performance motherboards from Gigabyte, MSI and ABIT which are all based on VIA’s K8T800 chipset and tossed them all in the ring to fight it to the death with our still shiny Athlon 64 3200+ processor. Let the fight begin ladies and gentleman!”

Kool Solutions Chill Vent II
SystemCooling :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“No matter what kind of heatsink and fan combination you have, it’s not going to be of much use if the air around it is hot. There are a variety of means of getting cool air into that area, and ducting mods, although they’ve been around for a long time, are getting popular enough that entire companies are sprouting up around the concept. Kool Solutions is just such a company, and they make the subject of our review today, the Chill Vent II. ”

MSI’s GeForce FX 5700 U
Bjorn3D :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“Our review card is the FX5700 Ultra-TD128 from Micro-Star International (MSI). The 5700U is NVIDIA’s attempt to atone for the under whelming 5600/5600U. The 5700U features the NV36 core at 475 MHz, 900 MHz DDR2 memory speed, and improved pixel shader performance courtesy of CineFX 2.0. While both the 5600/U and 5700U utilize a 128-bit memory interface, the 5700U is the first NVIDIA GPU to be built with IBM’s 0.13-micron manufacturing process. The 5700U sports 3 vertex shader pipelines compared to just 1 on the 5600/U. Anyone who has tried to play “Halo” with a 5600 should appreciate having triple the pixel power! In essence, the 5700U is a scaled-down 5950 Ultra and not in the least a hopped up 5600. And that’s a very good thing! ”

Leadtek WinFast A360TD FX 5700 128MB
Hexus :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“What this conclusion, rambling as it is, is attempting to convey is that Leadtek has made decent use of a GPU that’s not a hot property at its current price point. That’s an eminently important point. Finite money forces the user to choose the product that provides the best value. Unfortunately, we can think of one or two cards that would tickle our fancy ahead of the Leadtek A360TD FX 5700. Solid and dependable, so it’s a decent enough choice for a die-hard NVIDIA fan. We just feel as if it doesn’t have enough of the right stuff to make it a recommended choice.”

Thermaltake Silent Boost K8 Heatsink
SystemCooling :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

Quiet cooling is quite popular these days, which is not surprising at all. Most users would prefer not to have to listen to the howl of their systems being cooled. They just want the job done without a lot of drama. When we reviewed the Thermaltake Silent Boost heatsink back in October, we found that it performed in exactly that way; quiet, efficient, and without a lot of drama. Now, Thermaltake has introduced a new model in the Silent Boost series, the Silent Boost K8, designed specifically for Socket 754 and Socket 940 AMD processors. Today, we’re going to find out if this new model is cut from the same cloth.

Vantec Cable Sleeving Kit
OCIA :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“The trick to getting this sleeving on is to work it in a push-pull motion. When you push the sleeving together, it widens so that the cables can easily slide through. Then when you pull the end tight again, the sleeving moves up the cable. For all of those that got lost there, I’ll just say that it works exactly like a Chinese Finger Trap. You push it together so that it becomes loose. Simple, eh?”

Shuttle XPC SB75G2 SFF System
Bjorn3D :: Sunday, February 01, 2004

“The case is a smooth jet black aluminum finish. Very sleek, very sexy for a PC. I can definitely see this kind of component in a home theater system or in the living room. It’s very refined with the black finish and silver buttons and accents. You have to be a little careful you don’t scratch up the surface as it seems like it could show knicks and scrapes pretty easily if you get rowdy with it.”

Nikao Fusion II mATX Case Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“Most case manufacturers have been busy the last few years focusing on producing mid and full tower cases. With the HTPC trend growing over the last year, attention is being given to the even smaller Micro ATX cases. Nearly every case manufacturer now has at least one Micro ATX or HTPC case in their product line. As such, the challenge for the consumer is no longer finding a mATX based case; but finding a mATX case that is both attractive and functional.”

Beginners Guides: Creating a Weblog / Blog
PCStats :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“Nothing personifies the Internet’s promise of easy and unlimited communication possibilities quite like the humble weblog. Never mind the millions of commercially driven website; what could be more creative than placing your own thoughts, feelings, art, rants, your own… whatever, in front of a potential audience of millions? A Weblog or Blog is a frequently updated online journal, organized by date and containing whatever the person that creates it wants to put down. Essentially, blogs are simple non-commercial personal websites.”

Power Supplies: The Shocking Truth
Short-Media :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“When was the last time you looked at a power supply in the computer case? Have you recently bought a power supply smug in the knowledge that “you’ve bought the best”? What if that expensive 400 Watt power supply…wasn’t? What’s on the label isn’t necessarily what comes out the cable. Take a closer look with us at power supply specifications and find out if you’ve really got the power.”

Leadtek FX5700 graphic card
Overclockers New Zealand :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“it is a fairly standard FX5700 graphics card, with a satisfactory HSF design and software bundle. However, do not expect to overclock the card much, due to the use of 3.6ns memory chips, as they are already operating at their maximum.”

Abit AI7 Motherboard Review
GruntvillE :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“The new microprocessor was designed by Abit and is offered exclusively on Abit motherboards to give users an unparalleled level of control in the hardware monitoring and tweaking process. The six current features that the uGuru microprocessor let you control are: Abit EQ, Fan EQ, OCGuru, FlashMenu, Audio EQ, and BlackBox. Each of these features is controlled under a fairly straightforward Windows based interface that allows you to access the information and make certain hardware adjustments without having to go through the BIOS settings.”

Athenatech A811 Server Case
SystemCooling :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“Athenatech, a name we have grown to know for their high quality and low price has now brought to the table a server case. Having seen their mid-tower and micro-ATX cases, will this new server case posses the same craftsmanship and affordability of the earlier case? Will its look and features place it ahead of the pack? Won’t you join us to see whether the Athenatech A811BB can answer the demand for a server case that is in reach for any prospective buyer?”

CES 2004 Coverage Part II
The Tech Lounge :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“Today we continue our coverage of CES 2004 with our second article in the series. In Part II we take a look at several companies including ViewSonic, DELL, Ximeta, Logitech, and more…”

Xenix Optical Wheel Mouse
OCIA :: Friday, January 23, 2004

” The aesthetic appeal of a black vented mouse with blue LEDs and fans really appeals to me. I’m not sure about the sweaty palms thing but if you have sweaty palms when on your PC, (Cyberperv Geeks Included) then this fan provides a dual benefit to you. You can have a cool looking mouse that keeps at least one of your hands dry.”

ABIT AI7 865PE
ViperLair :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“ABIT has once again given us a great board to play with without making us take out a loan. With all of the built in features and overclockability, this motherboard is anything but a wallet-breaker. I enjoyed the layout and attention to detail to things as minute as positioning of the headers and memory slots to reduce interference and allow someone as messy as I am to route cables neatly.”

CPU Trends Shown by 3DMark03
Bjorn3D :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“Thanks to the Futuremark crew, we have been granted an exclusive look at some of the data submitted by 3DMark03 users. Futuremark provided us with CPU data that covers June 2003 to December 2003. During this time, one of the most exciting CPU developments was AMD’s release of the Athlon 64 processors. In this article, I will not only show you the distribution of AMD and Intel CPUs in Futuremark’s collected data but also the distribution of Athlon 64 processors. So keep reading if you’d like an answer to any of the following questions: Which company, AMD or Intel, is more popular overall, according to the collected data? Is AMD’s popularity increasing? Is Intel’s popularity increasing? How fast is the Athlon 64 being adopted?”

Sunbeam Liquid Neon CCFL
Red & Blackness Mods :: Friday, January 23, 2004

“Today I’m going to be reviewing the ‘Liquid Neon’ by sunbeam. The neon comes in an excellent box to keep it from being damaged. The side of the package gives the details of the neon, the one I will be looking at is the blue spiral pattern neon. The plastic box opens at the top and the contents slide out in one go. A single plastic tie secures the wires and inverter to the neon, this can be slid off without effort. ”

Scythe Kamikaze cooler
Overclocker Café :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“The heatsink that we are reviewing today is actually the second that sent us. The first sample had a hole burned through one of the corners where the spot weld had been held just a bit too long. The second picture shows where the hole was burned through on the first sample that we had. Like I said before, this doesn’t affect the function of the cooler, but you guys deserve to know this. ”

Corsair TWINX1024-4400 Memory
ViperLair :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“In case you missed it earlier, I left out 200FSB performance for a reason. If you have no intention of overclocking past 250FSB, this ram is not for you. I had some issues at 200MHz actually, where I was not able to run with timings as tight as I could with Corsair’s TWINX PC3200 kit. However, this ram is not targeted at users who are satisfied with staying at PC3200.”

Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M Motherboard
Short-Media :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“Gigabyte introduces a value motherboard centered around ATI’s Radeon 9100 IGP. The question is to buy the GA-8TRS300M or not. It’s a very good product for basic desktop needs and while the Gigabyte GA-8TRS300M may not be an impressive motherboard in itself it will be if a more aggressive price point is set than the competition’s 9100 IGP motherboards.”

DFI LANParty NF2 Ultra B Motherboard Review
PCStats :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“A year ago DFI didn’t have much of a presence in the motherboard market, and then along came Jacky Huang and the “Lan Party” concept. Fast forward to the present, and DFI have firmly staked a name for themselves by providing gamer-oriented motherboards with a little florescent flash. With Team DFI roaming around the states visiting local LanParty events, like the recent CyberXGames at CES, DFI are evolving into a motherboard company that aims to speak directly to its consumers. A couple of friends of mine who like to try out new things gave the DFI LANParty motherboards a shot a while back, and all I heard was how great the boards were… from what a great accessory package they come with, to how fast they are at stock speeds, and how great an overclocker they are… Now that it’s our time to test the DFI LANParty NF2 Ultra B, I can tell you my expectations are raised pretty high.”

Enermax Cs5190al-061 Alu cas
Red & Blackness Mods :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“This is a really nice case that we are having a look at today! Enermax has a good reputation for making nice cases. They sent us this cool aluminum case that we will be looking closer at. It has a VERY nice black finish; it’s as if you’re looking into a mirror. It has a removable motherboard tray which is very nice. It also has some more features that we are going to have a look at so stay tuned. ”

ThermalRight ALX-800 cooler
Overclocker Café :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“ThermalRight has done its homework with the ALX-800. Producing a kick ass air cooler and priced it inexpensively enough to completely undercut the competition. Kudos to ThermalRight’s R&D gang for the ALX-800 and another jewel in the ThermalRight crown. The ALX-800 should be on the short list if not be the only air cooler on your list for your next upgrade.”

CES 2004 Coverage Part I
The Tech Lounge :: Friday, January 16, 2004

“For the first time, and probably not the last, TheTechLounge went to Vegas to attend the Consumer Electronics Show! Make sure to have a read to see what 2004 has in store for us all. ”

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