News – ECS RS480-M Motherboard
Overclockers Online :: Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Quote: The RS480-M has turned out to be an impressive little work machine capable of doing more if you put in the money for a good video card. While the ATi Xpress 200 chipset is still relatively new, the abundance of people moving over to micro ATX makes it an ideal choice for SFF/HTPC machines. This is exactly where the RS480 fits in. Despite only having the power of an X300, you won’t notice any problems while watching your favorite movie. Where the RS480-M can improve on is being bundled with VIVO, or at least TV-Out.
Thermaltake Silent Water CPU Cooler Review at 3DXtreme
3dXtreme :: Wednesday, January 04, 2006
We loved the Aquagate Mini R120 but had some issues with the design of the unit – location of the tubes on the CPU block, noisy fan and the removal of the motherboard for installation. Everything that Cooler Master dropped the ball on we feel Thermaltake took a second look at and released a product even better and easier to use.
Raidmax RX-9 Gaming Case Review #627:
3dgameman :: Wednesday, January 04, 2006
“The Raidmax RX-9 gaming case has an aluminum inside but the rest is plastic and is available in Black and Red. The plastic is rather shiny with silver speckles and because of this it looks rather cheap. Also, the case has a rather gaudy appearance. You may have guessed this already, but its appearance is taken from vehicle designs. I suspect it’s a look that people will either love or hate…” ~3dGameMan.com
News: TR awards 2005
The Tech Report :: Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Today we’ll be handing out our Best Hardware of 2005 awards to the most compelling enthusiast-oriented products of the year. We’ve also come up with a series of unique awards to highlight some of the year’s biggest events and trends, and we haven’t pulled any punches. Read on for the best and worst of the past year.
Where Computer Interfaces Are Going @ The TechZone
The Tech Zone :: Wednesday, January 04, 2006
So why haven’t interfaces changed much in the last 20 years? One possibility is that the desktop is in some way an optimal representation. More likely, however, is that it is simply a functional representation; no need to change when change takes effort, right? We expect to be able to sit down in front of a new interface and immediately be as productive as we were before. We have all learned to use the desktop and menu-driven interfaces because we haven’t had a choice. It has taken time; just as learning to read and write took years when we were younger. Even the keyboard and the mouse, although perhaps easier than writing, have taken time and effort to master. New interfaces will face the same hurdles. Their designs will need tweaking to reduce the learning curve as much as possible. The users of these new interfaces will need the patience to develop efficient usage patterns; and the interfaces themselves will need to be entertaining enough to mitigate the patience required. All these efforts will yield interfaces that are not only more enjoyable, but faster and more useful.
World-Exclusive: Thermaltake Big Water 745 @ techPowerUp!
techPowerUp! :: Wednesday, January 04, 2006
Thermaltake introduces its new Big Water 745 kit with single and dual radiators. Adding an improved water block and a move to 3/8″ tubing Thermaltake takes the Big Water to a new level. Also included is a beefed up pump with larger reservoir. We’ll check the new parts inside and out while testing it against its predecessor.
Gigabyte GV-NX66T256DE Videocard Review
PCStats :: Wednesday, January 04, 2006
“The Gigabyte GV-NX66T256DE videocard is not just another run of the mill GeForce 6600GT with 256MB of DDR2 memory, this card is unique. The GV-NX66T256DE is cooled by fully passive means, and incorporates a couple of unique attributes to lower ambient case temperatures too. The ‘Silent-Pipe II’ cooler, as it is called, bridges the GPU to two separate heat exchangers. The videocard also supports both S-Video and component output via a break-out box, and comes with a DVI-to-analog converter for good measure.”
Seagate Barracuda 500GB 7200.9 @ Viperlair
ViperLair :: Wednesday, January 04, 2006
“The Seagate Barracuda 7200.9 is a solid, but not a revolutionary entry into the crowded desktop drive market. The 16MB of cache and 3.0Gbps transfer rate aren’t something users will immediately notice with all their applications, but this could easily change in the near future.”
Cooler Master NanoFusion
Overclockers Online :: Monday, January 02, 2006
Quote: Cooler Master has come up with a thermal compound revolution. NanoFusion truly deserves its title of “Supreme Thermal Compound” just for being able to compete with the legendary Arctic Silver 5. By creating this innovative newcomer, Cooler Master has done more than extend their product line; they have created some competition. In all, NanoFusion may represent the golden middle for those demanding a good thermal interface material without burning a hole in their wallet or settling for generic ‘goop’.
Gigabyte 3D1-68GT @ Hardware Asylum
Hardware Asylum :: Monday, January 02, 2006
“The 3D1-68GT is as good a dual-GPU card as we’ve ever seen, but that does not exempt it from its associated faults. The weight of the card is a strain on the motherboard, the heat it produces leaves the case only after warming your processor first, its length forced this author to remount his harddrives into the floppy-drive bay, and use sub-par SATA ports to boot. However, should you be able to live with these drawbacks, you will be rewarded with performance only a 7800 GTX 512 can hope to match, and rarity only equaled by the 3dFX Voodoo 5 6000”
Proporta SD MP3 Player Review: Simple is Good
Futurelooks :: Monday, January 02, 2006
Proporta has launched the PROPORTA SD MP3 Player rivaling other small flash-based mp3 players. It has amazingly simple drag and drop music transfer, and you don’t have to load up any software to use it. I didn’t even mention the best part….YOU CAN STORE AS MUCH MUSIC AS YOUR LITTLE HEART DESIRES because this player uses a removable SD Card. Is it the one for you? Let’s find out!
XGI Volari 8300 Reference Videocard Review
PCStats :: Monday, January 02, 2006
” The XGI Volari 8300 GPU is built on UMC’s 0.13 micron manufacturing and has a transistor count of 90 million. The core uses a PBGA (Pin Ball Grid Array) packaging. Architecturally, the Volari 8300 GPU is equipped with a 2 x 2 pixel pipeline, which means it has the same number of pixel rendering pipelines as an nVidia Geforce 6200TC / Radeon X300SE, but more Texel pipelines (600 million Pixel Fill rate/1200 million Texel fill rate). The total memory bus bandwidth is 64-bits, and that is broken up into two separate 32-bit memory controllers for a maximum theoretical bandwidth of 5.6GB/s.”
Asetek Waterchill KT12A-12VX/10mm Water Cooler Review
OcPrices :: Monday, January 02, 2006
Quote: “Asetek’s Waterchill range is now one of the most popular branded kits available in the UK, largely thanks to their excellent quality components and wide compatibility. The kit we are looking at today features a new kind of pump and reservoir unit to the models we have looked at previously, as well as a new software interface that can be used for controlling the interface in windows.”
Gigabyte GV-K8N51PVMT-9 Motherboard Review
PCStats :: Monday, January 02, 2006
“At first glance the Gigabyte GV-K8N51PVMT-9 appears like this board has the potential to be a pretty impressive MicroATX Athlon64 motherboard. The Gigabyte GV-K8N51PVMT-9 supports all Socket 939 model AMD Athlon64/FX/X2 processors, and its four DDR DIMM slots can accommodate up to 4GB of PC3200 memory in a dual channel configuration. Despite its mico-ATX size, the GV-K8N51PVMT-9 is fairly well equipped with Gigabit LAN, IEEE 1394a, four SATA II headers, 7.1 channel high definition audio and of course the integrated GeForce 6150 GPU.”
Intel Virtualization Technology (VT) Explained
Hardware Secrets :: Monday, January 02, 2006
“Intel has launched two Pentium 4 CPUs – 672 and 662 – supporting the new Intel Virtualization Technology (VT). Formerly known as Vanderpool, this technology enables a CPU to act as if it were several CPUs working in parallel, in order to enable several operating systems to run at the same time in the same machine. In this tutorial we will explain everything you need to know about this new technology.”
MSI 512MB Geforce NX7800GTX Videocard Review
PCStats :: Monday, January 02, 2006
“A bleeding edge part like the MSI 512MB Geforce NX7800GTX has an equally shocking enthusiast-level price tag… equivalent to the cost of a pretty decent Dell PC in fact. At the moment there are only a handful of manufacturers offering retail 512MB version Geforce 7800GTX videocards for sale. MSI Computer is one vendor with a card out in time for X-mas, and it has put together a good package that includes a full copy of the game “Colin Mcrae Rally 2005.” Luckily for you, PCSTATS has managed to bring this monster 512MB card into the labs so you can see first hand what to expect!”
Microsoft Student 2006 Review @ WindowsAtoZ.com
Windows A to Z :: Monday, January 02, 2006
“Homework can be a pain and difficult and that’s why Microsoft came up with this new product, called Microsoft Student. By the time that teens are in high school and college, many parents can’t really help them because they don’t remember that material. Microsoft Student 2006 productivity software offers lots of useful features, homework help for many subjects, and multimedia add-ons, including music, artwork, and access to live radio and news, all at a very affordable price. We did the homework for you in this review to tell you all about Microsoft Student 2006.”
The DFI RDX200 CF-DR Cross-Fire Motherboard Review @ Legit Reviews
Legit Reviews :: Monday, January 02, 2006
“There is so much to love about the DFI RDX200 CF-DR. With a better developed BIOS over that of their NF4 boards and excellent overclocking potential, the RDX200 CF-DR is better than some companies flagship motherboards. While the board has its strong points it also has several flaws that are of concern. The RDX200 is simply a very good board, while the DFI NF4 LANParty SLI board is still the great board…”
Club 3D GeForce 7800GT 256MB Video Card Review @ Madshrimps
Madshrimps :: Monday, January 02, 2006
Quote: “Club 3D is offering a toned down version of nVidia’s 7800GTX in the form of the 7800GT, this slightly more budget friendly video card might well be the hidden ace in Club 3D’s deck of cards. Let´s find out!”
PCMech: The Future of Technology from Another Perspective
PC Mechanic :: Monday, January 02, 2006
This week’s Kudos & Calamities column certainly offers a new and unique perspective about technology. Well, not about technology, per say, but about the young people who use it. thefultonhow takes a look at the computer users of the future in this piece.
DH Review: Revoltec Alu Book External Drive Case
Driver Heaven :: Monday, January 02, 2006
It was not long ago that Listan launched its sister company, Revoltec, meant to offer modding products and trendy accessories to computer users. Revoltec is by now a very well known manufacturer of innovative hardware products in Europe and is continuously expanding. They have a vast products list, from cold cathodes and bubble lights to power supply units and notebook coolers. Today we will examine their approach on some very useful devices, the external drive casings. Revoltec offers external drive casings in all sizes available; 2.5?, 3.5? and 5.25? cases are offered by the name Alu Book. The casings are mostly made out of aluminum and resemble the design of a book, hence where they take the name from. Let us take a close look on these.
Shure E3g Gaming Ear Buds
Designtechnica :: Monday, January 02, 2006
“Shure’s new line of gaming canalphones fill in the gaps within the company’s consumer line, by retaining the crisp, accurate sound of the C series and boosting the bass. Some users may find this style of headphone uncomfortable, but for those who appreciate complete immersion into their music, there’s no better option. There are some issues with fitting that plague all headphones of this style, but with a slew of available ear canal sleeves, there’s one sure to satisfy you.”‘
Sunbeam Silent Storm ATX Chassis Review
Virtual-Hideout :: Monday, January 02, 2006
Quote: ” Sunbeam did a good job on their new chassis, from the clean looking front bezel to the Core-Fan mounting system. The overall look of the case is attractive and the performance and functionality are excellent.”
Liquid cooling for the Xbox 360
Hexus :: Monday, January 02, 2006
We’ve obtained what we believe to be the first shots on the net of a new retrofit liquid cooling system for the Xbox 360… which is claimed to run cooler and quieter than a standard Xbox 360.
LGP X2 v1.4 (BETA 1) Benchmarks
Phoronix :: Monday, January 02, 2006
Summary: “On December 31, LGP finally sent its first draft of the X2 game off to its closed BETA community. With the game still being under development, there is a fair amount of bugs to speak of but many of the testers have faced an unreliably low level of performance. To show gamers what they will need to expect from this upcoming game, we have ran a slew of benchmarks over X2 v1.4 BETA 1 with various NVIDIA graphics cards.”
Swiftech MC14 BGA Memory Ramsinks Review
OCIA :: Monday, January 02, 2006
HEC WinPower 480W SLI Power Supply Review #628:
3dgameman :: Monday, January 02, 2006
Revoltec Alu Book external enclosures review @ DH
Driver Heaven :: Monday, January 02, 2006
“It was not long ago that Listan launched its sister company, Revoltec, meant to offer modding products and trendy accessories to computer users. Revoltec is by now a very well known manufacturer of innovative hardware products in Europe and is continuously expanding. They have a vast products list, from cold cathodes and bubble lights to power supply units and notebook coolers. Today we will examine their approach on some very useful devices, the external drive casings. Revoltec offers external drive casings in all sizes available; 2.5”, 3.5” and 5.25” cases are offered by the name Alu Book. The casings are mostly made out of aluminum and resemble the design of a book, hence where they take the name from. Let us take a close look on these.”
VR-Fidelity USB Speakerphone
Think Computers :: Monday, January 02, 2006
OCZ EL PC-4000 2GB Gold GX XTC
Phoronix :: Monday, January 02, 2006
Summary: “OCZ’s latest XTC (Xtreme Thermal Convection) heatspreaders have been receiving a fair amount of praise around the Internet, but barely any have actually bothered to dissect and explore the aluminum and mesh cooling device. With us today we have the EL DDR PC-4000 Gold GX XTC 2GB kit from the folks over at OCZ Technology.”
