Tech News July 2004

by NewsJuly 31, 2004June 29, 2014064

ASUS A8V Deluxe Wireless Edition S939 Motherboard
Hexus :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“ASUS has waved its deluxe wand over a socket-939 motherboard with encouraging results. Deluxe means a horde of useful goodies. ASUS obliges with Gigabit Ethernet, 54g Wireless, FireWire400, on-chip and discrete SATA and decent sound. Packaging and presentation is usual ASUS, that is, first class. We were also pleased to report that the board ran flawlessly with the strictest memory timings. Performance, as our graphs have shown, was excellent, so much so that S940 is firmly relegated into third place, behind our test Model 3800+ and the S939 FX-53.”

JetAudio iAudio4 MP3 Player
The Tech Lounge :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“Well, the MP3 music revolution is in full swing. In this brave new day and age not only can you purchase MP3 players, recorders and the files themselves, you can be sued for sharing them with your friends. What other industry simultaneously offers you hardware with one hand and steals away the right to use it with the other? Despite all the uproar, digital music media is here for the long haul. And now that you’ve acquired your digital music files, legally or otherwise, whatever could you play them on? Today we will be looking at JetAudio’s iAUDIO 4 MP3 player/recorder/FM tuner/voice recorder… that’s a lot of slashes. But this little gizmo is well worth its weight in slash marks. Boasting small size and a long battery life, JetAudio has filled this miniature soundsystem full of features and function.”

OmeagkillerSM: the Omegasearch removal tool
Short-Media :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“Short-Media has been swamped with users who have had their Internet browsers hijacked by Omegaserach, about:blank, prosearch and other such pain in the arse annoyances. So what did our team do? The custom coded a utility to get rid of those nasty annoyances. Simple and easy to use and it gets rid of Omegasearch and its nasty cousins but good!”

ADS Tech Instant TV USB 2.0 TV Tuner
Bjorn3D :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“The convergence of electronic entertainment devices such as TV’s, DVD players, and stereos with personal computers is finally starting to happen. Purpose-built computers with direct support from Microsoft in the form of Windows XP Media Center Edition are available now. Even better news for the do-it-yourselfer is the availability of devices and software to create your own Home Theater PC (HTPC). Building a low budget HTPC was on my list of summer projects and this effort was greatly facilitated by the arrival of ADS Tech’s ‘Instant TV’ USB 2.0 TV Tuner.”

ThermalTake Polo735 Extreme 3-in-1 CPU Cooler Giveaway
3dXtreme :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“Reply to this post – entries only in USA and Canada are allowed. You may only post 1 time per day. Enter everyday to improve your chances of winning! Contest runs till August 1st at 12:00am. The chosen winner must have at least 10 ‘valid’ 3DXtreme forum posts to be awarded prize.”

Frost-Byte H2O Case and H2O Cooling System Review
GruntvillE :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“Every good Water Cooled rig starts out with the pump, for this we are using the Danger Den 12V Pump which plugs into a standard molex connection and turns on and off with the PC. From here we move on to the reservoir which is a Floppy Bay Reservoir allowing you to fill the system with the twist of a cap. Next, we have mounted a Black Heater Core radiator in the top of the case with a low profile shroud which will give you some of the best temps possible from a water rig. Attached to the radiator is a 120mm Aluminum Fan pulling almost 90cfm’s. Finally we run 1/2 inch PrimoFlex Tubing, all cut to perfect lengths, and clamp these puppies down with colored hose clamps.”

Maxdy FlexiGlow FX GamePad Review
Virtual-Hideout :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“The front of the case features a drive door, LCD temperature display, and a vented front bezel. Mounted on the drive bay door is the most eye-catching feature of the case, the chrome. I was quite pleased with the chrome finishing technique used which is smooth, virtually fingerprint resistant, and has a mirror quality reflection.”

Cooler Master Real Power 450W PSU
SystemCooling :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“If you’re looking for a power supply unit that has something for just about everyone, we might have found just what you’re looking for in the latest endeavor from the folks at Cooler Master. That’s right – Cooler Master is now doing a power supply, and it’s got a ton of great features. Plenty of power? Check. Active PFC? Check. EPS capable? Check. Power monitoring? Check. Wait – power monitoring? Yes, indeed. The Cooler Master Real Power 450W also includes an analog display that indicates total power consumption. Let’s take a closer look, and see if this unit is as good as it sounds.”

Logisys Blue Armor Window Case Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“The front of the case features a drive door, LCD temperature display, and a vented front bezel. Mounted on the drive bay door is the most eye-catching feature of the case, the chrome. I was quite pleased with the chrome finishing technique used which is smooth, virtually fingerprint resistant, and has a mirror quality reflection.”

System board Comparision – ASRock K7S41GX vs Gigabyte 7VM400RZ
Overclockers New Zealand :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“Both K7S41GX and K7VM400RZ are good candidates for office machines. In terms of gaming performance, that is where SiS741GX(or 741) has an over-whelming advantage over Via KM400 chipset”

Dell Dimension 2400 System Review
PCStats :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“”The Dimension 2400 is a budget home/office system based on Intel’s i845GV chipset, and houses a Celeron 2.4Ghz processor (in the model we tested) or a Pentium 4 up to 2.8 GHz. Depending on the processor, the system uses either 266MHz or 333MHz DDR memory, up to 1GB worth. Graphics and sound are provided by Intel’s ‘Extreme’ integrated graphics chipset and Soundmax integrated audio respectively. Nothing to write home about here, but adequate for the PC’s intended role as an office machine. A 40GB hard disk provides storage, and a 48X CD-ROM drive is present for software and music. No floppy drive was included in the system we reviewed, though a slot for one is built into the custom Dell case.””

Plextor PX-712SA DVD Writer
t-break :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“Plextor has been around pretty much since CDs were first introduced to the world. In 1998 Plextor began producing CD-R/RW drives which proved to be very popular. In 2003, the increasing demand for DVD writers caused Plextor to introduce DVD+R/RW drives to the ever expanding market. Today they provide a large variety of top range products, but their main focus is still on DVD and CD RW drives.”

TweakMonster Fan Bracket Kits Giveaway
OCIA :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“OCIA.net and TweakMonster.com have teamed up to bring you a chance to win an 80mm Dual Fan Bracket Kit and a 120mm Fan Bracket Kit! You can learn more about it and enter the contest by visiting the OCIA.net forums.”

Thermaltake Extreme Giant III Cooler Review
myWORLD :: Wednesday, July 07, 2004

“If you consider the temperature differences (<5ºC), I’d say the Giant III is not worth the trouble. There are just too many parts to install, too much thermal compound involved and too much noise too. Besides, the Giant III can’t really fit in all types of display cards, despite thermaltake’s effort to make their mounting brackets universal.”

AOpen A600 Aluminum Case
Bjorn3D :: Wednesday, July 07, 2004

Seduction by aluminum is the only way I know how to describe the AOpen A600 aluminum case. Lightweight and packed with some great features, the A600 could be well on its way to seducing many PC enthusiasts to take it home to meet the parents. From its numerous tool-less drivebays to its flashy lights and window, this case is sure to fit right into any buyer’s description of an ideal case.

3R Systems Poseidon WCL-03 Water Cooling System
SystemCooling :: Wednesday, July 07, 2004

“Today we are reviewing the 3R Systems Poseidon Water Cooling system. What sets this apart from most of the rest of the Water-Cooled Solutions presently available is that this is truly a “Plug and Play” Solution: it comes completely pre-assembled and pre-filled.”

Evercool WC-201 Water Cooling Kit Review
GruntvillE :: Wednesday, July 07, 2004

“You have 12 Tornado fans to blast the heat out of your case, and now your CPU is heating the whole house! Now its summer and we are sweltering in the heat and noise of the PC. Then there are modders that brag about their benchmark scores and PC performance till you want to puke. What’s one of their secrets? Watercooling…”

Polished Shuttle SFF Case Project
GideonTech :: Wednesday, July 07, 2004

“The tiny small form factor Shuttle cases are quite useful. You can carry them around under your arms and they pack quite a punch in the performance department. However, they do look a bit drab at times. Take a look at what our modder YuCa has done with his to make it stand above the crowd.”

3DCool Chenming 602 Case Review
Virtual-Hideout :: Wednesday, July 07, 2004

“I could sum up the conclusion to this with ….it’s a winner. I’d surely call it the best case you can buy for under $100 USD. I’m still loving my Antec 1080AMG and this “602” is just as good, with a slightly different feature set and build materials. With the “602”, the quality aluminum construction, excellent stock cooling, innovative features (like the hdd cage), and reasonable price ($84.95 USD), it’s a no-brainer. Not to mention it’s predecessors incredible track record over the past few years as being the most copied enclosure design on the market.”

Three Way DDR-550 Memory Rumble – GeIL, OCZ and ShikaRAM
TweakTown :: Wednesday, July 07, 2004

“While companies around the world prepare to introduce DDR-II memory modules to the market place in their various channels, DDR kicks on. We’ve compared DDR-550 (PC4400) memory modules from GeIL, OCZ and ShikaRAM at their default speeds and overclocked, as far as we could take them, on our ASUS Pentium 4 platform.”

Corsair TwinX 3200XL Pro Memory Review
Overclocker Café :: Wednesday, July 07, 2004

Back to our 3200XL, the one thing I do want to emphasis is that at PC3200 settings the TwinX 3200XL runs tighter than ANYTHING else. This same memory however will also give you breathing room with loose timings up to PC4000 levels. Let’s not forget these babies do light up.

AOpen 52x32x52x CRW5232/ARR CD-RW Review
PCStats :: Wednesday, July 07, 2004

“In this review, PCstats is testing out the a 52x CD, 32x CD-RW, 52x CD-R burner made by AOpen, the “CRW5232/ARR”. Maximum CD-R write speeds have hit their limit at the 52x burn speed, and this standard has been around for well over a year now. That shouldn’t be much of a surprise though, after all, a 52x burner can fill a regular 650MB disc with information in just over 83 seconds, and a 700MB disc in just under 90 seconds! Of course there’s more to the AOpen 52x32x52x CD-RW than speedy burning; one innovative thing AOpen has done is include three coloured face plates with the drive! Those of you with aluminum or fancy black cases will like the option of choosing a matching silver or black face plates for your PC. And hey, if you’re using a regular white box PC, the beige faceplate works just fine too.”

Kingston 1GB DataTraveler 2.0 Hi-Speed
ViperLair :: Tuesday, July 27, 2004

“Flash drives are something that once you’ve used one, it’s tough to imagine life without it. Extremely portable, they can contain a fair amount of data depending on the size of the drive you’ve purchased. Since they are USB based, they’ll work in almost any PC with a USB connection, depending on the OS installed, and in most cases, no drivers are required.”

M-Systems DiskOnKey Classic 2.0 USB Drive Review
ModSenergy :: Tuesday, July 27, 2004

“It looks as USB key drives have caught on with consumers. I am witnessing less people using floppy drives but using USB keys of all sorts. M-Systems is one of the biggest if not the biggest flash disk pioneers on the market and actually share their flash technology to other companies. Even your current USB key may contain M-System technology. Today I will be reviewing the newest USB drive from M-Systems based on USB 2.0 technology, the DiskOnKey Classic 2.0.”

Kingston 1GB CompactFlash Elite Pro
ViperLair :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“If you’re a digital photography enthusiast, the Elite Pro deserves a spot in your camera bag. There are different options available when it comes to capacity, but I would strongly recommend 512MB and up if you own anything higher than a 4MP camera.”

Logitech Notebook Optical Mouse Plus+ Review
Virtual-Hideout :: Wednesday, July 07, 2004

“Laptops/Notebooks are certainly getting a lot of attention as of late, especially with such technologies as Intel’s much-touted Centrino features and the advent of high-performance mobile videocard options, both of which make portable systems more attractive to a wider range of people. Indeed, true desktop replacements are now a reality, and have been so for a little while, as many people find that all they need is a notebook. But regardless of who is using a notebook, most will find that despite their convenience, notebooks tend to lack on the ease-of-use of their pointing devices. While it may be that one can get used to, or even prefer the feel of a notebook’s keyboard, especially if it has a good layout, it’ll be hard to find someone who likes the use of a trackpad over that of a mouse.”

HIS Excalibur Radeon X800 PRO IceQ2 VIVO Limited Edition Videocard Review
Tweaknews :: Tuesday, July 27, 2004

“What you will be seeing today is the next edition of HIS’s IceQ line called the IceQII. Utilizing ATI’s next generation X800 video processors, HIS intends to pick where the initial 9x00pro based videocards left off and continue dominating the market with a videocard which is matched by none and envied by many.”

MSI PCX5750-TD128 PCI-E Videocard Review
PCStats :: Tuesday, July 27, 2004

“As the Intel computing world becomes more familiar with PCI-Express, expect more high end, and native PCI-E solutions to crop up. Before we get to far ahead ourselves, let’s focus in on the card PCstats.com is testing in this review; the MSI PCX5750-TD128 videocard. The MSI PCX5750-TD128 is a PCI-Express x16 solution based on the venerable nVidia GeForcePCX 5750 core, and comes with 128MB of standard DDR memory running at 500MHz. The bright red card supports S-Video output, and of course comes with all the necessary cables in the box. An additional DVI-to-analog converter is included so users can configure dual monitors if they prefer as well.”

HIS Radeon X600XT Review
Overclocker Café :: Tuesday, July 27, 2004

“To put it simply, this card is an overclocking monster. Pushing the core speed to 567MHz, we were also able to reach 452Mhz (x2) on the memory. I ran the card at these settings from more than four hours playing both Far Cry and UT2004 and no artifacts or lock ups. That is almost a 20 percent increase in memory speed and 13 percent in core speed, and the FPS showed it in the benchmarks.”

ATI’s Andrew Dodd Interviewed
VR-Zone :: Tuesday, July 27, 2004

“It’s been about 2 years since you’ve started the Catalyst drivers and they have really evolved since then. Where would you see the Cats in 2 years? I’d like to see the CATALYST driver as the #1 selling point for all ATI graphics card ;-) We’re going to stay focused and continue delivering the most stable, high performance driver in the industry. We’re also going to put significant effort into enhancing the usability and features available to the end-user in the coming months.”

HIS Excalibur 9550 VIVO
ViperLair :: Thursday, July 22, 2004

“Should you decide the 9550 is for you, then you really can’t go wrong with the HIS Excalibur 9550 ViVo Edition, and since the iFan version doesn’t add to the sound levels at all, that’s the version I would personally go for. HIS have a great overall package here, a decent card and without useless software/games added, everything included is actually useable.”

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