Tech News June 2003

by NewsJune 30, 2003June 29, 2014014

Enermax 460w Whisper Series PSU review
Overclocker Café :: Monday, June 09, 2003

While I don’t have a decibel meter, I can definitely tell the difference. To find out just how quiet it really was, (and don’t try this at home) I unplugged all the case fans and the heatsink fan as well and could still barely hear the PSU fans running.

Tyan Tachyon G9500Pro 128MB review
Overclockers New Zealand :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“Tyan Tachyon G9500Pro is a feature rich graphics card, with a respectable performance and an impressive hardware monitoring function. In addition, the G9500Pro is the only R9500Pro that can be overclocked without flashing custom BIOS. In our attempt, overclocking raise the performance by 2~10%.”

Purse Power: FutureMark Controversy
IpKonfig :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“FutureMark is solvent and wealthy because of its 3DMark series of benchmarking tools. And NVIDIA is wealthy because it has made the market believe, generally rightly, that its graphics cards were the best performers on a wide range of measures. Quite a few graphics card companies have gone down to dusty death competing with it.”

Thermalright SLK-800 Heatsink review
PimpRig :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“Thermalright continues their reign of terror with another excellent CPU cooler. The design that they started out with in the SK-6 is still being tweaked by each subsequent generation of their heatsinks, and the performance gains show that the tweaking works.”

ABIT NF7-S Revison 2.0 review
ViperLair :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“Thankfully, nothing was taken away with the latest revision, and we have all of the high-end nForce 2 features present, including Soundstorm. In my opinion, the sound quality and low CPU usage makes it good enough that you should even need an addon card. With the new SPP, we have support for the latest Bartons, future-proofing the NF7-S.”

Vantec 80mm UltraViolet Fans
Tech-Dreams :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“Let’s get back to case modding basics… At the beginning of case modding, the whole idea was to improve system performance. Today a lot of things have changed and been thrown out the window. Case mods are now designed to make your case look fancy. Well, Vantec have got the best of both worlds with their new Spectrum UV fans. These fans perform the basic function (as a fan *duh*) as well as looking sweet under a UV light source.”

KoolPCMods Xide-Pad Mouse Pad review
XtReMoDs :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“The first thing I noticed when I unwrapped this mouse pad is that it was large and sturdy, but was still lightweight. After placing it in just the perfect position and throwing my old mouse pad in a drawer somewhere, I simply plugged it into the USB slot and presto there was light.”

Vantec iCEBERQ4 Premium VGA Cooling Kits Review
3dgameman :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“The Vantec iCEBERQ4 Premium VGA Cooling Kits offer great cooling for just about every Video Card out there. The heatsink is polished copper and thankfully there are four ramsinks included to help cool your Video Cards memory and assist in overclocking. They also have a clear fan, blue clear top and LED’s. Watch the Video to find out more…”

PCToys System Maxx Fan Controller Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“Upon powering of the PCToys System Maxx Fan Controller, the illuminated control knobs emit a soft blue glow around the perimeter of the knob. This feature is in the constant ON state. Unfortunately, the illuminated control knobs are not capable increasing or decreasing in luminosity depending on the voltage being supplied to the attached fan. In order to test the PCToys System Maxx Fan Controller, I attached 4 Sunon KD1208PTB1 80mm fans and ran them at various speeds for a 12-hour period after which the PCB remained cool to the touch.”

LED Limiting Resistance Calculator
GideonTech :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“This is just a simple LED limiting resistor calculator written in VB. It helps you determine the resistor value you need for your mod LED projects. It can show the actual calculated resistor value and the nearest higher standard resistor value.”

Overclocking The Intel Motherboard Chipset
Geek Shelter :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“Now days, striving for “better” performance is key for your computer system. Everyone is pushing their systems, from the latest video cards to the latest CPU’s. Unfortunately, especially in the Intel market, not everyone has the money to buy the latest and fastest CPU’s available. Sticking to a strict budget, many computer enthusiasts overclock their motherboards and CPU’s to make up for their loss in speed, or to just get better overall performance. An overclocked processor at 2.8GHz will almost always run faster than a stock 2.8GHz because when you overclock, you push your motherboards Front-Side Bus (FSB), making the system run overall a lot faster than the stock 2.8GHz CPU at its standard FSB (533 MHz quad-pumped.)”

Vantec Spectrum UV LED Fans review
The Tech Lounge :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“As the UV fans were, the UV LED fans look very good with no UV lighting, but once plugged in, the UV LEDs turn on with the fan, and we get to see some glowey goodness. The LEDs built into the fan emit enough UV light to cause the entire fan to light up. The LEDs, however, are not bright enough to light up other UV components in your computer. As you can tell from the pictures, these fans look fantastic.”

Microsoft Windows Server 2003: Sharing, in a Whole New Perspective
Tech ARP :: Thursday, June 05, 2003

“Our intrepid webmaster Ken Ng recently attended the launch of the new Microsoft Windows Server 2003 and instead of being bored to death, he came away mighty impressed! So impressed that he simply had to write an editorial on it!

In his editorial, Ken will reveal some exciting new features in Windows Server 2003 as well as the upcoming Microsoft Office 2003! Don’t miss it! Come on in and read his editorial on the new Microsoft Server 2003 – “Sharing, In A Whole New Perspective!”

PC Toys AeroMaxx Cooler with TMD Fan
I Am Not a Geek :: Thursday, June 05, 2003

“I have to say I was pleasantly surprised by the performance of the PC Toys AeroMaxx cooler. I did not anticipate it being able to maintain temperatures as low as it did, and I definitely did not expect the noise level of a 70mm fan running at over 5000 RPM to be so low. The T.M.D. fan, coupled with the AeroMaxx’s uniquely designed heatsink base, create a respectable combination for cooling your processor. Although not a silent cooling solution, the AeroMaxx produces a minimal amount of noise that could possibly be eliminated, without impacting the cooling performance, through the use of a speed control device.”

Pentalpha Aqualia Water Cooler 5.25″ Drive Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Thursday, June 05, 2003

“Out of the box, my first impressions of the Aqualia Water Cooling Drive were mixed; this was mainly contributed by the compact size of the parts including the tubing. The Aqualia Water Cooling Drive is almost completely pre-assembled requiring users to simply attach the tubing to the waterblock and fill the system prior to use. The dimensions of the Aqualia Water Cooling Drive are 223mm (L) x 147mm (W) x 11mm (H) and is designed to conveniently reside in a 5.25″ bay. An aluminum casing acts as a cover and encloses all the components inside. A silver and blue logo resides along the top portion of the aluminum cover with the other side exposing the dual 80mm fans above the radiator.”

Cooler Master Wave Master Aluminum Masterpiece
SystemCooling :: Thursday, June 05, 2003

“Once in a great while, a product comes along exhibiting state of the art design, cooling friendliness, and at the same time, sporting superb quality and craftsmanship. Cooler Master’s new flagship case the “Wave Master Aluminum Mid-Tower Case”, is just such a product!! I know, it’s out of the ordinary, to compliment a new product at the beginning of a review, but this beauty warrants all the accolades it will soon receive.”

Chaintech Reloaded 2003 Event Coverage
Mikhailtech :: Thursday, June 05, 2003

When these two items were shown during the presentation, a chuckle quickly went up from the audience. I, like many of my colleagues in the audience thought that these two items were simply regular PCI TV-tuner cards. This was not the case and we were in for yet another surprise to learn that Chaintech has developed both a digital satellite PCI card (DST-1000FTA) and Digital/Analog TV tuner card (D-A-DTT-100). Both of these cards should be well received in the Home Theater PC market.

Globalwin 300W & 400W Silent PSU with 4 AC outlets
3dgameman :: Thursday, June 05, 2003

“1. Smart turn on & off for all peripheral equipments in one click.

• Multiple AC outlets for computer peripherals.

• All AC outlets with “Auto Turn-On” & ” Auto Shut – Down ” function.

• Surge protected and By Pass Device to AC outlets for modem , printer, scanner, monitor and other peripherals.

• EMI (PFI) filtration.”…

DawG PounD June Giveaway @ GruntvillE.com
GruntvillE :: Thursday, June 05, 2003
Yup, the man with the mAd cAPS L0cK is at it again!

The Matrix Orbital MX212 we gave away last month just wasn’t enough. This month we’re giving away an Antec LanBoy! This is one of the hottest cases Antec has released in quite some time and it can be yours for free!

How to change the Logitech MX 700 LED
PimpRig :: Thursday, June 05, 2003

“This mod is pretty simple, but I saw a lot of questions asking what kind of LED to use, or how it works. Well guess what folks; today is your lucky day. Right now this mouse is probably the most expensive mouse out there, so trust me; I wouldn’t be doing this if it didn’t work.”

Chenming Silver 301KE Aluminum Case Video Review
3dgameman :: Thursday, June 05, 2003

“The Chenming Silver 301KE Aluminum Case is lightweight, looks great, has a clear window with pre-cut 80mm fan hole, two front USB and one fire wire port, removable 3.5″ drive rack and more. Unfortunately the motherboard tray is not removable and since the case is small it means tight working conditions. Watch the Video to find out more…”

JMC Arctic Wind Plus Heatsink Review
Think Computers :: Thursday, June 05, 2003

“You guys have seen us review many different types of heatsinks. When reviewing a heatsink there are many things to consider, performance, cooling, price…etc. We have received some products from JMC to look at. JMC is a new company to us so here is some information about them. JMC Products is a leading manufacturer of thermal solutions with facilities around the world. We focus on developing cooling products to increase the performance, reliability, and flexibility of your networking, storage, and server systems. Since 1991 we have supplied dependable, cutting-edge cooling products to large OEMs around the world. With over 800 employees and operations in North America, Europe and Asia, JMC has established itself as a leading thermal solutions provider. Today we will be looking at their Arctic Wind Plus Heatsink.”

LCD Keypad Guide
Hexus :: Thursday, June 05, 2003
“At the start of this project, it was designed to work with an LCD, but I will be finally applying the keypad to my VFD, showing how versatile the ‘custom PCB’ is, due to Matrix Orbital units having the same keypad controller on the bulk of their units”

X-Micro APEX USB Flash Stick
TweakTown :: Thursday, June 05, 2003
“We’ve been seeing these pocket drives around for a while now, but do they really work? And even more important, are they easy enough to use to make them convenient? To find out, come join Mike “Darthtanion” Wright as he takes a look at the X-Micro APEX USB Flash Stick. We’ll give it a test run and try to answer these very questions!”

Ratpadz GS Mousing Surface Review
GruntvillE :: Thursday, June 05, 2003

“There are several things that make the Ratpadz GS different. For starters it is a hard mouse pad made out of a high-tech polymer that is very difficult to break or warp. The UltraSlick ™ surface is just that, ultra slick and tough. There are also 9 polyurethane feet, that are countersunk into the base, that keep the Ratpadz GS from moving, even during the most furious of sessions in UT2003. To ensure the rigidity and stability of the pad, the base is ribbed, which makes for a solid construction, light weight, and low profile, only ¼”! Finally, there is the actual mousing area: 11.5” x 9.3”, which is huge! Great for when you are really getting into the game.”

Promise SX-4000 Raid controller review
Maximum OC :: Thursday, June 05, 2003
Maximum OC has just posted a review of the Promise SX-4000 Raid controller. You know you want the performance! It becons you! Heed its command! Read the review!

Thermaltake Giant II Highest Performance Cooler
Xoxide :: Thursday, June 05, 2003

Swiftech MCX 462+T Peltier Heatsink
GruntvillE :: Thursday, June 05, 2003

“One thing is for sure, while the installation isn’t all that complicated, it’s definitely not for everybody. You have to remember that the equipment you are installing can cause condensation which is a big no-no on electronics such as your motherboard. Be sure to follow the directions closely and take your time. While the instructions provided with the unit contain most the information you will need to perform the install, it tends to be lacking a bit in pictures and can be a bit confusing at times. I’d recommend reading through our Peltier Installation Guide written by GruntvillE’s own resident guru, Gunner. Being that it was his guide that assisted me with the install, I see little reason to copy/paste all of his information here.”

Microsoft wireless optical mouse review
Ripnet-UK :: Friday, June 20, 2003
Is your desktop a mess? Wires trailing everywhere? Looks like a snake’s wedding? Then do yourself a favour and take a look at Micrsoft’s latest offering on the cordless hardware front…

Icemat Reviewed @ DataFuse
DataFuse :: Friday, June 20, 2003

“I’ve neglected something, something important, something that weakened my skills. Right now you’re all probably saying: what the hell is up with this guy. Well for the last two years I used my optical mouse, without any mousepad, I just used my desk. Of course an optical mouse can pretty much skate on any surface, but after a while the desk get’s kinda sticky, and then, … Anyway, let’s see if there’s a difference between using your desk or a REAL mousepad. ”

Mouse Pad Roundup @ Voided Warranty
Voided Warranty :: Friday, June 20, 2003

“One of the main things gamers of today are concerned about is which mouse pad they will use to best fit there style of gaming. Thanks to the sponsor’s, Voided Warranty has 13 Pads to review, from cloth mouse pads to plastic pads. We will give the gamers, as well as the everyday computer user an idea of each pads performance.”

iRock! 730i MP3 Player
Think Computers :: Friday, June 20, 2003

“When searching for an mp3 player there are many things you have to look at, size, memory, possible expansion, compatibility. There are just so many things to consider. All mp3 players have their good points and bad points, it’s up to the user to select which one fits their needs. Today we will be looking at the irock 730i digital audio player.”

Mouse MoD II
GruntvillE :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“GruntvillE recently posted the Mouse MoD How-to and has followed it up with Mouse MoD II – The WindoW. The same mad modder that brought you the LCD MoD, router mod, and many more is here to explain how to add an uber cool window and add some ambience enhancing LEDs. This crazy MoD requires little more than a knife, glue and CD/RW spindleJ If you want to add the LEDs a simple soldering gun is added to the list. You can find this MoD and MORE @ GruntvillE.com”

Proporta Aluminum Case for the iPaq 3000 and 5000 series
Futurelooks :: Thursday, June 05, 2003
“Looking to encase your precious PDA? Proporta offers up a sleek and sexy aluminum case to protect your precious iPaq 3000 or 5000 series PocketPC. Let’s check it out!”

Albatron GeForce FX 5200 Ultra Review
Overclocker Café :: Sunday, June 29, 2003

“The final stable speeds we can get out of our Albatron FX5200 are 381MHz on the core and a whoppin’ 756MHz for the memory. Now, one thing I found really cool about card was that there was no tearing or loss of image quality at high speeds. All the other cards we have overclocked here showed their instability first by image quality reduction and tearing. However, this baby just kept going and going and when it had reached its peak, it just quit. ”

ATI Radeon 9600 Pro review
Hexus :: Sunday, June 29, 2003

“This is what the midrange is all about. Good IQ combined with good performance and 9600 Pro (and 9500 Pro before it) certainly brings that to the table.”

PowerColor ATI R9800 Pro 128MB VGA review
Overclockers New Zealand :: Tuesday, June 24, 2003
“Well, what can I say? ATi successfully regain the champion title in the high-end graphics market with the release of R9800Pro. Currently, there are no other cards, including Nvidia FX5800Ultra, that can match R9800Pro’s performance, especially when FSAA is enabled. The other advantage ATi has over Nvidia is the noise level. ATi R9800Pro is surprising quiet when comparing to Nvidia’s flagship, FX5800Ultra.”

GeForce FX5600 Ultra Rev2 Review
Hexus :: Friday, June 20, 2003
“The reference card sports a heatsink and fan assembly that is surely the shiniest in the industry. My absymal digital camera skills don’t pick it out very well, but the front face on the heatsink is mirror like. In the right light you can double your PCI slots. We’ve got the usual 4 pin Molex style connector on the top right, and the board arrived with a Y-splitter just incase I couldn’t find a spare connector from the quarter billion my Enermax PSU provides. Expect a nifty splitter in the retail box.”

Albatron FX5200U GeForce FX5200 Ultra 128MB Review
Overclockers New Zealand :: Friday, June 20, 2003

“With no image enhancements enabled, i.e. FSAA, the FX5200Ultra is just a budget video card, around 15% faster than a standard FX5200. However, the table starts to turn when FSAA is enabled, thanks to FX5200Ultra’s high memory clock and the efficient memory management; Albatron FX5200Ultra is up to 40% faster than a FX5200.”

Inno3d GeForce FX 5600 Ultra Review
Overclocker Café :: Friday, June 20, 2003

The DirectX 9 compliance seems to come at the expense of performance for non-DirectX9 games/programs (which means about everything out right now.) Let me emphasis “right now.” In our results, you can see that with the eye candy of FSAA enabled the FX5600 Ultra engine starts to rev up as if a switch was thrown.

nVidia GeForce FX 5900 Ultra Review
TweakTown :: Friday, June 13, 2003
“For many months enthusiasts awaited the arrival of nVidia GeForce FX 5800 only to be let down by poor performance, jet engine level volume from its cooler and supply problems due to the use of DDR-II. nVidia acknowledged the FX 5800 was a failure and have recently released the GeForce FX 5900 Ultra with many improvements over its predecessor. Read on as Cameron “Sov” Johnson tells us if nVidia learned from their mistakes or not.”

Albatron KM18G Pro M-ATX nForce2 motherboard review
Monkey Review :: Friday, June 13, 2003

The KM18G runs off of the nForce 2 IGP Northbridge and the MCP Southbridge. Although we’ve checked out the nForce 2 SPP (System Platform Processor), this is our first experience with the IGP version which sports integrated graphics with allocation of up to 128MB of system memory. The integrated graphics comes to us via the Geforce 4 MX (NV17) core which runs at 250 MHz. Although this won’t be a selling point for those of us using ATI radeon 9000+ cards or Ti / FX based cards, it will appeal to someone looking for a system with solid integrated graphics for an office system or even to play the most recent games only with toned down settings.

Hercules 3D Prophet Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB review
TweakTown :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“Since ATI’s Radeon 9700 Pro started appearing on shop shelves nVidia have had to keep pace with their GeForce FX series. Recently ATI launched the Radeon 9800 Pro which is essentially a Radeon 9700 Pro with higher clock speeds to keep competitive against nVidia. Today Shawn “Toxic” Baker takes a look at the funky-looking Hercules 3D Prophet Radeon 9800 Pro 128MB video card that costs $660 US which certainly does not make it a product for the faint of heart.”

ATI ALL-IN-WONDER RADEON 9000 PRO VIDEOCARD review
Tweaknews :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“Face it, the All in Wonder line of videocards are second to none when compared to any other videocard on the market. The swiss army knife of videocards is loved by its owner and envied by consumers that would love to own one, but just can’t seem to find the money to buy the latest 9700pro version. So, what did ATI figure out? Well, one thing is the fact that there are millions of consumers out there that would just love to get their technology starved hands on a Wonder. So ATI decided to release an all-in-one videocard for the rest of us common folk in the world, the All-in-Wonder 9000pro. As you will see in this review, this card has every single capability as its faster, more expensive brother. If you don’t need a bleeding edge performance videocard, I think the US$199 you pay for this card will be a solid investment. And guess what, it’s half the price of the equivalent 9700pro but not half the performance.”

ATI Radeon 9800 Pro 256MB review
Hexus :: Monday, June 09, 2003

“We’ve been waiting for this time since consumer graphics finally took off with the Voodoo. Since then, as PC’s finally had the pixel pushing horsepower to render 3D at speed, games have been gaining in visual quality and complexity up to a point where larger framebuffers haven’t just been a gimmick. They’ve been a necessity. ”

eVGA e-G4 MX440-8X 64MB nVidia Personal Cinema Video Review
3dgameman :: Thursday, June 05, 2003

“The Personal Cinema offers an enormous amount of features and does it all in a single product. While this is not a hardcore gamer’s card it performs well in most games on the market. The strong point about this card is its A/V capabilities, dual display and TV tuner functionality. Bang for the buck, it rocks. Watch the Video to find out more…”

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