Tech News June 2004

Thermaltake TWV480 kit review
Overclocker Café :: Wednesday, June 16, 2004

“Six months ago I would have asked why would you want or need to know the power consumption of your machine, excluding of course some out of the ordinary example. With NVidia’s new GeForce’s 6800 and its reported thirst for juice, monitoring power consumption all of a sudden isn’t such a bad idea. Thermaltake has released the TWV480 that now gives you an option to monitor and make adjustments for any possible power issues you may experience.”

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Computex 2004 – Tech Tidbits
PCStats :: Wednesday, June 16, 2004

“Computex has always been useful event for companies to gauge the interest of buyers in their new and innovative products. As such, during Computex 2004 countless manufacturers had mock-ups and prototypes on display. Across the board, the home media PC appeared to generate the most interest, with products ranging from set top boxes by Gigabyte, to the just announced TM8800 1.6GHz Transmeta Efficeon processor powering a WindowsXP Media Center Edition system.”

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Swiftech H2O-8600 Liquid Cooling Kit
SystemCooling :: Wednesday, June 16, 2004

“There are a couple of ways to go about outfitting your computer for water cooling. One is to cruise the forums like those here at Systemcooling and get opinions on the best water block, pump, radiator etc. Then you have to go to the various sites to order. Another way is to find a reputable manufacturer who can provide everything you need in a pre-designed kit. Swiftech has provided us with a sample of the latter, their new H2O-8600 Liquid Cooling Kit. As a semi-newb to water cooling, I’ll give you an idea of just how easy it is to set this kit up and just how well it does at keeping a system cool. Bring on the water!”

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Shuttle XPC SB61G2 v3.0 review
Hexus :: Wednesday, June 16, 2004

“It’s a tidy, polished implementation of a well trodden concept, with the odd rough edge here and there. But nobody else does a Pentium 4 SFF box quite like Shuttle, with the SB61G2 v3.0 one of the best. A price of just under £200 inc VAT in the UK should see good sales. Recommended if a P4 XPC is what you’re after and you don’t fancy splashing out on the RefleXion or an SB75.”

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CaseMod 101 : History of Modding
Virtual-Hideout :: Wednesday, June 16, 2004

“Cases went from painted and tweaked “Beige boxes” to brushed and or anodized aluminum. Windows got bigger and started appearing all over the case. Some are now completely clear Plexiglas marvels of light and visibility. Windows got Appliqués and then Laser etchings. All those windows made the tired old green or gold standard PCB’s of Motherboards and video cards look kind of drab. So we got boards in black, then red which brings us to now and a rainbow of choices. Most Board manufactures have taken a sort of color identity. A blue motherboard? Prolly Gigabyte. Red? MSI. Sam e plain old gold that isn’t plain anymore? ASUS. Flat cables looked ugly and blocked airflow. We rounded them by hand, then we got pre-rounded cables. Now they come in colors, are UV reactive, glow in the dark and as amazing as it sounds…still move data “to and fro”.”

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Thermaltake Damier V6000 case
Red & Blackness Mods :: Wednesday, June 16, 2004

“We had a look at a smiliar case to this Damier awhile back. It was the Wingo case and this time we have the Damier from Thermaltake. We will look closer into how big the case is and if it might be fitting for a overclocker or just a normal user. Thermaltake are known to make nice cases and the Wingo case recieved a nice recommendation from us so it will be interesting to see if this one gets one also. ”

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ASUS DRW-0804P DVD Burner
ViperLair :: Wednesday, June 16, 2004

“Performance is where ASUS has put a lot of effort into the drive, and it shows up in the results. The ASUS drive took the lead in most categories, from CD reading to DVD writing. In the CD arena it is moderately faster than most of the other drives with its biggest improvement being in the CD Writing and ReWriting performance.”

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Xoxide Angel Eye Reservoir Review
GruntvillE :: Wednesday, June 16, 2004

“Now when the system is running and everything is fine, you probably could care less how your fill/bleed solution works. When it comes time to slap on your shiny new chrome water block and you have to drain the system is when you finally learn you should have gotten a reservoir.”

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Hightech Excalibur Radeon 9200SE Videocard Review
Tweaknews :: Wednesday, June 16, 2004

“Now before you discredit this card as a slow piece of hardware, let me clarify one thing. This card is neither meant or intended to be a screamer in any way shape or form. What this card is offering is a very cost effective solution to a person needing the great 2D quality ATI is know for, allow the user to have fully functional VIVO capabilities and do some very minor gaming from time to time. For me to judge this videocard on gaming performance alone would be a very ignorant and completely unfair. Not every card is made to perform in the enthusiast market.”

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Lian Li V-1100 Aluminum Mid-Tower Review
GruntvillE :: Tuesday, June 01, 2004

“Opening the front door, you are greeted with the common sleek design provided by the Lian-Li manufacturers. On the bottom is a small indiscreet case badge. Although I really don’t like case badges, this one isn’t too bad in my opinion. The power button is mounted centerline on the panel with the tiniest LED indicators. Lian-Li includes an aluminum 5.25” floppy drive cover and a 5.25” CD/DVD stealth cover. I was really impressed that Lian-Li added these two extras with the V1100.”

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MSI K8N Neo Platinum nF3 250Gb
ViperLair :: Tuesday, June 01, 2004

“If you’ve been holding out on the Athlon 64, particularly the more consumer based Socket 754 version, the K8N Neo Platinum is as good a reason as any to jump on board now. With the great performance, stability and system level firewall, you won’t be disappointed with it.”

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Tt XTunner Radio Controlled Rheobus
Overclocker Café :: Tuesday, June 01, 2004

“Fan controllers come in all shapes and sizes. Be that a simple knob rheostat all the way up to the fully automatic digital unit such as the Thermaltake Hardcano 12. Thinking outside the box, Thermaltake has gone in an entirely new direction with their newest fan controller dubbed the XTunner. You have wireless mice, keyboards, NICs and printers so why not a rheobus? Thermaltake’s press release cites the XTunner’s extra “n” in its name, is for innovation. To come up with an idea like a radio controlled rheobus, I have to agree.”

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SilverStone SST-TJ02 Glacier Mid-Tower Case Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Tuesday, June 01, 2004

“The front bezel design of the SST-TJ02 is fantastic consisting of brushed aluminum, alloy, bevelled edges and silver mirror coating on the steel chassis. SilverStone continues to use simplistic design techniques eliminating the need for pre-modified case options and fancy gimmicks. The SST-TJ02 supports all mATX and Full ATX motherboard formats and does not ship with an included PSU. Consumers have the option of selecting from SilverStone’s SST PSU models which range from 300W to 460W.”

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Vantec Cable Sleeving Kit Review
Tweaknews :: Tuesday, June 01, 2004

“Any self-respecting modder will sleeve his wires. It’s really that simple. The problem is, it can be one hell of a pain in the ass to do. So when cable sleeving kits come out, a lot of people flock to them in the hopes of saving themselves some grief. Frankly, they are useful not just for power supply units, but also for any other wires you need to run in your box; fans, front panel case wires (power/reset/activity LEDs), etc. The benefits are not just aesthetic, however. Sleeving your cables also allows air to flow better in your case.”

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Corsair PC4000 PRO contest
Overclocker Café :: Tuesday, June 01, 2004

The Overclocker Cafe’ has two Corsair PC4000 PRO 1gb memory kits to giveaway. The PRO modules are the hip looking units with the activity LEDs on the spines of the memory. Now what’s cooler than that?! Between now and June 15th, folks can put their name in the hat by visiting the Overclocker Cafe’ contest page. Two people out there will be very happy indeed with some ultra fast and ultra cool looking DIMMs in their box – for free!

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Cooler Master Musketeer II
SystemCooling :: Tuesday, June 01, 2004

“When Cooler Master introduced the Musketeer, it was a considerable departure from traditional bay devices, both in form as well as function. Its automotive style gauges replaced the usual LCD panel, and the functions it offered were somewhat different as well. Now Cooler Master has introduced the Musketeer II, which departs even further from the expected where function is concerned, and adds some features that make the M2 even more attractive to modders.”

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Glide Pad Series Mousepads Review
OCIA :: Tuesday, June 22, 2004

“The low end of the pay spectrum in the Glide-Pad series features the Glide-Pad Premier. It has a textured surface and is made completely out of plastic. The textured surface supplied a little drag, which was not to my liking. My wife on the other hand liked that resistance. She is not a gamer, and the drag gave her a little more control for drawing and cutting / pasting documentation.”

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Albatron PX875P Pro
ViperLair :: Tuesday, June 22, 2004

“With the exception of the lack of RAID, 10/100 networking, and a passive North Bridge cooler, it’s tough to ignore the performance and stability of the PX875P Pro. If you’re in the market for a Pentium 4 motherboard, and don’t need all the frills some high-end boards may provide, this board is certainly worthy of being on your short-list given its cost.”

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ATI Radeon X800 Pro vs. nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra
TweakTown :: Tuesday, June 22, 2004

“In Shane’s latest article, he compares the performance of a GeCube based ATI Radeon X800 Pro against the reference nVidia GeForce 6800 Ultra. While taking a quick look at both cards, we benchmark with our usual array of benchmarks as well as with AA and AF enabled and with the addition of Far Cry.”

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Albatron FX5700Ultra GDDR3 128MB
Overclockers New Zealand :: Tuesday, June 22, 2004

“let’s slap on a more advanced type of ram; that is where Albatron FX5700Ultra DDR3 comes in, now with 128MB of GDDR3 (graphics double data ram 3) instead of GDDR2. The main difference between GDDR3 and GDDR2 is that GDDR3 has better scalability and lower power consumption.”

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Retail 6800Ultra: Gainward CoolFX Powerpack! Ultra/2600 review
Hexus :: Tuesday, June 22, 2004

“There’s a performance increase to be had from the Ultra/2600 CoolFX, but unless the price differential drops to within £100 of the air-cooled board, the Ultra/2600 CoolFX is hard to recommend. Undoubtedly the fastest unmodified consumer graphics card in the world in quite a few scenarios, but not far enough away from boards like the X800 PRO, XT PE and other 6800-based cards to be attractive, given the price.”

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Samsung SyncMaster 173P TFT-LCD Monitor Review
MODTHEBOX! :: Tuesday, June 22, 2004

“The SyncMaster 173P TFT-LCD comes bundled with a simplistic set of control features that promote Samsung’s slim and simple approach to marketing this product. While a majority of the Samsung TFT-LCD monitors reviewed on MTB have included monitor adjustment buttons; the 173P includes only one touch sensitive power button. The 173P will auto adjust monitor settings which includes contrast as well as horizontal and vertical positioning.”

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ATI Radeon X800 Pro Group Comparison – ASUS, Power Color and GeCube
TweakTown :: Tuesday, June 22, 2004

“We’ve had a few new ATI Radeon X800 Pro graphics cards pass through our labs in the last month. While the performance of each is usually exactly the same, we thought it would be interesting to put together a group comparison of X800 Pro’s from ASUS, Power Color and GeCube and take a look at the cards and their packages, not to forget the benchmark numbers.”

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Chaintech FX5950 Ultra
Red & Blackness Mods :: Tuesday, June 01, 2004

“We have another FX5950 Ultra card for you guys today. Chaintech sent us a sample of their fastest card. We will compare this sample to one we got from MSI awhile back and also vs a normal 5900XT card to see the difference in performance. We will test the card in heavy gaming and also overclocking tests.”

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