Icemat Siberia Headphones
Think Computers :: Sunday, March 19, 2006
Quote: “Sound is an integral part of every computer advocate’s life: from listening to music to experiencing the intense and sometimes frightening in-game sound effects. The world of designing headsets that have great sound, look great, and are all cost effective is a demanding and competitive market. Icemat, previously only a mouse pad manufacturer, has taken an interesting step forward into the audio market with a release of some MP3 players and the Icemat Audio Siberia headphones. In this review we’ll be looking at how confident of a step they took and how the sound quality of these headphones compare to another top-of-the-line headphone model as well as their durability for traveling LAN partiers and their level of comfort.”
ASUS EN7800GT TOP Silent Review @ Beyond3D
Beyond3D :: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
While most partners (and, indeed, users) have had little complaint with this state of affairs, particularly given the unobtrusive and reasonably quiet reference cooler seen on GeForce 7800 parts, there is of course a niche market to be filled for those after something a little different from the norm. This is particularly true of the increasing number of enthusiasts who concern themselves with keeping the noise level of their PCs to a minimum.
It is to this demographic that ASUS have targeted the subject of today’s review – The GeForce 7800 GT-based EN7800GT TOP Silent. As many AIBs have been content to provide passively cooled solutions based around low and mid-range parts (often with slower clock speeds than their actively cooled counterparts), the creation of a silent part based around a high-end SKU such as this one is a true rarity for this generation of graphics card. Naturally, creating a high-end board such as this utilising passive cooling is quite a challenge, so let’s see how ASUS have fared in this intriguing venture.
The Death of iTunes Music Store
CoolTechZone :: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
“The French government is proposing a law that could force Apple to open standardize its iTunes Music Store and make the audio format compatible with all music players, as oppose to exclusively working with the iPod. Though Apple doesn’t generate much profit from the music store in comparison to other products and services, Apple counts on iTunes to retail the much profitable and trendy iPod family of portable audio players. The law is under consideration and will be voted on Thursday in parliament.”
NVIDIA 7900GT + NVClock
Phoronix :: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Summary: “Since the public launch of the NVIDIA GeForce 7900 series this past week (March 09, 2006) we have been assisting Roderick Colenbrander, or better known as NVClock’s Thunderbird, in appending support for this card under this Linux NVIDIA utility. For those that have never used NVClock, it is a text-based and graphical (GTK or Qt) utility released under the GNU General Public License and was originally designed as the lone NVIDIA overclocking utility. Today we have been testing some new NVClock code and have additional information available in regards to the 7900GT and other information to assist developers.”
Albatron GeForce 6600 512MB Videocard Review
PCStats :: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
With more people connecting their PC to the television, the PCI Express x16 Albatron GeForce 6600-512 also supports all the latest TV output standards like S-Video, composite and of course YPbPr component output. Who needs Intel VIIV or AMD Live, enthusiasts already know how to build their own HTPC. ;-)
Altec Lansing AHS302USB Headset Review
Legit Reviews :: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
“Our search for a quality PC Gaming Headset makes a stop at Altec Lansing where we take a look at their AHS302usb. For a street price of under $30, we still consider this an “entry-level” headset, but for those just getting their feet wet with Skype, this is a comfortable price range…”
XFX 7600 GT XXX Edition Video Card Review
Legit Reviews :: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
“Even though the 7600 GT XXX Edition is overclocked directly from XFX, we decided to do just a little overclocking of our own to see how much headroom was left in our 7600GT. For the sake of simplicity we allowed the driver to do the overclocking for us by using the “detect optimal frequencies” feature in CoolBits. A moment later the screen had refreshed and we were greeted with a modest overclock of 609 MHz core and 1690 MHz memory, a gain of 19MHz and 90MHz respectively…”
LG L1981Q 19-inch monitor
Designtechnica :: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
LG is thinking out of the box with their L1981Q 19-inch Flatron monitor. With design in mind, the L1981Q is the slimmest monitor we have seen. The L1981Q also has a number of innovative features such as heat sensitive controls, a neck that folds down flat so you can hang the monitor on the wall without removing it, and inputs that are embedded in the stand, not the back of the display. The LG L1981Q won last years’ 2005 reddot Design Award for this very reason. Those wanting a little style on their desk will find the L1981Q as the center of attention many times over. Innovation doesn’t come cheaply however as you can expect to pay around $600 dollars for this beauty.
MSI NX7300GS Review at nV News
NVIDIA :: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Quote: “Having used a couple of GeForce 6800 GT graphics cards in SLI during the past few months, we brought Kyle Kerley back down to earth by asking him to take a look at MSI’s budget-oriented MSI NX7300GS graphics card.”
NVIDIA 1.0-8751 + EVGA 7900GT @ Phoronix
Phoronix :: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Summary: “Now that last week we presented the world with our findings for the NVIDIA GeForce 7900GT 256MB, we are back with our complete Linux gaming benchmarks. Although the 7900 supportive drivers are not yet in the hands of the public, we have obtained the Linux drivers from NVIDIA and are numbered 1.0-8751. Is the 7900 series plagued by the issues we had originally faced when dealing with the 7800GTX last year, and its clocking problems? We shall find out as we compare the 7900GT against some popular NVIDIA competitors.”
AVerMedia UltraTV USB 300 and AVerTV Cardbus TV Tuners
Big Bruin :: Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Quote: In the end, the results I had anticipated before starting the review had been reversed. I wasn’t expecting much from a PCMCIA tuner for reasons related to the interface and the specifications of the host system, but I was quite surprised at just how well TV viewing, basic recording, and time shifting functioned… Going into the review of the UltraTV USB 300, I had higher expectations, and they weren’t necessarily met. My experience with other USB 2.0 based tuners has educated me as to what is possible, and considering the impressive performance of AVermedia’s PCMCIA tuner, I was expecting great things. The UltraTV USB 300 didn’t do poorly, but it definitely wasn’t the best, and failed to really “wow” me when it came to image quality, recording quality, or time shifting options.
Samsung SyncMaster 940T LCD Monitor
TechTastic :: Thursday, March 09, 2006
Quote: Today we take a look at Samsung’s new SyncMaster 940T LCD monitor. The SyncMaster 940T is a sleek looking unit that not only has a 19″ screen, it features a screen that can be rotated 178′ degrees.
NVIDIA 7600GT & 7900GT pics and specs
techPowerUp! :: Thursday, March 09, 2006
Cebit is starting tomorrow and NVIDIA will launch new models for their GeForce 7 Series there. We got some spy pics of the 7600GT and the 7900GT for you together with detailed specs of the cards.
Powercolor X1300 Hypermemory 2
techPowerUp! :: Thursday, March 09, 2006
Powercolor (Tul’s graphic card division) is no newcomer to the graphic card segment. Over the years, it has built up a strong reputation, which it is constantly improving. In the past weeks, we were all able to notice that Powercolor started offering a “lifetime” guarantee on their X1900 series cards. Today, we take a look at the opposite side of the X1000 spectrum – the low end X1300. But perhaps low end is not the correct word. The card comes pre-overclocked to a massive 600 MHz compared to ATI’s default of 450 MHz. Using HyperMemory technology the VGA memory can be expanded from 128 MB to 512 MB.
ATI v8.23.7 Display Drivers
Phoronix :: Thursday, March 09, 2006
Summary: “Released from ATI today are the new Windows CATALYST v6.3 display drivers as well as the now monthly Linux fglrx display drivers. The new ATI Linux v8.23.7 display drivers continue to lack X1000 series support but there are a few improvements in this release when it comes to OpenGL, FSAA, and X800/850 compatibility improvements. Today at Phoronix, we have taken these drivers for yet another spin to display its gaming performance abilities on this exciting eve of CeBIT 2006.”
Samsung SyncMaster 960BF 19″ LCD Monitor
Bona Fide Reviews :: Thursday, March 09, 2006
The SyncMaster 960BF is one of Samsung’s latest monitors to join their ever-growing 19″ LCD lineup. The 960BF is currently priced at $379 and features a brightness of 300 cd/m2, contrast ratio of 700:1, aspect ratio of 5:4, and a response time of 4 ms from gray-to-gray. It only supports a DVI connection but comes packaged with a DVI-to-Analog connection cord for the many consumers that have AGP-based graphic solutions.
NVIDIA GeForce 7900GT 256MB
Phoronix :: Thursday, March 09, 2006
Summary: “The speculations flying around the Internet in recent months in regards to the GeForce 7900 series can now come to a close. This morning NVIDIA is unveiling the new GeForce 7900 series GPUs that packs a fair amount of improvements over the existing flagship 7800 GPUs, and we have already taken this new unit for a spin at our facilities. The initial GeForce 7900 part that we are taking for a run today in its world-exclusive preview under NVIDIA’s Linux is the eVGA e-GeForce 7900GT CO Super-Clocked 256MB. This insane graphics card is able to withstand 550MHz core frequencies and an impressive 1580MHz memory clock with its Samsung GDDR3. Let us introduce you to the G71-GT-N-A2. Attached to this article is also NVIDIA developer information in regards to the PCI ID and the 7900GT registers, to assist those in supporting this new card with their utilities. Additional CeBIT articles, NVIDIA GeForce 7900 Linux benchmarks, and overclocking, to come at Phoronix very shortly.”
Altec Lansing AHS-602i Gaming Headset
Laptop Gamers :: Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Any serious gamer would tell you that having good sound is as vital as having good frames. Most first person shooter games these days use 3D sound technology, which allows you to determine where the source of the sound is coming from. Since you can not visually determine where your opponents are at all times, you must rely on sound to get a general sense of where they are. How much of an advantage do you have by hearing your opponent around the corner before they actually take that turn? The Altec Lansing AHS-602i Gaming Headset is designed to give you that advantage.
Samsung SyncMaster 910MP Multifunction LCD Monitor Review
The Tech Zone :: Tuesday, March 07, 2006
Sapphire Radeon X1600 Pro AGP
OCModshop :: Tuesday, March 07, 2006
In the middle of ATI’s current GPU lineup is the X1600 series, based on the R530 GPU and described by ATI as the “Absolute in Mainstream Gaming Performance”. On paper, the specs look quite impressive for a card in the US$120-150 price range, moreover, AGP versions are available for those who want an inexpensive experience of SM3.0 goodness. All of this and even a game bundle is consolidated in the cornucopia described as X1600 series.
HD DVD on the Warpath
Home Theater Magazine :: Sunday, March 05, 2006
Come hell, high water, or copy-protection standards updates, Toshiba is bringing HD DVD to the masses.
Stating that two models, the HD-XA1 and HD-A1, will be the first HD DVD players to hit store shelves in the United States, Toshiba says retailers will begin receiving shipments of the newfangled high-definition optical-disc format players in March of this year. To help bring sales people up to speed on – and increase consumer awareness of – the wonders of the new technology, Toshiba personnel are packing their bags, loading demo discs, and frantically buying plane tickets so they can take the HD DVD format to the people in over 40 select cities.
SageTV Media Center Review V4.1.6
HTPCnews :: Sunday, March 05, 2006
Sage Media Center, (can I coin the term SMC for this? I won’t charge royalties), had a trio of major features added this release. The big shock to the community was the release of Studio after all of these months. As expected OTA HDTV and DVB-T support was added. The last major feature was the release of their $100 Media Extender.
Free TiVos! no really!
Home Theater Blog :: Sunday, March 05, 2006
I often see ads for free subscription based products such as Satellite TV and TiVo, but these offers are usually from third party resellers bundling the units with another product/service package and rarely is the receiver/DVR actually free.
Well TiVo is apparently planning on offering their hardware with zero upfront cost in order to lure new subscribers. How does this differ from third party resellers doing the same you ask?
With TiVo cutting out the middlemen on the kickbacks, the zero-up-front offers may actually be just that, zero up font. Whereas before the reseller always had to recoup the initial hardware cost somewhere in the chain.
This is great news if you were considering the addition of a TiVo to your home entertainment system, but I seriously doubt this offer will extend to TiVos’s upcoming HD-DVR’s as it would likely be cost prohibitive. But hey, you never know what’s around the corner in the heavily competitive subscription based DVR market.
ATI X1900XTX Graphics Card Review
CoolTechZone :: Sunday, March 05, 2006
“Ever since the GeForce 6 series debuted, NVIDIA has held the performance crown undoubtedly. Then it launched the GeForce 7 series and the king became the overlord and made NVIDIA the God of Graphics with hard launches and excellent performance. Despite the R520’s best efforts, the 7800GTX 512 bettered it by far and put it in its place. Things, however, have changed.”
Albatron 6600 512 DDR2 Video Card Review
Legit Reviews :: Sunday, March 05, 2006
“The 6600-512 is a great card for you gamers on a budget, and those of you who don’t spend a lot of time gaming and want something to play the latest games coming out today. If you’re an avid gamer and prefer to run with Anti-Aliasing on then you should probably look at some more expensive options.”
Saitek A-250 2.1 Wireless Speaker System
Think Computers :: Sunday, March 05, 2006
Samsung DVD-HD950 HDTV-Compatible DVD Player
Home Theater Magazine :: Sunday, March 05, 2006
Interview: Concerned: A Half-Life Comic
Primo Tech :: Sunday, March 05, 2006
There’s a sort of smug satisfaction one gets when tuning in to the Gordon Frohman show every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday. It’s like an inside joke only you (and the other however-many million players of Valve’s epic first-person shooter) will get. We spoke to Mr. Livingston himself about his magnum opus.
The Blue Laser Wars: Episode I HD DVD
Team Xbox :: Sunday, March 05, 2006
Now that Microsoft chose a side, giving full support to HD DVD on Windows Vista and announcing an external HD-DVD drive for the Xbox 360, we thought it was time to talk about HD DVD and Sony’s own next-generation DVD format, Blu-ray Disc
Handy High-Definition Camcorder
Home Theater Magazine :: Sunday, March 05, 2006
